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

OurLadyOfWires · Aug 22, 2024

Equestria! A land of peace and harmony, where any species and everypony can coexist. A place where anyone can find something in which they are truly special, be you an earth pony who tends to the land, a pegasus who tailors the weather or an unicorn who performs great feats of magic for the good of all. And all of that under the benevolent leadership of the alicorns, the princesses of the land, ponies with the gifts of all three races who can move the very sun and moon every day.

That is, as far as you know, what everyone can somewhat agree on when it comes to the nation where you were borne. That is the gist of it, the general idea, the underlying theme based on which everyone lives their lives.

But that's the thing about it, its just an idea isn't it…?

But in all honesty, is that how things really are? How things should be? After all, one does not need to go too far for part of those ideas to reveal themselves as facades.

After all, for example, Equestria is full of dangers (and someponies might even say "horrors") that immediately dispel the notion of safety everyone has grown accustomed to. Great beasts roam the untamed lands, some of which, like Ursa Majors, are the easiest to comprehend, being "simple" (even if unstoppable) monsters of rampaging destruction. But that's not mentioning others that are far more subtle… Some even downright intelligent and malevolent like the Changeling threat, and many, many more.

Likewise, as soon as any one of those things start causing trouble, ponies are almost always helpless to fend for themselves. No pegasus knight or unicorn mage can compete against most of those threats, with only the timely intervention of some sort of hero, or maybe even a Princess, being enough to turn the tides.

Ponies, one needs not think long to realize, are soft, innocent creatures, living in a hostile world and kept safe by a very specific number of individuals.

And yet, they live with honest conviction of the idea that they exist in a peaceful land of magic and harmony.

Idea.

An idea, you have learned, is something very powerful. It can creep into a pony's mind and plant roots that can sometimes reach into the very soul, roots that will shape your very being if they are planted when you are young enough.

Roots that require a great amount of effort to pull out, once you realize they are there, and just how wrong they are.

- - -

You wake up in the morning. Today is a very special day, but for some reason the first thing that comes to your mind was how this all began.

It was… years ago. The whole town was abuzz with the latest news, and it would be no exaggeration to say that literal festivities were popping all around at the drop of a horseshoe, parades forming spontaneously on the streets as ecstatic ponies brought out their instruments and joined each other in songs. Food was practically being distributed for free by merchants and bakers, and everywhere one went the repeated cheers could reach even the ears of the most inattentive creature.

"A princess! A new princess has appeared! A pegasus became an alicorn! Hail princess Cadance!"

The story spread like wildfire, and you couldn't help but to overhear bits and pieces of it, slowly forming the bigger picture as you went into a bar. You weren't about to turn down free drinking, after all, especially as you had just left your work after a long day.

Apparently, from what you heard from several ponies around you, a certain pegasus named Cadance had performed some deed. The details on what exactly were a bit confusing, something about a potion and whatnot. But the bottom line was that in the end she turned into an alicorn. Horn appearing in her head and magic coming to her like second nature.

Nopony was really sure of the details. Some insisted that princess Celestia transformed her, while others said it must have been some sort of personal merit or magic, but the most important part was there: a new Princess had presented herself to help rule Equestria. A new all-powerful, immortal alicorn had come to watch over the land alongside the Princess of the Sun.

"But isn't everypony being a bit too hasty about the whole thing? I mean, I hear this Cadence mare is quite young, maybe too young! And besides, is having another Princess really a good thing?"

You were startled out of your drinking, and your innocent eavesdropping from the background chatter, by a mare sitting by your side. It took you a few moments to realize that she was talking directly to you, and not just to herself or the ambient in general.

"What do you mean 'is it really good'?" you asked back, turning to look at the mare, and realizing by the slight blur in your vision that maybe you had a bit more to drink than you should have in such a small amount of time, "she's a Princess now. I mean, look at Princess Celestia, she has ruled Equestria for as long as history goes, and everything is fine. Why would having another Princess be a bad thing?"

The mare looked at you, taking a sip from the mug she was holding, and for some reason gave you a smile. "Well, I asked you if it was something good, you asked me how could it be something bad," she said, with an amused back-and-forward tone, "and it's true that things have been the way they are for a really long time," she took another sip, inching towards you slightly before continuing to talk, "but the point is... is Equestria itself the way it was supposed to be?"

You couldn't help but to raise an eyebrow at that.

The mare sitting right next to you looked normal, a light pink (even if a bit hard-looking and curly) mane against dark red fur, drinking something that might have been just as strong as the drink you were having, sitting in a bar that occasionally erupted into cheers as someone hailed the name "Cadance" or threw bits at the bartender while saying something about serving another round for everypony.

She was a totally unassuming, normal earth pony mare, except for the slight weirdness of what she was saying.

"I mean, we live in a world that is so full of mysteries, so filled with unexplainable things… Is the way that Equestria currently looks like, the way that Princess Celestia keeps it, truly the nature of the world? Or maybe… it is just kept like that through constant effort?"

Her eyes met yours for longer, now, that same pleasant smile on her face. And when she found what she was looking for in your gaze, she began to talk, and her words resonated with whatever it was that she realized was inside you.

What did she see inside you?

[This defines the "aspect" of the cult you will join, which CANNOT be changed without great pains. The cult's philosophy, as well as what it can offer you, will be based on this. Your initial affinity will also be aligned with your cult's, since that is where your initial interest came from, but that can be changed easily as you learn more about the world and pursue the other aspects.]

[] She spoke about this world, Equestria, and the many other worlds that ponykind knows to exist, and the secret passages that connect them. Figuratively, when referring to other countries, and literally, speaking about far away realms that most ponies believe to be only fairy tales. (KNOCK is the principle of openings, and of finding hidden passages and portals. It entails secrets that both locksmiths and burglars share, even if they do not realize it.)

[] She spoke about knowledge, and about how some realizations can be so shocking that normal ponies might even shy away from trying to discover them. She wondered aloud about how could the ponies of Equestria claim to know so much, and yet not even be able to answer a question as simple as "from where does a Princess comes from?". (LANTERN is the principle of knowledge, and of its light that is both illuminating and unkind. It entails secrets that are held by oracles, even if they do not realize it, and scholars, even if they later regret it.)

[] She spoke about change, and its necessity. After all, it is not enough to keep a tool sharp for it to be useful, sometimes it is necessary to smelt it down and forge a new one. And about the fact that, surely, that must also hold true for greater principles. Perhaps even the world itself, no? (FORGE is the principle of transformation, fire and destruction, and of reshaping on all levels, be them physical or spiritual. It hold the secrets that both blacksmiths and rebels share deep down in their cores).

[] She spoke about conflict, and about how even in a place as "peaceful" as Equestria it is inevitable. The friendly competition that allows fillies to grow into adulthood, the clashing of interests that occur in daily life, and even combat itself, although Princess Celestia seems to insist on bearing the brunt of that last one on her own shoulders. But what rewards might be reaped from conflict, if it is so natural? (EDGE is the principle of violence and cunning, and of strengthening through confrontation, no matter what shape it takes. Its secrets are shared by soldiers and merchants, and any creature who sees itself as a predator.)

[] She spoke about life, and how it inevitably leads to death. About stories, and how they inevitably lead to endings. And how all of that was so very beautiful. But whenever you tried to recall her words, you realized she didn't speak much at all. (WINTER is the principle of endings, cold, beauty and silence. It encompasses all things that have already ended and waits patiently for all things that will end. But one knowledgeable on its ways might figure out how to work around endings, and perhaps death itself.)

[] She spoke about life, and its unceasing energy and continuity. About how all creatures, ponies most of all, seem to be dancing a grand dance in pace with the heartbeat of Equestria itself. Neither her words nor her smile stopped for even a moment, and during the whole conversation her hoofs kept beating against her mug. The rhythm was almost hypnotizing. (HEART is the principle of life, preservation and protection, as well as of the dance that must never cease. It is known, even if subconsciously, by any creature that knows happiness and perseverance in the face of adversity, and it is put into practice by dancers.)

[] She spoke about how dry and dull Equestria truly was, even if nopony was willing to admit it. About how nothing new is ever created by ponykind, only maintained, and about how the world itself seems to have forgotten about what can be learned from the satisfaction of desire. Your eyes almost didn't leave her while she spoke, to the point where you almost didn't listen to what she was saying. (GRAIL is the principle of desire, seduction and thirst. It knows about all things succulent and treats both charisma and seduction as the most pleasant of tools.)

[] She spoke about secrets, about how the world hides its own in the most unusual of ways, and about how those secrets change and transform while the world isn't looking. She didn't talk in circles, but she didn't talk in a straight line either, and at the end of it you were left with the irrevocable impression that something was in the wrong shape. Although you couldn't tell if it was the world, or yourself. (MOTH is the principle of unreason, secrecy and change. It understands chaos by understanding nothing at all and can only be learned by following your own whims. But inevitably, it leads you to where you truly desire to be.)

[] She spoke about the history of this world, and how it looks sometimes more like a knot than a straight line, and about how sometimes it even contradicts itself. It is a commonly held belief that the present can go towards many futures, but is it also possible for the present to be connected to many pasts? (SECRET HISTORIES is the principle of the world itself. It is the study and knowledge of the frailty of cause and effect, and of the secret places where more than one possibility took place.)

After that you kept in touch with Copper Secateur, the somewhat unusual mare with which you had spoken on that fateful night. At first it was just the atypical meeting, the normal chit-chat over a hay sandwich that usually marks the beginning of a friendship. But not long after, she invited you to a "party", a small get together with several other ponies, in which you had some very interesting conversations.

Then, another invitation, this time to a much more "selected" group. Only a fraction, you would later realize, of the very same ponies that Copper Secateur had invited to that party. And this time, she spoke freely and in depth about certain things that were wrong with Equestria, and the world at large. The very same things that had peaked your interest on the first time that you had met her.

One of the ponies she had invited left, then and there, and you never heard of him again. But the others, together with you, she later invited to a meeting of a "group" she was part of.

Hello everyone, and welcome to my humble attempt at a Quest. I'm a long time lurker, but never really started a thread before, so I'd appreciate your patience and understanding as I learn how things work.

As you may have noticed, this will be based on a show that is terribly famous, but also on a certain game that is not quite as widely known.

Still, for the purpose of this quest, it takes place in an AU, loosely based on both universes. Canon will not be strictly adhered to, but will be mentioned a lot. Yet, keep in mind that all that happens will be from your character's point of view. Your beliefs of certain truths might prove to be false, or certain events might later reveal themselves as not quite... how you thought they had played out.

Still, this is the general gist. You are have been recruited into a cult, a few years ago, and this cult believes that the way Equestria currently is very unaligned with how it should be.

The problem is... that you have seen evidence for that. The world around you is crooked, and your cult works towards making it right, whether if your personal aspirations align themselves with that or not.

Posts will not yet be "separated" for editing purposes. And Character Creation proper will be right on the next post. So voting can begin without any further ado.

Considering this is a single choice with 9 options, post your votes based on preference, with the lowest number (1 first, 2 second, etc) being the one you prefer the most. Vote to as many options as you like, including none!

OurLadyOfWires · Aug 22, 2024

CHARACTER SHEET
"You are Lady Velvet Covers..."

Biographical information
"But what does that mean again?"

Name: Velvet Covers
Species: Unicorn (female)
Age: Young and elegant, thank you very much
Cutie Mark: A spread open book, with purple covers and blank silver pages. A few white butterflies float around the edges
Appearance: A tall and slender unicorn mare, with light brown coat and a long white mane

Other artworks exist. By other users, in another place. To be added if they permit it.

Status
"The body, the soul, and all the things in between."

"Mundane" status

Status	Total	Base	Esoteric bonus
Martial	9	8	+1 EDGE
Diplomacy	13	11	+1 GRAIL +1 HEART
Stewardship	12	11	+1 WINTER
Intrigue	12	10	+1 MOTH +1 KNOCK
Magic	13	12	+1 FORGE
Learning	14	12	+1 LANTERN +1 SH

(On Status Level, an 8 represents a perfectly average pony, 10 is a pony trained on that particular field, 15 is a pony who can be considered an expert, and 20 is a master of the art involved)

Current/Maximum Health: 0/2 [CURRENTLY "DANCING WITH DEATH"]
Total personal combat: +29 (+9 martial, +20 EDGE)
Current bits (money): 251
Current inventory:

Monthly income: 160 bits/month + (Dividends from Rarity)/month

Relevant items/summons:
-A "Leash", currently used with: No current target
-A "Puppy" currently used with: "Stalk" in general, "Copper Secateur" in particular.
-1x "Wrong Key" (to expire at the END of turn 20)
-3x "Wrong Key" (to expire at the END of turn 24)
-"Temporary Ritual Spot(s)" Velvet Cover's faction will not incur any suspicion when performing rituals (to expire at the END of turn 20)
-Mareinette, Our Lady of Wires (Permanent summons) (Obedience bindings to expire at the END of turn 22)
-Baldomare (summoned creature) (to expire and the END of turn 20)
-The Daughter-of-Axes (summoned creature) (to expire at the END of turn 21)
-Biedde (summoned creature) (to expire at the END of turn 21)

Artifacts only apply their effect when they are "usable", "in your person", "in range" or otherwise available to you personally, depending on their nature.

HEART Level 3 (STUDIED)
"The skin of a furred animal worked into a large blanket, or perhaps a thick carpet. The salespony insists that whoever sleeps under it (or over it) will wake up feeling refreshed."
Appraised cost: 200 bits
Special properties: +30 on tests to recuperate health or cure lasting debuffs. Applies on contact.

SECRET HISTORIES Level 3 (STUDIED)
"A large hardcover book, or perhaps a grimoire, that displays the content of a different book every time its pages are turned. Some of the things written on it, you are pretty sure, are not true, or never happened."
Appraised cost: 200 bits
Special properties: Gives a variable bonus (from +5 to +15) for any rolls that involve "research" or "study", of any subject.

KNOCK Level 2 (NOT STUDIED) (CANNOT BE USED UNTIL STUDIED)
"A hoof-sized tuning fork... or at least a tuning-fork adjacent. The thing has three prongs instead of two, arranged in a triangular pattern. Striking it yields no sound, none that you can hear at least, even though the thing clearly vibrates."
Appraised cost: Unknown (not studied)
Special properties: Unknown (not studied)

WINTER Level 1 (STUDIED)
"Old. Sturdy. Strained from use, but still reliable. These are definitely not the words you would like to use when describing a noose, and yet here you are. You know it has already been used at least twice, and you realize it can still be used at least once more."
Appraised cost: none. You will burn it if you ever want to get rid of it.
Special properties: None.

EDGE Level 3 (STUDIED)
"A piece of metal, whetted by the heavens themselves. Pulverized into thick dust. Kept around the neck, in a fur-colored pouch."
Appraised cost: 200 bits.
Special properties: If a character carrying this artifact fails an "Escape" attempt during combat by a difference of 50 or less, destroy this artifact and automatically succeed at escaping.

LANTERN Level 4 (NOT STUDIED) (CANNOT BE USED UNTIL STUDIED)
"A many-pronged instrument that can fold onto itself like a switchblade. You believe it is a measuring instrument, but you have no idea what it is meant to measure. And for some reason, it seems to work better, or at least its joints seem to yield more fluidly, when used in utter darkness."
Appraised cost: Unknown (not studied)
Special properties: Unknown (not studied)

HEART Level 1 (Reagent)

MOTH Level 4 (Reagent)

A short explanation for the consumable/temporary artifacts known as "Wrong Key"

-Can be used as a "Knock 3" reagent
-Single use (breaks when used)
-Can be used reactively to completely deny an enemy offensive ritual aimed at you or at ponies near your immediate physical vicinity.
-Can be used to instantly inflict a single wound to a summoned creature if used in combat.
-Breaks at the end of its fifth month of existence.
-Using a Wrong Key as a sacrifice to summon the Daughter-of-Axes will decrease the ritual cost by 50 bits, and will give you one level of [Priority] over any opposing rituals.
-([Priority] meaning that, if an opposing party attempts to summon her as well, you will not "compete" for the summoning and will always "win", as long as you successfully roll the minimum required for her summoning and have a [Priority] level greater than your foes).

Your Forge realization allows you to produce "reagents". Disposable, single-use items that can be used to boost rituals, or in very specific narrative circumstances. They possess the following characteristics:
-Reagents may be safely stored away, indefinitely.
-Reagents may have "mixed" Lores. Mixed and matched to your heart's content.
-The "total level" of your a reagent you wish to craft (the added sum of all its Lores) is capped at your Forge level.
-The individual level of each Lore you wish to infuse a reagent with is capped at each individual Lore level you possess

For example, If your levels were Forge 3, Grail 2 and Edge 2, you would be able to craft a "Grail 2, Edge 1" reagent. But NOT a "Grail 3" reagent (because your Grail level is insufficient), and NOT a "Grail 2, Edge 2" reagent (because your Forge level is insufficient)

Crafting ONE reagent is a free action, THREE reagents costs one action, FIVE reagents costs two actions, etc.

Reagent's cost in bits is: 5 -> 20 -> 45 -> 80, etc.

Higher level reagents may have unforeseen/unknown narrative or mechanical effects.

BOOK, HEART Level 1. "A small book that covers a particular kind of elegant dancing".
BOOK EDGE Level 1. "The title is self-explanatory: 'Four self-defense spells every unicorn should know'. You doubt they are anything more than different variations of concentrated telekinesis."
BOOK, FORGE Level 1. "A small handbook on camping, explaining the basics of how to build a tent and start a small fire".
BOOK KNOCK Level 2. "A fairly recent, and short, book about dream interpretation. You know it is recent because it was dedicated to Princess Luna's return".
BOOK MOTH Level 5. "The language used in this is indecipherable. The cover, if it even has one, yields no clue about its subject. And yet, you cannot resist the urge to read it." (Requires deciphering. Progress 0/100. From an Era that is Ancient Beyond History, "-50" to deciphering rolls.)
BOOK KNOCK Level 5. "An initial survey of its pages reveals several drawings, or perhaps instructions, on how to build bridges and maintain clocks. You suspect the book is about more than just that." (Requires deciphering. Progress 0/100. From One Era Ago, "-30" to deciphering rolls.)

"Esoteric" status

KNOCK

Perks:
-Gain access to the Mansus;
-+20 when "attempting to open something";
-+1 Intrigue;
-Mundane locks no longer work against you;
-Using one action to explore the Mansus gives you two Mansus actions;
-One Knock related re-roll per turn.

-Level 0: You understand that there are other Worlds, and secret paths between them. But the only one you know is the World in your dream, the Mansus, and perhaps that is the only World that matters. (Allows access to the Mansus)

-Level 1: A door is not a passage, it is a thing that denies the passing of something, the opening behind a door is the true passage. And all passages share certain characteristics with wounds, as well as certain words. (+5 when attempting to open something)

-Level 2: A door always bears a price. Most of them demand their prices be paid when they are created, as is the case with wounds and portals. But the doors of the Mansus always were, they were never made, so their prices must always be paid upon passage. (Further +5 when attempting to open something. +1 Intrigue.)

-Level 3: It is not about simply opening something, no. The manner in which something is opened is also of equal importance. You have the impression that the reason as to why something is opened might be even more important, but, for now, you have learned the secret that allows you this much. (Further +5 when attempting to open something. Mundane locks no longer work against you, and Mansus actions now allow for two choices to be picked, or for the same choice to be picked twice.)

-Level 4: Some connections are unions, because they combine "here" and "there" into a single thing. Other connections are divisions, for the existence of a bridge is what transforms a single river into two separate shores. But all of those situations share the similarity of there being a path itself, and the creation of that path is what truly matters. (Further +5 when attempting to open something. Gains a single re-roll for Knock per month/turn, to be used on the result that would benefit Velvet Covers the most.)

-Level 5: PROGRESS 3/4. SACRAMENT 0/1.

LANTERN

Perks:
-+20 when attempting to "learn the secrets that are within an object";
-+1 Learning;
-May study 3 books or 2 artifacts per turn;
-You might be able to learn from objects you can touch;
-One Lantern related re-roll per turn.

-Level 0: You know that there is more to knowledge than the simple sciences and magics known to ponies and the other races, and although you have no idea what it is you have been warned that it can easily blind the careless. (+1 when attempting to learn the secrets that are within an object)

-Level 1: A physical object exists, whether if it is bathed in light or cloaked in shadows. But what of knowledge, or ideas? If those are not illuminated, if a mind does not bathe them in light, do they truly exists? (Further +4 when attempting to learn the secrets that are within an object)

-Level 2: You know that radiance of Glory escapes from the Mansus, sometimes, away from the Woods and into the Wake. You even think you can see it, whenever light is reflected at the correct angle from a mirror. You try not to look for such angles, or not to stare at it so intently whenever you catch a glimpse. (Further +5 when attempting to learn the secrets that are within an object. +1 Learning.)

-Level 3: You have learned the secret that allows you to see through shadows. Even the shadows that you cannot see. (Further +5 when attempting to learn the secrets that are within an object. May study 3 books or 2 artifacts per turn, generate less suspicion to family head, and might be able to learn from objects you can touch.)

-Level 4: Knowledge is light. Its source cannot help but shine, and everything it touches cannot help but distort it. You may only trust mirrors to properly carry it. (Further +5 when attempting to learn the secrets that are within an object. Gains a single re-roll for Lantern per month/turn, to be used on the result that would benefit Velvet Covers the most.)

-Level 5: PROGRESS 0/4. SACRAMENT 0/1.

FORGE

Perks:
-+20 when attempting to "destroy something";
-+1 Magic;
-May craft Reagents to boost Rituals. (Max level of reagent is based on Forge Level, and the combination of Lores infused may not pass your personal level on each individual Lore).

-Level 0: You have heard that nothing is truly eternal, and yet nothing can be truly destroyed. While the true meaning of that still eludes you, you have heard that fire can whisper you the answer. (+1 when attempting to destroy something)

-Level 1: What are the words that fire sings as it burns? Ponies knew those words, long ago, much like they knew how to move the clouds and how to befriend the earth so that it might bear fruits. And although they might have forgotten those particular words, you know it is possible to learn them once again. (Further +4 when attempting to destroy something)

-Level 2: Heat, you now know, is the physical representation of change. A metal bends and melts when heated not because of the temperature, but because change is being presented to it, inserted into it. You have learned, now, that it is possible to enact changes to certain things through other mediums, which are both more exotic and more effective than fire. (Further +5 when attempting to destroy something. +1 Magic)

-Level 3: A modern alchemist is no different than a foal, experimenting through trial and error in the hopes of stumbling upon something worthwhile. This, what you now know, is the correct way, in which a deeper understanding of the base elements and the base rules is used to produce the desired result. (Further +5 when attempting to destroy something. May craft Reagents to boost Rituals. Max level of reagent is based on Forge Level, and the combination of Lores infused may not pass your personal level on each individual Lore.)

