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

[Calico J]

[X] A disturbed guest

 

[Iustus Vitea]

Meanwhile Baldomare just tells me things I already know. I'd rather mollify the Sun that apparently hands out cool treasures like candy if you don't turn them down orrrrrr see what happens if we pick a widespread positive option.

Click to shrink...

Baldomare tells us something we know but not something Velvet knows.

Also, where did the assumption Celestia is handing out something that may be useful to us or if it is useful something we can actually use come from? It's probably a sentimental gift and or something to help Cadance in her duties. To assume it's gonna help us is folly.

 

[Anjaxis]

[X] A disturbed guest
[X] A Royal guest
[X] A host of guests

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Baldomsre tells us something we know but not something Velvet knows.

Also, where did the assumption Celestia is handing out something that may be useful to us or if it is useful something we can actually use come from? It's probably a sentimental gift and or something to help Cadance in her duties. To assume it's gonna help us is folly.

Click to shrink...

I am aware, but I am voting for what I want to read, and reading things I already know isn't very entertaining for myself.

Oh, I'm assuming the gift could be a useful Lore item because last time could give a reward to a successful pony on-screen, one of the options was her just throwing a full-blown Artifact at said pony (Velvet, in that case) of up to I think Level 5. Could have been Level 3, it's been awhile. We've seen her use another Artifact to expose a changeling prisoner as well. In short, Celestia has quite the warchest of powerful items to gift and distribute as she sees fit, but she has grown to withdrawn to offer them. So I want to return her to the mindset of interacting with, and offering gifts to, successful ponies. Like us. We are very successful all the time you know.

Though you are right in that it's far from guaranteed that the gift to Cadence could be of any use to us, if it is I think we'd only have to ask her to borrow the thing.

 

[qeadzc]

[X] A self-invited guest

 

[AuthorTransient]

Congratulations on making me create an account here where so many other stories have not before. Now that the wedding is over, I did post before about a possible omake that I was writing... Let me clean my profile up real quick.

[X] A host of guests

 

[Cochimetl]

[X] A troublesome guest
[X] A royal guest

 

[Nevermort]

Great to see this quest truly back.

So first off all it seems to me that majority of this options are something that we could do on own own, this is just speed up for the routes already available to us.
Nothing stops us from befriending Fair Trial on our own for example, except for action economy of course. But frankly she seem like the worst option, sorry to any Fair Trial fans if there is any.

The deal with her is one of the things that prevent us from laundering lores, so if we corrupt her we can accomplish it, except it is massive self own if Celestia gets a wind of this plus we can achieve the same through Dew with access to Canterlot artifacts as a bonus. So Midday Dew is one of my choice pick here, between Marinette and Leash we can speed up befriending any of them in a turn or two and Dew is straight up better.

Discovering Discord potentially is as simple as asking Baldomare to scry for any Outsider we are not aware of, since we already aware about Blood of Outsider requirement thus having in character motivations to do it. The question is what to do after and I don't quite think that we are ready for any confrontation with him.

Visit from Celestia is potentially one thing that we can't replicate, but at the same time it looks a bit like good deed is its own reward kind of thing. I mean restoring Cadence trust in her mentor, makes it in fact harder for us to ask Cadence to keep things from Celestia, like in the case that we start teaching Cadence lores for example. Potential artifact in the box nice although we likely won't get permanent access to it, but can perhaps study.

Restoring ponykind spirit seems like a good option. It would make Cadence happy and it will free more of her time since it strait up achieves her major project. Potentially restores her confidence too. I kind of prefer it over Celestia option a bit, since it more likely results in Cadence becoming more willing to make her own decisions.

So all in all it is either ponykind or Midday Dew for me.

[X] A host of guests

[X] A disturbed guest

 

[Bakkasama]

Voted too early before, [X] A self-invited guest

Click to shrink...

I might be wrong about this / it might be a problem from an earlier version of the tally program, but I think that the vote has to be at the begining of a line /can't be in the middle of the sentence for it to be counted.

