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!
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.
Hints are being dropped here and there. A clearer hint should arrive soon. But don't worry, her first rebinding is cheap enough that you have time for now.
To add to this discussion, we know if we Accepted Mareinette knowing the secret wouldn't matter if we had a good relationship with her, and I don't think voluntarily letting her in early would be bad for the relationship?
@BirdBodhisattva can we have a write-in to have Mareinette use Bureau resources to keep Equestria's morale up via partying or something next turn? Basically have Mareinette do a supercharged version of that Bureau pick available and all.
@BirdBodhisattva can we have a write-in to have Mareinette use Bureau resources to keep Equestria's morale up via partying or something next turn? Basically have Mareinette do a supercharged version of that Bureau pick available and all.
To add to this discussion, we know if we Accepted Mareinette knowing the secret wouldn't matter if we had a good relationship with her, and I don't think voluntarily letting her in early would be bad for the relationship?
It'd give us initiative for once in a social dynamic with a Name, that'd be nice. It'd give us brownie points by giving her something she wants before she asks for it, that's also a plus. But most importantly, it'd allow us to contextualize the situation in a specific way.
"I invite you in as an honored guest" places an entirely different social expectation on her than "let me into the house in exchange for accepting a binding". The second one is transactional, and does not invoke traditional hospitality. This, ironically, gives her far more freedom to act because she's not expected to respect the household in the same way as she would if she were a guest. Is this fuzzy? Yes, but it's also the kind of thing that matters to a being that spent eons licking a stone altar while also maintaining her robes in pristine condition.
Velvet breaking down would not delay the wedding. Cadance and Shining are the only two pieces that truly matter. So, that would be to just "refuse" and then try to figure out "what next?"
D'awwww. As stated, any more bargaining is now moot. I tried my best, and that's pretty much all I can ask for. Although I might try to cope by writing omakes where we managed to find a way out.
Well, thanks! I'm glad you're having fun as well. This is a collaborative experience, after all. I also spent hours refreshing the page, haha. Looking... well, not forward, but looking towards what comes next. Might also have an omake about a Mareinette boss fight, but for now, I have my own items to complete. After that, well, who knows? See ya.
Yes, but it's also the kind of thing that matters to a being that spent eons licking a stone altar while also maintaining her robes in pristine condition.
The author does not intend to (and should not be interpreted as intending to) break the site's Terms of Service or site rules at any point.
None of the above subjects are condoned, glorified or encouraged by the author, and their presence in this story is purely for narrative purposes.
If you do not wish to be exposed to any of the subjects cited above, you should STOP READING IMMEDIATELY.
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Your breathing is ragged. Your coat is frazzled. Your heart is pounding inside your chest. And most of all you are afraid. Your mind is teetering on the brink of panic, and for all that your panic is keeping you focused, you realize you are just one push away from breaking down into paralyzing dread.
You are Velvet Covers, and right now you are racing through the Woods. Galloping as quickly as your dream-body can carry you. Rushing through the leaves and the barbs and the reaching claws of older things that no longer have names, as you try desperately to find that chosen place.
Of course, this being the Woods you know that none of your pains are real.
You know that your breathing is not truly ragged, for you are not really filling your lungs with air.
You know that your coat is not truly ragged, and that the painful whips of hard branches against your sides are imaginary.
You know that this frantic beat inside your chest is not truly coming from your heart.
However, you also know that even though your pains are not real, everything else is.
And your fears? Oh, your fears are dragging behind you like chains.
But still, despite your pains, and your fears, and the countless eyes that are watching you, you continue to run.
Because you have to get there.
You have to get there before it is too late.
Before her patience runs out, and she decides that enough is enough.
"So, my little Velvet, have you made your decision?" "I… Master I… I can't... I just can't..." "Ahah... You always had so much trouble shedding your doubts. But fear not. If you cannot decide, then I will just remain in this body an-" "WAIT-!" "…?" "I-I… the Name, Master, I dare not give you the Name… I fear her displeasure. I fear she might lash against me, if I give her away like…" "Ahh… yes, that makes sense. You think she still clings to pride, yes. You certainly do not know her… but I can see why you would fear her displeasure, if I were to leave for so many years… But I sense you have more to say? The ideas in your mind, they buzz so strongly I can almost hear them… speak, little Velvet. Be not afraid." "Master… that body is… beneath you… May I please offer you… another?" "Oh? Ahh… Ah, I understand. Yes… yes, I can see why you are doing this. Your morals, they still shackle you, yes? You wish for my aid in breaking them, correct? Good, little Velvet, good. I accept. I will leave this one behind…" "Th-… thank you… Master." "Come to me, Velvet Covers. You know where to look for me."
