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

[Pittauro]

Well, in literal terms, the invisitext part is a quote from the Ghoul initiation in CS.




This is obvs. in the context of the Ghoul having just eaten their first corpse, but I suspect what its mention here is pointing us at is this part:

'We each of us' - I wrote much later in my journal - 'have a memory of a moment when things changed forever, though at the time we never knew it. Perhaps the world also has those memories.'

The update spends a not insignificant time musing on Harmony ('the world') having made a decision, after all, with Silky's mark.

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So this would be more about "Harmony" getting a taste of the lores? That would be an interesting subversion of my expectations and of the "obvious" read (Sacrament, potentially seeing Silky "maturing" and becoming more tasteful for the future).

And besides. This is still the Lunar Bureau you are thinking about. Quitting may sound tempting, but are you really willing to let somepony else take the reins of something that important?

…

Yeah, you didn't think so.

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it's hard to give up power, for obvious reasons.

Velvet is very much a control freak after all.

"No, no, no. You're all wrong, I'm telling you. This here is a test. She taught us to reach that place, didn't she? Well, ya'll saw what happened to Butters. The ash-lung nearly killed her! The Miss is testing us, so we gotta keep trying to reach higher. Without her help, that is."

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and so the wish to climb higher begins...

"Not at all, Miss Sweeps. Most of us just got here," one of them, some lucky sod who was closest to her when she said that, says in return.

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damn. she has them more wrapped around her hoof that we have the Bureau, and without even trying

And despite the mixed reactions many of them had to such a thing, they all patiently waited as Whacky leaned into her and dropped a casual, unsolicited remark.

"All good, Sweeps? Or is there something else you'd like to bring up?" she says, getting so blasphemously close to her she was almost whispering in her ear. "You look like you have something on your mind, ever since we left the mansion. Anything the matter?"

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You know... isn't Whacky actually dangerously close to becoming like that one guy they killed for going crazy in the "I need to go to Soft, she's my X"?

I think the story there was that sometimes some of their members just start believing that Soft is their "missing person" and they should go and convince her of it.

and yeah, Whacky Amor is actually breaking most of their rules about Soft Sweeps, or is at least really close to the lines.

And since they had so much success in helping each other, wouldn't it be nice if they found a way to help even more ponies? Maybe all of Ponyville? Maybe even all of Equestria?

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"join our evil cult group, we have cookies ashes Soft Sweep"?

Sometimes I feel like she knows the answer to everything, and she definitely knows how to do things that matter

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yes to the second, and oh my HAHAHAHAHA to the first.

If she only knew how much we bullshitted our way out of so many disasters...

This is by far the weirdest Wolf Cult I have ever seen. Like, actually helping people process their grief and move on instead of whammying them with despair and nihilism? Unheard of. Wanting to help things instead of bringing ruination and fire to all of creation? Preposterous. If they weren't covertly culling themselves with brutal violence I'd think they weren't wolf-followers at all!

This is probably due to Soft Sweeps still being a kind and caring pony.

This actually leaves me feeling oddly okay with giving them rituals.

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of course keep in mind they want to integrate more ponies in their group, because if Soft helped them deal with the agony then surely she's what's best for everyone.

nevermind that they are all quietly suffering, that THEY are the "weird" ones from a normal point of view, that they sometimes go crazy and have to cull their own...

QM mentioned that Velvet won't benefit from the cult if we don't take over it. Tools doesn't get Velvet anything, if we want to extract ourselves from the situation with the minimum price paid, we should take Influence, because getting Mayor Mare to good friend isn't much of an ask and they probably wont do anything too bad with the influence in the time we have left. Freedom is the best choice if we believe that 'you will be given options to direct it each turn' means that we'll actually get our investment paid back profitably in accomplishments.

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I have to wonder what exactly the negative consequences for her would be.

Something as mundane as "losing the next election" as the cult aims to have one of their own elected?

letting her have an accident so she HAS to retire?

...outright killing her?

and... should we actually care?

With what free time?

A Velvet ap per turn is very expensive especially since we already have a cult in the Bureau.

And for what?

Finding expeditions, the Bureau can do that for us.

Rituals, they're are beginner cult, it will take them ages to be of any useful help.