-Level 4: It is impossible to truly break something. And it is impossible to create something that is truly unbreakable. Everything is in constant flux, and the only thing one can do is steer the direction of that unstoppable flow. (Further +5 when attempting to destroy something. Gains a single re-roll for Forge per month/turn, to be used on the result that would benefit Velvet Covers the most.)

-Level 5: PROGRESS 0/4. SACRAMENT 0/1.

EDGE

Perks:
-+20 to Personal Combat;
-+1 Martial;
-Immunity to ambushes, and limited sensorial skills regardless of nearby obstacles;
-During combat, your first of every six combat rolls is rolled twice, and you keep the largest result.

-Level 0: You have learned that conflict is not only inevitable, but also natural. There is a certain sobriety to be gained from that realization. (+1 to Personal Combat)

-Level 1: Combat is not merely to take, or to end, or to divide. It is not only cunning, or strength, or agony. But there is also no way to describe combat without being intimate with all of those. (Further +4 to Personal Combat)

-Level 2: Every life, every living being, is but a confluence of a thousand crucial factors. Cut one, be it artery, passion or sanity, and said life will be ended. You can see them now, every so often, sticking out of those around you like a sore hoof. It chills you now, every so often, when you identify those factors on your loved ones. The factors, you see, seem to beg to be cut. (Further +5 to Personal Combat. +1 Martial)

-Level 3: Combat never ends. Or rather, you are in a combat that has been going on during your whole life, and that has not stopped or paused for even a single moment. Everypony is. It is a battle that began the moment you were born. And that will only end, in humiliating defeat, when you die. Now that you have realized this, you will never be caught unaware again. (Further +5 to Personal Combat. You are immune to ambushes, and you are able to "smell" certain kinds of nearby creatures up to a reasonable range regardless of physical obstacles between you and your mark.)

-Level 4: Decisiveness is crucial. Even the sharpest blade will only cut as deep as you push it into a body, and a blade that is pulled backwards only risks cutting yourself. Once you make a commitment, the only direction you can go is forward. (Further +5 to Personal Combat. Roll twice on your first of every six combat dice, during combat.)

-Level 5: PROGRESS 4/4. SACRAMENT 0/1.

WINTER

Perks:
-+20 when "resisting things that would harm your mind";
-+1 Stewardship;
-Physical discomforts no longer hinder you, thought they will still affect or harm you;
-You are unnaturally resistant to cold;
-Learn how to summon ~~Flourishing Risen~~ and Torn Risen from dead bodies;
-One Winter related re-roll per month/turn.

-Level 0: You know that death is not the end, although you know not how you came to learn that. (+1 when resisting things that would harm your mind)

-Level 1: There is something curious about stillness. When the air is still you have quiet, when the mind is still you have peace, but what might happen when the spirit is still? Whatever the answer is, you know that it must not be taught with words, for if the answer breaks the quiet then it is, by principle, incorrect. (Further +4 when resisting things that would harm your mind)

-Level 2: Sometimes when your breath exits your mouth it is as cold as a midnight chill, and you know that it is because you have learned certain words. This might happen because the words wish to be spoken, or this might be because your body wishes for you to be silent. (Further +5 when resisting things that would harm your mind. +1 Stewardship)

-Level 3: The secret without which the first Crossings, past the crossroads and through the great mountains beyond the horizon of the Mansus, would not have been possible. (Further +5 when resisting things that would harm your mind. Physical discomforts no longer hinder you, thought they will still affect or harm you. You are unnaturally resistant to cold. You may now summon ~~Flourishing Risen and~~ Torn Risen from dead bodies.)

-Level 4: A music may only be shared after its composition is finished. A trail may only be mapped after it is completely walked. A life may only have meaning after death. The nuance, however, lies in understanding what death truly is, for a pony may die several times throughout his life. (Further +5 when resisting things that would harm your mind. Gains a single re-roll for Winter per month/turn, to be used on the result that would benefit Velvet Covers the most.)

-Level 5: PROGRESS 1/4. SACRAMENT 0/1.

HEART

Perks:
-+15 when "resisting things that would harm your body";
-+1 Diplomacy;
-If you reach zero health, you will enter a state of "Dancing with Death" instead of immediately dying.

-Level 0: There is a dance that never ceases, and those who dance it cannot be ceased. You know it rhymes with heartbeats and rolls with the beating of drums, but apart from that you know nothing else. (+1 when resisting things that would harm your body)

-Level 1: What is the difference between a the stomping of a hoof against the ground during a dance and a thunderclap, apart from the scale of it? Both follow a rhythm, both accompany the motions of nature itself, both are a herald to the next one that will soon follow. (Further +4 when resisting things that would harm your body)

-Level 2: To be alive is to continue. To die is to stop. It might be possible to exist without being alive, or to exist without movement, but that form of existence is both unnatural and not right. (Further +5 when resisting things that would harm your body. +1 Diplomacy.)

-Level 3: Nopony ever really dies, as long as the song continues to be sung. This is the secret hymn that hearts sing, as they beat. This is the secret that allows you to sing back to your heart, when it gives up on singing. (Further +5 when resisting things that would harm your body. If you reach zero health, you will now enter a state of "Dancing with Death" instead of immediately dying.)

-Level 4: PROGRESS 0/4.

GRAIL

Perks:
-+20 when attempting to "convince someone of something";
-+1 Diplomacy;
-You gain one "Leash", a leashed pony will treat you differently in a positive way;
-One Grail related re-roll per month/turn.

-Level 0: You have heard whispers that there is never any wrong in accepting one's own nature. Your rationality denied such a thing, and yet your body agreed. There might be some deeper knowledge to that. (+1 when attempting to convince someone of something)

-Level 1: There are words that beg to be spoken, and actions that beg to be performed, and they share characteristics that are deeper and more complex than the base and carnal aspects that most might attribute to them. What further things might we discover if we learn these similarities? (Further +4 when attempting to convince someone of something)

-Level 2: You have come to realize that there is a circle, of sorts, present in the lives of all ponies. Your desires beget your cutie marks, and then your cutie marks bring forth your desires. For the longest time you have tried to understand which came first, but now you understand that the answer is "neither". The two things are one and the same. The two things are a commemoration of Birth. (Further +5 when attempting to convince someone of something. +1 Diplomacy.)

-Level 3: A pony's desire is a powerful thing. It guides their will through their lives. It guides their bodies in drawing their cutie marks. This is the secret to begin touching it. (Further +5 when attempting to convince someone of something. You gain one "Leash". A "Leashed" pony will act towards you as if they were one step higher on the Acquaintance-Friend-Close Friend-Confidant-Minion sliding scale.)

-Level 4: Everypony, no matter how young or old, is driven by their blood. It runs through their bodies, nourishing their limbs from within. It sings to their souls, granting them gifts of lust and ambition and desire. It is the endless river that they produce, which in turn also nourishes them back. Those who lack it are simply not alive. And that is why the dead, and the dull, do not bleed when cut. (Further +5 when attempting to convince someone of something. Gains a single re-roll for Grail per month/turn, to be used on the result that would benefit Velvet Covers the most.)

-Level 5: PROGRESS 0/4. SACRAMENT 0/1.

MOTH

Perks:
-+20 when attempting to "evade someone", or when you do not want to be found;
-+1 Intrigue;
-Mundane darkness no longer affects you;
-One Moth related re-roll per month/turn.

-Level 0: Everything within our minds is a part of us, being something that was both made by us and something that makes us, even the parts we do not understand. What can be learned from them? (+1 when attempting to evade someone, or when you do not want to be found).

-Level 1: There are powers that are pleased by the constant changes within us, but to truly attract their attention there must be changes to our outside as well. Even a slight cut from a lock of a mane, if done correctly, may sometimes be enough. (Further +4 when attempting to evade someone, or when you do not want to be found).

-Level 2: You have learned much from dreaming, but you are also starting to learn things from being awake. The night wind sometimes whispers against the trees, the moonlight paints the land in meaningful patterns at certain hours. But you can only ever notice those things after you have given up on searching for them. (Further +5 when attempting to evade someone, or when you do not want to be found. +1 Intrigue.)

-Level 3: This is the secret known by those who understand what it means to become truly lost. (Further +5 when attempting to evade someone, or when you do not want to be found. Mundane darkness no longer affects you.)

-Level 4: That which is not touched by light cannot be seen. That which is not reached by thought cannot be understood. Those are the truths behind the chaotic nature of the Woods, for it is neither touched nor reached by the ultimate light of Glory. But why, then does, the Woods so desire the Glory? (Further +5 when attempting to evade someone, or when you do not want to be found. Gains a single re-roll for Moth per month/turn, to be used on the result that would benefit Velvet Covers the most.)

-Level 5: PROGRESS 3/4. SACRAMENT 0/1.

SECRET HISTORIES

Perks:
-+20 when attempting to "find something";
-+1 Learning;
-"Book/Artifact Search" actions upgraded, even when performed by servants, and no longer cap when performed by yourself;
-One Secret Histories related re-roll per month/turn.

-Level 0: You have been taught that the history of this world is neither an open book nor a strand of rope, and yet it is full of knots, and parts where it has been written over by scribbles. (+1 when attempting to find something)

-Level 1: There seems to be a beginning to all of this, a place from where everything started diverging or a past that everything can agree on. Whatever its nature is, its making also carved the Mansus, and seeded the Woods. (Further +4 when attempting to find something)

-Level 2: There are several Histories, but only one Mansus, and this has taught you that no matter how tangled a web might be, there will always be a point of convergence. No matter what you search for, there will always be similarities to be found in other Histories. (Further +5 when attempting to find something. +1 Learning)

-Level 3: This is no secret at all, it is in fact something painfully obvious. The secret you have come to realize is, instead, the extends that ponies go to not realize it. (Further +5 when attempting to find something. "Book/Artifact Search" actions upgraded, even when performed by servants, and no longer cap when performed by yourself.)

-Level 4: Coincidences do not exist. Alignments exist. Cause and effect exists. The logic that determines where a lightning is most likely to strike exists. But coincidences do not exist. Not, at least, in the superstitious way that most ponies believe they do. (Further +5 when attempting to find something. Gains a single re-roll for Secret Histories per month/turn, to be used on the result that would benefit Velvet Covers the most.)

-Level 5: PROGRESS 4/4. SACRAMENT 0/1. (Personal Sacrament 1/3)

THE STAIN UPON YOUR SOUL

Current Level: 3/7
Should this counter ever reach 7/7, Velvet Covers will immediately reach the ending "The Mother of Wolves".

THE FIRST SON
"Like a piece of parchment that was put too close to a fire, or wool that was grazed by a candle's flame. This one's soul is marked, now, and that mark is an ugly thing that cannot be taken back."

-[Wolf, thy name is Evil]: "An old malice has been reintroduced to Equestria, like a wind that brings misfortune or a day where the sun just doesn't shine as bright."
(Equestria is now a worse place.)

-[The Benefits of the Mother]: Velvet Covers may now perform Regrettable Actions.
(Velvet Covers may be offered additional actions to further this path.)

THE SECOND SON
"Deeper now. Darker now. This one's mark has grown. But not out of ignorance or innocence, but by intention and design. And that intent, perhaps, might be worse than the mark itself."

-[Wolf, thy name is Paranoia]: "I will speak the words you taught me, in the ears and in the minds and in the souls of ponies. Until they fall upon each other in frenzied fear."
(All non-alicorn ponies, in all of Equestria, will receive a "-5 (Paranoia)" malus whenever they perform an action that requires them to cooperate with another non-alicorn pony.)

-[The Benefits of the Mother]: "The son is not required where the Mother treads, for the progenitor's actions will always eclipse that of the progeny."
(Paranoia will not affect Velvet Covers herself, or anypony near her, in a very large radius. The "location" where Velvet covers is, be it a city or an expedition or a place of import, is immune to the above Malus.)

THE THIRD SON
"Like anything else, the third is time is always the most meaningful. This is the last time it will hurt. Because the next time this one crosses the line, the filth within this one will be a greater part, compared to what remains."

-[Wolf, thy name is Ash]: "The Wolves gnaw around the walls of the Mansus. As any student of Histories know, they will kill you if you linger."
(All creatures not aligned with Velvet Covers will be harmed, or will risk being harmed, whenever they attempt to enter the Mansus.)

-[The Benefits of the Mother]: "Give me their scent, Mother. Tell me your will. The ashes will consume them until only the flavor of their bones remains."
(Ash will "guard" the entrance of the Mansus, afflicting ponies who try to enter. The greater the proportion of ponies it is directed to afflict, the lesser the effect. Additionally, Ash may be given the "scent" of a single character, who will be actively hunted whenever it tries to enter the Mansus regardless of Ash's "guard" orders. Velvet Covers may spend one Mansus action to visit Ash, and give it new directions.)

Traits

Positive:
-Graduated: You have graduated from an institution of higher education (+1 Learning, +1 Magic, +1 Stewardship, already applied);
-Beautiful: +5 when trying to seduce other creatures, or just be pleasant (+2 Intrigue, already applied);
-Gifted: +5 when trying to cast your racial magic (+2 Magic, already applied);
-Well Read: +5 when attempting to decipher or learn from scrolls or books (+2 Learning, already applied);
-The good Velvet: You are immune to your family's complicated reputation, having sufficiently distanced yourself from it... you hope;
-Mare Administrator: +10 when organizing projects that span large areas, or that involves the efforts of several ponies (+2 Stewardship, already applied);
-Above All Suspicion: The alicorns trust you, in a time where trust is a precious and scarce resource. Do. Not. Break. That. Trust;
-Security Detail: Two ponies with varying status (usually 3/3 health and +15 personal combat) will be guarding your "home base" at all times. (But they will not follow you on expeditions, or join you in combats you initiate on your own). Increases the degree of suspicion suffered when strange things happen to you (but not when you perform strange activities).

Negative:
-Scarred [MALUS]: -1 base Health;
-Murderer: "This one's hoofs have taken a life";

Lost/discarded:
~~-Frightened [MALUS]: -10 to Personal Combat;~~ (Cut away by The Incision of the Heart)
~~-Favored in Canterlot (Mi Amore Cadenza) [Possible Malus]: +20 for certain rolls in the city of Canterlot. You will be immediately recognized as a supporter of the crown;~~ (Transformed into "Above All Suspicion")

Attained:
BRANDED by the SECRET HISTORIES: Your cutie mark is no longer merely that... You will be recognized by those in the know, and in turn you will now recognize them back (further effects unknown);
MOTH: Mundane darkness no longer affects you (Level 3);
SECRET HISTORIES: "Book/Artifact Search" actions upgraded, even when performed by servants, and no longer cap when performed by yourself (Level 3);
LANTERN: You may read three books per turn, or study two artifacts, and you will generate slightly less suspicion towards the family head. You now can (try to?) learn (learn... what?) from objects you can touch (Level 3);
KNOCK: Mundane locks no longer work against you, and Mansus actions now allow for two choices to be picked, or for the same choice to be picked twice (if -> else action plans are also acceptable) (Level 3);
WINTER: Physical discomforts no longer hinder you, thought they will still affect or harm you. You are unnaturally resistant to cold. You may now summon Flourishing Risen and Torn Risen from dead bodies (Level 3);
FORGE: Max level of reagent is based on Forge Level, and the combination of Lores infused may not pass your personal level on each individual Lore (Level 3);
EDGE: You are immune to ambushes, and you are able to "smell" certain kinds of nearby creatures up to a reasonable range regardless of physical obstacles between you and your mark (Level 3).
GRAIL: You gain one "Leash". A "Leashed" pony will act towards you as if they were one step higher on the "Acquaintance - Friend - Close Friend - Confidant - Minion" scale. (Level 3).
HEART: If you reach zero health, you will enter a state of "Dancing with Death" instead of immediately dying. (Level 3).

Learned:
-Mirror Keeping Techniques: "Thrice clockwise, then across, till the sheen evaporates. Lay it flat on the ground, then..." (All rituals involving Lantern cost -5 bits, already applied)

OurLadyOfWires · Aug 22, 2024

For the record, I realize some QMs say that "voting/posting" can begin. But no voting will be needed for a while, and the thread from the previous site might be better suited for discussion.

Still, for the sake of tradition, there is no problem with anyone posting in this thread.

OurLadyOfWires · Aug 22, 2024

Test

Test

Test

Test

Test

Test

Test

Test

Test

Test

Test

Who's a good boy?

Test

This is where nightmares exist

Artemis_Fowl_2nd · Aug 22, 2024

Awesome. Good luck on the transfer!

Witherbrine2671 · Aug 22, 2024

Welcome to QQ! I hope the transfer goes smoothly so we can get back to raising ~~two~~ five kids

OurLadyOfWires · Aug 22, 2024

[X] She spoke about secrets, about how the world hides its own in the most unusual of ways, and about how those secrets change and transform while the world isn't looking. She didn't talk in circles, but she didn't talk in a straight line either, and at the end of it you were left with the irrevocable impression that something was in the wrong shape. Although you couldn't tell if it was the world, or yourself. (MOTH is the principle of unreason, secrecy and change. It understands chaos by understanding nothing at all and can only be learned by following your own whims. But inevitably, it leads you to where you truly desire to be.)

- - -

And that was how things started. And that's why you are here now, waking up on a holiday morning to go to a cult meeting.

You had struggled with the word "cult" at first. After all, you are a perfectly normal citizen of Equestria. You have your house, your job, and would not at all look out of place in the background of any bustling city scenario.

But in the end, you accepted things as they are. You have had your eyes opened, even if at some moments you wished they were not. You learned about just how crooked this calm and peaceful land is. You have already even… seen certain things for yourself. But you share in a belief, so there's no point in trying to spin words around it.

Although… that's what is so curious about ideas. They live within you, they form a core part of you, and yet nopony can divine what they are just by looking at you.

Hell, looking at the mirror, you see nothing but a…

CHARACTER CREATION

Name: [WRITE IN]

[ ] Male

[ ] Female

Cutie Mark: [WRITE IN]

Species:

[ ] Earth Pony: Those who say your species is "grounded" and without magic are dead wrong. Your species is the strongest of the three, and your connection to the land is second to none. (+2 Martial, +1 Stewardship).

[ ] Pegasus: Not being contained to the ground gives you a different view of the world. And while the etiquette of using doors instead of windows has been hammered into you from a young age, you at least will always have the option of choosing. (+1 Martial, +1 Intrigue, flight capable).

[ ] Unicorn: You were borne with a gift. It came in the shape of a horn on your forehead, and the ability to manipulate the world with your thoughts. (+1 Magic, +1 Learning, magic capable)

But you are more than just what you see in the mirror, you are also the culmination of a whole life of experiences. Some of them may have marked you, but others just made you stronger.

Looking into your own eyes you can count more than a few. You are also…

(You have four coins. Everything costs a single coin unless stated otherwise. VOTING FROM HERE ON IS IN PLANNED FORMAT)

Notable characteristics:

[ ] a Workhorse: Lean or robust, tall or well built. You stand a full head over other ponies. (+2 Martial, +5 on tests that require physical strength, and personal combat).

[ ] Beautiful: You are used to heads turning to follow you when you walk around, and that means knowing how to get away with certain things. (+2 Intrigue, +5 when trying to seduce other creatures, or just be pleasant).

[ ] Silver Tongued: Complicated words to impress the simple minded, complicated arguments to impress the wise. You know well how to weave them. (+3 Diplomacy).

[ ] Gifted: There is a flame inside every creature. Yours appears to burn just a bit brighter. (+2 Magic, +5 when trying to cast your racial magic)

[ ] Attentive to Details: You actually use your pocketbook, and your financial life is thankful for it. (+2 Stewardship, +5 when negotiating a commercial deal)

[ ] Well Read: You are fond of the smell of libraries, and books reveal their secrets more easily to your touch. (+2 Learning, +5 when attempting to decipher or learn from scrolls and books)

[ ] Healthy: "Healthy as a horse" is more than literal when it comes to you. (+1 health)

[ ] Naturally Talented: Just a bit faster, just a bit sharper. Some ponies are simply borne better than others, and you are one of them. (+1 on all status) COSTS 2 COINS

Your parents were… (this gives a little nudge towards what kinds of contacts you can call upon, but mostly determines your background PICK ONE)

[-] Regular ponies: The lifeblood of any city, your parents never really amounted to much. But they raised you the best they could, and always loved you very much. (Default option) COSTS ZERO COINS

[ ] Soldiers: Not members of the royal guard, but the sight of spears and armors was normal for you as you grew up. Not many ponies can count "polishing helmets" as a household chore. (+2 Martial, +5 personal combat, -1 Stewardship)

[ ] Farmers: Your upbringing was simple, full of hard work, but for some reason you always thought that gave you a deeper connection to the world around you. (+2 Magic, +1 Martial, -1 Learning)

[ ] Librarians: You didn't actually live in a library, but thanks to your parents books were never in short supply. It was also really useful once homework became a thing at your school. (+2 Learning, +1 Magic, -1 Martial)

[ ] Merchants: You remember the last time you were asked to restock supplies and carry crates, and the first time you were given a quill and a ledger. You soon learned the second is far heavier. (+2 Stewardship, +1 Diplomacy, -1 Magic)

[ ] Travelers: You and your parents were always on the move, carrying cargo and conducting business anywhere and everywhere. As you grew up you started to realize that perhaps your parents might not have been involved in the most legal of things, but by then you had learned a few tricks. (+2 Intrigue, +1 Diplomacy, -1 Learning)

[ ] Minor Nobles: You might have been borne into the political web of nobility, and perhaps you are just a pawn on some larger game. But your blood is blue, and that is all that matters. (Starts with a well-paying, albeit non-prestigious job. Starts with good contacts, and ponyservants to perform one free action for you, if they're not suspicious.) COSTS 2 COINS

And you do remember that time when… (Past experiences, circumstances that change your starting point)

[ ] You were promoted!: Lieutenant, not soldier. Manager, not clerk. There is a hierarchy in this world, and you climbed a step through hard work, not birthright. (Starts with a prestigious job. This job will be better paying albeit more demanding, but it WILL give you easier access to whatever your cult is after)

[ ] You went out on an expedition: Timberwolves are a stark reminder of how hard wood can be, especially when its sharp, sentient and bearing down on your throat. (+1 Martial, starts with personal combat gear)

[ ] You overperformed at work: Performing heroic act, being responsible for a great deal, turning a failure into a success. Whatever it was, you were rewarded handsomely for it. (Starts with two full months' worth of bits)

[ ] You helped to bust a crime operation: What started with innocent overhearing led to you snooping around for a bit, and before you knew it you had a whole case formed. (+1 Intrigue, starts with contacts good standing with local law enforcement)

[ ] You realized you are well liked: Ponies just gather around you, be it for advice or to resolve some quarrel of their own. You are something of a local, informal, leader. (+1 Diplomacy, starts with good standing with the local populace, easier to locate recruiting targets)

[ ] You joined a Guild: You thought it was just the equivalent of buying a library card, or a fidelity stamp to a certain store. Turns out it was more than that. (+1 Stewardship, starts with contacts among merchants)

[ ] You graduated!: Ponykind relies more on craftsmanship and knowing a particular trade, but you went out of your way to pursue higher education. (+1 Learning, +1 Magic, +1 Stewardship)

But of course, there are other things you must consider…

[ ] Married: You are married, and have a beautiful daughter. Your family demands your attention, and it sure would be a shame if something were to happen to them… (+1 coin)

[ ] Frightened: Maybe it is the result of some trauma, maybe you were borne like that, but the end result is the same. You are weaker than most. (-10 Personal Combat, +1 coin)

[ ] Scarred: You survived, but it is better if you do not try to do that again. (-1 Health, +1 coin)

[ ] Compromised: You did something, and your cult connections bailed you out. (You have a personal debt to the master of your cult, +2 coins)

[ ] Enemies: Its not all friendship and magic. Someone out there is trying to get you. (+1 coin)

Aaaaaactually, when you look in the mirror you see… (only one option can be picked, overrides the initial race option. Fantastic racism may apply, and it's a lot harder to be subtle when you're a different race) COSTS 2 COINS

[ ] A (sick) dragon: You do not know why, but you will never grow any more than you already have, about a head taller than a normal pony. Maybe you joined a cult to find a purpose for your life, maybe you joined it to find a solution to this problem. (+4 martial, +2 magic, flight capable, +5 personal combat)

[ ] A gryphon: You're a long way from home, and when you first arrived you did turn a lot of heads. But you've been settled down for a few years now. (+3 martial, +2 intrigue, flight capable, +10 personal combat)

There appears to be wisdom in not putting out too many choices in a row, at least this early on. You will have a "role" on your cult, which will be based on one of the six Status (CK2-esque), and your cult will have an immediate "objective" in mind. Both of those will be voted on the next post so as not to give too many important options right now.

