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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I'm glad this isnt an IC vote. It means this is an easy choice.

[] Unleash your children into Canterlot.

So that's total casualties from the hive. Changeling children and pony prisoners alike.

Along with a fuck more ponies from canterlot.

Twilights parents maybe?

Spector29 said:
Well. We should probably inform the Master that Luna is still around, and we could probably learn the Master's plan from the Baldomare if we ask, although it might require sacrificing the fruit to keep around.

Alternatively, we split from the Cult here, but making our own Cult faction is horrifically non-viable, and getting to Canterlot isn't going to be helpful before we've awakened Luna, which seems like it will take too long.
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I am still very pleased that people are still getting "the master is the good guy" from this situation.

Really brings home the cult vibe.
 
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I reckon we probably want the princess and royal guard alive, considering the whole crystal heart and Sombra thing, don't even want to think what Sombra is now with the whole Lore business...
Sombra feels like the villian that could reap the most from Lore being a thing
 
zxzx24 said:
I'm glad this isnt an IC vote. It means this is an easy choice.

[] Unleash your children into Canterlot.

So that's total casualties from the hive. Changeling children and pony prisoners alike.

Along with a fuck more ponies from canterlot.

Twilights parents maybe?
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Don't forget Rarity's dreams. Can't really show off fashion lines when your customers and patron family are all dead.
 
OH SHIT TWILIGHT. IS TWILIGHT GOING TO DIE???

Time to nope on out. Impractical or not, we promised ourselves in the aftermath of the ritual that there lined we would not cross.

And imo, one of them has just been trampled into the dirt, if what I think is going to happen will happen. Even if Twilight survives, letting everyone else just die is too much for me to advocate staying.
 
AzureSnake said:
I reckon we probably want the princess and royal guard alive, considering the whole crystal heart and Sombra thing, don't even want to think what Sombra is now with the whole Lore business...
Sombra feels like the villian that could reap the most from Lore being a thing
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Heroic units vs the masses and bodies. People we know vs strangers.

A cruel and punishing IC decision, but a simple OOC one.

Greymere said:
OH SHIT TWILIGHT. IS TWILIGHT GOING TO DIE???

Time to nope on out. Impractical or not, we promised ourselves in the aftermath of the ritual that there lined we would not cross.

And imo, one of them has just been trampled into the dirt, if what I think is going to happen will happen. Even if Twilight survives, letting everyone else just die is too much for me to advocate staying.
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Snuff out the light~
 
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[] Unleash your children into Canterlot.

Shit is so. So. So fucked.

All things considered, my best idea is to save the hero units...wait...how sure are we that Twilight is in the Hive? My first read-through finds a strong implication that the release of the Windigoes will kill Twilight, based on the saying that the path of Harmony is no longer viable, and the dousing of lights, and that noticeably changes certain trade-offs.

We also shouldn't forget psychological effect on our own Velvet Covers, which I think might be a bit worse under this option because of the sheer numbers involved and her family?

P.S. I'd just like to comment on how enormously appropriate the Winter react is to this post.
 
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Spector29 said:
Alternatively, we split from the Cult here, but making our own Cult faction is horrifically non-viable, and getting to Canterlot isn't going to be helpful before we've awakened Luna, which seems like it will take too long.
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I mean, we know more Lore than most adepts in canon CS do when they start their cults. And it's not like the Master is particularly informative when it comes to stuff, so we can probably find what we need to know in the Mansus.

...poor, poor Stormchaser. Everything's going to go to shit so quickly.
 
zxzx24 said:
I am still very pleased that people are still getting "the master is the good guy" from this situation.

Really brings home the cult vibe.
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Sure didn't say the Master was good in this situation. I think The Master has a lot of power that can be brought down to murder a whole lot of people, and appeasing them is a lot easier than splitting while we have a less than fully active Luna and The Master has four murder-spirits and Comet Feet.

Greymere said:
I mean, we know more Lore than most adepts in canon CS do when they start their cults. And it's not like the Master is particularly informative when it comes to stuff, so we can probably find what we need to know in the Mansus.

