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

[DelightedOne]

The sun shining down upon this world was the same one that was shining up from the depths beneath the crisscrossing Dreamlands.

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Harmony? Is that you?

Now I'm wondering if sending Twilight here could be good. If the sun is really Harmony...

 

[Bakkasama]

Harmony? Is that you?

Now I'm wondering if sending Twilight here could be good. If the sun is really Harmony...

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I am in favor of that. If this were a normal alternate dimension it would be cruel, but as things stand I am not sure this place is actually real or a dream. If Twilight is unresponsive, she will likely just exist in a dreamlike state for most of her time here and the whole "Harmony is the sun" thing makes me optimistic that she might find help eventually.

If not that... We might as well find Stormchaser in order to give this world's Velvet a chance at him after we leave. And then check the library and internet in case we can make something with this world's science back in Equestria.

 

[Greymere]

If not that... We might as well find Stormchaser in order to give this world's Velvet a chance at him after we leave. And then check the library and internet in case we can make something with this world's science back in Equestria.

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Or, hear me out - we leave and go do something more productive with that AP? Like studying an artifact that lets our Confidant with 3 AP act as a very good scryer? Work toward a different Sacrament? Scry a book for Baldomare?

 

[Arrkhon]

Personally I wouldn't mind staying if we got options to actually poke Harmony more, I also have a felling that staying there is doing some good things to Velvet's mental

 

[dcoconeo]

Personally I wouldn't mind staying if we got options to actually poke Harmony more, I also have a felling that staying there is doing some good things to Velvet's mental

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Being forced to take the Moth Sacrament to not die because we didn't work on Glory hard enough is worse for Velvet's mental health though, and permanently at that?

 

[Solace2117]

On one hand, I'm tempted to vote for Stormchaser, our confidants, and Applejack. There's something to be said for talking to them after the revelations and all that. Really though, I just think it's would be fun to read, and I doubt we get much from the other options at this point.

I've enjoyed the arc, even if the Twilight part has just been exhausting, the randomn student scenes are fun, the mystery dream aspect was fascinating, and the Axe revelations beautiful. It may be time to go back though, dreams have to end at some point and there's a lot still to do.

I won't be voting to bring back this Twilight. I think tossing pony Twilight in here to bring back a new pet Twilight is gross and unhealthy. I'm willing to vote for immoral options if they have purpose, this quest does that a lot and generally I don't mind it. This is just unnecessary though. Look, you all can try to justify it all you want and maybe it'll work out that way. We've seen Velvet try to do right and it blow up in her face. We've seen her be selfish and it work out for the best. At the end of the day it just comes off as Velvet selfishly deciding she wants to replace her broken Twilight with a new one.

 

[Pittauro]

The trick, or at least one of the tricks, is to always be doing something. You must always be doing something, or you must have planned to do something ahead of time.

For example, ever since you found the Key, and the diary that was written by Axe's sister, you have been aware of your surroundings after arriving home. And that is because every night you get home from work, you realize you can do… something, with those items. You could take them back home with you, or you could try to read more of the diary, or perhaps you could attempt something with the Key that you probably shouldn't.

Still, once you realized that having certain activities (or the possibility of certain activities) lined up, your options to navigate this strange place multiplied.

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So basically we must not be in cut-scene/transition/time-skip time.

This truly looks a LOT like either a dream or a videogame. Or a story, I suppose. anything that would be shown to an hypothetical viewer/player/reader.

And of course, you can always rely on being awake and aware while on school grounds. You have no idea of why this is the case, but you are honestly content in slowly figuring out the how.

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because it's the main hub area!

"VELVET PLEASE I NEED THIS!"

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10 bits on this being Rarity!

"Here you go, Professor," the young woman says, her voice sounding a bit more deep and nasal than usual thanks to the pieces cottons she is using to stop her nose from bleeding. "You just have hold on to these, and the show basically runs itself."

Rarity says that as she hands you… a pair of pom-poms.

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...

I NEED Velvet to talk to OUR Rarity about this experience!

Then again, we already knew she's thirsty for her!

But just like the last eight times you tried to escape, your dear and innocent students answer by giving you the most hurt and fragile of looks. Making it very clear that, if you complete that phrase and go back on your promise, you will be breaking their little hearts forever.

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This is PROBABLY supremely inappropriate.

But it's also too fun to stop!

who'd have the HEART to say no to them?!