That conversation, that damned conversation, still echoes inside your mind. The fear that you felt, that you are still feeling, that she might catch on at any moment… it still crashes inside your head. Like a pulsing headache that aches in time with your beating heart, or perhaps like a hammer striking against the cracking anvil of your brain.
Still, she accepted your request. She accepted your request, and Shining Armor fell unconscious on the floor the moment she did.
But you could not do anything about him. You couldn't even sigh in relief at the fact that she believed you and that you were still alive. You didn't even have the time to find somepony to take care of Shining Armor.
Instead, you just ran away. You rushed to the nearest unused guest room, unlocking it with a tap of your hoof, and then you barricaded yourself inside of it so nopony could disturb you.
And then, you sheared off a lock of your mane, and forced yourself to sleep.
That is why you are here.
That is why you are in the Woods.
Because here, you know, is where you will find the Master.
Here, you know, is where she will find you. And here is where she will enter you and bind you and dig herself so deep into your brain that…
That…
You don't have time to think about it. Instead, you redouble your efforts. You force your legs to run faster and faster, until you somehow start to outpace your very thoughts.
After all, no matter what it takes, you have to get there before she decides to take you.
"Little little Velvet…"
A voice, that voice, comes to you. It is so low that it might as well have been a thought. And yet, it is so clear that you think somepony just whispered into your ears.
A chill runs down your spine as you realize that, most likely, both ideas are true.
"Such haste… such hurry… Are you truly so eager to find me? Have you finally realized that those things you carry within you, your love and your fears and your memories, are nothing but weights upon your back? Have your yearnings to shed them away, so that you might climb higher, finally caught up to you?"
The voice comes from everywhere, and yet it comes from nowhere at all. You swear you can hear it coming from the very trees. But no matter how hard you try, you simply can't tell what direction it is coming from.
You feel as if every word she speaks is, somehow, made by the rustling of dry leaves.
You feel as if every phrase she utters is, for some maddening reason, an impossible coincidence. As if a stray wind somehow rattled the right bush, and for a single moment your mind was tricked into thinking you just heard a pony cough out a syllable.
Except that it happens a thousand times. Again, and again, and again, to the point that those syllables connect into words which connect into phrases which connect into the mocking ideas that are buzzing their way into your head.
"But still, you remain so blind… Can you not see that you have already found me? Can you not see that, this whole time, I was all around you? Ah… a lesson, then. Better yet, a question. Have you found the answer already, little Velvet, to those questions I asked you so long ago? Tell me, little Velvet, do you know… what loyalty tastes like?"
She is getting closer. Her patience is waning and... no, it is changing. Shifting into desire and then yearning and then the compulsion to take over your skin.
And still, you run. You run because you have no other choice. You run because you have no better choice.
Because no matter what happens, you must reach that place.
Of course, you cannot look up. Or rather, you know you will not see anything if you look up. After all, there is nothing but darkness all around you. And the black trees are so thick here, their leaves so greedy to drink the light of Glory, that you wouldn't be able to see the Mansus even if you tried to look up.
Still, you run.
Because you know you are getting closer.
You know… somehow you know that…
… that you are nearly there.
"No answer? Well, I thought that would be the case. Still, you are not to blame… not to blame… After all, you have never truly known loyalty, have you? Oh, I know you have not. Not to me, at least. You did not owe me, like Comet did. You were not fascinated by me, like Starry is. You did not yearn for my attention like Copper, and you never feared me like Jade… But that was why I knew you had it in you, little Velvet."
You trip on a root, and you fall face first into the ground. Your mouth fills with the black dirt, and you have to struggle to get your leg free. You eventually do it, but the struggle that it is to get up only makes you realize that you are shaking.
You can't see anything. Even with your eyes closed, you can't see anything.
But still, you swear that the root around your leg grasped for you.
Of course, you know the Woods are strange. Especially when you are in a part that is as deep as this. You know that things around here can simply… move. And you know that it is no coincidence that, so far, you have not really crashed into any of the trees.
But that root? That was certainly… different.
That was certainly her.
You are almost there, you know.
But you might not make it in time.
You get up on your shaking legs and you continue to run.
"After all, ambition is oh so important to climb… None the matter. The second question, then… Little, little Velvet. Have you finally figure it out? Do you know… what I am?"
You remember the first time she asked you that question. You remember like it was yesterday.
It was months ago. Almost a full year back. When you were still in the Cult, and when you had beseeched her for a lesson on Lantern.
You did not know the answer to that question back then.
But now…? As you follow this… feeling of yours?
As you madly rush to a place that… to the one place where you can do… something?
Your mind is too frantic to properly think. Your thoughts are too focused, or perhaps too confused, for you to put the pieces together.
However, even then, an understanding slowly begins to dawn on you…
But none of that matters. Not anymore, at least.
