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

After the meeting with your Master, and listening to his (her?) words, you decided on your course of action.
Throughout this month, you will dedicate your nights to trying to reach the Mansus. After all, rather than ancient libraries or forgotten ruins, the key for the greater rituals must surely lie there.
And in the Wake, you will focus on your studies. As well as spend more time with Rarity, your newfound friend.
But of course, the growth of the Cult means you have a few more facilities to call upon. In particular, you will be able to perform a ritual, "The Attention of the Laws", without any cost, either in time or bits. At least once a month. And that is a small, but noticeable, boost to one of your Lore-abilities, even if it is only a single-use thing. So, naturally, you will begin your month doing that.

The bell mounted over the door chimes softly as you enter. The sound itself is unfamiliar, since you usually come and go when the place is still closed and the bell is not properly set, but not unfamiliar enough to surprise you.

"Velvet! Lovely to see you today. Come to take your daughter's usual dose?"

And the place's owner, Windy Flakes, immediately greets you, three sets of chairs floating with the soft glow of his horn. As usual he is alone, has a smile on his face, and, despite his polite tone and pleasant words, sounds like he is trying to be marginally insufferable on purpose.

"That too," you answer, wondering as always if it was just a good natured question or something else, "but I'm here for other things as well". You look around, the ingrained habit of not wanting to be overheard coming as second nature, "Jade Whistle mentioned she'd have it ready by today?"

You know the unicorn runs his shop alone, but there is still no reason not to be roundabout when it comes to discussing certain subjects.

"Have 'it' ready…? Whatever you mean by it?" the unicorn looks at you slightly puzzled, setting the floating chairs down and rubbing his chin.

What the hell does he mean with…

"You know… that?" you say with a bit more of intensity, "the thing we talked about last time we met? That she said she'd make sure she would have set up and all?"

Windy Flakes narrows his eyes, as if trying his hardest to remember.

"Oh!" until his eyes finally lighten up, "you mean the secret underground room where she carved the sigils for us to do our occult rituals? Of course, how could I forget!" he says with a brilliant smile, making your hair go on edge and your eyes jump to the entrance door. "Why, we needed to dig out a whole new room down there. But earth ponies sure can be industrious when they set their hoofs to it."

You reel at his cheeriness, your eyes going wide for a few more seconds as you wait for the front door to be bust open by a wide-eyed passerby pony that definitely heard everything. It takes a few moments for your heart rate to go back down, and your expression turn into a scowl.

Of course he is pulling your leg.

"Well then, you know the way," he says absentmindedly, going back to arranging the place for another day of work.

And you don't even deign him with an answer, making your way to the back room.

But Windy Flakes was not joking about how industrious earth ponies are, that much is for sure.

You can see a bit of his own intent. The underground storage has not been through an overhaul by any means, and it is clear that he has no intention of failing when it comes to moving this whole operation somewhere else, but a good amount of work has still been put here.

The small corridor you reach, as soon as you finish your trek down the stairs to the underground, is now lit by a small candle. You can see up ahead a door that wasn't there last time you were here, surely to prevent the deeper parts of the storage, where the cult meets, to be touched by any kind of light, especially that candle's. But another addition, the one you came here for, is right beside you.

You open the simple wooden door with a flick of magic, and a small room reveals itself to you. It's only large enough to barely fit the circle, its lines practically dug into the ground with painstaking precision. Being a unicorn you can't rightly imagine how much effort that must have taken for Jade Whistle, her being an earth pony, but that's just another reminder that the three pony races are truly equal, horn or no horn on their foreheads.

A small hole dug on the wall reveals the supplies you need, as well as some basic instructions that, although you learned all you needed in your dreams, you still double-check. A few more candles and a mirror float your way, as is proper when invoking Lantern, and you set about your task.

Thinking about it rationally, you can't help but realize how strange this whole affair is, in perspective. Here you are, a grown mare who already has a daughter, in a dug underground room underneath an ice cream parlor, setting about candles and mirrors for a "magic ritual" that doesn't involve even the slightest glow of your horn. By all logic you shouldn't be there, and by all other arguments this so called ritual shouldn't even work.

But after you are finished, you can't help but to notice that your own image looks just a bit more detailed in your own eyes. You can't help but to see that the candle outside of the room, after you leave, seems to be just a bit brighter. The whole world does, in fact.

