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

[Zxzx24]

I imagine Luna will probably ask for our input on a number of things?

Given she has been asleep for... a bunch of time?

And its not like she knows much about what occult stuff we have been up to. Or the political stuff we have been up to.

I imagine Celestia's wellbeing will be at the forefront of her mind though.

...It is cruel to make Luna face Celestia's wrath alone however. And her pain.

 

[BritBiscuit]

Everyone is always going on about how Luna will do important tasks and talking with Celestia but we all fail to realise that Luna like everyone else will just go '' 5 more minutes '' and ignore the ritual like an alarm and we'll need to wait another 4 real life years to awaken her

 

[angelsadvocate666]

Oh, if only we had a bucket of cold water to splash on her in that case, as is traditional for those who refuse to wake up on time.

Oh, wait.

 

[Lorrie]

Wouldn't it be hilarious if there was a roll for Celestia's reaction to Luna's return?

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Tbh this is part of why I'm hoping we get Luna Confidant actions (and she keeps her Lores). Because if she does, we could, hypothetically, have her summon both DoA and Biedde at a 100% success rate for both (Edit: technically not quite 100% bcuz Nat1s, but still), and the only thing we'd need to do is make a Edge 2 reagent. And then we can have Biedde guard our house.

Click to shrink...

Luna will summon Biedde, learn that he is the sneakiest warrior on the continent sworn to uphold order, and immediately go, "sorry Velvet, but the Lunar Bureau reeeeeally needs this. Oh, also, hello Biedde, I'm Princess Luna, head of Equestria's secret police. We are going to get along immensely. Now can you train a pony on the best ways to cut down a Chimera, a cultist, or a Changeling?"

 

[Limabot]

Wouldn't it be hilarious if there was a roll for Celestia's reaction to Luna's return?

Click to shrink...

Now that you brought it up, it's disturbingly within the realm of possibility.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Wouldn't it be hilarious if there was a roll for Celestia's reaction to Luna's return?

Click to shrink...

1d6 "The Sun Chases the Moon"
1: Immediately Teleport to Luna
2: Immediately Teleport to Luna
3: Immediately Teleport to Luna
4: Immediately Teleport to Luna
5: Immediately Teleport to Luna
6: Wake up from your first restful sleep in ages, then Immediately Teleport to Luna

 

[angelsadvocate666]

Luna will summon Biedde, learn that he is the sneakiest warrior on the continent sworn to uphold order, and immediately go, "sorry Velvet, but the Lunar Bureau reeeeeally needs this. Oh, also, hello Biedde, I'm Princess Luna, head of Equestria's secret police. We are going to get along immensely. Now can you train a pony on the best ways to cut down a Chimera, a cultist, or a Changeling?"

Click to shrink...

…You know, I am strangely reminded of, uh… I think it's call Age of Iron? Or maybe Iron Hearts.

Anyways, it's this MLP/Warhammer crossover that, while I don't want to spoil too much, has Luna ending up developing this really funny Grandfather/Granddaughter type relationship a Chaos Warpsmith. I think that was his title anyways.

What I'm trying to say is, could totally see Luna getting along really well with the ancient Eldritch abomination murder machine.

Now that you brought it up, it's disturbingly within the realm of possibility.

Click to shrink...

Eh… she's pretty definitely going to put Luna in front of the Mirror, that's not in question, but I could see her having a roll after having it confirmed for certain that Luna's real.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

What I'm trying to say is, could totally see Luna getting along really well with the ancient Eldritch abomination murder machine.

Click to shrink...

They even have mostly the same Lores!

 

[angelsadvocate666]

They even have mostly the same Lores!

Click to shrink...

On the other hand, she also shared Lores with DoA, and she didn't really get along with her all that well. And I definitely wouldn't want to put Marinette and Cadence in the same room.

But yeah, murder Grandpa and spooky nightmare Princess should get along juuuuuust fine. There's probably a reason Bird was sad we didn't summon Biedde while she was Selene, right?

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

I now realize that the Ritual List is not Indexed, so I can't really check Biedde's summon information all that quickly.

Unrelated, but I once more bemoan not giving Baldomare the Apple way back in the day. That was 3 AP lost right there, absolutely tragic.

 

[angelsadvocate666]

Personally, I just keep an SV tab open and have several informational pages bookmarked.

 

[Greymere]

There's also Baldomare finding us a location to summon Axe in next turn. I think we already did the family time with Selene and family. I vaguely remember a visit to Cloudsdale, and that even Fluttershy and Comet were there.

Click to shrink...

I imagine Baldomare's findings will probably be included with the servant report?

 

[AuthorTransient]

This was delightful. And I don't know if it was intentional, but I really liked the Shub-Niggurath visage. I really, really enjoyed it.

Thanks for sharing this with us!

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:/ that was unintentional but there's definitely an overlap - mother of monsters. Thank you so much! I really, really enjoy learning that you enjoyed it.

