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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As long as we can Dedicate an action or two to talking with Stormchaser I'll be pleased as punch.

We also NEED To start teaching teaching Selene the lores soon, so. I would rather talk sooner than later.
 
zxzx24 said:
As long as we can Dedicate an action or two to talking with Stormchaser I'll be pleased as punch.

We also NEED To start teaching teaching Selene the lores soon, so. I would rather talk sooner than later.
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Honestly, I'm leaning toward not telling Stormchaser that we're teaching Selene the lores. I can't see any way where he would be okay with it, and we can't not do it if he is adamant about it.

He doesn't believe Selene is Luna, so from his perspective we'll be wanting to teach a child the same strange magics that have been leading to our regular breakdowns due to our 'delusion' that she is secretly Luna. Plus, well... remember what happened last time we were completely honest about the lores?
 
Greymere said:
Honestly, I'm leaning toward not telling Stormchaser that we're teaching Selene the lores. I can't see any way where he would be okay with it, and we can't not do it if he is adamant about it.

He doesn't believe Selene is Luna, so from his perspective we'll be wanting to teach a child the same strange magics that have been leading to our regular breakdowns due to our 'delusion' that she is secretly Luna. Plus, well... remember what happened last time we were completely honest about the lores?
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Also Selene already agrees with us about the importance of keeping secrets from loved ones at times. With storm chaser often being away for work, it might be wise not to tell him...


Then again we're still not sure what the situation Will be after the changeling purge, soooo... Better to wait before making up our mind

EDIT: by the way, I just noticed the new mlp movie came out a few days ago, and apparently it's getting really high marks


:D
 
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Pittauro said:
EDIT: by the way, I just noticed the new mlp movie came out a few days ago, and apparently it's getting really high marks
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I watched it earlier today, and it was pretty good, yeah. The only weird things are a slight imbalance in the races—only one unicorn, though that's actually understandable given their circumstances and the quirks that allow her to be involved—and the see through wings and horn on the new Alicorn.
 
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Average Outer Circle: Yes! I've Finally achieved (X) Lore Level 1-2! So much knowledge flooding my mind, I can barely contain it!
Average Inner Circle: It's taken months but, I've finally hit the limit of my ability to improve solely through study and practice.
Velvet: …
 
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Greymere said:
Honestly, I'm leaning toward not telling Stormchaser that we're teaching Selene the lores. I can't see any way where he would be okay with it, and we can't not do it if he is adamant about it.

He doesn't believe Selene is Luna, so from his perspective we'll be wanting to teach a child the same strange magics that have been leading to our regular breakdowns due to our 'delusion' that she is secretly Luna. Plus, well... remember what happened last time we were completely honest about the lores?
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No. I have not forgotten.

Alright I have regained some calm.

As a question to you and everyone in the thread. What objections do you imagine Stormchaser would raise specifically?

We wanted his help raising her. If I recall correctly we were quite insistent.

If we trusted him with raising her then perhaps we should listen to and consider his objections.

Even if he disagrees with us. I know, its crazy.

So let's say he object because the lores are a danger to her health and her sanity?

I think that's quite reasonable. That's one of the reasons we didnt give her to the Master after all.

Blithely ignoring Lunas wellbeing and destroying her in the process of getting his worm fighting weapon.

Except we do share Stormchasers concern for her safety, and we have been trying to limit potential harm.

The only lore she had a bad reaction to was Knock, and that is because of her own memories. Which she will likely pursue with or without our approval.

We planned to teach her in the order that minimizes the risk to herself and have largely been successful.

To say nothing of teaching her Moth so that she is able to hide from those who wish to use her themselves. Like the Master, and the Worms.

Having Jade check up on her and have a better idea of what happened and what will be happening with her is an option we have taken, and are likely to be taking again.

And to rehash the "prove to stormchaser we arent crazy" discussion we have had a million times. When we know the awnser is "Almost certainly, but we dont care enough to spend an action on it." For a while now.

Greymere said:
I can't see any way where he would be okay with it, and we can't not do it if he is adamant about it.
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I have seen literally nothing that makes me think he would put his head down and stubbornly refuse all reasoning when it comes to this?

Do you think he is the kind of person to say "No and I dont want to hear any more of this." And keep that up longer than Velvet can?

To say nothing of the fact he literally cant stop us since Selene is keen to learn what we have to teach. Even if it's in secret.

Stormchaser special talent has to do with making decisions. I don't see that as having cultivated a personality that does not consider the outcomes of said decisions carefully.
 
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zxzx24 said:
As long as we can Dedicate an action or two to talking with Stormchaser I'll be pleased as punch.

We also NEED To start teaching teaching Selene the lores soon, so. I would rather talk sooner than later.
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Speaking of actions we need to do soon, I would really like to remove our Frightened Malus BEFORE we find ourselves in combat rather than after.
 
SolipsistSerpent said:
Speaking of actions we need to do soon, I would really like to remove our Frightened Malus BEFORE we find ourselves in combat rather than after.
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I agree in principle but I cant remember throwing a punch this entire quest (except for training with Comet Feet).

