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

[ses]

The answer to that parable is obvious, and it is often told to young foals for a reason.

Of course, the Princess did not break her own rule. After all, the garden belongs to her, and her rule was there so everypony else knew how they should act in her garden.

And the greater lesson from that parable is that laws also do not apply to Princesses. Because just like the flowers in the garden, ponies also belong to the Princesses in this great garden called Equestria. And the Princesses' laws are there so that ponies know how they should act under the Princesses.

In short, being a Princess' assistant meant that Evergreen Bloom could do anything to fulfill Princess Cadance's wishes. And that she could go about her job with a clean conscience, because anything that Princess Cadance asked her to do was objectively right.

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I'm sure that Smiles' influence wont have any explosive results when it comes in contact with Equestria. He's said he'd keep any fires to "a minimum" after all

Because just like the flowers in the garden, ponies also belong to the Princesses in this great garden called Equestria. And the Princesses' laws are there so that ponies know how they should act under the Princesses.

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...kinky

 

[Venerable Ro]

In which we are granted ultimate authority over the nation and everything in it, which is somehow incredibly inconvenient. The irony, we could never have done anything like this on purpose.

This isn't what "those who do not wish to rule are best suited to it" means.

 

[Shaper47]

Actually can we start giving ourselves some kickbacks here?

 

[Steady Gaze]

"… she asked you to run Equestria, Commissioner Velvet, until she comes back."

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Pretty funny update to read after we've decided to go adventuring on a Long Expedition

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We've made our choices and cast our dice, truly, no turning back now.

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I know there's no italicized text saying this, but my interpretation of the update is that we straight up cannot go on the expedition anymore. Or, at least, it now makes no sense roleplay-wise for Velvet to abandon an explicitly given duty like that.

A bit dramatic, but now the choice of whether to go on the expedition or not feels like

[ ] Commit treason by leaving Equestria completely rudderless
[ ] Do what the princess told you to do

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so I would have to strongly consider changing my vote for roleplay reasons given this new information.

At least we dedicated some AP to helping Cadance already or I imagine we'd be forced to use some for this.

Actually, @OurLadyOfWires, is the vote still open?

should close later today or tomorrow

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I feel like this update is materially new info for the reasons above. And how does leaving during this crisis work narratively? (If it works at all.)

I guess I can think of a couple narrative solutions:

• Selene shapeshifts into Velvet and runs Equestria for us for a bit… it doesn't feel quite right to me, but maybe it would work. But we'd have to hope nothing truly bad happens. And, uh, never tell anyone we blew off running the country for personal reasons.
• The crisis happens to end sooner than the expedition starts, so there isn't actually a conflict.

 

[ses]

I know there's no italicized text saying this, but my interpretation of the update is that we straight up cannot go on the expedition anymore. Or, at least, it now makes no sense roleplay-wise for Velvet to abandon an explicitly given duty like that.

A bit dramatic, but now the choice of whether to go on the expedition or not feels like
so I would have to strongly consider changing my vote for roleplay reasons given this new information.

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I'm pretty sure this only covers the 5 AP we were going to spend anyway. This is just how us spending that AP is manifesting.

Like, 4 AP is a full time job's worth of investment. We are absolutely covering what the Princess is asking us to do, and we're spending 5 AP worth of time no matter what we do. We explicitly are not being given the option to spend more effort on it by not going to the expedition. That's just not in the cards as an option we're being offered.

 

[OurLadyOfWires]

Actually, @OurLadyOfWires, is the vote still open?

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Oh, yeah, no, sorry.

Voting is very much closed, and you're going on that Expedition.

It's just that I like to think that, although you as players decide on Velvet's ultimate actions, she has her own plans ahead of time and THOSE change all the time. Until her final actions ultimately reflect your vote.

So very soon Velvet will look at her own plans on how she wished she could have spent this month and go "FUCKIDDLESTICKS!" as she desperately reorients her schedule to fit in "Rule Equestria" in her very busy agenda.
To the detriment of things like "Sleep" and "Lunch Pause" of course.

