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

[Sveta08]

Oh how fun!
Both Twilight and Waking Dreaming.

An easy third favorite pairing for me.

 

[Enna's Fractal Wings]

Groan, see what this sunk cost fallacy has taken from us.

Click to shrink...

Don't you mean the sunk cost FOALacy?





I'll see my self back to my cell.

 

[Roaming_Guardian]

Jesus christ. Velvet doesn't even know what the monkeys find so appealing and she is still using them as lethal fucking weapons

 

[Limabot]

Groan, see what this sunk cost fallacy has taken from us.

Click to shrink...

I suspect we'll likely get the Internet option again on the next phase, so I don't think there's that much lost right now.

 

[OurLadyOfWires]

Spoiler: Winning Vote

Tally
[X] You are here for a reason. Get. It. Done. (Further your search for Axe's… contact)
[X] This feels like a dream. Treat it like one. Explore this strange place.
[X] "Miss Sparkle? See me after class." (Approach Twilight Sparkle)

Your first few hours at Canterlot High are quite interesting. Not eventful, and not exactly surprising. But still, they are quite interesting.

Because there are a lot, and you really mean a lot of students here. Maybe you just got used to the small-town (or perhaps even large-village) feeling of Ponyville, where all of your daughter's classmates could be taught by a single Cheerilee. Or maybe there are just more humans in this strange world than there are ponies in Equestria.

Granted, you realize Ponyville is especially small and not a good point of reference. But still, there are enough students here that they are divided in grades and age groups, and there are several separate classes for the same grade, since the classrooms are not large enough to fit all of them.

So, it seems your working routine involves going "making the rounds" through the several classes of a grade, and giving the same lecture for them to ensure they are all on the same page.

Which means there are a lot of faces to look at, and a lot of names to remember. And given how you have not yet discarded the possibility that Axe's acquaintance is a student, you will have to be on the lookout for that as well.

"And I don't even teach all the grades," you say to yourself as you look at your schedule. "I teach the advanced course of history. But there's the basic course before that. And that's covers what, three grades?"

Still, your first few hours here haven't been interesting just because you were awed by a sea of students. You also learned, or perhaps confirmed what your memory told you, about several curious things on this school.

For example, it seems that Princess… well, that Celestia is the Principal of this place. And also that Selene is the Vice Principal, although she still goes by Luna here.

You have not yet met them, and you are not sure you want to given the current situation of the real-life Celestia. However, seeing how the Vice Principal doesn't seem to be your… well, your daughter, you assume that certain characteristics of the real world have not been mirrored in this place.

But that is something for you to think about later.

Oh, you also floated the name "Stormchaser" around during lunch, and it appears that he is a professor on another part of the school. History, and other "social" sciences, are all under one of the education chairs, but it appears your dear beloved teaches some kind of mathematical course, which means you would have to go out of your way to bump into him.

Other than that, your day was quite interesting. Interesting, but thankfully not eventful.

You were easily able to brush off any suspicion from your fellow faculty members, and you make sure to have the medallion in plain view at all times. Especially when you pass by a group of students, who all seem eager to look at you for some reason.

And just like that, your first day is over and you are ready to begin your search properly.



- - -



…

Today is…

…

It is now the second day and…

…

Something is wrong.

Something is very, very wrong.

You almost didn't notice. You almost didn't realize what happened.

However, no matter how hard you think about it… it is now the second day of your stay here.

And that is wrong.

Because you remember leaving school yesterday. You remember going home. You remember waking up filled with energy, and right now you are standing in front of the gate that leads to Canterlot High School.

But that's it.

You have a vague awareness that you went to bed. You hair is groomed and smell like shampoo. And you are wearing a slightly different outfit from what you had yesterday. Definitely something that you would wear, but also slightly changed based on what you learned yesterday.

And yet, you just realized you don't remember doing any of that.

No, that's not exactly right. You do remember doing all of those things. But those memories are… blurred? Distorted? No, it's not that. Those memories feel vague and unnatural. Almost like…



… almost like a dream.



You already had this impression, when you first got here. You already had the impression that this place was like a dream of sorts. But you didn't realize how bad it really was.

But now? Well, now you are thinking back to everything that happened since your arrival, and you are wondering how much of that was real, and how much of that was a sleepwalking mirage you went through.

Because yes, you remember arriving home and having dinner and changing clothes. But you can't remember how the food tasted like, or what your night clothes looked like. And everything that comes to your mind seems to be filtered through an out-of-body sensation. Like the one you used to have, when you still dreamed as a pony, where you would try to push a door or lift a cup and your horn simply wouldn't work, and you could not really understand why that was so distressing.

The more you think about it, and the more you think back to yesterday at night, the more you are sure of it. It feels like you are trying to grab hold of a mist, but there isn't really anything there.

However…

Something clicks inside your head, and you immediately stop your line of thinking. You also ignore the droves of students walking around you, making their way to the school's entrance, and instead you steady your breath.

After all, if all your memories are like a mist, and if there isn't really anything there to grab, then there is no use in getting distressed over it.

And what is more, the fact that you realized there is a mist to begin with is a victory of sorts.

You feel like you have already been in a situation like this, in real life. You feel like you have already faced a challenge like this before, even if you can't quite remember how or when or where.

Still, you get the impression that you have two choices here. To either try to understand everything, or to understand nothing at all.

So, as you look up towards the wide and open double-doors that lead to the school, you decide to…



…



"If this is all just a dream, I might as well treat it like one," you whisper to yourself, so low that only the passing breeze can hear it.

But still, you get the nagging impression that the breeze was in fact listening.

Following that, you proceed to have a regular day. You continue with your routine as if nothing happened.

Except that, every now and then, you try to take some liberties. You try to check for limits.

You walk down this and that hallway, just to make sure it really leads to another set of classrooms.

