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

[Venerable Ro]

Oh, there's an idea, I was wondering what would happen if we tried to let Twilight talk to Twilight, hash things out between the two of them, I wonder if there's some way we could set them up passing messages back and forth.

If we were ever to draw Twilght's attention then the opportunity to talk to a mirrored version of herself might do it.

Honestly, "Sci-Twi" seems to be in a pretty stable (if unhappy) place, I genuinely don't see a reason to hurry into anything. Axe is likely to be, pretty pleased with the results of this excursion, so I doubt it would be too much of an imposition to ask her to reopen the Foggy Mirror. Heck, the text of the Sacrament explicitly states that Axe can reopen the Way as many times as needed.

So, I propose that we declare that whole promise thing to be an overhasty slip and utilize this matter as the proper opportunity that it is. It takes a Twilight to understand a Twilight, let's let Harmony make its bones with the whole "friendship is magic thing".

I also want to sit down to tea with Cadance and just open with "so I was wandering around in a parallel dimension I found on the other side of a Foggy Mirror and I met another Twilight Sparkle who desperately needs care and support, you think you could help me with that?"

Edit: remember that whole "awaken Luna immediately by shredding the blanket" ritual? I'm of a mind to consider this Twilight-swap thing to be of a similar stripe. It would work as described, but it would be a crude and needlessly destructive solution. [The Rite Of The Father And Mother] was a far kinder and better resolution.

 

[Random Anon]

[] Now that you can reach the city center, it is time to explore it properly. Check the stores, see the sights, and discover what wondrous things this world considers mundane.
[] Now that you can reach the city center, it is time to explore even beyond that. Map the roads, learn the rules, and seek the very end of this dream.

[] Alright, WHERE is Stormchaser? (Look for your dear beloved)

[] Apparently, they are not alicorns here. But they are still the highest authority. (Approach the Principals)

After expending two pseudo turns on exploring the nature on the Matrix, I'm very interested in not just leaving and completely ignoring it. I'm pretty sure we'll get useful stuff out of this.

I'm less sure about the Stormchaser and Principals, but if we're going for the first two, one of these looks like the best third option. Principals in order to be able to deal/help with Celestia in the real world, or Stormchaser to leave Mirror Velvet in a better place/fulfill this dimension's purpose as a place of love.

About Twilight. Holy shit. Seems like the best possible action for her would have been never to approach her in the first place (it rhymes!).

Now that we've actually done so, I'm partial to leaving Mirror Twilight in the Mirror, and talking with Unicorn Twilight if possible. I'm not completely against doing the switch, but it sounds like an absolutely monstrous thing to do (what the hell Velvet?).

 

[spiderhellian]

Do you think those opportunities will be worth more than the friendship and permanent presence of another Name and bringing a powerful scryer online who can find artifacts that will directly improve our ability to complete All In?

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Hey, I think we can still get one action back and do the study. But I think those goodies will be better than Jade's next action, yes! And I trust her to scry a book.

Honestly, "Sci-Twi" seems to be in a pretty stable (if unhappy) place,

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…if you can't see the cruelty in where we'd
leave her, I don't know what to say.

I also think operating like we can just come back is misguided. What, we're going to take an action to talk to Twilight or tell Cadance to talk to Twilight, and tell her the person who ruined her life has this idea of sending her to a mirror realm? Spend another action to come back here, and however more AP are required in the mirror realm to make it happen?

That would be an awful use of the very precious resource that is our time.

If we want this to happen, we do it now. If we don't, we don't. Let's not paint worlds where we do it better when we do not have that luxury.

 

[Greymere]

Hey, I think we can still get one action back and do the study. But I think those goodies will be better than Jade's next action, yes! And I trust her to scry a book.

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I don't want the mare who already has self-esteem issues regarding failure, which we only just had to re-mitigate this very turn, to be the one responsible for scrying a book that would have been rare and hidden and special even by the standards of the age of cultists. At least if we do it, there's no risk of setting off a depression spiral if we fail.

 

[Shaper47]

Would've thought you would advocate for Doing Nothing, considering how we will need to explain the changes to Cadance, Celestia and Beyond Reproach if he gets there down the line even if there is no immediate Suspicion cost?

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Twilight has been left to rot aside from our daughter.

Cadance is busy, also we have her locked down on our side.

Celestia is off dealing with Daybreaker and hasn't shown any intention of checking in so far.

Don't see why Beyond Reproach would investigate her so he's not a problem.

No, we've already spent two actions on this now it's time to not waste the results of those actions.

Oh, there's an idea, I was wondering what would happen if we tried to let Twilight talk to Twilight, hash things out between the two of them, I wonder if there's some way we could set them up passing messages back and forth.

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Because then Twilight would try to kill us.

Because Element Twilight finding enough hints to be suspicious turns her into a foe.

