Lying to protect the ones you love has it's place, that place is not always, nor is it forever.
I just wanted to specifically reply. Telling you how beautiful this comment is.
Though we journey into darkness, no night lasts forever.
We must keep that hope. That one day all will be right again.
Nah, the negative effect is fully written: Stormchaser will retain his personal values, and will openly oppose you if you ever cross a line.
That's it. We could've convinced him that murder is ok and then he would help us hide a body/etc, we didn't, but that's it. Our husband just still thinks murder is bad and we shouldn't do it.
What does it say about our relationship with Stormchaser that we could have convinced him to help us commit murder?
I think not convincing him might be a greater show of loyalty than if we had convinced him. To stay, even knowing we might do something truly, fantastically awful.
Which also applies to what we told him about Selene. Amusingly.
But the real question is. Does this make Velvet a hypocrite, for having taught Selene that "lying to protect the ones you love is okay"? Or does this make Velvet a good pony for being fully honest?
Now this is an interesting question, and one that I return to even days later. I wanted to do more digging on what had transpired in writings past on the matter.
A bit reductive though.
That is what Mrs. Velvet told you.
She didn't tell you exactly that, of course. She used prettier words, and made it sound a lot more complicated than it needed to be. But you could see it, in her eyes. You could see it clearly, then and there, that Mrs. Velvet is perfectly willing to lie to the ponies she cares for, if it's for their own good. And since Mrs. Velvet is willing to do it, and you know she is a pony you can trust, then it must mean that it really is okay.
You also understood that you should only do that if you have a very good reason, and if you are absolutely sure that you can take care of things.
Someone must be very honest indeed to admit to being a liar.
Ah, a child's point of view through and through. It is almost painful. How much she trusts us. "If Velvet covers did it, it must be the right thing to do."
I wonder if she will remeber the "if your absolutely sure you can take care of things." Will she take it as a sign were losing that confidence? That she should be worried?
And you trust Mrs. Velvet. So if she is lying to you, then you know it's for your own good, and that she must have a very, very good reason for that.
You just hope that someday you get to know what the lies were about.
Once again. Super heartwarming.
Selene may get her wish. Curl another finger on the monkeys paw.
I wonder if these eldritch revelations will change how Stormchaser feels about Selene?
We know hes had worries about Velvet, but he seems to have as many points in being a dad as we do in being a mom.
But let's go further back...
"You are lying, aren't you?" she asks, clearly downtrodden, before you can think of anything else to say.
And despite your best efforts, you are so surprised by her words that you actually turn to look at her.
It's always the quite children who listen most intently. Be wary of them.
That being said Selene is likely to cotton onto the shift in dynamic these revelations will bring almost immediately. With Silky not far behind.
Velvet probably isnt used to being caught in a lie. But the almost resigned way Selene mentions it...
But her reaction to that is far stronger than you expected.
We sometimes see Luna, and it stands to reason that sometimes Selene would see the Apostle, and at our levels it would not be a pretty sight.
That or she thinks she said something weird or bad, and shes about to get in trouble. Which is something I still worry about today
You know Selene is on the shy side of things, but during the split second your eyes meet, she is not just shy, or surprised or sheepish.
No. You can see in her eyes that she is afraid. It only lasts a single moment, but in that moment you see her eyes grow wide in fear. The rest of her body, also, reacts the same way. But not like a filly who had been caught doing something she shouldn't, or who just said something that would get her in trouble.
You see terror in her eyes. As if she was not looking at you, but at… something else. And for a moment, she is not sitting next to you in bench. Instead, she is alone, somewhere very far away and dark.
Alone, far away, and very dark. The moon? Nowhere? Why would seeing us bring those memories to fruition? Lantern? Or just Luna looking through?
But it perhaps shows something else.
@BirdBodhisattva Stormchaser is likely observant enough to realize that Selene is a somewhat
troubled pony yes?
He must have wondered. He wondered about us.
Why she is afraid, like someone who has experienced horrible abuse and torment is afraid. Why she woke up screaming like a pony who was dying in the night.
Now he knows.
It's Lunas memories. The memories that are ever so slowly crawling back to her consciousness.
Of being trapped on the moon for a millenia, of being tormented by the worms, of being a mighty god queen, and of being hated and shunned by pony kind.
Memories that he now knows would almost certainly destroy Selene. Like a moth flying into a lantern.