We made our build banking on being able to use our wits and charm to be able to avoid physical confrontation and that has worked out.
 
I thought it was realized earlier that in terms of combat ability Velvet's heads above royal guardsmen and could reasonably be expected to be the Wakizashi to Comet's Katana in a fight, even with her fear and injuries.
 
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zxzx24 said:
No. I have not forgotten.

Alright I have regained some calm.

As a question to you and everyone in the thread. What objections do you imagine Stormchaser would raise specifically?

We wanted his help raising her. If I recall correctly we were quite insistent.

If we trusted him with raising her then perhaps we should listen to and consider his objections.

Even if he disagrees with us. I know, its crazy.

So let's say he object because the lores are a danger to her health and her sanity?

I think that's quite reasonable. That's one of the reasons we didnt give her to the Master after all.

Blithely ignoring Lunas wellbeing and destroying her in the process of getting his worm fighting weapon.

Except we do share Stormchasers concern for her safety, and we have been trying to limit potential harm.

The only lore she had a bad reaction to was Knock, and that is because of her own memories. Which she will likely pursue with or without our approval.

We planned to teach her in the order that minimizes the risk to herself and have largely been successful.

To say nothing of teaching her Moth so that she is able to hide from those who wish to use her themselves. Like the Master, and the Worms.

Having Jade check up on her and have a better idea of what happened and what will be happening with her is an option we have taken, and are likely to be taking again.

And to rehash the "prove to stormchaser we arent crazy" discussion we have had a million times. When we know the awnser is "Almost certainly, but we dont care enough to spend an action on it." For a while now.


I have seen literally nothing that makes me think he would put his head down and stubbornly refuse all reasoning when it comes to this?

Do you think he is the kind of person to say "No and I dont want to hear any more of this." And keep that up longer than Velvet can?

To say nothing of the fact he literally cant stop us since Selene is keen to learn what we have to teach. Even if it's in secret.

What was Stormchasers special talent? Something to do with making decisions?
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Yes, we convinced Stormchaser to be a father to her. Which is precisely why I think he would flat out refuse, if not consider it a major breach of our 'agreement'.

BirdBodhisattva said:
Picking any actions that involves teaching him or Silky Stream about the occult will be viewed as an extreme breach of trust for the foreseeable future. Your lessons to Selene, however, are long-term and subtle enough that you don't have to worry about them. Otherwise, Stormchaser is completely uninterested in anything occult.
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We were very explicitly told that if we tried to teach Silky Stream about the occult, it would be an extreme breech of trust. We convinced him to take a fatherly role and to consider Selene to be his daughter. Do you really think that he would be okay with us teaching us one daughter, when he would be very not okay with us doing that with the other?

And yes, so far, it seems that Selene hasn't had any adverse reactions. But we can't exactly reveal that "well, she's learned the past two lore levels and she's been fine so far!" without revealing that we've already been teaching her lore, which would be a bad idea because 1) see above, and 2) basically tells him that the only reason we're even involving him is because we think we can't keep getting away with it sneakily (which is... pretty much true). Yes, we seem to be doing fine at mitigating any effects, not to mention that the simple fact of 'by the way, this lesson will probably come with some weird abilities' should hopefully head off any panic that might occur. But.

That doesn't change the fact that what Stormchaser knows about the lores can amount to 'it's responsible for my wife's many breakdowns over the past year' , 'it's some kind of weird magic', and 'my wife is suddenly displaying some concerning behavior after dabbling in this weird magic'. And he pretty explicitly doesn't want to know more. So no, I don't think he would be okay with us asking him to teach Selene the lores.

I don't think that he thinks we're crazy about the lores or w/e. But I really, really doubt that he still believes us about Selene being Luna (if he ever did, I don't remember atm) considering that 'Luna' had been found. He knows Selene's Important, but Important isn't the same as Actually One Of Your Rulers Sleeping in Filly Form. Maybe he'll take it more seriously after the expedition if Chrysalis abandons Canterlot and the changelings are exposed, but as it stands, we're trying to claim that Selene is Luna when Luna is currently occupying her throne in Canterlot.
 
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Greymere said:
snip*
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So "the lores are bad magic that makes you crazy and thats the end of it?" I mean thats true. I've advocated ditching the whole mess a number of times.

I agree that Stormchaser has valid reasons to be against the lores and to be concerned.

Still, presenting the worst side of any argument is not how you convince someone, nor is it how you reach an understanding about why we think Selene needs to learn the lores in the first place.

Even at the lowest (for now) point in their relationship Stormchaser was willing to listen to us. He listened to us throughout the entire awful explanation. And indeed he did leave. And indeed he did come back. And indeed he did talk to us.

I do not believe he is going to stonewall us if we just talk to him about it and are willing to listen to him as well.