You take a look at the broom closets, and the unused lockers, and the less used corners of the parking lot, just to make sure there really is something there.

You ask about the rest of the city, and about your student's neighborhoods, and what busses exactly they take to go to their favorite cafes and arcades. And sure enough, they give you answers, but not really answers that are real.

And soon enough, you begin to put together a picture of what is going on.

Without exception, everything in this school is real. Every last room, corner and cranny, whether used or mostly abandoned, is a place you can go… without losing conscience or entering that strange sleepwalking state you experienced after leaving school.

But whenever you try to leave the school, things get… strange. You can walk up and down the sidewalk that surrounds the walls of the school. And you can visit some nearby buildings, such as the nearby middle school. And you even saw a bus passing by, although you weren't quick enough to read where it was supposed to go.

However, you have also come to learn that there are limits to this place.

So naturally, the next step… would be to explore those limits. The next step is to explore these horizons, and the paths that exist between them. Because you know, for example, that there are places in town your students frequent. But you also realize there are rules to this place that must be followed, which also means there are paths that must be taken to reach other places.

And you must learn them. You must learn more about how this all works.

Still, you are not discouraged. Not by the strangeness that you have come to see, and not by the apparent arbitrariness that you are being subjected to.

After all, you know certain tricks that the usual dreamer does not.

You just have to find the time to do it.



- - -



"Miss Sparkle? See me after class," you say, without looking up from the last few worksheets you just collected.

A small wave of whispers begins to bubble throughout class, right in front of you, but you make a point of ignoring it. In fact, you take this opportunity to quietly observe who is doing what.

Because you just had your students go through a small mock exam. Nothing graded, and since you told them in advance about it this was not a surprise either. Still, you just wrung your students a little bit with an hour-long examination, so you are sure their young minds are a little more stressed-out than usual.

So, given how you just loudly singled-out a single student less than a minute before the class rings, now is the perfect time for your slightly-stressed students to show you who they really are.

You don't look up, but you don't really need to. Your peripheral vision and other senses are more then enough for this.

Which means you can perfectly see who is doing what. You can tell who is just whispering, which students are just curious, and which of them are letting out malicious snickers at the idea of a particular student being in trouble.

However, the most interesting thing is what you don't see.

You don't see any students sending worried or supporting glances towards her. You don't see any students sending an encouraging whisper towards her, or maybe even leaning in to ask why this is happening. You don't see anyone acting in a way that you could remotely describe as friendly.

Of course, you won't take this as a definitive answer to your questions. After all, there is the possibility that she has peers in other classes, and then there is also the fact she probably has an older brother in this world as well.

But still, the first, second and third impression you have, and that you have been observing throughout this entire week, is that…

The Twilight Sparkle of this world does not have any friends.

And the young woman's reaction to your words, the way she looked slightly distressed and disappointed, but without looking around for support from her surrounding fellows, only corroborates that view.

Moments later, the bell rings, your students file out of the classroom, and you send a warm smile to the students who are waving you goodbye at the exact moment you know Rarity is looking longingly towards you.

Until you are finally alone with the student you asked to wait with you.

You watch, as the last student closes the door after he leaves, and then you look at Twilight as she stares back at you.

You don't really do anything for the next few seconds. You just look at her, wondering how she will react. Her expression is only slightly serious, but you can detect the hint of concern that she is trying to hide, which is slowly turning into nervousness. But even that already tells you a lot.

"Is there something… wrong, Professor?" she asks, and you can hear how she is struggling to keep her voice from trembling.

But you only answer her by looking at her, and then looking at the place in front of your desk, and then nodding as if this should all be very obvious.

"Oh, right, I apologize," she says, immediately getting up from her desk and making her way to stand in front of you.

Good, so she isn't completely clueless about social norms. In fact, you are sure she has quite a deep understanding of them, even if only from a theoretical perspective.

But still, she is no longer a part of a classroom who is addressing a professor. She is an individual student who is in a meeting. So, she should act accordingly.

Or at least, this is what you think is going through her head right now. You don't really care about that right now. Instead, you well and truly are doing all of this just to see how she reacts.

Well, you want to see how she reacts, you want to see how similar and different she is from the Twilight of the real world, and you also want to confirm if any of the events from the real world bled over to this one.

However, you are also hoping to see if…

"Miss Twilight Sparkle," you say, "thank you for your time, and I won't keep you for long."

To which she replies with a nervous nod. You can tell that she is not nervous because she is speaking to a Professor. After all, this is probably the kind of interaction she enjoys the most. However, she is nervous from the level of individual attention she is receiving.

Interesting…

"Now, just to be clear, nothing wrong has happened. You didn't do anything wrong, and I'm not looking to scold you or anything. Quite on the contrary, even."

Another nervous nod. But the hands that were clenched into fists seem to have relaxed a little bit.

"So, first of all, did you know you are one of my best students?" you ask. "And I don't just mean for this class. You are one of the best students I ever had the pleasure of teaching."

You really are telling the truth right now. Because from what you could gleam from your memory, Twilight really is the kind of student who is easy to teach. You can't recall any silly questions from her, she always submits her assignments on time, and correcting her exams feel more like "double checking to make sure, before giving it a 100" rather than really grading a paper.

"You participate, you ask interesting questions, and every time you do something I can tell that you really put some thought into it, and not that you are just copying something you read from a book."

You say all of that, with the softest smile and the smoothest of voices, both because you want her to be at ease and because it is true.

However, to your surprise…

"I… thank you…?"

To your surprise, Twilight actually tenses up a little more as you say all that.

You can only watch as her hands ball up into fists again, and her jaw clenches slightly, and as every little hint you can see from her body language makes it look like she is trying to curl up.

And you can only suppress the urge to raise an eyebrow at that. Because despite your original intentions, it seems you are making her uncomfortable.

