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

[Venerable Ro]

Can Mares assist with summoning Mares? Not as a sacrifice but like Silky was doing with Baldomare.

Only, you know, less adorable and more productive.

 

[Pittauro]

Can Mares assist with summoning Mares? Not as a sacrifice but like Silky was doing with Baldomare.

Only, you know, less adorable and more productive.

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definitely not.

We need a CADRE to get a bonus for a ritual, single ponies are just not enough.

Don't take Silky as an example. That was a NAME humoring a child, AND it STILL resulted in a -50 malus.

We won't have the numbers of trained people for a cadre until we introduce the lores to the Bureau and then train a cadre from people in there.

 

[spiderhellian]

But Mares sure do make excellent sacrifices for summoning Mares!

Now that we have that Moth book, I'd really like to use our social (or Mareinette) on Filthy Rich next turn. Leashing for a Confidant, and a potential Moth Sacrament sacrifice, would be really nice.

 

[BritBiscuit]

I'm fine retreating and also looking forward to Velvet's family, friends and the Bureau's reaction to her being one bad thing away from death (in their eyes no dance with death) again.
Just her showing up to work still as resolute and demanding as always, working hard and demanding perfection whilst they can clearly see her legs all covered in bandages from wounds.

Although I do jokingly want to continue the trend of Velvet having barely any trouble in the Mansus apart from the areas that need sacrements to enter and her first try with the Blank door, just because it is funny to me that whilst most Adepts struggle with the Mansus and have other people (cultists) to handle Wake business on their behalf, we kinda pulled the opposite where the Mansus has been comparitavely a cake walk (the ascent of cakes) whilst the Wake has been our main focus.

Also those stairs better have been making the sound of a straw getting sucked when they were drinking her blood.

 

[Venerable Ro]

definitely not.

We need a CADRE to get a bonus for a ritual, single ponies are just not enough.

Don't take Silky as an example. That was a NAME humoring a child, AND it STILL resulted in a -50 malus.

We won't have the numbers of trained people for a cadre until we introduce the lores to the Bureau and then train a cadre from people in there.

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So what you're saying is that we need a whole herd of Mares, and at some point we'd hit a critical mass? Or on a related note, could one Mare with the Knock tool summon another Mare? I'm really quite hopeful on the possibilities of sentient summons in this more flexible paradigm.

 

[BritBiscuit]

So what you're saying is that we need a whole herd of Mares, and at some point we'd hit a critical mass? Or on a related note, could one Mare with the Knock tool summon another Mare? I'm really quite hopeful on the possibilities of sentient summons in this more flexible paradigm.

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I don't think Mares would be able to summon on their own with a tool, the bindings for a summon go to the summoner and whilst we could do as the Master did and ask for their bindings to be transfered over, as a game balance thing I don't think birb would allow it, also once the Mare that summoned went back to the Mansus so would the Mare it summoned so whilst it would be good for summoning an extra 3 if they summoned one per turn it would then lose all 3 at the end of it so all those ritual bits would kinda be wasted as 3 of the Mares wouldn't expire naturally, it would be good for a big fight though.

 

[Venerable Ro]

Well every summons we've found so far has had the [unintelligent] aspect, which specifically states that they will perform badly at tasks that require academic knowledge. Therefore other creatures without that malus may be able to succeed or even excel at those same tasks.

I really am curious about what these Mares are capable of, it would be nice to have some basic creatures on call that won't cause a riot on sight and can function in civilized society.

Heh, since they model themselves after those around them, and the vast majority of mares in our immediate vicinity are our household staff, we must logically assume any Mares have a good chance of appearing as maids. Maids-In-The-Mirror. There'd be some games to play with that situation...

 

[Solace2117]

[X] Retreat (you will safely retreat back to the Wake

Well that was disappointing. Sets us back a bit, but I guess Velvet can't succeed every time. Probably should hold off on that for a while. Maybe explore the Shattered Stairs or Ashen Waste more.
As to next turn, I feel we need to study the artifact to help with rituals and I'm still committed to Baldomare's influence and Velvet's personal SH. I'll be annoyed by it, but willing to compromise if we do Axe's Sacrament. I really think we need to heal the scar next turn, but kind of depends on what we want to do expedition wise.