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

I mean, given her insane level of competence for the... Legendary Luna Lookabout (TM, subject to change upon me figuring out a better triple letter acronym seeing as it basically replaced the GGG), this isn't exactly out of the question for her. Like, anyone looking into her gets "Okay, minor noble, sent to a rural town for farmland bookkeeping.", and then they compare it to "Hypercompetent Mare who basically overhauled the entire search over all of Equestria twice or thrice over."... yeah I think that's a level of hyperintelligence/competence that could be easily shrugged off as just Velvet things.

Click to shrink...

And why would a Mare that spelizies in organization and management, suddenly have indebt esoteric knowledge that gone missed for the last thousand+ years. A mare that I remind you failed to get into the elite unicorn school. Your idea makes Velvet more suspicious not less.

 

[jelloloaf]

Originally posted this back on the SV thread, but it never got a threadmark, so I thought I'd crosspost here for visibility. Also, as a bonus in honor of our new site, I've added on a new alternate ending.

---

In which the war ends

---

Copper Secateur was beginning to get sick of abandoned warehouses.

Yes, they were free, yes, they were spacious, yes, nopony would suddenly barge in asking difficult questions about all the blood, but it just felt like every single time there was something to be done, it ended up being done inside yet another abandoned warehouse. Not that this one was really abandoned anymore.

The typical light coating of dust over the drab concrete floor was absent, mostly due to the exhaustive search for traps, tricks, and other such tidbits that might interfere with what was supposedly going to be a parley with Velvet Covers of all mares.

It had been a difficult thing to accept. A truce with Velvet Covers, her rival, her foe, the root cause of at least eighty-two percent of her current problems to date; the idea was frankly absurd. But Copper knew Velvet's reputation, for sneaking and conniving and general Moth bullshit. Velvet had a plan, and she was not going to stand by and let her enact it unopposed.

She couldn't really see what that plan might be, which meant that she had to be extra cautious to make sure she didn't fall into it by accident. Velvet had let her choose the meeting place, but Copper wouldn't put it past her to somehow scry the location out of her mind and preemptively trap it before she arrived or something equally ridiculous. That was why she'd brought over some of her followers more skilled in Lantern to check and recheck that absolutely nothing suspicious was going on. Even now, they were spread out as an early-warning perimeter around the surrounding blocks.

Of course, they might have been compromised as well, but you can only take so much paranoia before you cripple yourself, and Copper would not give Velvet that satisfaction.

There was not a clock in the warehouse, but a loud tick of the minute hand would have been very thematically appropriate.

Copper shuffled around slightly. She was supposed to have arrived by now. Quickly glancing behind her to make sure nopony was attempting a sneak attack, her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when her turn back forwards revealed Velvet standing a few meters away from her. Bucking theatrical Moth bullshit.

Her entire body tensing up, Copper leapt backwards, already planning out which way to dodge the incom-

"I'm not here to fight you, Copper. I promised, didn't I?"

Velvet looked … not mournful, her face remained perfectly calm, but something about her posture indicated a deep tiredness. As though she had just finished doing something very difficult and unpleasant.

For a heartbeat, Copper stared at Velvet, still anticipating some sort of trick, but after a long few moments of nothing passed, she relaxed marginally. Maybe this wasn't a trap?

Velvet slumped slightly as well, letting out a long sigh. "I'm sorry, Copper. I didn't … I never wanted it to turn out this way."

No, no, this was definitely a trap. Copper tensed back up again. Velvet, apologizing? Either she had gone insane or this was a poor attempt to trick her into lowering her guard.

Velvet sighed again. "Copper, I know that this will be … hard to believe, but we don't need to fight each other."

Copper scoffed at that. "You're right, that is hard to believe. Maybe I could have believed that four months ago, but a lot has happened since then."

Velvet scrunched her eyes shut, hoof twitching in an aborted motion to rub them. "It's … difficult to explain, but please, just hear me out. I spoke to the Master and"

… Of course. Of bucking course she did. The Master didn't disappear, she was still talking to her favorite Velvet Covers. Not to her, who had been with her from the beginning, but Velvet Covers.

