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

[OurLadyOfWires]

I have a small question that I wouldn't mind throwing here. Mostly because both alternatives are fine, and for all that I am not opening a vote, I would be intrigued to see yall's opinion on it.

Currently, the distribution of actions looks something like this:

Spoiler: Who does what

[X] Plan: Prisoner Chomping
-[x] (Free) Sell Edge 3 artifact
-[x] (Detectives) Follow Up: Dodge City
-[x] (Constables) Follow Up: Tall Tale
-[X] (Commissioner) Introduce Lore: Forge
-[x] (Director) Lantern
(MAREINETTE) - (Mareinette) Honored Guest: Spoiled Rich & Filthy Rich
(BIEDDE) - (Biedde) Channel an Edge Influence
(BALDOMARE) - (Baldomare) Channel a Lantern Influence
(SELENE 1) - (Selene) Soothe the night
(RARITY) - (Rarity) Focus on her work
(SELENE 2x) - Perform the Reflection of the Tapestry x 2
--[X] Target: Easiest Level 7 book to acquire
--[X] Target: Easiest Forge 6 reagent to acquire
--[X] At Jade's old house
-[X] Acquire a prisoner, preferably not an innocent civilian
(CHERENKOLT) - Build a prison
-[X] Obtain a dead body
-[X] Perform the Attention of the Laws (Edge) (x2)
(SERVANTS, TORN RISEN) - Cover your bases (-2 Follower AP, +1 Velvet AP)

Remaining followers
Fluttershy: 1
Velvet Axe: 2

The only two actions I haven't locked in who should perform are the two AotL and the prisoner picking.

Pretend for a moment that there is no dice roll involved, and that the chosen character will succeed. Do you all think Velvet would ask Axe to do it, or Comet?

Or rather, which one could make for a more interesting scene?

To be clear, there will be a dice roll involved. And Axe has better stats to do it. But I can't help but wonder if it would be more interesting for the Comet x Velvet dynamic if she asked him instead.

I'll probably have Axe do it. But the fact I am thinking about it does make me wonder...

 

[OurLadyOfWires]

Also, I think we messed up. Did we approve a follower's plan that had fourteen demands, for our thirteen followers? (Jade Whistle has no actions for this turn).

EDIT: and before anyone panics, I don't really care. It's such a minor thing, really. Worst case scenario, I'll have the body dug up on the beginning of the turn, and have the new Risen start counting its summoning period at the beginning of turn 22 rather than the end.
So don't worry. I want to write and get this turn going, not throw us back into a voting session just because of some minor bureaucratic issue.

 

[Rafuki22]

Or rather, which one could make for a more interesting scene?

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It would be more interesting for Axe because she would have an idea of where that prisoner is going to end up.

 

[Shaper47]

Hold it to account for holding things together for centuries after the Hours royally fucked up reality, the Mansus, and each other? We've been down this road before, the QM has gone out and directly corrected you on this, there is nothing to hold Harmony to account for.

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Hold into account for what happened to Velvet's precious Alicorn daughter.

Let's consider the Warding of the World for instance.

Some here think Harmony held things together and set up some Wards to protect the world from the worms

Some think it was the Hours who reinforced the Heart wards and that they have been protecting the world this whole time despite Harmony's probably unknowing sabotage.

You can't have things two ways.

Either Harmony knew enough about Outside threats like the worms to take action or they didn't.

Which brings the situation of Luna being wormed and then forced to forget the threat of the worms and made to blame herself and vulnerable to being wormed again into focus.

Let's be honest here it doesn't matter how good Harmony is, isn't doesn't matter at all what Harmony's intentions were. What matters to Velvet is just how knowingly responsible Harmony was to her daughter being hurt and how knowingly responsible it was to her daughters future safety.

It's basically like Soft's old family situation.

Pretend for a moment that there is no dice roll involved, and that the chosen character will succeed. Do you all think Velvet would ask Axe to do it, or Comet?