This link isn't working for me. Strangely, parts of it seem to be pointing at the old site, but it is clearly a link for QQ. Care to share what story you were talking about? I am curious.

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Huh. Must have pasted it wrong somehow. Will go back and edit. I'm referring to What of the Honored Guest, who is left out in the cold.

 

[Nevermort]

That is a dangerous assumption to make, imo failing the roll means we don't get progress and probably take a mental malus, succeeding means we get progress but we roll on the lore wheel and if we get a bad Velvet she's gonna fuck shit up for us.

I am of the opinion that we call down our own influence and accept it if its tier 3 then do the actions spread over two turns, both because we will not have the AP for doing this in one turn and because these will be narratively and mechanically dangerous actions.

I also support taking the Comet fleeting opportunity.

Regardless I believe our next turn looks something like this:
Baldomare to scry for Frangiclave
Jade to scry for Manuscripts or Memory (personally I think the scry is better)
Marinette to either raise SL with Spoiled or pursue cease fire (would prefer cease fire)
1 AP to summon DoA
DoA to Canterlot expedition
Rarity to take a commission
Fluttershy to do...something
And 3 AP left over

Assuming we do the SH influence call next turn we have 2 left over. If we take the Comet action that leaves us with one other for the Luna related fleeting opportunities unless we take the commissioner choice. If we don't then we waste the influence so either we drop Comet or take the additional ap.

Click to shrink...

First of all why the hell Spoiled Rich instead of her husband? Filthy Rich already in our friends list meaning only two actions before confidant status. With Marinette and Leash we can even get his confidante action next turn (or from any other pony in friend status if people prefer someone else) so I don't see why we need to invest actions into getting to know his wife.

In regards to cease fire with Copper I don't see how it could work in our situation. At the bare minimum ceasefire would mean that we will have to overlook her cult activities, meaning that if she kidnaps ponies or does some other crimes we will be forced to make sure that Bureau looks the other way. Copper can even exploit it to a degree if we agree to it. And she would never agree to stop her cult activities since she would consider it as Velvet interfering with her climbing the Mansus (us not needing pony sacrifices to reach Glory in no way a norm and for all Copper knows we just hide our activities better, not to mention possible requirements for Copper Sacrament.)
If we plan to talk to Copper we better prepare something to offer her and I don't think that covering for her or offering her Marinette Sacrament would be considered acceptable. Also Marinete getting agreement from Copper kind of assumes that they will negotiate terms, and I am not confident that we will like terms that Marinettee will agree with. Not that Marinettee would made agreement on our behalf mind you, but she can totally teach Copper few tricks to sweeten the deal.

That said I very much want to get Copper on our side, I just doubt that Marinette by herself will do an acceptable job. In CS a way to get Rival on your side is to gift them high level artifact, so perhaps if we do Ruined Church expedition we can get a grail artefact that can get Copper on our side. We will also will need to convince her not to take Marinette Sacrament offer and think of something if her own Sacramnet is not much better.

Now about Comet Feet. I think it would be reasonable to warn him that Woods are now Dust.Don't know if he counts a aligned with us, but he likely can take care about himself. Flattershy on the other hand would have been in danger if she was not aligned with us. And if she dreams of Mansus it would not be nice not to warn Comet. At the very least we can ask if Fluttershy dreams, and if so warn them both. Perhaps we can talk with them together? Ideally if it can be done through Fluttershy action. We can also make the case that for Fluttershy safety it would be better to improve her Lores and get a permission to teach her from Comet.

I also support looking for manuscripts.

 

[angelsadvocate666]

Copper is already Sacramented I'm pretty sure. Bird let it slip at some point.

 

[Nevermort]

Copper is already Sacramented I'm pretty sure. Bird let it slip at some point.

Click to shrink...

I only remember about her being Branded. Being Sacramented would make her further into Lores than Comet and Velvet. Don't see what she is jealous about in that case

 

[angelsadvocate666]

I only remember about her being Branded. Being Sacramented would make her further into Lores than Comet and Velvet. Don't see what she is jealous about in that case

Click to shrink...

Master's favor, higher in the Mansus, the fact that Velvet has all the Lores and not just one specialty, is a rich, beautiful, and magically gifted noble, favored by royalty, and has several genuine friends and loving family rather than just hanger-ons…

You know what, you're right. Not much to be jealous of at all.

 

[LieutenantSpirit]

I only remember about her being Branded. Being Sacramented would make her further into Lores than Comet and Velvet. Don't see what she is jealous about in that case

Click to shrink...

My understanding was that she was diving solely into one Lore, Grail.

 

[OurLadyOfWires]

Copper is already Sacramented I'm pretty sure. Bird let it slip at some point.

Click to shrink...

I recall Copper being Sacramented in Mareinette's "Gordon Ramsay" omake (which is not canon, unfortunately). Did I really mention somewhere else she was already Sacramented?

 

[angelsadvocate666]

I recall Copper being Sacramented in Mareinette's "Gordon Ramsay" omake (which is not canon, unfortunately). Did I really mention somewhere else she was already Sacramented?

