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

Knowing what you must do next, search for Princess Luna, you have decided to look for her through all avenues available. You will look for her through the Dreamlands and, as a noble, you will aid in the official search efforts that are being done nation-wide.
Furthermore, you will definitely benefit from growing closer to your fellow Cultists.

"Goodbye! And you make sure to listen to Soft Sweeps!"

"Okay mom! Byeeee!"

You exchange farewells with your daughter for what must be the umpteenth time as your carriage slowly makes its way towards the gates of your estate, and you are sure you would have done it a few more times if not for the fact that the carriage has finally turned toward the road, placing the walls between you and her.

You sag down to your seat, already starting to feel worried.

"Everything all right ma'am?" Ponpon, sitting next to you, asks.

But that's just a courtesy question. She knows you too well, so the answer is already obvious.

"Aaaahh…" you let out a disgruntled moan, your hoofs going to your face as you try to regain some semblance of composure, "it'll be a whole week Ponpon. A whole week!"

You sit back up as the carriage gains speed. A beautiful scenery of farmlands and greenery passes through your window, although you couldn't care less.

"I told her and re-told her everything she should be careful with. Soft Sweeps was kind enough to agree with staying the nights until we are back, so thank the heavens for that. I trust everypony that works at our house... but still."

You fumble, as if you are trying to grasp for something that isn't there, only to give up not long after.

"I'm sure Silky will be just fine, ma'am. And you have already been away from home before, when she was even younger," she remarks, with a calm expression that seems only very slightly humored.

"Yes, but Stormchaser had been home during those periods," you say, unconsciously summoning the archives of your head and drawing a timeline of when you had been at home taking care of your daughter.

Your heartbeat quickens as you reach out for more and more of your recollections. You have practically been with Silky during her whole life, you have to turn this carriage around right now and-!

"Ma'am", Ponpon shakes you out of it before you can finish your thought process, and you see in her eyes that she knows exactly what you are thinking about, "Silky Stream is already a grown filly. Plus, she's with Soft Sweeps, and although she hasn't told me what exactly happened between her and Silky, I can guarantee that she is taking to her assignment as her caretaker with dedication."

You look into Ponpon's eyes and you can see that she is being honest, a long sigh escaping you as you lightly let go of yourself on your seat.

"I suppose…" you admit defeat, trying not to think too hard about it.

Ponpon, seeing that you have finally calmed down, lets out a short laugh as she remembers something.

"In fact, perhaps too much dedication, ma'am. There's been this gossip going around that Silky has been calling her 'sister' and…" she chuckles a little bit more, "well. You worry too much ma'am. I promise you that everything will be just fine."

You really hope Ponpon is right. But you still can't help but worry about it, even if just a bit less.

There has been no small amount of effort put into it, the whole affair of searching for the Princess. Pegasus town criers arrived in Ponyville less than three days after the news, and they brought with them instructions to anypony interested in helping in the search for Princess Luna.

The details that they brought about the occurrence, as well, were interesting. They declared that there had been an attack on the capital, and that Princess Luna went missing. Their version of why the sun did not set that day, also, followed the lines of Princess Celestia immediately setting out to look for her.

But you have a little bit more of… insight, of what happened. You can connect the subtle holes on that narrative well enough.

They also omitted a few details that you heard from gossip, of course, the ones about Princess Cadance sitting on the sun throne during those few first days. But from what you have heard, Princess Celestia is already active once again, and seems to be engaging in this search with every last fiber of her being.

Understandably so, of course.

Regardless, your carriage arrives at the Ponyville train station, in which you, Ponpon and one of the two carriage-pullers board one of the daily trains specifically dedicated to ferrying volunteers for the search.

Princess Celestia must truly be mobilizing all of Equestria for this. Hearing that there would be means available for anypony who wanted to join is one thing. But seeing the actual train schedule, the Equestria-wide train schedule made to gather and move around every last bit of available horsepower is another thing entirely.

