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.
And it can keep waiting, thank you very much. For all eternity if need be.
Also, poor Selene. I see now the issue with unbalanced Lores on her, especially so young. Two levels of Winter and a core Moth do not a social pony make.
Also also, am I the only one who has noticed that, not counting Selene—who will eventually be restored to her grown-up Alicorn status, of all goes well—Silky and her friends now make up a group of six mares? Just a random thought.
The bell rings, slightly startling you and indicating that another day of school has finally ended. All around you the other kids start packing up their things and joining together in groups as they make their way out of the classroom. You curl up slightly behind your desk, out of habit, trying to look as uninteresting as possible while the small crowd of children distances itself from you.
About that... Yes, I also wondered whether if I should use certain terms or not.
I think this was a topic of debate several months back. But in the show, at least, I'm sure they use the terms "girls" and whatnot. So as long as I don't accidentally use the terms "arms, hands" and whatnots, I don't reeeeally think that's much of a problem.
But if more people point that out, I'll see no harm in rectifying it, of course.
[X] Plan Solid Foundations V3 -[X][Attention of the Laws] GRAIL, to help with bridging the gap between us and Stormchaser.
-[x][Work] A measured commitment (6 personal actions available)
-[x][Purchase Books] KNOCK 3, FORGE 1, MOTH 1
-[X][Selene] EDGE if the lesson with Comet Feet is successful, KNOCK otherwise
-[x][Servants] Search for Books in Manehattan
-[x] Read books: FORGE 2, KNOCK 2, KNOCK 3.
-[x] Reach out to Copper Secateur. You wish you'd caught up with her sooner, especially after that close call she had - how is she?
-[X] Reach out to Comet Feet. It is your duty to learn, and you've had a hard time locating books that can teach you about EDGE. Can he give you another lesson before he goes?
-[x] Reach out to Twilight. You did say you were looking forward to hearing her findings, after all.
-[X] Meeting with Stormchaser (write in)
-[X] Help Convince Stormchaser (his choice of a lesson in Lore, meeting Copper and Starry, or just simply time spent together)
- - -
You are Velvet Covers, and you are…
You are furious!
The letter floats in front of you, your mind straining for control as your emotions urge you to tear the offending piece of parchment in half.
The nerve… the gall!
You had read the letter three times with your hoofs, and then twice with your eyes. It wasn't a matter of whether you thought your hoofs were mistaken when you read it the first time, it was more that you didn't actually believe what you were reading.
To put it simply, the thing you have in front of you is a missive from the Needle family.
A legal missive.
The letter is for Rarity, of course, but it was sent to your address specifically because you are Rarity's middlepony on this whole transaction. But that's beyond the point.
What matters is that they…
Is that the cursed Needle family is…!
"Dame Rarity, the Needle family sends you its highest regards and thanks for…" you start reading again, this time out loud, as if the words would somehow change if you did it like this, "and the inspiring work on your latest additions to the Designs by Rarity line…"
You mumble your way through the letter, feeling your ire steadily rise as you reach the final parts of the missive.
"… and, regrettably, due to the recent difficulties in the transfer of funds, we must unfortunately inform you that we will not be able to…"
You un-float the scroll, watching as gravity takes hold of it and it falls towards your desk. Your hoofs are massaging your temples shortly after, as you try your best to parcel out the information before you.
That was a legal missive alright. As much as it was written with all the formalities of a noble letter, it was still filled with the technical terms… the technical excuses that, in the end, made it very clear that the Needles would be "withholding" Rarity's dues of the contract for as long as they legally could.
Which wouldn't be that long, you know. You went over Rarity's contract several times before giving it to your friend for her to sign, you know that they can only hold her payment for two months, at most, before you are able to force them to pay up, with interests.
But that's the thing about it. The contract has emergency clauses that allows the Needles to make this sort of move. And, your mind starts working a few moves ahead on the board, they just might interpret that the motion to force them to pay up must be forwarded by Rarity herself, without the interference of any middleponies.