Click to shrink...

From what I remember, it was during a rant about how we really should be taking her more seriously as a Sacraments leader of a Cult or something. Like, it was a very off-hand comment, and I might admittedly be imagining it, but I could swear it happened at some point, and everybody went "oh shit, Copper is Sacraments confirmed."

But it was a long time ago IRL, so who knows.

 

[Iustus Vitea]

First of all why the hell Spoiled Rich instead of her husband? Filthy Rich already in our friends list meaning only two actions before confidant status. With Marinette and Leash we can even get his confidante action next turn (or from any other pony in friend status if people prefer someone else) so I don't see why we need to invest actions into getting to know his wife.

Click to shrink...

Moth Sacrament.

-snip

Click to shrink...

As for Copper I really don't get why people are assuming ceasefire immediately means ever lasting peace or that we start working with her. It just means we don't try and fuck the other over for at least a few turns, if one party breaks the terms of the cease fire then it's their fucking fault and I don't know about you but sacrificing so many people that we notice and have to act in our capacity as CIA head counts as that. A Darwin Award if you will.

Also where does sacrifice become a requirement for climbing? Thats for summons and rituals only really and again if Copper is summoning that much then she is probably building up to attack someone, probably us, in which case as stated above cease fire terms broken.

What I hope to get with the ceasefire is time, time to ascertain what's happening with the various cult remnants, time to plan and if it's possible time to actually work towards peace.

 

[Greymere]

Moth Sacrament.

Click to shrink...

That doesn't actually answer the question of "why Spoiled Rich and not Filthy Rich, who is already halfway to being Moth-Sacramentable" tho.

Btw, regarding Copper ceasefire, I feel like people are overlooking a couple of things.

1) Why would she both agree and stick to any agreement? She already hated us when we were actively on the same side and since then, from her perspective, we've left her out to dry during an emergency situation, tried to kill her twice, was the one to initiate hostilities in the first place, and she has likely found out about us being responsible for killing her guards and breaking Twilight out (causing said emergency situation in the first place) from either Neighnia or possibly RotT. Depending on what information she has, we might also be able to add "convinced Windy to also leave the cult, depriving her of resources" and "is currently working in an extremely high profile job revolving around removing threats to Equestria and thus is an existential threat" to the list. Why would she respond with "yeah sure let's stop trying to kill each other" as opposed to "oh shit Code Red URGENT send the Windigo Horde to flatten her into a bloody paste before she has the chance to send her Names after me", because really. Sending Mareinette, or any Name, to negotiations is implicitly a threat. Or "how fucking dare you" because she kind of reeeeeeally hates our guts.

2) We don't know where she is. And you kind of need to know where someone is before you can sit down and have a conversation with them.

There's also the teeny tiny fact that Stormchaser is going to be "Away" next turn, meaning that if we want to assure our family's safety, we're going to have to have a guard on Stormchaser and the house, separately, unless we really want to gamble on family-death-related game overs. And our options are currently limited to... Comet Feet and Mareinette, basically. Baldomare won't fight, DoA is unwilling to do something that takes away most of her free time until we obtain the Frangiclave, we don't have any other lesser summons with Edge (and we'd need multiple to have a chance against Windigos), we're unlikely to be able to summon Biedde next turn unless we get lucky w/ having Luna Confidant actions, and our actual Confidants are uniformly not combat capable. So it's entirely possible we're going to need Mareinette's action for guarding.

 

[OurLadyOfWires]