And as you make your way back home, the rising sun having barely lifted from the horizon, you can't help but to admit that whatever you did in that room undoubtedly worked.

[But who is with Rarity today?]

[Rolling…]

[That's quite a high roll actually]

You know those eyes. They are the eyes of somepony who is pleading. The eyes of a pony who can't directly say what she wants, but in all other aspects is begging you to confirm what you just said, to reaffirm that it is not a lie or a colorful prank.

That what you said really is true.

"And…" she asked again, hesitantly, "are you absolutely sure you won't need my help, Mrs. Velvet?"

You are sure that a crueler pony would have smirked at that. But to be honest, this whole thing is actually making you worry a bit.

Soft Sweeps is practically teary-eyed before you. She has the hoof trembling of somepony who had just been released from some terrible fate, and you think that the mare would have broken down and hugged you if not for some personal resilience from her.

"Yes, Soft Sweeps, I'll be going out with Silky and there's no need for you to come with us…", you say once more, and watch as she lets out a long sigh of relief, tension clearly leaving her from underneath her maid uniform. "And Soft Sweeps… is everything alright? Is Silky Stream being a hoof-full or someth-"

"Not at all Mrs. Velvet!" the mare quickly interrupts you, causing you to raise an eyebrow, "I have no problems at all taking care of the young miss. Not. At. All!"

The mare quickly gives you a full bow, wings spread and all, as she hurriedly stammers about something she has to go take care of, since you have "so graciously" relieved her for the day, and is out through an open window before you can so much open your mouth to answer.

She literally flew off, still in her maid uniform and all.

"That's… actually worrying…" you say out loud, blinking a few times before forcing yourself to shrug at it. Whatever it is, it's not something you will be able to take care of right now.

You turn around, and start heading to your room, after all you have to get ready to go out.

You are starting to get accustomed to Ponyville, or at least with the center of the town. You have already walked these streets enough times, between your book-sorties, leisure walks and regular cult-going, that they aren't that strange to you anymore.

In fact, when you stop to consider it, this place is probably more familiar to you now than Canterlot was. When you think back to it, the only thing you remember is spending a lot of time practically locked inside your own house, watching chariots pass by the streets from the window next to your bed.

Thank heavens you had books for company…

"Mom! Look, look!", you hear Silky Stream shout, and you look up to see her zip straight ahead of you, doing a long loop in the air and reorienting herself.

It's not exactly comfortable to have a flying daughter, especially when you can't run well and your husband is not in sight. But you get a lot less nervous now than you used to, whenever you see Silky flying, and she is actually turning out to be quite a good flyer.

Granted, she's not flying that high, she doesn't fly any higher than your magic can reach at least. But for all the worried part of your mind cares she might as well be a black dot obfuscated by the sun, and both out of instinct and rationality you always keep a bit of energy at the base of your horn, ready for some flash-levitation magic in case she comes falling to the ground.

Just in case.

"Did you see that?! I'm learning to do loops!" she says excitedly, flying down towards you, beaming with pride.

"That's my little acrobat. You'll be flying circles around your father in no time," you say with a smile, straightening her wind-ruffled mane with a bit of magic, "but where did you learn that? I haven't seen your father teach you that one yet."

"It was with the other foals in school! They dared me that I am too young to do any upside-down flying, so I went up the school roof during recess and showed them I can!" she says, all smiles.

And you smile in return. You are sure that quite a few red flags passed you by just now, and that you just heard a few things that if anypony else had told you it would have resulted in quite a few glares, harsh words and other consequences.

But you just can't get mad at your daughter. Not when she's showing so much potential!

"And everypony was really impressed!" Silky went on, "especially Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara. Oh, they are two girls I've been talking to, and then-"

You feel good about this. All of this. Walking with your daughter on a sunny day, hearing her talk about her studies, and making friends in school, and all the other little things you know that makes all the difference. You know very well what a gilded cage feels like, and you will make sure that your daughter is as free as a bird.

You are especially glad about hearing of those two fillies. Their names were Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, right? They surely sound like good little girls, with whom you absolutely would like your daughter to be friends with.

"-so miss Cheerilee said we will all be working together for the next assignment!" your daughter finishes, practically prancing at this point, her little wings threatening to swoop her up and away.