Which means that this is either a power play from the Needles, an attempt at holding her bits for financial gain, an attempt to try and smoke out her true identity by forcing her to take part in a legal battle of sorts… or all of the above at the same time.
"But this… doesn't make sense," you say to yourself, as you continue to massage your temples.
Needle Pin, the mare with whom you struck out the deal of Rarity's patronage, seemed to be a smart mare. She had all the marks of an upstart businesspony who was trying to gain clout within her family. That was your read on her, and your uncle agreed on that.
And the Needles have a lot of talented designers working for them, which also means that they can do business without causing trouble to the parties involved. Yes, you know Rarity is talented, but…
"But if she is not as talented, or just as talented as their other contracted ponies… then pulling this sort of move doesn't make sense," you continue talking under your breath, once again floating the scroll towards your hoofs, "and if she really is a once-in-a-lifetime genius then… then taking this sort of risk is simply…"
You hoof-read your way through the scroll for what must be the tenth time. But this time you focus on a detail in particular.
The missive is not signed…
It is signed in the name of the Needle family, of course, and it was properly sealed and identified, so you know it's not a fake or a forgery.
But the missive is not signed by anypony in particular.
"And Needle Pin knows that this much…" you once again read over the amount of bits they are withholding from Rarity, "looks like a lot, for sure, but it's pocket change for family-sized business…"
They are holding a few hundred bits from Rarity, the full sum of her dues for the last three months of work that she sent to the Needles through your family. But you know that that is just her cut of the deal. The Needles and the Velvets no doubt made a lot more out of that.
Much like how you routinely control thousands of bits on the farm's ledgers, you know that the head of the Needle family is…
"No," you conclude, rolling the scroll and tucking it inside your topmost drawer, "definitely not a move from Needle Pin, definitely not even something their head knows about."
There is something very wrong about this whole ordeal, but something tells you that it's something the Needles as a whole wouldn't approve on. An internal problem of theirs, perhaps. Which means that it might not be something so hard to take care of, after all.
Maybe talking to Pin might be enough. Or at least you hope it will.
As if you weren't busy enough as things stand…
"Excuse me Ma'am? You have a visitor," your thoughts about how busy you are pop like a bubble, however, as Ponpon's head peeks in through your office's door, "may I let her in?"
You tilt your head slightly at that. There is a very short list of ponies who Ponpon would even interrupt your work to declare as "guests". Your family not being on that list, of course, since they have free reign to enter your office at their own risk.
Which means this must be important, at the very least.
And while the mare who is let in shortly after is one of the very few who you would see during your work hours, you can't help but let out a rather bittersweet smile at how… coincidental this was.
"Thank you Ponpon, I'll take it from here," you say, dismissing the maid shortly after, "and how are you, Rarity?"
The maid closes the door behind herself, leaving you alone with your friend. And with that, you take a good look at Rarity.
You and Rarity meet for a chat every week or so, so it's not like the two of you haven't seen each other in a long while. And your meetings are mostly you going to her boutique, since the place is now closed for business as she is dedicating herself fully to her new line of clothes.
So you can't help but raise an eyebrow at her sudden visit.
Furthermore, your raised eyebrow evolves into a fully confused expression as you notice that Rarity is…
Is Rarity actually trembling?
"Rarity… is… is anything the matter?" you ask, rather worried, as you notice that she…
She is not disheveled, by any means. Her mane is excellently well-kept, as usual, as is her coat. Her face, also, shows you that she has been sleeping well, much unlike how she was on the first weeks after she signed the contract with the Needles.
So why in the heavens is she… so quiet, and… and excited?
Why does she looks like is about to blow up?!
"Rarity, you are actually starting to worry m-"
"Velvet!!!"
A sharp and excited yelp from her causes your eyes to go wide open in surprise. A few moments later Rarity is heading towards y-… no, she is prancing towards you, as her horn glows with magic, ushering something to float out of her saddle bag.
"Velvet darling, this is… this is unbelievable! This is like a dream come true!" she says, words coming out of her mouth with uncontainable excitement, "oh darling, I just had to come over and tell you! As soon as I found out about it, I simply couldn't wait!!!"
