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

[des-pair-2]

A new update. A surprise, for sure, but a welcome one.

I would certainly pick the middle option if it didn't have that ambiguous scene. ...I need to think about this some more.

 

[Zxzx24]

Well Cadence doesn't have any moth to hide hee lore knowledge from Celestia.

But really when does Celestia see the mare ruling her kingdom?

And what a lovely update!

 

[IronHydra]

insinuations that will never ever be either confirmed or denied

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YOU COWARD, COWARD I CALL THEE.

[] Turns out, she just needed you to take off your dress.

Even when thinking about the consequences of this vote, telling Cadence about the Forge's Redemption is probably the only way of aiding Shining and Twilight at this point, even if I do root for Despair Twilight, there's still the possibility she'll still fall even with her horn back, it just remains to be seen wether her mental can improve at all at this point.

YOU CANT LIE TO US BIRD, WE KNOW WHAT THIS VOTE MEANS

Thanks for the update, devoured it super fast, good shit as always.

 

[DelightedOne]

I'm hungry as fuck right now... but I'll feed on this chapter first.

You are probably not doing it nearly as well as Celestia used to, but you are confident that with every passing day, the goings of Equestria as a whole are getting a little calmer, and doing a little better, because of what you are doing.

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May Harmony agree with you sister.

Oh no there is a vote.

[] Turns out, she just needed more friends.

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Nope. Not voting to get Mareinette anywhere near the Alicorn that is supposed to give birth.

[] Turns out, she just needed you to take off your dress.

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Acceptable and honestly what I hoped would happen. Definitely voting for this.

[] Turns out, she just needed some happy company!

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Kinda weak but it is also interesting to see Silky interact with Cadence when she has a special cutie mark like that.

 

[ses]

And the one normal friend you ever made, who didn't think of you as a Princess, almost got assassinated because of you... but at least... at least you had the courage to do what was right, for her. After all, given how everypony who deals with you gets hurt in the end, you at least had the courage to cut her off and-

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I voted for scitwi but yeah seeing it from that perspective made me think about the arguments made. I dont know.

You are a bad mare. You are a failure of a wife, and a fake Princess, and everypony you love gets hurt. And now, you just got caught in the middle of your poor attempt of cutting one of your only friends off from your life. So why... why in Tartarus is she smiling?

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Just the other night I was telling a friend about how much this fic made me love Cadance! And yeah, no wonder she thinks of herself as a fake Princess. The entire segment about her first act in the world being to kill someone she loved and then she never really stopped... I could feel the Wolf That Devours Thought stalking right beside. Absolutely masterful work sucking me into her head. Poor Cadance Quest.

I was also thinking just earlier today about how interesting it would be for Cadance/Mareinette friendship! And to think the update dropped and offered it! They're both Grail/Heart after all and I think they could be great together. The fact that is comes at the cost of showing Cadance our flank though.... That's a high cost

Also LMAO at the omake being potentially canon.

However, think very, very, very carefully about what option you will pick. The only option with no risks or possible drawbacks is meeting Silky Stream. All other options have consequences that you should think about, and that can be good, bad, both or neither. Read this entire line again.

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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.

 

[Pororurin]

all insinuations that will never ever be either confirmed or denied

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Those scenes got some genuine chuckles out of me.

-
All things considered, I honestly am leaning towards showing the flank. While getting Mareinette and Cadance a friendship would introduce her to the lores, I feel like that'd be part of the "Harmony" victory condition, so not too useful considering we're currently going for glory (I think). Not to mention, uh, Cadance would be particularly enjoyable for the Fair Lady, considering the whole "going to have a kid" thing, not to mention the general overlap Grail and Love appear to share, considering Cadance's affinities.

Actually, I was going to justify wanting to show the flank but then I realised I just think it'd be more interesting narratively.

On another note, do we know what exactly caused this to be a SH moment? Or is it (functionally) just a game abstraction to give us more narrative power and choice in an alternate perspective update?