And just for clarification, this "objective" will be related to a specific alicorn. If you pick "You were promoted" your job will grant you easier access to said alicorn, and your residence will be in that city. If "You were promoted" is not picked, next post will also include voting for where you live.

As per advice, voting will be closed in at the very least six hours. More if advised otherwise.

OurLadyOfWires · Aug 22, 2024

[X] Plan Velvet Covers
-[X] Physiology
--[X] Name: Velvet Covers
--[X] Gender: Female
--[X] Cutie Mark: A spread open book, with purple covers and blank silver pages. A few white butterflies float around the edges.
--[X] Species: Unicorn: You were borne with a gift. It came in the shape of a horn on your forehead, and the ability to manipulate the world with your thoughts. (+1 Magic, +1 Learning, magic capable)
-[X] Traits
--[X] Beautiful: You are used to heads turning to follow you when you walk around, and that means knowing how to get away with certain things. (+2 Intrigue, +5 when trying to seduce other creatures, or just be pleasant).
--[X] Silver Tongued: Complicated words to impress the simple minded, complicated arguments to impress the wise. You know well how to weave them. (+3 Diplomacy).
--[X] Gifted: There is a flame inside every creature. Yours appears to burn just a bit brighter. (+2 Magic, +5 when trying to cast your racial magic)
--[X] Well Read: You are fond of the smell of libraries, and books reveal their secrets more easily to your touch. (+2 Learning, +5 when attempting to decipher or learn from scrolls and books)
-[X] Background
--[X] Minor Nobles: You might have been borne into the political web of nobility, and perhaps you are just a pawn on some larger game. But your blood is blue, and that is all that matters. (Starts with a well-paying, albeit non-prestigious job. Starts with good contacts, and ponyservants to perform one free action for you, if they're not suspicious.) COSTS 2 COINS
--[X] You graduated!: Ponykind relies more on craftsmanship and knowing a particular trade, but you went out of your way to pursue higher education. (+1 Learning, +1 Magic, +1 Stewardship)
-[X] Complications
--[X] Married: You are married, and have a beautiful daughter. Your family demands your attention, and it sure would be a shame if something were to happen to them… (+1 coin)
--[X] Frightened: Maybe it is the result of some trauma, maybe you were borne like that, but the end result is the same. You are weaker than most. (-10 Personal Combat, +1 coin)
--[X] Scarred: You survived, but it is better if you do not try to do that again. (-1 Health, +1 coin)

- - -

But in the end you nod to yourself. You are you. Velvet Covers, the tall (and some would say gorgeous) unicorn mare that is staring back at you in the mirror. Your slender body covered in light brown fur contrasting beautifully against your white mane that…

That actually needs some caring before you leave, you conclude, reaching for a comb with your magic.

You move around your room with just the slightest bit of care. Stormchaser, your husband, is out of town taking care of family business, and you know that nothing short of you dropping a whole cabinet on the floor will wake up Silky Stream, especially since her room is a whole corridor away.

But still, there is no need for unnecessary noise.

Soon enough your mane is presentable, and you start putting on a discrete dress that had been patiently floating next to you for some time now. One final look at the mirror to double check that your right hindleg is completely covered by the long skirt, and out of your room you go.

You do not exactly have difficulty walking, and you can run if you absolutely have to, but as usual you go down the corridor from the room with the utmost care, even though the floor is covered in rich carpeting. No reason at all to wake up your daughter, after all, as unlikely as that could be.

You whisk past the main hall, which was still empty of servants at this time of the day, and out through the front door you went.

- - -

It is somewhat pleasant to go out alone, and although you do notice the appalling gazes that are directed towards you whenever you declared that you will leave unaccompanied, nopony so far has ever really objected to the idea. Not even Stormchaser. So you take your time while you walk to appreciate the morning sun on your fur, the rare silence of a waking city and the pleasant feeling of having only yourself for company.

No accompanying maid, no watchful bodyguard, only yourself.

Until you finally arrive.

Your hoofs take you to a side street in a rather pleasant part of town. The street itself eventually leads to a dead end after another curve and is almost totally empty, save for a few ponies who, just like you, seem to have woken up no more than an hour ago.

Well, it is a holiday after all. Granted that there will be as many ponies partaking in the festivities as there will be those who are working on them, but this is the sort of day that seems to move just a bit more slowly, where things can be taken just a little bit less seriously.

"Well, not for me," you think, as you take one last casual look around you, just to make sure nopony is really paying attention. No matter how discreetly you are clothed or the fact that you are hidden in plain sight, it always pays to be cautious.

You are in a pleasant part of town, mostly an urban area, that is dotted with the small businesses that make life convenient. Bakeries, grocery shops, cafés and other conveniences that thrive by the sheer fact that they are mostly the nearest and most pleasant options.

You walk up to one such shop, an ice cream parlor with a very large "CLOSED" sign hanging from its door, indistinguishable from the other two shops next to it, and go through the unlocked door without a second thought, hastily closing it behind you.

The inside is cold and dark, and although the brief illumination you were allowed had shown that there is nothing but piled up chairs and tables, ready to be carried out when the shop opens, the vague impressions of shadows and silhouettes that they form suggest anything but that. You navigate slowly, already knowing that the direction you should take is generally kept clear, but still not wanting to make a fool of yourself in case it isn't.

Windy Flakes, the unicorn who owns the shop, is known to have a mischievous sense of humor from time to time.

Eventually, you reach the side door that leads to the kitchen, this time completely dark, and once again successfully navigate to the metal portal on the floor, which reminds you of some sort of hatch, the stairs through which descends to the underground storage area.

Although, as you well know, it has been years since that storage had last seen even a single crate or supply of any sort. Well, at least one that carried supplies that could be of use to the shop above, you think while slowly heading downwards.

And as soon as your hoof touches the ground you felt it, like you always do.

A faint gust of wind passes through your mane, even though you know it is impossible for wind to circulate here. You hear a slight… buzzing in your head, though you are sure this place is almost totally silent.

You feel the sensation of dirt under your hoofs, as if you were in the middle of a dark forest, even though you know that if any lights were to be lit you would see that the ground is made of solid stone.

But of course, no light has been lit inside this room in years, not even the slight glow of a unicorn's horn.

A soft smile comes to your face, the unexplainable satisfaction of knowing that right now you are in a place that, even if only slightly, does not exist. A place that no science or magic can explain. A place where the real nature of Equestria is allowed to take form.

"Velvet? I'm so glad that you could make it," you hear a whisper from nearby, that you immediately recognized as Copper Secateur's, "most of the others have arrived during the night."

"Well, you know that I can't be seen going about town during those late hours," you whisper back, allowing your lips to form a light smirk, "has the Master already arrived?"

"Who knows…", you presume that Copper rolled her eyes as she spoke, "for all I know, he never even leaves this place."

Her whispers grow fainter as she talks, and you hear the low sound of hoofs against dirt drifting away in the darkness. Without further ado you follow her deeper into that place.

The buzzing sound inside your head grows louder as the two of you progress, almost imperceptibly.

You know the moment when you arrive at the gathering place, and that is always when you hear the sound of a leaf being crushed underhoof coming from somewhere near. But that only ever happens after you have given up on counting how many steps you have taken so far.

Both you and Copper know that secret, of course. Although you still realize, or at least feel, that you have walked just a bit more than would have been necessary to be on the other side of the street if you were aboveground. Much like how you know that the amount of steps required to leave this place will be far less.

But still, undeniably, you also start hearing the sound of whispering, and hushed conversation, and you know that those are very real. As a matter of fact, this much sound is a lot more than usual, perhaps even the full gathering of the cult is present.

"It makes sense," Copper whispers to you, "the summoning was urgent and specific on the importance of this meeting. It was so unusual that I almost thought it was just some random dream."

You hum in agreement and sit down next to her in that total darkness, talking in whispers almost in a chit-chat manner.

Snap.

Until everyone present hears the sound of a twig breaking, followed by a breeze that is so quick that you wonder if it really felt it. The whispers immediately cease, and although you cannot even see your own snout you are sure that every single face in the gathering has turned to the far end opposite to where you came from.

You hear something clear its throat, and the unmistakable voice of your cult's Master echoes through the room.

"My followers, thank you for gathering in such a short notice. The matter I must discuss with you all is urgent."

Her… his? Their voice is confounding, as always. You cannot pin a specific race or gender to it, and you swear that it changes every meeting, if only slightly, but somehow you always recognize that it belongs to the Master.

Another mystery you do not yet understand, another truth that the world can't explain.

"As you all well know, until now there was little we could do, apart from studying our knowledge and spreading our beliefs. We are powerless to act against the many forces that can suddenly rise against our world. The doors to Equestria are wide open, and any being or Outsider may just barge into it as it sees fit, attracted by the fires of Harmony and magic that the alicorns so zealously stoke."

You hear the sound of pacing, the Master's voice slowly circling around the gathered audience as it speaks.

"Ancient threats like the rampaging Tirek and the deceiving Scorpan, who nearly sucked the life out of the world. Cruel shadows that creep through the hinges of reality. Those, and many others, dating all the way back to Discord, the chaotic god, the first Outsider to enter this world and wreak havoc… But we are powerless to hide, Equestria cannot be hidden as long as it continues to blaze with energy as it does, and we are powerless to do anything about it as long as the abominable alicorns reign and care for the flames."

You hear the hoofsteps nearing you, and you almost think that the Master is looking directly at you when they finally speak.

"We were powerless, that is… a new opportunity has just presented itself. After all, as you all know, not many days ago…"

[ ] The Path Through Nightmares: Princess Luna has just been released from her thousand years banishment. We know that she was the sovereign of dreams as well as guardian of the night, but we also know the path through dreams and other secret places. She is weak and confused from her magical isolation, scars formed from millennia with the beast that possessed her that will not easily heal, and because of that she is the ideal target.

Main objective: Convert Princess Luna to your cause. Bringing a demigoddess to your side will be the final piece for whatever plans you hatch.

Secondary objective: Drive Princess Luna mad, or kill her. Having another alicorn maintaining the current status quo is unacceptable.

[ ] To Hunt the Ascended: The mare named Twilight Sparkle has just reached alicornhood, being crowned Princess of Friendship. But unlike Princess Cadance, who was immediately brought under Celestia's wing, she remains isolated in the town called Ponyville. Despite having a disturbing record of being able to deal with problems, she is also knowledge-hungry and innocent. We will feed her the correct knowledge, and quickly so, for she will not remain the weakest link on the chain for long.

Main objective: Convert Princess Twilight Sparkle to your cause. Her unsurpassed intelligence will be instrumental for enhancing our own understanding about the true nature of this world.

Secondary objective: Completely sever Princess Twilight Sparkle's bond with her friends, or kill her. Having another alicorn maintaining the current status quo is unacceptable.

[ ] To Steal the Seed: The first two alicorns came from another world, which marks them as detestable Outsiders and interferers of this world's true nature. The following two alicorns were ascended, the overpowering flames of the world seeping into them and crowning their very souls. But a final act of abomination has just recently been fulfilled. Princess Flurry Heart, an alicorn, has been naturally borne into this world. But she will remain a filly for many years, and that is also an opportunity…

Main objective: Capture and successfully raise Princess Flurry Heart as one of your own. The alicorns have actively twisted this world since their arrival, but what sorts of wonders might one achieve if it is instead raised under our knowledge?

Secondary objective: Kill Princess Flurry Heart. She is an unacceptable fact that is trying to be wedged into the true nature of this world. And just like an idea, will soon be another nail in the coffin of what this world was supposed to be.

- - -

"You will all be summoned, in due time, to perform your tasks," the Master's voice starts to fade, although no hoofsteps can be heard that would mark his leave, "may you all be lost, and found, in the Woods."

And with that, utter silence falls. You suddenly feel as if you were inside a somewhat cramped place, and you have the slightest feeling that you would find a small crowd and bare stone walls should you make your horn glow. But you know better than that, and the feeling of dirt beneath your hoofs reminds you that you are still in a holy place.

Some ponies will probably stay, perhaps waiting until the store opens so as to not attract too much attention when they leave the place. Others perhaps will remain here until night falls again. But you know you have to leave immediately.

After all, you don't just have a life and appearances to keep, you also have much to think about. Especially because, within the cult, you also have the task of…

[ ] Martial – making sure the cult's dealings can run smoothly, by any means necessary. There are a few burly ponies that you may call upon, but you know that by far the most reliable ones are those adept in EDGE.

[ ] Diplomacy – keeping up appearances. Yours might be a tight circle of faithful ponies, but an iron circle is far stronger when linked in a chainmail.

[ ] Stewardship – running the cult's finances. The cult has its resources, and sometimes it is far easier to buy something than to break into a museum and steal it.

[ ] Intrigue – you aren't the only "institution" that mostly operates at night. Avoiding the eternal war between law and crime, while keeping an eye out for potential recruits, is a subtle dance.

[ ] Magic – ensuring your knowledge is properly applied. Somepony has to make sure the circles are properly written, and that the ceremonial knife hits the proper place.

[ ] Learning - keeping the lore. There is so much you do not yet understand, and so many fragments of truth spread around the Equestria, but that makes putting the jigsaw together all the more exciting.

It is not long before you are greeted by a maid, who politely opens the gate for you, having come back to your small estate in…

[ ] Canterlot – Your estate is literally in the "noble" part of the capital, although still of the "minor" strata that your family is part of, so subtlety will be a must if you are planning on doing suspicious things in person. Here you administer part of your family's several ownings across Equestria, and several other noble families are literally at a stone's throw. Princess Luna, as well as Princess Celestia, are much easier to gain access to. (Low anonymity, great opportunity for interesting contacts, Luna and Celestia)

[ ] Ponyville – You have a rather isolated estate, being the only member of nobility in town, so you need not care much for subtlety when doing things in person. You administer large swathes of land, used for farming, that are owned by your family. The prodigious Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's protege, lives here, but apart from her the town is mostly populated by simple ponies. (High anonymity, low opportunity for interesting contacts, Twilight Sparkle and her friends are here)

[ ] The Crystal Empire – The recently rediscovered Crystal Empire has its own nobles and population, and you are not a part of it. The just-now-unfrozen population is warm to newcomers, though, and quite charming in their own way. Your estate is in a somewhat isolated place, from where you administer your family's trade efforts into the newfound empire, but you will always stick out like a sore hoof by sheer virtue of not being a crystal pony. It is governed by Princess Cadence and her husband, and is (or will be) the birthplace of Princess Flurry Heart. (Medium anonymity and opportunity for interesting contacts, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Flurry Heart, if she has already been borne, live here) UNAVAILABLE FOR THE PATH THROUGH NIGHTMARES

[ ] Manehattan – A bustling city, where all sorts of ponies gather and all manners of livelihoods collide. You administer you family's assets from your manor, in the higher well-to-do part of town. There are no princesses here, and all manners of interesting creatures and scoundrels are going about their businesses. But it's the place where you married and had a child, so it feels like home. (Everything is everywhere at once, wildcard option but no alicorns)

- - -

You might have noticed that a lot of things are being said (with the subtlety of a rampaging yak) that your character does not understand, or appears to have some sort of "faith" in it. Well, that's part of being in a cult, but that is, more importantly, the result of the current knowledge you have.

But as you discover more things, these statements will start to make… perhaps a little bit more of sense. And that new knowledge, those new ideas, will not pass through you without causing some sort of change.

Character Sheet has been updated!

All Lore is now Level 0.

Due to your Cult's characteristics, and your initial interest, your Moth Lore is now Level 1!

All voting will be made in plan format.

There will be at least 20 hours before voting is closed.

Despite this being the vote of what your final objective is, keep in mind that this will be the light at the end of the tunnel. You will receive several orders from your cult Master, and will suggest many more to him (her?) in return. And striking against an alicorn is something not to be done lightly or without great preparations.

Iustus Vitea · Aug 22, 2024

OurLadyOfWires said:
Who's a good boy?

Don't be taken in by his lies, there is no good boy here

OurLadyOfWires · Aug 22, 2024

[X] Plan Rigged From The Start, Learning Version
-[X] The Path Through Nightmares: Princes Luna has just been released from her thousand years banishment. We know that she was the sovereign of dreams as well as guardian of the night, but we also know the path through dreams and other secret places. She is weak and confused from her magical isolation, scars formed from millennia with the beast that possessed her that will not easily heal, and because of that she is the ideal target.
-[X] Learning - keeping the lore. There is so much you do not yet understand, and so many fragments of truth spread around the Equestria, but that makes putting the jigsaw together all the more exciting.
-[X] Ponyville – You have a rather isolated estate, being the only member of nobility in town, so you need not care much for subtlety when doing things in person. You administer large swathes of land, used for farming, that are owned by your family. The prodigious Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's protege, lives here, but apart from her the town is mostly populated by simple ponies. (High anonymity, low opportunity for interesting contacts, Twilight Sparkle and her friends)

- - -

The gates are closed behind you, the maid who had been waiting for you trotting lightly to catch up to your side as you walk through the garden. The parade of trees that form a path towards the large estate is always a fond sight to behold, and you can spy an earth pony gardener tending to a few overgrown bushes in one of the far corners of the green scenario. The path itself, paved with cleanly cut stones, leads towards the mansion itself, the wide two-storied edifice that gives a clear view to the large swathes of farmlands that your family owns.

But for all the luxury that exists within the mansion, all the servants, and influence, and everything else, you are honestly glad that when you look at it you can think of it simply as "home".

Of course, you could never forget that you are a noble. Your family might not hail from a powerful lineage, but they go to lengths to compensate in everything else, be it political clout or economic might, your position administrating the farmlands east of Ponyville is a proof of that. The mansion you live in is easily larger than the town hall of the city (although not taller, by a slight margin) and several of the simple houses that dot Ponyville could easily fit inside your garden.

But you are thankful that you have never let any of that go up your head. Having lived in Ponyville for several years now, you must admit that a good part of its warmth and kindness has gotten into you. And right now you wouldn't have it any other way.

You walk past the carriage that is always left at your disposal, and that you only ever use grudgingly and at Stormchaser's insistence, and finally arrive at the front door.

"Thank you Ponpon, but I think it's better if I open it", you say, giving a quick wink to your personal maid, "oh, but would you please take this? I'd hate to drop it like that other time…"

Ponpon lets out a short laugh as the bag you had been carrying gently floats towards her, "no problem at all ma'am," she says, taking the handle in her mouth.

Your horn starts glowing once again, the doorknob of the front door answering to your magic at the same time, and you take one last deep breath before opening it.

"Silky Streeeeeam," you let your voice be carried into the main hall, "I'm hooo-!"

"Mommy!" before you can even finish, a blurred dart of brown fur comes zipping down the stairs, flying through the hall and colliding against you in a tight hug. You're nearly thrown back by her speed, and your hindleg makes you wince at the sudden effort with a sharp pain.

"Mommy! You're back!" but all of that mellows out and disappears as soon as you hug your daughter back, "I was waiting for you so we could have breakfast together, but Soft Sweeps wouldn't tell me where you went!" she continues talking, with all that energy that shouldn't even be able to fit in such a small body.

You ruffle her mane, purple like her father's, and gently let go, "well I was going to wake you up to come with me," you say as you walk into the house, your daughter trailing after you in a mix of prancing and flight bursts, "but you just wouldn't wake up! I shook you and shook you, but you were sleeping like a stone, so I had to leave without you" you make up the story as you go, saying it with as much of a dramatic voice as you could without grinning too much.

"What? No I wasn't! I promise I didn't stay up after bedtime," she says, her prance stopping, eyes wide in a sudden panic.

Of course you immediately know she did, with a reaction like that.

"Of course you didn't," you ruffle her mane again and conveniently turn your head away, hearing a clumsily hidden sigh of relief shortly after, "and that's why I brought us a little something". You turn to Ponpon, who was still dutifully accompanying you, and gently float the bag that she was holding towards Silky Stream. And whatever sort of dread she was feeling from being caught doing something was immediately replaced with glee when you dangled the bagged boxes of ice cream in front of her.

You're sure Windy Flakes wouldn't mind a few less boxes of it, and you did leave payment in the counter.

"Yay! Can we have it for breakfast? Can we? Can we?!"

You laugh at the beaming filly, thinking you can almost see light coming out of her hopeful eyes.

And you almost consider saying yes to her request.

- - -

It was a long day, a long holiday that is. Stormchaser will still be away for a few more days, so it had been up to you to chaperone a hyperactive pegasus filly, and once again you were reminded of how thankful you are for your husband having wings. Soft Sweeps in also a pegasus, having been picked as Silky Stream's caretaker mostly for that reason, but you made sure to dismiss the servants for the day after a while. Most of them were from Ponyville after all, and it wouldn't do to have them work on a festive day.

On a side note, you did wonder how much more of a handful your daughter would be if Stormchaser was an earth pony or a unicorn…

Still, you think while you try to get onto the bed with a completely stiff leg, at least you do know that you will fall asleep almost instantly. In the end you manage to compromise between awkwardly pushing yourself with magic and hoping that the covers you're pulling won't just give out on your exhausted self, although you have the dreadful impression that they will, until you manage to get most of your body onto the comfort of your bed.

Why the hell do expensive mattresses need to be so damn tall…?

But true to your word, you quickly fall asleep.

Until you realize you didn't. Or rather, you did, but you are still awake.

