Ponysona 4, the Campaign.

"Huh? What's this all about?" Zeela asked totally out of the loop.

"Here, as a 'Sorry' for... hehe. Sorry for throwing the book at you." Tilt adds to George, pulling out a small 140ml can of Sunpony PRINCESS and tossing it to George, still giggling a little at the injury. "It's a long story, believe me."

After a while the humour subsides, and she looks back at the group, levitating out more 140ml cans and bottles - Cloudsdale Dew, C. C. Lemon, DisQoo, Mitsuya Cider, even a can of 100Plus for herself. She offers them to the collected ponies before taking a deep breath. She was about to ask them something big.

"I've been thinking a lot about what's been going on, and I've come to the realisation that sometimes your heart has things figured out, even if your head hasn't caught up yet. Not just the memory incident. That was wrong, but it was a mistake, and I was wrong to call you a monster for it, Melody. It wasn't you that I should have been angry at, and I apologise. For all of it."

She gives Melody an apologetic bow. To an extent it was terribly cynical - Melody was a pony she wanted on her team, not Arcana's, after all - but even still, if she could bridge the gap with both of their erstwhile enemies, she could forgive this.

"Two nights ago, when it happened, something very important stood out to me. When we told him about Alice and Daisoujou, remember what his response was? Why did you bring them here. And Star's rescue. It wasn't about him making a mistake, it was him not being useful to Arcana any more. And I'm beginning to believe that his interest in us goes no further than creating able hoofsoldiers from us foals."

She pauses to regather her thoughts, letting that sink in.

"And we've lost sight of why we, as ponies, are even here. We're here because we need to help ponies. Not to fight whoever this Kuro is, our first priority is to help the ponies who have been caught in here. We're not here to do Arcana's bidding, we're not here to kill shadows. We can't just let ourselves get led around by the reins like this. Especially not for a spirit that's been lying to us."

"I have never lied once." Arcana appears, lightly staring at Tilt. "Though only focusing on a ponies use once they are saved was a rather poor sort of idea on my part." The unicorn glances at Tilt, and she can see a bit of fire in his eyes,

"Soul... This is Arcana... Arcana... This is Soul Spinner... She fell out of my TV after the Midnight Channel came on..." Zeela introduced the newest member of the party to the Unicorn, as she was mostly trying to dodge the topic that Full Tilt just brought up... Because she wasn't sure what to say to it. Zeela still trusts Arcana is a good pony...

"Hello, Arcana," Soul says with some trepidation. She glances at Tilt with an expression saying 'not sure what to do with this information.' "Aren't you the one who wrote those books I found?"

Tilt isn't surprised, Zeela had always been the fastest to rely on Arcana whenever something she didn't understand came up. The fire elemental thing, the arrival of Soul, heck, even herself - her first response was to ask Arcana about it. That she'd try to continue on as if nothing had happened was hardly out of character, though she'd hoped for at least a defence.

"No, lies don't often come in ones. They come in twos and fives and meld with the trappings of truth to turn into a tapestry. But truth doesn't come by halves. So tell me, Arcana, now that you're here: If you don't care about ponies before they're saved, and you don't care about ponies after they're saved, what reason have we to blindly follow you?" she responds, returning Arcana's glare with a gathering storm rolling behind her irises.

"Ah, the books specifically on the symbolism of the arcanum, the one on how a Shadow is the traits of oneself that is undesirable in oneself, and the persona being the mask ponies put on in their every day lives rather than just a magical being? Along with the note about your little 'rumor'?" Arcana looked at soul, a bit calmer but flat, before turning back to Tilt.

"There's no 'my side'. I warned them-" Arcana gestures at everyone but Soul and Tilt. "About the dangers that will happen, and I wanted them to be able to protect themselves and others. Star? He was going to be a virus in the group with his unaccepted shadow still in his heart and lack of trust in anyone but himself." The pony grits his teeth a bit, before promptly turning. "Fortune. The arcanum by which all is revealed. A changing of fates from the bad to the good or vice versa." He glances back for a moment, eyes narrow as slits. "I don't want to be your enemy, so if there's a way to make you trust me again, I'll step back and simply advise rather than order." The unicorn's horn glows a soft silver and he shuts his eyes. "But if you think it's the fact I'm endangering you ponies for my own gain? If you think that's all?" With a loud flash, the fog in the TV world shifts Arcana begins walking to the south west. "After you save Icing from the Dungeon? Come find me in my own Shadow's realm. If you want to, of course." The pony walks, a bit slow, in case ponies wish to talk to him.

