Considering the number of unspeakable acts Velvet committed to make sure this wedding happened, we've gone beyond declaration or even decree.
At this point, it's a threat.
More of a statement
While mechanically true, I feel like you're glossing over some narrative implications. We've already had this sort of thing before in the quest; we call ourselves a good person, but when given the opportunity, will we actually make the selfless decision? All of the other choices are purely to our benefit - if we want the moral high ground, helping everyone else instead is the best option.
Of course not all good deeds go unpunished. We TRIED to help Twilight, and...
Alright, I'm going to argue for picking option #2 (Midday Dew) real quick.
Firstly, as I've already mentioned, this seems to be our chance to get an "in" on laundering the Lores in a way that isn't extremely risky, complicated, or both. If Midday Dew "discovers" the Lores, there will (by necessity) be a gap in time between ponies beginning to learn and study the Lores, and Equestria finding out about the Path Through Nightmares. Since, as a reminder, the two-aspect circle was located on the back of the Blank Door, and even if it is written down in a book somewhere in the Canterlot archives... well you still need to know to look for it, and searching that deep into the archives will take time. It also means that Equestria and Celestia will be finding out about the Lores in a way that is (or at least appears to be) entirely disconnected from Velvet. And it's not like Velvet hasn't already shown herself to be able to be subtle about leading ponies into the Lores; hell, we initiated Rarity into Grail basically on accident, and we know... a lot more now.
Secondly, this isn't just (possibly) an opportunity for Velvet to guide Dew into the Lores. This is an opportunity to get Dew in on the Velvet Conspiracy(tm). Which is to say, convince him to help us hide the whole "our Lore levels are way way higher than they should be" thing. After all, we're being explicitly told that he is vulnerable, pliable, and willing to make compromises to keep Equestria safe. If that means keeping quiet on how Commissioner Velvet Covers seems unusually knowledgable on these matters and making excuse for why she seems to be learning so quickly to the point of outpacing everyone else... well, that's really a small price to pay in exchange for the knowledge on how to protect ponykind, isn't it Midday Dew? (says Grail 4 Velvet with an Incarnadescence)
Third, having metaphorical leverage over Dew when he starts to delve into the Lores likely means that we could push him into getting the Bureau involved re: learning the Lores sooner than we would if we followed any of the tentative "plant Lore bait somewhere" plans that have been thrown around so far. After all, even if the Crown begins to study the Lores in earnest, that doesn't help us much (and in fact puts us in more danger) if the Bureau doesn't also get to learn the tasty Lore bits.
Edit: And, just to point out this doesn't just benefit ourselves (re: not dying), it does also benefit Equestria as a whole if Eclipse & the Bureau can get access to the Lores, considering that the cult splinters are still out there, Lore knowledge is going to spread outside of our control regardless and likely result in even more splinters popping up, and that there are still a plethora of big bad threats in Equestria that will show up at some point. The soonest (hypothetically) being Sombra. And Equestria doesn't have a (functional) Elements of Harmony anymore (which is our fault, but still). Plus, getting the Lores into Eclipse and the Bureau is pretty much Step 1 of being able to heal Shining Armor and Twilight's horns.
Good points
We don't even need to reveal to him we're this far high in the lores. we can fake learning as he does, being "in" on cult research from the start, and later on when we have the bureau find the books (probably in the canterlot expedition site) we can also have Velvet be part of the "research", and have her understand those books and lessons better than anyone else.
And then she starts discovering more, and basically we get a decent excuse to build up more of an Occult Library for Eclipse, to which the Bureau Agents would also (ideally) get access.
Maybe we can at that point also justify getting free books, basically from Eclipse's or the Bureau's budget. Basically Velvet becomes the Loremaster of Eclipse AND the Bureau.
Honestly, acting like we have the moral high ground is kind of a self-delusion at this point. Making all the other ponies happy is just a band-aid fix at this point. There are too many other problems boiling under the surface for it to last. Choosing that option is effectively choosing Harmony's option--something we royally screwed up after what happened with Twilight. If we really want to fix things, our best option is to reach The Glory as fast as possible. If we linger, that just means something else might come up that will force us to pick another Regrettable action.
There are so many things that can go wrong. Cadance taking our understanding of the lores the wrong way. Our ongoing cult war. Everything about Celestia.
We have a goal, so let's pursue it. We can be nice when possible, but not when it causes us to lose out on an explicit step forward.
I just want to point out we have no confirmation that once we reach the Glory we've won.
Mostly because... the Forge closed the way, but presumably
also passed through the Tricuspid before sealing it.
So, in theory, the Forge of Days and the Sun In Splendor should
be there, beyond the Tricuspid. And I have to wonder what happens once we go in there.
And even if they're no longer there, because maybe they died AGAIN or something... then what?