You rub your eyes and look around, immediately recognizing where you are. You have visited this place, before, but always under certain special circumstances, only after you have made some prior preparations.

Never like this, unannounced, unprepared.

Summoned.

You find yourself in the middle of a crossroad, under the pale light of the moon. The crossroad itself is made of some dark-blue stone, paved unevenly in a way that could be footsteps of some many-legged creature. You can see well enough, and although you can't see too far you can make out shapes in the horizon.

A great chain of mountains seems to be in the far, far distance. You can see their silhouettes but no path that leads to them, for although it looks like you are in a plane that stretches on forever, you still feel like the world somehow curves before it actually reaches the mountains.

You look up and see no stars, only the moon. And when you look behind you, another familiar sight greets you.

A great dark wood stretches on and on before you, and more than a few of the dark-blue stone paths lead to it. The forest seems dark and uninviting, almost oppressive, but you feel no sort of fear when facing it. Almost as if its oppressiveness is a part of its nature, and the forest itself could not exist in any other way. Besides, you have already walked those woods a few times and you know that its darkness can sometimes even be welcoming. If not to you, then to some deeper part of yourself.

And above and within the Woods you see the place that you know to be the Mansus.

A great structure floats above the dark forest. The only way you can describe it is as floating, for you see no pillars sustaining it, only a maddening criss-cross of stairs that seem to connect odd platforms and entire floors, or that sometimes lead nowhere at all. There are no walls to speak of, and yet you can see doors that led into closed-off rooms. There is no real shape that gives order to it, and yet your mind can see that it has the form of something like a house, or maybe a pyramid.

And at the very top of that great structure, or perhaps at its center, it's hard to know, there is a great brilliant… Thing, which is neither a star nor a lamp, but still shares kinship with them. It shines at every single floor of the Mansus, its light reaches every single room and platform, although you swear that some of those rooms and floors should block the light and stop it from reaching the ones beneath them.

You are far away from that light, and it can't truly reach you from where you are, but you know that the light is utterly magnificent, and that its name is Glory.

The sound of rustling bushes comes from somewhere near you,
though you can't see any and the Woods are still somewhat far. Shaking your head a bit, you decide not to look at the Glory anymore.

Besides, the rustling bushes definitely sounded impatient, you think to yourself as you start walking down the path.

Soon enough there is no path to follow any more, the dark-blue stones being covered by overgrown roots. But that is fine, because you know that paths are completely useless inside this place. The sound of insect wings keep growing louder and louder as you walk, and is soon joined by the noise of scissors shearing at leaves, and the sensation of branches reaching for your mane, and the pointed impression that your tail is in the wrong place, and the sheer freedom that comes from being lost and-

The sound of rustling bushes once again make you snap into attention.

You shake your head once more and head towards the source of the sound, before you forget the direction it came from and the Woods start to pull at your attention again.

The Woods have no defined path, but you somehow know where to go once you set your mind on it. And you set your mind on arriving where you were summoned.

A small clearing opens before you, the light of the moon coming almost as a glare after you spent so much time seeing it as nothing but soft whispers blocked by the leaves of dark trees. You think you are alone in the clearing, until five more figures emerge from the trees almost at the same time as you do, Copper Sicateur and Windy Flakes being two of them. Each of you came from a different direction, and you realize that the six of you have inadvertently formed a circle. A quick look at the five other ponies reveal that you all know each other, and that you all know what this meeting means.

Snap.

You hear the sound of a twig breaking, and the buzzing from the forest seems to grow just a bit louder. But all of that is drowned out by the voice that comes from every direction.

"It is beautiful, isn't it?"

You look at the five other ponies, who seem just as unsure on what to do as you, and you wordlessly sit around in a circle, all of you facing outwards. A few more silent moments pass before your cult's Master's voice comes again.

"Eternity exists in here. Eternal change… eternal darkness, bathed in moonlight… And this eternity was far more common, in fact, a long, long time ago…" you almost involuntarily raise your eyebrows. Is the Master's voice almost sounding like he is… saddened?

"A long time ago the Woods could stretch much farther than it does today… It could stretch out of dreams and into the Wake, and reach far away from the holy places like the one where we gather… But that is no longer possible in this age, not in such great scale..." the voice seems to take a harder tone as it continues, an angrier tone, "not while the fires burn, not while the world blazes with light."

A twig snaps, and you nearly jump at the suddenness of it. Not because it frightened you, but because the sound came exactly from the middle of the circle. And although you know that there will be nothing there if you turn around, you can still hear the Master's voice coming from right behind you.

"We will change that, my followers. It is still possible to expand the Woods into the Wake, and to make Equestria safe once again, hidden away by its shadows. But for that to happen… there is much to be done."

At that, a shadow appears in the corner of your vision, and you know that you will see the Master if you just look a bit more to your side. But you don't, shutting your eyes tightly instead.

You can hear the Master whisper into your ears, and for some reason you can also hear the whispers to everypony else's ears.

"Comet Feet," the whispers went to the large and gruff pegasus to which you have rarely spoken to, "our followers need to be made ready, for they will sure be needed. Share your knowledge of Edge with our most loyal, and see to it that they have the required tools."

"Starry Dancer," the whispers went to the pink pegasus mare that was sitting opposite to you, "we must ensure that we are in the good graces of our current hosts. Gain the ears of the rulers of Ponyville, so that we might more easily sway them in the future."

"Copper Secateur," the whispers went to the dark red mare that you know well, "gather more followers among the simple minded, and bolster our numbers. But do not yet tread in the way of Starry Dancer's efforts."

"Windy Flakes," the whisper went to the light maned unicorn, who always seemed to have a smirk on his face, "the Wake has its rules, and we must master them. Expand out holdings, build a place where we may more easily gather, and plant the seeds that we may later reap as riches, for we will surely need them."

"Jade Whistle," the whispers went to the aloof-looking earth pony that you have only ever seen in passing, "prepare our cadre and study what components and instruments might be of use, for we will soon need to call upon greater powers."

"And Velvet Covers…" the whispers caressed your ears in an almost tickling manner, "the one we aim for is indeed very great, but like any grand castle there are many avenues to reach it. Look for a way that we might strike at her, search for a path that leads to her. Lead the way and draw the plan, so that our followers might follow your hoofsteps and enact them. But be mindful that you prepare yourself first, armed with knowledge and lore, lest you are not sufficiently prepared and become lost to us."

All of the whispers happened simultaneously and lasted the same amount of time. When they finish, however, you wonder if they were all as equally detailed as yours, or if perhaps it was an idea that was whispered to you, and you simply overheard the diminished echoes of the ideas that he gave to the others.

But as you wonder that, you realize that the presence behind you is gone, and you stand up together with your fellow ponies.

The six of you look into each other's eyes, and for some reason you simply know that you will all reconvene in two months' time, though you have no idea how you shared in that knowledge.

And with that same wordless agreement, you turn around and head back into the forest, hearing the crunching of leaves and the rustling of wood that indicates the other ponies did the same.

- - -

You have a Moth Master. What did you expect, precise instructions?

Perhaps it was intentional, perhaps it was true reminiscing, but you feel that you heard something important from your cult's Master as he spoke about (or perhaps from?) the past. Gained 1 scrap of Secret Histories Lore.

Secret Histories Lore has reached Level 1, Character Sheet updated.

POSSIBLE ACTIONS

You will have FOUR personal actions you can take, with an ADITIONAL action that can be performed by your servants (five picks total). One turn refers to a single month, and one action is (roughly) your actions during a weekend, the accumulated efforts during your nights after work or other equivalents. Try not to think too much into it.

This also means that there will be TWO turns (two sets of 4+1 actions, equivalent to two months) before you reconvene with your cult's Master. This is both so you don't have to shotgun a large amount of choices in a small period of time, and so you can check your progress and consolidate/abort an effort if you feel it's not going the way you think it should.

Some actions will be tagged with a suspicion level. These are the actions that can be carried out by your ponyservants, and the suspicion level refers to how well they would (or would not) take to your task. Tasks that involve high suspicion might be outright refused, carried out with the inevitable gossiping, or even sabotaged if your servants believe that what you asked them to do is wrong.
Keep in mind that suspicion level refers to what a servant would think if asked to perform such task, regardless of them performing them, being caught or not. If you choose to perform the task yourself, you will take the necessary steps to be as subtle as you can, but the task itself will still raise suspicion if you are caught.

Specify which action will be carried out by your ponyservants. They will apply ONLY your status bonus, as they will follow instructions or carry your name and influence, but they will not apply personal bonus (bonus given by Lore, personal items, personal Characteristics or of any other nature).

Current bits: 120

Monthly revenue: 120 bits/month

Your actual work is to administrate your family's holdings in Ponyville, but that being a "family business" means that all that's made is sent to the family head. And despite being a grown and mature mare, you must sadly conclude that your income is basically an allowance.

Just for comparison's sake, any other background would give a salary based on days worked, and a daily discount for living expenses, and your monthly "profit" would be somewhere around 60 bits. Due to your noble status, your gains are totally yours, and you do not have to worry about daily expenses. Small luxury expenses will still apply as scenarios demand.

[ ] On what must be done (finding a way to reach Princess Luna)
-[ ] The Dreamlands, the realm of pony dreams, is not a part of the Mansus, and yet you can see it from the Woods, far in the horizon. Search if there is a path that leads there.
-[ ] Perhaps the least subtle of options is the answer, and your target being royalty means that she is not hard to track. Get in touch with your contacts in Canterlot and try to get a hold of an invitation to some event. You surely won't get to her immediately, but it will be a first hoof into the city where she lives. Not suspicious.

[ ] On furthering the cause
-[ ] There are books that could be of use. You should start looking for them. (Will involve random expenditure of bits). All sub-choices are not suspicious.
--[ ] In Ponyville, and its… great assortments of libraries? (no extra cost)
--[ ] In the great libraries of Canterlot… the ones that are open to public access, that is (20 bits in transportation)
--[ ] In the many small bookshops that dot the side streets of Manehattan (35 bits in transportation)
-[ ] In all honesty, the Cult lacks an appropriate place for gatherings, at least when it comes to lesser meetings to discuss small matters, or to simply stash certain things. Scout for a suitable place, or other buildings that might be for sale. Not suspicious.
-[ ] Although you are personally judicious about such habits, you are still a noble. Searching for "peculiar items" to "add to your collection" is certainly not out of place... right? Suspicion depends on how strange the item scouted is.
-[ ] Copper Secateur may be in charge of finding suitable candidates, she even was the pony who first introduced you into the Wildhoof Club, but you could use followers of your own.
-[ ] You are the highest authority from your family in Ponyville, and have countless earth pony farmers working under you. The next logical step it to scout for those who would be loyal to you and your cult. (Scout out for cult candidates within your own employees). Highly suspicious.
-[ ] There is somepony in charge of the "heavy lifting" within your cult, of course, but you could do with a few strong hoofs at your personal disposal. Go looking for such contacts. Moderately suspicious.
-[ ] There are bound to be, among all of those large, strong earth ponies, some who wouldn't mind a way to make some extra bits on the side. Reach out to them. (Scout out for ponies willing to get their hoofes dirty among your own employees). Highly suspicious.
-[ ] You really shouldn't, but needs must. Every single ledger from the farms east of Ponyville pass through you, it would be a simple matter to have some "administrative mistakes" make some bits disappear from the coffers and appear in your pockets. Highly suspicious
-[ ] You cannot expect to succeed working alone, that's why you are in a cult. Take some time to help one of your colleagues. Who knows, you might even learn something from them.
--[ ] Help Comet Feet, the pegasus in charge of the "dirty business".
--[ ] Help Starry Dancer, the pink mare who seems to be in charge of the talking.
--[ ] Help Copper Secateur, your cult's eyes and ears in the dark.
--[ ] Help Windy Flakes, the unicorn seems to be in charge of most of the cult's physical possessions.
--[ ] Help Jade Whistle, the earth pony who, apparently, will be doing a lot of the "occult" for the cult.

[ ] There is too much you do not yet know. You must further your knowledge.
-[ ] The matters of [SPECIFY LORE] intrigues you, petition your cult's Master for a lesson (currently willing to teach all Lores up to level 2)
~~-[ ] No other sources of knowledge are currently available~~

Your Lore evolution happens by collecting "scraps of Lore", and the required number of scraps is the Lore level that you are aiming for. As all your Lores are Level 0, you need only a single scrap to progress. But, for example, your Moth Lore which is Level 1 requires two scraps. Scraps may be gained by performing certain acts or through study under a source of knowledge, but using an action to study will also involve a dice roll, which might fail.

[ ] The Mansus is a place of contradictions. It exists, and yet it doesn't. It is frightening, and yet it calls to you. Only through exploring it will you learn its secrets.

Exploring a known part of the Mansus will yield the most varied of rewards, through a hidden roll of a dice. But beware that most rewards will be temporary, such as a one-time buff for "specific kind of roll" that applies only until the end of the next turn. It is possible, however, to learn scraps of Lore as well, though that might be unlikely, or to be rewarded nothing at all. Proceed at your own risk.

-[ ] Explore the Woods, and its many whispers
-[ ] You have studied the Lores, and are now more knowledgeable than before. It is time to find the paths to somewhere else, or to climb even higher into the Mansus.

[ ] Your personal life, or at least the non cult-y part
-[ ] Of course you love your family very much, but you could always spend a bit more time with them.
-[ ] Go into town and try to meet somepony interesting, there are at least six very interesting ones who just exorcised a demigoddess.
-[ ] Bits are the engine of Equestria! You have been working your hooves off for years now and should write to your parents and request an increase of your share of the family's grants.
-[ ] You do know "your place" in the family, but bits are still important. A letter asking for a one-time gift will surely be better received than one asking for a permanent "raise", right?

[ ] Others WRITE IN (anything, but i will have to consider it, and it might make the voting period a bit longer)

- - -

There will be a minimum of 24 hours for voting, and keep in mind that its two turns before you have to report to your cult's Master.
Also, for the time being you are being very cautious about keeping appearances, as well as you have your family that you don't want to suspect anything. There will be no shenanigans of "working less days a week to gain more actions".

angelsadvocate666 · Aug 22, 2024

Iustus Vitea said:
Don't be taken in by his lies, there is no good boy here

What are you talking about, that puppers has only ever done good things for us.

OurLadyOfWires · Aug 22, 2024

[X] Friendly Neighborhood Librarymare
-[X] On what must be done (finding a way to reach Princess Luna)
--[X] The Dreamlands, the realm of pony dreams, is not a part of the Mansus, and yet you can see it from the Woods, far in the horizon. Search if there is a path that leads there.
-[X] On furthering the cause
--[X] There are books that could be of use. You should start looking for them. (Will involve random expenditure of bits).
All sub-choices are not suspicious.
---[X] In Ponyville, and its… great assortments of libraries? (no extra cost)
--[X] Although you are personally judicious about such habits, you are still a noble. Searching for "peculiar items" to "add to your collection" is certainly not out of place... right?
Suspicion depends on how strange the item scouted is.
---[X] [Ask your servants to carry out this task.]
-[X] Your personal life, or at least the non cult-y part
--[X] Of course you love your family very much, but you could always spend a bit more time with them.
--[X] Go into town and try to meet somepony interesting, there are at least six very interesting ones who just
exorcised a demigoddess.

- - -

"… and much like I've written to you about this before, I will say it again. If you're going to deny my granddaughter the best possible education, and instead decide to have her raised as some backwater hillbilly then I assur-"

You rip the letter apart, not being able to read another single word from it. The paper glows in answer to your horn as you shred it in half again, and again, and again until its little more than a small pile of dull-looking confetti.

"Sweetheart, are you… oh, letter from Velvet Hill?" you hear your husband ask, cautiously, as he sees the offending pile of shredded letter float towards the trash bin.

"Yes Storm, dad sent me another one of his… pointed letters," you answer with a scowl, trying not to think about it and instead floating a comb towards your mane, and concentrating very hard on it.

But Stormchaser doesn't answer, of course. Instead you can feel his patient gaze on your back even as you try your hardest not to picture the expression you know he is wearing, that partly calm, partly worried look he has whenever he thinks you are…

You sigh, abandoning the doomed effort at your mane and turning towards him who is sitting patiently at the bed, morning sun slowly rising on the open window behind him.

"He just wrote that…" you start, and stop, the words stuck in your throat.

"Is it about today?" he asks gently, confirming his suspicions as soon as you cover your face with your hoofs and let out a second, longer, exasperated sigh.

"Yes, it was about today. Of course it was about today, and he might keep sending those sorts of letters every chance he gets from now on! But that's not the problem…" you say, your voice slowly going from stressed to honestly worried. "I mean… what if he is right? What if we really shouldn't be doing this and…"

You trail off as your hoofs leave your face, and you realize Stormchaser had gently taken them on his.

"Sweetheart we've been through this already," he says with a soft smile, "we can't all move to Canterlot, and we absolutely won't go with their 'suggestion' of her moving in with them."

You only realize you were gazing at the floor when he slowly raises your chin, looking you in the eyes with that optimistic smile of his.

"And besides, Ponyville is a great place isn't it? You're the one who convinced me about this in the first place. Silky Stream will be able to grow up happily here, no matter what, so you shouldn't worry about today."

A small smile slowly forms in your face, and you inch forward slightly until both your noses touch.

"Thanks…" you say, with a final sigh of honest relief, "you're right dear, everything will turn out allr-"

"Mom! Dad! Wake up! Lets go, lets go!"

You choke mid-sentence, and the two of you jump up as the topic of your conversation bursts into the room with the intensity of a small brown hurricane.

"Cmon, you promised! I already got up, and have my bag, and brushed my mane, and-!"

"Terribly sorry Mrs. Velvet, she just flew off and I-"

Your hindleg winces in pain at the sudden jump, but you nearly don't notice it, the chaos of Silky Stream trying to pull her father out of the room by the neck, and of a flustered Soft Sweeps apologizing profusely from the door, being too much for you to handle at once.

Stormchaser gives you a short laugh and a wink, before allowing himself to be dragged away by the filly. And you can see by both of your smiles that all your worries have vanished away.

- - -

"Dear, are you sure you wouldn't have preferred to come by carriage?", Stormchaser asks you the same question for the tenth time in a hushed tone, repeating the same whispered back and forth the two of you have been at since you left the estate.

"We are not taking Silky Stream to her first day in school in that blasted chariot."

"But there's still the trip back home and…" he looks towards your flank with a pained expression, making you roll your eyes at him.

"I'm not just some defenseless mare who cant even walk for…" you stop whispering, noticing for the first time that someone has been rather quiet for a while now.

The definite lack of a brown blur zipping around in your peripheral vision also tells you that something quite unusual is going on.

"Silky? Is everything okay?" you ask her, seeing that she is standing still in front of the two of you, almost frozen in place.

But of course, you chide yourself, you've been arguing with Stormchaser for so long you didn't even realize the three of you have already arrived. The Ponyville Schoolhouse stands in front of you, white picket fence with its gates wide open. The building itself has an adorable charm to it, and although it does look a bit small it is immediately obvious that the place is extremely well kept. Perhaps "lovingly so" would be a more proper way to describe it.

And besides, you had already done a bit of "research" on it. A short letter to the EEA had the school's curriculum delivered to your desk, which you read through a few weeks back, and a few words with your accountant had him subtly check that all of the school's finances were in good order.

You made absolute sure that you weren't enrolling your little filly into a whatever-someplace.

"Mom, dad…?" Silky Stream turns to face the two of you, her voice small, "can't we just... uhm…" she scrapes a hoof weakly on the ground as she tries to find her words.

"Oh, you're not about to back down on us, are you Silky?" Stormchaser scoops her up with his wings and puts her on his back before you even think of what to say, "I told you before, this will be an adventure! And think about the good side of it, you'll make new friends, no more boring tutors at home, and-"

"Maybe just a few boring tutors," you chime in, causing the two of them to shoot a grumpy expression at you, "but a lot less!", you quickly complement your saying, "and only if you fall behind on a subject."

Your husband lets out a short chuckle, and trots towards the school with a few short leaps, causing Silky to bounce on his back and start giggling.

He finally lets go of her when the three of you arrive at the school's door proper, and right on time for it to be opened by a dark-pink mare, who looks at you with a surprised expression until her eyes fall on the giggling Silky Stream, causing her to give an understanding nod.

"Good morning, I'm Cheerilee, a teacher of this school. And you must be Silky Stream, how nice to meet you!" the mare says with a kind smile.

You see the option of hiding behind her father's leg flashing through your daughter's face, but you beam at yourself when she decides not to, and instead greets her future teacher back in a shy manner.

"And you must be Mrs. Velvet and Mr. Stormchaser? Thank you so much for bringing in your daughter, I'm sure she will get along wonderfully well with our other students," she says, inviting you into the school as she talked, "but I have to admit that it was quite unusual to receive an admission by mail, and I don't quite recall ever seeing any of you around town. Have you just moved into Ponyville?"

"Oh, actually we are-"

"We work from home!" you interrupt Stormchaser, "I work from home, that is. My husband travels a lot," you say with a smile, making Stormchaser shoot you an interrogative expression as soon as Cheerilee turns her back.

"Oh, I see," she sets about, walking around the classroom and making some small final preparations while she talks, "well, Ponyville is a big place after all. And I don't mean to pry, but I think I recall that your address was at the east side of town, so it's a bit far from where I usually go."

"Yes, we live in a farmhouse over that part," you answer with a smile, and Stormchaser gives you another, more aggravated, curious stare.

"Really? How wonderful! We have another filly here whose family also has a farm," Cheerilee says almost to herself as she finishes laying a few books over her desk, "oh I can already see her and your daughter becoming the best of friends!"

"I really hope that happens as well," you share in her excitement.

"Well," Stormchaser chimes in, "it was a pleasure meeting you Miss Cheerilee. And just so you know, we will be taking our daughter home today, but starting tomorrow she will be brought here by one of our maid-"

"Mare!" you cut him off, almost facepalming at his denseness, "our mare friend Soft Sweeps. Who is a friend of the family and helps us with our daughter while we are working," you almost growl the last three words at your husband, who (apparently) finally gets what you are doing. Or at least seems sufficiently intimidated to stop talking.

"Very well," the smiling Cheerilee, who thankfully didn't seem to have noticed the exchange between you and Stormchaser, answers with a clap of her hoofs. "I'll be looking forward to this year then, and it was a pleasure to meet you two parents!"

You exchange a few more words before the school bell rings, and you quickly take your leave, dutifully warned by Cheerilee that the two of you would risk being overrun by a stampede of foals if you stayed.

After leaving the school, you are finally positive that this has been the correct decision. To hell with your family's letters. Cheerilee seems to be a wonderful teacher, and if all went well your daughter would make friends with everypony, something that you decidedly know that she lacks, especially since she had been taught by home tutors her whole life.

And for all of that to happen, there is no need for anypony to know if she is from a noble family or not, and there is absolutely no need for any kind of special treatment to keep her from experimenting anything she wants to do. You are going to make sure that Silky Stream has as happy a time as possible.