Velvet – apparently unable to read Copper's mind by the way she didn't react to any of the very hostile thoughts about her – continued speaking. "I know it's a lot to ask, I know that you don't have any reason to trust me right now, but if you could just …" Velvet's voice began trailing off before she let out yet another heavy sigh.

"And why should I?" Copper was beginning to get angry. No, scratch that, she already was angry. "Why should I trust you, after everything you've done? Do you think this is some foals' story where we can just hug and make up and then everything will be all better?"

Velvet looked angry too, and for a second Copper thought a fight was going to break out, but Velvet shook herself, took several very deep breaths, and generally tried to calm herself down, to some success.

"Look, Copper." Another sigh, her breath misting out in front of her. "When the Master vanished, I was just as surprised as you were. I only found out she was still around a few weeks ago, and as soon as she told me that she had framed both of us for attacking first I set up this meeting with you. I don't want us to be enemies, Copper. All that time when we were friends, all the time we were on the same side, surely it meant something."

All things considered, having Velvet begging for forgiveness was quite nice, but not quite nice enough. Not anymore. "It did mean something, Velvet. It meant a lot to me. The cult was the first place where I finally felt important, needed." As Copper continued, her voice got louder and louder. "For the first time in my life, I mattered! I was important! And then you took it all away." She was aware that she might've maybe possibly sounded ever so slightly unhinged, but it was all coming out, and there was no stopping it now. "YOU BETRAYED US, VELVET!"

Velvet opened her mouth to say something, but Copper glared at her until she closed it again. "Let. Me. Finish. Velvet. When I first met you, I thought we had something in common. Happy ponies don't join cults, Velvet. Neither of us felt like we fit into the rhythm of Equestria, we didn't quite match the scenery, we always sang just a little out of tune."

"Because even though we had our Cutie Marks, we never felt quite sure that they were the right ones, because surely this isn't what we're meant to be doing for the rest of our bucking lives! Let's take mine as an example, the humble pair of pruning shears. Makes sense, doesn't it? Because why would an Earth Pony ever want to be more than just a gardener? After all, that's all she's good for."

Velvet remained silent, and Copper didn't care to notice if she was even listening anymore. She was going to get this out and she was going to do it now. "Do you have any idea how good it felt to be told that there really is more to life? That you don't need to just shut up and accept your place? Do you, Velvet?" When she remained silent, Copper scoffed. "That's what I thought."

"When I first met you in that bar, I was willing to put aside my personal issues with your background. Hay, we even became friends after it seemed clear that you were different. Jade trusted you, Starry trusted you, and I trusted you too. And then you took that trust and you made it disappear, just like you do with everything else that gets in your way."

Copper glared furiously at Velvet, who just silently stared back. "We weren't in tune with everypony else, so we made our own tune, Velvet!" Copper stomped down onto the floor, and maybe it was just shoddy lowest-bidder construction, and maybe it was just the heat of the moment, and maybe it was nothing at all, but she could almost swear the concrete cracked underneath her hoof. "We made something all our own, and we finally fit in, and we finally had our place, and we were finally able to belong. But that wasn't enough for you. You wanted exactly what you bucking parasites always want, to be on top of everypony else."

Velvet's face was somewhat blurry though the tears (was she crying?), but she seemed stunned by the sheer vitriol that had just been spit at her. But Copper wasn't about to let up now. She leaned in close, staring Velvet straight in the eyes. "Every bucking meeting it was always you, you, you, and now you're saying it's about us? It's about everything we did together?" Copper took a heaving breath. "So I'll ask you again, Velvet, why should I listen to you? You say the Master wants us to fight, why should I turn away from her too? Why should I turn away from the only pony who ever cared?"

Several long moments passed, Copper panting heavily, and Velvet remaining silent.

"Because." Velvet paused to take a long, cold breath. "Because the Master is dead."

What? No, that couldn't be. Velvet had said she had just spoken with the Master, how could they be dead? Was there something she had missed in …

"She's dead because I killed her, and the Wood with her. I do not want this to have to be a threat."