Spoiler: Winning Plan

[X] Plan Pittauro, but with our SH Sacrament.
-[X] [AotL] Grail, with Pride
-[X] [FORGE] Create a Knock 2 Edge 1 Reagent. (45 bits, Free Action)
-[X] [KNOCK] The Only Way Up
--[X] [KNOCK] Keep going up. You are so very close now. So. Very. Close.
-[X] [DETECTIVES] There are still changelings out there. Hunt them. Look for them, and for the ponies who colluded with them. (One of the chief expectations of the Bureau. Avert a future Catastrophe)
-[X] [CONSTABLES] It is less paperwork for you if they just help with the investigations. (NO ACTION from the Constables. GAIN a PERSONAL ACTION for Velvet Covers)
-[X] [COMMISSIONER] The Bureau is more than an institution, it is a gathering of dedicated ponies working towards a unified goal. Ingrain yourself with them. (Establish, increase, or salvage the loyalty of the Bureau towards you personally.)
-[X] [SOCIAL] [TEACH] Teach Rarity, and make her a Disciple. (Free Action)
-[X] A fleeting opportunity
--[X] Royal. Wedding! Royal. Wedding! Help. Plan. The Royal. Wedding! (Expand, and pick one more item from, the list of Royal Wedding opportunities)
--[x] "The Royal Wedding is a matter of national security, so of course the Commissioner must be involved. Yes, even on that time she went on a shopping spree with the Princess." (Free action. NEGLECT work at the Lunar Bureau. Expand, and pick one more item from, the list of Royal Wedding opportunities)
-[X] These are the skills that allow you to climb the Mansus
--[X] Attempt, even if foolishly, to untangle the webs of the Secret Histories
---[X] Investigate your current skills. To try to understand them, if nothing else. (Current progress 0/3)
--[X] Velvet Pride, your upstart younger brother, seems to be heartbroken. Or so the gossip goes. If you take the initiative to talk to him, you might be able to get closer to him.
-[X] [JADE] "You do you." Let her do whatever she wants for once. It might do her some good, both mentally and personally.
-[X] [FLUTTERSHY] Ask for a favor, from your... mutual friend.
--[X] [GUARD] Our home.
-[X] [RARITY] Focus on your work.
-[X] [STEPPES] There is no guarantee he will be able to help you, but you will write him about… (WRITE IN)
--[X] [STEPPES] Ask for advice about how to bond with your brother
-[X] Jade's house is now adequately clean. Or at least sufficiently presentable for ponies to work on it. You should…
--[X] [SERVANTS] You need a place where you can safely, and discreetly, store items. Use the upper level of her house for it.
-[X] [MAREINETTE] Incision of the Heart on Velvet: remove the Frightened Debuff (20 bits. failure only on nat1s)
-[X] [BALDOMARE] Find us a place where we can hold 3-circle rituals next turn (for Axe's summon). (rolls +80)
-[X] [SELENE] Go play, one last time. (Costs two actions. Goodbye, Selene.)

You are Lady Velvet Covers, and right now you are home.

Every now and then you wonder if you can still consider this place "your estate". Is it alright for you to call it like that? Can you really say that this is your mansion? Or your house? After all, technically speaking, you are no longer in charge of the Velvet assets in Ponyville.

Technically speaking, this is your brother's house, and you are simply allowed to live here with your family.

Well, you wonder about that, but only every now and then. This is definitely not the kind of thing that keeps you awake at night.

And much more importantly, none of that will ever change the fact that this is your home. This is where your family lives. This is the place you want to return to after a long week of work. And this is the one place where you can… do what you are doing right now.

After all, it is true that you consider this place your "home" because your husband and your daughters are here, yes.

However, this is also your "home base" because…

Well, it doesn't matter how much authority you have in Canterlot. You are still hesitant to perform certain kinds of Lore-related activity there. It just doesn't feel safe enough. It doesn't feel right.

Which is why you have only been able to make progress in this little project every now and then, over the several weekends of this last month.

Still, even those sparse weekends were enough, and you are about to finish this thing.

Although, for all that your hoofs and your horn are busy right now, this isn't really the kind of thing that demands a lot of brainpower.

So, your mind can't help but wander, as you work.

And well, given everything that happened, you do have a lot to think about…

Spoiler: A recent memory

The three detectives patiently wait, as you finish reading the report you have on your hoofs.

Of course, you had finished reading it a short time after you touched it. And normally, you would have waited a little longer only to put on a show that you were still reading with your eyes, since you were being watched by other ponies.

However, you are actually taking your time right now, because…

"I will be entirely honest with you three. I am as good as a laypony when it comes to this kind of thing. But, from my inexperienced perspective, what you are showing me feels like a bit of a stretch. So… am I missing anything?" you ask.

You have read and reread the report several times. Heavens, you even read it over with your eyes, just to make sure you weren't missing anything.

But still, the fact remains that the report you are reading, the result of an entire month's worth of investigation from your best detectives, is…

Well, it is very short, for starters. You are sure that your Secretariat summed up a lot of things, as they prepared this final report for you. But still, you are also sure that they wouldn't leave out any important details. So, for all that the report is slimmed down, you are certain that it is not incomplete.

However, and more importantly, the report just doesn't reach any conclusion. You had tasked your detectives with investigating the changeling threat, following the close of the Blueblood matter. But right now, they aren't presenting you with… well, they aren't presenting you with anything that you expected them to bring you.

They aren't giving you a report of changeling activities. As a matter of fact, they have not yet located even a single changeling. They aren't giving you any new insight into where the missing ponies were taken to, after the Catastrophe. They can't even tell you what the changelings might be doing right now.

For all that you know, the changelings might as well have left Equestria entirely, given how little your detectives have managed to uncover.

Instead, the only thing you have in this report is a list of suspects. A list of pony suspects. A summary of several names, most of them from noble families, that they have all agreed to be "ponies of interest" at this stage of their investigation.

"I mean, there are a lot of names on this list. And the individual reasons as to why some of these ponies are listed here seem tenuous, at best," you say, putting the report down and looking towards them.

And the three ponies sitting in front of your desk nod at you, although their expressions suggest that they were already expecting this kind of response.

"So, again, what am I missing here?" you ask, bringing your hoofs together as you look at them.