Because suddenly, something inside of you lurches, and you dig your hoofs on the ground as you screech into a hard stop.
Because this is the place and this is the time and all that is left to do is end this once and for all.
It is a sickening feeling. A painful wrench inside your guts. As if you had a compass, inside of you, that twisted into the wrong direction as you ran past the designated spot. A sharp compass, made of hooks and knives and fangs sunk into your flesh, that for some reason lived in the place between your stomach and your heart.
And it hurt you as it lurched. But the dry gasp that escaped your lips as it twisted your insides was drowned out by the buzzing words of your Master.
"You already know the answer, don't you? Or perhaps, you knew it all along? Perhaps you realized it the first time you visited me, but chose to forget? Just like you and your kind forget so many things, as you stroll alongside me?"
No, it didn't just lurch. This thing inside of you didn't just stop, after it told you that you had reached this place. It did something… it is doing something much worse than that.
You can barely hear her words now. You know she is saying… something. But you can barely hear it.
Because the pain is… the pain is…!
The compass inside of you. That part of your soul that you tapped into in your panic. That ugly scar inside of you, that you begged to help you. It is not… it is not a compass.
It is not just a compass.
It is something so, so much worse…
And now that you are in the correct place, it is opening and it is expanding and it is slicing through more and more chunks of your innards as it assumes its true configuration.
Of course, there isn't really anything inside of you. It is not as if you are truly carrying a sharp thing of metal, a device of pain and daggers, within your guts. This is a dream, after all, and this is only how you feel. This is only how your brain, or perhaps the Mansus itself, chose to translate this sensation to you. However… you are also not stupid enough to think that nothing is happening.
After all, the device might be imaginary.
But its purpose is not.
You can barely keep your legs under you as it happens. Your Master's words are falling on deaf ears, but given the increasing strength of the wind you are sure she is saying something.
So, with the last strand of your sanity, you try to keep up appearances. Even if only for a moment longer. You stay where you are. You let the Master speak her words. And you force your mouth shut because the moment you stop forcing your teeth together you will scream and scream and scream and SCREAM AND SCREAM.
Because it hurts. It hurts SO MUCH.
The thing inside of you, the compass-that-is-not-a-compass continues to shred something inside of you. And for all that the exterior of your dream-body is completely intact, at least on the outside, you realize that you are now less of a pony than you were before.
Still, that infernal contraption that guided you here finally reveals its true function.
Because as it twists and turns, and as it assumes its final configuration, you realize that… it was not a compass.Not exactly.
This imaginary device… this ugly, cancerous part of your soul… its purpose was not to guide you to this place.
It was to guide something else towards you.
It was never a compass.
It is a beacon.
Still, all around you the Woods is a frenzy of activity. The Master, you know, is almost upon you. She cares not that you are frozen in place by agony. She can't even notice how you are a few seconds away from crumpling down in pain.
You can barely hear the roots, as they burst out of the ground to surround you and enter you and become you.
You can barely hear her words, as she finishes asking her final question.
"Tell me, little Velvet, do you know… what is about to happen?"
Something inside of you flares.
And the voice that comes out of your mouth is not your own.
Still, in a painful flash of realization, you understand that you are answering all three of her questions. All at the same time.
Because with a blinding, searing jolt of agony, as if the thoughts were being branded into your brain, you understand it. You discover the taste of loyalty, and you understand the Master's true identity, and you realize what is about to happen next.
"Yes."
And the flames crash down on you like a violent storm of-
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It burns.
Everything is red.
It burns.
Everything is black.
It burns.
Everything hurts.
It burns.
It hurts so much you can't remember anything. It hurts so much you can't even think.
It burns.
It hurts so much that, perhaps, your thoughts, and your memories, and maybe your very soul are being burned away by the flames.
IT. BURNS.
The House of the Sun is a place that defies geometry. Even from the outside, it can look like tower, and a pyramid, and an entrancing maze of floating mesas. All at the same time.
Even when one is in the Woods, which grow beneath and around the Mansus, one can see different things when they look up.
At times, one can see the underside of a higher level. Those who reached the Blank Door will usually think they are gazing at the mesa that holds the Blank Plains. Those in the Know realize it might be something else.
At times, one can look up and see Glory. Because for all that there are several floors and levels between the Woods and that highest place, the uncovered light of Glory still shines upon all of the Woods indiscriminately.
But more importantly, there are certain places in the Woods that, maddeningly, allows one to see… other parts of the Mansus.
A forgotten lake, untouched by the black trees, where one can see the reflection of the Moon.
An old well, from which clever adepts can spot the crooked shape of the Ruined Church.
A battered crater, which somehow aligns precisely with a crater that lies right besides the Summit Gate.