- - -
- - -
- - -

[Rolling encounter…]

[Oh wow]

[Rolling the 1d6 then…]

It's a beautiful day outside.

When was the last time you noticed that…?

"No, not like that", you think to yourself. There have been several beautiful days, the weather department of Ponyville is wonderful, and you're not in a contemplative mood or anything.

No, what you're wondering is when was the last time you simply looked out through the window and realized it is a beautiful day, specifically because you have absolutely nothing better to do?

You don't remember, that's the answer. For the longest time moments like this, days like these, have come and passed you by while you were busy. It was either catching up with some sort of work, maybe visiting the surrounding farms and plantations for some closer sort of inspection, or taking care of Silky Stream because she was too young. Well, even recently after she started to fly you'd spend days like these watching her learn how to fly better with her father.

But now, for the first time in what seems to be forever, you actually have time that is not only free, but that you also have no idea what to do with. Your husband is busy, your daughter is at a school picnic that she begged you to sign the permission papers for (not that you wouldn't sign them to begin with…), and you are…

Here. Looking out through the window.

Well then, taking a breather for a day is fine. But you must admit that recently you've been having certain… yearnings. But you push the memories of your dreams aside, now was not the appropriate time for that.

However, much as you aren't about to perform certain preparations and go for an afternoon nap into the Woods, you can do something else that you haven't done in a long while. At least not for "no reason", that is.

"May I help you with anything, ma'am?" you hear Ponpon's voice coming from your room's door, dressed in her maid uniform and with a feather duster on her mouth.

"Nothing in particular, thank you," you answer, eyeing two of your more discreet dresses that you have floating in front of you, "just going out for a walk."

"Very well ma'am. Shall I have your carriage ready?" she asks, her face serious. Shortly after, and as if on cue, the two of you laugh for a few moments. "Have a good day ma'am, enjoy your walk," the mare says before going back to her duties.

You settle for the yellow one, make sure it's properly covering your right hindleg, and set out to the front door.

- - -

It's peculiar, the sort of things you can usually miss when you're worried about something else.

Your husband (albeit reluctantly) and your house servants are used to you "going out for a walk" every now and then. But what they don't know is that those are not really leisure strolls, quite on the contrary. During those walks you're mostly concerned about remaining inconspicuous, with the use of a few tricks here and there that help you stick to the shadows just a little bit better, or remain hidden in plain sight for just a bit longer. So you don't quite have the calm and tranquility to notice how wide and inviting the streets are, or how some houses aren't properly "connected" in rows like in Canterlot, how each individual building seems to have a certain charm to it.

Besides, you're usually out through the front door as soon as the sun appears in the horizon, when it comes to that sort of business, both because the cult's meetings are near the darker times of the day, and because the morning sun makes for much longer shadows. You don't actually remember the last time you went out and it was properly afternoon.

So this is being a pleasant experience all on its own. Like hearing a secret from someone you already know, or realizing that the flowers in your garden also have a sweet smell when you just used to look at them before.

Speaking of which, you think as you stop to smell the flowers in a park, Ponyville really lives up to its earth pony legacy.

"Oh my, what have we here? I do love the idea of it, darling, but I think it would look a lot better in blue. It would have more of a modern feeling to it."

You freeze up for a moment, realizing there is somepony right behind you, and apparently talking to you. Recollecting yourself after a moment, you turn around.

"Pardon me?"

And you see a white-colored mare, well cared purple mane waving around her horn. She seems to be looking at your dress quite intently, with both an analytical gaze and a small smile that told you she meant what she was saying.

"Your dress, darling", she looks up from the dress, her azure eyes staring at yours, "the quality of it is marvelous, and the stitching is impeccable… I must say, you didn't buy this here in Ponyville, did you?"

"I think it was in Canterlot, but I'm not sure" you answer honestly, after all you have quite a few dresses...

"But of course, it has Canterlot written all over it!" she says with an elegant nod of approval, "Although..."

She circles around you, her courteous approval slowly turning into a more troubled expression as she takes in the sight of you from a few more angles.

"Although?" you ask curiously.

"Well, the dress itself is very well made, but it just doesn't do to you!" she says as she finishes walking, still looking at your dress as if she was piecing together a puzzle. "Why, a mare of your appearance and looks deserves something that highlights far more of your qualities… And this dress seems to do quite the opposite."

You can't help but to feel amused as she mumbles to herself, something about a style of cut and a complicated word that sounded like a designer's name. And she does sound extremely serious about it, as well, both on the dress part and on the way she complimented you.

"Well," she looks back to you, nodding as if she has arrived at a conclusion, "while this is most surely not a fashion emergency, by all means I'd love it if you accompanied me back to my boutique. I'm sure we can do something about it that will turn out marvelous. I'm Rarity by the way, pleased to meet you," she says, lowering her head with something akin to a small curtsy.

"Velvet Covers," you say back, a small smile coming to your lips as you answer to her refined mannerism with a curtsy of your own, "and the pleasure is all mine. But I do appreciate clothing more on the unassuming side, if it is not for some special occasion".

[Rarity's Intrigue Roll…]

"Oh, I know what you mean," Rarity agrees with a nod, "but still, I must say tha…"

Until her eyes shoot wide open, her mouth still stuck with an "aaa" sound that prolongs itself for half a second more.

The next thing you know, her gracious mannerism completely disappears, legs going straight as ramrods, and a smile that is clearly panicked appearing on her face.

"Oh, Velvet Covers! I mean, Mrs. Velvet Covers. Or is it madam? Or Dame?" her smile starts to crumble, one hoof going to her forehead as if she was about to start sweating at any moment, "Its actually Lady, isn't it? Oh no, I just did it again didn't I?!"

"Excuse me, what?", you honestly have no idea of what is going on.

"Oh, nothing at all, just being polite! I most surely didn't just say your dress is boring," she continues to talk faster and faster, "and I most surely didn't just imply that you have terrible fashion sense! Not at all!"

To be honest, you start getting nervous at her sudden… suddenness.

"And even if I did, what does it matter, right?", she nearly stammers several times, "I mean, what does my opinion matter when it comes to this sort of thing, right?"

She keeps getting more and more distressed, and you decide to-

[Calming Rarity down, breakpoints 40/80]

[Roll: 38 + 11 (diplomacy) + 1 (GRAIL bonus) = 50]

"Hey, hey, calm down. It's all right, you're not offending anyone," you try to soothe her, although something tells you that trying to go for a hoof on her shoulder would be a bad idea, "and in fact, like I said, this dress is supposed to be more on the subtle side. It really says something that you managed to see through it. Why, I'd say that shows you have an excellent sense for fashion!"

You breathe a sigh of relief when you see that the mare is actually calming down.

"Rarity, wasn't it? I'm afraid my own sense for dresses and whatnots is not even close to sharp, so I'd love if you could give me some pointers," you say as she finishes to recollect herself.

"Well, I'd be delighted, but I'm not sure if I can rightly compete with Canterlot-chique," she says, slightly embarrassed, confidence slowly returning to her voice, "but I can say I'd love to work something up for you regardless."

You nod in agreement, "you did say something about a Boutique, right?"

"Oh, but I did, didn't I?", Rarity's eyes widen up slightly once again, as she sees where you are leading that conversation, "although it's a shame that it's… under repairs! That's right, it's in no condition to receive visitors, I'm afraid, especially one of your stature. You wouldn't be able to put a hoof in it without getting covered in paint and all that," she forces another smile.

"Oh, quite a shame then…" to which you can do nothing but agree. "But I'll be looking forward to visiting it in the future, then?"

"But surely, darling. I'll be looking forward to it if it's the case" Rarity answers back almost immediately, a strange mixture of apprehension and hope in her eyes.

"Well then, once again, it was a pleasure to meet you Rarity."

"It was all mine Velvet Covers!"

You go on your way, continuing your stroll in a direction that will lead you back home, thinking to yourself that you didn't expect a pony who had wielded an Element of Harmony to be so… well, pleasantly normal! You quite liked her, actually, and she seems to own a fashion store. It would be an honestly good pastime to go there.

It is only when you see Ponpon, holding open the front gates, that you realize you forgot to ask where her Boutique is.

Well, looking for it might be fun as well.

(Didn't roll enough to get into her Boutique, but enough to avoid… a rather dramatic consequence. Do recall this is Season 1 Rarity (as well as Season 1 every-character-else). The Equestria-famous fashionista is still a small-town dreamer, and although you are a minor noble you are the only one in Ponyville.)

- - -
- - -
- - -

Evening is beginning to fall, and the shadows begin to lengthen. Not exactly "consuming" the world, but not rightly "covering" it either. You tried to remember when you started making that distinction, when your point of view about evenings changed so subtly. And you couldn't find any answers.

The only thing you have done, so far, is ask questions. But perhaps it is time to start working on answering them on your own.

You will be back before sunset, you decide, and before anypony can voice any questions you're already on your dress and out through the front gates. Hopefully, nopony will even notice.

[The Golden Oak Library is not the ONLY place with books in Ponyville, you know… breakpoints every +20]

[Roll: 8 + 12 (learning) +5 (SECRET HISTORIES bonus) = 25]

You stumble upon a small bookshop at the edge of Ponyville, and enter it on a whim, the bored-looking shop owner barely looks up to acknowledge you as you enter. After sifting through a few books, you finally stumble upon two that at least partly catch your interest.

[Rolling…]

[ ] A handbook that told the tale of a thief – KNOCK Level 1, costs 7 bits

[ ] A cooking manual, with a surprisingly in-depth chapter on how to repair broken kitchen utensils – FORGE Level 1, costs 7 bits

You ponder for a while on whether to purchase them or not, and quickly go home.

(Book searching rolls are divided into levels, that get better every 20 points. And since you were out for book hunting, you'd only meet a certain somepony if you had a result of at least 60)

- - -
- - -
- - -

You look into your own eyes in the mirror, and take a deep breath.

Everything has already been taken care of and accounted for. Stormchaser is out of town for work, you have already put Silky Stream to bed, and you are pretty sure that you're going to sleep in no time as soon as your head hits the pillows.

With a final nod, you bring up the scissors, gently unfurl your mane with the help of magic, and snip a short strand of it right from the middle.

A change done deliberately, but hidden in plain sight in a place nopony would notice.

You say a few words that you know, for good measure, that you sometimes heard being whispered by your Master, or perhaps whispered into your head by the incessant buzzing that accompanies the cult's meetings. But regardless, you also know those words to be holy, or at least that they are uttered in holy places, and that is enough.

You leave the scissors on top of the cabinet, together with the cut lock of mane, right in front of the mirror. And you quickly make your way to bed.

You fall asleep.

And wake up in the crossroads, the Woods open in wide darkness before your eyes.

It is always in a crossroad, that is, in a literal cross between two of the paths of dark-blue stone. And yet, the directions they go is never the same between any two times you have been here.

But this time, you do not worry yourself in finding the path that would lead into the Woods. This time you turn your back to the Woods and look towards the horizon.

You can immediately see how simple it appears to be, and how complicated it actually will be. The whole problem is that the paths must be followed, if you step even a single hoof outside of the dark-blue stone boundary that they set you will not get anywhere, that is why it is difficult for most ponies to even arrive at the Woods to begin with. The paths will criss-cross, sometimes collide, or sometimes wander off in another direction forever, until you wake up in failure.

And there is no point in trying to map them either. You know well that the paths change while you are not looking, and sometimes change even while you are looking.

No, the only way to navigate the paths is to know certain secrets. To know what signs to look for, and which direction to follow once you reach a point where two paths become one, or three, or ten. You think deeply on that matter for a while.

You see your objective. Not directly, but you see it. On the great and far horizon there are vast chains of mountains, sure, but the world curves before it actually reaches them. But right there, right beyond the curve of the world and before the mountains, there is a hue of light. A soft arch of something that looks at the same time like mists, and aurora borealis, and perhaps the faint sheen given off by fireflies. You know that place to be the Dreamlands, as you heard from your Master, as much as even speaking about it surely displeases him… (her?)

However, you also recall that your Master said that the Dreamlands are a different world. A world made by the dreams of ponykind. A place of its own.

Making up your mind, you set forward to try and make your way through the paths.

[To Cross to Other Worlds, CD 60]

[Roll: 68 + 0 (KNOCK – Level 0) + 12 (learning) + 5 (SECRET HISTORIES bonus) = 85]

You try to recall every single piece of Knock-related knowledge you have, guessing at what parables they could have with the shapes that the paths took, whenever they joined and separated. You press on until you find yourself on a single path that seems to lead on forever. At first you feel a bit discouraged, thinking this is a failed path that would not end until you wake up, but eventually the lights on the horizon grows just a bit stronger, and you quicken your pace in anticipation.

Finally, the path widens up until it forms a circle around itself. But your eyes are immediately drawn to what is in the middle of the circle.

A small lake, or is it just a puddle? A reflective sheen of dream-water shines faintly in the middle of the circle, the dark-blue stone path circling around it as a vein would circle an organ, or perhaps as a shackle would circle a prisoner. But that matters not, you think, as you peer more deeply into the water.

You soon realize that it does not have a shine of its own, instead it bleeds light into the world you are in. For some reason you can't help but to feel revulsion for it, several detestable comments of your Master about the Dreamlands resurfacing in your mind with that realization.

It was like a small corrupted pool, like the tip of a chimney slowly belching poison and smog. It didn't matter that the Mansus was surrounded by an infinite plane, or by the Woods, or the fact that the mountains in the far horizons had no paths that connected to them. During one brief moment, all that mattered was that the pool of water was right there, slowly spreading its essence into the air. Slowly bringing more of itself and its light and its essence into the Mansus, causing the very air around it to become itself.

And you knew during that short moment that if the Dreamlands ever had things its own way, one day it would surely turn the Mansus into itself.

But, you snap out of that idea, forgetting it as quickly as you learned it, for now this puddle is a door, and doors have but one utility.

You carefully dip your head into the dream-water, and take a peek into the other side. And when you take your head back, disoriented, you know you have achieved what you have come for.

But a sense of urgency soon reaches your mind. You know you must wake quickly, for that is the way with paths. You must return to the Wake and commit your choices and turns and twists into memory, less they are forgotten and change when you next come to visit.

You wake up in the morning, the scissor and lock of mane still exactly where you left them. Was it not for your leg you would have practically jumped out of bed, but instead, mostly due to all the practice you have had at suppressing that urge, you gently make your way down from your bed, swipe the lock of mane into the trash bin and bring out a pen and quill with the glow of your horn.

And reaching into as much of your memory as you possibly can, you draw what is the mixture of a map and a poem of how to return to the Dreamlands. Once you are done, you know you will no longer forget it, and the drawing will quickly be introduced to a candle's fire.

You have succeeded at crossing into another world, on your own, and for the first time. This feat is the providence of KNOCK, to which you have introduced yourself. Gained 1 scrap of Knock Lore.

KNOCK Lore is now level 1!

- - -
- - -
- - -

You sit down in your office, a large stack of papers with the reports of crops, tool necessities, punctual problems, and the myriad of other things you have to address daily is piled high in front of you. You float your quill closer to you, and levitate the topmost report to the middle of your desk.

When a slight knock comes from your door, disturbing your concentration before it had even managed to sufficiently gather.

"Pardon ma'am", Ponpon walks into your office shortly after, "but you said you'd like to hear from them as soon as any correspondence arrived."

You look at Ponpon quizzically, but she excuses herself before you can ask any questions.

"Oh," you say to yourself, "I'd almost forgotten I asked them to do that."

Inside the letter is a short report, and a few pictures of…

[Artifact Search: Servants]

[Roll: 54 + 12 (learning) = 66. Level 3]

[Suspicion: 7 + 30 (level 3) = 37. Only slightly suspicious, "eccentric" is the word.]

The skin of a furred animal worked into a large blanket, or perhaps a thick carpet. Your servants also wrote that the owner insists that anyone who sleeps on (or under) it, if they are sick, will wake up feeling refreshed.

HEART artifact

Level 3

Cost: 200 bits

[ ] Buy

[ ] Keep it on hold

- - -

- - -

- - -

And this concludes your month.

On studying for scraps of Lore: During your actions you will be able to choose UP TO TWO books to study at the cost of a single action. Books are "consumable", which means that if you fail the test the book is still used up. Books can only give a scrap of Lore "if they are of your level". Meaning that a level one book can get you from Level 0 to Level 1, and from Level 1 to Level 2, but no further.

(Artifacts are something like that as well, with two differences. You may only "study" one artifact per action spent, and artifacts don't "break" upon studying. Studying an artifact will both yield an attempt at gathering scrap of Lore, as well as attempt to reveal any hidden abilities that they possess, if any. Artifacts can only be studied once for scrap of Lore, but as many times as needed to gleam their ability, if they have one. At a glance, you will only be able to gleam an artifact's Lore and its level, so as to decide whether to buy it or not. Carrying an artifact in your person will grant you its Lore level (not cumulatively, largest Lore level you have on you will apply), but physical objects may be lost, stolen or broken, or simply hard to carry around.)

(Un-bought books will "disappear", un-bought artifacts will remain "on hold", but every turn might be bought by somepony else and disappear as well)

Voting is not required yet. The shopping items will be on the next post as well.
Books and artifacts must be bought on "their" turn, so if you choose not to buy these books (on turn 1, when you have 120 bits), they disappear forever. And if you choose to buy the artifact starting next turn (once you receive your next monthly 120 bits), it will only arrive at the END of the next month, while choosing to buy it on "turn 1" (though you lack the bits) would make it arrive immediately and be available for use/study.

OurLadyOfWires · Aug 22, 2024

CONTACTS AND NAMES
"Friends, foes, minions... family."

Importantly, everything here is based on Velvet's own subjective point of view.

Your Family

(WARNING): The death of any character on this list will immediately result in a game over.

Selene:
-Lores: [MOTH 3] [WINTER 3] [EDGE 3] [KNOCK 3]
-Info: Selene is your daughter, and you will brook no argument that claims the contrary. She may be Princess Luna, put to sleep due to powers beyond your comprehension. She may have been entrusted to you by her parents, somehow, rather than born from your own blood. But all that matters to you is that she is one of your fillies, and you have helped her grown every step of the way. The only issue you have with this whole situation is that, to this day, she has not yet called you "mother".

"What should you call her? Well, if you are asking that question then you already failed the secret test. Those who love her call her Selene. Those who know of her call her Luna. And she is happy to be called your daughter."

Luna, the Princess of the Moon

Health: 6/6
General bonus: +20
Lores: MOTH 3, EDGE 3, WINTER 3, KNOCK 3

As an alicorn, Selene has TWO actions per turn.

[MOTH SKILL]: Selene will be able to retain her "Selene" guise, without raising any suspicion, for as long as she wishes. Her guise will remain undetected until she chooses to reveal herself.
[EDGE SKILL]: Selene may use "No holds barred" in combat, which gives her a flat +30 bonus, but causes her to attack all ponies within range (regardless if they are friends or enemies) and to cause severe damage to her surroundings.
[WINTER SKILL]: CURRENTLY LOCKED
[KNOCK SKILL]: Selene may once again dream-walk with confidence. She may also contact almost any character, even if she does not know her location or if they do not want to be contacted. However, she may not impersonate Velvet Covers, or anypony else, when doing so.
[DILIGENT]: Every turn, Selene will automatically perform one random "training" action, in addition to her two personal actions. She is free to use her actions on something else.

Selene is currently "in training". She will have the following exclusive actions available to her, every turn, until they are all completed. These actions will always auto-succeed.
Due to her "Diligent" trait, Luna will always perform at least one of these actions every turn for free. But she may spend her own action-points to advance her training more quickly::

[] This body is new to her, but it is old to the world. She must learn of its abilities and privileges. (Grain +5 to her General Bonus) (TRAINING ACTION)
[] This body is old to her, but it is new to the world. She must learn of its restrictions and limitations. (Gain +1 total health) (TRAINING ACTION)
[] Realize something about Edge. (Unlock her Edge skill) (TRAINING ACTION)
[] Realize something about Winter. (Unlock her Winter skill) (TRAINING ACTION)
[] Realize something about Knock. (Unlock her Knock skill) (TRAINING ACTION)

Once Selene completes her training, she will be able to reach Level 4 in all of her Lores at the same time. That lesson will require an action from Velvet Covers, who must have the requisite Lore knowledge, and will grant Selene a further +1 total health and +5 to her General Bonus. As well, of course, as the upgrade in her personal Lore levels.

Stormchaser:
-Lores: Disciple, [SECRET HISTORIES 3] [KNOCK 1]
-Info: Your dear husband. A pegasus weather specialist from a family of wealthy cloud merchants. Your marriage with him may have been arranged, but the two of you eventually came to love each other. He has an ability, of sorts, that he has never spoken about with anypony else, apart from you that is. He can, sometimes, realize when a particular object or moment is important, and he has no other way of describing it, or explaining how it works. Still, all that matters to you is that he loves you, and he remains determined to be your "moral compass" even in these trying times.

Silky Stream:
-Lores: None/Unknown (too young to tell)
-Info: Your daughter. The little pegasus who you absolutely adore. She has her father's eyes, and perhaps a little more from him when it comes to noticing things. But much to your concern she also has a sweet tooth, one that you hope she will grow out of. Regardless, your thoughts about her would run for too long if you ever tried to list everything good about her, so it's best just to say that you would do anything for her. And to everypony else, she is just a healthy and happy filly who is particularly good at befriending other ponies. And maybe even some not-ponies.

Soft Sweeps:
-Lores: ~~[YOUKNOWWHATYOUDID 3]~~ None.
-Info: Your oldest daughter. An extremely loyal mare who, more than just being your daughter's caretaker, eventually became like an older sister for her. A young and hardworking maid who... had a family in Canterlot, until tragedy changed her life forever. But when she lost everypony else, your family took her in without a second thought. So even though she is still attached to her maid uniform, you treat her like one of your own. No matter how embarrassed that makes her.

Your Friends

All contacts in this subsection are under the following rules:

Regular contacts are classified as one of the following categories, in this specific order:

Acquaintance -> Friend -> Close Friend -> Confidante -> Minion

[Acquaintance]: Any pony you just met will immediately become an acquaintance. This is the first step of most relationships. And unless special narrative circumstances apply, you are reliably able to contact an acquaintance to further your relationship.

[Friend]: Interacting with an acquaintance under almost any circumstances, even if you do not spend an action to do so, will usually upgrade them into a friend.
You may invite a friend to participate in your actions through a "write-in" during the turning phase. But friends can deny those invitations, and they might interact (or even hinder) your planned action in an unpredictable way, depending on the narrative.

[Close Friend]: Spending time and effort (read: actions or bits) on a Friend may upgrade them to a Close Friend.
~~They are like Friends, but closer.~~ Close Friends can be relied to have your best interests in mind, and are honestly interested in helping you. They will not purposefully hinder an action that they are involved in, and will generally be more useful/willing to help as the narrative allows.