"Well, Commissioner, there really isn't much to add. That list really is everything we have to show you right now," one of the detectives, Iron Button, speaks up. Although you can tell that he is picking his words very carefully. "But the thing is, this is not happening because we hit a dead end or anything. It's just that…"

You nod at him, urging him to continue. But that only seems to give Iron Button more pause.

However, before you have the chance to say anything, another detective speaks up.

"The problem we're having, boss, is that this just isn't the kind of case we can tackle in a way that we are used to."

You turn your attention to Beyond Reproach, the detective who just started to talk, and you can't help but raise an eyebrow.

Because on one hoof, the Bureau is comprised of the best detectives you could find in Equestria. So hearing that they can't really employ their detective skills is… well, if not discouraging, then at least it feels like the Bureau's purpose is somehow being frustrated.

But on the other hoof, he seems a lot less hesitant than the other two detectives. If nothing else, he doesn't have the expression of a pony who is afraid of giving bad news.

"You see, this whole thing, everything that happened, isn't really a crime. Not in the usual sense of the word," Reproach continues. "Of course, a lot of ponies died. A lot of ponies disappeared. And plenty of bad things happened. But this isn't your run-of-the-mill criminal case. This wasn't murder, or kidnapping. This is more of a hunt than it is an investigation."

You light up your horn as he speaks, looking at the long list of ponies that they brought to you, as well as the several reasons as to why they should be subjected to further investigation.

And you… can't yet see where he is going.

But he seems to know what he is talking about, so you let him continue.

"And what's more, we aren't looking for regular crooks, because these creatures don't act like regular crooks. When a pony commits a crime, he tries to cover his tracks, and if he's smart he will try to lay low. And it's a matter of finding enough crumbs so we can find the pony behind some crime. But this? This is all different, boss, because these aren't ponies we are talking about."

"Are you referring to their ability to shapeshift? That we can't really find them through an investigation because, well, they can just turn into somepony else and throw us off?" you ask.

To which Reproach answers by giving you a partial nod, as if that was only half the problem he is trying to explain to you.

"That makes things harder, sure, but… Well, try to think of it this way, boss. Actually, do you mind if I write this down?" he asks, reaching for a pen and paper from your desk as he speaks. "So, these shapeshifters have been around for a long time. We don't know since when, but it'd be bad to assume they only started messing with us recently."

"Some of our boys looked into books and folklore, and we can confirm they have existed for centuries," the third detective chimes in.

"Right. And that's bad enough. But one of them also impersonated Princess Luna, eight months ago. They did that eight months ago, and we had that false Luna for three whole months before the Catastrophe happened." Reproach continues, writing down a short timeline as he does. "Now, this isn't just about shapeshifting. There's ponies smarter than I am who can dig into why one of them managed to fool Celestia herself. But the thing we have been trying to figure out is what they did during those three months, when one of them had the Crown itself under their hoofs."

"But we already know that, don't we? Given how many changelings appeared in the Catastrophe, they were going around… well, abducting ponies and taking their place. Isn't that something we already know?" you ask.

And you watch as Iron Button gives you a dispirited nod, while Reproach shakes his head.

You can sense these two ponies have already been through this back-and-forth several times now, but the earth pony detective continues to speak regardless.

"Sure, but we don't know the details," Reproach presses on. "How they swapped ponies. How they smuggled them out of town. The Guard searches did find a few hovels on the outskirts of cities here and there, but there's gotta be more missing. And… and Tartarus, we don't even know if they had a criteria to pick who they would capture and replace!"

"Yes, we don't know any of that. But there's also no way to find out either," Iron Button says. And if it wasn't the professionalism in his tone, you would have thought he was just arguing with Reproach about some theory he disagreed with. "Because Canterlot went up in flames! We have a record of cutie marks of the ponies who were found dead, but we don't know anything else. Of the hundreds of missing ponies, we can't even tell who was abducted during the Catastrophe, and who had already been swapped months before."

"But that doesn't mean the shapeshifters worked alone," Reproach fires back at Iron. And now you start to feel like you are witnessing a discussion, rather than hearing a report. "This happened all around Equestria. In every major city, and most of the small ones. An operation this big can't happen without help from the inside. And we can't discard the possibility the false Luna recruited the help of some nobles either!"

"And that's why we need more time, Reproach. We can't just-!"



You tap your hoof against your desk, the cold iron of your horseshoe hitting against hard wood for but a moment.

Still, that is more than enough for the two detectives to quiet down.



You look at Iron Button for a few moments, his expression tense as if you had just witnessed something he wish you had not seen.

And then you look at Beyond Reproach, the stallion's expression sullen, or maybe annoyed, as if he felt like he was wasting his time.

Well, you can't tell for sure if this is just a disagreement in their methodology, or if there is something deeper afoot. But still, the three ponies in front of you are the three best detectives you have, and this disagreement you see in front of you is probably also being reflected among your investigative teams in general.

So, you will focus on what you can do. And that is to make a decision.

"Well, I think I understand this report a little better now, as well as the difficulties you are facing," you say, nodding at the report on your desk. "But more than that, I think the three of you also have a suggestion on how to move forward."

