Esquestria: The House of the Sun - A pony cultist experience

[BirdBodhisattva]

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!

Spoiler: Or if you'd rather hear it from someone else

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)

 

[ElMariachi]

Well that was quite the fucking mood whiplash.
Not just having our resident pissed off Scottish snake-lady throwing a tantrum right after the gut-wrenching sacrifice of the two Changelings, but having said angry Scottish lady crawling out of the cadaver like in an horror movie while still complaining the whole time crossed again the line from horrible to grotesque to fucking hilarious!

Silky Stream will decide DoA's name."

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Silky and DOA interaction, Silky and DOA interaction, Silky and DOA interaction! 🤩

Wait a minute...

Because you don't care how old or alien she is. That mare has the word "daughter" in her name, and you'll be damned if you don't teach her some discipline!

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Silky Stream will decide DoA's name."

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We're totally going to adopt her, aren't we?
We still need the rebellious teenager for the complete set, let's goooo!

[X] Velvet Axe

Also:

You are also pretty sure that she has scales underneath that cloak, instead of fur, but you will definitely not pry.

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Since DOA had to ditch her cloak to enter the Wake, I think that Velvet had plenty of time to confirm whether or not she's covered in scales.

 

[Alex Sol]

Damn, I like Hissy name, but daughters options never lose…

Well I can at least try to combine them


[X] Velvet Hiss
[X] Hissy Fit

 

[permeakra]

[x] Velvet Hiss
[x] Hissy Fit

 

[afreaknamedpete]

[X] Hissy Fit

 

[Shaper47]

[X] Velvet Axe

And of course the Wolf would whisper sweet bitter promises of Agony into @Shaper47's ears as soon as the meta-rules allow it.

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Well if you'd enjoy killing random ponies who could be any age it wouldn't be tempting.

Personally I'd rather not deliberately go around murdering babies. It just seems to out of character to me.

I'm pretty sure our sugar daddy helping us out is tempting to more then me.

 

[Turamarth]

[X] Velvet Axe

 

[Mage of Eyes]

[X] Miss Danger Noodle
[x] Hissy Fit
[X] Velvet Scales

 

[Pittauro]

I'm going to be honest, I prefer the Velvet Axe name because it definitely feels more like welcoming DoA to the family, and mildly less insulting to someone who is pretty freaking bad at social stuff. And if Baldomare can be an aunt, the Duaghter can definitely be a cousin or something.

Also, imagine for a moment the scene in which Silky is going to give her this name. On the one hand, there's the "oh, you're grumpy! I should call you Hissy Fit!" Which is, admittedly, pretty funny. On the other, there's the exceptionally more touching scene where Silky decides she's obviously part of the family now, and, most importantly, thinks to tie her new name to the object so important to DoA. Basically, I really want to our daughters to charm this very grumpy, very powerful individual with thoughtful gestures. Especially given how sensitive she seems to being embarrassed.

Also, writing Hissy or Fit regularly as a form of address is going to quickly lose its humor and feel kind of awkward, imo. It's a nice joke, but I don't want to be making fun of such a valuable person like that constantly.

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Baldomare could basically insert herself in past history, and was not trying to pass out as an ACTUAL member of the family.

I think outright "adopting" her (or pretending her to be part of our family) might put too much attention on her.

I'm not that bad! 😭

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yes you are

[X] Velvet Axe
[X] Hissy Fit

Due to being Scottish, the DoA will either absolutely hate being called Hissy Fit and desire to punch us in the face, or will find it absolutely hilarious that this random foal just roasted her and decide she's a decent kid with a bit of spine.

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that's a risk I'm willing to have Silky take!

Also @Pittauro come to the Velvet Axe side! You know you want another honorary daughter!

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would you believe me if I told you I actually think we have enough daughters?

I mean, we haven't even finished the "recovery" of Selene and ESPECIALLY Soft Sweeps! Let us solve THEIR problems before we get another problematic daughter!

Also, the best part about naming DoA Velvet Axe? It means that Silky will have totally inherited Velvet's best feature. Namely, the ability to not give a single flying fuck and adopt demigods.

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...ok, that's actually tempting now.