Or rather, which one could make for a more interesting scene?

To be clear, there will be a dice roll involved. And Axe has better stats to do it. But I can't help but wonder if it would be more interesting for the Comet x Velvet dynamic if she asked him instead.

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Comet has the history to support just such an endeavor.

Axes better stats aside, Comet knows were to find disreputable targets, how the law enforcement works i.e. who he can target that won't draw as much suspicion.

Like, would Velvet trust that Axe won't pick a noble for her target who's kidnapping would draw a lot of heat from his family compared to Comet hitting somepony who isolated from the world.

Also, I think we messed up. Did we approve a follower's plan that had fourteen demands, for our thirteen followers? (Jade Whistle has no actions for this turn).

EDIT: and before anyone panics, I don't really care. It's such a minor thing, really. Worst case scenario, I'll have the body dug up on the beginning of the turn, and have the new Risen start counting its summoning period at the beginning of turn 22 rather than the end.
So don't worry. I want to write and get this turn going, not throw us back into a voting session just because of some minor bureaucratic issue.

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Leash grants an extra action.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Hold into account for what happened to Velvet's precious Alicorn daughter.

Let's consider the Warding of the World for instance.

Some here think Harmony held things together and set up some Wards to protect the world from the worms

Some think it was the Hours who reinforced the Heart wards and that they have been protecting the world this whole time despite Harmony's probably unknowing sabotage.

You can't have things two ways.

Either Harmony knew enough about Outside threats like the worms to take action or they didn't.

Which brings the situation of Luna being wormed and then forced to forget the threat of the worms and made to blame herself and vulnerable to being wormed again into focus.

Let's be honest here it doesn't matter how good Harmony is, isn't doesn't matter at all what Harmony's intentions were. What matters to Velvet is just how knowingly responsible Harmony was to her daughter being hurt and how knowingly responsible it was to her daughters future safety.

It's basically like Soft's old family situation.

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You are the only person I know of who thinks that the Hours reinforced the Heart wards and are protecting the world. So far we know that the Moth Incinerated itself, the Forge of Days locked the Tricupsid behind herself and never made a key, and that the Wolf Divided engaged itself in a very spirited suicide attempt session that is still going on as we speak. The Colonel isn't even at his post guarding the Worm Museum, Biedde has been left behind to do that; the pattern thus far is not one of preservation and protection.

And yeah, Luna had her turbo-trauma locked up. Exposing her to that stuff left us with a 15% chance of being a raving lunatic, a 15% chance of thinking reality was a waking nightmare, a 31% chance of being an unreponsive shell losing sanity points each month as the Worm of her memories eats away at her, a 3% chance of suicide, and finally, a 1% chance of being a Wormhost all over again. Instead, we ended up with a foal whose memories were *still* locked away because being a worm host for a thousand years really is that objectively terrible. We got lucky rolling the Selene result, and that we were able to gradually undo the metaphorical locks ourselves through a combination of Harmony and Lores.

 

[spiderhellian]

Also, I think we messed up. Did we approve a follower's plan that had fourteen demands, for our thirteen followers? (Jade Whistle has no actions for this turn).

EDIT: and before anyone panics, I don't really care. It's such a minor thing, really. Worst case scenario, I'll have the body dug up on the beginning of the turn, and have the new Risen start counting its summoning period at the beginning of turn 22 rather than the end.
So don't worry. I want to write and get this turn going, not throw us back into a voting session just because of some minor bureaucratic issue.

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I think that last time we used a Risen, we also did this "Dig up > Summon > use on CYB immediately" strat?

 

[Greymere]

Pretend for a moment that there is no dice roll involved, and that the chosen character will succeed. Do you all think Velvet would ask Axe to do it, or Comet?

Or rather, which one could make for a more interesting scene?