 

[BritBiscuit]

Well every summons we've found so far has had the [unintelligent] aspect, which specifically states that they will perform badly at tasks that require academic knowledge. Therefore other creatures without that malus may be able to succeed or even excel at those same tasks.

I really am curious about what these Mares are capable of, it would be nice to have some basic creatures on call that won't cause a riot on sight and can function in civilized society.

Heh, since they model themselves after those around them, and the vast majority of mares in our immediate vicinity are our household staff, we must logically assume any Mares have a good chance of appearing as maids. Maids-In-The-Mirror. There'd be some games to play with that situation...

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If they do appear as maids it would be pretty funny to have them join up as maids in noble houses as spys and ways to earn bits to pay of the ritual costs, it wouldn't be a good use of their talents at killing or whatever but it'd be thematic to have the Maids be maids.

Being serious now, I would think if they were intelligent summons they would be able to study artifacts and perform rituals as the ritualist not as assistance, that would likely leverage their Lantern well.

 

[Pittauro]

Just her showing up to work still as resolute and demanding as always, working hard and demanding perfection whilst they can clearly see her legs all covered in bandages from wounds.

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they're "dream-wounds". It will probably look more like Velvet being sick rather than being wounded.

I don't think Mares would be able to summon on their own with a tool, the bindings for a summon go to the summoner and whilst we could do as the Master did and ask for their bindings to be transfered over, as a game balance thing I don't think birb would allow it, also once the Mare that summoned went back to the Mansus so would the Mare it summoned so whilst it would be good for summoning an extra 3 if they summoned one per turn it would then lose all 3 at the end of it so all those ritual bits would kinda be wasted as 3 of the Mares wouldn't expire naturally, it would be good for a big fight though.

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we'd still be limited by money, but we currently just don't know if Mares can do rituals at all.

MAYBE they can. Maybe they can't. maintaining them would still be fairly expensive if we go for a high number.

 

[Void_510]

[X] Retreat (you will safely retreat back to the Wake)

 

[OurLadyOfWires]

My name is Midday Dew, and my entire life I have considered myself a pony of science.

I hope this doesn't turn into a scientific report. For some reason, I am not comfortable with thinking of my life as an experiment, despite how much of my life revolved around studies and research. But she did tell me to write what I know, so I suppose this will have to do.

My name is Midday Dew, and my entire life I have considered myself a pony of science.

Did that change? No, I do not think it has. But the circumstances I have been subject to certainly have changed.

So, I will try my best to journal my life here. Even if this only serves to show me how worse things have become, when I read this in the future.

---

I think the worst part is right after I wake up. That split second when I realize I am awake, but when the images are still so strong I think they are still happening.

That fraction of a moment, when I think my nightmares are still taking place in the waking world, surely is the very worst.



I should go to the lab. I don't have time to do this right now.



Maybe it is best to do this at night, right after I call it a day.

---

I don't think journaling is really helping me. Most days I just forget to write here. And when I do, I don't really feel like I am reducing to paper anything that truly matters.

But what else should I write about, if not my own thoughts? I have no desire to memorialize the nightmares here. Nor do I need to comment on what is done in the lab, since we keep our own records there.

So, if I am not doing this for the sake of posteriority, then who is this for anyways?

---

Today's session was…



Curious.



I remember when I was the only one to have these nightmares. Everypony else thought I was just working too hard, and they insisted I took some time off.

I refused, of course. I understood what the dreams were trying to tell me. I realized, at first glance, that I wouldn't have any peace unless I worked HARDER.

But still, I remember when I was the only one.

It is strange. In my mind, that strange period of isolation seemed to last for a very long time. But in truth, it maybe lasted a week.

In fact, this whole thing has been going on for maybe a month now.

Curious, how quickly ponies' lives can change, in such a short period of time.

Still, I remember when I was the only one.

And then, I remember what it felt like when it began to "spread".

We thought it was a curse, at first. Like a magical disease that affects the mind. After all, everypony was having the same nightmares. The imagery was the same for all of us. The wolves, the ruin, the futility of our actions. The end of ponykind, and all we ever called our civilization.