Also we have had Velvet go out of her way to not have the requirements to support a cult. Can we really afford all the books and study actions added to the already heavy drain on our ap to get them up to scratch.

Velvet ap are just too valuable.

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for once I agree with Shaper. Velvet APs are our most valuable resource, followed right after by Name APs and bits. We can't really afford it when we have so few turns left before All In. Realistically it's going to be a minimum of 3 turns (worst case scenario with Celestia gaining Lantern levels each turn) to I think AT BEST 6 turns.

assuming Selene doesn't "solve" her situation in time, which I doubt.

However, Velvet has two pieces of experience that Soft's cult doesn't. One, she has already seen what an established cult was like (the Wildhoof Club) and two, she has already seen what proper resources can get you (from her time at the Bureau).

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admittedly Velvet's experience was with a MOTH cult, which is probably the most chaotic and apparently nonsensically organized Cult you can have.

then again, SHE understands Moth as much as a "normal" mortal can understand it, really (Moth 4 pre-sacrament).

So, in practical terms, the first thing Velvet would have to do if she wanted to take the reins of Softy's followers would be "whip them into shape".

Find a place to gather, get a proper tally of its member, give them literal homework in the form of whatever is in your personal library. Hell, even determining the purpose of the cult would be in order. After all, "seeking the truth of the world" is a nice catchphrase, but the Quest only really started when the Master gave you an alicorn related objective.

I would expect the cult to need one, or maybe two, months to quite literally get on its hoofs and reach the "level zero" threshold. After that, you will probably start being able to give them proper cultish directions.

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...so, effectively they get ready around the time the Bureau will be ready-er as we're introducing them lores.

In other words, 2 turns of sinking 1 AP for no gain, and THEN we can maybe start to get some low-value help to start with (AotL support, graverobbing, bit-gathering, book-buying...)

And of course, I would generally want to make this as interesting as possible. I do like the Wolf, after all, and I no longer offer options I am unwilling to write.

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wait, what options did you offer in the past that you WERE unwilling to write?

Expected and still faster than the Bureau.

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the Bureau is more useful faster, even if they're not with all lores unlocked yet.

Seems like there alredy is a conflict of interests because Soft is the "leader" of a cult with her mother being the unofficial boss of the pony SCP Foundation.

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They technically haven't done anything THAT evil/illegal yet.

...well, beside murdering their own, at least. which, Sure, wrong, but it doesn't really bother anyone else outside their group, and might arguably PREVENT more problems if the crazy person would get violent with people outside the cult otherwise.

Right so two months before they even start being the slightest bit useful.

Well given how the doom clocks going even if we get Moth 6 which will be harder with the appropriate penalty that's not much time of them being useful.

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3 months at worst to 6 months at best, really, if I had to guess.

In the aftermath of the assault on the changeling hive, the thread was constantly predicting the Master was just about to commit a random mass slaughter for literally no reason other than "to douse the lights".

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He DID explicitly unleash the Windigos, to be fair. and expressed an intention to douse the light.

It was a very reasonable assumption.

I consider Ash-Ghouls existing at all to be fundementally terrible, better only than Windigos only in that their summoners are "only" incentivized to kill to keep them around rather than outright obligated to like the latter.

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I consider Ash-Ghouls to be WORSE than Windigoes, really. and not by little. At least 1 by 1.

If you get enough Windigoes to lose control of them though...

 

[Shaper47]

Okay then. Windy Flakes' cutie mark is a snowflake, which is far more unambigiously the symbol of his primary Lore than a book with butterflies around it is the symbol of Moth.

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I'm pretty sure Velvet Covers book with everything written inside it is a symbol of SH not Moth.

It always has been.

 

[DelightedOne]

the Bureau is more useful faster, even if they're not with all lores unlocked yet.

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Not as a cult they aren't. As an institution yes, as a cult it will take 3 turns at best compared to the 1-2 from the Wolf cult.

Their development as a cult depends on the number of lores they have unlocked. We are going to have them at 3 of 9 at the end of this turn so they won't be a proper cult for a while, Soft's cult takes much less work.

And let's not forget the Bureau is an official part of the government, the Wolf cult is the shady part we need to contrast with them.

 

[ses]

...so, effectively they get ready around the time the Bureau will be ready-er as we're introducing them lores.