And I think we have good reasons to teach Selene even if he doesn't believe us about the Luna thing, and I think we have been and will continue to be very careful to prioritize her health and safety while doing so.

BirdBodhisattva said:
Picking any actions that involves teaching him or Silky Stream about the occult will be viewed as an extreme breach of trust for the foreseeable future. Your lessons to Selene, however, are long-term and subtle enough that you don't have to worry about them. Otherwise, Stormchaser is completely uninterested in anything occult. Otherwise involving him or Silky in anything cult-related, when it is explicitly clear that it involves the occult, will be more of a grey area that might upset him.
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Ironically RAW inviting him and silky to join the cult would be seen as more acceptable than trying to tell them more about the lores. Could you imagine the faces of the other inner circle members?

I don't view this as the same "You cannot even ask him about teaching Selene about the occult without it being an extreme breach of trust." I know that bringing up the topic will likely upset him. "more of a grey area that might upset him" and all that... but I would take him being a little mad at us now. Or a lot mad at us now, than to figure out we drastically betrayed his trust and maybe killed his daughter.

As well as it just being a terribly shitty thing to do, to go behind his back like that.
 
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Greymere said:
I'm genuinely curious what reasons you think we have for teaching Selene the lores besides 'we need to so we can restore her back to Luna'.
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I can actually answer that hopefully.

For her own sake? To get her memories back? Understand who she is and where she came from? Learn to use her abilities and what she should do with them?

Because she seems interested in learning where Velvets brain goes at night?
 
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Velvet will never convince Stormchaser. He is diametrically opposed to the occult. He is normality. Idyllicism. He loves the same veil ponies everywhere wear. He was given a peek behind the curtain and he rejected it, as most do. It's simply not who he is to grasp and grasp for more, the way that it is part of Velvet's core as a cultist and seeker.

Trying to argue within the bounds of his reality against his reality will never work.

Just lie to him.
 
I want to find out what the incident that gave Velvet Frightened and Scarred was, and I think the most likely way to do that is by removing them and having a flashback. However, I also really want that relationship talk with Stormchaser.
 
For a moment I thought we found the emptied out "chalice" of the Grail. Man what a story that would have been. "Hello, Master? I just stumbled onto the drained husk that remains of the Grail. No, this was before I took a right at the Dreamlands and stubbed my frog on a Sun-In-Rags."

But stumbling upon a sacred location of both the Velvet and the Grail is a pretty good result for a Monday :V
 
Defaulter said:
But stumbling upon a sacred location of both the Velvet and the Grail is a pretty good result for a Monday :V
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eh, it's a relatively easy location to reach, all things considered.

Well, easy for us and for the average CS main character, at least. I have no idea how hard it's supposed to be for the "average" occultist.

Velvet already has uncommon talent for all lores. What's "talent for finding new locations/exploring the Mansus" in addition to that?

...actually, about that... @BirdBodhisattva do we know if other cultists have found interesting locations in the woods, the one place they can easily access? We don't talk to them much, but we have the hintseekers, and maybe rumors from Jade (did SHE explore?) and her cabal.

And I suppose we could ask Baldomare too, though she's likely to say it doesn't matter.

...ah, now that I think about it she's not here this month... maybe once she returns we can ask her about the well. We could tell her about it's present condition, and maybe she can then tell us a bit about its past, and that feeling of safety we definitely totally can not trust
 
Pittauro said:
eh, it's a relatively easy location to reach, all things considered.

Well, easy for us and for the average CS main character, at least. I have no idea how hard it's supposed to be for the "average" occultist.

Velvet already has uncommon talent for all lores. What's "talent for finding new locations/exploring the Mansus" in addition to that?

...actually, about that... @BirdBodhisattva do we know if other cultists have found interesting locations in the woods, the one place they can easily access? We don't talk to them much, but we have the hintseekers, and maybe rumors from Jade (did SHE explore?) and her cabal.

And I suppose we could ask Baldomare too, though she's likely to say it doesn't matter.

...ah, now that I think about it she's not here this month... maybe once she returns we can ask her about the well. We could tell her about it's present condition, and maybe she can then tell us a bit about its past, and that feeling of safety we definitely totally can not trust
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We know out heart specialist likes to spend a lot of time in the woods.

Even vs her time in reality.

...

Doesnt that mean she would he absolutely stacked on lores like we are?
 
One thing that we could note, from this encounter, is that seeking the Flowermaker isn't entirely a bad option if we do it with care. Merely taking a look at him could help granting us one, or two scraps of lore.

He's nearly guaranteed to try to screw us over, but if we take some care and not give him too much leverage, we might come out of his lairs better then we entered.
zxzx24 said:
We know out heart specialist likes to spend a lot of time in the woods.

Even vs her time in reality.

...

Doesnt that mean she would he absolutely stacked on lores like we are?
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Nobody has the aptitude in Lores that we do. Some of them hold specializations that beat our own- our resident Edgelord is better then us in Edge and so on. But exploring the Woods doesn't pay off as well as the rest of the Mansus does.
 
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