 

[DelightedOne]

While getting Mareinette and Cadance a friendship would introduce her to the lores, I feel like that'd be part of the "Harmony" victory condition

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Why would that be part of the Harmony Path?

Not to mention, uh, Cadance would be particularly enjoyable for the Fair Lady, considering the whole "going to have a kid" thing, not to mention the general overlap Grail and Love appear to share, considering Cadance's affinities.

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Soooo disaster then(as in baby eating monster eats the most precious baby in the World).

 

[Greymere]

On another note, do we know what exactly caused this to be a SH moment? Or is it (functionally) just a game abstraction to give us more narrative power and choice in an alternate perspective update?

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We do have a max SH Influence active atm... so maybe that? I can't really think of anything else SH-related that happened this turn.

Anyway, I think I'm definitely going to vote for the flank. We wanted to have Cadence aware of the Forge's Redemption, and her favor will presumably be to heal Shining Armor's horn. It'd be a better introduction to the Lores if we can explain what we're doing to her than Mareinette, that's for sure.

 

[ses]

Grail is the closest lore to Love, and seriously people. Treating Mareinette as "hurrr she'll get Cadance to eat Flurry!" is the exact same reasoning that treated The Master as a windigo fueled light-dousing missile determined to cause mass pointless slaughter, despite the fact that that was yet another failed prediction by the thread at a Name's motivations or future actions.

We were JUST told to think "Very very very" carefully about what choice we make and that IS NOT REFERRING TO JUST MAREINETTE. I will vote for either of the other two options but mostly Mareinette. We were repeatedly told during the Master vote that Cadance will love her child more than herself no matter what we do and was intentionally designed to be the biggest tank in the setting.

We've gotten our QM warning that telling her about the Forge's Redemption is something we should think twice about, and since Silky doesn't come with drawbacks that means that "not telling about FR" cannot come with drawbacks related to having not told about FR right now. Ignoring that in favor of screaming about Mareinette and only Mareinette is at our own peril.

 

[Arrkhon]

Soooo disaster then(as in baby eating monster eats the most precious baby in the World).

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This assumes Mareinette will be extremely impolite and forcibly eat a kid of her friend, I doubt that it's any more likely than her eating Silky out of nowhere, and only a possibility several months from now at the earliest

 

[spiderhellian]

I do think we should consider showing the Flank as very dangerous.

Our injury we were private about, and our recovery the same.

Shining cannot hide the fact that his horn is repaired. In the same way he couldn't hide that it had been damaged, it's simply too instinctual. Even if he would want to.

So we really are revealing things, here.

@OurLadyOfWires Can you give us any sense of how Velvet explained her miraculous recovery to Cadance?

 

[DelightedOne]

This assumes Mareinette will be extremely impolite and forcibly eat a kid of her friend, I doubt that it's any more likely than her eating Silky out of nowhere, and only a possibility several months from now at the earliest

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Forcibly? Friend? Really?

She just needs to ask. But you do make a good point, it is far more likely she will want Cadance to eat Flurry Heart, like with Velvet.

 

[Uruguayan spider]

[] Turns out, she just needed more friends.
I feel anxious with this option. I think it is necessary to introduce Lore in a more stable state? We were told that there is one neutral, and the rest have consequences. No, if an alicorn is to be introduced to Lore, then more thoroughly, I think.

[X] Turns out, she just needed you to take off your dress.
I choose this option, between the neutral option of meeting Silky and drinking with Mareinette, it seems more truthful to me. Drinking with Mareinette... I'm honestly afraid and I think Velvet might be afraid too when she realizes this, that we're starting to repeat the same thing that happened with Twilight. Lore is dangerous, and teaching it should be comprehensive, which is basically impossible now because of all the things Cadence is busy with.

This option implies that we don't burden Cadence with all this burning garbage heap called Lore, but we reveal another one of our secrets to her. After all, we've already chosen to be her friend.
And while this option doesn't mean that we immediately dedicate the cadence to Lore, we still tell her that there is something beyond and we can teach her.