Well that was quite the fucking mood whiplash.
Not just having our resident pissed off Scottish snake-lady throwing a tantrum right after the gut-wrenching sacrifice of the two Changelings, but having said angry Scottish lady crawling out of the cadaver like in an horror movie while still complaining the whole time crossed again the line from horrible to grotesque to fucking hilarious!

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It just reminds me of horror parodies like the Scary Movie franchise!

Personally I'd rather not deliberately go around murdering babies. It just seems to out of character to me.

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and going back to the Wolf isn't?

being OOC is a very weak reason, but I'll argue that I'd much prefer killing these 3 random ponies over unleashing ANOTHER wolf on the world.

BY FAR.

You're either ignoring the implications, or just not thinking about them

You kill 3 ponies, you have 3 deaths. On the other hand, the last wolf we unleashed will, by sheer weight of statistics, likely indirectly cause the death of at least hundreds of ponies each year. And I still think the first wolf might have had a paw in Chrysalis deciding to go for max evil behaviour before running away.

And Each Wolf is worse than the last


[X] Velvet Hiss
[X] Hissy Fit

 

[Pempelune]

Well if you'd enjoy killing random ponies who could be any age it wouldn't be tempting.

Personally I'd rather not deliberately go around murdering babies. It just seems to out of character to me.

I'm pretty sure our sugar daddy helping us out is tempting to more then me.

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We've already had to choose between taking three lives or going to the Wolf before. We chose the Wolf and didn't like the result. This time around I'd much sooner kill, particularly when taking a Sacrament from the Wolf is likely to have terrible consequences on Velvet.
But we don't have to make the choice now. As others said, we can try and summon Neighnia. Or we can give up on Winter and not go further than 4.

 

[Pittauro]

We've already had to choose between taking three lives or going to the Wolf before. We chose the Wolf and didn't like the result. This time around I'd much sooner kill, particularly when taking a Sacrament from the Wolf is likely to have terrible consequences on Velvet.
But we don't have to make the choice now. As others said, we can try and summon Neighnia. Or we can give up on Winter and not go further than 4.

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or we can hope to find another source of winter sacrament, even if it probably doesn't exist.

Or we can hope that the sacrament will change with Velvet, possibly after removing the afraid malus.

And about the previous wolf vs kill choice, there was a sense of urgency that's NOT here.


We don't have to choose now, nor soon. The choice only become somewhat more urgent once we get to Winter 4/4, and we're certainly going to priorize other lores in the meantime.

 

[Alex Sol]

Because Velvet "Weapon" is a time-honored naming schema in this family.

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No?
I'll remind people that Velvet Dagger is not an actual name. Velvet ancestor name was Velvet Horseshoe, Velvet Dagger is just how people started to call him later on.

 

[SmashQueen]

[X] Miss Danger Noodle
[X] Miss Dorothy
[X] Miss Snakebit

The last one, a bit is the sharp edge of the axe.

 

[Shaper47]

You're either ignoring the implications, or just not thinking about them

You kill 3 ponies, you have 3 deaths.

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They could be foals though. Velvet/us had enough trouble just to kill pony eating monsters who have been going around killing others and threatened our family. Deliberately taking actions to muder what could be foals for the sake of power seems very very out of character for her/us.

 

[Cochimetl]

They could be foals though. Velvet/us had enough trouble just to kill pony eating monsters who have been going around killing others and threatened our family. Deliberately taking actions to muder what could be foals for the sake of power seems very very out of character for her/us.

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I agree. Velvet is unlikely to enact Beautiful Endings. But I'd say, unless she's both in desperate, immediate need of a Winter/Edge Sacrament, yet still has time to go visit the Wolf, she's equally unlikely to do so.

 

[BirdBodhisattva]

You won't really know who dies, though. You will fire the ritual (a cheaper version, since you won't use Lantern to target anyone) and you will "set it free". So don't worry about realizing you killed foals or whatnot.
I guarantee nopony in your contacts list will die so you don't worry about that. But really, somepony, somewhere, will die, and you won't magically know who or where.

It really just is a matter of "three lives" for the sake of your studies.

 

[Pittauro]

They could be foals though. Velvet/us had enough trouble just to kill pony eating monsters who have been going around killing others and threatened our family. Deliberately taking actions to muder what could be foals for the sake of power seems very very out of character for her/us.

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better three foals than another wolf then.

Another wolf would likely cause more than three foal deaths, given some time.

