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

[angelsadvocate666]

Technically no, because she was hired by Celestia, not Selene, and while Celestia is Selene's sister, she is not Velvet's daughter. Yet, anyways.

More seriously nepotism is mostly characterized as getting a job because you're family/friends, not just being family/friends of the people who hired you. Velvet was recruited for her actual talents, actions, and qualifications, regardless of any personal relationship She may have had to the Alicorns. So even if Celestia acknowledged some kind of familial relationship it still wouldn't be nepotism, though some might try to claim it was.

 

[Venerable Ro]

Does that count as nepotism, Selene being Velvet's daughter and her boss at the same time and all?

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Well Celestia gave her the job, but then Celestia also gave Luna the job in absentia. So there's absolutely nepotism to be had, but it's more Celestia giving her sister a job, rather than Celestia giving her Mother-In-Law a job.

 

[Iustus Vitea]

Wasn't it Cadance that really got us the job tho? And while we aren't family yet we are close friends.

 

[Greymere]

Wasn't it Cadance that really got us the job tho? And while we aren't family yet we are close friends.

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Nah, Celestia was the one who brought up hiring us for the Bureau to Cadance.

 

[DelightedOne]

Nah, Celestia was the one who brought up hiring us for the Bureau to Cadance.

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Cadance was the one who told Celestia about Velvet because she made a good impression, then Celestia remembered her because she did not want anything for her help in the search for Luna, both agreed Velvet deserved the job.

You tell Princess Celestia that name, the one that you remember.

And to your surprise.

She remembers that name as well.

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[Pharohman777]

Maybe Velvet can take Selene to the second part of the expedition to the old castle. Whenever we get to it.

 

[DelightedOne]

Maybe Velvet can take Selene to the second part of the expedition to the old castle. Whenever we get to it.

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Uh... Do you mean the Canterlot Expedition? Because DoA is going to do it alone this turn. If you meant the Castle of the Two Sisters, Velvet has not considered it for an Expedition(or she just doesn't know it exists).

 

[Pharohman777]

Ah, thought we had discovered the castle of the two sisters.

 

[DelightedOne]

Not yet, but I hope Selene's Winter Realization will recover her full memory and let us explore the Castle and find the Tree of Harmony.

"The Lonely Realization" had Selene remembering her past, that and the nature of Winter makes me believe she will remember everything after it.

There is also that small possibility that she needs all Realizations to fully remember everything(good thing that is the last one), the Elements of Harmony put locks on her memories for a reason and after the Master did what he did... She will need all the strength of her lores.

 

[Pittauro]

Ah, thought we had discovered the castle of the two sisters.

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the hope is either Selene will remember it as her training progresses (Winter Realization or full), or maybe we can use one of her actions to search for expedition sites and she could then find it.

 

[Quaxotia]

Just finished binging the quest on SV and catching up here. I must say it's been quite a ride. Though my knowledge of either setting isn't very deep, I can tell that a lot of care has been put into weaving the two together. It makes for a really engrossing union of both the cute and the horrific.

I'm glad that Princess Luna was able to be saved, it's absolutely wild how Velvet Covers managed to keep her hidden from the Master all this time up until its demise. But she did it anyway. So even if she is to fall into the abyss one day, here's to pushing that day back for as long as possible, preferably forever.

 

[angelsadvocate666]

Good to see you join us!

And yeah, Selene was always a big red button that would mean instant death the moment the Master even glanced in her direction. The only reason it never got pressed is purely because as a Moth, the Master actively avoided sussing out Velvet's secrets.

 

[AuthorTransient]

I'm glad to learn that Axe sees Softy as a wolf-freak and not a monster, especially since the former is a monster hunter.

Also realized that, to achieve the Harmony ending, we not only need to heal Celestia and prevent Daybreaker, but likely we'll also need all the Elements – and Twilight is... her fucking horn is gone, how is she supposed to bear the gift/burden/element of Magic like that?

Anyway, progress on the next part of my omake series is going. Not well, but its going. Hopefully I'll be done before this Turn ends.