To be clear, there will be a dice roll involved. And Axe has better stats to do it. But I can't help but wonder if it would be more interesting for the Comet x Velvet dynamic if she asked him instead.

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A little difficult to ignore DoA having better stats for it, when we have the looming shadow of needing to promise Mareinette something at the end of this turn and it will be very expensive if we don't have a prisoner ready.

Also, I think we messed up. Did we approve a follower's plan that had fourteen demands, for our thirteen followers? (Jade Whistle has no actions for this turn).

EDIT: and before anyone panics, I don't really care. It's such a minor thing, really. Worst case scenario, I'll have the body dug up on the beginning of the turn, and have the new Risen start counting its summoning period at the beginning of turn 22 rather than the end.
So don't worry. I want to write and get this turn going, not throw us back into a voting session just because of some minor bureaucratic issue.

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The intent was to call a Risen to fill out the last slot, yes. Or to Leash someone, if it somehow failed. Tbh, I can't really think of any point where we summoned something and the summoning period started the turn after we summoned them.

I mean, tbf, 'summoning things' for us has pretty much always been Names, but still. We've always gotten access to their AP on the same turn they were summoned.

 

[ses]

Also, I think we messed up. Did we approve a follower's plan that had fourteen demands, for our thirteen followers? (Jade Whistle has no actions for this turn).

EDIT: and before anyone panics, I don't really care. It's such a minor thing, really. Worst case scenario, I'll have the body dug up on the beginning of the turn, and have the new Risen start counting its summoning period at the beginning of turn 22 rather than the end.
So don't worry. I want to write and get this turn going, not throw us back into a voting session just because of some minor bureaucratic issue.

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You had previously given approval on "No need to call for a vote on what to do with the Risen, if the graverob fails just take away the Attention of the Laws it was going to cast"

 

[OurLadyOfWires]

Thank you! That's what I thought (and I'm glad I would have reached the same conclusion anyways, means I still have the same mindset). Just wanted to double-check.

 

[DelightedOne]

Jade doesn't have any Knock so she's not very good for that kind of research.

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Bird said that is just how normal ponies deal with life.

Though I too want Velvet to create a path past Harmony's defenses so that Velvet the Mother Selene can visit Harmony and hold them to account.

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Luna was careless and should have told Celestia what she was doing.

She probably got some opinions on what exactly it had her daughter doing and how it treated her daughter.

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The most Harmony is guilty of is neglect. You're acting like it abused Luna.

We don't even know if Harmony is aware enough to be guilty of anything.

She going to find out the truth of how much involvement it had in Selene's situation and if she doesn't like the answers... well then there's only one response a mother like her can give.

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... Are you implying Harmony wasted a whole ass Alicorn by sealing her on the moon for a thousand years in some nefarious plot.

You really need to accept you're wrong about Harmony, even the QM told you that(several times might I add).

 

[Shaper47]

I think you missed the entire "you can't have it two ways" part.

The entire premise just doesn't add up.

 

[DelightedOne]

I think you missed the entire "you can't have it two ways" part.

The entire premise just doesn't add up.

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I read what you wrote. And it doesn't add up because you don't want it to.

You built an idea of what Harmony wants based on... I actually have no idea how you managed to get that, I mean there were so many times where what you said was proven wrong, got word of god that you're confusing things or "how did you understand that?" and just plain wild theories that I can't even imagine what you're thinking.

But, if you want another breakdown of your arguments.

Hold into account for what happened to Velvet's precious Alicorn daughter.

Let's consider the Warding of the World for instance.

Some here think Harmony held things together and set up some Wards to protect the world from the worms

Some think it was the Hours who reinforced the Heart wards and that they have been protecting the world this whole time despite Harmony's probably unknowing sabotage.

Click to shrink...

Selene got careless, as I said previously.

Talon already answered that and I fully agree with what was said.