All the tension drained out of Copper immediately. Velvet's statement was so unexpected that she almost burst out laughing right then and there. No, not almost, she did burst out laughing, in the loud, wheezing laughter that you get from the very best emotional whiplash. It took a good twenty seconds before Copper was finally able to speak again. "Oh, I thought you were supposed to be a schemer, Velvet. Did you really think such a blatant lie was going to work? Really, destroying the Wood, at least come up with something halfway believable." Surely Velvet couldn't be telling the truth.

Surely.

And then just like that, a tiny seed of doubt planted itself in Copper's mind. She hadn't been to the Mansus recently (too much of a security risk, sleeping around all those new cult members), and North Star had been giving more portents of doom than usual (when had anypony last seen North Star?). Copper kept thinking of more and more minor issues that only just now seemed like they might have been connected, and the more she thought about it the more she couldn't stop thinking about it.

As much as Copper wanted to immediately run off to check for herself (just to make sure), she wouldn't give Velvet the satisfaction. She would calmly spend a few minutes finishing up this farce of a meeting and she would only start galloping once she was well out of view.

It seemed Velvet had the same idea – the finishing up, not the galloping. "That's all I have to say to you, Copper. Are we still going to be enemies?"

The answer was obvious. Even if Copper was growing increasingly worried, there was no way that she would ever settle for peace with Velvet Covers. Either she was lying,and thus could just easily be lying about wanting a ceasefire in the first place, or she was telling the truth, and she had just committed the greatest possible betrayal. Copper let out another laugh, short and sharp this time. "Yes."

Velvet slumped almost imperceptibly and stepped back. "Well then. Goodbye, Copper." Her Edge senses screamed at her, and Copper didn't hesitate for a moment. She lunged towards Velvet, tackling her to the ground. At last, she had finally shown her true colors, it was finally time to …

A few seconds later, the doors to the warehouse burst open as heavily armored ponies streamed in and formed a perimeter around the pair. The fight was broken up almost as soon as it had begun, Copper stunned by a flurry of law-enforcement spells and hooves before subsequently being clapped into chains by the Lunar Bureau agents. How had they gotten past her scouts? Unless …

She never should have come here. She had known that Velvet was going to try and trick her, and yet she agreed to a meeting anyway. Every single time she put her trust into other ponies they just stabbed her in the back again and again. She had nopony to blame but herself for this.

Her musings were interrupted by Velvet stepping back into her field of view. Copper stared at her face, searching for even the slightest hint of the pony that she had once called a friend. Velvet Covers stared back at her. The sadness in her eyes almost looked genuine.

A Bureau agent cast a spell, and everything went dark.

---

One of the traditional paths to enter the Mansus is to sleep in a room painted entirely white. While not entirely the same thing, a law-enforcement stun spell and the off-grey of the interior of a Lunar Bureau prisoner transport carriage were close enough for one as powerful in the Lores as Copper was.

Velvet hadn't been lying. The Woods were destroyed. The Dry Well was gone. An enormous waterfall of flaming blood dripped from the sky. What was once an endless expanse of forest was now nothing but ash.

Copper Secateur collapsed on the worn Mansus-stone path and sobbed.

---

Spoiler: Alternate Ending

She was aware that she might've maybe possibly sounded ever so slightly unhinged, but it was all coming out, and there was no stopping it now. "YOU BETRAYED US, VELVET!"

Velvet opened her mouth to say something, but Copper pushed it shut again. When had she gotten close enough to do that? Their faces were almost touching. "You betrayed … you betrayed me."

Copper was panting, exhausted from the outpouring of emotion, and Velvet looked just as stunned. With everything that Copper had just poured out in an unceremonious emotional crash, with such a suggestive position, with the naturally heightened sensations of a Grail influence, it was almost understandable how Velvet had gotten the wrong idea.

"Copper, you know, ah, I … don't really see you … that way."

Copper stared at her in utter shock. Velvet, still tragically unaware of Copper's internal experience, averted her eyes, blushing slightly.

"It's just that, I'm … already married, so, you know … "

Copper continued staring, still attempting to process the thorough derailment of her admitting her hatred. Velvet continued to dig herself deeper.

"And I know the stories about Grail, but it's not really proper …"

Copper finally managed to shake herself free. "Velvet?"

