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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MrRobot said:
WormArchon:

Velvet covers: *Slowly turn he head to make eye contact* The changelings should not be a problem anymore.
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Velvet going "We have things bigger and scarier than those to worry about" would absolutely be fear-inducing, yeah.

Tomsawyer18 said:
WormArchon: Look I told you you got a critical on your recruitment attempt…
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That would be understating things. Situation is more like "dice went ham and rolled multiple Nat 100 in quick succession". But I suppose Histories like their little subtleties.
 
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MrRobot said:
WormArchon:

Velvet covers: *Slowly turn he head to make eye contact* The changelings should not be a problem anymore.
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Alternate:

Velvet covers: *Slowly turns her head to make eye contact* Did you say changeling? I could use one of those, would spare my bit budget for ritual ingredients!

thread in general: ???

Gyldir: Soooo... What does everypony think about searching for the sea ponies? I'm sure life underwater can be nice. And far away from whatever is going on here.
 
Light Seeker said:
Velvet going "We have things bigger and scarier than those to worry about" would absolutely be fear-inducing, yeah.
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No, see, the irony is that it's not really about bigger monsters. The Changelings shouldn't be a problem because the stone they were originally using to power their shapeshifting was destroyed. By all rights they shouldn't be able to do it anymore. It's actually kinda freaky that they still can shapeshift, even if it's been hinted that said shapeshifting is different. Hell, it seems almost more real now, which is scarier.
 
Toboe said:
Gyldir: See the positive: If the Changelings try their shit again, we can just point Velvet in their direction, pull the pin, and see what happens!
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That was the inciting incident. Cadence is far to scared to try and pull the pin deliberately.

Tomsawyer18 said:
WormArchon: Look I told you you got a critical on your recruitment attempt…
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Its as much the crit fails your enemy rolled as the crits you rolled.

Light Seeker said:
Velvet going "We have things bigger and scarier than those to worry about" would absolutely be fear-inducing, yeah.
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Dread inducing even.
 
Velvet: Anyways *pulls a knife and charges it, then the eldrich horror start to run.*
 
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Yeah -- we don't need his help but the messiness if he gets involved (or gets the Velvet mob involved) could be a real pain. And when we have a solid plan we really don't need that complicating factor.
 
[X] Plan Velvet is Pro-Love and Pro-Schedule and Pro-Sanity

I love the implication that the currently leading vote is anti-sanity, excellent marketing work.
 
Spector29 said:
excellent marketing work
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Good to know it worked, I had to fit the naming scheme somehow.
But for real, let's make sure there isn't even a chance we get a Pride-shaped fire if things go poorly by voting accordingly? 4 more people to go will do, not the biggest of margins and all.

Also, if Velvet's father hears of Pride going off gallivanting (as is a possibility by telling him of the quest), there's a nonzero chance that he recalls Pride and sends someone else here because reputation damage, wasting our AP, making our position worse, and possibly having our father connect that change to us and get annoyed?