 

[DelightedOne]

Also realized that, to achieve the Harmony ending, we not only need to heal Celestia and prevent Daybreaker, but likely we'll also need all the Elements – and Twilight is... her fucking horn is gone, how is she supposed to bear the gift/burden/element of Magic like that?

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The Magic of the Element is not unicorn magic, it is the Magic of Friendship, the horn is not the problem here... Twilight is. Plus the crown worked when Twilight went through a portal to a human world and got turned into one.

She gave up, so she most likely lost her faith in friendship, that means that the Spark may not be within her anymore.

Her recovery is the only obstacle in the Path, because we already have a way to fix her horn and her mind, her belief in friendship is not so easy to recover. We sent Cadance to help her last turn and are waiting to see if that helped, we either will get information from Fluttershy and Rarity or Twilight will confront us to find out how and why we were involved in evrything that happened.

The Harmony ending could use the Elements(good thing we got two of them already) but the only ones we know for sure are needed are Celestia and Luna(Cadance probably gives a bonus or a better way if we have her there too).

Of course we also need the Elements active so we can deal with Daybreaker, the Stains and Mareinette(I think that's all?) so if that is not motivation I don't know what could be.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Who Twilight really needs to meet is Tempest Shadow. She is proof that a broken horn just means you get really good at casting explosion!

 

[Venerable Ro]

Who Twilight really needs to meet is Tempest Shadow. She is proof that a broken horn just means you get really good at casting explosion!

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While Tempest probably would make for an excellent recruit/minion once we handled the comparatively simple task of repairing her horn, I sadly just can't imagine a scenario where we might manage to head hunt her. Pity really, she'd probably thrive under the Colonel's maxims.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

While Tempest probably would make for an excellent recruit/minion once we handled the comparatively simple task of repairing her horn, I sadly just can't imagine a scenario where we might manage to head hunt her. Pity really, she'd probably thrive under the Colonel's maxims.

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The Colonel: "Why in the fuck would you fix your horn? Bear that scar with pride, and continue using it to explode things."

 

[Xoden]

Of course we also need the Elements active so we can deal with Daybreaker, the Stains and Mareinette(I think that's all?) so if that is not motivation I don't know what could be.

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There also have to be alternate candidates. The Elements shouldn't be tied to select ponies only. They're virtues of the ponykind, not pre-set unique character quirks. And the quest's divergences (and misfortunes) definitely have thrown a lot of weights on the scales.
Also that (recovering canon set of Elements) is an entirely OoC motivation. Though I guess it could be imported to in-character and legitimised via Secret Histories shenanigans somehow.

 

[Pittauro]

There also have to be alternate candidates. The Elements shouldn't be tied to select ponies only. They're virtues of the ponykind, not unique character quirks.

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that's actually not quite that clear. There's some implications of "destiny" and prophecy, considering the tree of harmony had the very specific cutie marks of the bearers.

IN THE COMICS, the young 6 basically become the next generation of the bearers. but we don't know if and how it's possible for the elements to "bond" with different ponies.

For all we know that can only happen after they die, or the Tree/Harmony doesn't have enough strength / power to do it right now.

In short: Let's not assume the bearers can be easily replaced. It might just be not viable during the quest's lifespan.

 

[DelightedOne]

There also have to be alternate candidates. The Elements shouldn't be tied to select ponies only. They're virtues of the ponykind, not unique character quirks.

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Uh... I don't know how much you know about MLP but Bearer of an Element of Harmony is not exactly a position. You are right that the Elements are Virtues but they are not only Virtues.

Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy don't merely use the Elements, they ARE the Elements. The objects we see are Harmonious Artifacts that do the job for now but it is entirely possible for whatever the Elements(objects) do be done by the Elements(individuals) when Harmony is stronger/more present in the World.

The only thing close to alternate candidates is the Young Six, but only one of them is a pony, another is a Changeling(with everything that happened I hope Ocellus is still alive) and the rest are creatures that have not been... friendly with/known by Equestria so that is another issue.

We should just focus on the ones we have instead of getting new ones.