You are the only person I know of who thinks that the Hours reinforced the Heart wards and are protecting the world. So far we know that the Moth Incinerated itself, the Forge of Days locked the Tricupsid behind herself and never made a key, and that the Wolf Divided engaged itself in a very spirited suicide attempt session that is still going on as we speak. The Colonel isn't even at his post guarding the Worm Museum, Biedde has been left behind to do that; the pattern thus far is not one of preservation and protection.

And yeah, Luna had her turbo-trauma locked up. Exposing her to that stuff left us with a 15% chance of being a raving lunatic, a 15% chance of thinking reality was a waking nightmare, a 31% chance of being an unreponsive shell losing sanity points each month as the Worm of her memories eats away at her, a 3% chance of suicide, and finally, a 1% chance of being a Wormhost all over again. Instead, we ended up with a foal whose memories were *still* locked away because being a worm host for a thousand years really is that objectively terrible. We got lucky rolling the Selene result, and that we were able to gradually undo the metaphorical locks ourselves through a combination of Harmony and Lores

Click to shrink...

Either Harmony knew enough about Outside threats like the worms to take action or they didn't.

Click to shrink...

My current theory is that the Dreamlands were made to protect and connect ponykind and the Worm cage was just a side effect. It fits with what we know.

In that case Harmony was probably unaware of how dangerous they were.

Which brings the situation of Luna being wormed and then forced to forget the threat of the worms and made to blame herself and vulnerable to being wormed again into focus.

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Talon already answered that.

Let's be honest here it doesn't matter how good Harmony is, isn't doesn't matter at all what Harmony's intentions were. What matters to Velvet is just how knowingly responsible Harmony was to her daughter being hurt and how knowingly responsible it was to her daughters future safety.

Click to shrink...

Velvet doesn't blame Harmony, You do. And since we are all just voices in her head it is probably more of a intrusive thought than anything serious(since no one else believes that).

It's basically like Soft's old family situation.

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Do you mean them dying horribly? Because that is our fault.

 

[Pittauro]

The only two actions I haven't locked in who should perform are the two AotL and the prisoner picking.

Pretend for a moment that there is no dice roll involved, and that the chosen character will succeed. Do you all think Velvet would ask Axe to do it, or Comet?

Or rather, which one could make for a more interesting scene?

To be clear, there will be a dice roll involved. And Axe has better stats to do it. But I can't help but wonder if it would be more interesting for the Comet x Velvet dynamic if she asked him instead.

I'll probably have Axe do it. But the fact I am thinking about it does make me wonder...

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If it was only for narrative, and ignoring any mechanical reason (which IS hard, considering just how much better Axe is), I'd go with Comet.

First of all, he knows the criminal underground of Ponyville (pre-expansion at least, the little there is) AND of Manehattan.

He already knows of scum like that one pony that married, imprisoned and abused that poor mare which... we unintentionally had die during the changeling hive assault.

and Velvet KNOWS he knows such things.

She MIGHT refrain from asking him out of respect and care for Fluttershy, though. Axe wouldn't care about doing us this one favour... though, then again, she'd care if she knew it was to do MAREINETTE'S sacrament, seeing how she hates her and things we're going to eventually do this to Silky.

Bird said that is just how normal ponies deal with life.

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which is not to say it's the optimal way for us, though. That said, the Knock-related memory, from what little I remember, was implied to lead to a ritual that would require having both Celestia and Luna available, so it might very well be pointless for us until such a time as Daybreaker-danger has been dealt with.

which is probably going to be a post-glory-ending thing, unless Selene comes up with something good. And that's IF we get to continue play after the ending (I still think we'll only become Longs, not Hours. I'm reminded of how in CS the first ending lead into the apostle run. Maybe Velvet will ascend and we'll instead start playing as someone else actually? Probably Soft or Silky).

Luna was careless and should have told Celestia what she was doing.

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very careless, AND a bit unlucky.

The most Harmony is guilty of is neglect. You're acting like it abused Luna.