[] Turns out, she just needed some happy company!
A neutral option without consequences, as the author said.


+By the way, I thought we couldn't use the Forge's Redemption ritual to restore the horn? Reading the previous chapters, I thought that if Velvet could do it for Twilight, she would have. I thought that although it is definitely possible with Lore, it would require a more powerful ritual.

 

[ses]

Thinking about it logically:

We have the QM promise that Silky Stream option has no risk of backfire.
We have the QM promise that FR'ing ourself was no longer a Cadance-risk as of Turn 19
Silky Stream option doesn't tell Cadance about FR
Simply "not telling Cadance about FR" was not a sufficient reason to make FR not a Cadance risk pre-turn 19
That adds up to a story, doesn't it? If we were capable of FR'ing ourselves safely but not capable of telling her now safely despite the fact that not-telling-her is safe while not-telling-her wasn't safe before turn 19...

Forcibly? Friend? Really?

She just needs to ask. But you do make a good point, it is far more likely she will want Cadance to eat Flurry Heart, like with Velvet.

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We were repeatedly told during the Master vote that this wasn't a thing that would happen. Mareinette explicitly can't use her social bonus to make people do the impossible and it was made very clear that Cadance would protect her child no matter what and it was impossible to change her mind on that.


Honestly the thing I'm much more concerned about is teaching Cadance the Lores at all, but it's a "very shallow introduction", and we've already gotten the ball rolling via the planted evidence. I think this is a thing much more worthy of planning and concern than concern about Flurry Heart.

 

[LieutenantSpirit]

I like how the Silky choice has no consequences, but it has no benefits, either. This vote is really between the Lore and Ritual options unless we come to the conclusion that the drawbacks are simply not worth it.

But I will note that Cadance has no Moth Lore, and she is unlikely to raise it above Celestia's Lantern Lore. She is also in a position where contact with Celestia may occur in the future.

EDIT: For the Forge's Redemption ritual option, do we really want to dedicate an AP and resources on a ritual that has a decent chance of failure?

 

[BritBiscuit]

I mean introducing Candance to the Lores like this seems iffy to me. I mean its phrased like this

-Through your invitation, and Mareinette's marinations, Princess Cadance has been introduced to the Lores.

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to me this kinda seems like Mareinette is teaching Candance the lores to make her a better meal to eat later, an alicorn with lore knowledge in her blood is a rare and exquisite taste to Our Lady and the implication of marination is pretty bad (even if its 50/50 that Bird chose that phrasing for how similar it sounds to Mareinette). I'd be fine with introducing her to them in another way at a different time or even never introducing her to them at all I just don't want it done via Mareinette. Also like always I'm against getting comfortable with Mareinette, there is a reason she was and is considered a monster after all.
EDIT: also forgot that Candance wouldnt have the Moth to evade her Auntie Celestia's gaze so she would be interrogated about where she learned it, if not brought before the mirror by Celestia herself.

I dont really have much to say about the Dress portion of the vote other than disliking how similar the scene is too Candance cheating on Shining with Velvet (and Velvet cheating on Stormy by extension) im like 30% sure its just a comedy thing to rile up shippers and that it was just Velvet showing the healing and Candance being out of breath from getting excited and crying but with all the Grail in that scene its difficult to put it past the characters considering how close Velvet got to getting with Rarity that one time if im remembering correctly and not making stuff up.

I personally like the vote for Silky best, its not the best mechanically but it is both safe and narratively satisfying to me. I like the thought of Candance not getting over her mental hangups/traumas by drinking with the Gals (Velvet and Mareinette and now that I think further into that an omake of those 3 doing a pub crawl through Canterlot would be hilarious) or by having her burdens carried by one person (Velvet) but instead growing her emotional support and at the same time reminding her of what her hard work and troubles are protecting (the smiles of children) whilst also letting her feel more a part of our family rather than just a guest who is a friend of Velvet specifically.