You say that, and the three ponies nod in affirmative.

"So, Beyond Reproach," you say, making it very clear you do not want them to interrupt each other again. "What is your suggestion?"

The stallion takes a deep breath, stealing a glance at Iron Button before beginning to talk.

"Trying to find these shapeshifters is like trying to catch smoke, boss. At least for now. Catastrophe was five months ago, so they had more than enough time to either run away or dig in, while us ponies were catching our breath. Furthermore, again, none of these things are crimes… none of this is something we are used to."

He then raises a hoof, and points at the report on your desk.

"That's why we need to turn this into something we are used to. Focus on finding the ponies who helped the monsters, rather than the monster themselves. And that list is how I think we should start. We gotta bring all those ponies in for questioning. Find out the colluders. Check who came out on top after the dust settled. And once we find somepony who was in cahoots with the shapeshifters, we can pick up the trail from there."

He then taps at the timeline he scribbled on his piece of paper.

"Make this a kidnapping ring that we can dismantle. Let us focus on the smugglers or crooks that aided the shapeshifters. We don't know where to look for the monsters because they can take over the life of a completely innocent pony. So, let's start by looking at the actual ponies who are guilty to begin with."

You nod at him, but then you make a point of facing Iron Button before you continue.

"And Iron Button? What's your take on all of this?"

"My take is that…" he looks are Reproach one last time before he continues. "Respectfully, Commissioner, that list is all guesswork. I think we need more time, and I think we need to continue focusing on searching for the shapeshifters than for unknown co-conspirators. And more importantly, so far our investigation has been done on the down-low. If we start bringing ponies in and make this more overt, this might tip the shapeshifters that we are looking for them."

"They already know we are looking for-" Reproach begins to speak, but you interrupt him by raising a hoof.

And then you just… think for a few moments.

Because now, you think you can better appreciate the complexity of the task your detectives are engaged in.

After all, solving a crime is already hard. Solving a crime when the criminal is a flying shapeshifter is… orders of magnitudes harder.

But more than that, what Reproach said makes sense. The Catastrophe wasn't even a crime to begin with. It wasn't a mass-murder or a string of kidnappings, it was an invasion. An attack from monsters who came from outside of Equestria, and who have no love for ponykind.

The changeling threat is a war that needs to be fought, not a case that needs to be solved.

You will have to think about this more carefully. Still, you keep the report on your desk as you dismiss your investigators.

"Thank you, everypony. I will take your words under advisement."

You shake your head, pushing that particular memory away. You have already decided that you will wait for Shining Armor to return, so you can get his opinion on it. So there is no point in dwelling on that.

More importantly, you focus on the task at hoof.

Right now, you are in one of the small workshops of the estate. Of course, your own servants have already accepted that you enjoy doing your "eccentric" projects every now and then. And you don't have it in you to care about what your brother's servants think. So, although you realize that doing this will cause a few whispers here and there, you simply don't have enough time to worry about that.

More importantly, you are in this workshop because you are putting the finishing touches on your latest reagent.

The chemistry behind it was easy enough. The snake venom was the most expensive thing you had to buy, but other than that you just needed a few basic components. Mixing everything in the proper way yielded you the gelatinous substance that, after baked and dried a few times, turned into the hard clay you are now working on.

However, when it comes to this kind of thing, the shape of a reagent can be as important as its substance. So, while the ingredients used on this were more than enough to give it some Knock intensity, you are currently working on a way to give it some Edge as well.

Well, you are working on giving it some "Edge" both figuratively and literally. Which is why you are very carefully shearing away parts of the hard clay, in order to make it sharper. You can't really turn it into a proper blade-like object, unfortunately, but you are still trying your best to give it some pointy bits.

Although you are mostly worried about not breaking the entire thing. After all, the more you work on this thing, the more you realize how delicate and brittle it is.

Still, you are making enough progress that you think you will be done within the hour.

Although you force yourself to stop, and put down the increasingly prickly clay, as you sense somepony approaching.

Not anypony threatening, mind you. And you immediately know who it is as soon as you realize your nose is trying to explain to you how light smells like.

"Hello there, Velvet. Lovely day today, isn't it?" the familiar voice reaches you, right after you hear the door to the workshop being opened.

"Baldomare," you say, without turning towards her. Still eyeing the hard clay, as you wonder if you shouldn't try to shape it into a blade anyways.

Or perhaps you should melt it down and cast it into a shape as it hardens..? No, applying enough heat to melt it would evaporate some of its components, and the snake venom would lost its potency.

"Oh my, quite a lot going on in your head… I was going to make a joke about arts and crafts, but I can see it wouldn't be welcome. Still, what happened dear? Was it the thing about Jade's house?"

You feel your face turn into a scowl for a few moments, as you resist the urge to groan.

Heavens, you had almost forgotten about that. And you are not glad Baldomare just reminded you about that.