[Confidante]: A Close Friend can become a Confidante if you inspire loyalty, admiration, or a debt towards you. Usually after you perform an action of great personal relevance to them.
Confidantes are loyal to you. Their moral compasses are not altered, and they will not act in a way that is improbable or out of character. But other than that, they will follow your lead.
Confidantes provide one action point per turn for you to use.

[Minion]: A Minion is a character who is completely under your control. They are willing to kill, die, or perform any other action under your direction.
There are no socially acceptable ways to transform a Confidante into a Minion, and this tier is should be purely hypothetical.

Rarity:
-Level: [MINION]
-Lores: Disciple, [GRAIL 3] [FORGE 1]

-Info: Bearer of an Element of Harmony, an incredibly talented fashionista who has caught the eye of the high society. She is absolutely enamored with Canterlot and the glamour of other major cities, and has a little sister who's your daughter's age. Furthermore, she considers herself deeply indebted to you ever since you helped her dreams of "making it big" in the fashion industry.

-Extra:
--Rarity will produce (gift you) a certain amount of bits per turn, as long as she can maintain her career.
--Rarity will remain a minion as long as Velvet Covers has a greater level of Grail than Rarity, or as long as Velvet Covers is under the effect of a maximum Grail influence.
--Rarity may "Take a Commission", which will give Velvet Covers an immediate windfall of bits. However, this will cost Rarity's attention towards her ongoing career, and is particularly taxing for her to do often.

Jade Whistle:
-Level: [CONFIDANTE]
-Lores: Seeker, [LANTERN 4] [HEART 2]

-Info: An earth pony mare of aloof demeanor and almost-permanent neutral expression. She was formerly in charge of the "occult" doings of the Cult, but has since taken to following you instead.
You have learned that she had a younger brother, who perished after a terrible accident. The same accident that caused her family to fracture and... "leave". Still, she is an extremely observant and intelligent mare. Although she has difficulty bonding with other ponies, and even more difficulty taking care of herself.
She is making progress though. And you trust she is on the right path.

-Extra:
--Jade Whistle will react negatively if she fails a task you give her, and is generally more fragile to psychological difficulties.
--Jade Whistle can perform certain researches that, generally, would be exclusive to Velvet Covers.

Fluttershy and Comet Feet:
-Level: [CONFIDANTE]
-Lores: Initiate / Seeker, [WINTER 1] / [EDGE 4]

-Info: Bearer of an Element of Harmony, a recluse pegasus mare who seems to be more at ease around animals than ponies. She lives in the nebulous area between the outskirts of Ponyville and the Everfree forest. And despite her extremely shy nature, she somehow got in touch with Comet Feet. Or rather... more than just "getting in touch" with Comet Feet, she seems to be thankful to you for their... budding relationship?

-Extra:
--You have reached an understanding with Comet Feet.
--Velvet Covers may not teach the Lores to Fluttershy. And in return, Comet Feet will "step in" to perform any actions, in Fluttershy's stead, that he considers dangerous, or that are dangerously involved with the Lores.
--Comet Feet, in particular, is not your friend. But thanks to this understanding, he probably isn't your enemy either. You will endeavor to keep things this way.

A large pegasus with a gruff expression that you could easily picture as a member of the guard. He was formerly the pony in charge of the cult's "dirty business". But now, he lives a life of reclusion ~~together~~ with Fluttershy. And you will not pry any further than that.

Cheerilee:
-Level: [FRIEND]
-Lores: UNKNOWN
-Info: Your daughters' teacher, who views her job as important mainly because it helps build the future of her students. She seems to be capable of truly dedicating herself for others.

Filthy Rich:
-Level: [FRIEND]
-Lores: UNKNOWN
-Info: A wealthy stallion who has business in sales and retails at Ponyville. He is a good father, and you feel that he is a dedicated husband, but you can also tell that there is some sort of problem in his family right now...

Applejack:
-Level: [FRIEND]
-Lores: [FORGE]/[UNKNOWN]
-Info: Apple Bloom's older sister and middle daughter of the current generation of the Apple Clan. A dependable and responsible orange earth pony.

Mayor Mare:
-Level: [ACQUAINTANCE]
-Lores: UNKNOWN
-Info: A young and energetic earth pony mare, who is the de facto leader of Ponyville. You had very little contact with her, even when you were the "ranking noble" of Ponyville. But the two of you never had any problems with each other.

Twilight Sparkle:
-Level: [ACQUAINTANCE] (LOCKED)
-Lores: [LANTERN]/[UNKNOWN]
-Info: Leader, as far as you understand, of the Elements of Harmony. A young and genius unicorn mare who, despite her lack of social skills, had a bright and prosperous future ahead of her.

"I ruined her life..."

Everypony Else

Princess Celestia:
-Lores: UNKNOWN
-Info: The Sunbringer, the Immortal, the eternal ruler of ponykind and protector of Equestria. The oldest alicorn in Equestria who needs no introduction. You know, or at least you think, that she was born into this world. Much like you know, or think, that she has made some sort of covenant with Harmony. But for now, after entrusting you with a great responsibility, she is the faraway monarch who is judging ponykind from the reclusion of her castle.

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza:
-Lores: [GRAIL] [WINTER] [HEART]
-Info: Princess Cadance, the first pony ever made into an alicorn, is a pony who had been torn between two worlds for the longest time. A mare who everypony expects to be a Princess, and a Princess who thinks she is still just a mare. You first met her when you were trying to bring a family back together, and that seems to have been the theme of your relationship ever since. You became one of the few ponies who truly know her as "Cadance" rather than a Princess. You gave her a shoulder to cry on when everypony else expected her to be strong. And finally, you helped her marry the love of her life. She cares about you, perhaps more than you know, and she trusts that you will always be by her side. So, it is no surprise that she will also stand by you, as the two of you tackle the challenges of the future. And you will always think of her as a kind pony first, and a Princess second.

Shining Armor:
-Lores: UNKNOWN
-Info: Formerly a captain of the Royal Guard, and currently the Deputy of the Lunar Bureau, both of those titles tremble before the fact that he is the very first husband to an alicorn. A competent, dedicated and trustworthy unicorn stallion, who can be just a little hardheaded once he thinks he must stand his ground. Still, he has not let any of the several adversities that struck his life, from losing his family to having his horn broken, slow him down.

Midday Dew:
-Lores: UNKNOWN
-Info: A thin, skittish and bespectacled earth pony stallion who you met while working at the Lunar Bureau. His documentation, and the things he has access to, imply he has Princess Celestia's trust, or at least that she values him for his skills... whatever those might be. You suspect he is an equivalent "figurehead" the same way that you are, and that he is in charge of whatever secret research Princess Celestia wishes to see done. You have come to call the institution he works for "Eclipse", if that place even has a name at all.

Fair Trial:
-Lores: UNKNOWN
-Info: An unassuming unicorn mare of noble background. She is the current head of her family, following her father's unfortunate demise at a relatively young age, and an Equestrian Judge by title and tradition. Apparently, she presided over a rather scandalous case early in her career, and her (quickly reversed) harsh sentence caused her to be "quietly moved" to the "glamorous" job of a Circuit Judge. After that, she spent a full decade of her career travelling Equestria, representing justice in the smaller and more distant communities. That is, until Princess Celestia herself promoted her to the highest, greatest and most powerful court in all of Equestria, giving the unicorn Her own seat in the Solar Court itself.

The Master:
-Lores: [MOTH 7] [LANTERN 5] [FORGE 5] [EDGE 5] [WINTER 5] [HEART 5] [GRAIL 5] [KNOCK 5] [SECRET HISTORIES 5]
-Info: The guide and lord of the Wildhoof Club, the first occult organization to appear after so long, she is perhaps the oldest and greatest eldritch creature to ever walk the Wake in the present Era. He was also, you learned the hardest way possible, the Will of the Woods. Or perhaps she was the Woods itself. But none of that matters now, because SHE BELONGS TO THE WOLF NOW

Comet Feet:
(Moved to "Your Friends" section under "Fluttershy")

Starry Dancer:
-Lores: [HEART]
-Info: A pink pegasus mare. What she seems to have in good intentions she also seems to have in clumsiness, but maybe you're being too hard on her. She (supposedly) was in charge of the cult's formal talking. And back when you were still talking, you think she thought she owed you. On top of that, you also heard she was either illiterate, or had a great difficulty with reading. And also that she was very close to the Master, perhaps even to the point of depending on her. Eventually, you learned she was a neglected foal who had been raised under abusive circumstances, which eventually turned her into an outcast of the same society she so insistently tried to be a part of. She died, in agony, when the Woods burned, as she foolishly tried to save the only thing she had ever loved. DECEASED

Copper Secateur:
[SHE IS CURRENTLY YOUR ENEMY]
-Lores: [GRAIL]
-Info: The very first cult member you met, an earth pony mare who was in charge of scouting out recruits. She can be terribly sly when she wants to, and apparently was also in charge of other "shady businesses" in the cult. Presently, however, she is your foe, and the two of you have already tried to kill each other at least once.

Windy Flakes
-Lores: [WINTER]
-Info: Formerly in charge of the cult's finances, a unicorn who always seemed to have a grin on his face, despite his strange sense of humor. He disappeared from Ponyville after the Cult's dissolution, and you are slightly worried about what he is doing, given his... interests.

Jade Whistle
(Moved to "Your Friends" section)

Baldomare: An extremely interesting mare who lives in the Mansus, with her lover Illopony. She is currently living in your estate, and has claimed a room on the topmost floor "to better watch the sunrise". You have come to learn that she is a very good storyteller.

The Daughter-of-Axes: A creature of the Mansus. A snakemare (if such a thing even exists) and a self-declared Name. She certainly has the Knock-knowledge to back such a claim, of course. But she also has a fiery temper and a very foul mouth, to the point that most of the time you think you are dealing with a teenager rather than an Era-old monster.

Mareinette, Our Lady of Wires: Not a part of this world. Not a part of the Mansus. She was declared an abomination even in an era that was full of monsters. And yet she still lives, even after everything else crumbled to dust. She is very old, you know. Very old, and very wise, and so very thirsty. Still, she is far more intelligent than she looks. And for all that she causes you fear and revulsion, you also can't help but feel fascination whenever you think about her.

Neighnia: The ever delightful Miss Neighnia. You have met her in dreams, precisely once, and you almost did not survive the encounter. You might get to know her better if you ever bring her to your side.

Biedde: An old soldier, still guarding his post within the Mansus. You might get to know him better if you ever summon him.

???: ~~What is a Dyad without a Dyad?~~ "Shoo! Nothing to see here."

Ponpon: Your personal maid, a discrete and sweet earth pony mare. She served as the estate's head maid for several years, and seems to know almost everything about all the other servants.

Tip Top: A highly skilled earth pony maid, who has Ponpon's personal trust. The only pony who is trusted with cleaning the central chandelier, despite her lack of wings. And, you learned much later, one of Soft Sweeps' friends in the mansion.

Velvet Pride: Your younger brother. A fine, or perhaps closely groomed, unicorn who seems to have your father's favor. He has recently relocated to the Ponyville estate to oversee its administration and... well, and then there is his current crush in the Daughter-of-Axes, of all ponies.

Cantrip: A unicorn mare assigned as Pride's personal maid. From what you have heard, she has little to no training as a maid, but her sheer skill as a magician was more than enough to attract your father's attention.

Subtle Glare: Velvet Pride's personal butler, and apparently the head servant of your brother's entourage. You know very little about him other than that.

Velvet Hill: your father, and let's stop this right here.

Soft Charm: Your estranged mother. Your only opinion of her is that, on hindsight, you don't think she was a very good mother.

Velvet Wings: Your older brother. Having been born a pegasus caused him not to even be considered as a possible heir of the family, something that only became more clear when you were borne. Your relationship with him, as you grew up, slowly became more complex and forced, until the day he was old enough to leave for the wider world. You hope he understands that those complications happened by you father's design, but you have not had much contact with him ever since.

Velvet Steppes: Your uncle, your father's younger brother. He is an affable, charming and loyal unicorn, or at the very least one who is well liked enough to be welcome in the circles of Canterlot's nobility, despite being a Velvet. He is known as the "Facilitator", but to this day you have no idea why.

Velvet Horseshoe [DECEASED]: The founding ancestor of your family, the pony who first attained the title of nobility from Princess Celestia years ago. Tales speak of him as a ruthless stallion and, apparently, he was known by some as "Velvet Dagger". His legacy, for good or bad, lives on in his family to this day.

Unfortunately, these are not yours to adopt. But only because your daughters need little friends to keep them company.

Sweetie Belle: Rarity's sister. She is your daughter's age, and seems to be terribly conscientious about her lack of a cutie mark.

Diamond Tiara: Filthy Rich's daughter, and a friend of your own daughter.

Silver Spoon: a grey filly of rich upbringing who is friends with your daughter.

Apple Bloom: a yellow filly, who won the Sisterhooves Social with her sister, and is friends with your daughter. She is a member of the Apple Clan and lives in the Sweet Apple Acres.

Scootaloo: an orange pegasus filly. You can tell at a glance that her wings are... smaller, than they should be for a filly her age. Her parents also doesn't seem to live in town, and you are not sure who takes care of her, so you let her stay in your house whenever the situation warrants.

~~Spike: Twilight Sparkle's pet dragon, who lives with her. They seem to have an almost familial relationship.~~ DECEASED

Needle Pin: A mare of the Needle family, and their chosen representative when dealing with the patronage of Rarity. She seems to be a business-keen mare, but you can tell that her family's expectations on her weight heavily on her back.

Zxzx24 · Aug 22, 2024

ah new thread smell

Shaper47 · Aug 22, 2024

Warning: contains spoilers for new readers

https://forum.questionablequesting....-a-pony-cultist-experience.28651/post-8861490

jelloloaf · Aug 22, 2024

New thread let's go, time to start reposting all my memes

Archmage Zoltan · Aug 22, 2024

well, I lost my place in this story and needed to restart it anyway, so I guess this is a good excuse.

Nevermort · Aug 22, 2024

Shaper47 said:
The Fate of Selene

While nice omake I think it would be spoilers if placed here (for anyone who starts to read quest on this site I mean)

Iustus Vitea · Aug 22, 2024

I feel we should wait to import the omakes at least until after the relevant chapters are posted if not wait until Birb gets done importing the quest entirely.

PocketRikimaru · Aug 22, 2024

yeah come on lol it's gonna take forever for him to port it over just wait lol (also we should delete these comments if he wants us to)

this isn't the NSFW section which is probably a mistake but I think that might be just because SV doesn't allow nsfw linking so then it could be ported via mod to nsfw questing yeah.

Artemis_Fowl_2nd · Aug 22, 2024

Huh. Incredibly cursed that bird's account over here is lady of wires. She makes a horrible narrator. Or at least a horrible pony to give the power of narration.

Pittauro · Aug 22, 2024

I think putting this quest in the SFW section is a mistake. Better to put it in the NSFW section would give you more freedom just in case you need to write something fairly fucked up with either Mareinette or the Wolf @OurLadyOfWires .

Also I think many people just... don't even look at this section much.

Just look, it's 22 august and beside this next most recent post in one is from the 14th, then 11th, then JUNE 13th.

THE LAST QUEST IN THE PAGE HAS ITS MOST RECENT POST IN APRIL 23 2023

Simply put, most questwriters post in the NSFW section even if the story could arguably be added here, just to be safe and because more people check it there.

thefoolswriter · Aug 22, 2024

And nsfw has the most of the audience of the site

keykigdom · Aug 22, 2024

Is good to see that this has return here from SV and ready to continue

Will be a delight to re read.

retrueno · Aug 22, 2024

Uh, I'd really really suggest this to go on the NSFW section (no need for the quest to be NSFW). Mostly because the sfw gets almost no traffic.

Besides considering what happened in SV better safe than sorry in my opinion.

OurLadyOfWires · Aug 22, 2024

Shaper47 said:
Warning: contains spoilers for new readers

Ah, wonderful. Our first omake here.

I haven't read it yet. But given the title itself, and the warning, do you absolutely mind putting it down and posting it later? Like some people mentioned, it might not be the best thing to have on the first few pages of the thread.

I'll eventually create the "first" post of the... I think it's called "Extras" threadmark here? It would be ideal if you could post this omake after that. And honestly, I still owe reading omakes in our previous thread, so I don't think I will be giving any of this much attention until I'm done importing most of the quest to begin with.

Still, thank you for your time, and I appreciate your understanding.

In another note. Thank you all for the feedback about posting this on NSFW. I'm still not used to this site.

Still, I read it somewhere that it's fine to post it on SFW, and then ask for a mod to transfer it to the NSFW section, so we can definitely do that eventually. I'll worry about the manual job of transferring things over, and we can worry about those other details when we reach them.

As always, I hope you are all doing well.

BritBiscuit · Aug 22, 2024

With the transition to a new site for this quest I thought i'd celebrate a bit by drawing an artwork (of questionable but nethertheless personal quality) about this quest that I have enjoyed so much over the years. However I have come to a blank on what precisely to draw so I would like to hear suggestions from anyone else whom has enjoyed this quest about anything they would like to see expressed in visual form, whether a concept like the lores, a scene in the story or a character within, I would of course place any image created in spoilers to prevent newcomers reading the first pages of this thread from spoiling their experience.

Also reading Shapers omake to christen this thread like breaking a bottle on a ships maiden voyage was nice, it really captured some of that special magic the prose, imagery and even the way the choices to vote for are presented in this quest that drew me in so much.

Final note it is nice to know that this quest even has the possability of continuing at all and the notification I saw on SV the other day really was one of the highlights of my day, here's to reaching GLORY everyone (everypony and everyling)!

OurLadyOfWires · Aug 22, 2024

Last turn's shopping list

These are the items that you have decided to purchase last turn. They must be bought with the resources you had available then, but if bought will be immediately available for use or study at this turn.

Last turn's available bits: 120

[ ] BOOK – KNOCK Level 1, buy for 7 bits
[ ] BOOK – FORGE Level 1, buy for 7 bits

[ ] ARTIFACT – HEART Level 3, costs 200 bits
~~-[ ] Buy~~ (not enough resources)
-[ ] Keep it on hold

(Books not bought will be lost, other items will be available through the following turns, but have a chance of being sold to somepony else every turn)

---

You take stock of your current situation, idly sipping on a drink as you watch one of your ponyservants take away the piles of papers on your "DONE" side of the table.

Small comfort that is... you know tomorrow the opposite side will be just as high as it was today, if not higher...

But a month has come to an end, and you must say you are satisfied with it. You managed to take your daughter on her first day at school, and so far she has taken quite well to it. You managed to meet one of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, of all ponies, by coincidence...
Well, maybe not coincidence, you think, while idly looking at your mane, the cut parts cleverly hidden within it.
And perhaps most important of all, you found a way to the Dreamlands.

You know your Master will summon you, and your compatriots, in one month's time. There is much to be done.

---

POSSIBLE ACTIONS

You have four personal actions, and one ponyservant action.

Some actions will be tagged with a suspicion level. These are the actions that can be carried out by your ponyservants, and the suspicion level refers to how well they would (or would not) take to your task. Tasks that involve high suspicion might be outright refused, carried out with the inevitable gossiping, or even sabotaged if your servants believe that what you asked them to do is wrong.
Keep in mind that suspicion level refers to what a servant would think if asked to perform such task, regardless of them performing them, being caught or not. If you choose to perform the task yourself, you will take the necessary steps to be as subtle as you can, but the task itself will still raise suspicion if you are caught.

Specify which action will be carried out by your ponyservants. They will apply ONLY your status bonus, as they will follow instructions or carry your name and influence, but they will not apply personal bonus (bonus given by Lore, personal items, personal Characteristics or of any other nature).

This turn's available bits: 240 (minus items you decided to buy)
Monthly revenue: 120 bits/month

[ ] On what must be done (finding a way to reach Princess Luna)

-[ ] You have reached the Dreamlands, or rather the place where the Mansus touches the Dreamlands. Now you must explore it.
--[ ] If she truly is the sovereign of dreams, then she must stroll through her realm. Learn the paths she takes between dreams and attempt to track her hoofsteps. But keep to the shadows, for the dangers of the Dreamlands are unknown to you.
--[ ] If the Dreamlands are truly the culmination of the dreams of ponykind then it must be large beyond belief. Tracking Princess Luna will be pointless. Find a way to barge into other ponies' dreams, perhaps making enough of a mess will instead make her come to you.
-[ ] Perhaps the least subtle of options is the answer, and your target being royalty means that she is not hard to track. Get in touch with your contacts in Canterlot and try to get a hold of an invitation to some event. You surely won't get to her immediately, but it will be a first hoof into the city where she lives. Not suspicious.

[ ] On furthering the cause

-[ ] There are books that could be of use. You should start looking for them. (may involve random expenditure of bits). All sub-choices not suspicious.
--[ ] In Ponyville, and its… great assortments of libraries? (no extra cost)
--[ ] In the great libraries of Canterlot… the ones that are open to public access, that is (20 bits in transportation)
--[ ] In the many small bookshops that dot the side streets of Manehattan (35 bits in transportation)
-[ ] In all honesty, the Cult lacks an appropriate place for gatherings, at least when it comes to lesser meetings to discuss small matters, or to simply stash certain things. Scout for a suitable place, or other buildings that might be for sale. Not suspicious.
-[ ] Although you are personally judicious about such habits, you are still a noble. Searching for "peculiar items" to "add to your collection" is certainly not out of place… right? Suspicion depends on how strange the item bought is.
-[ ]Copper Secateur may be in charge of finding suitable candidates, she even was the pony who first introduced you into the Wildhoof Club, but you could use followers of your own.
-[ ] You are the highest authority from your family in Ponyville, and have countless earth pony farmers working under you. The next logical step it to scout for those who would be loyal to you and your cult. (Scout out for cult candidates within your own employees). Highly suspicious.
-[ ] There is somepony in charge of the "heavy lifting" within your cult, of course, but you could do with a few strong hoofs at your personal disposal. Go looking for such contacts. Moderately suspicious.
-[ ] There are bound to be, among all of those large, strong earth ponies, some who wouldn't mind a way to make some extra bits on the side. Reach out to them. (Scout out for ponies willing to get their hoofes dirty among your own employees). Highly suspicious.
-[ ] You really shouldn't, but needs must. Every single ledger from the farms east of Ponyville pass through you, it would be a simple matter to have some "administrative mistakes" make some bits disappear from the coffers and appear in your pockets. Highly suspicious.
-[ ] You cannot expect to succeed working alone, that's why you are in a cult. Take some time to help one of your colleagues. Who knows, you might even learn something from them.
--[ ] Help Comet Feet, the pegasus in charge of the "dirty business".
--[ ] Help Starry Dancer, the pink mare who seems to be in charge of the talking.
--[ ] Help Copper Secateur, your cult's eyes and ears in the dark.
--[ ] Help Windy Flakes, the unicorn seems to be in charge of most of the cult's physical possessions.
--[ ] Help Jade Whistle, the earth pony who, apparently, will be doing a lot of the "occult" for the cult.