Is it because she is just too young, and you are a figure of authority? Is it because the subject of her academic life is just something that she doesn't like to talk about? Is it something else?

Unfortunately, you have too little to work with. And neither your memories of her, or the student files you have access to, are enough to give you any idea of why this is happening. In fact, you are acutely aware that this is the first time you are interacting with her in this world, and you can confidently tell that you are in for a bad start.

Still, there is nothing you can do but move forward.

"No need to thank me, it's just the plain truth," you say, pretending you can't see the fact that she is pursing her lips, and that her breathing just became a little heavier. "But I called you here to ask… have you put any thoughts into your future? Do you have any hopes or ambitions on your sights? Maybe a specific college you would like to go to, or a particular career path?"

You say that, you try to give her the usual talk of a Professor who is interested in helping a bright young pupil, but…

… well, there is no other way to put it. It goes downhill from there.

The young woman gives you vague answers, and then she glances too many times at the closed door, and at some point you swear she is actually sweating out of nervousness.

So, you decide to cut your losses and let her go.

"Thank you, Miss Sparkle. Have a great day," you say.

And she practically runs for the door in response.



…



However…

However.

You aren't exactly ready to call it quits.

Because you swear that, despite her nervousness and anxiety, you saw something in her that gave you pause.

So, you… keep an eye on her.

You make sure to track her, as she goes about her day. Following what classes she has, sensing that she apparently sits alone during lunch, and generally keeping track of her as the afternoon reaches its end.

Until the final bell rings, and you realize that she is not making her way to the exit even though school is over.

So, you dismiss your last class for the day, you weave your way through the throng of teenagers as they make their way out.

And inevitably, you find her.

Twilight Sparkle is, right now, on the topmost floor of school. The one where the extracurricular activities take the place, and where the unused classrooms can be put to good use by students who wish to do this and that for extra credits.

You are not at all surprised when you see that Twilight's scent is coming from a door with the sign of "science club" attached to it.

But you are a little surprised to see that the door is locked.

Tsk, tsk, tsk. Students aren't supposed to lock themselves in. In fact, these doors don't even have built-in locks, and need an external key to be locked. And students definitely should not have access to those!

After all, what if they get hurt and no one is around to help them?

No no no, this Simply will not do. It is your duty, your very responsibility to check if the student trapped behind this locked door is safe!

With all of that in mind, you give the door a quick tap, and you make your way in.

However, something curious happens. Because the moment you tapped the door open-



-beeeeeeeeeeep!-



-you swear you hear something, a long and high-pitched noise, coming from somewhere inside that classroom.

Still, you make your way in, and you are met with quite the sight.

"Interesting. Did any of this come from a club budget?" you say out loud.

Because as soon as you enter the room, you don't see Twilight herself. Instead, you see something that you can only describe as a workshop.

You see tools, and books, and metallic contraptions you can only describe as gadgets in several stages of disassembly. You don't see anything you immediately recognize, and this only vaguely resembles what a proper pony laboratory would look like. But still, you can definitely say that this is at least a workshop.

And moments later, you see a wide-eyed and surprised Twilight Sparkle. You watch as she steps out of a storage room door, at the very end of the class, looks at you, and immediately pushes her back against the now-closed door behind her.

"Professor Covers?!" she says. Yells, really. As she presses her back against the door behind her and protectively tries to hide her with her arms.

For a moment, you almost tell her a lie. For a moment, you almost tell her some smooth story about a janitor who was going around asking for a key after he found some locked door.

But for some reason, you don't think that will work. No, it's not that. For some reason, you don't think any of that will be necessary.

Flattering Twilight doesn't seem to work. And even having a normal conversation seems to be enough for her to get nervous.

Maybe this is because she was not truly mentored by a Princess Celestia in this world? Maybe it is because, as hard as that might sound, she is even more of a loner here than she is in the real world? Or maybe it's something else entirely, and this young woman is just different from the young mare you met?

Well, it doesn't really matter.

What matters is that you think you should go straight to the point.

So that's exactly what you are going to do.

"Quite the setup you have here, Miss Sparkle", you say, as you walk around the room. Picking up a few gadgets here and there, and letting your fingers analyze whatever they can during that short period of time. "Are you doing all of this on your own?"

You consider or a moment asking her if this was authorized by the school. You consider hinting that this sort of activity, done behind locked doors and clearly beyond the level of a high schooler, might be the kind of thing that gets her in trouble.

But again, these kinds of things aren't really effective on her. Or perhaps they would be too effective, and she would just have a breakdown right in front of you. Still, again, this is not the path you should take.

"I-I… y-… I mean…" she tries to say something, but fails. Instead, she can only follow you with her eyes as you tour around the room and slowly make your way towards her.

Her legs are shaking. More than just that, she is really scared.

Dear heavens, what is up with this world's Twilight? You have already met Jade Whistles, and you have already seen Soft Sweeps. But the way this young woman is acting is... well, worrying.

"But I can tell these are all works in progress," you say, as you pick up yet another curious little device made out of metal and glass.

And then, you are finally face to face with her, right in front of the young woman.

"So, can you tell me what you are really working on?" you ask.

To which she replies by swallowing down something dry, the words dying inside her mouth before she ever has the chance to speak them.

Still, even as you look into her eyes, you can't really understand why she is so…

Is she afraid because a Professor, a figure of authority, just found out about something that is not allowed?

Is she scared because she is face to face with another human, who is giving her way more attention than she is comfortable with receiving?

Or is it… or is it because of what you are looking at? Because you just walked into a high school student who, for all intents and purposes, is acting like a scientist?

Wait, hold on… you roll that last thought on your head for a few moments and…

Could… could it actually be that? But that doesn't make any sense. If a young woman like her is interested in this kind of thing, why would there be anything wrong with that? In fact, it should only be natural for her to pursue it like this, no? After all, a single glance at her flank would make it clear that her cutie mark is-

…

Oh.

