I know the thread will interpret that only in regard to Mareinette... but honestly I'm suspecting that the Forge's Redemption option may end up being very very dangerous. I'm sure everyone will chime in Mareinette fear, but honestly I think Mareinette/Cadance friendship could turn out well.
oh, they're BOTH very risky options, it's more than clear.
It's just different risks. One is about Mareinette influencing Cadance (and maybe viceversa), and potentially putting unborn Flurry Heart in danger.
The other is about putting US in danger by, you know, risking exposure to heal Shining.
Importantly, on Turn 19 you revealed Luna to her, but you told her that "I will explain you everything later" and she told you that "I trust you on this so I will wait".
...yeah, you know what? I think it's later NOW!
I'm leaning toward the Lore introduction simply because I don't think the Forge's Redemption is worth the investment right now. However, the Lore option does come with aspects I'm wary about. Mainly, the risk of Celestia noticing Cadance, and the potential of Mareinette somehow perverting Cadance's definition of love to convince her to do something awful.
But including Mareinette in Cadance's introduction of the Lores is a step toward befriending her, and there are far too many issues that would come from not befriending Mareinette.
(Also, if we take some friendly actions with Mareinette, her requests for re-binding might be less impermissible? Maybe? Hopefully?)
To be fair, Discord WAS a monster, and he was reformed by
friendship with Fluttershy. There's a decent argument that Mareinette is NOT as bad as Discord was.
So yes, I CAN see this being a good first step towards some kind of real friendship and reformation for Mareinette... Just like there was a genuine chance that friendship with the Master was possible. Even that it could have been possible AFTER he was...
reborn as Cadance's son.
it's just a very real risk. and revealing the flank is another risk, if more from raising the chances of Celestia finding out somehow (now, or later if Shining tries to have us heal Twilight too and SHE blabs, or because he meets Celestia and she notices the horn and asks the right/wrong questions...
I'm less paranoid about Mareinette involvement now that I was on first skim, but the facts stand: Silky/pride pick is the only one without risks. It's also the only option in which we're NOT revealing anything new to Cadance though.
With the other two we're revealing lores (and maybe our summons) to Cadance, or we're revealing our magical healing ritual that can un-cripple her husband.
many. so did Twilight.
It was maybe our biggest mistake, really. We should have probably broken Twilight's faith in Celestia, preventing the kidnapping.
Alternatively, we should have painted Twilight as a potential RECRUIT so that the Cult wouldn't have imprisoned her but instead tried for a "friendlier" approach.
and then we were also unlucky in that we lost the grail influence due to Mareinette snacking on us, and then partly due to that failed the last roll we had in our meeting with Twilight where we MIGHT have been able to salvage things by mentioning the Forge ritual.
Moon did not feel like a good ending. We are undoing what The Forge of Days did. The worms are kind of stopped, yes. But this will mean the return of everything that was forgotten and without which this era is better. With this ending, the ubiquitous cults will return and, most importantly, the endless wars between the hours will return and the world will be washed in blood again.
keep in mind that, to be fair,
Equestria is NOT the world.
Equestria is... well, WAS, fairly peaceful, but it's also a peace born of ignorance and the protectiong of a demi-goddess.
There's likely plenty of war and suffering in the REST of the world, for all we know.
Harmony and Glory. These are good options, but... I don't think we know enough yet to say which one is better.
To be fair it's probably irrelevant. We're too close to Glory, and while we might take another step or two towards Harmony depending on the results from the Memory of Light action chain, it's probably too late to fully pivot to that.
My hope is that the endings are not mutually exclusive. that harmony progress WILL matter if we pursue glory ending, or that the quest might continue after the All In expedition, either controlling a Long Velvet, or maybe controlling a successor instead in some kind of apostle run (in the Cultist Simulator game a standard victory makes you a Long (Forge, Grail or Lantern, by either reforging yourselves, giving birth to yourself, or becoming a being of "thought" that lives in the Mansus), and then you unlock a special second run where one of your cultists has to prepare a special ritual for you to ascend to Name status too (by basically creating and using an eldritch Nuclear Bomb, preparing a SPECIAL Grail banquet ceremony, or basically using hundreds of dreamers' souls as fuel for your ascension. Worth pointing out that this cultist main character dies in the process by the way... though they seem happy to have achieved their purpose)
Mother of Wolves... someone will say that some life is better than none. Send the person who says this to Warhammer 40,000. Let him reincarnate there and repeat these words.
to be fair while life in 40k USUALLY sucks...
dying in 40k is oftentimes even WORSE.
