Esquestria: The House of the Sun - A pony cultist experience

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
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Dear reader! Whether you are new here, archive-reading and whatnot, or you are already someone who has been with us for quite a while, I would like to say a few words that I believe are best kept close to mind.

-This is an MLP quest. And more importantly, none of us are gratuitously cruel. So good things will happen on this quest, and I hope that enough good things have already happened to prove that.
-This is also a horror quest, so bad things will happen. Bad things might happen to good characters if you are not able to protect them, and you most certainly will not be able to intervene if you lack the tools to do so.
-And finally, this is a quest in which you jostle with powers greater than yourself, with all that it entails.

Please, do keep those things in mind as you go forward. But ultimately, this is also a quest in which it is hoped we all have fun! So if any of the above points is not exactly your cup of tea, or somehow make the experience as a whole "not worth it", then this quest might not be for you. Which is fine! Individual tastes are a thing, so don't think any more about it if you don't want to read anymore. And regardless, I hope you have a lovely day!

Kaelor said:
PSA for whoever needs to hear it:

Readers should take their own mental health into consideration when voting and not subject themselves to triggering narrative elements like rape or constant mental torture of a friend just for the Greatest Good of a world that doesn't exist.

If those are fine for you or Regrettable is even more triggering, then GREAT! More power to you. But you aren't a bad or selfish person for picking the option that keeps the characters you've emotionally connected with safe. [REDACTED for spoiler warning]

This is a high intensity quest that doesn't hold back when it comes to horror and negative consequences. Take care of yourself.
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(Quote slightly edited to avoid spoilers)
 
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azereath said:
it ends up them getting married even though neither one of them understand each other.
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Axes I'd from an old, old world society. We could totally tell her it's a familial alliance or something and she would believe it.

Although now I'm tempted to tell him to find her key as a courting gift. :V

Also, don't forget, her public name is Velvet Axe. That's going to throw the kid for a loop.
 
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Uh...yeah. Pride's right up there on the list of our future Confidants. That's just how it be sometimes. Covers adopts all she touches...

The funnies aside, I have three main takeaways from this update. Hill most likely does categorize Covers as a "superior enemy" right now, the orders Pride received do indeed carry some implications of "somehow learn from this" instead of straight up "undermine/spy on Covers", and Pride is currently a boneless, malleable agent that was already influenced by Steppes and that we definitely should invest in molding further.
Covers' relationship with Hill (in his capacity as head of the family) feels like it's approaching a crossroads right now. Previously he was indifferent but with major leverage against us, and now the current trend seems to be he is starting to feel threatened but we are also gaining leverage against HIM, in the form of our royal favor, Lunar Bureau position, and having one person near him on our side. Pride could very well become the second resource we can use to influence Hill if we play our cards right and conveniently he comes pre-influenced by Steppes.
Though it is one thing to simply turn Pride to our side and against Hill, but I feel the better outcome overall (assuming we manage it) is to make Pride our bridge to form some sort of working relationship with Hill in the long term. Frankly, we have much bigger things to worry about than a family head brandishing leverage over us every so often so the sooner we can establish some sort of stable truce or, even better, some kind of give-and-take relationship, the better.

If Hill stays on his toes against us, I think the minimum consequence is the suspicion mechanic going from "don't worry the folks living or working in your home too much" to "there are servants in your home looking for more leverage against you, better not slip up". That'd be really constrictive considering we no longer have a cult to help with obscurity and we're in a position where Celestia would be very interested in any scandal involving us that may pop up.
 
A pink-and-gold carriage, topped with laurels and hearts. A large, lavish carriage, flanked by a cutie mark carved out of crystals that every last pony in Equestria would immediately recognized. A flying, magical carriage, its wheels still spinning with light and magic as they produce enough wind for the entire construct to gently land.

The carriage lands in the gardens, right behind the mare, with the weight of a feather. A heavily armed pegasus guard quickly unclipping himself from the front, and almost marching towards the door before opening it.

"… and of course. I sincerely hope no problems arise, while you are here," she finishes saying.