Are you embarrassed? Absolutely. (But not really). Is this a bad idea? Probably. Will this irrevocably alter the reputation of the quiet and aloof Professor Covers who had taught History in Canterlot High for several years now? Yes.

But by God, this will not be your problem to fix once you leave this place.

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I can't tell if we're RUINING Mirror-Velvet's life, or enhancing it.

"EVERYONE, GET BACK TO YOUR CLASSROOMS. RIGHT. NOW!"



You snap out of your thoughts. Or rather, your body stops moving on its own, and you freeze in place together with the other cheerleaders around you.

And everyone, yourself included, turn their heads towards the entrance of the gym.

Where you all see a pair of well-dressed women, standing just by the entrance door. One of them, who just yelled so loudly the ground almost shook, is absolutely livid. The other one looks… shocked, with her eyes wide in surprise and her mouth hanging open in disbelief.

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...hey, we found out who has the heart to say no!

Well, you suppose that walking into the school's gymnasium, just to see a derailed P.E. class and your History teacher balancing herself on top of a pyramid made out by her cheerleading students, must be quite the sight. And you are sure that your current attire is not helping this scene look any more normal.

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...that sounds amazing

"You know, Professor Covers," she says, with a voice that you swear is trying to stifle a laugh, "we keep tabs on the little chat rooms our students have on their cellphones for a reason. Just to make sure they are safe, or that they aren't hiding anything dangerous from us teachers because they are afraid they might get punished for talking about it."

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that sounds like a violation of privacy. I was assuming they had something like private whatsapp groups.

"But when my secretary told me her cellphone was being flooded by pictures of…" she doesn't say anything. But she does let out a chuckle, as she waves at you and your cheerleader outfit. "Well, you can imagine how surprised I was."

You are in trouble. You definitely are in trouble. You absolutely are in trouble.

But for some reason, you can't help but feel that… you aren't?

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...damn, I miss the nicer, playful Celestia...

Now that you think about it, you don't think Equestria has ever seen Celestia and Luna acting together. Not in a thousand years, at least. Not like this. Now that you think of it, this is what the real world was robbed of.

Because this… this is how it was supposed to be. This was the plan all along. This is how things were meant to go.

Two sisters, acting together, like two sides of the same coin. Absolute good together with necessary evil. The nurturing leader together with the harsh taskmaster. The sun together with the moon. Two partners that trust each other implicitly, and who know when to act, and when to relent to the other, as easily as a pair of hands knows not to bump against each other.

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now that I think about it... it's another way in which this world is a LOT behind the real one.

I already had that talk about time stop and different time flow speed and so on. but... This world also has BOTH sisters.

So, presumably, it didn't reflect Luna's corruption. That's fair, considering that came from the "outside" (the Worm), but...

...Celestia and Luna are supposed to be >1000 years old. They're NOT here.

So... one more point in favour of "time stopped while nobody from Equestria was in here, and changed to include new people when someone came in".

Because if time just stopped, say, from when Parsharka died to when Sunset came in... when were the main 6 and other reflections of this world BORN?

Were they born EXACTLY when Sunset came here?

There are times when the dichotomy of this place is maddening. And this is certainly one of them.

That is, until you remember you are supposed to treat this place like a dream.

And every time you do that, you are once again able to walk around this place like a peaceful visitor, rather than a paranoid denizen.

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I noticed that there was a winter reroll used further down. maybe it was used here?

You have never desired a physical object in your entire life, as much as you did that miraculous thing.

It runs on electricity, she told you. Electricity that is stored in specially made packs, built with exotic metals and wires. But you have electricity back in the real world, and you are sure you can create those objects she referred to as "batteries" well enough to make it work.

You will take this thing back with you. You must have this object.

With it, the possibilities are endless.

And yes, you would love to subscribe to this shop's credit system! You are sure this will not cause your counterpart any problems whatsoever.

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...we're bringing a computer/phone/printer back home? That would be amazing!

IF we can.

You never even stopped to consider if this place was a faraway History, or if it was something else. That line of thought didn't even occur to you, until now. And for all that you were able to make some casual use of the Lores, you also realized that those uses seemed to flow "from" you rather than form the world itself.

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THAT is something I was wondering. if this world is connected to the Mansus, if Lores are a thing here or not.

Velvet had to "adapt" to use them here. EQG in the show required "different" methods to use Equestrian magic here.

the fact this world might not have native magic or even Lores was definitely a possibility... it actually makes things WORSE for Twilight, though.

...actually.. HOW can she build a detector for something that's NOT supposed to exist? It HAS to be more dream-logic...