Velvet looked uncharacteristically nervous. "Yes, Copper?"

"What the buck are you talking about?"

Now it was Velvet's turn to stare blankly as her entire argument collapsed around her. "You … weren't confessing your love for me?"

"What the hay, Velvet!" Copper rubbed her face, desperately attempting to wake back up in the real world where things made sense. "We're rivals! Edge dyads! We try to murder each other at least once a month!"

Velvet tapped her hooves together, studiously examining the rafters. "It's a popular genre, that's all. Back when we were still a book club and not a 'book club', you always liked the romance novels the best. I thought that maybe … this was your way of trying to tell me something."

"You thought that me sending a magical ritual to kill you was my way of letting you know that I had a crush on you?" Copper gave another one of her world-famous incredulous stares. "Why did you even come if you thought I was flirting? You're already married!"

"I was going let you down gently!" Velvet shot back, some intensity finally making its way into her voice. "andmaybealsoadoptyou."

"What?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing. No plans for another daughter here, none whatsoever. After all, we've got this whole romance mess cleared up now, right?" Velvet gave Copper one of those annoyingly endearing smiles of hers.

"I guess." Copper grudgingly admitted. "You've kind of derailed the whole confession about how I hate you for ruining my life. It would be awkward to keep fighting now."

"Truce?"

"... Truce."

And so, with Harmony and Friendship once again proven to be the most powerful forces in the universe, the first occult war seen in ten thousand years came to an end.

 

[Greymere]

[X] A disturbed guest
[X] A self-invited guest

 

[Nevermort]

A test to see how vote tally program works here


Vote Tally[] : Esquestria: The House of the Sun - A pony cultist experience | Page 14 | Questionable Questing Posts: 409-461
##### NetTally 5.0.6

Task: 【NONE】[]
— Voters: 36

[] A self-invited guest
No. of Votes: 17
[] Witherbrine2671
[] ActuallySatan
[] Bakkasama
[] Blackeagle1991
[] Darkday
[] Earth-Destroyer
[] EMIYA
[] Greymere
[] Iustus Vitea
[] Jimmy
[] LieutenantSpirit
[] Lorrie
[] Pharohman777
[] qeadzc
[] Shadels
[] Shaper47
[] The Radiance's Follower

[] A disturbed guest
No. of Votes: 14[/b]
[] Gyldir
[] Anjaxis
[] Bakkasama
[] Calico J
[] Greymere
[] HellFire666
[] Iustus Vitea
[] jelloloaf
[] LieutenantSpirit
[] Limabot
[] Nevermort
[] Pittauro
[] Potdl
[] Shadels

[] A host of guests
No. of Votes: 10
[] Jame
[] Anjaxis
[] Gyldir
[] keykigdom
[] Limabot
[] Nevermort
[] Rafuki22
[] Solace2117
[] Talon Tiger Dino
[] Venerable Ro

[] A Royal guest
No. of Votes: 9
[] Starlit Horizon
[] Anjaxis
[] Cochimetl
[] jelloloaf
[] LieutenantSpirit
[] Limabot
[] Shadels
[] Sveta08
[] Talon Tiger Dino

[] A troublesome guest
No. of Votes: 1
[] Cochimetl

[] Pat Softy
No. of Votes: 1
[] Zxzx24

[] Pat Softy (She deserves it)
No. of Votes: 1
[] Venerable Ro

---

Total No. of Voters: 36

 

[Turamarth]

[X] A self-invited guest

 

[Alan975]

Not gonna lie, I'm quite partial to one of the wolf endings at this point. Whit how Velvet has been tripping forwards so far, it only feels fair that she'd eventually hit the ground.


But until then, I suppose that I'll go along with the flow here.

[X] A self-invited guest
[X] A Royal guest

Glory is Glory, though that lootbox is calling to me

 

[Greymere]

Having gone back and re-read the update that we explored the Royal Gardens, I'm much more partial to the Baldomare option now, tbh. The first time I read it I was misremembering the spot where Discord's statue originally was as the SH nexus point, rather than the statue itself. It's not, btw, the update explicitly says that spot isn't a nexus anymore bcuz the statue was moved, I was just misremembering. So learning that Discord('s statue) is still in Canterlot is actually much more useful than I originally thought.