 

[ses]

Also like always I'm against getting comfortable with Mareinette, there is a reason she was and is considered a monster after all.

Click to shrink...

There is a monster living in the Velvet estate.

"Why hello there, Mareinette. It has been such a long time. How have you been?"

"[Lantern]!"

Correction, there is a monster hanging on to the Velvet estate.

"Is that so? I see, I see… Well, I am glad to hear that. I wish you could enter the Plains, to visit me, but it is what it is."

"[Grail]?"

"Oh, don't give me that look. You know how much I dislike your home. And besides, you know why I need to stay where I stay!"

No, really. A monster is literally hanging on to the Velvet estate.

Like a great, morbid spider hugging a wall at an impossible angle, Mareinette is currently sprawled against the outer wall of the central mansion. Her bony limbs are only partially covered by her dress, as she digs her hoofs into the wall to keep her head close to one window in particular.

Under normal circumstances, her posture would have looked undignified. Perhaps even humiliating. But to the trained eye, her bone-dry body and phantasmagorical appearance makes her look like a scene out of a horror story. Like a crawling, climbing creature straight out of a nightmare, who is clawing its way into an unsuspecting house to perform horrifying acts.

And to the untrained eye, of course, there is nothing wrong. Nothing out of place.

But still, despite her size, and despite her proximity to the windows of certain rooms, the Grail-thing really is not doing anything wrong right now. Quite the opposite.

After all, if not like this, then how else could she have a conversation with one of the estate's guests? How else would she be able to catch up with an old friend?

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"Is that so? I see, I see… Well, I am glad to hear that. I wish you could enter the Plains, to visit me, but it is what it is."

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After all, if not like this, then how else could she have a conversation with one of the estate's guests? How else would she be able to catch up with an old friend?

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Baldomare manages to be friends with her enough to honestly say she wishes Mareinette would visit her in the Blank Plains for social calls. There is more to her than just being a foal-seeking missile. Yes, Baldomare would and has done anything for power, but she didn't enjoy any of it and she certainly and explicitly isn't proud of the things she did to become a Name. But she can honestly say that she is friends with Mareinette and wishes for her to do a social call even Eras after Mareinette had any ability to sway her or offer her anything. And I notice that no one hates Baldomare.

 

[OurLadyOfWires]

@OurLadyOfWires Can you give us any sense of how Velvet explained her miraculous recovery to Cadance?

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About this.

I am almost making this a temporary threadmark, but I will respect everyone's intelligence and assume that isn't needed.



So, because Princess Cadance isn't the main character, and because I just don't have the time to write certain interludes that I would like to write, some things were left unsaid. Or rather, they were not explicitly said, but were readable from subtext.

Still, I wanted to talk a little bit about Cadance's perspective.

So. We are currently in the middle-to-end of turn 21.

Cadance married on Turn 18. Somewhere around that time (I can't find the exact threadmark right now) you also made the great and terrible oath promise that you would not leave her, and you two got a lot closer.

The second half of turn 18 was her honeymoon.

Coincidentally, between turns 18 and 19, you performed the Rite of the Mother and the Father.

And on turn 19, on this particular threadmark, you revealed to her that Luna is quite literally your adopted filly daughter.

And this is a quote from the linked threadmark:

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza has joined Velvet Cover's faction. She is not considered a "Confidante" for mechanical effects, and will not immediately translate into actions points/favor requests. But your relationship is just as strong, if not more. And her role to play is much greater.

Issues of Lore revelations, and other things besides, will be tackled at a later stage. For now, you have only revealed to her that Selene was Luna all along. Your bond is strong enough for you to trust her with that, and for her to side with you moving forward.

"Problems" that were attached to Princess Cadance, such as her knowing about your scar, are no longer in effect. And Velvet Covers will safely assume that, if worst comes to pass, Cadance will side with her instead of Princess Celestia.

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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".

Now, and here's the kicker, at the END of turn 19 you get (almost) killed.

So, during the entirety of Turn 20, you are mechanically useless, and narratively a corpse on your bed.

