Maybe Velvet Hill heard about his granddaughter's cutie mark and sent a congratulatory letter telling her how proud he is of her.
And rainbows will burst forth from our ass as Celestia fillifies herself into Aine after declaring Princess Cadance to be the new Princess Supreme and the wolf-sons are purified by grandfatherly love. Twilight Sparkle will burst into the room in tears saying she forgives us and Windy will send us an invitation to his wedding with Goldy at his peaceful ice sculpture carving business he's been working on this whole time.
and of course that's when Velvet wakes up.
...ah, right, she can't dream anymore...
If artifact price increase is by one level then by next binding it would be only lvl 4 artifact which we can easily pay, while QM said that by third binding price would become too much. Also by claiming that we are interested in her we may have made her more impatient than if we let her spend time with Cadance.
To prevent escaping we will need Baldomare scrying and DoA teleport. It is hard to escape from Names of Knock and SH.
keep in mind that lvl 4 artifacts are RARE.
we didn't even have those when Bird first commented on us not being WILLING (and not able, he never said we wouldn't be ABLE to pay) to pay the 3rd price.
Because she knows… she knows, and she smells, and she sees, and she senses, that she is still welcome here. That she is desired here.
considering taking her sacrament is now basically unanimous, with the main disagreement being on
the main dish, that's true and fitting.
Her host never said her embargo of entering the house had been lifted.
But certain things need not be said with words.
And her host did (or will, in the near future) signal that Mareinette's presence is still welcome.
So how could she interpret this any other way? How could her host possibly wish for her to remain close, and not allow her some indulgences, without being rude?
The answer is simple. She cannot.
also true. We can't signal interest and friendship and STILL not let her in our home.
That's just not how it works.
But of course, her visit will be brief. It will be brief, and it will go unnoticed. After all, her gracious host herself is not here, and the latest… permanent guest has no love for her.
That's putting it midly.
I think her implied revenge if Mareinette hurts Silky will be a nice deterrent, just in case.
...it's not an insult when it's true and both know and acknowledge it.
Have you come to devour me, the son of my mother?
Clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack
I was not aware you had been built with humor.
You know, I can't quite tell what the joke is here. That DOES sounds like a legitimate and reasonable question... well, except that it would be a violation of guest rights, I suppose.
Our mutual friend desires your continuance. I feel she will propose an arrangement very soon.
That would be very kind of mother, if true.
well, yeah, We'll definitely work on it.
Good. The Princess and the Executioner remain intractable. It is good to know there are still some who see sense.
Do they? Even though their defeat happened so long ago? They could learn a little of change… But in a sense, I am glad you did not. I am thankful for the part you played, small as it was. And so was Her. She mentioned how each player would act, before She left. And even your kind was spoken of favorably.
A shiver, a thrill. An unusual display of excitement.
An honor, even if this secret is so very old. You have my thanks.
interesting.
so Axe is confirmed to be a "princess". I think someone mentioned the seven sister-princesses or something? Might have been princes and brothers in canon CS.
and yeah, they're admittedly intractable... though we managed fine enough with Axe (mostly thanks to Silky).
and hey,
Mareinette played a role in what happened all that time ago...
May I count on your aid, if the servants of Order draw a line in the sand against us who espouse Change?
Biedde OBVIOUSLY stands for Order. I suppose Axe too.
Where would Baldomare stand, I wonder?
And do Harmony and Chaos (Discord) have a place in all this, or is this only about the ancient factions?
And I for yours. And I will never argue against Her actions. But I am sorry you were not Pardoned.
I am not.
and, predictably, Mareinette does not regret her sins.
So, she begins to work on her own present, for her newfound friend.
With ebony hoofs of white she picks up the delicate clock from the wall, and she carries it towards the door.
She whispers words to it, instructions and suggestions, of what the clock should do next.
She makes her way down the corridor, as the clock rearranges itself into a new form.
...I'm calling it now, if Cherenkov is Pinocchio, she's making a Jiminy Cricket!
The door, she can see, is locked. That door, from which wafts such a pleasant and young smell, is locked. Locked, and marked, and warded, and almost cracked by the great axe that has been sunk into it.
thank you Axe we LOVE you!
It is a shame that the Snake forgot that certain rules simply do not apply to her.
fuck
And with hoofs as gentle as they are hard, she pulls up the covers around the foal… and places the intricate pony-shaped toy, the new shape of the clock, between her forelegs.
The filly, innocent and asleep as she is, hugs and huddles up to the toy almost immediately. Completely unaware of the bony hoofs that are once again tucking her covers. And completely ignorant to the muted tick-tock-tick of the unique toy that she will start playing with come tomorrow.
...
I fucking can't believe it.
Silky, with the COMPLETELY UNEXPECTED HELP OF MAREINETTE, starts befriending ANOTHER Name!
Truly, Velvet is the lore polyglot bullshit pony, but it's SILKY that's doing like half of the work in befriending Names on our behalf!
We're doing the mechanical work, she does all of the emotional part!
So.
Hillariously, Velvet has not entirely connected the dots from Steppes "confession".
He told you that "he was the one your father asked to do things". But, since Velvet does not have the OOC knowledge you guys have, she did not connect the dots to think that "My uncle ran a crime empire".
No, seriously, be reasonable. No one would make that leap of logic from just a late-night conversation with a trusted family member. I know the memes are funny, but try to separate OOC knowledge from Velvet's POV.
Now. From a common sense perspective, Velvet is aware that a family head disappearing is... well, a lot of things.
There will be an uproar in the noble community for the authorities to "do something" because "we could be next". The administration of the family will go into disarray for months or even "the foreseeable future". You have NO idea how the documentation stands when it comes to Hill's last will and testament. And then, of course, there's the present issue that "Noble titles die with the current head".
You have not heard of any noble head dying since the Princess' decree so, ironically, your family will be the test subject for what happens then if Hills dies.
So, uh, a big clump of "administrative problems" coupled with "gossip and fear in Canterlot", together with a good serving of "unknown" as always.
quite a decent incentive NOT to do that, really.
We have enough problems that we don't WANT extra chaos.
...especially because... I mean, Discord is still there. there's a low, but NON zero chance that extra chaos might free him faster...
On a Side Note, the moment we run out of Names to Befriend (Baldomare, Cherenkov and Mareinette should all be befriended in the next 3 turns I think) we want to seriously consider if we should trigger All In, even if in theory we have more time left.
Names are the biggest help we can get there, other than more artifacts. It might not be worth it to risk something ELSE happening just to get another expedition, a few artifacts or an extra sacrament ready.
I mean, just off the top of my head
1)Sombra might come back
2)Discord might get free
3)Windy might wolf
4)Someone might discover how to make Ash Ghouls and
do that.
and that's ignoring Celestia's countdown.
Man, she's a better guest than we deserve
honestly Mareinette has been a PERFECT Guest
to us specifically.
Just as long as we don't forget
what she is. (A monster. the answer is a Monster).