And she enters the carriage, with the door being closed shut behind her, before you can say anything else.
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*Cut to velvet*

'It sure was nice of Cadance to lend me her carriage so I could welcome my little brother to our home. He seems like a nice young noble. I'm sure he will get along just fine with the family'
 
Raitaki said:
and Pride is currently a boneless, malleable agent that was already influenced by Steppes and that we definitely should invest in molding further.
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He's just a kid with no real world experience whatsoever. Consider him someone going off to college for the first time.

We could probably spend one action to rip him away from Hills forever. And I'm not certain we'd even need anything eldritch for that.
 
Do we even have an AP to spend? We've kinda got a lot going on, and if he wants to bang his head against seducing Axe and trying to subvert our one explicit minion, I say let him. Neither of those goals are going anywhere any time soon, especially if we teach Rarity more Grail like we really should have already. Hell, he'll probably subvert himself by accident trying to go up against that.
 
w34v3r said:
Hmmmmm isn't there a rule about mixing mortal and immortal? Or is it that immortal and immortal aren't to reproduce?
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Velvet Covers did it and it all worked out fine for her. Sure the children might be a bit of a hoof full but their sweet kids.

BirdBodhisattva said:
"Es this another cors'? Es this somethin' tha' crazy sumna es doing now? Makin' horse-shaped dogs tha' just up and try tae bite ye?
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Horse-shaped dogs/wolves sounds like a great idea. I remember our firstborn son looking pretty horse-shaped during his playtime help with his sister, and our third daughter has always looked really horse-shaped.
 
Ericwinter said:
Do we even have an AP to spend? We've kinda got a lot going on, and if he wants to bang his head against seducing Axe and trying to subvert our one explicit minion, I say let him. Neither of those goals are going anywhere any time soon, especially if we teach Rarity more Grail like we really should have already. Hell, he'll probably subvert himself by accident trying to go up against that.
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Oh, we don't. I just mean that he's... not nearly as threatening as things could have been, and he's inexperienced enough we may be able to just accidentally subvert him. He's already fallen for the... least social Name. Somehow.
 
Byzantine said:
Oh, we don't. I just mean that he's... not nearly as threatening as things could have been, and he's inexperienced enough we may be able to just accidentally subvert him. He's already fallen for the... least social Name. Somehow.
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Velvet Pride is a very curious stallion.
Velvet Pride is not a pony against whom social rolls, of the usual kind, will be needed often.
Velvet Pride is…
 
NMS said:
So, if The Daughter of Axes ever gets unsummoned, will Pride spend every turn trying to resummon her?
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I mean, the irony is that he kinda can't. A 120 Knock check requirement means he either has to find sacrifices or have over 20 magic score unless he jut happens to have a Knock affinity we can teach him. Well, unless he wants to bank on the one in a hundred chance of a crit.
 
Oh... that boy is just as screwed up as his sister.

Poor horse.

Also of all the people he would fall over heels for the one that can't have kids otherwise something terrible happens.
 
I remember from some other comment when they were offered that @BirdBodhisattva appreciates copyedits. Let me know if you don't really want to deal with them though; this is for fun after all.

BirdBodhisattva said:
And you finally realize how nervous you really are. After all, just now, you almost slipped up and said something you should. You almost thanked her.
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Probably intended to be "something you shouldn't", unless there is a level of irony that I missed. EDIT: Or it could be a Freudian slip, yes.

BirdBodhisattva said:
A large, lavish carriage, flanked by a cutie mark carved out of crystals that every last pony in Equestria would immediately recognized.
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Should be "would immediately recognize" or "would have immediately recognized".

BirdBodhisattva said:
You have to make sure the period that the farming was not working, right after the Catastrophe, did not create any rippling problems.
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Should be "the period the farms weren't worked" or "the period that the farms weren't being worked" or "the period that the farmers weren't working" (unless this is a point about the concept of farming breaking down during the Catastrophe :V).

drake_azathoth said:
Wow. Massive kek. I'm pretty sure the bait-and-switch with Rarity was intentional, but I had to stop and reread the Daughter of Axes line like three times before my brain caught up and when it did I was dying.
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I actually felt a bit sad after I realized it was a switchup, even if it was pretty funny... that short segment already had me rooting at least a little for the ship (though I need to see more to be sold on it, and Velvet Hill would be unlikely to approve). When I saw the red text I immediately thought of Rarity's grail affinity. And given Rarity's downright hungry reaction (Turn 6 - Results, part 4) to hearing about Velvet Wings, she might be quite interested in marrying into the Velvet family, to become a noble? I wonder if they are the right age for each other?