But we are all scientists. Celestia gathered us because we are rational ponies. So, we acted the part. We treated this like a disease, and we analyzed its spread with me as its "patient zero".

It helped that we were all… motivated, to work harder. In fact, I recall some of my colleagues claiming the nightmares were less bad when they worked overtime, staying in the lab until the sun rose again.

We know better now, of course. We know the effects of exhaustion in our sleeping cycles. And how stress, and a reasonable dose of placebo, can help with that.

But then again, we never really discarded the idea that these dreams were… intelligent, in some way.

Our second theory was that, rather than a magical disease of the mind, this was related to Princess Luna. After all, one of our directives is aiding in finding her. And dreams were, according to what little evidence we have, her domain.

We thought this was related to her actions… or perhaps her absence.

We thought, for a few days, that these nightmares were a sign that she was dead.

But Princess Celestia quickly dispelled those theories. Or, if nothing else, she directed us to work based on the assumption that the Royal Sister is alive.

Still, our research on these dreams were not making much progress. And of course, our other studies were completely paused while we tackled this latest issue.

Because we can try to rationalize this decision, to focus on these nightmares, as much as we want: we can say it is an investment in our own future productivity, we can say that dream-research is a valid way to locate Princess Luna. But deep down, we all know why we are throwing ourselves at this. We just want the nightmares to end.

Well, we can say whatever we want about that. But the fact remains our attempts to understand these nightmares were being met with failure after failure.

Until we made our latest breakthrough.

Grape Vine woke up without having a nightmare, one day. And we all got together to try and figure out what happened. We checked everything, from the diet he was having, to the time he passed out in his office. But nothing seemed to be relevant. And more importantly, nothing seemed to be reproducible in a controlled environment.

Until we realized that his office was the closest one to… that place. To the mirror. And that he was passed out in his office, sleeping from exhaustion as we all had been doing, while we were exposing the changeling creature to the mirror itself.

And that is when we realized that…



Wait. No. This isn't what I



Where was I again?

Ah yes.

Today's session was curious.

She told me I felt like a different pony, although she couldn't tell me why.

But deep down… I think I know why that is the case.

---

I will not call this a waste of time.

But the fact remains that this journal simply did not have enough time to mature into something useful.

Still, I would be lying if I said I did not appreciate the moments of introspection this brought me.

She called this habit "mindfulness", and the term seems apt. Because during the day, when I recalled that I should write something in my diary, that chain of thought would inevitably help me stop and center myself. It would help me think about what I was doing, and how things had progressed during the day.

And those moments would be… little periods of calm, during the otherwise hectic day.

But still, I simply do not have the time, nor the habit, to keep this up.

Still, I will keep meeting her. We all will. The mandatory therapy sessions that we put into place, once the nightmares started taking their toll on us, have been a net positive to all of us. So, we have unanimously agreed to keep them.

And also, that is another reason to keep Inky Hoofs around. Because as much as he might try to deny it, he is a scholar like us. And the loss of his presence in our group would be a loss to Equestria as a whole.

But again. This shall be my last entry.

There is work to be done.

My name is Midday Dew, and my entire life I have considered myself a pony of science.

That will never change.

Even if our work redefines what science is.





- - -

- - -

- - -





Within the confines of the Royal Castle, a group of ponies is gathered in a dimly lit room.

Their place of work, which many of them have begun to treat as their own home, is in a particularly secure part of the Castle. It is a place guarded by soldiers, locked doors, magic, and the sheer fact that it is close to no less than two alicorns.

And access to that place, also, is highly restricted. Very few ponies, be they servants or soldiers, are allowed to enter the eclipse-marked doors. And even fewer ponies know what kind of work is performed in that place.

But still, despite all that safety…

… the ponies who bear the eclipse sigil cannot but feel they are in danger.

But how could they ever feel safe? After all, they are studying things they know nothing about. They have no idea of what dangers might be involved, or what misstep could result in a catastrophic and unpredictable accident.

So, how could any one of them feel safe, when they know they are making their way into the unknown?



How could any of them not be terrified, when they have already seen what waits for them in the dark?



But still, in spite of their fear… or perhaps because of their fear, they carry on.

Because somepony needs to fight against the wolves that gnaw at the bones of civilization.