 

[ses]

Oh, yeah, no, sorry.

Voting is very much closed, and you're going on that Expedition.

It's just that I like to think that, although you as players decide on Velvet's ultimate actions, she has her own plans ahead of time and THOSE change all the time. Until her final actions ultimately reflect your vote.

So very soon Velvet will look at her own plans on how she wished she could have spent this month and go "FUCKIDDLESTICKS!" as she desperately reorients her schedule to fit in "Rule Equestria" in her very busy agenda.
To the detriment of things like "Sleep" and "Lunch Pause" of course.

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So what you're saying is that those zombies we raised that are covering our bases are making us our food and hoof feeding it to us while we WORK

 

[Greymere]

And we're not even getting overtime pay for it!

 

[Steady Gaze]

"FUCKIDDLESTICKS!"

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Props for the lore-accurate swear.

Random thought: With access to the royal treasury, I eagerly await the vote on whether to embezzle or not! (Hay, we already have control over the Bureau's budget.)

 

[Sveta08]

Alicornhood is so much more complicated to get than just finding Harmony I can't even properly articulate how wrong this sounds.

And that was not the proper Path to Victory, just a cool sidequest.

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grumble grumbles

Now is not the time for me to start pulling at those threads. But, regardless.

grumble grumbles

 

[ses]

I wonder what the thread arguments looked like over in the Cadance!Quest negaverse over which Confidante to promote to Hoof of the Princess for the sorely needed Cover Your Bases AP

Shining Armor: "The most trustworthy option, clearly isn't qualified"
Evergreen Bloom: "Obviously yandere and the only reason she isn't listed as a Minion on our character sheet is because Cadance doesn't want to think about it and will probably do something crazy like start a literal cult dedicated to us"
Fair Trial: Claimed to be the sane choice by the anti-Velvet faction. "Unfortunately due to AP hell and bad rolls we still don't actually have her as a full Confidante yet so we can't really ask her no-questions-asked"
Midday Dew: "Obviously not an option, not going to thrust our pet mad scientist into ruling Equestria"
Velvet Covers: "Our best Confidante, who we are sure is trustworthy but aren't sure isn't secretly the Big Bad. We have this argument every turn and it never goes anywhere but it'd be really embarrassing to hand over ultimate power only for her to have been the source of the Bad Color all along. May be possessed by the Sirens (what the heck was up with that social action two turns ago?!?)"

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

Velvet Covers: "Our best Confidante, who we are sure is trustworthy but aren't sure isn't secretly the Big Bad. We have this argument every turn and it never goes anywhere but it'd be really embarrassing to hand over ultimate power only for her to have been the source of the Bad Color all along"

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So true, to what happen in quest. Every single turn the same arguments that never change, with the same outcome.

 

[Sveta08]

This update is rank with the color of Harmony, even if you cannot see it. But that is alright. It is only natural to focus on the printed words, and ignore the paper upon which they are written.

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hums hums hums

Blast and balderdash. Not there and not there and not there...
Not in hidden word or lost text or source file nor page format, nor anything anywhere you can't see.
Not in post number not in post length or word count nor character, not in extra spaces for sentence and structuring, not in anything that is real and hidden.
Curses. Joys.

It is a narrative.
It's Harmony.
It is as it is as it is.

Well that's gonna keep me up at night.

 

[Shaper47]

I guess I can think of a couple narrative solutions:

• Selene shapeshifts into Velvet and runs Equestria for us for a bit… it doesn't feel quite right to me, but maybe it would work. But we'd have to hope nothing truly bad happens. And, uh, never tell anyone we blew off running the country for personal reasons.
• The crisis happens to end sooner than the expedition starts, so there isn't actually a conflict.

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Well Mareinette could step in, she's ruled Equestria before afterall.