"It's about something else then?" she asks. And as usual, you are not sure if the question is rhetorical, and she already knows the answer, or if she is really waiting for a response. "Well, in that case I won't be on your mane for long. I just came here to give this to you."

You tear your eyes away from the evolving reagent and turn to face Baldomare. Only to find the pegasus mare reaching into her saddle bag, and pulling out a small scroll.

"If it's any consolation, I think Jade's house looks wonderful. I barely recognized it when I flew by it, even. But anyhow, this is the little errand you asked me to run. I hope it helps."

You thank Baldomare, lighting up the horn and opening the scroll so you can see its content. You don't really want to touch it with your hoofs, given how dirty they are. And also because… well, you always feel like Baldomare is judging you, whenever you hoof-read something when she is nearby.

You know she isn't really judging you. Or at least you are pretty sure about it. But still, you can't help but feel like a filly who is struggling to read the alphabet, whenever you do that under her gaze.

"Huh… Thank you Baldomare, but what am I looking at, exactly?"

You ask that, as you read the scroll she just gave you, because… well, there is no two ways to explain it. You are looking at a map of Ponyville, with several different places circled with red ink, each of them marked with different dates and times.

"It's what you asked for, Velvet. You wanted a place where you could safely perform a ritual, no? Well, those are all the places you can do it. And you are welcome, of course."

"I… but… Baldomare, can you… explain this to me a little better? I mean, there's one, two, three… there are a lot of places marked here. And I wouldn't really feel comfortable doing a ritual in any of these?" You say that as you look at the map, trying to understand exactly what is going on. "Heavens, Baldomare. You even marked the town hall! I guess that place is large enough even for a summoning ritual, but I can't think of anywhere in Ponyville that is as public as-"

"That is why I put the dates, dear," she says, as if she was stating the most obvious thing in the world. "Because yes, I marked the town hall. But do you see that date? That's the night before the place is completely renovated. So it can fit more ponies during the town meetings, given how much Ponyville is growing. And as long as you don't leave blood stains on the floor, the working crews won't notice a thing as they tear the place down."

She says that, but your confusion only deepens…

Because, well, you understand what she is telling you… in theory.

But she marked so many places, and they all have so many specific dates, and even time windows. Heavens, some of them even have specifications on how loud you can be. The more you look at the map, the more notes and scribbles you find in the mare's hoofwriting.

And did she…? How in Equestria could she…? Did she look into the future to prepare this?!

Well, that is the only cognizable explanation. But how?

"If there isn't anything else, dear, I'll be taking my leave. See you soon!" she says, waving a hoof at you as she turns around and walks towards the door.

And not for the first time, you can't help but feel that... that the Name-mare is being strangely prophetic. Even in something as small as her choice of words. Although anypony else who had heard her would just think she was saying her goodbyes as she left.

Still, you make sure to store the map she gave you very carefully.

It is more than just a little uncomfortable, to realize you have a map of all the places in your town where you can literally commit a murder for the next two months, and go completely unnoticed. But still, this is what you asked her to do, and she definitely delivered.

…

You should go back to working on your reagent.





Your detectives have taken the first steps on their investigation of the Catastrophe, the single greatest tragedy that ever happened to ponykind.

Coming next turn, you will be able to have your Constables "follow up" on your detectives' progress, and escalate the ongoing investigation into the public eye. Or you can decide to keep your detectives on their task, without the Constable's help, and continue looking for the changelings in a more subtle way.

Your servants succeeded in fixing Jade Whistle's house. It has been painted, repaired, and is generally a lot more pleasant to visit. However, they also completely failed to understand the specifications of your request. Jade Whistle's house is not yet suitable to safely store items. (This action has failed).

Baldomare has located for you one… two… five… well, several places. Which, according to her, are all suitably safe to perform rituals… at very specific times and dates. But the list she gave you is long enough for your purposes. At least for the next two months, until the very last entry.

Velvet Covers has gained a "Temporary Ritual Spot(s)" bonus. For the next two months, Velvet Cover's faction will not be at risk of causing suspicion when performing rituals.

Velvet Covers has produced a Knock 2 Edge 1 Reagent. The Reagent has been added to your inventory, and 45 bits have been taken away from it.

 

[Greymere]

Your detectives have taken the first steps on their investigation of the Catastrophe, the single greatest tragedy that ever happened to ponykind.

Coming next turn, you will be able to have your Constables "follow up" on your detectives' progress, and escalate the ongoing investigation into the public eye. Or you can decide to keep your detectives on their task, without the Constable's help, and continue looking for the changelings in a more subtle way.

Your servants succeeded in fixing Jade Whistle's house. It has been painted, repaired, and is generally a lot more pleasant to visit. However, they also completely failed to understand the specifications of your request. Jade Whistle's house is not yet suitable to safely store items. (This action has failed).

Baldomare has located for you one… two… five… well, several places. Which, according to her, are all suitably safe to perform rituals… at very specific times and dates. But the list she gave you is long enough for your purposes. At least for the next two months, until the very last entry.