Oooohhhh.

You forgot about that.

There are no cutie marks in this world. There is no indication, and perhaps even no drive, for a person to pursue what they are meant to be doing with their lives.

And considering how cruel children can be, and how everywhere you looked you could see groups and cliques and social hierarchies, you can only imagine how a person like Twilight Sparkle would…

Ah. You might be totally wrong about it, but you think you understand what is going on a little better.

"Miss Sparkle, do you realize you are blocking the path of a Professor?" you say. "Or do you just not realize you are blocking my path?"

You say that, and her legs almost buckle under her as she holds your gaze.

Still, she holds her ground, even if only for a second longer, as she adamantly refuses to let you see what she is hiding in that storage room.

"I-I can't… c-can't let you see t-that, Professor," she says, stammering under your soft gaze.

To which you answer with a small, short nod. Shrugging as if to say there was no helping it.

However, you think you already have your answer. Because as you toured around the room, touching and learning about all the devices that are laid out on the desks, you have come to notice a similarity they all share.

All those devices have some level of portability to them, as if they are an attempt to miniaturize something. All of them have antennas, or some kind of detector. And all of them had some kind of display.

And given what happened when you unlocked this door, you have an inkling that…

"Well, you might not want to show it to me, and I respect that," you say, as you make your way towards the door. "But why don't we check if it really works?"

With that, you reach the door of the classroom, keeping an eye on the frantically nervous Twilight as you do. Putting your pinky finger inside the keyhole right after.

And then, you twist your finger as if it was a key-



-BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!-



-locking the door right in front of her eyes, at the same time that high-pitched noise begins to blare from the door behind Twilight.

And just like that, Twilight's apprehension is gone.

No, it's not gone, not exactly. She just forgot about it, instantly. Her legs are no longer shaking, her eyes are no longer filled with fear and anxiety, and the only thing you can see in her expression now is disbelief.

Disbelief, and the unmistakable glint of curiosity.

You make a point of taking your finger out of the keyhole, and trying to turn the doorknob just to show her that it is really locked.

And then, you give the door another light knock and-



-BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!-



-you lock it again.

"So it IS a detector," you say with a smile on her face.

"It is… it's a proto-… I mean, I didn't have proof th-…" she says, with a tone that makes it clear she isn't even thinking about it. That her mind is too overwhelmed by other thoughts for her to realize what she is saying. "How… how did you do that?"

And, as scientists like her are wont to do, she finishes off by asking what really matters in her heart of hearts.

But the only answer you give her is a knowing smile.

Because you think you understand her a little better now. There is certainly more to her than just this, but you think you get it.

Twilight Sparkle is researching… magic. Magic, or maybe the lores, or perhaps something that she just couldn't find the explanation for anywhere else in this world.

After all, there is no magic in this world. It looks like humans just don't know about it, as far as you can tell.

The humans of this dream-like world are not stupid. They aren't exactly what you would call primitive. And you have seen their gadgets, and their culture, and the intricate microscopic clockwork that they seem to use for everything. But still, from what you can tell, they appear to be completely blind to the entire facet of science that is known as magic.

Maybe it is because they don't have horns or wings. Or maybe it is because, in this place, the sun and moon, and nature as a whole, move on their own. Whatever the reason may be, these humans don't seem to understand what the basest of magic is, and they seem to be missing out on an entire aspect of how their bodies and their world works.

Here, those kinds of things are seen as fairy tales. And the people who believe in them must be either ignored or ridiculed.

And Twilight seems to be… interested in it. She is interested in it, or maybe she knows about it, or perhaps her affinity to it so strong that she wants to pursue if, even if she doesn't have a cutie mark to remind her about it.

To the point that she is trying to research it in the only way she knows, with the bootleg and incomplete science of this world.

Even though it is something that she can't tell anyone else about. Even though it is something she can't even prove exists.

Even though it is something that would make anyone think she is insane, if she were to ever talk about it.

But oh, you know something no one else in this world has, and you have something no one else in this world could ever give her.

You know she is right, and you can present her with proof.

"How did you do that?!" she repeats. Not caring that she is a student who just yelled at a professor. Not caring that she has just been discovered.

Because perhaps for the first time in her life, she has just seen evidence that she is not crazy. That she was right all along.

But the only answer you give her is…

"Have a pleasant evening, Miss Sparkle."

And before she can say anything else, you are gone.

You leave immediately, because you have a lot to think about. You leave immediately because, in truth, a sudden thought quite literally rushed into your head, the moment you realized all of that.

Because it seems that this world's Twilight is… lost? Alone? Hopeless? You aren't sure what word to use. But the fact remains that her connection to magic is so strong, even in this world, that she can't help but pursue it.

Even though there is no magic waiting for her in this world. Even though you can already tell that there is nothing but disappointment, and perhaps even failure, waiting for her in the future. This fascination she has, you know, will either grow into an obsession, or will die down into a bitter disappointment.

There is nothing for this world, for the young and hopeful woman known as Twilight Sparkle.

But that's the thing. That is why you… quite literally ran away from her. That is why you left the room as soon as this thought occurred to you.

Because this is, you know, a very dangerous thought. However, it is also not one you could immediately dispel.

Because what if… what if somehow…

What if you brought this Twilight to your world?

Wouldn't she be so much happier there? Wouldn't her life finally make sense?

Wouldn't you be saving her?

…

You rush down the stairs, and towards the exit of the school. Until your memories fade away into the fog of sleepwalking.



- - -



You searched, and you saw, and you were seen. You looked around, high and low, for something that might help you.

You checked the library for references of the symbol on your pendant. You looked for it in the accessories and clothes of your other students. You even consulted you fellow faculty members, those knowledgeable about history and the older civilizations, about it.

You searched, and you searched, and you searched.