Somepony needs to push ponykind forward, lest the things that are stalking all of them finally catch up.

"Time is up. He has been asleep for six hours now," one of the ponies say. "All hoofs, final report."

Within the confines of a dimly lit room, seven ponies are gathered in a rather curious configuration.

One of them is fast asleep, lying on a mobile hospital bed and being monitored by several magical devices.

The other six are, quite literally, sitting around the sleeping pony. All of them carrying notepads, measuring tools, or some other instrument of scientific trade.

And they are all working with a competency that demonstrates how many times they have done this before.

"Vital signs are stable. Heartbeat… blood pressure… everything, check. His state is consistent with a pony who is asleep."

"Etheroscope is flat. Resonating crystals are dormant. And… subject is a pegasus, and anemometer is quiet. No signs of any pony magic during his sleep."

"The light from the mirror has been consistent throughout all of it. No signs that it reacted in any way."

They all run their own checks, saying their findings out loud one by one at the same time they write them down. And all the six ponies, each within their own specialty, do their very best to make an analysis of the sleeping pony who is before them.

They all do their very best to see if there is anything wrong with… with the pony who is still fast asleep, in front of the uncovered mirror.

The mirror that Princess Celestia gave them. The mirror that, through some unknown property, is able to burn away the changeling's confusing disguises.

The mirror that, somehow, can save them from their nightmares, whenever they sleep close to it while it is uncovered.

"Alright, that's all we can do. Wake him up." The leading pony, the bespectacled earth pony stallion who is officially in charge of their efforts, gives the order. And the medic among them answers with a nod.

Soon after, a dose of something is administered on the sleeping pony's neck.

And he begins to wake up soon after.



"… wh-… I…"
"Deep breaths, deep breaths. Look into my eyes. Do you know who I am? Do you know where you are? Can you feel me holding your hoof?"



The mare runs over the usual questions, as the other ponies wait in silence. And soon enough, their peer is finally awake and aware.

Or at least aware enough to give his report.



"You have been asleep for six hours. Do you know what we need you to tell us, or do you need us to walk you through it? We can give you another shot of it, if you are still feeling dazed."
"No, no, I am fine…"
"Very well. So, if you please."
"Yes, yes… I… I haven't reached the end of the maze, but I made good progress. I got a better look at the beacon, and… and I think that… I think it has a name. Because when I saw it, I could only think of-"
"Stop."



The dazed pony looks up at the leading stallion. But even that is already a familiar event.

They all know what is happening. The sleeping mixture is too strong, so more often than not the subject doesn't remember the fine details of how their analysis must proceed.

All of them, without exception, have already been through this.

But still, there are standards that these studies must follow. They need to be absolutely sure that… that they are all seeing the same thing, and that these ideas that come to their minds are all coming from a source, rather than from each other.



"The beacon. The word you were going to say. Do not speak it out loud. Write it here, and show it to me. Do not let anypony else see it."



The dazed pony obeys, and with sluggish hoofs he accepts the paper that is given to him. And everypony else turns their back as he follows the instructions he was given. Giving the paper back to the leading pony when he is done.

And as expected, Midday Dew looks down at a familiar word… the same word that everypony else had in their mind, when they reached far enough in the stepping-stone maze. The same word he couldn't stop thinking of, when he himself got a better look at the beacon.

GLORY.



"Very well. Continue with your report."
"Yes, yes… I… I can confirm there is a structure, under the beacon. I can confirm that… no, I think there is a part of the structure that touches the ground level. But also…"
"Also…?"
"The farther I made it in the stepping-stone maze, the more I got this… this feeling… There is something under the beacon. There is something under that structure… something familiar."
"…"
"Something that reminds me of my… of our nightmares."
"… I understand. That is enough for now. You have the next six hours free, and you need to have your therapy session during that time. Everypony else, let's reconvene at the lab in two hours. I think we all want do go over our own notes before we present them to each other."



The leading stallion says that, and everypony else agrees with a quiet nod.

And soon enough, they all go their separate ways.

But still, Midday Dew thinks this… well, that this basically confirms it. They have already done this experiment enough times, and the results have all been the same so far.

They all wake up in that confounding maze of stepping-stones. They all see… they all feel the beacon. And they all experience the same things the closer they get to it.

