Scene #814: Secrets Abound

Owner	Pose
Staren	Staren is on his way to Ponyville, when he gets an e-mail from his dad with a link to an interesting internet video. Not in a hurry at the moment, he sits by a tree so he can focus on it properly and watches the video on his HUD.
Pinkie	A visit to Equestria is always nice isn't it? All the happy ponies smiling and trotting about their day to day lives. ... It actually really is nice. A definite contrast to the bleak world of the same name where everything has just gone... Wrong. That might be why Pinkie is here much more often lately. Able to let her hair down, relax, able to BREATHE without worry of something terrible happening. Well it's as Staren settles in to watch that video that he's interrupted. A pair of white-gloved hands sliding into periphery from out of nowhere slide to cover his eyes. "Guess who."
Staren	Staren jumps slightly. As hands cover his eyes, his mind searches for possible tactics. Grab and throw them, shift to smaller form, elbow them in the gut and try to break free, call for help while keeping them talking... When he hears the voice just after, he realizes two things: One, this is Equestria, which is pretty safe, and two, it's Pinkie. He sighs. "Pinkie, you need to be more careful about sneaking up on people. Some of us have good reason to be concerned that something that snuck up on us is about to deal us quite a bit of harm."
Pinkie	Under normal circumstances, Pinkie would be laughing. It was a pretty great reaction, but when Staren 'guesses' correctly the perpetrator of the heinous act of sneaking up and blinding him, the hands relinquish their hold- quickly replaced by the still warm solid feeling of simply draping her mask over the unicorn-form cat-boy's horn. All that curly hair does a fine job of hiding her face, one green eye peeking out from the mass of pink tresses. "I know. It's a pretty valid reason isn't it? Still, couldn't help myself."
Staren	Staren rises to all fours to turn around. "I guess I can understand that." He cocks his head to the side. "Huh... not in pony form here?" This is kind of weird, being in this form with humans around -- it's happened a few other times, but it's still unusual. Especially when the one he's talking to is a pony-but-not-in-the-shape-of-one. Not that he minds or cares that much.
Pinkie	Not in pony form right now, no, as she balances a brightly colored ball on the tip of one finger. A flick of her wrist and it's on her other hand in a deft display of dexterity. "I told you silly. I can handsy-hoovesy when I feel like it." She points out, before plucking her mask off Staren's horn, a brief coppery scent lingering on the inside of the white-pink porcelain as she rolls it along her arm. Tossing it up though, a back-tilt of her head lands it square on her face as she flomps down to all fours. The change is instantaneous as hands become hooves and human turns to pony just as she said. "See? Better?"
Staren	Mask that smells like blood. Huh. Staren does that slight nodding-at-the-neck gesture of someone used to two legs trying to shrug on four. "It doesn't really matter to me. It was novel, if anything. I don't usually encounter humans from the pony perspective." Staren looks at her for a moment. "...So, are you here to talk, or to tell me about some new urgent problem that has to be dealt with first?"
Pinkie	"Mmmmmm." It's an uncertain sound, as the cloven-hooved pony scuffs at the ground. The normal exuberance seems suppressed, somewhat, today; rather more somber thab her usual self as she lazily paces a circle around the unicorn-cat-boy. "We're pretty used to it all the time back home. It mostly depends on what mood someone's in." And what form they feel like being. That part's implicit. "It's complicated."
Staren	Staren turns to follow her with his gaze as she circles him. "As curious as I am to conduct an impromtu equinalogical study of how everyone being a shapeshifter affects a society, this is more important. Okay, so it's complicated. I promised to listen until you're done explaining."
Pinkie	"Annnnnd I can't explain." The reply comes like a stone wall out of nowhere, head turning to focus one green eye through the slat of her mask, on the pony-formed scientist. Studies notwithstanding, as they aren't relevant to the current line of conversation, she idly stomps one hoof in a lazy fashion. At least before relenting. "Not yet anyway. And not for reasons you might think." Murmured as she tosses that curly mane. "Staren? Have you ever had to keep a secret that could make an already fagile balance come crashing down even harder than it already has?"