 

[Nevermort]

Uh... I don't know how much you know about MLP but Bearer of an Element of Harmony is not exactly a position. You are right that the Elements are Virtues but they are not only Virtues.

Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy don't merely use the Elements, they ARE the Elements. The objects we see are Harmonious Artifacts that do the job for now but it is entirely possible for whatever the Elements(objects) do be done by the Elements(individuals) when Harmony is stronger/more present in the World.

The only thing close to alternate candidates is the Young Six, but only one of them is a pony, another is a Changeling(with everything that happened I hope Ocellus is still alive) and the rest are creatures that have not been... friendly with/known by Equestria so that is another issue.

We should just focus on the ones we have instead of getting new ones.

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Sunset used Element of Magic. It gave her demonic form, but it may be entirely due to her mentality and it still shows that sufficiently skilled mage can squeeze a considerable amount of magic power from the trinket. If anything, Twilight situation is a potential reason to study elements more closely.

 

[Quaxotia]

She gave up, so she most likely lost her faith in friendship, that means that the Spark may not be within her anymore.

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I wonder if Twilight has any faith in Celestia still. We told her to keep that faith, but it ultimately got Spike killed. And while Luna was revealed to be an impostor, I don't know if she ever learned that the Celestia who tore her down was also a fake. She might've learned it if she tried to send more letters to Celestia after the incident, but any number of things could've gotten in the way. Trauma and the fact that Spike normally sent those letters, Celestia intentionally secluding herself due to the Daybreaker business...

Where are the other Elements in this? I get that we came in around season 1 of MLP so their bonds are not very strong in the face of all this eldritch bullshit, but I'm trying to piece together whether the others tried to help Twilight but got rebuffed or if they got caught up in their own issues (or being part of our cult) and were unable to reach out to their friend rotting away in her treehouse.

 

[angelsadvocate666]

I remember a brief mention of them trying to help when she was having the Fascination, but they kinda got shrugged off, other than Rarity and Fluttershy, we haven't really seen them much. Applejack is around, but only a little. Rainbow Dash only showed up on-screen when she helped Stormchaser with his marital issues, and Pinkie Pie still hasn't appeared at all. Except in that one not-really-canon omake thing, anyways.

 

[Pittauro]

Uh... I don't know how much you know about MLP but Bearer of an Element of Harmony is not exactly a position. You are right that the Elements are Virtues but they are not only Virtues.

Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy don't merely use the Elements, they ARE the Elements. The objects we see are Harmonious Artifacts that do the job for now but it is entirely possible for whatever the Elements(objects) do be done by the Elements(individuals) when Harmony is stronger/more present in the World.

The only thing close to alternate candidates is the Young Six, but only one of them is a pony, another is a Changeling(with everything that happened I hope Ocellus is still alive) and the rest are creatures that have not been... friendly with/known by Equestria so that is another issue.

We should just focus on the ones we have instead of getting new ones.

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While the elements of harmony (the items) themselves are implied to be more or less useless without the bearers, we don't exactly see the bearers showing element-related powers THAT often...

Closest I can think of is the "Rainbow Power" they use against Tirek, but even there they only use it the once, and after opening the chest the Tree of Harmony gave them after they returned the elements to the tree.

If I remember right they sort of use that power again in the last season against Sombra after he destroys the elements, but that's in season 9, basically with Harmony at its strongest, and it's the FIRST time they do it without being... well, HELPED, by the elements, or the tree.

Comics have it happen in a few other cases, but comics are not canon...

Sunset used Element of Magic. It gave her demonic form, but it may be entirely due to her mentality and it still shows that sufficiently skilled mage can squeeze a considerable amount of magic power from the trinket. If anything, Twilight situation is a potential reason to study elements more closely.

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eh, the Element of Magic is still a powerful magical artifact.

Problem is, it's supposed to only be used by Twilight. Or, I suppose, another worthy bearer, but we're never shown anyone else, unless you count the Alicorn Sisters in the distant path.

to be fair we also don't know what the deal with Sunset and the Human world is here. For all we know there isn't one.