In other words, 2 turns of sinking 1 AP for no gain, and THEN we can maybe start to get some low-value help to start with (AotL support, graverobbing, bit-gathering, book-buying...)

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It takes the Bureau four turns assuming we burn our Commissioner action every turn on getting them ready faster to be completely ready. QM said the wolf cult will be ready to operate as a cult in "One to two turns". Taking the most pessimistic assumption from that is fine, but in that case we need to point out that it's still twice as fast as the Bureau.

And the Wolf Cult isn't going to be just a single Hintseekers action like when we had a tiny faction of personal minions among a greater cult. It's a FULL CULT. With a full Outer Circle capable of accomplishing as much in a turn as the Wildhoof club was. That means having a Cadre again, AND having minion actions for graverobbing, AND having political influence actions, AND AotL support, AND summoning actions. It's not "1 velvet ap for one servant AP", it's a full scale outer circle, that Bird has repeatedly emphasized in the past is actually really important to a cult leader to be able to get stuff accomplished.

Also we were given exactly one button to press that involves Celestia and we pressed it last turn, and chose to press it this turn, and will certainly continue pressing it. Spending a Selene AP every turn on Sooth the Night is a far greater AP sin than "getting an entire cult to do your bidding" if you don't believe the Celestia clock is budgable despite it being the only button we were given for dealing with celestia.

The main upside to the Bureau is that it has an actual budget... but we have no idea how many actions the Bureau will even get to do even after they're inducted into the Lores. They have dayjobs doing their actual Bureau work that's already very high-stress and full time. The Ponyville wolf cultists do not have their time nearly as spoken for and they'll be ready faster.

 

[Pittauro]

It's not "1 velvet ap for one servant AP", it's a full scale outer circle, that Bird has repeatedly emphasized in the past is actually really important to a cult leader to be able to get stuff accomplished.

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Realistically it's probably like the Bureau, in that we lose 1 AP to get a few "category" APs like the Constables/Detectives/Director actions.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

I wish we could snuff out these errant embers by sending them to Neighnia, go preserve your memories by being brooding artists instead of Wolf Cultists, you crazies.

 

[Shaper47]

Realistically it's going to be a minimum of 3 turns (worst case scenario with Celestia gaining Lantern levels each turn) to I think AT BEST 6 turns.

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3 months at worst to 6 months at best, really, if I had to guess.

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If we get Moth 6 I'm guessing more a comfortable 8 months.

Getting to Mastery is hard without Velvet's cheating.

Especially if we have Velvet sabotage Celestia's progess. Stuff like spending a Bureau action while we have a SH influence to visit the royal archives or bedroom and steal any high level lantern books. Also having an expedition to steal the Watchpony's Mirror.

 

[Potdl]

[X] Gift her influence.

 

[Biowolf]

[X] Gift her influence.

 

[OurLadyOfWires]

Actually, maybe a relevant question, @OurLadyOfWires. If we don't take over Soft's cult, are we actually able to work against them if they start going around, say, murdering mayors in the town we live in as a totally hypothetical situation?

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I don't want to "cop out" form your question, but please hear me out.

The short answer is "yes"

The medium answer is that "they will probably be beneath your (the Bureau's) notice for a good while". So, they might do bad things, or perhaps the path Soft has in mind is a gentler compromise. After all, you can say that you have been "corrupted" by the Wolf, but you can also say you have been acting as a lens through the Wolf has been shining on the world. And influence/corruption can work both ways.

And the LONG answer is that, honestly, "I don't know".
No, I mean it. We are here because you found the Wolf and learned about RAs, turned Soft into a capital D "Daughter", encouraged her in very specific ways and then voted to "let her help you".
Is there a hypothetical future where you have to rally the entire might of Equestria against an apocalypse Wolf-cult? Yeah, sure. But there is also a hypothetical future where Softy graduates as a therapist and transforms the Wolf into a support puppy.
I say this without any malice but "I have no idea where this can take us". I'll just keep trying my best to keep the characters consistent and the story as good as I can.

So, to help us while getting OBJECTIVELY the least out of us... she HAS to push harder, and probably do more "bad" things. She HAS (or feels she has) to be ruthless to be of help to us.