We don't even know if Harmony is aware enough to be guilty of anything.

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Also I kinda think the seal was meant to be a temporary solution. In canon Luna seems to eventually recover her powers and a more grown-up appearance, so it's possible that the seals were meant to slowly give up one by one, as she became ready to bear the burden.

We'll likely never know for sure though, unless we get to eventually "talk" with Harmony.

Velvet doesn't blame Harmony, You do. And since we are all just voices in her head it is probably more of a intrusive thought than anything serious(since no one else believes that).

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yeah, seriously Shaper, you're just ridiculous in how you will twist every data point to make Harmony look bad.

At worst it's an ignorant force. At best, it had plans and WE messed them up. In canon things go really great without Velvet... at least until G5, which might or might not be a canon possibility here.

Do you mean them dying horribly? Because that is our fault.

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well, only very indirectly to be fair. At least if you mean Velvet's.

WE did indeed vote for the massive amount of casualties, to spare Cadance and the Guards.

 

[DelightedOne]

which is not to say it's the optimal way for us, though. That said, the Knock-related memory, from what little I remember, was implied to lead to a ritual that would require having both Celestia and Luna available, so it might very well be pointless for us until such a time as Daybreaker-danger has been dealt with.

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Not implied, confirmed. I think the victories were described as path that leads to a door that has a lock that you need to have a key for, then you turn the key and win.

The memory ritual is the path that will lead us to the door, the door is most likely the barrier keeping Harmony separated from the World and Selene and Celestia are the key to its lock.

We are actually closer to Harmony than I thought. The only other victory(that I don't consider a victory)like that besides Glory is Mother of Wolves.

If Celestia is fixed then Harmony stops being impossible. So it is better to prepare and keep researching the ritual as a back-up.

WE did indeed vote for the massive amount of casualties, to spare Cadance and the Guards.

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Cadance and Shining, I doubt you guys thought about the guards instead of the magic destined couple.

 

[Shaper47]

I read what you wrote. And it doesn't add up because you don't want it to.

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Your position that Harmony was the sole force acting on its own to protect the world from the Outside threats of the worms and did so with competence is contradictory to your position that Harmony doesn't have self agency and any knowledge about the Outsider threat of the worms.

Simply put your claims of facts supporting your position are suspicions of unanswered questions.

What are the Wards protecting the world and who put them up and is responsible for them?

We don't know.

Who is responsible for Luna being placed in her position without the proper knowledge to avoid a thousand years of agonizing torture?

We don't know.

Why was Luna placed into the position of blaming herself instead of knowing the truth and thus vulnerable to being wormed again?

We don't know.

Untill we get the answers to these questions any claims are mearly wild hypothesis.

yeah, seriously Shaper, you're just ridiculous in how you will twist every data point to make Harmony look bad.

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Hey, I'm not the one suggesting that Harmony is the competent force that knows what it's doing about Outside threats like the worms here.

I'm mearly pointing out that if that is the case Velvetis going to have some real feelings on Selene thousand year torture session.

You can't have it two ways.

Either Harmony knew about the worms threat and had a plan/took steps to protect the world. In which case Velvet is going to really question Luna's setup vulnerability status.

Or Harmony was innocent and knew nothing about the worms threat. In which case Velvet is probably happy fine with talking to them.

well, only very indirectly to be fair. At least if you mean Velvet's.

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I'm talking about the keeping secrets reaction. You know, it came up in the apprentice option.

Velvet kept the secret of the Changelings from Soft/did not take steps to protect Soft's family from the Changeling danger. Now Velvet had good intentions here, she (kinda) had a plan to fight against the Changelings and in the end the Changelings were pretty much defeated.

But emotionally Apprentice Soft Sweeps doesn't care about their good intentions. She cares that her family was eaten alive, burned and crushed to death because Velvet kept the threat a secret.

It's about keeping a secret, well secret, that results in family being placed at risk when they would be less in risk if they knew the truth.