At the worst possible time, (Right after Arcana leaves) Daisoujo slips out of the TV portal with a napping Alice and what appears to be twenty shopping bags. "My apologies. I felt like I needed to get some snacks and a few outfits, especially if the Dungeon as I saw on the TV is both dangerous and seductive."

Spoiler:

"It's as you say. You endanger us for your own gain. Perhaps we may be allies for a time further, but it's become clear that your interests do not necessarily align with our best interests." replies Tilt, her tone dropping to an icy one as Arcana's attitude becomes clear, "A pony is not made for blind obedience, to be broken in and ridden!" she leaves unsaid the obvious - there was nothing he could do now to make her his follower again, even if they weren't necessarily enemies and their current goals were not in conflict.

---

"And his greatest lie, that we had no other choice." she finishes, more dourly. "It's the lie of both Arcana and Kuro, that their patronage is irreplaceable. That we have to choose between them. But we don't. The power of persona - it's not something granted first by either him or Kuro. Anypony can. And the truth can be reached only through the help of other ponies, not the instruction of a higher power."

She looks up as Daisoujou descends with Alice.

"Soul, Everypony, meet Alice and Daisoujou. From here on in, we're going to be working towards one thing - helping ponies*. And you're welcome to join us. It's a harder road, but it's possible, and our first concern will be doing the right thing, not furthering somepony else's agenda."

*Non-exclusionary 'ponies', she says it in a way that makes it clear that she still includes George.

Well, the atmosphere had certainly changed...Melody had been quiet during the exchange, glancing between Tilt and Arcana..."I'm in it to help other ponies...Though, I think you could have gone a little longer before calling him out, at least..." She murmured, thinking. "I appreciate your apologizing though, but I think I deserved being chewed out. I crossed a line, and I knew it as soon as I'd done it. Don't worry about it, Tilt. I made a mistake, one I will try to avoid repeating in the future." Her tone was more serious than usual, but then again, it was a serious moment. She looked at the group, nodding to Daisoujou and smiling a bit as she shifted her train of thought to something more immediate. "Our issues with our green leadership can wait for a moment, though. For now, we need to focus on the shadows, right? So, anypony got a plan to go after them? ...Come to think of it, where's Icing...?" She paused, getting increasingly worried...If that mare really was his shadow, and he wasn't here...

"Personally... I think you are greatly mistaken Tilt..." Zeela said with a sigh. "I believe that Arcana's only agenda is nothing more than just helping us... For Kuro... I don't know what his goal is... But we're here to figure that out. Far as we can tell he's trying to get some sort of control over this realm... Or use it to his own ends... But for Arcana, what really has he done? Only give us information that we need... Tell me Tilt, how really is Arcana using us to fight Kuro? Sure there is more to this then we know... More to what's going on, but we're going to find out the Truth, we will... Maybe what you think is going on is nothing more than some answer you think fits the gaps in your knowledge." Then she adds to Melody. "I think Arcana just told us that Icing has been taken by his Shadow... Or something has happened to put him in his Dungeon with said Shadow."

"Zeela, he said it himself, he's using you for his own ends. And even if they're better for you, at what cost? At whose cost? I don't know what exactly his game is, but I know enough to know that I don't like it." responds Tilt, looking out into the distance, "I suppose calling him out could have waited longer, but there was nothing for it after it came to a head. Anyway, I agree, right now it seems fairly clear that Icing's been taken, and our priority regardless is to rescue him."

Zeela to help lighten the mood puts on a very silly striped outfit... Not asking how or why it was gotten.

"So, you brought... costumes?" asks Tilt after a moment. She takes a proffered bag and walks off behind something to change, emerging a moment later dressed in a particularly colourful cape, giggling her head off.

"Where did you even find this, Daikon?"

Daisoujo coughs lighty. "Er, Daikon? I'm not a raddish. I collect them. Sort of motivation since all of them are weird and silly to not lose weight."

"So.. How do I look with these stripes on top of stripes?" Zeela asked with a chuckle.

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