But in that moment you were sure, you were absolutely sure, that the light shining down upon you was the same light that was shining from under the Dreamlands, when you walked those hallowed and Worm-infested walkways.

It was the same sun, the same beacon, and the same pulsating star that seemed to be the only source of light in all of creation.

Yes, in that moment you were sure of it.

The sun shining down upon this world was the same one that was shining up from the depths beneath the crisscrossing Dreamlands.

And for a single, maddeningly short fraction of a moment, you felt that was good. And you were in peace under its light, with not a single thought left for the harsh glare of Glory.

But that only lasted for a moment.

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...

Not the Sun. and Not the Glory.

The only thing I can think of is that... it's the light from either a (dead?) Sun In Splendour, or from a (dead) Egg Unhatching.

...or Harmony, actually.

...wait, is this world built by Harmony? Why?

Maybe it's some kind of experiment? A simulation for changes Harmony plans to induce in the Real World?

...Could this be the DREAM of Harmony?

[Winter re-roll has been consumed]

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I wonder... was this used to break out of the illusion for a second?

---

...you know what... I want to give it a shot. We COULD go back now, and I'm not necessarily against it (I imagine we'd study the Lantern artifact and maybe the Winter one too if we get lucky with our rolls), but I'm curious and want to try one more round of actions here.

[] This place has a library. Go take a look.
[] What is this "cellphone" all the kids are talking about? Why do you have one? And what is this "Internet" thing?

those two to see if there's lost knowledge here, and if we can maybe somehow bring a cellphone to the real world, or replicate it with Forge somehow.

[] "Is there anything on your mind, Miss Jack?" (Approach Applejack)
[] They are young and impressionable. Thankfully, you are a responsible adult. (Hang out with Rarity and Fluttershy, your real-life confidantes)

Either our confidants, or what could be another decently valuable confidant (we might get some insight into her here).

And the Mirror World itself is further away from the Mansus, protected and lit by Harmony, who'd have thought, this just really makes even more sense for us to swap Twilight's, if anything can help Pony!Twi, it's spending some time resting under the rays of healing and soothing Harmony.

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I remain unconvinced of that. I'm more curious about... what IS EQG Twilight? Is she basically a dream? Are we replacing Twilight with a dream? Is it similar to "replacing" Luna with Selene?

Would time even move for Pony Twilight? if so, would she also notice the inconsistencies of this world?

This world SEEMS to be sort of a dream... I'm slightly more reassured about things not going horribly wrong for Twilight if we put her here, but I also think there's a very good chance time might stop again once we leave and nothing will change...

...and where is Sunset Shimmer?!

I see there is no option to abduct Principal Celestia, so that's probably good. Still, the finishing line for that segment may imply that Velvet will be willing to be more active in trying to "fix" Celestia and seal away Daybreaker.

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well, duh. who would we even SEND to kidnap Celestia? Even BIEDDE would lose that fight!

 

[Pittauro]

Let's go home. Whether it's with Twilight or without, I think we've done what we came here for. And anything else would not be handled in a single action.

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I kind of disagree on the "can't be handled in a single action".

Phone, Library, potentially even some friends, I can see them being single-action questlines. Especially considering we still have our Influences up to help.

The Principals was 1 action.
Twilight was 2.
Exploration was 4, though it split in two "paths" at the end.
Axe was 2.

I expect Library and Phone to be 1 each. friends are likely going to be 1 or 2 at most.

We have now way of knowing what actions take a single action, I thought the Celestia and Luna would take at least 2 yet it only took one. And we already spend our rerolls, so the only other thing we where even considering the Secret History personal Sacrament is a no go.

This a unique event with one time rewards super rewards, we should grab as many as we can.

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I'm particularly curious about the Library, and secondarily about the cellphone/internet (which was kind of mentioned in the shopping centre action anyway).

What kind of knowledge is in those dream-books? Nothing? Lost knowledge? Things we already know but forgot we know? Things we don't know, or things we don't know we know?

It might be nothing, admittedly, but I'm curious. I'll accept it if we leave (hopefully WITHOUT Twilight), but I kinda want to stay.

We've got a Lantern AotL we could use to study A very useful artefact. A fleeting we could catch up on. Socializing or searching (eg for a Ritual site) with a +40 influence.

I think we should go home.

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IF the library actually contains knowledge, we might have a use for the Lantern AotL there too.

Of course artifact is also good, so I get it that some of us want to leave.

Shaper, please, I am begging you.