Still, even better to not pick any of the two. They're both bad options, even if I believe the Wolf to be MUCH worse, and only to be considered if we're desperate.

Right now we're not desperate. There's even LESS of a necessity for wolf sacrament than there was for breaking down the Door.

And if enough time passes before we're forced to choose, maybe we'll get new options. This isn't like with the door, where we had Word of God that "there's no other way".

You won't really know who dies, though. You will fire the ritual (a cheaper version, since you won't use Lantern to target anyone) and you will "set it free". So don't worry about realizing you killed foals or whatnot.
I guarantee nopony in your contacts list will die so you don't worry about that. But really, somepony, somewhere, will die, and you won't magically know who or where.

It really just is a matter of "three lives" for the sake of your studies.

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This actually makes it better. 3 deaths, somewhere, that can't be connected to us, that we'll never be able to find out, that would pass as tragic accidents.

Still horrible, of course... but there's really no personal consequence for us except the knowledge that Velvet cause 3 deaths, that might very well even be in other countries for all we know.

 

[Shaper47]

So don't worry about realizing you killed foals or whatnot

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So basically Velvet will repress/deny any thoughts on the implications of her actions?

 

[BirdBodhisattva]

So basically Velvet will repress/deny any thoughts on the implications of her actions?

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More like you literally won't know who was killed.
Don't get me wrong, you will absolutely know "somepony died" and that you killed them. It's the "science" behind the ritual you will be doing, basically. You will flip a switch and somewhere a light will go out.
But Velvet won't know who it was, or where it was.



And while we are on that subject, let me tell something about the End is Beautiful and Path Through Nightmares rituals. The thing I have in mind is similar to the "curses" in CS.
In very few words. You cast the ritual, it is a "fire and forget" kind of thing, and it will "slowly encroach" upon your target. Eventually, it will strike at them, and they will roll to restist.
Three things I want you to take out of it:
-One, this means you will have "some time" to decide whether to use the Wrong Key or not.
-However, due to that "encroaching" you won't exactly know who is the target. So, if you are targeted by a PtN rituals, I will say that it is "encroaching upon your household", and you decide if you use a Wrong Key or not. It might be targeting you, who has high resistances, or it might be targeting Silky who will basically die.
-But don't worry about rituals YOU cast "taking a while" to strike the target. If you cast the ritual on a turn, the enemy will roll the resistance on that same turn. If you absolutely need somepony to die the INSTANT you cast the ritual, I'll decide it then. But I really don't intend to make that a problem.

Just a few thoughts I've been wanting to share for a while now.

 

[Shaper47]

More like you literally won't know who was killed.
Don't get me wrong, you will absolutely know "somepony died" and that you killed them. It's the "science" behind the ritual you will be doing, basically. You will flip a switch and somewhere a light will go out.
But Velvet won't know who it was, or where it was.

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Can the End is Beautiful be used as well for our sacrament then?

If it's about understanding death doesn't it do the same thing?

On the other hand, the last wolf we unleashed will, by sheer weight of statistics, likely indirectly cause the death of at least hundreds of ponies each year

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Another wolf would likely cause more than three foal deaths, given some time.

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We're are you getting the idea that the wolves cause pony deaths?

They make the world a darker place sure but I don't remember seeing anything about them arranging for ponies to die.

 

[BirdBodhisattva]

Can the End is Beautiful be used as well for our sacrament then?

If it's about understanding death doesn't it do the same thing?

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I intentionally want them to be different things.

Also,

We're are you getting the idea that the wolves cause pony deaths?

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*BONK*

Go to bait jail!

Logically speaking, worse world makes for more pony deaths.
I'm a Wolf-cultist as much as you are, but this question will just lead to three pages worth of arguments we've already had at least twice before, so perish the thought.

 

[Ericwinter]

Baldomare could basically insert herself in past history, and was not trying to pass out as an ACTUAL member of the family.

I think outright "adopting" her (or pretending her to be part of our family) might put too much attention on her.

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Notably, we could have easily gotten away with it with Selene; and only people who actually know the inner workings of our family would notice the problem. DoA being a grown mare with agency and no memory loss problem we have to explain would probably be even less noticeable.