 

[Venerable Ro]

…if you can't see the cruelty in where we'd
leave her, I don't know what to say.

I also think operating like we can just come back is misguided. What, we're going to take an action to talk to Twilight or tell Cadance to talk to Twilight, and tell her the person who ruined her life has this idea of sending her to a mirror realm? Spend another action to come back here, and however more AP are required in the mirror realm to make it happen?

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I'm saying haste makes waste and I refuse to be frightened into doing something permanent after being told that I've made a commitment that I certainly don't remember making. We voted to look further into the Twilight situation, and we got useful information from Axe on the feasibility of moving otherdimensional Twilights around.

Now while a certain level of tutelage could be assumed from yon "let's follow up with Twilight" decision, giving her any sort of fairy-promise of taking her away to another world is simply beyond the pale. Therefore I'm honestly most of the way to considering it an OOC slip rather than believing that we've made such a commitment un-voted for.

What I'm saying is that we most certainly can come back, and that we do not need to go all the way to changeling-swaps to help our newfound Twilight. She wouldn't be expecting to come away with us if someone hadn't made promises in our name, and absent that regular productive correspondence and the occasional visit would most certainly be a vast improvement over her current situation.

Nor am I suggesting that pony!Twilight be summarily dumped through the Mirror so we can get an upgrade, I'm suggesting that she might appreciate a uniquely fascinating pen pal. On a similar note, I'm suggesting that Cadance, brought on as a "subject matter expert", as it were, from the beginning would be able to help us avoid kriffing everything up. Heck, Cadance could be exactly what Sci-Twi needs in her life.

On the matter of AP, I honestly don't know what else the readership expected from this, if they want a Twilight they'd better be prepared to commit.

 

[AuthorTransient]

My joking answer is to start a book club. My serious answer is that seeing the end of the dream will likely give us information that will need us to consider the whole thing again, so I say we table this discussion until we see the next results.

There is no turning back time. Whatsoever choice we make now will likely be cruel in some way. Time will march on either way.

 

[DelightedOne]

Wait, it is done already? Aww, I wanted more.

So we can take Twilight with us and her being a reflection helps... If I predicted things right I'll scream.

Oh my Glory, the story of those two and their family was beautiful, but she still could have done something to at least help free Axe.

I know it is a bit too late to worry about that but is anyone wondering how ponies will react to Velvet being gone for 4 AP worth of time?

[] Return home, with Diary, Frangiclave, and something else besides, and fulfill two promises you have made. (End the dream, bringing Twilight Sparkle with you, and redistribute your remaining action points.)

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About the human in the room... We are taking her right? I mean, it would be a waste to not do it and it is free!

Again, I implore the thread - this is an action that will define what Velvet Covers is willing to do.

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The bad choice train already left a while ago, we are just in it now.

We have an AotL lantern and still have that reroll, which gives us good odds at a study action on the Lantern artefact.

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Isn't it better to study the Moth 5 book with AotL?

 

[Biowolf]

Honestly now that we have completed the big objectives I kind of just want to fuck around in this world. I want to get on that interweb thing (or whatever the kids call it) and talk to applejack and Stormchaser.

Will it pay off with a big reward probably not, but it would be charming to read before we go back to the real world.

 

[Pittauro]

Except she doesn't live in the Matrix. The Matrix is all false except for its people. The school and its inhabitants are real, except for when they leave. It is extremely odder than the Matrix.

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not THAT much weirder.

It's basically a videogame world. when you leave your area/map, you fast travel to the new area and "vague memories" of the trip are downloaded in your long-term memory. It's a visual novel or JRPG where the time in between cutscenes and gameplay sessions is basically a hazy dream.

---

"So, can it be done?" you ask towards the mirror, looking at its foggy reflection and at the faint glow it somehow emits.

You ask that towards the mirror, because you know the Daughter-of-Axes is listening, on the other side of its misty surface.

"Ae… suppose it can, aye," she answers.

And you don't even bother to suppress the wave of triumph that her words create in your body. To the point that your hand, for some reason, involuntarily balls into a fist and makes a little upward motion.

"Bu' it wuidn' be simple as," she continues, her voice unusually serious as she thinks about complications you would never be able to even guess about. "She dinnae hav' th' Silver Kae, fer starters. An' then thar's the problem she dinnae kno' how tae avoid refraction problems…"

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...it CAN be done?!

damn. Now if we can do it without dooming the local Twilight, or making Celestia wary of a changeling...

Maybe it can be done post-All-In expedition... or we could use something like the Forge Ritual to change the way she looks? I mean, if we can repair a leg surely we can just... change the color of one's fur?

Because on one hand, the last time you interacted with her… every time you interacted with her, she has somehow ended up suffering.