She's even befriended now.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

As much fun as thinking up solutions is, no vote has been presented and the QM straight up said Velvet is just going to sacrifice sleep and meals in order to have the time to get shit done. Besides, Cadance asked Velvet to run the kingdom, not Mareinette.

What does make me curious though is that Velvet's sons explicitly do not enter their mother's domain while she is calling the shots there, and her domain has suddenly become the entire kingdom with her calling the shots for the entire kingdom. Either they're going on a road trip to yakyakistan or they are furiously examining all of the sudden "do not fuck with this" barriers to figure out how best to peripherally fuck with things.

Oh shit
Oh shit we run Eclipse for a bit now
Huh.

 

[Shaper47]

To the detriment of things like "Sleep" and "Lunch Pause" of course.

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Looks like her Heart and Winter lores are going to be used a lot here.

Really could use more Heart Lore.

Oh well the other lores can probably pick up the slack.

 

[spiderhellian]

Oh, here's a thought.

An Alicorn can be created when an Outsider is borne into this world by Harmony

An Alicorn can be made, somehow, with the light of Harmony suffusing a soul until it shines.

So what would it mean for an Alicorn to be born? It would be some other force — one latent, strong, limited in its existing form — being brought into the world.

That really is the tightest glimpse of Harmony we've ever seen, eh?

It makes me really wonder what the thing discussed here is.

You know there is only one way for me to stop existing.

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How does Harmony end?

 

[dcoconeo]

How does Harmony end?

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Wasn't that talking about her death? (It seems like we have moved up one die on the Celestia ladder, but that now she and Cadance are both unavailable. Hopefully?)

 

[Alan975]

Surprise surprise, Sveta was right again.
I will not learn from this.


If it ever becomes an option, I'd say that we shouldn't vote for ransacking the kingdoms treasury pretty please-

Oh shit we run Eclipse for a bit now

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-but that, that is worth meddling with.

How does Harmony end?

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sooo... miscarriage if harmony gets pushed of the top of the totem pole?
Would be a tragedy, but I'm not a fan of how its touching her brain so directly.
Only we are allowed to do that!

 

[Greymere]

Wasn't that talking about her death? (It seems like we have moved up one die on the Celestia ladder, but that now she and Cadance are both unavailable. Hopefully?)

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We haven't had the roll yet to determine whether Cadance succeeds or fails yet. At the very least we still have Dinner to do before we get there, and potentially some other stuff depending on how Bird decides to line things up and what we can shift the schedule on.

@OurLadyOfWires out of curiosity, when does Luna's Soothe the Night roll happen in relation to Cadance's roll?

 

[DelightedOne]

At the very least we still have Dinner to do before we get there, and potentially some other stuff depending on how Bird decides to line things up and what we can shift the schedule on.

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Going by what I think the turn would be like, in a loose order of events...

Before Roll:
-AotL
-The Shattered Stairways
-(Mareinette) Honored Guest: Mayor Mare
-Dinner
-Rich's FO
-Moth Sacrament
-Introduce Heart to the Bureau
-Summon a Mare-in-the-Light


During Roll:
-Expedition


After Roll:
-(Selene) Soothe the night
-(Jade) Study Moth 3 artifact
-(Detectives) Investigate Neighnia
-(Researchers) Study the Thing.
-Acquire a dead body
-[FORGE] Level 4 reagent (80 bits)
- [FORGE] Purify a level 6 Forge Reagent (110 bits)
-Help Smiles (x2)
-"Is It Free Real Estate?" Expedition

 

[spiderhellian]

@OurLadyOfWires out of curiosity, when does Luna's Soothe the Night roll happen in relation to Cadance's roll?

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Just imagine…

Cadance: I… did it. I did it? I did it! Celestial is okay. Well, she's not okay. But she's not going to explode, not yet at least. The sun will fall and rise, at least one more time.

Luna: COWABUNGA IT IS! 1d100 = 7!

Cadance: Here we go again!