Staren	Staren sits to listen to her, then sighs when she says no explanation is forthcoming. But he lets her talk, and then shakes his head. "I /thought/ I did, plenty of times, but I was wrong. The world was not as I saw it. And even for the worst of the secrets, the ones I wouldn't dare tell most people..." He leans forward slightly, "I know there are people I /could/ trust with them." He sits up straight again. "Twilight is a wonderful pony in many ways, but I couldn't... I couldn't feel about her the way I do, if I couldn't trust her completely. I once feared my friends turning on me, which is why it was so terrible to see Discord put her through my worst nightmare... but I know that Twilight would never hate me. She would listen, and try to understand, and help." He looks at her a moment. "...Morg would listen, and understand, and say if other people have a problem with it then who cares. And that is why I have only two true best friends in the entire Multiverse." "I can't guaruntee that I will understand. But I will try my hardest to give you a chance, if you'll let me. Because I remember what it was like, to think that almost everyone would turn on me, that they'd think certain things... are evil, or wrong, just because they don't understand or see things the way I do. Maybe you really have done something even I would consider terrible -- I won't know until you tell me -- but, even if that is so, if you genuinely seek redemption... I would rather help you than jail or kill you. Those won't undo horrible things, and you've shown that you can still do good." Staren takes a deep breath. "So... is this really a secret /so terrible/, that suffering the distrust of even the people who would help you, than finding even one person to tell it to?"
Pinkie	Coming to this Equestria really is like a trip down memory lane isn't it? Bringing up Discord gets a curious look from the pink pony through her mask, before she chuffs a small snort. But slowly she shakes her head when Staren segues on about Twilight. "Your Twilight is... Very different. I wish ours had stayed like that. And that yours never become like her." Mused with the flit of an ear. And that's when she wheels on Staren, suddenly face to face. "You still don't see the -scope- of things in my Equestria. -That even a single slip of the tongue can get ponies killed and shift a very delicate balance." She pauses there to take a slow breath and turn again. "Redemption?" Now one hoof rubs at the forehead of her mask, lingering there as if remembering some great and ancient pain. "But Staren I'm just a smiling clown. What have I done that need to be redeemed?" Almost sing songed before she sighs. And then answers: "Yes. Yes it's a secret that bad. Because it's one I don't know the answer to yet."
Staren	Staren listens, frowning at the 'just a clown' comment. "Yes. It sounds nothing like /this/ Equestria. But very much like plenty of other places in the Multiverse. You may not be able to trust anyone there to talk to... but what about outside?" Staren sighs. "You don't know the answer? The only way to find out the answer to 'will people still give me a chance after I tell them this' is to tell someone. Aren't you /miserable/ living in fear of it all coming down on you? Thanks to the multiverse, you have some sympathetic ears. You have a chance you never would have, without the Multiverse. Can't you take advantage of it?"
Pinkie	A heavy sigh and the pink pony shakes her head. "Staren, there's a thing called subtlety and a thing called patience. You learn to get very good at them over fifteen years." Pinkie says in a forlorn tone. "My secret is a -question- you silly cat. And until I have it answered more people and ponies than just myself are in danger." There she halts. "... I'm more miserable than I have ever been, but that's a burden I accepted when I put on my mask. It's okay. It's alright. To play the fool has always been my plight, get it?" A chuff and she looks skywards, idly balancing that ball again on the snout of her mask. "When I find the answer I can act, when I find it, I can explain, but for now it's a secret I have to keep. Okay?"
Staren	Staren sighs. "How long do you think it will take, Pinkie? Is there anything we can do to help answer it? Even if I believe you, how am I supposed to convince anyone else when I don't know what I'm talking about?"
Pinkie	Up comes one hoof, setting lightly on the cat-unicorn's shoulder. "It's fine, you don't have to convince anyone of a thing for me. I'll handle that myself." Pinkie says, before flashing teeth through the grin of her mask. "Just put on a smile for me until then. I don't know how long it'll be, but it's getting closer."
Staren	Staren grimaces slightly and makes a sound like Marge Simpson. "Okay... you seem earnest enough, so don't make me regret believing you. Is there anything more you can say to make me feel more sure about trusting you? What will we do if you /can't/ find the answer alone?"
Pinkie	Anything more she can say? Setting her hoof down, Pinkie turns and starts trotting away. Though she casts a glance over her shoulder while prancing off. "Nope, not really. Not without telling a few lies." Well she's honest at least. But if no answer comes? This halts her as she taps on her chin. "Well I guess there won't be much. Because I'd already be hosed, huh."
Staren	Staren sighs again. "Well... good luck, Pinkie. If you ever change your mind, let me know."