There is more than enough data pointing at the same direction. There is only one theory that explains what is going on.

This is not a shared hallucination. This is not a magical disease of the mind. And for all that different ponies seem to have varying speeds of progress on the maze, they are all getting closer to the beacon.

Yes, there is only one theory that explains all of this. And they have done this experiment enough times that they all agree it is time to go to the next stage.

Exploration.

…

Well, it is time for his weekly report to Princess Celestia. And the Princess of the Sun has been so interested in this dream-discovery of theirs, that she has sanctioned their focus on it. At first, he thought it was because it might have some connection to Princess Luna. But now, he suspects it is for some other reason.

He wonders how she will react to this latest development.





The greatest scientific minds of Equestria have all been gathered in the same place, and been given the same directive. Whether it is by the talent on their flanks, or the howls in their dreams, their success is inevitable.

A new group of ponies has reached the Mansus.

Spoiler: Author's Note

Yes, this is meta knowledge. Yes, there are things here that Velvet might never learn about, and will not be allowed to act upon.

However, if Princess Celestia's Lantern ever reaches your Moth level, she will discover your connection to the Lores. And that creates a very high likelihood (depending on narrative circumstances) of her initiating combat with you. Which, statistically, will lead to your death, or a game over.

So, you have been allowed to see this.

Princess Celestia has reached LANTERN 0.

You will discover that eventually, as you will inevitably meet her in person to report on the changelings at some point.

 

[Crystal Violet]

…
That was… not something I would have expected at this moment. Still, I suppose it was bound to happen at some point?

…we should probably keep in mind that we're running on more of a timer than before now.

 

[Steady Gaze]

Spoiler: Copyedits for Turn 19 - Results, part 10 and The first steps into unknown Kadath

@OurLadyOfWires copyedits:

Every time, before you go to sleep on nights like this, you carry withy you a small measure of dread, as you picture yourself having to walk all the way from the Crossroads to here.

Click to shrink...

with you

I think the worst parts is right after I wake up.

Click to shrink...

the worst part or one of the worst parts

And even less ponies know what kind of work is performed in that place.

Click to shrink...

fewer

Hmm. Perhaps getting to know Midday Dew might allow us to influence (harm or help) the process somehow. Also, how long do we have before Celestia's Lantern exceeds our moth? If we suppose a (relatively rapid?) rate of advancement of one level per month, that would give us a mere four months, five if we gain a scrap of moth lore and get to moth 5.

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

Click to shrink...

Yikes! Hopefully something changes by then. Or we could do the moth sacrament out of desperation in the hopes that it helps us hide. Or we disappear and get a new "hermit"/"expat" origin. The one saving grace we have is that both Cadance and Luna are "on our side". Cadance probably wouldn't be able to help much in a "Celestia finds out and immediately initiates combat" scenario, but if Luna is there…

 

[Sveta08]

... I think...
The Innovators Curse as it will become known. It... preys on people. On the people who try and labor and work for, and to improve Equestria. The world as a whole. To... build.

For a split second, I didn't understand why Celestia would sanction this focus on the study against it.
But then... what would make her immune to such a thing?
Who else has labored so long, so hard, and for so long alone fighting off the things the world would better off avoid and forget? Who better to know it, than her?

 

[Crystal Violet]

Mhm, I agree that we'll need to do something about either making our Lore knowledge 'legitimate,' so to speak, or figure out how to mitigate damage. Preferably both, though I don't suppose we'd fancy trying to face Celestia's ire head on.

I mean, it would be pretty hard to explain away having nearly level 4 in all Lores.

Still, not much we can do besides see what our options are next turn, given Velvet doesn't specifically know of this occurrence.

Edit: Honesty… might help. But probably not very much if we're still stuck on the not-so-little problem that is Daybreaker… wonder how that's going…

 

[jason1stlegion]

Still, I will keep meeting her. We all will. The mandatory therapy sessions that we put into place, once the nightmares started taking their toll on us, have been a net positive to all of us. So, we have unanimously agreed to keep them.

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…Copper?

Even if not, an emotion oriented pony (because therapy) who has the entirety of Celestia's research division under her influence definitely sounds like a threat.

