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 don't actually like the Good Friends option all that much. I just like the Twilight option a whole lot less.

[x] "I would be honored to be the maid of honor." (Become closer to Cadance)
[x] You will spend a long time with Cadance. Whisper a few Lore-secrets, here and there. (???)
[x] "Your dress is good. But it could be better. I know a mare..." (Involve Rarity in dressmaking. Applies Rarity's Lore levels)
[x] "But none of them are nobles. Are you sure I can invite them?" (Increase all non-locked ponies in your Contacts list to Good Friends)
[x] Everypony who is important enough is involved in some way. Get to know your co-equals better, from the Solar Court and elsewhere. (???)
 
lurker9875 said:
But... we can spend time with our current friends using our AP or Free Social AP, just need to persuade people more to make it happen.

However, we can't reliably spend AP for more Bits, or have an opportunity like this ever again to advance Rarity's dream?
We are always tight for Bits (eg: It was literally impossible previously to do what we needed done the next few turns until recent things came up), and I'm pretty sure that Rarity after the dual-buff will provide more Bits than Filthy Rich can straight out of the gate?
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We actually can spend AP for bits IIRC, we just usually don't because they're very boring options. And I'm not actually trying to argue against the Rarity option specifically anyways. It would probably be my second pick if I bothered caring about anything else.

My point was more comparing building up current friends to getting new ones via the Commisioner actions. It's hard enough getting to the former, where I almost want to laugh at the idea that we'll ever actually do it unless we're very close to Confidante level already. Even our free social AP seems to have been largely relegated to raising Lore levels for several turns in most people's minds, our social monster explicitly meant to be used for building socials is abhorred and kept away from anything that could help in that regard, and half our actions seem to be taken up by summoning or fleeting actions constantly.

On a completely seperate note, and again, this isn't ragging on the option, but I find it absolutely hilarious that we seem intent on giving Rarity something that, on its own, would probably be Confidante worthy… when she's already a Minion. Such a loyal minion that even Velvet can't deny the truth, when she seems intent on ignoring how dedicated her friends actually are to her. Same with Cadence, really. I half suspect that she's guarunteed to reach Confidante status—or at least an equivalent—with this all this fuckery, and the Maid of Honor option will be Minion equivalent.
 
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We need something from Outside to do things, do we not still have the meteor piece that comes from the outside. A key, small blade or a hammer depending on the rules... Is that not an option, if we lack we could buy more? But from the look of it we should go the harmony route.
 
Ericwinter said:
Minion equivalent
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No way that's happening while Shining is still alive though? (No, this is not a suggestion to get Shining killed :V)

Ericwinter said:
Velvet can't deny the truth, when she seems intent on ignoring how dedicated her friends actually are to her
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Hey, Velvet doesn't make many friends, but past a certain point she will invest heavily in you, a perfectly valid way of approaching social matters and needs?
 
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InkDrop said:
We need something from Outside to do things, do we not still have the meteor piece that comes from the outside. A key, small blade or a hammer depending on the rules... Is that not an option, if we lack we could buy more? But from the look of it we should go the harmony route.
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It was hard enough finding and acquiring that one piece and it has since been reduced to a bag full of dust. More, it was a mere Level Three artifact. The kind of thing needed to contest a Name of one of the strongest Hours is… so much more. Also there is more to the nature of things than just Outsider or not. Blood is a very particular kind of power.
lurker9875 said:
No way that's happening while Shining is still alive though? (No, this is not a suggestion to get Shining killed :V)
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Equivalent. An actual minion, yes, would require him to be dead, but I can very much believe that there will be a point of "anything short on turning on Shining is feasible". Hell, we know Cadence's Love powers encompass more than just romantic love, and Bird once made a point that was capable of fucking with a pony's destiny with that. I would be very unsurprised if Cadence ended up causing Velvet to be destined to be her… best friend sounds too simple. Soul Sister? Where Shining is her Soul Mate.
lurker9875 said:
Hey, Velvet doesn't make many friends, but past a certain point she will invest heavily in you, a perfectly valid way of approaching social matters and needs?
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Certainly. She also refuses to consider that, just maybe, people might reciprocate such dedication until they shove the fact in her face.

It has been very heavily implied that the only reason Jade isn't a minion on our sheet, or that Rarity can be lowered back to Confidante status by raising her in Lores that do not actually involve resisting orders, is because Velvet is desperately gaslighting herself into ignoring that they totally qualify for minionhood.
 
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Like… fuck. This is the one and only royal wedding in ever. Period. Worse, it's the Wedding of the Princess of Love. This isn't even a once in a lifetime event, it's a once in existence event, and there will only ever be one dress made for such an event. One person who can say they made a Princess's wedding dress. One person who will ever go down in fashion history as being worthy of that.

And we're going to make Rarity that person. Rarity, to whom fashion is not just passion, it is her life. She lives and breathes it. We're going to give her that one and only chance, when she was already maxed out on the friendship scale.

We first made her a confidante by giving her the tools to make her a dream a reality. This… this is giving her that dream fully manifest, and then pumping it full of steroids.
 
Actually, I'm genuinely curious what sort of effect Luna and Cadance caring so much about Velvet will have, aside from the practical things. If Cadance can fuck with Destiny, I find it hard to believe Celestia and Luna can't. And having two seperate Alicorns considering you, if not family, then the closest thing to it, is probably gonna do weird fucking things.
 
