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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You know, I think this argument is still valid, but it's been a while. I am not blaming anyone who does not keep up with the discussion: it is rapid after all.

So,
Starlit Horizon said:
You know, what Cadance herself would prefer?

Obviously, we can't actually ask, and that is a big problem. Obviously, "accept" is not a good look by any measure, but if we could ask, what would she choose?

Because while Cadance is going to raped in accept, do you think she would accept Velvet's reasoning "I needed to save you, so I made the world worse."

Because for all that people talk about revenge, it is not Velvet's place to decide whether or revenge is needed, and not her right to demand it. It isn't either way, sure -

But do you think Cadance, if she knew what the Wolf option entails, if we ever came clean and said:

"Look, we either accepted the deal or killed him, and this is the price of killing him."

Is going to nod, yeah, we did right? No, of course, she would feel betrayed either way, she would be betrayed either way, but what will be a greater betrayal?

To be honest, I think she would be extremely conflicted, if nothing else because asking Velvet to be possessed is nasty, but one that impact her the least, she probably won't do it, but regardless, I think if she understood what the Wolf-Divided is, then at least she would rule out that.

Maybe it will change. Maybe. But can you say that honest, earnest, and genuinely loving mare we've seen would choose to dim the world?

Would she want a revenge at such a price?

And if we can't actually ask, then acting according to our best guess of what the person in question would ask for is, at very least, less wrong.
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It was comparing the two options specifically, but the Wolf argument applies in general, I believe.
 
[x] Show her your true colors.
[x] Kill the Master [THIS IS A REGRETTABLE ACTION]

My reasoning can be found in (1), (2), and (3).

@BirdBodhisattva just a quick typo:
BirdBodhisattva said:
You swear on your family's life that… that you just heard you Master.
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"your" or "the"

aspirant said:
Velvet Covers

Covers has been a prospective noble scion, a rural estate manager, and, rather briefly, a disaster-response leader. Now she's second-in-command of the Lunar Bureau. Her third was recently killed and she now hunts down abomination-conjurors like mad dogs, because no one else is in the position to.

Aspects: Grim, Idealist, Mortal, Hunter


[X] Show her your true colors.
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I love this so much! I'm also in the seemingly small true colors club. We can't forget that the crime scene may contain lore-hints for the Bureau to pick up on after, as well as a clear mandate to investigate. Honestly, it's a bit surprising that Velvet won't be suspected, but I guess being "above all suspicion" has its perks.
 
[X] Kill the Master [THIS IS A REGRETTABLE ACTION]
[X] Accept her offer.

I guess at this point as long we never see Master for the rest of the quest that is that nothing else. We really don't have the time or ability to handle him.
 
Starlit Horizon said:
This one certainly won't work, unfortunately. Not anymore that the Door did, because Velvet will never confide anyone about her Regrettable Actions if she can help it.

She is deeply ashamed of them all, and regrets them all. By definition, really.
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Not the dumb door, the names, the rituals, the lore levels! I want someone to know we're the effing tony stark of occultism. Baldy is impossible to impress, Axe is incomprehensible, and Copper is a putz. We snaked Baldy from a cult in full sacrificial swing, and we did it in a barn, with a box of glass!
 
[X] Offer yourself instead.

Just another Name to add to the guestbook of Velvet's House. Only this one has their room inside her head. And has a spare set of keys to come and go whenever they want. :V
 
[X] Accept her offer.

If Cadence never learns that it wasn't really Shining in control, if Shining never realizes that he wasn't in control, the only ones truly hurt by this is Velvet herself and the unborn Flurry Heart. It is still horrible, but it's not traumatizing for the victims. And even if they do somehow find the truth (and believe it), when the alternatives are that same rape repeated, death, having us be possessed and doing multiple horrible things, or having something even worse happen to thousands of others, well, I suspect that one night that up until then they thought was normal is what they would prefer.

Remember: The Wolf is always Worse. Killing the Master will, objectively, be worse than rape. Worse than repeated rape. That is what The Wolf is. Always the worse decision, always the greater evil against anything within the world (Worms are worse).
 
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[X] Kill the Master [THIS IS A REGRETTABLE ACTION]

So I've gone back and forth on this and offer yourself. Ultimately though it just comes down to time. We don't have it and this update has made it clear that we have some catching up to do. I'm not going to criticize past votes I wasn't here for or ones I was. Velvet has set up a lot of foundations and a lot of things like Luna haven't yet come into play. Those will help. She's also made mistakes that hurt others greatly and taken actions that have helped make life better for others. I certainly don't regret the wedding vote cause outside of maybe inviting the Names, I don't think they would have helped in the immediate term. Stuff is always going to come up and I don't know that we have to just abandon kind actions and other pursuits, but it's time to focus on Glory. Which means Sacraments, exploring the rest of the Manse, and finding out more about Outsiders. It means seeking out artifacts and going on important expeditions. I just don't think we can afford to potentially be putting out the Master's fires and tip toeing around whether we're loyal. The Master interests me as a character, but I'm just worried about what she'll be able to find out if we let her possess Velvet. Velvet knows too much important information and frankly I just think it's too late in the game for it.
Will the consequences for the world be bad, yes. Frankly though, I don't know that any of them are good in the long term. I'm under no delusion that Bird won't make this hurt, but I think it's necessary.
 
[X] Show her your true colors.

Offering up ourselves is likely to result in them finding out we have our own goals,

I am tempted by the regrettable action, and fear of we go to war, we may have to do one in conflict, and it will have saved us nothing.
 
[X] Accept her offer.
[X] Offer yourself instead.

Voting for the things I see paired with the Wolf most often, because God damn do I not want to see what happens next on the trail of pain and regret the Wolf will leave behind them.
 
Nothing good comes of the wolf. Due to how the wolf works the world would be a better place if the master survives than if he is eaten by the wolf. It is a deal with the devil, the only reason it even looks better than the other options is because we only learn the consequences after. It won't reduce harm, it will make things worse, it will make Cadence's life harder due to have to deal with what it does to the world. Only choose the wolf if looking at all that you can honestly say it is better than the alternative, because Velvet will by definition regret it and there is a high chance so will we.
 
It is kind of ironic how the ones who set Velvet on the path to becoming an Occultist and learning the Lores as she had, are now the biggest enemies we currently face (other than the Worms of course) and the Master may soon be killed by a power/ability that Velvet may never have received if she wasn't encouraged to climb the Mansus. It's kinda like a new tragedy of Darth Plageus the Wise.

The tragedy Name Master the Lightseeker, it's not a tale the Lunar Bureau would tell you, it's a Cult Legend.
The Master was so wise so powerful she could even encourage those in the wake to summon her, she passed all her secrets down to her apprentice (can't think of an appropriate continuation for this parody so ill end it here).
 
[x] Offer yourself instead.
[X] Show her your true colors.


I don't like talking here, but gotta say, I love your work.
Edit: wolf bad, master bad, shining would want this.
 
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