And your understanding of just how large this whole thing will be just grows when you finally arrive at your destination.

It was a rather short train ride. The train followed the railroad that leads to Canterlot, but took a curve right before entering the tunnels that would scale the insides of the mountain, towards the capital.

That curve was not there the last time you took this train, mind you. Earth pony industry really is something else.

And after no much time at all it arrives at a train station that, again, you are sure did not exist last week.

The building itself seems solid and reliable, but the lack of pony flare or the usual ornaments that one would expect from equestrian architecture goes to show that it was built to be functional. That is, perhaps, the only evidence that it had been built in a hurry.

You disembark from the train together with dozens of other volunteers and you take a look around. You can't help but notice that the place right outside the train station looks like a Royal Guard camp.

Actually, you realize in a few moments, it IS a Royal Guard Camp.

Royal guards, the real deal and not just regular town guards, are waiting next to the train, pointing the coming volunteers in the direction they should go. A small sea of tents, topped with colored banners, is visible not far from there, and you can mentally map their purposes. A sea of small tents in orderly rows, probably to be occupied by volunteers, large tents topped with red flags surrounded by cargo carriages, possibly for supplies. The place seems to have been well thought out, and already you spy that one of the larger tents is a bit far from the rest, with the flag of the Equestria fixed on its top, instead of a plain colored one.

You give Blunderer, your accompanying ponyservant, some quick instruction of where to head with your luggage, and nod for Ponpon to follow you.

Yes, there are royal guards herding the volunteers into lines, but you aren't just any old volunteer.

You are in a travelling dress, and you have a fully uniformed maid by your side. That is bound to get you to places more easily.

[The application of influence, breakpoints 40/80]

[Roll: 6 + 11 (Diplomacy) + 5 (GRAIL bonus) = 22]

"Excuse me sir, good evening," you and Ponpon approach one of the royal guards that are directing the lines, "me and my friend here would like t-"

"Ma'am," he cuts over you, with the sharp voice of a pony you would indeed expect to be in the guard, "please follow the lines so you can be sorted together with the other volunteers."

His tone was like a slap to your face. He didn't even look at you while he was speaking, but he made it very clear that you should get moving and not disturb him any further.

And much like how you would react to a slap, you really stand there for a few moments, slightly shocked.

You can see Ponpon biting her lips as well, as if unsure of what you will do next.

"Ma'am, should w-?"

"Ponpon" you interrupt her, a smile re-appearing on your face, "would you kindly help Blunderer with our luggage?"

You see Ponpon look at you with a somewhat wary expression, but she quickly leaves you with a hurried "yes ma'am".

Why is she suddenly so worried? Does she expect you to start a loud fuss with the guard or anything? You honestly thought she knew you better than that. Besides, you know that it wouldn't work regardless.

No, you have something else in mind.

[The other path, breakpoints 50/100]

[Roll: 80 + 12 (Intrigue) + 15 (MOTH bonus) = 107]

You head to the lines, as you were dutifully directed by the polite royal guard, with the only difference being that you don't exactly fall in on the line, you navigate through it. Some ponies might call it "skipping" but what you are doing is far more advanced than that.

You weave your path through the gathered mass of ponies as they try to form a semblance of order. It is a little like trotting towards a closing door, only to pass through it moments before it finally closes, like the subtle dance in the shadows of a twilight, when neither the sun or the moon are in primacy, the crossing of the subtle path that forms whenever order and chaos clash. You do not collide against a single pony, even as dozens of them walk to and fro around you, while getting into an organized position, and you are the very first pony of the line on the exact moment that everypony is finally in orderly rows. You don't even spare a glance at the waiting guard as he handles you a brochure with instructions and points you in the direction you should go.

You mind absently notes that you have not stopped walking during all of this, not even for a moment. But you ignore that useless "rational" part of your brain as you make your way to the sea of white tents, floating the brochure in front of you and quickly checking the map printed on it.