Adhoc vote count started by lurker9875 on Jan 10, 2024 at 1:41 AM, finished with 285 posts and 48 votes.
  • [X] Plan Velvet is Pro-Love and Pro-Schedule
    -[x] "Go for it!"
    -[x] "Any gentlepony knows that mares love gifts. And I would be delighted to help make any packages from you reach her."
    -[X] "Her schedule? Yes, I am aware of it. Don't worry, I can guarantee she will return in…" (Turn 19)
    -[x] "She is… a difficult mare. In fact, I never met a mare that is so hard to deal with. And I have two fillies!"
    -[x] "I… I hope you don't tell her what I'm saying. But to be honest? She is a very lonely mare. She has… things going on."
    -[x] "Whatever you do, do not think of her as a damsel in distress. However, she is on a quest of sorts… she is looking for something that is very important to her."
    [X] Plan Velvet is Pro-Love and Pro-Schedule and Pro-Sanity
    -[x] "Go for it!"
    -[x] "Any gentlepony knows that mares love gifts. And I would be delighted to help make any packages from you reach her."
    -[X] "Her schedule? Yes, I am aware of it. Don't worry, I can guarantee she will return in…" (Turn 19)
    -[x] "She is… a difficult mare. In fact, I never met a mare that is so hard to deal with. And I have two fillies!"
    -[x] "I… I hope you don't tell her what I'm saying. But to be honest? She is a very lonely mare. She has… things going on."
    [X] Plan Encouraging and Information
    -[x] "Go for it!"
    -[x] "Any gentlepony knows that mares love gifts. And I would be delighted to help make any packages from you reach her."
    -[X] "Her schedule? Yes, I am aware of it. Don't worry, I can guarantee she will return in…" (Turn 19)
    -[x] "She is… a difficult mare. In fact, I never met a mare that is so hard to deal with. And I have two fillies!"
    -[x] "I… I hope you don't tell her what I'm saying. But to be honest? She is a very lonely mare. She has… things going on."
    -[X] "The thing you need to understand about Axe is that she is… exotic. She is not… an earth pony mare."
    -[x] "Whatever you do, do not think of her as a damsel in distress. However, she is on a quest of sorts… she is looking for something that is very important to her."
    [x] Plan Covers is pro-Love
    -[x] "Go for it!"
    -[x] "Any gentlepony knows that mares love gifts. And I would be delighted to help make any packages from you reach her."
    -[x] "She is… a difficult mare. In fact, I never met a mare that is so hard to deal with. And I have two fillies!"
    -[x] "I… I hope you don't tell her what I'm saying. But to be honest? She is a very lonely mare. She has… things going on."
    -[x] "Whatever you do, do not think of her as a damsel in distress. However, she is on a quest of sorts… she is looking for something that is very important to her."
    [X] Plan Covers is pro-Love, No Gifts
    -[x] "Go for it!"
    -[x] "She is… a difficult mare. In fact, I never met a mare that is so hard to deal with. And I have two fillies!"
    -[x] "I… I hope you don't tell her what I'm saying. But to be honest? She is a very lonely mare. She has… things going on."
    -[x] "Whatever you do, do not think of her as a damsel in distress. However, she is on a quest of sorts… she is looking for something that is very important to her."
    [X] Plan Encouraging and Information, WITHOUT TELLING HIM ABOUT THE KEY
    -[x] "Go for it!"
    -[x] "Any gentlepony knows that mares love gifts. And I would be delighted to help make any packages from you reach her."
    -[X] "Her schedule? Yes, I am aware of it. Don't worry, I can guarantee she will return in…" (Turn 19)
    -[x] "She is… a difficult mare. In fact, I never met a mare that is so hard to deal with. And I have two fillies!"
    -[x] "I… I hope you don't tell her what I'm saying. But to be honest? She is a very lonely mare. She has… things going on."
    -[X] "The thing you need to understand about Axe is that she is… exotic. She is not… an earth pony mare."
    [X] she is a difficult and lonely snake on a quest not a damsel. (Contradictory messages are amusing)
    [x]Looking for Love in all the wrong places
    -[x] "To put it simply, I don't think you should go for it."
    -[x] "She is… a difficult mare. In fact, I never met a mare that is so hard to deal with. And I have two fillies!"
    [X] Plan Not Encouraging and Information
    -[x] "To put it simply, I don't think you should go for it."
    -[x] "Any gentlepony knows that mares love gifts. And I would be delighted to help make any packages from you reach her."
    -[X] "Her schedule? Yes, I am aware of it. Don't worry, I can guarantee she will return in…" (Turn 19)
    -[x] "She is… a difficult mare. In fact, I never met a mare that is so hard to deal with. And I have two fillies!"
    -[x] "I… I hope you don't tell her what I'm saying. But to be honest? She is a very lonely mare. She has… things going on."
    -[X] "The thing you need to understand about Axe is that she is… exotic. She is not… an earth pony mare."
    [X] Plan Stupid Ideas Make the Best Stories
    -[x] "Go for it!"
    -[x] "Any gentlepony knows that mares love gifts. And I would be delighted to help make any packages from you reach her."
    -[X] "Her schedule? Yes, I am aware of it. Don't worry, I can guarantee she will return in…" (Turn 19)
    -[x] "She is… a difficult mare. In fact, I never met a mare that is so hard to deal with. And I have two fillies!"
    -[x] "I… I hope you don't tell her what I'm saying. But to be honest? She is a very lonely mare. She has… things going on."
    -[X] "The thing you need to understand about Axe is that she is… exotic. She is not… an earth pony mare."
    -[x] "Whatever you do, do not think of her as a damsel in distress. However, she is on a quest of sorts… she is looking for something that is very important to her."
    -[x] "She is quite the adventurous spirit. Why do you think she was out of the estate for all those days?"
    -[x] "Axe owes me a favor. So yes, I can arrange for a meeting. What? A date? Well, call it whatever you like."
    [x]Looking for Love in all the wrong places
    [X] Plan Velvet is Pro-Love, Pro-Schedule and Pro-Communication
    -[x] "Go for it!"
    -[x] "Any gentlepony knows that mares love gifts. And I would be delighted to help make any packages from you reach her."
    -[X] "Her schedule? Yes, I am aware of it. Don't worry, I can guarantee she will return in…" (Turn 19)
    -[x] "She is… a difficult mare. In fact, I never met a mare that is so hard to deal with. And I have two fillies!"
    -[x] "I… I hope you don't tell her what I'm saying. But to be honest? She is a very lonely mare. She has… things going on."
    -[x] "Whatever you do, do not think of her as a damsel in distress. However, she is on a quest of sorts… she is looking for something that is very important to her."
    -[X] Write in: find a way to introduce Pride to Stormchaser on a more personal level. Remember how good Stormchaser was with Comet back at the club? He's got a way when it comes to talking to other stallions about being in love.
    [X] Plan Velvet is Pro-Love
    [X]Plan Looking for Love in the Wrong Places.
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I mean there are good reasons not to tell him but some of these scenarios you guys are coming up with to justify this are wild. I mean how much can Pride fuck up in two months without us being aware. How many bad bg rolls have to happen?
 