Are you guys ready to break into Celestia's super-secret and no doubt well-defended vaults?

 

[Iustus Vitea]

We don't need to break in if one of the Princess lets us in.

Taps forehead

Jokes aside we presumably only need to break in, kill Discord and then win next turn or the same turn if Bird lets us do so.

 

[Nevermort]

If Discord is still statue then potential problem is that you can't squeeze blood out of stone. So then task becomes release Discord and then attempt to slay him. Which while fun is also quite troublesome for obvious reasons.

 

[Greymere]

We don't need to break in if one of the Princess lets us in.

Taps forehead

Jokes aside we presumably only need to break in, kill Discord and then win next turn or the same turn if Bird lets us do so.

Click to shrink...

Technically we don't know if that's all that's involved. The only other situation we've seen it (finding Selene) was under Weird Circumstances, so it might be more complicated than just "kill an Outsider".

If Discord is still statue then potential problem is that you can't squeeze blood out of stone. So then task becomes release Discord and then attempt to slay him. Which while fun is also quite troublesome for obvious reasons.

Click to shrink...

We don't actually know that. Like yeah, "blood has always been the currency of the world" but it's not always... literal blood. E.g. when we sacrificed those two Torn Risen to summon the Master, there wasn't really much bloodletting going on. And Windigos are entirely incorporeal but still can be sacrificed and used to power rituals. So assuming that we'd have to release Discord before we can do whatever we have to do to get the Blood of the Outsider seems a bit, premature?

 

[Nevermort]

We don't actually know that. Like yeah, "blood has always been the currency of the world" but it's not always... literal blood. E.g. when we sacrificed those two Torn Risen to summon the Master, there wasn't really much bloodletting going on. And Windigos are entirely incorporeal but still can be sacrificed and used to power rituals. So assuming that we'd have to release Discord before we can do whatever we have to do to get the Blood of the Outsider seems a bit, premature?

Click to shrink...

I understand that blood is metaphor, but I still find it very unlikely that Discord can be easily killed, and that it would also conventionally fullfill all necessary conditions. For all we know shattering his stone statue will only release him. It is quite possible that if she though it would help current Celestia would have already done so unless she totally forgot about him.

 

[Gyldir]

and then the Forge blocked the way to the Glory, so nobody might stop this new path... so that the old could not go back to replace the new.

Click to shrink...

Yep, protection against backstabbing while she is distracted and weakened.

I am of the opinion that if the Bureau learns of the Lore's, Velvet dies. GM made it crystal clear we cannot fool Celestia. Once Celestia learns of the lore's she will notice that Velvet is super powerful in them, and then kill Velvet.

The Bureau learning of the lores is doom clock to a bad end.

Click to shrink...

The QM made it clear that by the time Celestia rises in Lantern we need a good explanation how we are so deep in the Lores.
Subtle but important difference.

 

[Greymere]

I understand that blood is metaphor, but I still find it very unlikely that Discord can be easily killed, and that it would also conventionally fullfill all necessary conditions. For all we know shattering his stone statue will only release him. It is quite possible that if she though it would help current Celestia would have already done so unless she totally forgot about him.

Click to shrink...

Celestia doesn't have the advantage of having Forge Lore

But in all seriousness, we don't even really know what the necessary conditions are. Is it just dead, boom, trait? Do we need to use the Outsider as a sacrifice for a ritual? Do we need to perform the Rite Intercalate specifically? Kill it with a specific tool or method? Etc, etc.

Presumably we'll get the opportunity to find out more if the Baldomare option wins and we go investigate (next turn? Turn after? Who knows).

 

[Nate700]

[X] A self-invited guest

 

[master2000]

[X] A self-invited guest
[X] A Royal guest
[X] A host of guests

 

[BritBiscuit]

[X] A Royal guest

 

[Pittauro]

Now the thing is due to Eternity the Hours enforce a certain number of Names and Longs, there is no natural limit. They also send hunter killers after you if you aren't in their service and still active in the world. So in the current condition becoming a Long means we can ascend to Name-hood via the Keys that Marinette probably knows the locations and almost definitely holds one off.

