| 6 |
After that ask about our missing memories.
After having spent some time in Lexicon Anathema's company, you reflect on her hospitality, her openness, and even her humour. Once again, you find yourself wondering why demons have such a bad reputation.
Tsu-Ko: "This again...?"
Lexicon Anathema: "In short, it's one of Nidhogg's designs."
Honourshine: "The Emperor?"
Lexicon Anathema: "Nhn. For thousands of years, we lesser demons lived among the unicorns, who simply called us bicorns. Our horns and lifespans were the only distinctions between our races.
Back then, the name demon only referred to greater demons, as though there were no relations between us two. And honestly, if you ever do meet one of them, you'll understand why.
But the influence of the greater demons was far stronger at the time. Each had a cult of their own, and countless ponies — including royalty — committed atrocities in their names.
Conveniently, history pins the blame on the demons alone. But the truth is that those ponies acted of their own volition; they were promised power, just like you are — but unlike you, they had no goals in mind. They only wanted more, and more..."
Moonflower: "But why would they give their power to bad ponies?"
Lexicon Anathema: "Everyone has their own reason: for the thrill of battle, for the love of sharing, for the entertainment. Either way, it's akin to feeding wild animals; no matter how good the intention, it often ends in tragedy.
Unicorn history was riddled with such tragedies up until the primordial dragon showed up. After that, cults were dismantled, hierarchies were toppled, and he was named Emperor.
Nidhogg then created the Kirin, and through his teachings, he fostered a culture that seeks balance between Light and Dark above all. Creatures that are naturally imbalanced, such as us demons, were vilified and isolated.
And so the reputation of demons was reduced to this: selfish, mean creatures of the Underworld. But as you can plainly see, we're not so different, you and I."
Tsu-Ko: "Spoken as though it were an exception and not the rule."
Lexicon Anathema: "Does it matter? Even if all other demons were monsters, I'd still like to be judged fairly — by my own actions. Would you not wish the same?"
Tsu-Ko: "... Fine! But even you can't deny how disgraceful most of them are."
Lexicon Anathema: "Nor is any other creature perfect."
You tell Lexicon Anathema that for what it's worth, you try to give everyone a chance.
Lexicon Anathema: "So do I. After all, pieces of the truth hide in the lies of opposing sides."
Honourshine: "... Hm."
Speaking of hidden truths, you decide to tell the hermit about your missing foalhood memories, and ask if she can point you in the right direction.
Lexicon Anathema: "Hmm... Do you remember what I said earlier, about knowledge transference? If you transfer knowledge unto someone else, then that knowledge is lost to you.
That's because in doing so, you're giving away a fragment of your memory. Obviously, you couldn't have done that yourself at the time, so someone else must've taken your memories by force — someone who's proficient in the Dark arts. No, I don't think it was a ba-ku or even a sa-to-ri.
I believe you're on the right track; this grizzled unicorn you mentioned made no effort to be forgotten by your matron. Regardless of whether this was intentional or a blunder on his part, it gives you something to trace back to him.
You may have to divine his location through your matron's memories. Nothing a unicorn — let alone an alicorn — can't do."
Enter a comment
As the first bit of forbidden information we request in exchange, ask what the deal is with the time stopping and secrecy and codewords and everything. But try to phrase it all "we agreed, now we'd like to know exactly what we agreed to"-ways.
This type of confirmation bias is an unfortunate hallmark of prejudices. Any counterexample is dismissed as an exception or chance.
I wonder if there is a naturally Light-aligned race. (Elves?)
Then ask for clarification of the terms that Tsu-Ko haven't translated. Also explain that we're a beginner when it comes to magic. Maybe she can recommend a good book for learning the art of divination? Or is the one we already have good enough?
Concerning the earlier discussion, ask about the lords of creation. Who are they?
Regarding divination, in 2024-03-04, we did actually attempt to read The Basics of Divination, but we lacked prerequisite knowledge.So going back to that particular book would be a natural recommendation. That said, "incredibly talented teacher" feels like it could be suggesting Moondancer as a divination teacher? Or that could be my insatiable desire to see more Moondancer talking! 😍
Just spitballing, but there are multiple solutions to how to do the divination on Matron Kindleheart.
- Learn divination from The Basics of Divination either before even going to Foalshire or after we locate our Matron.
- Bring Moondancer with us to Foalshire to see Matron Kindleheart.
- Bring Matron Kindleheart back with us to see Moondancer or some other wizard.
Then, concerning our dilemma, after a clarification here or there (why the secrecy, why is Lexicon even interested, and would she be willing to make growing up first part of the deal?)… what would Honourshine want us to do? Let our decision follow from there.
(I also wouldn't be opposed to just asking the party, and maybe dismissing Tsu-Ko temporarily.)
For deciding the dilemma, I had a bunch of clarifying questions that I talked about last update (2026-03-02).
- Why did Lexicon go through the trouble of stopping time just to talk to us? Was she trying to exclude the rest of our party (because her offer is taboo even in this universe), or just our sprite guide (because she'll be a spoilsport and advise us against any demon deals just because, so it isn't that taboo)? Also, don't forget Kirin culture isn't actually ok with casual sex, so the secrecy may be because Lexicon didn't account for us being Equestrian and not Kirinese.
- I feel like we could just check if we can "negotiate" adding Lexicon growing up to get rid of our scruples. Sure, it may not be possible, but it's just a question. Some potential sweeteners for her would be that maybe an older body would be better able to, ahem, perform, and Moonflower might be able to join in if it's no longer taboo?
- As for what Honourshine would want us to do… clearly knowledge is a strong motivator for her. It's her personality and her life's work to try to find out things, much like us in a way. So how would she respond in a "knowledge, but at what cost?" dilemma? She did refuse a version of the deal with the Dwarf, but in different circumstances (a far more unreliable and abrasive source). But to be honest I'm not sure what she'd want.
Actually, I wonder how Lexicon plans to launder the information into the conversation? I assume she would pause time again, have us uphold our end of the deal, and then unfreeze time and say she changed her mind about disclosing information about the Elves' end? Or will she tell only us and leave us with the problem of how to tell our party what we learned?
One more worry: it's possible Tsu-Ko somehow finds out if we accept Lexicon's offer. Although Lexicon's powers did seem greater, or at least surprised her (when Lexicon managed to offer her tea despite her being in the spirit dimension or somesuch).
The most direct reading is that it suggests it wasn't entirely out of the question for her and their society, in which case she would probably encourage us to take the deal. Another interpretation is that "shy" is a euphemism/understatement and it was out of the question.