@OurLadyOfWires am I reading this right?

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See my above message.

And other than that, no comment on "Inspiration"

wait, what options did you offer in the past that you WERE unwilling to write?

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I recall a situation where I offered you guys to "tell Stormchaser everything". And the in-character result would be an argument/fight that made me physically ill to write. Pretty sure I unthreadmarked that, back in the other site, and moved the story in another direction.



Anyways, I see no other pings. I hope you are all doing well, and let's assume the vote will be closed in some 48 hours from this message.

No rush thought.

 

[Shaper47]

but you can also say you have been acting as a lens through the Wolf has been shining on the world. And influence/corruption can work both ways.

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I knew it!!!

Vindication!!!

 

[spiderhellian]

Yeah, this just really does not feel like the moment where it is worth our time or effort to start managing a Wolf cult. The Lunar Bureau is hard to justify as it is, and at least that is <checks notes> our literal job, incredibly powerful, and filled with Equestria's finest.

[X] Gift her influence
[X] Gift her inspiration

 

[Bakkasama]

[x] Gift her inspiration.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

[X] Gift her Tools.

As Velvet will tell you, Eldritch knowledge and ancient rituals are excellent therapeutic tools when not being used to traumatize you and scar the world.

 

[Darkday]

[X] Gift her inspiration

 

[Nevermort]

[X] Gift her inspiration

[X] Gift her influence.

More Wolf never hurt Velvet or her family, so I don't believe that it would become worse for Soft in particular. We even told that more involvement with her cult will make Soft happier.

And this is way to finally learn about Wolf without taking 4th strain even, and I believe that even after we ascend to solve Wolf issue and heal Wound we will need this understanding.

 

[Cochimetl]

[X] Gift her inspiration

[X] Gift her influence.

[X] Gift her freedom.

Edited to 'anything but tools'.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

[X] Gift her inspiration

More Wolf never hurt Velvet or her family, so I don't believe that it would become worse for Soft in particular. We even told that more involvement with her cult will make Soft happier.

And this is way to finally learn about Wolf without taking 4th strain even, and I believe that even after we ascend to solve Wolf issue and heal Wound we will need this understanding.

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You mean other than the time he inflicted a Wound on Velvet? Or the three occasions where it caused intense and overwhelming pain in Velvet's everything? Or that time it intensified Soft Sweep's depression to the point she committed a barely successful suicide, and the only reason she still lives now is because Velvet throttled a piece of it and forcibly turned it into an Eldritch pacemaker? Or how the pacemaker occasionally assumes direct control over Soft Sweeps in order to do things like burn her keepsakes and eat the ashes, burning her throat?

The Wolf's essence has caused plenty of harm to Velvet and her family, and I see no reason to empower the one in Soft Sweeps, not even for knowledge. Using Sweeps like some sort of coal mine canary for what happens when you go more than half Stained sickens me.

 

[Shaper47]

Or that time it intensified Soft Sweep's depression to the point she committed a barely successful suicide, and the only reason she still lives now is because Velvet throttled a piece of it and forcibly turned it into an Eldritch pacemaker?

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Narratively I think it was the opposite here.

But then again narratively the implications of our/Velvet's choices are terrible on this.

You mean other than the time he inflicted a Wound on Velvet?

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To be fair mechanically that was a result of failing the mansus heart roll but narratively your right in that respect.

Though I'm pretty sure it was kinda like what happened with Mareinette in that he didn't have choice there

and I see no reason to empower the one in Soft Sweeps, not even for knowledge

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I'm pretty sure it requires a Regrettable Action to empower Soft Sweeps (she's not the Witch and the Sister anyways she just one single being not two, it's more like learning a lore, just remember our talk with Comet on that kind of change), and we're not (unfortunately) doing a Regrettable Action this turn.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Oh, and of course the fact that Velvet is a lens for the Wolf leaves me more adamant against RAs than ever, because staining a lens to match the color of the light going through it leaves it changing precious little at all.

 

[Shaper47]

Oh, and of course the fact that Velvet is a lens for the Wolf leaves me more adamant against RAs than ever, because staining a lens to match the color of the light going through it leaves it changing precious little at all.

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Possibly, or maybe Velvet holding a majority means she's broadly in charge.