Rationality failed you the moment that guard dismissed you, so you will take the other path.

You make your way into the sea of white tents, although the one on the opposite direction that you were supposed to head to. This place is a Royal Guard camp, for sure, but only in the sense that it was prepared by the Royal Guard. There are no patrols to speak of, or at least respectable patrols, as every last guard is busy taking in the next mass of civilians that just arrived.

This is not a military camp on a war footing, there are no walls or palisades. And that must be because everypony knows that, well, that ponies are trusting and reliable beings, or at least that the grand majority of them are, especially when they gather in large numbers to help each other. So although you could have some critics to the fact that you have not stumbled on any pony who thinks you are being suspicious, you also see the logic in not diverting their already thinly spread efforts into guarding against the very ponies who have arrived to lend their hoofs.

You do have to take some detours every now and then, of course, after all you are already quite far from the clearly labeled "volunteer camp", and you are already working your way through the supply camps and the more militarized part of the complex. But soon enough you have your sights on the place you believe that the leadership is, the banner of the pony kingdom flying high on top of it.

There are two guards in front of the door, of course.

But sometimes, not faking anything is the best form of fakery.

You confidently trot in the direction of the two guards, with the same focused (and perhaps slightly bored) expression you would wear while working, and the two guards simply nod at you and open the door so you can go in.

"The meeting is already underway, ma'am," one of them even volunteers politely.

Its rather ironic, you muse. There technically "was" an attack against the capital by an unknown enemy, as the stories go, although you know the fact of the matter is a lot more complicated than that. But technically, going by that version of the story, you "are" an agent of said unknown enemy.

So, you find it somewhat amusing that you managed to sneak into a command tent of the Royal Guard under these circumstances. It even crosses your mind that if that attack had been the opening move of a war, and if you were an assassin, then you would be able to cause all sorts of trouble from here on.

And you are only slightly worried that these thoughts crossed your mind so suddenly. Ponies are, after all. peaceful and trusting creatures, so you wonder just how strange this thought just now was supposed to have been. You shake your head to dismiss those thoughts, knowing that you have far more important things to focus on, and step into the large tent.

[The Most Important Treasure Hunt Ever]

[Crown adherence: auto 100. Every last bit of infrastructure will be bent to this end, by Royal Decree if needed.]

[Commonpony adherence: 86. National commotion.]

[Noble adherence: 27. Even now, they see this only as a chance to turn on each other.]

And you see chaos.

"Sir, another train just arrived. The headcount should be coming in shortly."

"I'm telling you, we don't need just a headcount, it needs to be specific! For the third time, how many pegasus do we have in this camp?!"

"Captain! There has been a problem with the train bringing supplies from Cantelot, we wont be able to-"

"Sir, somepony is already gathering the volunteers, they are waiting for you to-!"

"Captain, please you have to-!"

You see chaos.

The inside of the command tent is large and tall, a proper meeting hall where over a dozen ponies are gathered. There is a large wooden table on the center with a gigantic and detailed map of Equestria spread over it, divided into several areas by red lines. Each area, you think, centered around a camp such as this.

You aren't savvy on the workings of the Royal Guard, but everypony is wearing some sort of insignia or armor, and everypony seems to be talking at the same time.

No... you might not know the first thing about the Royal Guard, but you are knowledgeable when it comes to power and status. In a few moments it becomes clear to you that what you are seeing is not exactly everypony talking at the same time, but rather that everypony is talking to a single pony at the same time.

On the far end of the table you see him, a unicorn stallion in armor, his helmet forgotten next to him on the table as he passes a nervous hoof over his forehead.

That is probably the "captain" everypony is shouting for.

And he desperately is in need of assistance.