And yeah, Velvet Pride looks a lot more benign after this. Though there is still a chance he unwisely starts messing with us for one reason or another, given his suspicion of us and constantly playing the nobility game; thankfully he is a little intimidated by us. Hopefully we can influence him for the better.
 
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Steady Gaze said:
And yeah, Velvet Pride looks a lot more benign after this. Though there is still a chance he unwisely starts messing with us for one reason or another, given his suspicion of us and constantly playing the nobility game; thankfully he is a little intimidated by us. Hopefully we can influence him for the better.
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If we need to influence him for the better serving of our goals we can always just Path Through Nightmares him to intimidate him even more.
 
That-Random-Guy said:
did
did he
did he actually
did he ACTUALLY fall in love at first sight of,
of HER
he has. clearly. i have reading comprehension. there is one (1) (I) person who talks like that
...
OF ALL THE POSSIBLE PEOPLE


This is going to be glorious.
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Hey now, there's nothing wrong with being a monsterfucker. We should be glad he's growing beyond his upbringing!
azereath said:
the amount of casual tribilism is really showing his noble upbringing though and if he thinks the daughter of axes is beutiful, I wonder how he will react when he meets Rarity who actually practices Grail.
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I'm honestly a bit worried about what happens when he meets Mareinette. That's a lot of Grail in one package, y'know?
 
Roaming_Guardian said:
I ship it HARD.

And I am willing to commit AP to make that shit happen.

PridexAxes OTP.
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That is... very cruel, in all seriousness. Axe does not remotely understand ponies at the best of times, is an entirely different species with wildly different morals, and Is much more powerful than he will ever be, with the will to use that power if she decides she's mad at him about something. It would not end well.
 
Raitaki said:
Though it is one thing to simply turn Pride to our side and against Hill, but I feel the better outcome overall (assuming we manage it) is to make Pride our bridge to form some sort of working relationship with Hill in the long term. Frankly, we have much bigger things to worry about than a family head brandishing leverage over us every so often so the sooner we can establish some sort of stable truce or, even better, some kind of give-and-take relationship, the better.
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Or form a close relationship with Pride and then cast one of those death rituals on Hill so the head of our family is now our friendly little brother.

"What, Father died in a freak Winter storm? Well, don't worry little brother, we'll help you get used to running the family estates."
 
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BirdBodhisattva said:
Because you might not be able to see her body, but her mane? You can see it, even from here. How that lock of royal purple flows down through the side of her face. Blowing softly with the wind, flitting beautifully up and down every time she takes a step.
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BirdBodhisattva said:
The way her mane, colored like royal purple, flows with the wind as she walks. The way her clothes… her stylish clothes, of which you had never seen before, sway here and there as she makes her way through the garden.
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...I might just be misremembering, but since when did DoA have hair and fancy clothes? I could have sworn she was all snakey and wore, like, a simple robe and hood or something.
 
I'm thinking that we should officially hire Baldomare to investigate what happened in the Royal Gardens.

Investigating anomalies in the Royal Castle regarding the case of the assault on the true Princess Luna can totally be considered part of our job. Just say we reviewed the Royal Guards security check and didn't find any mention regarding the statues disappearance as a reason for the investigation.
 
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Ericwinter said:
That is... very cruel, in all seriousness. Axe does not remotely understand ponies at the best of times, is an entirely different species with wildly different morals, and Is much more powerful than he will ever be, with the will to use that power if she decides she's mad at him about something. It would not end well.
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None of these are good arguments. And there are countless stories across the internet and real life of people overcoming bigger hurdles.

I. Ship. It.
 
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