And for several days, or perhaps even a week, you couldn't find anything that even remotely resembled your mark.

That is, until you found a clue.

Or perhaps, a clue found you?

It is hard to tell, with these sorts of things.

Still, one day you were walking around the school grounds, right after classes were over, and your curiosity eventually led you to the neighboring middle school.

Maybe you were curious if you would find Cheerilee. Maybe you were hoping to glance at your daughter's schoolmates, even though she doesn't exist in this sad little world. Or perhaps you just wanted to see what foals looked like in this simian dream.

So, you went to the nearby middle school, and you let your face melt into a smile as you watched the crowd of short little humans cheering as they ran towards their end-of-day freedom.

Children filed out of school, children filed into school buses, children waited for their parents.

Until your contentment is interrupted by the sensation of someone pulling on your dress. And for a moment, as you look to your side, you almost expect to see your own Silky Stream there, about to give you a hug.

But you are immediately snapped out of those thoughts as you see…

"Excuse me Miss? Where… where did you get that medallion?"

… you see a little girl, maybe half your height and certainly on the lower part of the age range of the neighboring middle school.

You see a little girl, pulling at your skirt, with her eyes unerringly aimed at the medallion you have fixed to your hair.

You see a little girl who is looking at your medallion with curiosity, and also with familiarity.

"It belongs to a… friend of mine," you say, kneeling down so you will be on her level, and so she can take a better look at it as you unpin it from your hair and show it to her. "She told me that she has… friends, who also have something like this. But tell me, have you ever seen this symbol before?" you ask.

And the little girl, with the shy hesitance of a child who isn't really sure if you are a stranger or a friend, gives you a meek nod.

But before you can say anything else, someone calls for her. One of her teachers, you can tell, who is trying to herd her ward into one of the waiting school buses.

And the girl hesitates for a few seconds, looking at the bus and then back at the medallion, not really sure of what to do.

"I am a teacher here at Canterlot High," you say, pointing at the building next door, "so I'm sure we will meet again. But if you don't mind, I would love if you could tell me more about this later," you say.

And then, you take a leap of faith.

Instead of putting the medallion back on your hair, you instead give it to the little girl.

"Whenever you can," you say, putting it on her hand and closing it with your own, "my friend would very much appreciate it."

She answers you with another nod, and moments later she is gone.

Leaving you alone on the sidewalk, watching as the last few students leave for their own homes.





[Dice rolls have been omitted]

[You have consumed your Moth reroll]

[You have consumed your Secret Histories reroll]

Author's note: you will not be given any partial "reports" on progress, or any sort of explanatory "blurb" at the end of these updates, like you would usually see on a regular update. This is a strange world, so all you can do is navigate it to the best of your abilities.



And just like that, now you have less time than you had before.


PERSONAL ACTION POINTS REMAINING: 3


You have made time in the real world, so you will have time here. What shall you do with it?


You will return home, back through the foggy mirror.

[] Return home. (Return home and redistribute all your personal action points)


You will stay a while and… (Costs one personal action point. Pick THREE options)

[] Alright, WHERE is Stormchaser? (Look for your dear beloved)
[] They are young and impressionable. Thankfully, you are a responsible adult. (Hang out with Rarity and Fluttershy, your real-life confidantes)
[] "Miss Sparkle? It's about the project we discussed. I have a... proposal, on how to advance it. Could you see me after class?" (Follow up on Twilight Sparkle)
[] "Is there anything on your mind, Miss Jack?" (Approach Applejack)
[] "To be honest? I think your job is better than mine." (Approach Cheerilee. She is here… somewhere)
[] "Yes, it's about your daughter. What class I teach her? Well…" (Approach the Rich parents)
[] Apparently, they are not alicorns here. But they are still the highest authority. (Approach the Principals)
[] You have found limits, you have found walls. Now it is time to look for doors and tunnels. (Follow up on exploring this place)
[] This place has a library. Go take a look.
[] What is this "cellphone" all the kids are talking about? Why do you have one? And what is this "Internet" thing?
[] Your faith has been rewarded. And the medallion has made its way back to you, on a very unexpected pair of hands. (Further your search for Axe's… contact)



Six hours moratorium.

Vote by approval, and pick however many options you want..

"Return home" will only win if it is the FIRST place in votes. Otherwise, the three activities with the most votes will win.

 

[Light_Seeker]

[] Your faith has been rewarded. And the medallion has made its way back to you, on a very unexpected pair of hands. (Further your search for Axe's… contact)
[] You have found limits, you have found walls. Now it is time to look for doors and tunnels. (Follow up on exploring this place)
[] "Miss Sparkle? It's about the project we discussed. I have a... proposal, on how to advance it. Could you see me after class?" (Follow up on Twilight Sparkle)

 

[DelightedOne]

Curious how this world seems like a rush job, but if that is where at least some Names(maybe even an Hour) ran away to it could be that the missing pieces are what makes it feel like a dream(or that makes it a dream instead of a new World).

The Twilight Sparkle of this world does not have any friends.

Click to shrink...

Oh no, what an obvious turn of events. As if Twilight would make friends in any History without some threat to the world.

She is also... resisting An Incarnadescense? She either hates Velvet here or she is really uncomfortable. If Spike died here too it would make sense for her to be more distant.

Oh fuck, she is looking for magic and also the lores? The reaction to Knock is quite interesting.

[Dice rolls have been omitted]

[You have consumed your Moth reroll]

[You have consumed your Secret Histories reroll]

Click to shrink...

Fuck. Anyone has any idea where the rerolls were spent? I couldn't tell. Guess we are not doing the SH Sacrament this turn if there is any ap left.

Obviously we need to keep looking for the Key. But I'm too tired to think about the rest.

 

[Random Anon]

Holy shit you're fast.
A pity we used the Moth and SH rerolls so early. Apparently they were used on "understanding nothing" and the Axe's friends search.