(I kind of wonder if they might have turned into Alukites in there...)
in the game, passing the tricuspid makes you a LONG. that's the bare minimum that should happen. But there's no Hours to make us Names, and I'm not quite sure passing through the Tricuspid is enough to become an actual Hour.
So, personally, I think that we'll get a MAJOR advantage from passing through (as we'd AT LEAST become a Long, with all that implies), but I also think it's not the end of the game.
on another note, I also don't think we're
ready for a confrontation with Discord, if the outsider is actually him... then again, maybe he's still stoned, in which case we might be able to ritually kill him? That's possible. Maybe even likely.
Well, this is a rather nice day. To be honest, Velvet needed it at least as much as Cadance did.
Never the less, our options. The first one, with Fair Trial is... Nice, but I can't say that it is nice enough. While it is an "in", it is a distinctly impersonal "in", because while Fair Trial is grateful, it isn't really Velvet Covers who has helped her. At best, it is "Commissioner Velvet Covers", at worst, "the Lunar Bureau". Don't get me wrong, it is not bad, and it is an in - with time, it will develop in genuine relationship, but it is just that - nothing more. Hopefully - hopefully - we will get other chances to get an in, even if it will happen slightly later.
The second option is better. Unlike with Fair Trial, Midday does connect with "Velvet Covers", or at worst with a "Loremaster". Like it says, he is pliable and vulnerable, and getting an in with the Eclipse would be rather useful. We wouldn't even need to smuggle the lores, not directly - let him "discover" them. Unlike us, he - hopefully! - doesn't have any skeletons in his closet. He'll be fine with a little more scrutiny.
The third option doesn't seem that appealing to me. Yes, it is directly working to "win", rather than "not to lose", but it doesn't give us anything critical. Yes, it accelerates the timeline, but we do know that Discord is an outsider - the Master called him one back in the beginning of the quest. While it seems appealing, I, frankly speaking, do not consider us to be ready to deal with him yet. Sure, not having to do research is nice, and frees some AP - and we are in permanent AP hell - but it is just that. For now, I think I'll pass this option. For once, it is not just knowledge we need, but power. Possibly power of friendship (aka having your friends punch your enemies in the face), but power still.
The Royal option is really appealing to me, for that simple reason that it does something - even if we don't know how much - about our main problem. Really, consider it: the Cult is dead. The Master is dead. Starry has walked into the dark and not being a problem yet - I don't think we can ignore her, but we don't need to race against her either, not yet. Windy is concerning, we will need to check on him, but there's a limit on how quickly he can recover losses. Copper is a problem, but we are distinctly at advantage against her (we have 3+ Names against her 1, and we have Alicorns to give us implicit protection). Our biggest problem is not getting vaporised by the Angry Sun Horse, really. Also, well. This is from SV:
Doing something to defuse it, or even possibly move a little towards defusing it is the most prudent course of action, I think. While winning is crucial, so is not losing (even if we shouldn't overdo it). Plus, it seems it does something else for Cadance, and that is even better. She and Luna will be our primary defenders, it seems.
Finally, option number 5. It's fine, I guess? But I think even partial success is good enough - the wedding should help even if we don't choose this option, both at calming the ponies and calming Cadance. So, it's fine, but pass - I don't think we should overcommit. We have way too many problems for that.
The more I read, the more I'm thinking Midday Dew might be the best medium to long term option.
Outsider is best if we assume we can then quickly find and kill it and then ascend to Glory, AND that no more problems after that will manifest. I doubt it's that easy.
the harmony spreads option is probably the best
in the short term for Equestria, and I wonder if there might be knock-on effects and consequences... maybe the harmony and love will somehow reach Twilight? Then again it might just be what it says. A more peaceful Equestria is useful, but... not THAT useful right now, compared to only a moderately peaceful one?
I agree with Fair Trial not being that interesting right now, and Celestia is kind of a mystery box. Though with Luna about to return I'm willing to ignore Celestia now as she'll get some focus soon anyway.
What BritBiscuit is saying. Because remember, this is what Cadence is currently thinking:
Right now, she thinks that Celestia has left her. And it is true, you know? In 4 out of 5 options, Celestia - functionally Cadance's mother figure - is not even there. At all. On the most special day of her life. She might as well be dead.
And it was like that for about a year now. First, Celestia abandoned her to search for Luna. Understandable, excusable, but excuses do not heal wounds inflicted. Then, she Celestia was absent because Chrysalis!Luna was draining her. Again, not Celestia's fault, but she wasn't there for Cadance. Then, well. Then, Angry Sun Horse.
For a year, Celestia gave Cadance at best a few phrases a day. Maybe less, possibly much less.
Cadance can't bring herself to hate her. Maybe she can't. But it is not a healthy relationship.