Click to shrink...

Do we actually have canon lore source that the number restriction is artificial? Genuine question here.

That is all assuming there is even a quest past getting through the Tricuspid Gate because Bird has repeatedly said Glory is the easiest ending and I don't know about you but throwing down with two of the strongest Hours or an Alukite Hour is not what I'd call easiest victory.

Click to shrink...

I don't necessarily expect having to FIGHT what's beyond the door. That would probably just be impossible.

I just expect another obstacle of some kind.

We've had this whole thing before. People, including me, voted to do Rarity doing Cadance's dressing which, again provided nothing beyond uncertain narrative benefits (if even those) and feel good stuff, for both certain and uncertain benefits (some of which like the Names would've been so very useful with hindsight). In my eyes choosing either Celestia or the Guests is doing the same.

Click to shrink...

I do not really regret the Rarity pick, and to be fair about the Names NONE OF US even had the vaguest fear of Master being there. In hindsight sure, having the Names invited would have been nice to give us an (hopefully) better option, but we didn't know before and with what we knew it was a reasonable choice.

I kinda stand by that reasoning for, say, Twilight's choice too in the past, between breaking her faith in Celestia or not. We did not expect her to immediately leave without telling anyone, and I'm still not sure if that was inevitable or just bad luck with hidden dice.

I think you need to recheck how many lores Velvet has at high level, is Branded etc. And it been made impossible to fake having lore knowledge prior on because we chose to never share it prior. The only logical reason for Velvet to have the extreme level of lore knowledge, and don't mistake it for anything else, most people need decades to do what Velvet did in about year. And on top of that never coming forward with it prior, means Velvet is complicit in enemy action.

And Velvet is not in charge of research and magical development, her suddenly jumping froward decades overnight when she has zero reason to be doing that anyway. Especially in anything less then at least a year is an bleeding clear clue the blind could see.

Click to shrink...

Some people are just THAT talented, you know. It's rare, but it's possible. and there's no precedents for how fast someone can learn the lores from Eclipse's and Celestia's point of view.

So I think we could fake Velvet speedrunning her understanding of the lores AFTER Eclipse got access to them (and ideally our occult library).

and of course if Luna actually keeps her lore levels we might be able to pass it out as her teaching us too and then surpassing her.

Discovering Discord potentially is as simple as asking Baldomare to scry for any Outsider we are not aware of, since we already aware about Blood of Outsider requirement thus having in character motivations to do it. The question is what to do after and I don't quite think that we are ready for any confrontation with him.

Click to shrink...

we admittedly might be more ready than we assume, depending on Luna's condition... but we just don't know.

It seemed Velvet had the same idea – the finishing up, not the galloping. "That's all I have to say to you, Copper. Are we still going to be enemies?"

The answer was obvious. Even if Copper was growing increasingly worried, there was no way that she would ever settle for peace with Velvet Covers. Either she was lying,and thus could just easily be lying about wanting a ceasefire in the first place, or she was telling the truth, and she had just committed the greatest possible betrayal. Copper let out another laugh, short and sharp this time. "No."

Click to shrink...

"are we still going to be enemies" "no".

I think you meant "yes"

"What the hay, Velvet!" Copper rubbed her face, desperately attempting to wake back up in the real world where things made sense. "We're rivals! Edge dyads! We try to kill each other at least once a month!"

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EDGE Dyads? REALLY?

Copper thinks a bit too highly of herself

"You thought that me sending a magical ritual to drive you insane was my way of letting you know that I had a crush on you?" Copper gave another one of her world-famous incredulous stares. "Why did you even come if you thought I was flirting? You're already married!"

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hey, she sent us the KILLING ritual.

WE sent her the nightmare one!

And so, with Harmony and Friendship once again proven to be the most powerful forces in the universe, the first occult war seen in ten thousand years came to an end.