Of course we have no idea if this is even the case or not.

But that question is one Velvet will ask as the answer shapes her feelings on Harmony.

Still intill we have the answers to these questions any further debate is probably pointless.

Let's move on to topics that don't involve beating a dead horse like tax evasion.

 

[ses]

which is probably going to be a post-glory-ending thing, unless Selene comes up with something good. And that's IF we get to continue play after the ending (I still think we'll only become Longs, not Hours. I'm reminded of how in CS the first ending lead into the apostle run. Maybe Velvet will ascend and we'll instead start playing as someone else actually? Probably Soft or Silky).

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There are four, and exactly four, ways for this quest to end which are not defeats.

You have discovered one of them.

Velvet Covers will reach the ending "THE MOTHER OF WOLVES" should she ever reach 7/7 marks of "A Stain Upon the Soul".

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I'm really unclear on why you believe that reaching the Glory isn't an ending to the quest. It's been extremely clear from QM communication that reaching the Glory is the end of the quest and that Velvet attains godhood. QM literally said we aren't allowed to have Selene reach the Summit because he isn't interested in writing about someone that isn't Velvet reaching the Glory unless it's a capital D Defeat.

 

[DelightedOne]

Your position that Harmony was the sole force acting on its own to protect the world from the Outside threats of the worms and did so with competence is contradictory to your position that Harmony doesn't have self agency and any knowledge about the Outsider threat of the worms.

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Oh, I understand now. You're thinking about my first theory instead of my current one.

I changed it after some time and seeing some stuff in the story(like the scene where the Forge threw the Malleary).

Currently I believe that harmony is more like a virtual intelligence or dumb AI, that has just lucked out with keeping the Worms out of the Wake. Still works right but needs direction, that also fits with the idea that interacting with Harmony can change it, if it is like a machine then we could reconfigure it a bit.

What are the Wards protecting the world and who put them up and is responsible for them?

We don't know.

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Baldomare said it doesn't need to be a ward, strictly speaking. The Dreamlands take that role because their light distracts the smaller Worms from the light of the Wake.

Who is responsible for Luna being placed in her position without the proper knowledge to avoid a thousand years of agonizing torture?

We don't know.

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Harmony, of course. The Sisters were born like any regular baby and forgot the deal and probably only fullfiled it instinctively. It might have been different if they had learned the lores.

Why was Luna placed into the position of blaming herself instead of knowing the truth and thus vulnerable to being wormed again?

We don't know.

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Trauma? I thought that was pretty clear.

I'm mearly pointing out that if that is the case Velvetis going to have some real feelings on Selene thousand year torture session.

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Small reminder the Worm was doing the torture, not Harmony, because it sounded like you were saying Harmony tortured Selene.

It wasn't even what put her there, Celestia used the Elements to do that and immediately lost her connection to them and they turned to stone right after. If that is not disapproval I don't know what is.

 

[Greymere]

We are actually closer to Harmony than I thought. The only other victory(that I don't consider a victory)like that besides Glory is Mother of Wolves.

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Technically we don't know how many steps are past the Sacrament barrier in the Moon ending, so maybe we're also closer to that than we think

(probably not though. there'd still be the whole "flipping the reflection" process to figure out, and I can't imagine that's a task of any less magnitude than the Outsider Hunt for Glory, or that finding the path to Harmony would have been if not for the Nat100 that Jade pulled off in yon distant turn history)

Edit: Also, mostly unrelated, but can I just say! I find it slightly annoying that we can repeatedly visit the Tower, the location of the SH Sacrament barrier, for on-demand SH scraps (if, you know, we hadn't already been maxed out on scraps by time we found it), but we can't repeatedly visit the SiR's Winter barrier to get on-demand Winter scraps.

 

[DelightedOne]

but we can't repeatedly visit the SiR's Winter barrier to get on-demand Winter scraps.