Cadance says happiness of everypony would bring her joy, but it is not the whole truth, isn't it? It was incredibly important to her that she is marrying Shining. So, in situation like this...
Wouldn't knowledge that Cadence's mother did not forget her would be incredibly uplifting? Even if it is just a small step, it will give Cadance hope.
Harmony is important, and ponykind is its foundation, but it is the Alicorns that are its Champions. Harmony needs that wound healed just as well, and if Celestia doesn't show up...
Can she make up for that, in the future?
And this is love. Motherhood is a part of Cadance's domain. This is a wound that Cadance can, perhaps, endure, but is is a wound that otherwise would be left to fester, rot, scar.
interesting insight.
Indeed, Celestia's presence will mean a LOT to Cadance. Right now, she only has two loved ones in her life, really.
Shining Armor, and Velvet.
There's, I suppose, Twilight, though we don't know how their meeting went. But Twilight is not in a good place.
This visit from Celestia could mean a lot. and we don't know what the gift is.
and this might compound with Luna's return next turn.
Why would we want to do this?
Moving up the worms victory condition seems like a bad idea.
Shaper, I'll tell you to you straight: Don't be like that.
From all we know, Harmony is a force for good. It MIGHT be ignorant of the Lores. It's heavily implied it has limited agency.
But NOTHING has even implied it being IN ANY WAY on the Worm's side.
The Master assumed that the lights of Harmony would bring the worms to Equestria and destroy it. But They might very well have been wrong.
The lights of harmony could destroy lesser worms. It's very much possible that, as Harmony became stronger, it would have become able to passively kill even stronger Worms. There's a very good chance that by preventing Twilight's ascension we might have actually improved the Worm's position.
Honestly, we just don't know enough to tell of Harmony's nature, and of if it would have been strong enough to stop the Worms on its own, but... well, if we go by canon, the show ends with an implied new golden age starting.
...then again, then we get "MLP Next Generation", where another age of separation and the disappearance of magic came. So who knows.
The Worms don't even win if Velvet loses, as we instead take over Soft Sweeps and proceed to Wolfmax to victory.
Which is admittedly suboptimal, but at least it's not the Worms.
technically we don't know what happens if we lose. Best Guess is we play as Soft Sweeps, but even then it doesn't mean wolf ending is the only option.
Just as a random reminder, but I'll point out that Celestia does have access to Lore artifacts, and we once could have asked her for one as a gift.
It was implied the Changeling got most of them and destroyed or stole them though.
Er, that's literally how it works.
Harmony shinning attracts worms, Harmony shinning even brighter attracts more and bigger worms.
We even have two victory conditions that revolve around getting Harmony to stop it with this worm attacting malarkey.
but also Harmony shining brighter KILLS more worms more easily.
Just a reminder to everyone one way or another Luna is coming back soon which will either solve or drastically change the Celestia situation. Making actions to try to change that slightly will likely soon be overshadowed.
unless it compounds.
A Celestia that's more hopeful might be more willing to go with Luna's story (if she's on our side) and requests.
and we still don't know what the gift is. It might be an artifact, but who knows of what kind.
Right now what comes to mind is the amulet she gives Twilight to control the Sun and Moon near the end of the show.
See, this is why the Mansus fell. People kept power bombing each other into the supports and the foundations all willy-nilly for power or strife or whatever other crazed notions popped into their heads.
not really?
The Mansus fell because the Forge of Days, the strongest of the Hours (I think), did "something", the Sun-In-Splendor came back, the Mansus was kinda broken when the Moth ascended and burned into Glory and then the Forge of Days closed the Tricuspid, basically removing the reason for the climb and gifting eternal despair to any adept who reached the top.
Mumble mumble for-the-millionth-time-you-are-basically-locked-into-Glory-ending-at-this-point mumble mumble
I am patient. I will repeat this as many times as needed. Especially given how we just returned from a rather long pause.
oh, ok, we're locked in Glory Ending.
I actually forgot that.
I still kind of expect there to be further steps once we unlock the Tricuspid. Like, another challenge,
Then again, every time we passed through a gate we gained power, and this would AT LEAST make us a Long. Maybe we actually need to find the Key to the Tricuspid after this, to open it
in the reverse direction? That's how you ascend to Namehood in CS, so I could see the next step being having to basically do that, except with no Hours left we actually go from Long to Hour...
...I'm kinda wondering what happens if we climb the Tower to the Moon though.
I'd still do it because I expect some bonuses. I'm kinda hoping the House of the Moon might have mentors capable of teaching sacraments...
Well, I'm leaning Midday Dew (to have a way to introduce the Lores and learn them that's justified), but Celestia and Harmony are fine too.
I'm uninterested in Lady Fair Trial, and I think we're not quite ready for the Outsider yet.