Ericwinter said:
Actually, I'm genuinely curious what sort of effect Luna and Cadance caring so much about Velvet will have, aside from the practical things. If Cadance can fuck with Destiny, I find it hard to believe Celestia and Luna can't. And having two seperate Alicorns considering you, if not family, then the closest thing to it, is probably gonna do weird fucking things.
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I'll just be happy if they can get Celestia to calm the zog down. I don't ever want to be in the position where we, the Moth-adept, have to be the primary voice of reason and restraint.
 
Venerable Ro said:
I'll just be happy if they can get Celestia to calm the zog down. I don't ever want to be in the position where we, the Moth-adept, have to be the primary voice of reason and restraint.
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To be fair, Velvet isn't really a Moth adept anymore, much like as I pointed out earlier, she isn't an Edge Adept. Really, Velvet isn't any type of adept. At best you could say she's not a Heart or Forge adept, and that shall be shortly remedied, not to mention is patently ridiculous anyways given the fact that Level 3 is still better than another Councillor or Name. So, for those particular Lores, that would be Marinette, Starry Heart—if she's still alive—and whoever the fuck the Forge Name is, plus maybe whoever is in the Heart Temple. Four people, at most.
Void_510 said:
Announcing Princess Velvet Covers, mother of Princess Luna, sister of Princess Cadence, Alicorn of Weird Fucking Things.
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…Sounds about right, yeah. What else would you call the Lores?
 
[X] "I would be honored to be the maid of honor." (Become closer to Cadance)
[X] "Your dress is good. But it could be better. I know a mare..." (Involve Rarity in dressmaking. Applies Rarity's Lore levels)
[X] "Cadance, both you and Shining sent invitations to Twilight. But maybe we should… check on her in person?" (???)
 
Ericwinter said:
To be fair, Velvet isn't really a Moth adept anymore, much like as I pointed out earlier, she isn't an Edge Adept. Really, Velvet isn't any type of adept.
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Her social habits and instincts are still Mothy though. Like when she went to visit the family home, noticed Vellum following her, cut through a store, hopped along a series of lampposts, and dropped down next to him to do the "so what are we looking at?" gag.
 
Venerable Ro said:
Her social habits and instincts are still Mothy though. Like when she went to visit the family home, noticed Vellum following her, cut through a store, hopped along a series of lampposts, and dropped down next to him to do the "so what are we looking at?" gag.
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I mean, she does Mothy things when she has an opportunity, yes. She also does Grail things when she has an opportunity, and Edge things, and Winter… you get the point.

Velvet is an adept. A deep adept, very nearly the best or tied for the best mortal practitioner in all things. And she bends to the Lore-fueled instincts, in all things. Saying she's one or the other and pointing to a particular example of that one doesn't work because you can just as easily do the same for all the others.
 
[X] "Cadance, what do you mean keep the change? What do you mean that I should keep the change?! " (Gain 500 bits)
 
Ericwinter said:
This isn't even a once in a lifetime event, it's a once in existence event, and there will only ever be one dress made for such an event. One person who can say they made a Princess's wedding dress. One person who will ever go down in fashion history as being worthy of that.
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While I agree that this will be incredibly good for Rarity's reputation, it is worth noting that the vote's wording seems to indicate that Rarity isn't so much making the dress as improving an existing one. So still prestigious, but not quite "the only person who's ever made a wedding dress for an alicorn" level.
 
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The given wording fits either improving (imagine Rarity doing that w/o the Realization, lol) or outright replacing the dress the way I see it, but no matter which one it is it's a really significant feat IF done right (+15 from Grail, +narrative/mechanical from directly Realization and +good, if not the best base skill should be enough?)

Ericwinter said:
Lore-fueled instincts
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We also have Mom instincts, Wolf instincts and Frightened instincts - add a few more and it may be possible to make a full Disco Elysium list lmao
 
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lurker9875 said:
The given wording fits either improving (imagine Rarity doing that w/o the Realization, lol) or outright replacing the dress the way I see it, but no matter which one it is it's a really significant feat IF done right (+15 from Grail, +narrative from Realization and +base skill should be enough?)
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That dress would be a Grail artifact for certain sure, assuming of course that the Dice didn't ruin it all... Man, Shining's in trouble if this train gets off the ground.
 
Adhoc vote count started by Pittauro on Jan 14, 2024 at 7:01 AM, finished with 367 posts and 58 votes.
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well, it's a bit too soon to be sure of it, but I think that any option beyond 4th place doesn't really have much of a chance at this point.

4th place (good friends) has a shot, but 5th place and beyond are basically less than half the votes of 3rd place, so it would take quite a few votes to change the current rankings
 
I'm quite certain that a not-insignificant portion of those Twilight-votes are from people who decided it was a vote for Cadance convincing Twilight to be our true-blue student/friend again. And it makes me grumpy because I'm pretty sure that's not what that option is going to pull at all.
 
lurker9875 said:
Well, amongst the voters that decided to talk about this option, the opposite sentiment is almost universal if that makes you feel better?
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Eh, not really, because if it's a Jade Whistle kind of intervention it shouldn't have been left until now, and if it's not then cramming it sideways into the wedding narrative runs a good chance of disappointing a lot of people.

I will say this though, since the Wolf is not invited to the wedding this is probably the safest opportunity to check on Twilight after ignoring her for so long. No need to repeat the Soft Sweeps incident.
 
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