You very nearly think she is going to climb on your desk, for a few moments, but she stops after "only" placing her forelegs on it. She does, however, nearly surrounds you with several…
Oh, these are…
"We made it darling! We made it!!!"
The things that Rarity is floating in front of you is nothing less than a small collection of fashion magazines, open on very specific pages.
Her eyes, as she says those words, are positively sparkling with glee.
"Crinas, Vanity Mare, Cosmare! All! Of! Them!!!"
And her happiness is as infectious as her smile, you are soon out of your chair, grabbing one of the magazines out of the air and poring over it with your eyes and hoofs.
"Holy heavens Rarity, it really is…" you say, your lips curling up into a smile as the shock starts washing over you, "you really are…! Rarity, you made it!!!"
"I know! I still can't believe it darling, but it's all here!"
You look, still incredulously, at the several fashion magazines. You know those names, you know those brands, they are all high-end magazines that you usually see in expensive spas or in bustling cities. All of them have at least one piece of the newly born Designs by Rarity on display.
It is breathtaking, really, to see something made by your friend being displayed in a magazine next to perfumes and other luxury items that costs at least three digits of bits.
And heavens… Crinas even has a small, one paragraph article talking about the sudden appearance of this new design line from the Needle family!
"Rarity I… dear me, I don't even know what to say," you admit, slightly lightheaded from the suddenness of it. "Congratulations are in order, of course, but…"
This is… seeing Rarity beaming like this is…
"What? Congratulations? Darling, I didn't come here for that. Quite on the contrary?" she says, although you can't really understand what she means by that.
"Huh…? Why? I mean, this is all y-"
But before you can even finish, Rarity has you in a tight, trembling hug. The sort of hug that gets you by surprise, and that you can tell is still infected by her slight urge to continue prancing out of joy.
"Velvet darling, I came to thank you," she says, somehow hugging you even tighter as she does.
And you are…
You are frozen solid by that.
Of course, you are beyond happy for your friend. She is good at what she does, great even, but you are sure that she would have been able to make it this far on her own, eventually.
And besides, you don't really think you deserve her thanks for this. She deserves this much, so helping her do this is a given, really. It's something that you are glad to be a part of.
"This is really a dream come true," she continues, completely ignoring the somersaults that your mind is doing, "but if I had never met you… well, they would continue being just dreams!"
And slowly, gently, her giddiness and happiness and plain honesty finally get the better of you, and you return her hug wholeheartedly.
"Don't think too much about it, Rarity," you say, putting your own forelegs around her, "you deserve all of this."
Yes, she deserves all of this, and a lot more.
And this is what friends are for, right? Friends are supposed to help each other, no matter what.
For a split second, while you think about that, your thoughts return to the scroll resting on your drawer, the annoying powerplay from somepony of the Needle family.
But, you think… that is also something you'll gladly take care of, if it helps Rarity.
"Anyways, enough hugging. We have to celebrate this!" you say, letting go of her and pulling her by the hoof away from your office, your work completely forgotten.
Yes, you are a noble aren't you? You are sure there is supposed to be something worth drinking on this house!
Rarity has dedicated herself to her work for a full season, and her name is now at least known in some circles! This is not fame, this is not influence, this is not power or clout. But surely, this is the first step.
It is now safe to say that Rarity no longer has to dedicate herself fully to her contract! Her Confidant actions can now be safely used for other things.
Every turn Rarity will "roll" for her job. Her roll will be a "degrees of success/failure" roll if she is ordered to do something else. Her roll will be a "roll for extra/critical success" if she is allowed to focus entirely on her work. These will compound for the growth of her fame and the quality of her work as the months go on. You will be warned (by her) if she feels like her work is starting to lose quality, and that she wants to dedicate herself for a full month.
Somepony, who surely doesn't know what they are doing, is trying to finagle their way into your contract with the Needles! This is surely not something that the Needles will approve of, if they find out, and it feels like the doings of a younger (and foolish) member of the family. You are sure that you will be able to sort everything out if you take the time to reach out to Needle Pin herself.