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Holy Hell! I forgot that existed. Thanks for the reminder.

And yeah it kinda sucks, cause then we would have a reason to go in the Mansus(and an excuse to get the Winter Sacrament).

 

[ses]

Edit: Also, mostly unrelated, but can I just say! I find it slightly annoying that we can repeatedly visit the Tower, the location of the SH Sacrament barrier, for on-demand SH scraps (if, you know, we hadn't already been maxed out on scraps by time we found it), but we can't repeatedly visit the SiR's Winter barrier to get on-demand Winter scraps.

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I've had this exact thought many times how bullshit it is that we picked our Branded lore specialty to be the one lore that had free access to "Free scrap per mansus action" and maxed it out before unlocking that mechanic.

Holy Hell! I forgot that existed. Thanks for the reminder.

And yeah it kinda sucks, cause then we would have a reason to go in the Mansus(and an excuse to get the Winter Sacrament).

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I would bet money that Windy has already looted the Sun in Rags expedition bare lmao.

 

[DelightedOne]

I just had a small revelation that might be obvious but remember this?

Just like every other week, she can feel the thing that is emanating from that place. Like a strange warmth that comes from an invisible bonfire, or a strong smell that sticks to the coat.

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I think that was Cadance. That could be part of the reason she didn't want Velvet there, some Harmony blessing that she did on the spot.

[X] "Cadance, both you and Shining sent invitations to Twilight. But maybe we should… check on her in person?" (???)

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Which is kind of obvious now that I think about it, we found out about them the turn after this happened. The ??? was keeping Twilight safe from the Wolf cult, without it she would have been in "The Three Rules of Grieving".

Am I the first to say this?

 

[ses]

I just had a small revelation that might be obvious but remember this?

I think that was Cadance. That could be part of the reason she didn't want Velvet there, some Harmony blessing that she did on the spot.


Which is kind of obvious now that I think about it, we found out about them the turn after this happened. The ??? was keeping Twilight safe from the Wolf cult, without it she would have been in "The Three Rules of Grieving".

Am I the first to say this?

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Unlikely, "smell that sticks to the coat" likely refers to Despair, The Wolf That Devours Thought. Wolf influence is frequently described using phrases like tar, or likened to a strong smelling pollutant. See the 2nd RA for how its described as a coal being stoked and pouring forth clouds. It's made very clear in the following text that Twilight is low-hanging fruit and the only reason she wasn't recruited was that Soft didn't declare that it was time.

Twilight will likely be recruited into the Wolf Cult upon reaching the 4th Stain (or if we choose Inspiration for Soft FO), since Soft runs on a mechanic of "Has a major qualitative step in spreading the Wolf's influence with each Stain we accumulate".

 

[Greymere]

I just had a small revelation that might be obvious but remember this?

I think that was Cadance. That could be part of the reason she didn't want Velvet there, some Harmony blessing that she did on the spot.


Which is kind of obvious now that I think about it, we found out about them the turn after this happened. The ??? was keeping Twilight safe from the Wolf cult, without it she would have been in "The Three Rules of Grieving".

Am I the first to say this?

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Considering the next few paragraphs, it read to me more likes the 'thing' she was sensing was Twilight's despair. Amor is feeling actively drawn to the place rather than repulsed, and the only reason she didn't knock on Twilight's door is because of The Rules(tm).

 

[Pittauro]

I'm really unclear on why you believe that reaching the Glory isn't an ending to the quest. It's been extremely clear from QM communication that reaching the Glory is the end of the quest and that Velvet attains godhood. QM literally said we aren't allowed to have Selene reach the Summit because he isn't interested in writing about someone that isn't Velvet reaching the Glory unless it's a capital D Defeat.

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Mostly because I don't think passing the tricuspid is enough of a feat to become an Hour. And because even in the original game an ending is just the start of the next "route".

And because I'm hoping there's more, admittedly.