The Woods yearn for all of those places, for they are all touched by Glory. So, for all that the Woods guards those places jealously, there are also places within its dark depths where one might look up and see those impossible sights.
And this…
This is one such place.
Because that part of your soul, the one that smells like dirty flames and desperation, brought you here for a reason. It guided you here because this is the closest spot.
So, you ran and ran and ran through the Woods, as your master mused and spoke to you, because…
Because you are right underneath that place.
You are right underneath the Shattered Stairways.
More precisely, you are right underneath it.
If you were to look up, you would see nothing but a floating mesa of Mansus-stone, flying high in the distant sky. Actually, if you were to look up, you would see nothing but the blocking leaves of dark trees. But still, for all that you ran to the dark depths of the Woods, the place you reached would look utterly unremarkable to any other adept.
It certainly looked unremarkable to her.
However, when you spoke…
When the thing inside of you reached out…
The underside of the Mansus, right above you… that faraway, distant ceiling of the Woods, which marked the ground of somewhere higher…
It cracked.
It cracked, and it broke, and it crumbled.
And that section of the Woods, that impossible spot, was right underneath Him. It was right underneath His resting place, as He impales Himself forever and ever and ever.
The ceiling of the Woods cracked. The floor of the Mansus gave way.
And an entire Era's worth of His filthy blood crashed down towards you. It hit you like a river of flame and filth. It washed over you like a torrent of tar and sulfur.
It fell, and it falls, and it will fall. Forever and ever and ever. Like a waterfall that never ends. Like a burning cascade that will never stop.
You did not survive its touch. And yet you remain, but only because He will not permit you to die.
However, the endless sea of trees around you. That deep, dark, ancient forest that existed since time immemorial, did not share His kinship like you did.
So, it became kindle to His flaming blood.
Velvet Covers has gained a further stain upon her soul, and the world will suffer for it.
....what.
everyone else will struggle to reach the Glory now I guess.
This is nuts though, and probably the single best Wolf-son we could have gotten. The question now is who is the better son, Paranoia or Ash?
THE THIRD SON
"Like anything else, the third is time is always the most meaningful. This is the last time it will hurt. Because the next time this one crosses the line, the filth within this one will be a greater part, compared to what remains."
-[Wolf, thy name is Ash]: "The Wolves gnaw around the walls of the Mansus. As any student of Histories know, they will kill you if you linger."
(All creatures not aligned with Velvet Covers will be harmed, or will risk being harmed, whenever they attempt to enter the Mansus.)
-[The Benefits of the Mother]: "Give me their scent, Mother. Tell me your will. The ashes will consume them until only the flavor of their bones remains."
[TO BE LEARNED AT THE BEGINNING OF TURN 19]
HOW CAN YOU SAY NOTHING GOOD COMES OF THE WOLF WHEN WE HAVE THIS SCENE?
Well, RIP Woods. Never spent much time there. At least it's not RIP Moth. I am sure this will have no effects in the Wake, right?
Wow the Stain on the Soul benefits are... fantastic, albeit for not-losing? Blocking our foes, and possibly giving us a tool against them? It's good to be a mother.
EDIT: Oh, and we've learned about something: "Heirlooms". I'm guessing they're similar to but not quite Level 7 artefacts, or something even more powerful? And we know one waits in the Garden of Lights, eep.
And these updates are usually (preferrably) made in two parts. Like next (EDIT: ) last time, you will have a chat with good Baldomare right after.
But to say what you will soon learn:
-Yes, the Master was the Woods. Or the part of the Woods that gained cohesion over the racuous chorus, after [REDACTED] something happened in the past.
-Yes, the Woods have been completely, uh... "remodeled". But Velvet will use her next free "Mansus action" to explore enough to find her way to the Blank Door. In practice, the rest of the Mansus (and your access to it) is not affected.
-Yes, there are new parts on [???] the lowest part of the Mansus. More on that later.
-???
-[Wolf, thy name is Ash]: "The Wolves gnaw around the walls of the Mansus. As any student of Histories know, they will kill you if you linger."
(All creatures not aligned with Velvet Covers will be harmed, or will risk being harmed, whenever they attempt to enter the Mansus.)
-[The Benefits of the Mother]: "Give me their scent, Mother. Tell me your will. The ashes will consume them until only the flavor of their bones remains."
[TO BE LEARNED AT THE BEGINNING OF TURN 19]
Looks like it. Aligns pretty well with what we knew from the wood-fruit-memory thing. The Woods themselves gained awareness when they absorbed what was left of the Moth.
Looking... well, not forward, but looking towards what comes next. Might also have an omake about a Mareinette boss fight, but for now, I have my own items to complete. After that, well, who knows? See ya.