Rarity's payment is currently being withheld. She told you, after the two of you started drinking, that she insists on "giving you a share" of her earnings. You flatly refused at first, but she insisted that she should "at least pay off the investment you made on her". You can tell she doesn't plan on stopping as soon as she pays you back the 300 bits of investment, but… well, that's how things will go, you suppose.
Rarity should start giving you a slight increase of income… as soon as you resolve the current happenance with her contract, that is.
You try not to remember how… accusing her gaze felt, wide-eyed and almost feral as it was, when she looked at you while Mr. Stormchaser tried to hold her back. It is something you won't tell anypony, not even Silky, but you are convinced that you somehow caused whatever ill happened to Mrs. Velvet.
You are currently in a… in a very large garden? You are definitely inside a garden of sorts, like the one you have on your house but much, much bigger. All the trees look the same, or at least they look to be of the same species, but none of them have any fruits on them, so you are not sure what this place is supposed to be.
Getting here involved a lot of things. It involved leaving the schoolhouse without Silky, which made you feel a bit bad. Then it involved telling a lie to Soft Sweeps, saying that you would be heading home ahead of them while she waited for Silky, which also made you feel bad.
And then it involved you running away and hiding from Soft Sweeps once she insisted that the two of you should wait for Silky together, and that she couldn't let you go home alone.
But once you managed to evade the flying mare, although you are still not exactly sure of how you managed it, you were then able to focus on your real objective.
"The hay am I supposed to do now? Just knock on their door and ask for help?" you say out loud, nervously eyeing the wooden house. "I mean, I don't even know their names, how is that ever going to work?"
oh, if only you knew more about them... there's absolutely NO CHANCE that the CMC won't try their best to help you.
Possibly while screaming about being CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS BEST FRIENDS/PSYCHOLOGISTS or something... though the seriousness of the request might have them be less loud for once.
With that, you finally reach the front door of the wooden house, raising a hoof to knock on it. The voice of the five ponies talking inside of it so loud that you can almost make out their conversation.
"What? Why? It's the Cutie Mark Crusaders, isn't it? So obviously only ponies with cutie marks can vote. The three of you are more like… Cutie Mark Squires, or something."
Look, I'll take pity on you. If you REALLY can't talk to them... just leave them a written message. You probably have quills and paper with you from school, don't you?
Well, because you embarrassedly described, at length, how you had nervously stalked them all the way to their farm (Apple Bloom, the yellow one, told you it's an orchard, not a garden), proceeded to agonize for almost an hour about whether you should knock on their door or not, and then climbed the roof of their clubhouse.
So yes, you can understand why they laughed at that. Not at you, but at the situation as a whole.
And that is how you ended guiding the five of them all the way back to your house. Because you have no idea of how things might work out, but you dearly hope that this is the sort of problem that you can, quite literally, "throw friends at" until it goes away.
"Selene!" she says once again, her voice equally relieved and scolding, "I'm so glad you're back! Is everything alright? Did something happen? Don't you ever do something like that again, but I'm so glad you're fine!"
Selene has for the very first time faced a challenge by herself! Things might have turned out far, far different from how she hoped they would, but in the end she did make some friends all on her own.
Selene's Edge is now level one!
Silky Stream, following her teacher's advice, had a good, long talk with her parents. She is, or at least you think she is, a lot better now.
oh, Velvet is just too clever and responsible to not think of this.
Still, now the children KNOW about Silky's rich family. I wonder if we can use it as a way in to discuss business with their parents...
Well, Filthy Rich already knew. The Apples don't though. Still, they already have some agreements with Rich... but then again, we can help them expand to new markets.
Apple products (ESPECIALLY the cider and zap apple things, but also normal apples) could have a market in Canterlot, for example. They just need good publicity.
and who knows, maybe Scotaloo could mention this "awesome lady" that leaves outside of Ponyville to Dash...
Aigh. Turn 9 done, Turn 10 voting post will be posted... as soon as QM finishes dinner.