Anyway, part two of everything? Axe, Twilight, exploring? Is there a reason to abandon (temporarily or not) one of these paths?

 

[Shaper47]

Contact is pretty much locked.

The question is if we should do the Cellphone Rarity combo or go to the library and explore?

 

[Maer]

edit: nevermind. Already WELL past that point. X3

 

[EigengrauFox]

[ ] Your faith has been rewarded. And the medallion has made its way back to you, on a very unexpected pair of hands. (Further your search for Axe's… contact)
[ ] "Miss Sparkle? It's about the project we discussed. I have a... proposal, on how to advance it. Could you see me after class?" (Follow up on Twilight Sparkle)
[ ] They are young and impressionable. Thankfully, you are a responsible adult. (Hang out with Rarity and Fluttershy, your real-life confidantes)
[ ] What is this "cellphone" all the kids are talking about? Why do you have one? And what is this "Internet" thing?

I can be blind sorry

 

[Shaper47]

Light_Seeker, EigengrauFox

Six hours moratorium

Click to shrink...

 

[LieutenantSpirit]

[] Your faith has been rewarded. And the medallion has made its way back to you, on a very unexpected pair of hands. (Further your search for Axe's… contact)

Click to shrink...

[] You have found limits, you have found walls. Now it is time to look for doors and tunnels. (Follow up on exploring this place)

Click to shrink...

These two feel the most important. Progressing Ax's quest is key (hah!), but also figuring out this place might give us something useful for when we return.

Also, do we really want to pursue the alt-Twilight quest to the end? To replace her and essentially "finish off" what we started with the original version of her?

 

[Shaper47]

Also, do we really want to pursue the alt-Twilight quest to the end? To replace her and essentially "finish off" what we started with the original version of her?

Click to shrink...

Depends on how that works out with the original.

If it's a kill or turn into our daughters pet to make space that prevents future problems. If it's a fusion thing the situation could get really ugly really fast.

 

[DelightedOne]

To replace her and essentially "finish off" what we started with the original version of her?

Click to shrink...

Since when does Bird makes it obvious what he is going to do with our choices? That seems more like Velvet's inner drama than "the reward for finishing Twilight's route is a new Twilight".

Besides that this world is basically a dream, I doubt this Twilight would be able to cross over to Equestria.

 

[LieutenantSpirit]

I guess my assumption of what would occur with Twilight comes from this:

What happened to the original Professor Covers when we passed through the Foggy Mirror?

 

[Limabot]

These two feel the most important. Progressing Ax's quest is key (hah!), but also figuring out this place might give us something useful for when we return.

Also, do we really want to pursue the alt-Twilight quest to the end? To replace her and essentially "finish off" what we started with the original version of her?

Click to shrink...

Yeah, that worries me too. I would actually like to talk to someone we don't know well, like the Riches or Applejack, to see whether this thread is a constant between all of them, or whether something else would happen to characters we don't have regrets about.

 

[DelightedOne]

What happened to the original Professor Covers when we passed through the Foggy Mirror?

Click to shrink...

I think she is still in there, but supressed like some type of possession.

The fact we could draw on her memories with SH and not Winter or Lantern(because she "searched" for the memories) makes me think she is just unconscious and is gonna be freaking out about what happened when we were in control(especially if we get her a boyfriend ).

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

Boring dull mundane even, human Velvet is the Winter Velvet. Reminder human Velvet did know about the lores, and how to use them.

 

[Spacemurica]

yeah I do not regret voting for the Twilight option, by the Wolf that was fascinating.

 

[Venerable Ro]

Well now, how very interesting, a pocket space. An interstitial point perhaps?

You can't pass through a gate that doesn't exist, but in order to exist a gate (or anything really) has to be present in the place where it is. Therefore before you can pass between worlds you have to establish "between".

Now, what do we want to do?

It's an unexpected opportunity to further our understanding of Celestia's character without the attendant dangers, perhaps discover a particular in that Selene could use to bring back better memories.

We still need to find the Key, really not sure what our best opportunity for that would be but considering the enclosed nature of this space either exploring its limits or investigating the library would probably be our best bet.

Rarity could definitely be fun, she seems to really be responding to our, "Velvetness" and if nothing else it would be hilarious to tease pony!Rarity about teenage antics. Might get hard to explain away though, even with our Grail influence we're still a teacher talking to a student and I'd rather not saddle Miss Velvet with that can of worms.

Twilight now, speaking of cans of worms... This is apparently real, in a certain sense, Velvet has confirmed the concrete nature of the immediate area and I'm inclined to believe her. Therefore these are real people, however that works in this bizarre paradigm. Whether we can bring anyone back with us, I suspect that's a question for Axe rather than us, she's the one opening the way. She did note, critically, that Knock 5 and the Sacrament was essential to surviving the trip, she wasn't even sure that it would be sufficient until Velvet confirmed arrival.

We are also, currently, a disembodied intelligence usurping our dimensional counterpart, this is not a physical transfer of matter. Or at least, the Equestrian physicality didn't manifest as such on the other side. Hmm, that would explain the "where is Sunset's human counterpart?" question... So, hypothetically, to get this Twilight back to our side we'd need to get her to Knock 5 or an equivalent level of protection/preparation, and arrange a suitable vessel/body for her on the other side since embodiment is in no way assured. The default, I assume, would be "our" Twilight, and I hope I don't have to spell out the problems with that.

We could also possibly work on improving The Foggy Mirror to something of finer quality that would ameliorate these problems, say if and when Axe is free of her chains and better disposed towards us.

Overall though, while I'm interested in furthering our relationship with this Twilight I do not believe it is currently possible to bring her back. Not without a truly multilayered tragedy anyway.

 

[Zxzx24]

it certainly was!

Bringing her to our world might be a terrible idea though.

It is certainly one Velvet Covers would have.