You tried to teach her the Lores, and she nearly went insane. You told her to trust her mentor, and she rushed headfirst into a danger she was not prepared to face. You promised her you would save her, and then she suffered at the hoofs of the Cult, and then as a prisoner of Copper.

Through your actions, no matter how indirectly you were involved, you saw her lose her little dragon, and then the attention of her brother, and the very magic that was always so important to her.

As much as it pains you to admit it, sometimes you think it would have been better if you had never met her. And that, if you had never been introduced to her by Rarity that day, she might not have become the lifeless and hopeless husk that she is today.

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all true. It was the most unlucky mix of some bad decisions plus a LOT of just being unlucky, really.

But you are a very hard woman to corner. You have ways and ways and ways of avoiding unwanted scenarios. So, as much as it pained you (and as much as it agonized her), you have not spoken to her ever since you two last met in her little workshop.

However… that ends today.



"Miss Twilight? See me after class," you say, once again just a few moments before the bell rings.

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honestly, ignoring what this mean for Equestria's Twilight... we KNOW she is super-talented. She'd make for an AMAZING student/confidant, if we can deal with the complications...

You have no idea how hard this decision must be, especially for one so young. After all, you are asking if she wants to give up everything she ever had, in exchange for everything she ever wanted.

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Isn't that in a way a question every serious cultist has to confront?

To pursue the Glory is to often give up the real world.

A small smile appears on your face, as you recognize her expression.

It is the same expression you have, whenever you think of the Climb and the Glory.

It is the same expression every adept ever had, when they crossed the Branding Door.

It is the expression of ambition, and the willingness to leap over the abyss of failure for the chance to reach your heart's true desire.

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yeah, exactly.

This is a Twilight who never met her Celestia.

WE could be her Celestia...

Because now you know that, should you call her when you are ready to leave yourself, she will follow.

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...I'm ok with it, but there's questions to answers and problems to solve.

I don't want her to replace our Twilight. I also worry about her looking too much like Twilight, though I suppose a change in Manestyle, maybe some dye or a minor lore application to change coat color... it SHOULD be possible to make her look different enough.

And then we could, I don't know, fake her being a foreign immigrant.

It wasn't really the buses. Not exactly. The problem wasn't that you had to find a means of transportation to take you certain places.

Instead, it was the company you kept.

You haven't yet tried doing this with one of your students. Heaven knows you will only approach them when you have a clear goal in mind. However, one day, you asked one of your fellow faculty members where you could buy a certain item, and they answered you right away.

A few more choice words, and maybe a little convincing, and your fellow eventually agreed to accompany you there.

And that is how you finally reached the city center.

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interesting. So we got a partial success I think. There's potential in this path, though the question remains if we can take anything we get here back to Equestria...

The final bell just rang, the last of your students just waved you goodbye as he rushed to his locker, and once again you gave Twilight a soft shake of your head -not yet- before shooing her away back to her own home.

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Yeah, now she's impatient.

It's a bit sad and worrying she didn't hesitate for a second in giving up her local family, presumably her local Shining Armor... Then again they might not be that close. in EQG Shining Armor appears maybe ONCE, for a few seconds, as a student of Cadance in a different school if I remember right. EQG Twilight never mentions him at all...

Also Spike is a dog, not a person.

Because you can sense that someone is looking for you.

Someone you have already met.

Someone you have been waiting for.

Someone who smells like snakes.

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hey, with a bit of luck we finished Axe's errand with just two actions!

So, before you ever have the chance to take the medallion out of his hands, you somehow know… things. About him. About his life. About those he shared his life with. You have no idea how this just happened, or what this even means, but you still know these things nonetheless.

And now, you know that he is old.

You know that he smells like snakes.

You know that he is not a snake himself.

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Maybe it's the Sacrament? The Silver Key? Like recognizes Like.

Until one day, he finally met the woman who would become his wife.

She was a bit of a traveler, and so was he. She needed a little help, which he was happy to give. And she was committed to something akin to a quest. So, since he never really had any great ambitions in his life, he agreed to help her, even if only to spend one more day with her.

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...He fell in love with one of Axe's sisters?

Maybe that is why he had such a big family with her, as they traveled. Maybe that is why he had so many sons and daughters, and they in turn had so many grandchildren, while they went from place to place.

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...No Crime of the Sky? Either it doesn't apply to Immortal-mortal pairs, or she wasn't a Long-Name... or there's no such Crime in this dimension...

"So, we stayed together. And we watched our children grow, and we watched each other grow older. Until finally… she left us, with a smile on her face and the promise that she lived a life worth living. She died, Miss Covers, even though she left a promise unfulfilled. Even though… deep down, I know she did not have to."

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...Maybe a Long that visits here loses their Long-hood? After all they're not in their original body... Their IMMORTAL Body...

He never really understood everything about her. Despite their bond, he realized there were still secrets he never told her.