Velvet Covers has gained a "Temporary Ritual Spot(s)" bonus. For the next two months, Velvet Cover's faction will not be at risk of causing suspicion when performing rituals.

Velvet Covers has produced a Knock 2 Edge 1 Reagent. The Reagent has been added to your inventory, and 45 bits have been taken away from it.

Click to shrink...

Ah well, at least the servant action wasn't really urgent so much as we were just lacking in things for them to do.

And while a more permanent spot would have been nice, this at least gives us somewhere to summon DoA and Biedde in the next couple of turns and buys us time to find something more permanent. Going through the "Beneath the Royal Castle" expedition and hoping for higher circle ritual sites to come along with it has gotten more viable. I do still kind of want to try and find the Castle of the Two Sisters, because that's got to be an interesting expedition site and would definitely have the space, but I'm not sure how we would actually go about finding it. If nothing else, it'd give us another expedition site, since Bird all but stated that it would be earlier when talking about Outsider false leads.

(the Pony of Shadows is in the old castle, right? or am I misremembering?)

Edit: Maybe we can ask Luna once she's back

 

[angelsadvocate666]

(the Pony of Shadows is in the old castle, right? or am I misremembering?)

Click to shrink...

IIRC the Tantabus was in the Old Castle, the Pony of Shadows is… in some other place where the Pillars trapped him. Which probably wasn't the Castle? I never actually got that far in the show, but the Castle was shown often enough early on that would be a big retcon to put that there.

 

[Greymere]

IIRC the Tantabus was in the Old Castle, the Pony of Shadows is… in some other place where the Pillars trapped him. Which probably wasn't the Castle? I never actually got that far in the show, but the Castle was shown often enough early on that would be a big retcon to put that there.

Click to shrink...

Neither have I, which is why I wasn't sure. Either way, I can't imagine there aren't some goodies or another in there beyond just a potential ritual circle site. I think someone mentioned the possibility of like, Nightmare Moon's armor maybe being there as an artifact? That was a while ago tho, and idk if her armor would actually be there. There might be books though!

 

[Iustus Vitea]

That doesn't actually answer the question of "why Spoiled Rich and not Filthy Rich, who is already halfway to being Moth-Sacramentable" tho.

Click to shrink...

Because we want Filthy as an actual Confidant?

1) Why would she both agree and stick to any agreement? She already hated us when we were actively on the same side and since then, from her perspective, we've left her out to dry during an emergency situation, tried to kill her twice, was the one to initiate hostilities in the first place, and she has likely found out about us being responsible for killing her guards and breaking Twilight out (causing said emergency situation in the first place) from either Neighnia or possibly RotT.

Click to shrink...

Presumably for the same reason we want a cease fire? We're both out of position and lack information. This buys time even if that time is a prelude to further hostilities.

Also I'm assuming Marinette can find her but if she can't then we just do SL raising. We'll find out more When the planning phase comes up.

 

[Nevermort]

Because we want Filthy as an actual Confidant?

Click to shrink...

Even in that case it is plainly better to get Filthy Rich to the confidant status immediately to get his action, and work on Spoiled Rich in the later turns. Then if we decide to go for Moth Sacrament we will have a choice if we want to keep Filthy Rich and spend actions on Spoiled or if we can stand to say goodbye to Filthy. Possibly depending on what actions he offers and how useful he will prove himself in the in between turns.

Presumably for the same reason we want a cease fire? We're both out of position and lack information. This buys time even if that time is a prelude to further hostilities.

Also I'm assuming Marinette can find her but if she can't then we just do SL raising. We'll find out more When the planning phase comes up.

Click to shrink...

What I think is that either terms of ceasefire would be unacceptable for us, or Copper will exploit them. Knowledge that Velvet now leads Bureau alone can be exploited in multiple ways, if Copper still is not aware about it. Copper immediately starting working on gathering evidence of our cult involvement to deliver them to Celestia as insurance policy is bare minimum. If you want to get info then action to spy on Copper is the way to do it.

 

[Greymere]

Presumably for the same reason we want a cease fire? We're both out of position and lack information. This buys time even if that time is a prelude to further hostilities.

Also I'm assuming Marinette can find her but if she can't then we just do SL raising. We'll find out more When the planning phase comes up.

Click to shrink...

Would Copper actually want a ceasefire for those reasons tho? Like I said, she has a lot of reasons to hate our guts, and from her perspective, we're the one who started the hostilities in the first place (because Master shenanigans), so (from her persepctive) going "oh wait nevermind" seems.... kind of dumb? And we're vulnerable in a way Copper isn't; we have lots of squishy targets that Copper can attack that will lead to the same end as if she killed us (game over), but not vice versa. And calling Copper "out of position" seems presumptuous? She was building up her branch before the defection even happened and got the go ahead to run it as she pleased from the Master. I don't think she's really in as an unstable position and you seem to think.

Edit: Also, you know, admitting vulnerability to the person who both hates you and is trying to kill you? Not a great idea imo.