 

[spiderhellian]

What if you brought this Twilight to your world?

Wouldn't she be so much happier there? Wouldn't her life finally make sense?

Wouldn't you be saving her?

Click to shrink...

Holy shit that's a choice.

We can have the excited student we always wanted. We can save a pony is immersed in agony and one who is focused on a fruitless endeavour.

But it sure will come at a price.

 

[Spacemurica]

I'm sold on the Twilight quest mostly because I love stories of finding magic in low magic settings and I love wrestling with the "isekai" parts of isekai stories. The Problem of Susan my beloved.
Oh man, with both the "how to bring Twilight into our world" being a complicated question, not even to mention the "should we bring her". I really, really want to see this questline to its completion. I don't even want to bring this Twilight into our world, that does not sound like a good idea. But I really want to help this poor girl.

 

[Pittauro]

Well, at least you had the decency of not putting your arm around Rarity. You also don't think she would have remembered how to keep breathing if you did that.

Click to shrink...

I want to see that!

"I... I refuse, I won't do it!" she says, suddenly sounding desperate. Almost as if she is hiding something.

Click to shrink...

maybe she said unflattering things about the previously "boring" Velvet?

Or she VERY RECENTLY posted... flattering things about her

Still, you are happy to see that the latest conversations have all been about you. You cannot identify who is saying what, since everyone uses pseudonyms, but a few users like "PreciousDiamonds3" have already declared their undying love for you.

You wonder who this user is.

Click to shrink...

...yeah, definitely the second one!

"But there's also a lot of words I just don't understand," you say, to a Rarity who has been deathly quiet since you started reading. "I mean.... cleavage... milf... hagmaxxing? Rarity dear, what does any of this means? Why are they using these words when they are talking about me?"

The young lady refuses to answer you, unfortunately, and you decide to be kind enough not push the issue.

Click to shrink...

Of course, you make sure to display the medallion you are wearing on your picture, on a place you know most of the students will be looking when they zoom in on this image.

Click to shrink...

see, it's totally innocent, we're just doing the errand we were asked to!

Don't you mean the sunk cost FOALacy?





I'll see my self back to my cell.

Click to shrink...

In Tartarus, I imagine...

---

well, I'll quickly read the update then go to sleep...

Because there are a lot, and you really mean a lot of students here. Maybe you just got used to the small-town (or perhaps even large-village) feeling of Ponyville, where all of your sister's classmates could be taught by a single Cheerilee. Or maybe there are just more humans in this strange world than there are ponies in Equestria.

Click to shrink...

...sister's classmates? I think you meant daughters'.

Oh, you also floated the name "Stormchaser" around during lunch, and it appears that he is a professor on another part of the school. History, and other "social" sciences, are all under one of the education chairs, but it appears your dear beloved teaches some kind of mathematical course, which means you would have to go out of your way to bump into him.

Click to shrink...

oh, good to know!

However, no matter how hard you think about it… it is now the second day of your stay here.

And that is wrong.

Because you remember leaving school yesterday. You remember going home. You remember waking up filled with energy, and right now you are standing in front of the gate that leads to Canterlot High School.

But that's it.

Click to shrink...

oh... Velvet just experienced a scene transition!

Still, you get the impression that you have two choices here. To either try to understand everything, or to understand nothing at all.

So, as you look up towards the wide and open double-doors that lead to the school, you decide to…



…



"If this is all just a dream, I might as well treat it like one," you whisper to yourself, so low that only the passing breeze can hear it.

But still, you get the nagging impression that the breeze was in fact listening.

Click to shrink...

uh. I personally like the Lantern approach more, but moth here is likely safer.

Without exception, everything in this school is real. Every last room, corner and cranny, whether used or mostly abandoned, is a place you can go… without losing conscience or entering that strange sleepwalking state you experienced after leaving school.

But whenever you try to leave the school, things get… strange. You can walk up and down the sidewalk that surrounds the walls of the school. And you can visit some nearby buildings, such as the nearby middle school. And you even saw a bus passing by, although you weren't quick enough to read where it was supposed to go.

However, you have also come to learn that there are limits to this place.

So naturally, the next step… would be to explore those limits. The next step is to explore these horizons, and the paths that exist between them. Because you know, for example, that there are places in town your students frequent. But you also realize there are rules to this place that must be followed, which also means there are paths that must be taken to reach other places.

And you must learn them. You must learn more about how this all works.

Click to shrink...

in other words this isn't an open world, Velvet needs to find the fast travel menu/transition points.

But still, the first, second and third impression you have, and that you have been observing throughout this entire week, is that…

The Twilight Sparkle of this world does not have any friends.

Click to shrink...

Arguably the Twilight of our world doesn't either. Not really.

You see tools, and books, and metallic contraptions you can only describe as gadgets in several stages of disassembly. You don't see anything you immediately recognize, and this only vaguely resembles what a proper pony laboratory would look like. But still, you can definitely say that this is at least a workshop.

Click to shrink...

I'm starting to wonder... Is there any chance this Twilight realized the world is wrong?

a dream character realizing she's not real? She somehow made a machine that detects something is strange with Velvet, maybe?

"I-I can't… c-can't let you see t-that, Professor," she says, stammering under your soft gaze.

Click to shrink...

...I'll try to call it now: robot-spike!

"So it IS a detector," you say with a smile on her face.

Click to shrink...

a lore detector?

That's super interesting!

Because what if… what if somehow…

What if you brought this Twilight to your world?

Wouldn't she be so much happier there? Wouldn't her life finally make sense?

Wouldn't you be saving her?

Click to shrink...

maybe. EQG Twilight was quite unhappy until she made her friends, and her attempts to discover magic were NOT helping her.

that said... could she even survive the trip? She doesn't have the Silver Key. Maybe the Frangiclave could help, or later on we could use Starswhirl's Mirror instead, assuming Celestia still has it in this quest's setting and it hasn't been replaced by the Lantern 6 Artifact (assuming they're not the same mirror).