And again, this is still the middle of turn 21. You just left your bed, and started working again, maybe 15 days ago.

Which brings me back to my point. Try to see this from Caddy's perspective.

She makes a friend, practically elects a backup "Love's chosen", has her wedding, discovers that her backup LC somehow has Luna as an adoptive daughter, but before you two can sit down and chat about this you ALMOST DIED.

This last update was, unironically, the first time you actually spoke to her (while being awake and aware, that is, and not dying in bed) ever since you almost kicked the bucket.

When you stop and take stock of your situation, you actually have a pretty good thing going on with Cadance. She is officially part of your faction, she knows that Luna exists, and you both in-and-out-of-character want to both teach her the Lores and show her the Forge ritual.

The only thing that has stopped you from acting upon those desires was (1) the fact that Celestia can sense the Lores, to an unknown degree, and (2) the fact you didn't have any time to do it because you almost died.

So yeah. From Cadance's perspective she is missing a lot of pieces, she trusts you enough to go with whatever you tell her, and this is your first opportunity to act upon those things. As long as you remember the risks involved.



Anyhow. @spiderhellian to answer your question that started this whole post from me: you don't need to explain her anything because she already threw her lot in with you. You can trust Velvet to do something that will be agreeable to both you and Cadance. It's the other factors surrounding you that you should be worried about, if at all.

Hope yall doing well. Gotta skaddle.

 

[Arrkhon]

Honestly I'm surprised that something as minor as foal eating is enough to have people overlooking the fact that Mareinetta is a pretty great person outside of that, she saved out asses before and is nothing but a great guest despite us giving her a frankly insulting treatment, she's even still offering us a honest friendship!

 

[LieutenantSpirit]

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?)

 

[ses]

Okay, so it sounds like it's an issue of "Velvet IC and OOC wants to do both [Introduce to the Lores] and [Forge's Redemption], and WILL" However our pick today may do one of those possibly earlier than is safe. But we will still be involved in laying groundwork for both of them no matter if we pick one or neither. We should focus on those risks, and not have a Mareinette morality debate. Or at least keep the Mareinette morality debate a firm junior partner to those two risks.

We've already introduce the Lores Primer via planted evidence, AND we've already initiated the Bureau into the very first steps of Edge. The bell has been rung on getting ponies into Lore 0 enlightenment so that's not an issue. We're already either fucked or not fucked on that angle with the Bureau.

We did NOT end up taking the option to introduce Forge's Redemption via planted evidence.

Shining is NOT capable of successfully hiding his horned/not-horned status from the very keen-eyed (see the Reproach recruitment)

Man holy shit. QM did a joke line when returning from a hiatus once and doing "the story so far": "-You are Lady Velvet Covers, and you are currently on a very complicated part of your life."

"You are Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and you are currently on a very complicated part of your life." doesn't even begin to describe it. Cadance Quest is running on nightmare mode.

(I can't find the exact threadmark right now)

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Threadmark: "A beautiful bride"

Yes, you are sure of it. Ponies are calmer now. The troubles that reach you are less tragic, and easier to solve. And you feel like everypony is collectively coming to accept that the dust has settled, and that they can trust this new status quo.

Click to shrink...

Was this due to Selene's Winter realization? I wonder...

Either way that Detectives option to make people feel more assured feels more attractive now that I know it makes a difference to Cadance.

"W-w-wha-? How did y-?! Velvet Covers?!" the words push each other out of your mouth as you try to say them all at once.

Because sure enough, Velvet Covers is right there. She is literally right here with you! Sitting on the cushioned chair, with a hoof under her chin as she wears a slightly intrigued expression, looking at you as if her presence was the most natural thing on the world.

But how? How did she get here?!

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Cadance Quest commenters losing their shit at this point comparing Velvet to Pinkie Pie.