[ ] There is too much you do not yet know. You must further your knowledge.

-[ ] The matters of [SPECIFY LORE] intrigues you, petition your cult's Master for a lesson (currently willing to teach all Lores up to level 2)
-[ ] There is something about this… thing, and you must learn what it is (pick a single artifact to learn from its Lore, and check it for hidden abilities).
~~--[ ] Currently no unstudied artifacts, unless recently bought.~~
-[ ] It doesn't have to be just during a leisure evening weekend, you can fit a few minutes of reading even when walking between rooms if you really get into it! (Pick two books to attempt to learn a scrap of Lore. Consumes books).
~~--[ ] Currently no available books, unless recently bought.~~

Your Lore evolution happens by collecting "scraps of Lore", and the required number of scraps is the Lore level that you are aiming for. I For example, leveling a Lore from Level 2 to Level 3 requires 3 scraps of the appropriate Lore.
Scraps may be gained by performing certain acts or through study under a source of knowledge, but using an action to study will also involve a dice roll, which might fail.
A source of knowledge is only useful to you if it is at most of the same level as you are. So a book or artifact that are Level 2 can give you scraps until you reach Level 3.
Yes, this means that so far your Master is only willing to whisper you Level 1 scraps, since you can only go up to Level 2 under him. Maybe performing your orders well might make him reconsider.
Yes, this also means that if you roll a 100 and get high whatever you can hoard it for later use. Just... remember you'll be keeping a (possibly) haunted thing nearby, just "in case i might need it later".

So what are Lores for? Well, they basically have two utilities.
If you go on your Character Sheet you will see that you have "bonuses" from your Lore. This is the culmination of how the Lores affect you, teach you and change your view of the world. Those bonuses will have broad descriptions, and will apply to any case in which it may be useful. These bonus are only gained by learning and studying, so carrying an item with a high Lore level will not give you access to said bonus.
It is basically your understanding of things. The knowledge that "allows you to do unexplainable things", as you learn more about the workings of the world.

But Lore also has a second utility, think of it as how potent that Lore will be in case you try to "call upon it".
Specifically while INSIDE THE MANSUS or while PERFORMING A MANSUS RITUAL in the Wake ("Mansus magic" in the real world) your Lore also provides an extra +10 per Level, on top of your status and other bonus.

Trying to traverse the Woods? +10 per MOTH Level.
Found a hurdle you can't get through within the Mansus? +10 per FORGE Level to blow it up, or +10 per KNOCK Level to open it.
Attempting to ward your room against the horrible thing you miss-summoned, even while it screeches and gnaws at your door? +10 per HEART Level for that ritual.
So on, so on.

On two particular notes, you do not yet know any specific rituals, so it's not on your choices yet. And you might have noticed that on your (successful) attempt to reach the Dreamlands, you had a "+0 (KNOCK Level 0)" and a "+5 (SECRET HISTORIES bonus)". This is an example of both bonus. The Secret Histories used its broad buff to "find something", and the KNOCK Lore was the one called upon (because you were within the Mansus) to "reach another world".
Certain places within the Mansus work better with certain Lores. The Woods certainly belongs to MOTH, but things might change as you go up.

[ ] The Mansus is a place of contradictions. It exists, and yet it doesn't. It is frightening, and yet it calls to you. Only through exploring it will you learn its secrets.

(Exploring a known part of the Mansus will yield the most varied of rewards, through a hidden roll of a dice. But beware that most rewards will be temporary, such as a one-time buff for "specific kind of roll" that applies only until the end of the next turn. It is possible, however, to learn fragments of Lore as well, or to be rewarded nothing at all. Proceed at your own risk.)

-[ ] Explore the Woods, and its many whispers
-[ ] You have studied the Lores, and are now more knowledgeable than before. It is time to find the paths to somewhere else, or to climb even higher in the Mansus.

[ ] Your personal life, or at least the non cult-y part

-[ ] Of course you love your family very much, but you could always spend a bit more time with them.
-[ ] Go into town and try to meet somepony interesting.
-[ ] Bits are the engine of Equestria! You have been working your hooves off for years now and should write to your parents and request an increase of your share of the family's grants.
-[ ] You do know "your place" in the family, but bits are still important. A letter asking for a one-time gift will surely be better received than one asking for a permanent "raise", right?
-[ ] Much to your own satisfaction, you now have a personal life outside of your maids, immediate family and business related meetings. You could choose to spend some time with…
--[ ] Rarity, who bears the Element of Generosity
---[ ] Just a social call, nothing more than that.
---[ ] Perhaps a few whispers and hints, in the middle of an amicable conversation, will peak her interest. (A social call, but with subtle attempts at cult conversion.)
---[ ] You can be a friend, but you can also be a client! Commissioning a dress from her will surely help you see more of her passionate side.
---[ ] WRITE IN
--[ ] Cheerilee, your daughter's school teacher
---[ ] Just a social call, nothing more that that.
---[ ] Perhaps a few whispers and hints, in the middle of an amicable conversation, will peak her interest. (A social call, but with subtle attempts at cult conversion.)
---[ ] WRITE IN

[ ] You haven't forgotten about it, you just put it on hold until a more convenient time. (Purchases done here will arrive/be completed at the end of this turn.)

-[ ] ARTIFACT – HEART Level 3, costs 200 bits

[ ] Others WRITE IN (anything, but i will have to consider it, and it might make the voting period a bit longer)

There will be at least 24 hours for voting. Please let me know if something sounds confusing, as i just did some "exposition" on how Lore works.
All voting will be in plan format, INCLUDING the decision of what was bought last turn.

The Dreamlands are not part of the Mansus. Perhaps one day they will be, for better or for worse, but you may not call upon any Lore within it as you would in the Mansus. Well, not without performing a ritual.

OurLadyOfWires · Aug 22, 2024

[X] Friendship is Ritualism
-[X] Last Turn's Purchase Options
--[X] BOOK – FORGE Level 1, buy for 7 bits
--[X] BOOK – KNOCK Level 1, buy for 7 bits
-[X] This Turn's Purchase Options
--[X] You haven't forgotten about it, you just put it on hold until a more convenient time. (Purchases done here will arrive/be completed at the end of this turn.)
---[X] ARTIFACT – HEART Level 3, costs 200 bits
----[X] Buy
-[X] On what must be done (finding a way to reach Princess Luna)
--[X] You have reached the Dreamlands, or rather the place where the Mansus touches the Dreamlands. Now you must explore it.
---[X] If she truly is the sovereign of dreams, then she must stroll through her realm. Learn the paths she takes between dreams and attempt to track her hoofsteps. But keep to the shadows, for the dangers of the Dreamlands are unknown to you.
-[X] On furthering the cause
--[X] There are books that could be of use. You should start looking for them. (may involve random expenditure of bits).
All sub-choices not suspicious.
---[X] In Ponyville, and its… great assortments of libraries? (no extra cost)
----[X] In addition to your own searching, see if your ponyservants find anything neat.
--[X] You cannot expect to succeed working alone, that's why you are in a cult. Take some time to help one of your colleagues. Who knows, you might even learn something from them.
---[X] Help Starry Dancer, the pink mare who seems to be in charge of the talking.
-[X] Your personal life, or at least the non cult-y part
--[X] Much to your own satisfaction, you now have a personal life outside of your maids, immediate family and business related meetings. You could choose to spend some time with…
---[X] Rarity, who bears the Element of Generosity
----[X] Just a social call, nothing more than that.

- - -

As much as you might be uninclined to it, Stormchaser isn't going to be anywhere else for the next few weeks. You usually prefer having the whole bed for yourself whenever you go into the Mansus, since you have no idea if you sleep-talk or do anything else that might cause him to notice you, or that could even cause him to try to wake you up which would be far more inconvenient. But you are filled with a sense of urgency this time.

The map to the Dreamlands is still fresh in your mind, that haphazard sketch of half-written notes and poorly drawn drafts. You don't exactly fear that you will suddenly forget it, but you don't want to just keep it as a memory either.

So you made sure you had as much work as possible, to justify staying in your office until long after the sunset. You look out through the large window behind your desk, and the full moon stares back at you. "Fitting", you think, as you finally put your quill and papers away, and make the somewhat long trek down the corridor towards your room.

Thankfully, and as expected, you can hear your husband's soft breathing, indicating he is fast asleep. You summon up the faintest of lights from your horn, and gently floats the scissors out from a drawer, bringing it towards your mane.

Snip, goes a small lock, that you make sure to toss into the trash bin.

Who knows, perhaps the Moth might even approve of this sneakiness you're partaking in.

You climb onto the bed, each step making you realize just how tired you are from a long day of work, and you don't even notice your head hitting the pillows before you are fast asleep.

For all you are concerned, it was almost as if you had simply blinked, the darkness of your room suddenly lighting up into the moonlight of the crossroads.

You look back once towards the Woods, gazing at it for some reason that your mind can't exactly pinpoint what it is, but that your rationality insists that is to "make sure it is still there", and immediately after that you go towards the horizon, through the path you know that leads to the Dreamlands.

It is shaped like a cavern, this time, its entrance open wide from a small hill of dark sand, the stone path leading toward it. Maybe it is waiting for you, knowing that you are seeking passage, maybe it changes shape every night. But it matters little, for the faint dream-light still comes from its depths in its smoky substance, showing you that it is indeed the passage you seek.

You walk into the cavern, feeling the stone under your hoofs turn into sand, and that sand turn into something else. The faint light from the cave competes with darkness for a moment, until it slowly becomes brighter and brighter as if you were walking into a well lit room, the mist becoming brighter as it grows heavier around you.

And without warning, you step out of that mist, and find yourself in a totally different place.

You are on what looks like to be the end of a long wooden bridge, bright mist completely blocking the path from where you came. And before you lies the dizzying realm of the Dreamlands.

The wooden bridge ends before a floating carpet that seems to go on forever. It splits and turns, even going upside down and spinning into itself several times in what seems like a veritable labyrinth. It reminds you of the crossroads around the Woods, but far more confusing and random. The paths formed by the carpet are flanked on both sides by endless sets of doors, each marked with an unique symbol that you immediately realize are cutie marks, glowing softly in an almost soothing manner.

And on the backdrop of it all, utter darkness. The cutie-marked doors, have a glow of their own, and the very air seems to faintly radiate light, like the mists behind you. But apart from the glow of the Dreamlands, there is only an endless and lightless ocean.

[Taking it all in, breakpoints 40/80/100]

[Roll: 73 + 12 (Learning) = 85, you realize you can try something]

The whole landscape, you come to a conclusion, doesn't make any sense. But that's the whole point, it almost seems to be intentional. And two reasons for that come to your mind: one, because that whole place is the sum of all of ponykind's subconscious thoughts, once connected together, hence it being chaotic.

Or two… because the Dreamlands are shaped by ideas, and the way it stands before you is how your own mind is interpreting it.

Just because you are dreaming right now, it doesn't mean that the scenario before you isn't real. But just because it is real, it doesn't mean that it still isn't a dream.

Does that even make sense…?

"Well", you think, "but if the Dreamlands are still a dream in itself, maybe I can…"

[Glitching the system, breakpoints 60/100]

[Roll: 87 + 12 (Magic) + 5 (Gifted) = 104]

You close your eyes.

If you are correct, then this is a dream. The whole chaotic mess in front of you, at least, is a dream, and consequently it has that shape because your mind is interpreting it like that.

But you are also a pony, a being borne with magic, and magic is something which your race actively uses to reshape the world. Something that you actively use to reshape the world. So, if you attempt to shape the world before you with magic, then maybe you will convince your mind that you actually succeeded, and the landscape in turn will transform into what your magic tried to do in the first place.

You push aside the contradictory ideas that swim through your head as your horn glows, light shining out from it that you can see even through your closed eyes. If anything, you have learned that those sorts of thoughts work best not when you try to think on them, but when you feel them.

And you feel the world settle into place.

You expected some sort of rumbling, maybe some dramatic sound as the impossible labyrinth twists into itself. But you open your eyes after a period of awkward silence, and see the Dreamlands finishing to settle down in a much more convenient shape.

The Dreamlands presents itself to you as a labyrinth no longer, especially not a three-dimensional labyrinth you realize with relief, and instead is now shaped as something like a… perhaps a city? Pleasantly wide pathways, still of that same carpet, meet in avenues, sometimes forming small circles that perhaps could be parks, and sometimes thinning down into consecutive rows that could be small urban streets.

It is still impossibly vast, of course, with the glow of cutie-marked doors still stretching far beyond your sight.

But this is orders of magnitude better than before.

[Successfully reinterpreted the Dreamlands, +20 on all rolls for the rest of this night]

You step out of the wooden bridge and into the wide carpeted avenue, the main issue of your visit there coming to your mind.

How to track Princess Luna?

There was not really any material for you to fall back to. Everything you remember reading, and the few odd classes of pony history you recall, simply mentioned that Princess Luna was "guardian of night and dreams". But considering how unreliable recorded history is, since everypony somehow forgot that Princess Luna was real and not a cautionary fairy tale, that vague knowledge isn't much to fall back to.

Still, the Dreamlands exists, and if anypony can access it it's her.

Well, no other way to start then with a hoof in front of the other.

[Searching for Princess Luna]

[Search Roll: 3 + 8 (Martial) + 5 (SECRET HISTORIES bonus) + 20 (Dreamscape shaping) = 36, not much progress, really]

[Subtlety Roll: 92 + 10 (Intrigue) + 5 (MOTH bonus) + 20 (Dreamscape shaping) = 127, not a ripple in the dreamwater]

You are in unknown territory, looking for somepony who you are not really sure how might react if you find her, so you decide be as subtle as possible while you are here.

And oh, how well that goes.

You make your way deeper into the Dreamlands, your path quickly turning into a maddening criss-cross of confusion. You walk close to the flanking doors, their glowing cutie marks forming shadows under which you walk. You take paths that would have been back-alleys and shortcuts, if this place truly was a city, and when you don't see a path where you wish to tread you make one, a glow of your horn and your self-convinced point of view paving a narrow passage where once there was only blackness.

But in all honesty, for all of the random paths you are taking you also realize that you are walking randomly when it comes to your goal. You keep your eyes peeled towards the horizon, in case Princess Luna appears as some sort of shooting star in the emptiness that surrounds the Dreamlands. You even notice that some doors simply disappear, probably because the pony it belonged to woke up.

But nothing of Princess Luna yet, you think, taking three steps into a wider dream-avenue.

When you immediately realize something is wrong.

[Their detection Roll: 90 + 15 (???) = 105, vigilant, but not enough]

Something reels inside you, a buzzing in your head that is at the same time loud, sudden, and gone before you realize it was there. But by some instinct you wouldn't have been able to pull off with your real-life leg, you jump back towards the dream-alley from where you came and practically hug your back against a door.

You're not even sure why you did it, until you look down towards the floor.

A wave of dread washes over you when you see it. There are shadows on the ground. The shape of something is blocking the faint yet even light of the cutie-marked doors that are out of your view, but you can see that there is something there, and you very nearly stepped on its shadow.

Which, of course, would have meant it would have seen you.

You slowly, slowly distance your back from the door, practically putting your front hoofs on the ground one at a time, your heart beating against your chest, the air you know not to be real still stuck in your throat. Of course you are in a dream, but you know enough about magic and dreams, so you also know that being in a dream does NOT mean you are not in danger.

You keep your eyes on the shadows, but they are too vague for you to even begin guessing what they could be. Whatever it is, though, you intuitively know it is not Princess Luna or another pony like yourself. You simply know by the pounding on your heart and the… revolting sensation in your gut that whatever that creature is, it is not natural. Besides, dream or no dream the fear you are feeling is extremely real.

And then, you hear the chittering.

It is something like the noise of nails against a black board, banded with the sound of clicks and snaps, sending a chill down your spine whenever it reached your ears. Worse of all, you can clearly identify more than one source of it. It is either more than one thing, or one large thing with two mouths that are far from each other.

You gulp, realizing that it could very well be the second case.

Whatever that thing is, it doesn't look like it will move anytime soon, or if it does then it might just come in your direction, and you're not about to risk that. You quickly double back from where you came, sticking close to the shadows.

Keeping the frames of the doors between you and it, of course. The heart-pounding fear on your chest has already overtaken whatever curiosity you could possibly feel.

"What the hell was that… things," you think to yourself as soon as you far away enough, at least for the waves of dread to stop pounding against your heart. You have no regrets of not having seen what it was but, now that you can think more rationally, you realize that you are left with absolutely no knowledge of what you were going against either.

Was it a nightmare? Perhaps something that escaped somepony's dream? Perhaps some subconscious gestalt? You are in the Dreamlands after all, you are pretty sure that this realm can play fast and loose with its own rules, if there even are any.

However, there are still countless cutie-marked doors, going on forever in an endless map of faint lights, that means that most of Equestria is still asleep, and you still have time. You take a few more deep breaths, and prepare to look for Princess Luna again. For all you know, that thing was just some one-of-a-kind creature…

Of course, you think while keeping your body next to the cover offered by the cutie-marked doors, you are obviously not taking the risk of blindly believing in that assumption.

[Cautiously searching for Princess Luna]

[Search Roll: 36 + 8 (Martial) + 5 (SECRET HISTORIES bonus) + 20 (Dreamscape shaping) – 10 (Caution) = 59, somewhat better]

[Subtlety Roll: 88 + 10 (Intrigue) + 5 (MOTH bonus) + 20 (Dreamscape shaping) + 10 (Caution) = 133, like a moth in a forest]

[Their detection Roll: 25 + 15 (???) = 40, they cannot search if they don't even know you are there]

You practically crawl through the paths of the Dreamlands.

To hell with orderly pathtaking. The Dreamlands were a mess when you first stepped hoof in it, so it surely wont mind if you make a mess of it again. You create paths where once there were none, and then you make paths over those paths, and under them. Catwalks appear over avenues you prefer to avoid, holes are formed on the carpeted floor, leading to a level below yours that wasn't there before. You do everything in your power to change direction while still making meaningful progress whenever you hear that horrible noise in the distance, or whenever a wave of revulsion hits you, no matter how far.

And to your dawning horror, as you make your way and weave paths around those things, you realize that there are a lot of them. You even manage to take a look at one of those… creatures, once.

Obviously, you immediately wish you hadn't.

The creature you saw was a formless thing, a shifting wave of revolting darkness that looked too much like flesh. You saw no eyes, unless those glowing red things were eyes, but you did see many mouths. There were things attached to it that you think resembled tentacles, but you turned away before you could get a clearer picture.

The one thing that brought you the most vague sense of relief was the fact that for all of its hideousness, it didn't seem to have any substance to it. Like it was a mist or a shadow or a foggy reflection, but definitely not real.

Well, real enough to be there, and for you to know you do not want to bump into one of those. Real enough for you to realize that the one you saw was apparently licking one of the cutie-marked doors.

But not "real" real… you hope.

Still, for all of your halted and cautious progress, you think you made some headway. You didn't see any shooting stars flying over the Dreamlands, no alicorn figure doing alicorn dream magic, but you do see something that resembles a trail.

You pass by a cutie-marked door that seems to be shinning more than the others. You look around to make sure that you are alone and cautiously place one hoof on the doorknob.

And you feel it. You are not sure if you were going to try and open it, but as soon as you touch it you realize it's not necessary. You can feel the faint energy of relief, the soft whisper of a wordless thank-you. The sensation of somepony being caught mid-fall, and delivered into safety.

Princess Luna had been through that door, she had been inside that dream. Quite recently, you might add.

You quickly look around, searching for more doors that shared that glow, perhaps another hoofprint that marked her passing, something else that you can hang on to. You realize that the amount of cutie-marked doors is diminishing, a horizon clearly appearing where there was once an endless ocean of faint light. Ponies are waking up, perhaps the sun is about to rise.

One last attempt. You will take a route that heads towards the exit, even if you are a bit reckless, but you'll make one last attempt.

[Search Roll: 14 + 8 (Martial) + 5 (SECRET HISTORIES bonus) + 20 (Dreamscape shaping) = 47]

[Subtlety Roll: 43 + 10 (Intrigue) + 5 (MOTH bonus) + 20 (Dreamscape shaping) = 78]

[Their detection Roll: 23 + 15 (???) = 38]

But you find no sign of the Princess herself, and you arrive once more at the beginning of the wooden bridge, the solid-looking wall of bright mist marking your way back to the crossroads. You did see a few more marked doors, so perhaps you found a path where she had also trodden, but nothing more.

You look back, and watch as more and more of the doors disappear as ponies wake up, the endless sea of light from the Dreamlands disappearing much like the stars might fade from the sky as the sun rises. Perhaps that is intentional, you think, as you turn your back on it and step into the mists.

Perhaps you would also wake up if you waited long enough there, perhaps the Dreamlands would never truly shrink enough, as some ponies obviously sleep through the day. But those are things you are not willing to find out, not tonight.

You cross the mists back into the crossroad, stepping out of the cave and seeing the Woods in the distant horizon.

And you prepare to wake up.

You have come to the realization that sometimes the shape of the world depends on how you interpret it. The light of LANTERN opens avenues in your mind where once there was only darkness. Gained 1 scrap of Lantern Lore.
(Learned by achieving maximum bonus on Dreamlands reshaping)

LANTERN Lore is now level 1!

You called upon your knowledge of the Woods and wove paths of erratic deception around things you did not (and needed not) understand. Gained 1 scrap of Moth Lore.
(Learned by totally avoiding detection)

Let me know if it was too short an update, and if you'd just rather have a whole package. But I thought I'd try my hand on putting out long decision results separately as they are completed.

Character sheet will be updated shortly.

OurLadyOfWires · Aug 22, 2024

[X] Friendship is Ritualism
-[X] Last Turn's Purchase Options
--[X] BOOK – FORGE Level 1, buy for 7 bits
--[X] BOOK – KNOCK Level 1, buy for 7 bits
-[X] This Turn's Purchase Options
--[X] You haven't forgotten about it, you just put it on hold until a more convenient time. (Purchases done here will arrive/be completed at the end of this turn.)
---[X] ARTIFACT – HEART Level 3, costs 200 bits
----[X] Buy
-[X] On what must be done (finding a way to reach Princess Luna)
--[X] You have reached the Dreamlands, or rather the place where the Mansus touches the Dreamlands. Now you must explore it.
---[X] If she truly is the sovereign of dreams, then she must stroll through her realm. Learn the paths she takes between dreams and attempt to track her hoofsteps. But keep to the shadows, for the dangers of the Dreamlands are unknown to you.
-[X] On furthering the cause
--[X] There are books that could be of use. You should start looking for them. (may involve random expenditure of bits).
All sub-choices not suspicious.
---[X] In Ponyville, and its… great assortments of libraries? (no extra cost)
----[X] In addition to your own searching, see if your ponyservants find anything neat.
--[X] You cannot expect to succeed working alone, that's why you are in a cult. Take some time to help one of your colleagues. Who knows, you might even learn something from them.
---[X] Help Starry Dancer, the pink mare who seems to be in charge of the talking.
-[X] Your personal life, or at least the non cult-y part
--[X] Much to your own satisfaction, you now have a personal life outside of your maids, immediate family and business related meetings. You could choose to spend some time with…
---[X] Rarity, who bears the Element of Generosity
----[X] Just a social call, nothing more than that.