There is nothing in the story that supports your theory.

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FINALLY you say it! I've been hoping you'd FINALLY comment on it!



...something I don't think we've talked about yet.

If this world seems sort of related to Harmony, or at least "adopted" by it... Why was the Frangiclave here?

Parsharka FOUND IT here, but presumably someone else put it here first. Did Starswhirl banish it like he did plenty other "dangerous" items or monsters in canon?

While I do still think Harmony is benevolent, I don't entirely know why exactly it has made this place. It doesn't seem like it's a replacement for the real Equestria, given this place has seemingly been around long before the recent disasters. If it was supposed to be a Lore-free fantasy land or refuge, that would make a bit more sense, but that raises the question of why it's so hard to enter or to leave. Overall, I just don't know what to make of it.

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harmony didn't NECESSARILY made it. It might have "adopted" it, so to speak.

in terms of "how old it is", It's at minimum as old as when Parsharka came here... though I'm guessing it's older than that. Maybe Starswhirl created it? He DID make the "mirror" in canon that allowed travel to it (and in the comics he made more, but destroyed them as they connected to dangerous realities).

I think we were shown a world Harmony wish to bring into being. A world without Lores, Mansus and even Magic. Which for some reason is being inhabited by simians. Or maybe it was created by someone else and it just located very close to Harmony. Maybe Harmony is just power source here and someone's else intelligent design is at play .

In the end we learned very little about creator/creators of this world. I thought that it may have been one of the Hours but there was no indication of it. The only possible actionable info is that we now know a very rough location of the place, that Harmony can be seen from it, just like it can be seen from Dreamlands, meaning the two are relatively close to each other.

I would not mind staying for another update, but if we decide to go then so be it. I still think that Mane 6 are our best bets to finding Sunset, but we likely would not have time to do anything with it now.

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mh...

The sky of the Dreamrealm is Nowhere.

The sky of the mirror world SEEMS to be... the dreamrealm? or wherever Harmony resides.

So we're sort of to the "side" of the Dreamrealm? or BELOW the Dreamrealm?

but if up from the Dreamrealm there's Nowhere, does that mean we're actually close to or to the side of the Glory?

...maybe it makes no sense thinking of this in those... euclidean terms, I suppose.

I wouldn't really call the theory that Harmony is match making to have people get into loving relationships demonization.

I'd go so far as to say the implication it got Stormchaser around as a loving husband to be morally good action. (If that was Harmony's influence)

As you said things are in an elusive light. I/we don't have all the pieces, only parts of them. Adding them together often produces an unclear or misleading image.

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Shaper, here you're just straight out lying.

in this part

Because we've heard this story before. Of someone who was touched by the lores who just so happens to have a guy who "desired" to be with her and love her. But Stormchaser had another "desire", a "desire" for a child. The closest Velvet ever came to death was bearing Silky into the world, it was a miracle as she lay there in Agony that she survived. Survived to spread the lores and how to summon Windigos to the world.

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you're basically HEAVILY implying that

1) Harmony brought Stormchaser to Velvet. ok, fair enough.
2) That was an assassination attempt
3) The wolf is the one that saved her.

so you're painting Harmony first as a matchmaker, then as an ASSASSIN trying to kill Velvet through that matchmaking, and THEN you're trying to again paint the Wolf in a good light by saying we're alive because of them, because they SAVED Velvet.

I just have no words.

 

[DelightedOne]

because it's the main hub area!

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There is also the chance of something in the school acting as an an anchor. Like the statue that is actually a portal.

I'm also wondering if there is something in the library.

...wait, is this world built by Harmony? Why?

Maybe it's some kind of experiment? A simulation for changes Harmony plans to induce in the Real World?

...Could this be the DREAM of Harmony?

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Well I can make a few guesses.

1. The Forge's prototype world: We already know the Forge of Days had some sort of radical plan for the future that she did horrible things for. Destroying magic(and maybe the lores too) and substituting ponies with humans sounds like it would fit.

2. Harmonic take on the Mansus: Kinda weak argument but this could be the way Harmony found to deal with the "The Mansus and the Wake are the same thing" situation, by making it literally a reflection of Equestria.

3. Lore project used as a refuge: We know Axe's sisters ran away to the foggy mirror so it would make sense for it to serve as some sort of shelter or bunker. Harmony's influence could be either because it was made to be there or because there are no powerful enough beings to contest its claim.

4. Just an alternate world that is close by: Not really much evidence supporting it but it makes sense in a way.