For the record, before you all start worrying too much about AP economy, you will have the option to "ask your family to take care of it". This is a business problem, after all.
Normally, you would be able to ask your father to take care of it as a "zero AP cost action", if you don't want to take care of it yourself. But since you have rekindled your relationship with your uncle, you can instead ask him to do it without the "social cost" of owing your father a favor.
Aigh. Turn 9 done, Turn 10 voting post will be posted... as soon as QM finishes dinner.
For the record, before you all start worrying too much about AP economy, you will have the option to "ask your family to take care of it". This is a business problem, after all.
Normally, you would be able to ask your father to take care of it as a "zero AP cost action", if you don't want to take care of it yourself. But since you have rekindled your relationship with your uncle, you can instead ask him to do it without the "social cost" of owing your father a favor.
And hey, if we do a social action with him as well, we'll even get to hang out with him to boot! And we were probably going to go for a family social anyways...
This seems... a little more suspicious than Velvet is giving it credit for.
And, in lieu of the mere fact that, should we wish to do so, even the mere whispers of the fact that the Needles are withholding Rarity her dues would harm them across all sectors, by which hoof one could concur that this seems... like some sort of social call?
Rather than going the full business damage control that Velvet went, this feels more like they wanted to get a handle on Rarity's own sense of worth, as well as possibly getting a reveal of her own identity.
Though, if it were truly necessary, I wouldn't doubt that Needle Pin would be able to hire investigators which could point out that her newest hire is the Element of Generosity.
At which point I can only imagine the amount of panic the whole family would be under.
So, yeah... a combined social call/sense of self check, along with some secondary goals that only the sender might know of.
Yeah, I'd have preferred Forge, but it's not too bad.
A bit annoying about the scrap, and the House still being there worries me a bit... but at least we might get some use out of it.
Actually, maybe we could have the house cleaned and things ordered, as to surprise Jade if/when she decides to go back there?
We technically aren't allowed, but it could be a nice surprise. for the time she's ready to face her past directly, to have the house not be quite so gloomy.
Also also, am I the only one who has noticed that, not counting Selene—who will eventually be restored to her grown-up Alicorn status, of all goes well—Silky and her friends now make up a group of six mares? Just a random thought.
About that... Yes, I also wondered whether if I should use certain terms or not.
I think this was a topic of debate several months back. But in the show, at least, I'm sure they use the terms "girls" and whatnot. So as long as I don't accidentally use the terms "arms, hands" and whatnots, I don't reeeeally think that's much of a problem.
But if more people point that out, I'll see no harm in rectifying it, of course.
eh, you might as well use it. I'm pretty sure I remember the term kid being used in the show too, probably by Cherilee. Or maybe in the comics. Someone used it though
Thank you for beautiful continuation of this quest, BirdBodhisattva! This really was a cozy social to read.
As for the future planning of the turn 10, I would advocate for 5 actions. We've been told that the family head will notice if we'll do 6 actions often, and honestly we already could qualify. If nothing unexpected happens during the closing, we for once wouldn't have any fires at all.
Well, no rampaging fires. No pursue of Luna and no suicides to prevent, at very least. Granted, it's a bit foolish to plan literary right before the last piece of information becomes available, but to give the thread alternative topic for discussion if this one doesn't encourage discussion enough, here's my preliminary plan:
-free attention of Lantern to spend on the divining the secrets of the Stag Door -social with Copper
--maybe with additional write-in to specifically attempt to separate conversation from occult topic, or, at very least, from lore topic. Something in line with "Copper, I recently have gone through my fourth realization and plan to go through my fifth in the immediate future. I am not, like, entrapped in fascination, but I would really like to just talk". Not necessary verbally or at all, but if asked
-Selene and/or daughters social action
-reading a winter book (and maybe heart books too?)
-Mansus action
--Ascending to the higher places
--explore, behind Black Door (i.e. Orchids of Light maybe?) if in previous part riddle wasn't answered, else behind Stag Door
-a deal with the letter
-tutoring Twilight
-Zero AP action: use your family help with business situation.
