mylittlejamjar | Fifth Starfall: A Confession [Visual]

[Unlike most times that Flare talks, she doesn't seem angry or concerned... more "ashamed". It shows in her voice, which is a bit more hesitant and awkward than usual.]

H...hey guys. I just wanted to come clean with something. Before that whole fog crap set in, I messed up. I hadn't really slept since I'd gotten back to being, well, my normal age, and I wasn't thinking too clearly. I'd been holding onto that thing to use as leverage, but it had started stinking up my place, so I figured I'd air it out and warn everypony of what was going on at the same time... maybe even smoke out allies of the guy I was looking for at the same time.

I bucked up, solid.

I don't know who that pony skin belonged to, but the clown owns it now. The one going by "Pierrot"? Yeah, it's his. Everything I've found out points to him being one of the statue ponies, and I can only imagine that he skinned a native in order to blend in around here to escape detection. I found out during that circus of his, and I never had a chance to confront him about it what with suddenly becoming a foal and forgetting about it.

I shoulda come clean with it as soon as I saw Pinkie Pie stepping in to defend him, but instead I just assumed she was in league with him. After all, how else would she know how to rebuild a statue pony unless she was working with them? And then to get it possessed by the spirit of Nemo, at that.

Look, fact of the matter is that I got way too overzealous and put everypony on edge right before everything went to hell.

And I'm sorry.

If you need to talk to me in person, you know my usual moping spots.

[And that said, she closes the scroll. She'll probably be fairly quiet should anyone approach her normally over the week.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Pale Pony? I don't think I remember that so much. Could you tell me about them?

[Any clue would count.]

She's a figure in ancient Equestrian mythology around here. Kind of has a symbol sort of like this.

[Flare brings her hoof into the dirt and etches out that familiar P-crowned shape that was seen in the graffiti around town after the Gala... if Yukiko was around Ponyville back then.]

Apparently she's some mythical judge of the dead, and when Nemo Vantas died, not only did he explode into the same kind of rainbows that newponies arrive in, but those rainbows showed up at his funeral, along with vandalism in the fields, with a message from "beyond the grave" and that symbol.

Apparently, the Pale Pony is tied to the statue ponies, too, and apparently they showed up when Nightmare Moon took over that one Twilight...

[When Flare starts talking about who and what this Pale Pony is, she could hear something escape softly from Yukiko's mouth:]

Izanami...

[Ok, back to the conversation.]

So it's like this pony wants to get rid of everyone here?

What was that?

[Flare shrugs and lets the mutter pass.]

We don't know what she wants, or what she's doing. All I know is that her hoofprints are all over everything that's happened. The rainbows, the graffiti at the gala, Nemo's funeral... I've heard ponies say they saw statue ponies when the cockatrice statues attacked... Nightmare Night...

Whatever she wants, it seems like she's involved with everything here.

[Hey Flare admitted things, Yukiko should return the favor. Besides like Yu was in good condition to talk.]

Izanami...she's a death goddess back home. The one who brought the fog there in the first place. This Pale Pony sounds a lot like what she was doing back there. Except no graffiti.

So you think there could be a connection to the shadow fog, too.

[A death goddess, huh...]

So I take it all she wanted was for things to die...?

It's possible.

...she thought she was giving what humanity wanted. Once Yu-kun gets better, he might be able to explain it better.

[Flare goes quiet for a while.]

In some ways, she's not wrong. Despair, sadness, even our own shadows. We take up self-destructive tendencies and distrust the people we care about the most, because we know no matter what we do, it's all going to end some day.

All we can do is pray that there's something after death, or look to spend the time we have making ourselves as happy as possible. Those're the only thing that keeps most folk going.

I...don't remember if I saw anything when it happened so I can't say what's waiting after death.

[...yes, you heard right Flare. Yukiko died before coming back to Ponyville. Odd thing that. But let's change the subject!]

I'm sure we'll find some kind of clue and figure out the real reason behind all of this.

[Considering what happened with Bertie, she's not as surprised as she should be. Apparently when death gods are around, death isn't so important.]

...Yeah, I guess so.

Fifth Starfall: A Confession [Visual]

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