Probably because he wanted to keep him safe, you soon realized. Because in the end, he never knew about the Lores, or about the wards in his house, or about all the blessings and marks that she covered him with. He, and his family, never knew about any of that, because it was the only way she could keep them safe from the ambitions that knowledge could bring.

And so, you also realize that it is her will that the blood she shared with him grows thin, and that the smell of snakes they have about them eventually fades away, and that when they die the soft dirt fills their mouth, softer than splinters.

Because at the very end, and at the final conclusion of all things, she loved them. She loved them, and she loved him, and she was willing to pay the price for her decision.

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she chose to keep them safe from the Supernatural, basically. From the Eldritch.

Interesting. I dislike that she didn't give them a choice, but then again she had good reasons, that can't be denied. The life of an Adept is not easy, and their blood might very well make them valuable. For example they could probably be very good "ritual sacrifices".

In any case, it seems we're about to get the Frangiclave!

"I always thought I would be the first to go, because she was always so very beautiful, and time seemed to have such a strange agreement with her. Even now, after all these years, she has not aged a bit. Her body is as fresh as the day she passed, almost as if she is sleeping. In fact, I think that is because… she has been waiting for you. That must also be the reason why we could never close her tomb, and why any lock we tried to bring here either broke or forced itself open."

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YES! THE FRANGICLAVE!

There are keys that open doors; then there are keys that destroy them.

It cannot be locked away. Keep it in the hand or beneath the tongue.

One of them is a book, written in a language that you cannot decipher.

And the other is a key. A key that can only ever open whatever lock it touches.

The old man did not follow you into the shrine. In fact, after he brought you here, he said his farewells. To you, and to his dear beloved, for he knew he would be able to lock her tomb and properly bury her come tomorrow.

So, with his blessings, you took both items, and you left that place to never return.

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not only the key, but also a book! Probably a level 6 or maybe even 7 Knock book!

But written words are messages that can travel across space and time. And cursive writing is, in truth, just a great snake that we entrust to reaching its destination.

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that's quite poetic!

But know that I cannot return to you. I am sorry, but I just can't. I never attained the Silver Key, so there is no way for me to make the trip back to you without shedding.

And I cannot shed. I simply cannot, not anymore. Not this life. Not him. I cannot leave this love behind like a second skin. Because even if I were to return here the moment I gave you the key, I would not remember him anymore. I would not love him anymore.

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oh. I WAS wondering why she couldn't go back, free Axe and then come back.

So she didn't have the Silver Key, so the trip requires a "sacrifice" of some sort.

Your dear little sister, the slither of your scale, the most annoying hatchling you ever loved,

Rajanaga of Pasargadae

Pasharka​

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...

Pasharka.

That makes so much sense... her little sister, who had to make an impossible choice between her older sister and the love of her life...

by the way, Apparently Pasargadae is the name of an ancient Persian City (Iran nowadays).

You think you can go back home, now. You do not know if Axe ever wished for this, but this is what she asked of you.

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Hard to say, but it will at least give her closure. And a way to move on.

...It's kinda sad. If she'd still been alive, maybe things could have been better. We could have freed Axe, and then SHE could have come here.

-You will bring back with you "Twilight Sparkle, the student of Canterlot High". She will follow you back to the real world and immediately become a Confidante.

-However, in order to transport such an unprepared ward, you will not only have to make the journey with her, but you will have to ensure she still has a reflection behind the mirror.

-You will take "Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Magic" through the Foggy Mirror, and leave her in place of her alter-ego on the other side.

-None of these actions will fail, or cause any immediate suspicion. However, you will have to deal with certain complications, and make a few decisions, as they arise. You cannot predict what the future might hold, other than the certainty of these four notes.

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...Ouch.

So the price to bring Twilight back, is to... banish Equestria's Twilight?

I'm not sure I'm willing to do that.

Is there a way to make it work without dooming Equestria's Twilight? I can't think of one right now. Maybe we could try to teach EQG Twilight enough that she might get a Silver Key of her own? If Axe allowed us to travel back and forth we could teach her, and if she has a Knock affinity that would be long-term viable...


[x] They are young and impressionable. Thankfully, you are a responsible adult. (Hang out with Rarity and Fluttershy, your real-life confidantes)
[x] Apparently, they are not alicorns here. But they are still the highest authority. (Approach the Principals)
[x] Now that you can reach the city center, it is time to explore it properly. Check the stores, see the sights, and discover what wondrous things this world considers mundane.
[x] Now that you can reach the city center, it is time to explore even beyond that. Map the roads, learn the rules, and seek the very end of this dream.
[x] This place has a library. Go take a look.
[x] What is this "cellphone" all the kids are talking about? Why do you have one? And what is this "Internet" thing?

I mostly want exploration and princesses, but Rarity, library and cellphones are fine too.