-Ponyservant action: seek books in the Ponyville
-Rarity action: turn her into Initiate
-Jade action: to decide based on the options. Maybe help her with ascending the Mansus?
-Selene second action: Knock lesson
Not actually an edit, because I was still writing this while interrupted by turn's closure: Yeah, it was foolish. On the other hand, both the social and and 5 action limit seems important to me, so I would still use that plan.
For the record, before you all start worrying too much about AP economy, you will have the option to "ask your family to take care of it". This is a business problem, after all.
I would honestly advise against using this option, folks.
After all, a favor would need to be paid back. So it's not really saving the AP, but rather borrowing it from our future self.
And right now... things aren't on fire. There's lot to do, but nothing that will explode immediately.
In the future, however? We may be called to repay the favor just as, say, Master/Celestia decides to make a move we need to react to, on top of Silky and/or Stormchaser having a mental breakdown on their own.
Right now, we are walking hurriedly. Later, we may well need to sprint. Why put obstacles on our path in a future we don't know the shape of?
Heh. I just love the way this is stated by the way, especially after we had that one scene during the Secret Histories interlude. "At their own risk"" indeed.
I would honestly advise against using this option, folks.
After all, a favor would need to be paid back. So it's not really saving the AP, but rather borrowing it from our future self.
And right now... things aren't on fire. There's lot to do, but nothing that will explode immediately.
In the future, however? We may be called to repay the favor just as, say, Master/Celestia decides to make a move we need to react to, on top of Silky and/or Stormchaser having a mental breakdown on their own.
Right now, we are walking hurriedly. Later, we may well need to sprint. Why put obstacles on our path in a future we don't know the shape of?
Income -> artifacts & expeditions, correct? I don't recall there being any other use for it.
In which case we should probably start looking for those, since we've basically neglected them entirely so far. If not for books being good low-level lore sources we wouldn't have even gotten this far.
Probably; the fact that we have our family's weight behind us means we're just as much of a potential threat to someone who actually crosses us. An edge is no less sharp for being rarely drawn.
I would honestly advise against using this option, folks.
After all, a favor would need to be paid back. So it's not really saving the AP, but rather borrowing it from our future self.
And right now... things aren't on fire. There's lot to do, but nothing that will explode immediately.
Wait, what's your reasoning for our Uncle, then? While I am interested in seeing who did this ourselves, and possibly suborning/befriending/recruiting them, if our AP economy next turn is bad enough there's no reason not to use him... I think.
@BirdBodhisattva When you're back: would asking our Uncle for help also incur a favor, or does he do it for free?
-Baldomare: not a part of your cult proper, but an extremely interesting mare who lives in the Mansus, with her lover Illopony. Now, if only you could communicate with her when you visited...
A random though with no connection to current events: what if our Winter 3 perk was the ability to communicate with silence alone?
Essentially something like this:
Velvet: ... ?
Baldomare: Oh, of course, how silly of me not to mention. Yes, they are the same person.
Velvet: ... ... !
Baldomare: Well, a person is a bit of a stretch, true. Nonetheless...
Velvet: ... .
Baldomare: Yes, exactly.
Also, spooky moment when Velvet talks with her hubby and the servants wonder wtf happened, as they heard nothing from us.
Normally, you would be able to ask your father to take care of it as a "zero AP cost action", if you don't want to take care of it yourself. But since you have rekindled your relationship with your uncle, you can instead ask him to do it without the "social cost" of owing your father a favor.
Hm. Can't we go with as little as a formal letter to the head with "I got a letter from your family, but it isn't signed by the head. I would like you to check it on your end and repeat with head's signature"
As for the future planning of the turn 10, I would advocate for 5 actions. We've been told that the family head will notice if we'll do 6 actions often, and honestly we already could qualify. If nothing unexpected happens during the closing, we for once wouldn't have any fires at all.
Eh, he didn't ask a favor help with the initial negotiations, so I doubt he would for smoothing things out. Remember, he actually cares about family, and wouldn't use the act of actually doing part of his job as social leverage against them. Probably at least.