However, if Princess Celestia's Lantern ever reaches your Moth level, she will discover your connection to the Lores.

Click to shrink...

Sounds like we should be prioritizing our Moth Sacrament after SH and Knock.

 

[Shaper47]

So they're using the Watchpony's Glass to bypass our son.

We could probably set them back if we steal the Watchpony's Glass.

Or we could just kill them all. Being able to summon an Ash-Ghoul makes it pretty easy.

 

[Maer]

[X] Retreat (you will safely retreat back to the Wake)

 

[jason1stlegion]

[X] Retreat (you will safely retreat back to the Wake)

We could probably set them back if we steal the Watchpony's Glass.

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Luna is one of our biggest long term investments, and sacrificing the Watchpony's Glass means we can never get Celestia to believe she is who she says she is. I'd prefer to bank on using her to make Celestia sane and then revealing most of our history with the Lores (excluding our regrets).

Or we could just kill them all. Being able to summon an Ash-Ghoul makes it pretty easy.

Click to shrink...

No.

 

[Solace2117]

Concerning. I think this prioritizes healing Velvet's scar on the off chance it changes her Moth sacrament. We need to do it anyways. It doesn't necessarily make Moth our top priority, Celestia isn't the only thing we need to worry about, but it does increase the urgency of it and the Manse in general. Or at least it reaffirms it.

 

[jason1stlegion]

on the off chance it changes her Moth sacrament

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One question: Why does everyone hate the Moth Sacrament so much when we have Mareinette? Just make a friendship with Spoiled Milk.

 

[Shaper47]

One question: Why does everyone hate the Moth Sacrament so much when we have Mareinette? Just make a friendship with Spoiled Milk.

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It's the mindset thing.

Which really if they thought it was such a problem they should have just got a Sacrament from the Master. Glory knows I made plans for it.

 

[jason1stlegion]

It's the mindset thing.

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This isn't a toxic mindset though? If you hate a part of yourself, change it!

It's sticking in the same mentality despite it causing you issues or suffering that's toxic. Any decent therapist will tell you that your only choices are to accept the (external or internal) situation you're currently in or change yourself so you can leave it.

 

[Solace2117]

One question: Why does everyone hate the Moth Sacrament so much when we have Mareinette? Just make a friendship with Spoiled Milk.

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Most don't like it because it seems overly cruel and it doesn't say many good things about Velvet's mental state.

This isn't a toxic mindset though? If you hate a part of yourself, change

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Her sacrament isn't fixing her issues, that's healing the scar and confronting her past. It's hiding your issues behind a mask and letting one person know the truth with added eldritch overtones. Look if it's the only option fine, it's not the Grail sacraments, but I'd rather try to fix her issues first.

 

[Shaper47]

and sacrificing the Watchpony's Glass means we can never get Celestia to believe she is who she says she is.

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It kind of hard to fake moving the Celestial bodies.

I'd prefer to bank on using her to make Celestia sane and then revealing most of our history with the Lores

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Hubris, sheer hubris.

Like maybe that might work if we're fillying her, but no, Celestia is not the sort of mare to take that kind of betrayal well.

 

[Solace2117]

Hubris, sheer hubris.

Like maybe that might work if we're fillying her, but no, Celestia is not the sort of mare to take that kind of betrayal well.

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I mean, stopping Daybreaker is one of Selene's main goals. If Luna can cure her and safely reunite with her sister, I don't think it'll be an issue. That said I also doubt we'll be able to just ignore it and hope it goes away, which means we'll need the sacrament sooner rather then later.

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

Their is explicitly a GM confirmed doom clock on Celestia. Don't thing you fancy plans and high ideals will save you when the time comes. The options are reach the Glory or die.

 

[Shaper47]

Their is explicitly a GM confirmed doom clock on Celestia. Don't thing you fancy plans and high ideals will save you when the time comes. The options are reach the Glory or die.

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Basically we have intill Celestia gets her sacrament.

Nabbing the Watchpony's Glass could buy us some more time though.

 

[jason1stlegion]

Basically we have intill Celestia gets her sacrament.

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Reaches, not exceeds. Lantern 4 0/4 scraps is enough to trigger this doom clock unless the thread settles on actually doing our Moth sacrament.