...poor, poor Stormchaser. Everything's going to go to shit so quickly.
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Yeah, but considering we're starting off with a Long (at least) as an enemy, we're currently lacking the Exalted Cultist and full health we'd have access to in-game.
 
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zxzx24 said:
I'm glad this isnt an IC vote. It means this is an easy choice.

[] Unleash your children into Canterlot.

So that's total casualties from the hive. Changeling children and pony prisoners alike.

Along with a fuck more ponies from canterlot.

Twilights parents maybe?
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Thinking OOC then: It would also help in blaming the Cult's own actions on the Changelings (which is technically true, they did exactly what the Cult is being accused of)

Also, there's the possibility that Twilight pulls a Heroic Action and shields everyone from the Windigos until they disappear. They have a bonus against ponies and she was just imprisoned, but on the other hand Apprentice of Celestia and Magic Prodigy, so...

I'm honestly not sure how to salvage this, though, not without removing the Master from power (which seems non-viable at the moment, but would leave the ordinary pony cultists sufficiently moral to not need active control).

Perhaps we can simply take more of a middleman role (by which I mean intercepting and "interpreting" the Master's interactions with the cult), and subtly betray the Master the one or two last months before Selene's restoration. Celestia is alive, if emaciated, and Cadence can take care of her until we recover, so even if Luna is weak when restored we can likely get all of their support together to stand against and/or persuade the Master.

On a separate note, I'm not sure Baldomare will tell us about this unless we ask some very pointed questions. Knowledge is never kind, but she tries to be.
 
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BirdBodhisattva said:
The Moon Princess is not here, so she is certainly dead. Harmony, then, is unachievable. The cult, also, only has a hooffull of Branded. Perhaps their species' eyes have grown dull to the Glory, for they seem uninterested in seeking it. And the Moon… we have no idea of how to reach it. Only one path remains, then."

"Huh. Regrettable."

"Yes. The very definition of it."
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So we need to start speedrunning for Glory, find a hint to the first Moon or heal Luna for the Master to be pleased with us and save the world from the Worms without murdering Harmony.
 
What does it say about is that we arent surprised by this turn of events. Displeased, but not surprised.

Did we not know this could happen? That it was likely even?
 
Twilight is a core part of the worlds light. Leaving her alive. Even if one of his fave minions wants her, would be extremely foolish.

Ah, but moth is rarely predictable, and we have been a good cultist recently.
 
zxzx24 said:
Worse for us for the world or for Luna?

The master never valued pony life. Luna wouldnt have changed that.
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Perhaps, but...

BirdBodhisattva said:
"If the Queen makes an enemy out of us, then time is precisely the one thing I do not have. The Moon Princess is not here, so she is certainly dead. Harmony, then, is unachievable. The cult, also, only has a hooffull of Branded. Perhaps their species' eyes have grown dull to the Glory, for they seem uninterested in seeking it. And the Moon… we have no idea of how to reach it. Only one path remains, then."
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... because we hid Luna the Master believes there is only one path to success now. And it's possibly the worst possible one.
 
WELP. That happened.

[] Unleash your children into Canterlot.

Is my immediate thought, in the hopes that the changelings blow their cover wide open.

Also I think Twilight is dead, from what I can tell.
 
Once Luna awakens the master will be forced to drop this plan more or less, since she'll be de facto allied with the cult, and too good of a resource to just kill off

this is why we should have given her to the cult in the first place

[] Slaughter the Royal Guard.

seems like the least bad option, but anything but unleashing the children into the city is acceptable
 
NMS said:
Perhaps, but...



... because we hid Luna the Master believes there is only one path to success now. And it's possibly the worst possible one.
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This is true.

But as the master sees no value in pony life, a course of action that leads to thousands of deaths would always have been on the table for them.

Alicorn or no Alicorn.

Maybe we would have gone the entire quest without this level of mass death being useful to their goals.

I dont believe that. The mansus is very clear about its desire.
 
...well if we decide to GTFO of Ponyville and flee (to Canterlot or to some far corner of Equestria), we don't really have any reason not to take 8 actions and spend all of them making ourselves vanish. Hey @Pittauro, you might get your wish of taking a bunch of actions next turn!
 
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