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ah, yes. Everybody knows that the best way to put an end to a war is to just make it to awkward to have it continue!

Not gonna lie, I'm quite partial to one of the wolf endings at this point. Whit how Velvet has been tripping forwards so far, it only feels fair that she'd eventually hit the ground.


But until then, I suppose that I'll go along with the flow here.

[X] A self-invited guest
[X] A Royal guest

Glory is Glory, though that lootbox is calling to me

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"one of"?

There's only the one. and It's by far the worst one possible, only a victory in so far as "the world still exists, there are still SOME Ponies around and a minimum of hope for the future, and the Worms have not conquered the Wake"

Having gone back and re-read the update that we explored the Royal Gardens, I'm much more partial to the Baldomare option now, tbh. The first time I read it I was misremembering the spot where Discord's statue originally was as the SH nexus point, rather than the statue itself. It's not, btw, the update explicitly says that spot isn't a nexus anymore bcuz the statue was moved, I was just misremembering. So learning that Discord('s statue) is still in Canterlot is actually much more useful than I originally thought.

Are you guys ready to break into Celestia's super-secret and no doubt well-defended vaults?

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no actually! Which is why I don't really want to pick this option yet.

If Discord is still statue then potential problem is that you can't squeeze blood out of stone. So then task becomes release Discord and then attempt to slay him. Which while fun is also quite troublesome for obvious reasons.

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we have no idea if we can kill Discord once released... or, to be fair, while still stoned.

For all we know by the power of Edge and Forge we COULD destroy the Statue.

as a reminder, we don't need actual blood. we need to kill an outsider and get their METAPHYSICAL blood on Velvet's hooves.

I understand that blood is metaphor, but I still find it very unlikely that Discord can be easily killed, and that it would also conventionally fullfill all necessary conditions. For all we know shattering his stone statue will only release him. It is quite possible that if she though it would help current Celestia would have already done so unless she totally forgot about him.

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It's possible Celestia didn't dare breaking the statue because she didn't know the potential result. Presumably with a scrying ritual we could learn the result of such an attempt... or we could search for "a way to kill the petrified outsider".

 

[Random Anon]

[X] A self-invited guest
[X] A disturbed guest

 

[DelightedOne]

[X] A host of guests

[X] A disturbed guest

 

[Iustus Vitea]

Do we actually have canon lore source that the number restriction is artificial? Genuine question here.

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I don't think it's ever outright confirmed what the exact numbers are but there is an artificially set number. We know Edge Long hunt others who aren't part of the service of an Hour or have drunk from the waters of Port Noon and have thus been forgotten by the world hence freeing up their slot, we also know that in game the Adepts have only the one slot to compete for same for the Longs. (This is from CS BoH expands on this, a lot)

I just expect another obstacle of some kind.

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And I think that Discord is the final obstacle. Either we have to break into Tartarus and do him in or we delay for long enough that he breaks out and then we have to actually fight him and be the one to land the killing blow. That's plenty hard imo, no need to add something else after opening the Gate. And again I would like to point out that if we do have a further challenge we would face it as a Long. Currently we can't survive the attentions of a friendly Name what do you think we can manage against Hours?

I do not really regret the Rarity pick, and to be fair about the Names NONE OF US even had the vaguest fear of Master being there. In hindsight sure, having the Names invited would have been nice to give us an (hopefully) better option, but we didn't know before and with what we knew it was a reasonable choice.

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With the benefits of hindsight I do regret that choice however accounting for the information at hand and with my projections for how things would go when we made the vote I don't think it was the wrong choice. If this vote came up before Master's ill-advised attempt at helping us I would be voting differently but now that it's been shoved into our face what kind of position we're in I can't.

We're on an unseen timer here people, through luck, guile and skill we've made it this far but the longer we run the clock the more chances we get to fuck up. And any move not actively moving us to Glory or keeping us alive is playing to lose.

Also,

no actually! Which is why I don't really want to pick this option yet.

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We don't actually have to kill him next turn.

Regardless, what's left in this turn?

 

[des-pair-2]

I vote to advance either to Glory or Harmony.

[X] A self-invited guest
[X] A host of guests