Death there could basically be a wintery end, a new beginning through reincarnation... or you're unlucky and a daemon gets you.
...though hey, not EVERYONE is miserable in 40k! the Orks seem pretty happy for example!
See, I'd be more convinced of this sort of reasoning if the Quest has not made it abundantly clear that Names clown on young Alicorns. Luna got absolutely dumpstered by the Master on accident, and even after getting Lore Levels she realizes she is no match for Axe on any level. I really don't want Cadance's understanding of Grail to be molded by the most pro-cannibalism entity currently in existence who is also amazingly skilled at gaslighting in all forms. Sure, she probably can't get Cadance to eat Flurry Heart, but there are plenty of other ponies to pounce on.
well, not for Axe
in the Wake.
going by raw numbers, she's actually stronger than Axe when going all out
as a summon.
Of course Axe is not in theory
free. Could she bring MORE of herself to the Wake, if she wanted? Who knows...
That said, even Longs and Names are not invincible. if you're not an Hour, you're potentially vulnerable to enough determined mortals.
Well, MAYBE full-power Names would be beyond mortal's reach... but we never really see how dangerous they can be when they're not holding back...
Currently, that seems to be so.
She wants to know Velvet, she wants Velvet to know her.
To share the wonderful insights of Grail and the potential pleasure of Velvets most regrettable act.
She wants a friend, someone that would understand.
If we go all in without her however, do you expect her not to retaliate?
Or maybe she'd go at it in the other direction, because who just got a mark that could point to them being an excellent cultist?
Perhaps she'd raised Silky as her own, be it for slaughter or revenge.
I remember posting an analysis of Mareinette that Bird seemed to approve of. The short of it is that while Mareinette is a monster, she's probably also both grateful and intrigued by /curious about Velvet.
There are STRONG parallels between them, as mothers who dabble in Grail, and Velvet is an extremely skilled and talented cultist. from quest start (though technically she dabbled in the eldritch a bit for years before that) she went from a normal mortal mare to
a sacrament, a realization, and all the other lores at Confidant Certainty.
She
performed a ritual as a child by mistake, affecting ALL HISTORIES.
She's the "mother" of an outsider. She's a shadowy player in a game between
demigods, and she
actually brought the END of one of them
So, Velvet has the potential to stand as an equal to Mareinette, in time. AND Mareinette is likely grateful because we saved her from her confinement in the Church (really, how did she get there, and WHY could she not leave on her own? Who knows...)
Of course, Mareinette has her own priorities. She can waste a few months, nay even a few YEARS, trying to subtly entrench herself in our life, making us closer to herself so we might ACTUALLY become closer.
Even monsters want friends.
And as someone who has lived for millennia she does not get easily frustrated, she can enjoy the
anticipation and wait for the prize.
Even if we didn't renew her bindings (which, remember, she COULD break whenever she wants) I'm fairly confident she won't act DIRECTLY against us.
...
unless we provoke her first.
Simply put, as long as we don't try to kill her I think she'll never act against us. She'll PROBABLY hold back SOME of her monstrous insticts too, though we can't be sure of that.
So friendship with her is actually possible... except we know what
the path to that requires. It's a high cost, as Sacraments are changes to your soul,
sacrifices.
It's not just eating ONE pony. It's... a sacrifice of innocence. of decency.
you become someone for whom eating ponies is not a crime.
We made a promise to Cadence that we'd start bringing her on board and introducing her to the truth.
Having her befriend a Name and get a loose introduction to the lores does that.
Showing her our flank and enlightening her to FR does that.
Going to Silky does not do that.
Given that the entire thing starts with having them get back together instead of being separated, yeah. Let's not keep Cadance at an arms length.
...Oh My Hours, I'm actually agreeing with Shaper for once
So I want you to ask yourself, for just one moment. What does Cadence want. What would Mareinette see that Cadence wants.
She wants friends. She wants an escape for a time. To not have to think to be the ruler and to just be Cadence. She wants to be able to give people the answers they are looking for. Wants to be the reasuring pillar they want for her to be. And to be the giddy recently married mare she is. To have friends and laugh and drink and not have to be perfect Princess Cadence.
I believe, Mareinette can help with that. Every bit of that. As a friend, as an advisor, as a companion. As a Mother, once.
and that's both an opportunity, and also a very scary thing...
I'm at page 369! so close!