[Aiding in the ponyhunt, breakpoints 35/70/105]

[Roll: 96 + 10 (Stewardship) = 106]

You see confusion, and that is something you know well. You see how you could cause this chaos to grow, how to turn this whole place into an uncoordinated buzz of contradicting activity with but a few whispers or panicked remarks.

But you are not here to cause chaos. Quite "au contraire" as Rarity says all the time, you are here to do the opposite.

However... you simply wont be able to work while everyone is being so… loud.

"Will everypony please be quiet."

You stomp a hoof on the table, and everypony falls silent as if a sudden cold breeze had hit them.

You take a deep breath. Everypony is looking at you now, including that "captain", but you know that their surprised attention will not last long.

"Lady Velvet Covers," you say shortly, "from Canterlot," you add in the blink of an eye, and you immediately see that some of the ponies calm down noticeably with that, at the idea that some higher authority has sent an agent to aid them.

Well, that is technically not true, although the semantics of you really being a noble making it some sort of grey area, but they probably don't need to know that.

"And you are captain…?" you throw an inquisitive glance, a commanding inquisitive glance, at the pony on the other side of the table, to which he replies by nearly going ramrod straight in his posture.

"Captain Chalkhoof, my Lady," he answers, and you merely give him a grave nod for an answer.

You sit down next to the table and give the map a once-over. It seems you were correct in believing that there are several camps such as this, each in charge of an area, and this camp seems to be responsible for searching the surroundings of Canterlot and the neighboring lands and cities, all the way to the terrestrial limits of Cloudsdale.

But if they are all as disorganized as this one, the search is off to a very poor start indeed.

"Supplies," you say, as if you were addressing a pony whether than just saying the word, and as you intended you see one of the ponies around the table snap into attention, "get me an inventory of what we already have on-site. I want this camp established and sure that it will be fed before we start planning our search parties."

"Whoever is in charge of the civilians," an armored mare reacts, "get me that headcount. We can sort everypony into groups later, but what we can't do is produce more tents out of thin air. Give me an answer of how many more ponies we can manage before this place bursts with volunteers."

"And…" you stop, finally taking your eyes away from the map as you look around, noticing that everypony is still in silence. You can feel a strange unease settling into the air as they keep their confused eyes on you.

You let out a theatrically annoyed sigh, making sure everypony present can hear it, and you look straight into the captain's eyes, far as he may be on the other side of the table.

You clop a hoof against the table twice, sending him a stare as if he were failing to answer a very obvious question, and let a wordless "Well? Tut-tut?" hang in the air around you.

"What are you waiting for?" the captain finally snaps out of it and looks at the still-stunned ponies around the table, "by the princesses, do what she says!"

And with that, the command tent becomes a buzz of activities. Several ponies rushing away to perform their assignments, and several others getting things into order as you continue to snap out one instruction after the other.

You see one of them bringing a chair and placing it next to the captain, and you head there before even being invited to, the captain himself looking much less lost as he starts telling you the details of the situation while you float an apparently ownerless set of ink and paper in your direction.

"And have some guards watch the path between the train station and the civilian camp proper. I don't want anypony losing their way between those two places and ending up here by accident!" you shout at nopony in particular as you start taking notes of what the captain is saying.

After a long week, most of which was spent getting the camp into an efficient semblance of order so that proper searches may begin, you finally say your farewells to captain Chalkhoof. He seems almost distraught when he realizes you are leaving, but after a few deep breaths he gives you a confident nod.

"Thank you, Lady Velvet. You can trust us to take it from here."

Later this month you will receive word that the areas around Canterlot are being combed. Princess Luna is not, as far as the searches go, anywhere in the lands surrounding the capital. This knowledge will aid in your own efforts while searching her.

Equestria being a kingdom, "noble adherence" can be seen as "organization", while "commonpony adherence" can be seen as "available workforce". The search efforts have muscle and means, but from what you hear of noble gossip it seems to be extremely lacking in organization.

Your aid to the searching camp has been efficient enough to attract somepony's attention.