Also while we know reaching the Glory is an ending, it was NEVER explicitly stated that it will result in Velvet becoming a God.

 

[DelightedOne]

Unlikely, "smell that sticks to the coat" likely refers to Despair, The Wolf That Devours Thought. Wolf influence is frequently described using phrases like tar, or likened to a strong smelling pollutant. See the 2nd RA for how its described as a coal being stoked and pouring forth clouds. It's made very clear in the following text that Twilight is low-hanging fruit and the only reason she wasn't recruited was that Soft didn't declare that it was time.

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That was one of the possible reasons I stated when that update came out. However, small details like the other two wedding bonuses being used on turn 19(Commisions and Confidante Cadance) made me firmly believe the "bonfire" described is the Fires of Friendship.

Could also be that the smell is despair and the ??? was just shown as Twilight not being in the wolf cult.

I also feel like it not being the right time fits, Twilight has nothing left, she gave up. If Soft did not go to her it is because something is stopping her from doing it. So... Fires of Friendship lit by the Alicorn of Love.

Considering the next few paragraphs, it read to me more likes the 'thing' she was sensing was Twilight's despair. Amor is feeling actively drawn to the place rather than repulsed, and the only reason she didn't knock on Twilight's door is because of The Rules(tm).

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Could be both honestly, the Fires and the despair fighting and the wolf that calls to her to snuff it out.

I also don't see why Amor would be repulsed? Twilight's despair is quite real and wolfy, the Fires would just serve to keep the worst out, not make her better.

And it also explains how she is not dead yet, considering she doesn't leave the library anymore, she should have died from hunger or something.

 

[Greymere]

Could be both honestly, the Fires and the despair fighting and the wolf that calls to her to snuff it out.

I also don't see why Amor would be repulsed? Twilight's despair is quite real and wolfy, the Fires would just serve to keep the worst out, not make her better.

And it also explains how she is not dead yet, considering she doesn't leave the library anymore, she should have died from hunger or something.

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One would think if the "strange warmth" was indeed a Harmony blessing as you were suggesting rather than Twilight's general Wolf-despair, it would at least be noted in some way as different, rather than just rolling right into talking about how Twilight would be an easy mark because of all the Negative Emotions around. Especially with how the Wolf is already pretty associated with the whole fire, ash, and brimstone thing.

As it is, Amor's viewpoint doesn't really suggest there's anything particularly of note beyond the wolfnip.

 

[DelightedOne]

One would think if the "strange warmth" was indeed a Harmony blessing as you were suggesting rather than Twilight's general Wolf-despair, it would at least be noted in some way as different, rather than just rolling right into talking about how Twilight would be an easy mark because of all the Negative Emotions around.

As it is, Amor's viewpoint doesn't really suggest there's anything particularly of note beyond the wolfnip.

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Amor said that anyone that isn't Soft gets it wrong when it comes to the right time to bring a new pony. And I'm not discarding the possibility that the warmth is despair, just wanted to point out Cadance did do something to helpTwilight, even if not exactly tangible. And Harmony is also associated with fire.

There are three ways it could have been:

Harmony: in that case Amor would just be feeling the urge to douse the Lights.
Despair: expected.
Harmony & Despair: she felt the call but was repelled(or remembered she is not the one).

 

[Greymere]

There are three ways it could have been:

Harmony: in that case Amor would just be feeling the urge to douse the Lights.
Despair: expected.
Harmony & Despair: she felt the call but was repelled(or remembered she is not the one).

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I don't really see how this follows. "Only Soft Sweeps may invite" is explicitly a Rule for everyone in Ponyville. Amor talks about ponies that had previous been recruited via pamphlet, only to leave because Softy wasn't the one to invite them. So clearly this isn't a Twilight-specific phenomenon. And I don't see why Harmony would have anything to do with Amor remembering that if she does the invitation, it won't stick, when that's just... a known fact in the cult.