Though honestly, we don't even have to make an official statement of her being family or anything. Twilight's mom has the name Velvet, as well, so it's not like we own it or anything. It could just as easily be one of life's funny coincidences that two Velvets just happen to get along.

Let people assume what they want. I only really expect this to have personal meaning between our household, maybe some narrative influence on Steppes and Hills, and at most flavor in the rest of the setting.

 

[Bakkasama]

How do our finances look for the coming turn? Do we have enough money for the expedition? For the expedition and Forge Redemption on Twilight?

 

[Ericwinter]

How do our finances look for the coming turn? Do we have enough money for the expedition? For the expedition and Forge Redemption on Twilight?

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We don't know yet. Still waiting for the turn vote to see if we get paid and how much.

 

[Pittauro]

-However, due to that "encroaching" you won't exactly know who is the target. So, if you are targeted by a PtN rituals, I will say that it is "encroaching upon your household", and you decide if you use a Wrong Key or not. It might be targeting you, who has high resistances, or it might be targeting Silky who will basically die.

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could we, then, loan the keys to people we fear might be targeted, so they'd only be used if THEY are the target, while we can tank a curse aimed at us?

It's admittedly risky, but depending on the situation it might be a bet we'd be we'd want to take.

We're are you getting the idea that the wolves cause pony deaths?

They make the world a darker place sure but I don't remember seeing anything about them arranging for ponies to die.

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*BONK*

Go to bait jail!

Logically speaking, worse world makes for more pony deaths.
I'm a Wolf-cultist as much as you are, but this question will just lead to three pages worth of arguments we've already had at least twice before, so perish the thought.

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Shaper47, I just can't take you seriously when you say this kind of things!

it should be obvious!

Just the -5 from the paranoia wolf will OBVIOUSLY lead to more deaths, because that -5 will be the difference between success and failure in rolls with lives on the line.

just as a random thought, every time the royal guards have to cooperate in fighting someone, or any time a group has to cooperate in fighting a wild beast, or even just when they have to cooperate in a risky endeavour. It is now just a bit more likely for a group to fail at anything, and that WILL lead to LOTS of deaths.

We just won't know which ones, and where.

Theoretical Example: Was that magical accident at the School for Gifted Unicorn the result of our -5 inching their rolls too low? Would it have happened anyway? We'll never know.

When compared to that, 3 random deaths are NOTHING.


The argument for taking the Wolf Sacrament, just like for destroying the door, can't be that it's a morally better option, or even that it's less traumatizing. The ONLY possible argument is about pragmatism and action economy, about how it's 2 sacraments in exchange for a free mansus action, instead of multiple actions and bits to spend over multiple turns for a single sacrament (Winter alone is 3 actions and 90 bits, and we have no idea about Edge yet).

That's all. The Wolf can at times be convenient when we're pressed for time and resources, but it's NEVER a better option ethically, morally, or even for Velvet's mental stability.

@BirdBodhisattva I don't suppose we could study death by just... being there when someone dies? Or even killing people in person? Just to be completely sure about this, it HAS to be the 3 deaths from the ritual?

Notably, we could have easily gotten away with it with Selene; and only people who actually know the inner workings of our family would notice the problem. DoA being a grown mare with agency and no memory loss problem we have to explain would probably be even less noticeable.

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I'd argue it's harder to explain. Velvet adopting a memory-less orphan can be considered a noble doing charity or being eccentric.

near adopting an ADULT is less... overlookable, if that's a word.

Though honestly, we don't even have to make an official statement of her being family or anything. Twilight's mom has the name Velvet, as well, so it's not like we own it or anything. It could just as easily be one of life's funny coincidences that two Velvets just happen to get along.

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I think it was asked before, but are we sure she's not related to our family?

How do our finances look for the coming turn? Do we have enough money for the expedition? For the expedition and Forge Redemption on Twilight?

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and don't forget the grail influence ritual!

 

[Ericwinter]

I'd argue it's harder to explain. Velvet adopting a memory-less orphan can be considered a noble doing charity or being eccentric.

near adopting an ADULT is less... overlookable, if that's a word.

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Oh no, I meant saying she was just a relative from outside of town. Actually going out and doing paperwork would be very attention grabbing, but nobody would question someone who is already family just coming to live with us. Especially after the recent crisis, consolidation makes sense. Family seeking solace in each other, and stuff.