Who knows... maybe we'll get to check the elements of harmony one die. I'd be curious to see what our lantern touch can get from them. Or if they can be researched by us at all.

I wonder if Twilight has any faith in Celestia still. We told her to keep that faith, but it ultimately got Spike killed. And while Luna was revealed to be an impostor, I don't know if she ever learned that the Celestia who tore her down was also a fake. She might've learned it if she tried to send more letters to Celestia after the incident, but any number of things could've gotten in the way. Trauma and the fact that Spike normally sent those letters, Celestia intentionally secluding herself due to the Dawnbreaker business...

Where are the other Elements in this? I get that we came in around season 1 of MLP so their bonds are not very strong in the face of all this eldritch bullshit, but I'm trying to piece together whether the others tried to help Twilight but got rebuffed or if they got caught up in their own issues (or being part of our cult) and were unable to reach out to their friend rotting away in her treehouse.

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I remember Bird once saying that "to them, the experience feels a bit like a dream when they think of it".

Generally speaking, they're not THAT close. Keep in mind that after Nightmare Moon they never had any follow up adventure, or very few at the most.

We never even reached halfway through season 1 before things started going bad for Twilight.

So... they had a bonding moment, they had a few friendly encounters and events for a couple months, then Twilight got depressed and basically shut them down.

 

[DelightedOne]

Sunset used Element of Magic. It gave her demonic form, but it may be entirely due to her mentality and it still shows that sufficiently skilled mage can squeeze a considerable amount of magic power from the trinket. If anything, Twilight situation is a potential reason to study elements more closely.

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I feel like that was more "using it as a power source/battery" than "actually using it", Twilight herself said the crown may have been in her possession but she couldn't wield it properly and considering she tried to kill Twilight and Magic shielded her AND gave power to her friends and her to defeat Sunset it seems unlikely no one that isn't Twilight could use the full power of Magic, at least without corruption.

I agree on studying the Elements, anything to get people interested in Harmony.

If I remember right they sort of use that power again in the last season against Sombra after he destroys the elements, but that's in season 9, basically with Harmony at its strongest, and it's the FIRST time they do it without being... well, HELPED, by the elements, or the tree.

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That is why I said they do the job for now and that Harmony being stronger gives more freedom in how to manifest its powers.

 

[angelsadvocate666]

to be fair we also don't know what the deal with Sunset and the Human world is here. For all we know there isn't one.

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Time for the occasional reminder that Comet is named Comet Feet.

Oh, and that apparently our meditation book was at the very least written for use by a humanoid species.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Inb4 Human World is just normal Cultist Simulator world.

 

[Greymere]

Who knows... maybe we'll get to check the elements of harmony one die. I'd be curious to see what our lantern touch can get from them. Or if they can be researched by us at all.

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Do we know about the Elements of Harmony (the items) IC, or just the group? Because it could be interesting to set Baldomare or a MitL on scrying them later down the line and see what they can get from it. Or at least where they are so that we can go take a look and see if we can pick anything up from them.

Edit: Seems like it. Way, way back in the beginning of the quest, Velvet explicitly referred to Rarity as "wielding" an Element of Harmony. So I think we know about them IC, even if only as vague idea.

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.

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[DelightedOne]

Do we know about the Elements of Harmony (the items) IC, or just the group? Because it could be interesting to set Baldomare or a MitL on scrying them later down the line and see what they can get from it. Or at least where they are so that we can go take a look and see if we can pick anything up from them.

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We know IC about both, there is just very little. Celestia made a vault for the Elements in canon so they could still be there, especially since Discord did not steal them.

 

[Greymere]

We know IC about both, there is just very little. Celestia made a vault for the Elements in canon so they could still be there, especially since Discord did not steal them.

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Hmm. I wonder if we could search for them just, like, normally? We are pretty good at SH after all, and we spend a lot of time in the castle. I would suggest maybe seeing if we could squeeze it in to next turn if we decide to go w/ the Baldomare SH Influence + double Sacrament plan that was getting passed around, but knowing our luck some new fire is going to start and eat all our remaining AP slots