 

[BritBiscuit]

Baldomare manages to be friends with her enough to honestly say she wishes Mareinette would visit her in the Blank Plains for social calls. There is more to her than just being a foal-seeking missile. Yes, Baldomare would and has done anything for power, but she didn't enjoy any of it and she certainly and explicitly isn't proud of the things she did to become a Name. But she can honestly say that she is friends with Mareinette and wishes for her to do a social call even Eras after Mareinette had any ability to sway her or offer her anything. And I notice that no one hates Baldomare.

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I dont really say that the foal eating is the entire reason I am wary of her, and whilst it is true that Baldomare is friends with her and also did terrible things to ascend to the rank of Name there is a reason I am wary of Mareinette and not her. The reason I use the term Monster for Mareinette is not due to her being an Alukite (compulsive foal eater) and therefore a Criminal to the House, if it were I'd merely call her a Criminal, I call her a Monster because she survived as a Criminal of the House, as an outcast being hunted by those among the Names and Longs of the House she managed to manipulate, hide, fight, kill and thrive in a constant dance of pursuit and pursuing in the Era when the house was full and the Hours were present and active, she then continued her survival through the end of that Era till now. She is skilled at what she does and whilst this is true of the other Names I trust her the least.

My reasons for not trusting her are admittedly due to my antipathy towards the Lore of Grail, I view her akin to a Slaneeshi cultist from 40k, she in my eyes has made her pursuit in life Sensation, feeling new emotions, tasting new flavours, seeing the most interesting things and if quality is not available a neverending quantity of everything else, in my eyes Grail is hunger and I would struggle to trust a Grail Name in general. However my lack of trust is further hampered by her being an Alukite whilst a thirst for everything is normal for Grail adepts, the curse of being an Alukite means that those thirsts and hungers will never be sated, nothing can compare to the taste of her own babe and she chases all sensation in a desperate attempt to come close to that again. With her being able to break her bonds at any time at a cost of some wounds and her endless thirst as seen with how she drank the Red Church dry, I personally will never trust Mareinette enough to want to engage with her (although I do enjoy the scenes she's in).

 

[Hooded]

So, I am viewing this under the lens of what I personally prefer and not anything practical or mechanical, but I really don't trust Mareinette. I like her as a character and enjoy reading scenes she's in, but even disregarding the foalnapping she gives me bad vibes. I absolutely 100% do not want to get her buddy buddy with Cadence, I do not think we should put her in a position to influence Cadence.

Though on a greater level, I don't think introducing Cadence to Grail would actually be good for her. It'd probably make her more powerful and she'd be good at it but Lores are not known to be healthy and I like Cadence enough to not fuck her over. We should probably inform her about the Lores and all that, I think not being aware of them would be dangerous in her case.

But I just want us to have a nice healthy interaction with an Alicorn for once, we: Mind Whammied Luna, thus causing Celestia to go off the deep end, and I don't think much needs to be said about Twilight.

Now we have ultimately fixed our mistake with Luna but we could just, not make that mistake with Cadence.

Oh and we are Leashing her husband, who we made marry her not entirely of his free will and it would fuck her up to learn this (I wonder if Heartbreaker could be a thing?), which she likely would with Grail.

So all in all, I'd pick the 3rd option even if I think the first two would be more interesting narratively.

 

[Uruguayan spider]

And since I wrote my first comment in this thread, I would like to say something.
Just a couple of days ago, I finished reading all the chapters of this wonderful quest and all the omakes.
It's hard for me to find the words, in some places I cried and in others I was happy. You write so well that it is impossible not to empathize with the characters. From the existentially terrifying Master, whose inhuman existence is revealed to us during his embodiment in reality. It feels like the world froze for a moment when we were leading Selena out of that house, waiting for a choice. To Velvet, who, screaming ANIME IS REAL!, jumped on the flying ghost of hatred and began to beat him. It was amazing.

Although, given that we did the best we could in the circumstances we found ourselves in... Did Spike have a chance? Could we have come for him earlier without triggering a bad ending, was there something we overlooked or simply didn't notice? Or was he just unlucky during one of the covert checks?