[X] Plan Velvet is Pro-Love and Pro-Schedule and Pro-Sanity
[X] Plan Encouraging and Information, WITHOUT TELLING HIM ABOUT THE KEY

Hopping on the no quest info bandwagon.

Steady Gaze said:
It just seems prudent to me to take the opportunity to let the snakepony disclosure not be a really unpleasant surprise.
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To be honest, I didn't think about the humorous implications when writing this... But the laugh reactions have opened my eyes. :rofl: :rofl:

BirdBodhisattva said:
And from a meta perspective, now is not the time to talk about the Lores. Or their adjacencies.
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I was originally going to write a bunch about how this might mean that a bunch of negative info about the lores is about to come to light, but I think this is just about how we haven't laundered/rehabilitated the lores at all, and there is just no getting around how the lores were used to attack Luna. (The same situation we've been in for most of the game.)

Which reminds me... the Master is still out there, and we have no idea what they're doing... I had a random idea that maybe she's been plotting to kill Celestia somehow, to get the Blood of the Outsider trait. But I don't think the Master could actually pull that off; those Alicorn combat bonuses are quite impressive. Have there been other speculations?
 
The Frangiclave is irrelevant to Pride's Love Problem (especially since we intend to work on it ourselves, and it's not a facet of Axe's character that'll come up most of the time), and hoping that he funds the relevant Expeditions is taking advantage of him IMO (and it's unlikely he will not want to participate in whichever Expeditions we find, which is it's own bag of Worms.)

Also, Velvet's father very much has an interest on his Heir remaining in the image he desires, I don't want to give him even the possibility of a cause to decide Velvet is a bad influence and to recall Pride?
 
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I like how people are still saying we have a plan for the frangiclave when Bird himself said that we really don't. Because scrying is not foolproof. So why not have someone do more mundane manners of investigation for free? We both want Axe to stick around, after all.
 
[X] Plan Velvet is Pro-Love and Pro-Schedule and Pro-Sanity

I actually forgot there was a vote going on so I completely missed the discussion. Out of the leading plans, this is the one that catches my eye the most.
 
If Baldomare can't at least find us a significant clue without her rolling double Nat 1s on a RoTT, mundane methods ain't gonna help much?

And if the Frangiclave is in a Mansus Expedition then mundane methods (or scrying) ain't gonna do anything?
 
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Steady Gaze said:
I was originally going to write a bunch about how this might mean that a bunch of negative info about the lores is about to come to light, but I think this is just about how we haven't laundered/rehabilitated the lores at all, and there is just no getting around how the lores were used to attack Luna. (The same situation we've been in for most of the game.)
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I think it's rather more that the topic at the moment is romance, and while the Lores would certainly be something important pertaining to Axe, they're also expansive enough to be their own full-blown topic.
Steady Gaze said:
Which reminds me... the Master is still out there, and we have no idea what they're doing... I had a random idea that maybe she's been plotting to kill Celestia somehow, to get the Blood of the Outsider trait. But I don't think the Master could actually pull that off; those Alicorn combat bonuses are quite impressive. Have there been other speculations?
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Keep in mind, the Master tried to get Chrysalis to murder Celestia IIRC. Whether they're capable of doing it themselves or not, it doesn't seem to be their goal.
 
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