One must understand the laws first in order to know how to change them afterall.

Shugs, we really don't know at the moment.

Not without Inspiration or studying our Stain.

 

[OurLadyOfWires]

Scheduled vote count started by OurLadyOfWires on Nov 24, 2025 at 7:59 PM, finished with 76 posts and 18 votes.

• ---

  7 people have voted

  [X] Gift her inspiration.

  • Shaper47
  • Arrkhon
  • Bakkasama
  • Darkday
  • Nevermort
  • Cochimetl
  • spiderhellian

  6 people have voted

  [X] Gift her tools.

  • Rafuki22
  • Sintonir
  • keykigdom
  • Talon Tiger Dino
  • Shaper47
  • Limabot

  5 people have voted

  [X] Gift her freedom.

  • ses
  • Greymere
  • DelightedOne
  • Random Anon
  • Limabot

  5 people have voted

  [X] Gift her influence.

  • Shaper47
  • Potdl
  • Biowolf
  • Limabot
  • spiderhellian

 

[Greymere]

And QQ's vote counting system continues to close itself not at the intended times, it seems

 

[DelightedOne]

I knew it!!!

Vindication!!!

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On what exactly? Because you have not been saying "maybe we can make the Wolf less bad" you have been saying "the Wolf dousing the lights protects the world and I like him".

 

[AuthorTransient]

Ah, I missed the vote. Nevermind, it does look as if my favored vote wouldn't have won anyway.

I don't want to "cop out" form your question, but please hear me out.

The short answer is "yes"

The medium answer is that "they will probably be beneath your (the Bureau's) notice for a good while". So, they might do bad things, or perhaps the path Soft has in mind is a gentler compromise. After all, you can say that you have been "corrupted" by the Wolf, but you can also say you have been acting as a lens through the Wolf has been shining on the world. And influence/corruption can work both ways.

And the LONG answer is that, honestly, "I don't know".
No, I mean it. We are here because you found the Wolf and learned about RAs, turned Soft into a capital D "Daughter", encouraged her in very specific ways and then voted to "let her help you".
Is there a hypothetical future where you have to rally the entire might of Equestria against an apocalypse Wolf-cult? Yeah, sure. But there is also a hypothetical future where Softy graduates as a therapist and transforms the Wolf into a support puppy.
I say this without any malice but "I have no idea where this can take us". I'll just keep trying my best to keep the characters consistent and the story as good

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I knew it!!!

Vindication!!!

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So the future is muddled and there is no long-term plan but if we think we can do it and we get good rolls then maybe we can do it. But I'm not sure if doing anything with the Wolf is worth it, be it by AP or by RA.

 

[DelightedOne]

Ah, I missed the vote. Nevermind, it does look as if my favored vote wouldn't have won anyway.

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You didn't, the site's voting system is just broken.

Anyways, I see no other pings. I hope you are all doing well, and let's assume the vote will be closed in some 48 hours from this message.

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This is the actual voting time.

 

[Greymere]

Ah, I missed the vote. Nevermind, it does look as if my favored vote wouldn't have won anyway.

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You didn't, the voting system has been on the fritz. Vote is closing in a couple of days.

 

[des-pair-2]

Okay, what? The option to make Soft suffer more is winning? Have Shaper snuck into your houses and spiced your soup with ash this morning?

We really have fallen low when we reach for such options when the other options aren't even that bad.

I'll just vote for anything that doesn't progress the Wolf.

[X] Gift her tools.

[X] Gift her influence.

[X] Gift her freedom.

 

[DelightedOne]

Okay, what? The option to make Soft suffer more is winning? Have Shaper snuck into your houses and spiced your soup with ash this morning?

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2 reasons from the top of my head.

1. Intel from the Wolf without an RA, but Soft pays the price.

2.Bird said there is a hypothetical future where we could "corrupt" the Wolf back. Just like there as a future where Alicornae Luna existed(but that is just my take).

 

[Shaper47]

On what exactly? Because you have not been saying "maybe we can make the Wolf less bad" you have been saying "the Wolf dousing the lights protects the world and I like him".

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Did you forget my entire theory that the Wolf is trying to play the part of the Wheel and have Velvet play the part of the Moth?