Spoiler: just thoughts about endings

Also, given all the debates that were held above, I would like to express my opinion on the endings.
Harmony, Glory, Moon and Mother of Wolves.
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.
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.
Harmony and Glory. These are good options, but... I don't think we know enough yet to say which one is better. We've learned a lot about Glory and its aspects. But we know shockingly little about Harmony and the elements (aspects) that make it up. In this world, where Laughter, Honesty, Generosity, Devotion, and Kindness are the forces that have become part of the world since the reforging, and Friendship is Magic (both literally and figuratively), I think we've paid too little attention to this. Yes, there are no books on these topics that can be studied, and the only six artifacts we know of that relate to them are in the palace, but there are things we could do besides them. We could perform the Reflection of the Tapestry ritual and look for places/objects/whatever that relates to Harmony (maybe find a Tree in the forest). We could study song magic, which, although similar to the Heart, is not one. After all, what are ponies singing together in an era when lore is forgotten, if not a manifestation of Harmony in reality.
Our goal is to teach harmony. But can we say that Harmony does not learn itself? It has no mind, I think, but it has its own will, or something. Besides the obvious Cadence, who BECAME an Alicorn, and was not an outsider who was born into this world through a contract with Harmony, there are also us. Velvet linked her Cutie Mark, the manifestation of harmony that marks all ponies, with the principles of SECRET HISTORIES and MOTH, and I do not believe that this did absolutely nothing. And then there is Silky, who at the moment of Daughter-of-Axes' rampage, the moment when Knock was so strong that even unhealed wounds could begin to open, came and... talked. She talked to her like a real pony born in the current era of Harmony. And she made friends with Harmony and Knock. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but she made friends with Knock's Name, and this is the mark of their connection.

Thanks for your amazing work, I can't wait for the next parts!

 

[DelightedOne]

Though on a greater level, I don't think introducing Cadence to Grail would actually be good for her. It'd probably make her more powerful and she'd be good at it but Lores are not known to be healthy and I like Cadence enough to not fuck her over. We should probably inform her about the Lores and all that, I think not being aware of them would be dangerous in her case.

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While the lores aren't exactly healthy that only really applies if you are already in a bad situation, if we give Cadance a stable place to learn she could unleash her potential like Selene.

I think making her aware of them and introducing her to the lores is the same thing, in that case we would need to introduce her to Grail one way or another since it is one of her affinities(I'm thinking Heart for her first lesson, she really needs it).

and I don't think much needs to be said about Twilight.

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Well... Twilight wasn't an Alicorn when that happened SO THAT DOESN'T COUNT.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Man, the Mareinette option is extremely appealing, not only does Cadence learns the basis of Lores and gets to make a great friend that will keep her from doing something really silly in future it also puts Mareinette herself closer to a fount of love that will help her with becoming a better person over time which a friendship with us wouldn't help nearly as much

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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.

Oh and we are Leashing her husband, who we made marry her not entirely of his free will and it would fuck her up to learn this (I wonder if Heartbreaker could be a thing?), which she likely would with Grail.

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We are not currently Leashing Shining Armor, that was dropped after getting him to propose for the simple fact that it was no longer needed.

That said, I am strongly tempted to pick neither Lore nor Ritual here, for the simple fact that the Cadence status quo is the least likely to currently blow up in our face.

 

[Shaper47]

More friends or taking off our dress seem good to me.

Gotta keep our promise afterall.

 

[spiderhellian]

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

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What?

Luna has 3 lores she's better at than Axe. She probably wins in a straight up fight.

 

[Zxzx24]

[] Turns out, she just needed more friends.

[] Turns out, she just needed you to take off your dress.

 

[Zxzx24]

Hmm.

As far as Celestia being a problem goes @OurLadyOfWires ?

We know she is acting as a "bad end" for this quest. But we also know that Luna said she would handle it?

And I think you mentioned out of character we would be wise to let Luna... take care of things?

Has the situation evolved? Or should we be worried about trying to heal Celestia?