If the memories we released were too much for Luna to handle. An Alicorn princess. What hope does a a child have?
And he knows that we know all this.
Because were the one who told him. And much like we released these memories onto Luna, we are now in the process of unleashing them onto Selene.
It's terrible and awful and sickening to imagine that not only was Velvet Covers the source of so much of Selenes pain, but that she will continue to inflict this upon her.
But perhaps there is more than one side to this story.
It might be safer for Selene to live a lie for her entire existence, but is that really doing a service to her? Surely she too must want to know who she is, and where she came from. What her destiny is, and what her cutie mark will be?
Will we lie to her forever? Never having equipped her to face the challenges that we know will come knocking?
And to be clear, what Velvet Covers is putting Selene through with knock is
nothing compared to what's waiting for her in the future, and what's waiting for her in her past.
Oh, and of course "we need luna to be a weapon against the worms and be a political tool for our benefit" is there too but I'm sure you can guess what I think of
that.
All this got me thinking of something else as well.
Cutie Mark's may not be the brand's of the mansus, but we know from the show they have a potent and mysterious magic all their own.
Does Selene have Lunas cutiemark? And consequently her destiny? We know she has her talent, her magic, and her memories.
If Selene meets her destiny in a way that would cause her cutie mark to emerge what will become of her? Will she turn back into Luna? Ritual or no ritual?
It makes me wonder if it would be better for her to find herself? Or for us to ritually decide what she will be?
She is different, we know she is different, but slumbering in the depths of her soul she is still Luna.
Though perhaps that is the wrong way to think of it.
We know they were born into the world as... presumably somewhat normal ponies.
Perhaps they pulled a switcheroo, and Selene was always the real Luna, beneath the moon and the divinity and the trauma.
I've gone on too long already goodness.
But you just stay there, calmly smiling at her, as she… very clearly tries to and gives up on the attempt to understand what just happened. Almost a minute later, much to your delight, she simply leans her head against your chest.
You can see from her body language just how awkward she is feeling right now. And for your own part you make a mental note to… watch out for this sort of thing, in the future. But for now, you think you just completely sidestepped a small crisis, and you see no reason to press her regarding anything that just happened.
A small victory in many way, but still a victory.
"Uhm… Mrs. Velvet," she says, calling your attention, "I… I'm sorry for the question but… Uhm… Is it okay to lie to somepony you care for?"
"You know. Cause you lie. Like a lot."
What a mischievous child. To already know it's definetly fine to lie to strangers.
"Well… I… please don't tell this to Silky but… the thing is that the two of us made a promise, to each other. We promised we'd always take care of each other and… well, that we'd always tell everything to each other."
You bite down a smile, although a very large part of you just wants to tackle Selene in a hug. The sheer innocence and embarrassment coming from her, as she hesitantly says those words, is almost too much for you to bear.
"But the thing is, I… well, there's something I don't want to tell her. Because telling her will…" she hesitates, not exactly knowing how to put it into words.
That's got the potential to get ugly a bit.
If Silky find out just how big a thing Selene has been keeping from her...
It would be nice to spend some extra time with Silky as well. Selene isnt the only one who's life is going through changes.
"Mrs. Velvet, is it okay to lie to somepony you care for…" she words her question slowly, almost as if unsure if this is how she wants to phrase it, "if it is to protect them?"
A bit of subtext I hadn't noticed before.
Asking about lies is secondary it seems.
Shes saying. "I want to protect Silky, but I feel bad about lying to her."
Shes looking for reassurance that the regrettable action she took to protect Silky was worth it.
...well get back to her when we know if all the regrettable actions were worth it.
our own, "there isn't a right answer to that question. It depends, and it will always depend. On what problem your loved ones have, or on what problem you are trying to hide from them. It depends on how much you trust yourself, to be able to solve things without any help, and how much you think it will hurt them to see you hurting if you fail. I won't tell you that no, it is not okay. But I also can't tell you that it is alright to do that."
The lies we tell are immaterial Selene.
"But I can tell you something, Selene, with absolute certainty," you say, folding your forelegs around her in a hug, as the two of you look up at your family. "It is always worth it, to do whatever you can to protect the ones you love."
Do everything you can to protect those you love. No matter how bitter, or how regrettable it might be.
Very fitting. Very in line with Velvets ethos.
Sometimes protecting ponies means putting yourself between them and danger, and sometimes it means exposing them to danger so they learn to fight for themselves.