[Dice rolls have been omitted]

[You have consumed your Moth reroll]

[You have consumed your Secret Histories reroll]

Author's note: you will not be given any partial "reports" on progress, or any sort of explanatory "blurb" at the end of these updates, like you would usually see on a regular update. This is a strange world, so all you can do is navigate it to the best of your abilities.



And just like that, now you have less time than you had before.

Click to shrink...

uh.

My impression is that the Rerolls allowed us to hit fairly high thresholds in the "Discover how the dreamworld works" and the "progress with the errand".

With the SH Reroll consumed, I'm now less interested in taking the SH Sacrament back in Equestria. So I'm also less interested in going back before we're out of actions, though the study artifacts action is still fairly tempting.

Fuck. Anyone has any idea where the rerolls were spent? I couldn't tell. Guess we are not doing the SH Sacrament this turn if there is any ap left.

Obviously we need to keep looking for the Key. But I'm too tired to think about the rest.

Click to shrink...

it SEEMS fairly obvious.

the Moth Reroll was used in the exploration, to understand how the world works. About the fake memories of time passing when we leave, and how only SOME locations are real and you need to use the right paths to move between them (basically a visual novel's map or an RPG fast travel system, with the locations "In between" not really existing").

the SH Reroll was likely used on finding the child that recognized the medallion.

So, all in all, the rerolls were used to progress on those paths. Hard to know how much they helped, it SEEMS like we hit some fairly high thresholds, but we don't know the values, or how much better or worse we could have done.

Holy shit you're fast.
A pity we used the Moth and SH rerolls so early. Apparently they were used on "understanding nothing" and the Axe's friends search.

Anyway, part two of everything? Axe, Twilight, exploring? Is there a reason to abandon (temporarily or not) one of these paths?

Click to shrink...

well, Axe is a must, obviously.

We COULD in theory drop Twilight if we didn't care to progress on that. Progressing is likely to reward us with potentially a new adept/student, maybe in the long term a confidant we could bring back to Equestria... or maybe she could MAKE us a lore detector, and then we could use it to find artifacts or detect active use of lores. It's potentially useful, both here and in Equestria.

exploring... I expect it to be the last action of its chains. Basically we'll find the transition points, the edges of the canterlot location from which we can enter a separate map location.

Besides that this world is basically a dream, I doubt this Twilight would be able to cross over to Equestria.

Click to shrink...

I'm going to point out that, in MLP show, dreams can VERY MUCH become real. The Tantabus was a dream construct and nearly made it in the real world. and EQG people could also move to Equestria, but THAT EQG wasn't a dreamworld... presumably, at least.

To be fair we don't KNOW yet what this world is for sure. The closest thing I can think of in CS terms is that this is either a heavily distorted different History... or something like the House of the Moon, a reflection of the Wake instead of a Reflection of the Mansus.

...

then again, the name says it all. the Foggy Mirror. an imperfect, foggy, distorted mirror reflecting a distorted version of our original reality.

I'm sold on the Twilight quest mostly because I love stories of finding magic in low magic settings and I love wrestling with the "isekai" parts of isekai stories. The Problem of Susan my beloved.
Oh man, with both the "how to bring Twilight into our world" being a complicated question, not even to mention the "should we bring her". I really, really want to see this questline to its completion. I don't even want to bring this Twilight into our world, that does not sound like a good idea. But I really want to help this poor girl.

Click to shrink...

mostly I'm just curious about what could happen. Rationally I think we might want to drop the Twilight questline, but... I'm just too curious!

 

[Shaper47]

Twilight's a waste of effort. Sunk cost fallacy at work.

A failure who's potential is worthless as she can't reach for more.

Leave her is the past.

Velvet's done more then she should have and for nothing in the end.

Twilight has proven her self unworthy.

 

[IronHydra]

Also, do we really want to pursue the alt-Twilight quest to the end? To replace her and essentially "finish off" what we started with the original version of her?

Click to shrink...

..........
.......

an equivalent level of protection/preparation, and arrange a suitable vessel/body for her on the other side since embodiment is in no way assured. The default, I assume, would be "our" Twilight, and I hope I don't have to spell out the problems with that.

Click to shrink...

....
........ I wanna......

But it sure will come at a price.

Click to shrink...

This idea has taken ahold of me, infringing on my mind like a festering wound, this could really lead to something super freaking interesting and intriguing. Not to mention it's the same kind of fucked up that Velvet thrives on. It's a terrible choice to have to make, but when she has the chance to make up someway for her mistakes, to give the student she failed another chance, even if it's not quite the same one, it's still a Twilight, in the end isn't it?

Not a decision to be made lightly, but it has to be made, even if it is particularly regrettable.

 

[Sveta08]

Oh goodness me.
Part of me wants to write something for this. Explore the idea from a potential option, and make it like that. Something to do with tomorrow's horizon, fixed points, and weaves.
But, that's too selfish and unhelpful right now. And we are still in wait for posts anyway.

Instead... Goodness me!
What an update. I think these were all the correct picks.


I would hesitate, however, on using the third pick for this action also on Twilight.
Velvet is not Celestia. Celestia herself did not master the art of bringing Twilight out of herself in a healthy way. In this Murky Mirror, the idea that we can do the same on our own is... doubtable.

But I'm not certain which is the right call. Speaking with Applejack, or with Rarity and Fluttershy. Those feel like the right paths. Call it a hunch.
Part of me wants to advocate for Cheerilee again, but I doubt that would reach many.

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

Definitely want to explore more now looks like another action will lead to the statue that connects to the mirror, and Velvet can open any door. Finding the statue means we can enter and leave at will.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

It is really curious that the school is explicitly real while it's surroundings are not.