- - -

You are distressed.

You can hide it, sure. Plenty of things have already happened in your life, and many of them happened to you while you were powerless to interfere or have any say in it, so of course you can manage it. Just go on with your routine, just keep up with your everyday life.
Bid your husband safe travels when he leaves for his work, tuck your daughter into bed, make the decisions on how many earth pony farmers should be assigned to which fields, send the weekly reports to Canterlot.

But you can still feel that distress eating away at you. Slightly, slowly, almost to the point where you could ignore it if you really wanted to. But you don't want to. You can't.

You think about it every time night falls. You feel it as a shiver in your spine every time you put your daughter to sleep.

What the hell were those things you saw in the Dreamlands?

You dim the light of your lamp, the large working desk in which it sits sending deeper shadows into the floor. You are already done for the day when it comes to work, have already been for a while in fact, but sleeping really doesn't feel like a comfortable idea as of late.

Sure, you could go into the Mansus. But going there in your current mind state, or rather going there without a goal, would not be beneficial. At best you would simply get lost in the Woods, and at worst something else might find you in the Woods instead. The Mansus has its own dangers after all, of which you know only very few.

However, none of them are as wrong as those things. Not nearly as wrong.

For a brief moment you remember that flash of memory. Tongues that weren't tongues licking, scraping, against a wooden door with somepony's cutie mark engraved on it. You are thankful that your daughter still doesn't have hers, or you are sure that your mind would already have started making cruel changes to that memory. But you still have to force yourself to make those images stop.

You take a deep breath, the lamp-warm air from a night's worth of work filling your lungs, bringing you some sort of calm.

Right, you think to yourself, no point in being irrational about it. You are Velvet Covers, and you didn't get your cutie mark by flailing in worry whenever something complicated showed up in your life.

What do you know? That is the first question you ask yourself.

Well, first of all you know about the Mansus, and you know what you have been told by your cult's Master. Equestria might be a magical place, but no matter how one looks at it, it is also extremely unnatural.

You remember struggling with the word "unnatural" at first. The long conversations you had with Copper Secateur on what (at first) were just innocent book club meetings immediately coming to your mind. It really took some time for the idea that the sun and moon are moved daily by Princess Celestia to sink in. Well, not the fact itself, since everypony knows that, but rather the fact that the very concept of day and night, and their constancy, only exists because Princess Celestia makes it so.

"But it has been like that for as long as history goes" you said, stating the obvious.

"Precisely" was her answer, with something akin to a mocking smile.

Clouds are moved by the pegasi, seasons are changed by magic or hard labor. Everywhere a pony looks, she can see a land shaped by design.

The so-called natural order of Equestria is enforced, as if the whole world is a stage in which the props have to be moved manually, or else the play itself will make no sense.

That was what drew you in, at first. That small tidbit of realization that nopony else seemed to notice, that feeling of having your eyes open when everypony else was blind, the satisfaction of completing a small puzzle.

That "being part of a cult", of something closed off, private.

Then, you were introduced to the cult's Master, and you started to learn some other secrets.

You were shown the Mansus, and had to struggle your way through the crossroads and into the Woods proper. You learned about being lost, and how not to be found. You have learned how to walk on shadows, and have sometimes even seen shadows walk.

And that's what was so intriguing about it. You are an unicorn, you know magic, and the things you have seen and heard are not magic. Those things don't differentiate between earth ponies, pegasi or unicorns, they simply happen. They simply work.

The same way you were shocked to realize that Equestria's nature was enforced by ponies, you were also fascinated when you realized that you might have actually found the hints to some natural laws. Real natural laws, even if they were taught to you in secret meetings, or dreams, or through whispers in a dark forest that might not exist.

And right now, you take a deep breath to order your thoughts, what you are pondering is the… next logical question on all this.

Why?

Why does Princess Celestia enforces such things? Moving the sun and moon every day is something beyond deliberate once one starts to think about it. It might be seen as natural after millennia of culture and history, but she is older than that. So why?

And on the other hand, isn't Celestia benevolent? She has been for as long as any pony is concerned, so why does your Master insists that her actions are "abominable", as he says?

And most importantly, why are there those things in the Dreamlands of ponykind? Why are there things that right now could be eyeing the entrance to the dreams of your own daughter?

You sag in your cushioned seat, your mind starting to draw blanks and run in circles thanks to those questions, and to the long day of work you have just been through.

"I don't know…" you say to yourself, almost in a depressed tone, "I know too little about… all of this…"

Your horn flickers for a moment, the lamp before your eyes flickering in return before its light vanishes. It is getting colder, and you don't want to limp all the way back to your room if your hindleg suddenly decides it is too cold, so you start walking out of your office.

"But if there is an answer, then I'm going to find out."

- - -
- - -
- - -

You had many options on how you could have done this.

You could have staged a "coincidental meeting". Two friends bumping into each other on the streets, a flurry of embarrassed apologies quickly turning into smiles as they both recognize each other and head off together, chatting merrily towards the nearest café.

Or perhaps you could have elected a more unconventional road. Although the Woods are vast and shifting, there are certain places that you and your fellow cult members have been taught to traverse frequently. It is possible to carve certain messages on the darkened bark of some trees, that fade after a lunar cycle. Inadequate to storage knowledge, but perfect for scheduling places and times of gathering.

However, in the end this is Ponyville. In all honesty there is not really much need for secrecy when it comes to meeting somepony in private. There is equally no need to go about your business publicly, and leave a trail of crumbs that might be followed in the future, but that doesn't mean you need a great and convoluted plan for every single small part of your life either.

So you had decided, a few days back, to send a letter to Starry Dancer offering to meet with her, and an answer came shortly after.

"There you are!" a delighted voice, followed by the soft sound of trotting, snaps you out of your reverie, "I gotta say, I knew you weren't lying in your letter. But boy was it a surprise!"

A pink pegasus sits in front of you, her orange mane with a single teal streak covering one of her eyes, but not her smile. And her smile, you can see, is both honest and curious.

"And I'm glad you wrote me back, Starry Dancer," you answer, floating the teacup you were drinking from down to the saucer in front of you, although you make no comment on how... short her answer was. Two-letters short, in fact.

The two of you are in a tea house. One not far from where you live, but one that you have never visited before regardless.

Well, not like the list of places you have never visited in Ponyville is short to begin with. The more you think about it, the more you realize that you might as well have just moved into town a few months back, with how little you know about it.

"Of course I would!" she beams at you and take a menu in her hoofs, her smile turning into a questioning gaze as she reads through it, "but uhm… what do you want to talk about again…?"

"Since we are in the same… club," you say in a nonchalant way as a waiter stallion walks towards you table, "I figured I could actually learn a thing or two if I joined in on somepony's else assignment. Well, I could both learn something, and get to know them better," you finish with a smile of your own.

"U-huh…" Starry Dancer has the menu almost covering her face now, you can almost picture her nose touching it. You can't help to tilt your head slightly at her until, "I'll have what she's having!" she puts the menu down a moment later, turning to the waiter stallion before he can even ask the question.

The stallion also seems slightly put off, but he nods shortly after and walks away.

"And why didn't you just say so in the first place then?" she says in an almost excited tone.

Although you're pretty sure you did say so, in your letter.

"So then, what can you help me with?" she continues, with that same innocence.

Which leaves you, admittedly, befuddled for half a second.

"That's… what I was hoping you could answer me?" you try asking, your polite smile slowly crumbling into doubt.

"Oh, right! Of course. Well then, here's what I've been up to these last few weeks…"

- - -

Government in Equestria is a rather… interesting subject, you ponder as you make your way through the streets of Ponyville.

Everypony lives in a monarchy, that much is undeniable. The title "Princess" seems rather unfit when "Queen" or "Immortal Empress" could have fit Princess Celestia much better, or at least would make a lot more sense.

But regardless of her title, she is still the undisputed ruler of Equestria. And under her wings ponykind lives in the richest lands that are known, with mineral wealth that far outstrips the mighty Yakk mines on the far north, and agricultural potential that puts the militarized Griffons beyond the eastern sea to shame. And there isn't a single creature (among those that bother to study about it, at least) that doesn't know that no other race dares to so much touch pony territory thanks to the presence of Princess Celestia.

Having a resident demigoddess reigning over you has its many perks, after all.

But anyway, focus on the topic at hoof, government in Equestria.

Since it is a monarchy, all power and authority emanates from Princess Celestia herself, but after centuries some of that power has become… well, not exactly "decentralized", but somewhat "shared".

As history goes, the first noble ponies were those who performed some sort of great feat. Said ponies would almost always be handsomely rewarded, usually with great wealth or (since it was far more available back then) large swathes of land. However, there was no single family, no matter how large, that could make proper use of so much land as was rewarded, so the usual practice was for said pony to allow others to settle in their land.

Those settled ponies would, in turn, recognize the land owner's authority over them, and suddenly the seeds of a small town have been sown, with the authority of the rewarded (and later known as "noble") pony being passed on through generations. Fast forward a few centuries and you have a noble family that rules over a city, with those who live in their lands recognizing their authority and right to rule.

Ponies tend to be good neighbors like that. Very few such stories have ended in bloodshed.

However, not all cities and towns share that background. Some of them saw their ruling noble families run dry, without heirs to pass the torch to. Others were simply founded by simple folk and were later recognized as a town by royal decree, like in Ponyville's case.

And that's what you have been thinking about. Ponyville's history, and its rulership.

More specifically, its current ruler, Mayor Mare.

You have been living in Ponyville for years now, and you cannot recall a single election taking place. Granted, you could have easily missed it between your isolated lifestyle and your rare trips to Canterlot, but you're pretty sure that they never happened to begin with. Which left you wondering about the "Mayor" part in her name…

Your best guess is that once Ponyville was officially recognized as a town, it would have started paying taxes as per royal decree. She might just have been the pony who rounded up all that work, or was part of a council that took care of mediating relations between the recently-declared town and Canterlot. After that, other public-servant related tasks probably piled up on her reliable hoofs, until she found herself as the de-facto leader of Ponyville. Hence the "Mayor".

And speaking of names, you also realize you have no idea what her actual name is. Oh well, Mayor Mare will have to do.

"Ma'am, we're here", Ponpon calls your attention. You blink twice before looking out through the window, and thanking her with a nod.

You have a very simple reason to be pondering governorship and nobility, and that is because you are about to pay a visit to Mayor Mare.

From the conversation you had with Starry Dancer, she has been trying to get on the good side of Mayor Mare for the last few weeks. More specifically, she has been trying to get a job on the Town Hall, or as the mayor's assistant, "whichever gets me closer to her, that is" was what the pegasus had said. And that is what you are going to help her with.

Unfortunately, you don't really know Mayor Mare. You met her, years ago, when you first moved into Ponyville on some sort of formal meeting your family had with her. But apart from that, you can't really say you had any sort of contact with her.

But what you do have is your name, and a carriage parked in front of the Town Hall, the doors of which have just been opened by Ponpon for you to step out.

Of course you detest riding the thing, but that's for personal reasons. No need to refrain from using a tool if it can be useful.

"Shall I go announce you to the mayor's office, ma'am?"

"No need Ponpon, we didn't exactly schedule a meeting with her. Let's just hope the good mayor has the time for a sudden visit," you say as you walk into the town hall.

Attracting quite a few curious gazes, you might add. After all, a well dressed unicorn accompanied by a fully uniformed maid, arriving in a carriage drawn by two stallions, isn't exactly a common sight in Ponyville, bar during a visit from a representative of Canterlot.

The town hall is mostly a reunion hall, used for grand festivities or ceremonies, receiving dignitaries or simply for the town to gather if there is some matter that needs to be discussed with the community. But you do know there is an office in here from where Mayor Mare works.

Or at least there was, years ago… Wait, there it is.

You walk to a door on the side of the large hall, the one topped by a bright plaque with "MAYOR MARE" engraved on it.

You give the door a few knocks, and soon enough you hear a muffled answer, followed by the sound of a few things being put aside, and of hoofs heading towards the door.

"Good afternoon! How can I …" Mayor Mare herself opens the door, already speaking before quite realizing who she is talking to.

[First (in a long while) Impressions, breakpoints 40/60/80]

[Roll: 36 + 10 (Diplomacy) + 5 (Beautiful) = 51, surprised, but available]

The sight of a well dressed unicorn flanked by a prim and proper looking maid can have the most varying of effects. In Canterlot, it is only expected, while in Ponyville it can earn you downright puzzled stares.

But true to her office, Mayor Mare has been the direct link between Ponyville and all manner of authorities for… well, for as long as you know. Her expression turns quizzical for less then a second before her practiced smile returns to her face.

"How can I help you, Mrs. Velvet Covers?" she finishes, after skipping only a single beat.

"Miss Mayor, it has been quite a while", you say with your most pleasant tone, shifting to an embarrassed one right after, "do pardon my sudden visit, unannounced as it is, but could I perhaps ask for your help on a matter?"

This actually gets her to raise an eyebrow, but a moment later her door is wide open, and she is welcoming you into her office.

"Thank you kindly, and please just call me Velvet," you say as you take a seat, Ponpon closing the door behind the two of you after you enter and waiting outside.

"In that case please just call me Mayor as well, no need for anything fancy with me," she says with a smile as she sits behind her own desk.

Not helpful with your whole "name" curiosity, you think idly…

"Now then, I am quite used to helping ponies, so please do tell what is this matter you have."

Mayor Mare seems to be in full business mode, so you don't think you'll gain anything from beating around the bushes for now.

"Well, I have been… or rather my family has been having problems with our farmlands here in Ponyville, or at least they perceive that they are having a problem," you try your best to sound like you're flustered with the whole situation. Not exactly wanting to agree with "your family", but not exactly sure how to react either. "It is basically a problem with regulation."

"Regulation? What sort of regulation, something on what your lands are planting or the likes?" she answers with genuine concern, you can almost see her trying to remember what sort of laws (ancient and obscure, or recent) you might be referring to.

She probably won't remember anything, you think to yourself. This whole "problem" is made up after all.

"Not really anything relating to that," you assure her, raising a hoof slightly, "it has to do with our working hands. We do employ a rather substantial number of earth ponies, after all, and there has been… problems, so to speak."

You can see a hint of worry in her eyes, and you latch on to that.

"The problems aren't really anything new. Things about payments, and season shifts, the usual issues with the weather department on how long the farmers say a season has to last, and so on… What changed is how our family head back in Canterlot is seeing things. He's recently started to say that since the workers are causing too much trouble, then it means that our business hasn't really integrated well with Ponyville, and that…"

You try your very best to sound tired as you deliver that last line.

"Well, that since we are having so many troubles with our workforce here, then we should move away all of our assets into another town."

You look down, trying to appear as worried as you can, and you see in her eyes that..

[Delivering the Lie, breakpoints 30/70/100]

[Roll: 88 + 10 (Intrigue) + 1 (GRAIL bonus) = 99, so close to the mayor freaking out]

You see her eyes go wide, some part of her very nearly losing control, but being restrained at the last moment, and she becomes speechless for a moment.

Of course, you can understand the reason for that.

Your family owns several farms and plantations to the east, and consequently employs a considerable number of ponies. Those ponies are paid, obviously, and live in Ponyville. Consequently, a good amount of riches flows from your family's coffers and into Ponyville's economy as a whole.

None of those riches are yours, of course, but you do administer them. And although the flow of bits that goes from your family's farmlands to Ponyville workers might not be an artery when it comes to local commerce, it's still significant. A cart that has four wheels can still function with three, but you will either have to make some modifications on its structure, or risk having it tip over if you mismanage the weight that it is carrying.

So what does Mayor Mare has when the sole administrator of almost the entirety of the eastern farmlands of Ponyville enters her office, and simply drops an "you're about to lose one of those four wheels" bomb?

She has a small disaster that's about to happen, that's what she has.

"Well, Mrs. Velvet, we simply can't let that happen now, can we?" you hear her voice almost fail. Almost. But Mayor Mare must have already talked to Princess Celestia herself, and is holding herself as best as she can. "And I'm sure these problems your family is seeing can be absolutely taken care of. But what exactly can we do to help?"

"I totally agree that this is a simple misunderstanding, but we have to somehow show that our relation with Ponyville is good…" you think to yourself for a moment, hoof on your chin, before you deliver the solution you had planned the whole time, "in fact, I think this could all be solved if we had somepony from here as an official contact with us," you say with an "aha!" smile.

"Somepony as a contact? You mean a liaison of sorts?"

"Yes, exactly that!" you clop your hoofs together, as if all of your problems had just been solved, "if we have somepony from the town hall to be an official link with us, maybe to even be a figurehead for our workers and whatnot, we can surely show my family that we have close ties with Ponyville."

[Does Starry Dancer stick the landing?]

[Roll: 24 + 9 (her Intrigue) = 33, no, she does not]

"Do you have anypony you could spare for that role?" you ask hopefully.

And now would be the perfect time for Starry Dancer to knock on the door. The hopeful mare who wants to help the mayor galloping in by sheer coincidence and saving the day. Or at least that's what you had planned with Starry.

But instead, an awkward silence extends itself as Mayor Mare looks thoughtfully (and with a slight bit of panic) at the papers on her desk.

"Well, nopony immediately comes to mind. I know a mare who is reliable and would surely want to help, but this sounds like it will be an awful lot of work and I'm not sure if she'd have the time to…"

No, it wont be an awful lot of work, you think to yourself. Bar signing some pre-written letters you would prepare yourself, this "liaison" would have no other worry except being an official assistant to the mayor. But you can't tell her that right now.

She mumbles to herself a bit more about somepony named "something-jack", but you don't really listen. Your ears straining, trying to hear a knock on the door that isn't arriving.

"Well, I can do it myself," Mayor Mare finally concludes, dread appearing in her eyes as she realizes that either she mauls this unknown amount of work herself, or Ponyville might suffer a blow, "and besides, nothing can really beat 'having close ties with Ponyville' more than letters and reports signed by the mayor herself, rig-?"

Until finally she is interrupted by the sound of knocking coming from the door, one in a particular rhythm that sounded like some sort of music.

And Mayor Mare must have recognized that music, because she lets out a short sight before answering.

"Could you come later? I'm having a meeting right now," Mayor Mare says towards the door, managing a voice that sounds a lot less tired than she looks, and even a bit educated.

You turn around, seeing the door open slightly, a pink pegasus looking in (or rather, specifically looking at you) with an apologetic expression.

"Oh? Terribly sorry miss Mayor, I'll be back later then," she says, moving to close the door.

[Rescuing the Situation, CD 40 (nearly-panicked Mayor)]

[Roll: 100 + 10 (Intrigue) + 1 (GRAIL bonus) = 111, critical success]

"Starry Dancer! Come on in!" you say with a sudden smile, your whole body perking up and facing her as if really in joy. "Why, what a pleasant surprise, how have you been?"

You keep your eyes on Starry Dancer, willing her to walk in with your stare.

And you have your back to Mayor, so there's no way she will notice the slight force in your gaze. But Starry Dancer herself sure does, and her apologetic expression turns into some shade of fright as she meekly walks in through the door.

"Pardon me Mrs. Velvet, but do you know this mare?" you hear Mayor asking from behind you.

"Of course I do! We are good friends, the two of us," you say in the most non-specific way possible, yet still beaming with sincerity, "but I had no idea that she worked for you Mayor… In fact, why not assign her for that liaison idea of ours? I can't think of anypony more reliable than her for the job, especially since it is somepony I already know so well."

You look into Mayor's eyes, your smiling face the picture of a pony who just struck gold during a previously hopeless situation, and you can almost see the options flashing inside her mind.

She could tell you that said mare does not work for the townhall, of course. But that would mean that she would have to tackle some obscure task as a connection between Ponyville and a noble family in Canterlot all by herself, and also that she would risk offending the very same noble who not only came to her for help, but also nearly gave her the news that a lot of earth pony farmers were about to lose their jobs.

Or… she could just smile at the pink pegasus who had recently, and quite sincerely perhaps, been trying to help her in her duties these past few weeks. If she could just play along with the misunderstanding that you brought up, hoping that "you wouldn't realize that you were mistaken", then the problem will have practically solved itself. Starry Dancer might be a bit on the clumsy side, always humming a song, and to be quite honest she sometimes can be a bit of a disturbance. But she is also forthright and earnest, and seems to have a great deal of potential.

Besides, she somehow seems to be personal friends with Ponyville's resident and recluse noble mare.

A few moments later, you see Mayor Mare smiling, a subtle sigh of relief causing her shoulders to relax.

"Starry Dancer," she says, the strain draining from her voice with each word, "take a seat, my assistant, me and Mrs. Velvet here would like to discuss an assignment with you."

You nod in agreement, and pretend you didn't see the quick wink that Mayor Mare gave to Starry Dancer as she sat by your side.

Well, this was our first 100.

Just a short notice, 100s and 1s are critical successes and failures, and that incurs in them having "lasting effects". This might come as a scrap of Lore reward, some material thing, perhaps a status upgrade or something else. But it will always be "a result beyond what you attempted to achieve" (as, I assume, is a normal practice in quests).

On this particular case, Starry managed to leap several steps up on Mayor's trust. Or will be able to, in due time, the two of them being off to a start that will go far better than expected. This 100 will be wholly cashed into Starry's cult mission, and she has you to thank for it.

You are also acquainted with Mayor Mare now.

Also, the starting part was added to give a glimpse on what your character has in mind as of now, as well as to try and show where your character stands when it comes to her current knowledge and understanding of things. Both on what has been said to her in the cult up to this day, and how she feels about it.
As you might have noticed, it currently doesn't amount to much more than questions, if they even are the right questions at all. You can blame Moth for that, but the drive to learn the truth is also in her nature, and the choice to be in charge of the Learning role.

Next actions to follow.

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

Uh-oh, better hide those FOALS!

Uh-oh, better hide those FOALS!

Uh-oh, better hide those FOALS!

Uh-oh, better hide those FOALS!

Getting out there.

All Shall be Well and all Manner of Things are Wel

Uh-oh, better hide those FOALS!

Uh-oh, better hide those FOALS!

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Uh-oh, better hide those FOALS!

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Uh-oh, better hide those FOALS!

Uh-oh, better hide those FOALS!

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Experienced.

Theoheretical

definitely not evil

A truly intelligent being has no time for testing

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Experienced.

Getting out there.

Versed in the lewd.

Versed in the lewd.

confirmed key

Gagagavolting and Dodododrawing

Uh-oh, better hide those FOALS!

Getting sticky.

Uh-oh, better hide those FOALS!

Uh-oh, better hide those FOALS!

Uh-oh, better hide those FOALS!

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