"That's wonderful Silky," you nod back at her. Despite your idle thinking you really were paying attention to what she said, "and look, there's the place I said we are going today," you point at the Carrousel Boutique, that just appeared before the two of you.

You see her eyes light up at the colorful (and aptly named) building, but you give her another satisfied nod when she doesn't simply flash ahead to explore it. You're not so sure, though, if she would have the same willpower if you took her to that strange cake-shaped bakery.

The same soft bell rings when you open the door, and you let Silky Stream go in first. You hear her let out a small impressed "whoa" and she immediately, albeit slowly you note, flies towards one of the elegantly dressed mannequins.

Another small swell of pride goes through your chest. As much as she might be energetic, it is still good to see that she has a taste for refinement. She will also turn into a proper lady, no doubt! With these thoughts in mind you go deeper into the boutique, your daughter surely wont touch a thing while you aren't looking.

And not long after, you hear a worrying, gasping sound coming from deeper within the store.

Is somepony… chocking?

"Rarity I… really don't think… you need to do th-… is!" you hear what definitely is a choking pony, gasping for air as she tries to speak between ragged breaths. A few, several, chilling scenarios run through your head as you wonder what the hell is going on there.

You stick closer to one of the several veils that separates the different fashion-themed areas of the store, your heartbeat suddenly quickening as adrenaline starts to flow through your body. Your casual walking turns into alert stalking in a fraction of a second, and you slowly inch your way towards the source of the sound.

"Oh darling, I told you it's the least I can do! Besides, Pinkie already told you she throws a party for every new pony in town, right? What's wrong with me taking a few measurements of one of my best friends?"

Until you hear Rarity's voice, answering in a perfectly normal tone, and your adrenaline immediately deserts you. You let out a long sigh of relief. Whatever were you thinking that could be going on in there?

You take a few deep breaths to recompose yourself, and once again casually walk to the source of the conversation.

"Excuse me, Rarity? Oh, am I interrupting anything?" you poke your head through one of the coat-hanger rich corners, and you immediately understand what is going on.

"Velvet Covers? Come on in dear, you're not interrupting anything at all!"

Rarity greets you with a warm smile, a stark contrast to the other pony by her side.

"And hello there Twilight Sparkle. Uhm... good afternoon?" you ask, unsure on how to properly greet her.

The purple unicorn seems… well, you settle on "distressed" for lack of better word. But a more accurate description would be that she is bound. Literally bound. She is wearing a corset, an extremely tight corset, with several measuring tapes floating around her. You can also see various rolls of fabric next to her, shades of purple close at hand for comparison, as well as several notes in fresh ink close to Rarity.

On closer inspection, the binding of the corset is still being held close by Rarity's glowing magic, so maybe saying Twilight is "wearing it" isn't as specific as saying she is being "forced into it".

"After… noon" she attempts to answer, and you're not quite sure how to react.

"There darling, all done," Rarity says, after unwinding one last measuring tape from Twilight's hip, and un-magicking the corset, "it was just your basic measurements Twilight, I told you it would take no time at all," she calmly continues, carefully writing down one last set of numbers on her notes.

Twilight Sparkle on her part, at least, seems too busy catching her breath to answer.

"Are you alright?" you ask her tentatively. She clearly is not used to that sort of thing.

"I am," she finally answers after a few more seconds, "just another thing I don't think I've done since I was a filly, that's all."

"Well, I'm starting to think that Rarity might be a bit overzealous when it comes to her dressmaking," you say with a smirk, "or at least I'm pretty sure measure-taking isn't supposed to be so… intense."

You manage to get a smile out of her, and the two of you look towards the other unicorn as she finishes some scribbling on one of her notes and starts putting away the rolls of purple cloth.

"I suppose you're right. And by the way, have you known Rarity for a long time? You two seem to know each other."

"Well, I wouldn't quite say a long time, but it's hard not to connect with her passion," you say, and see her give a short nod, "and I suppose you don't know her for that long either? I think I recall you saying you are from Canterlot when we met in the library?"

"That's right, we met during the preparations for the Summer Sun Festival, and it's… a bit of a long story," she says with a bit of an awkward smile. Of course, you know that "long story" very well, "but before that I was too busy studying in Canterlot at the School of Magic so…"

Your eyes go wide for a moment, did she just casually name-dropped the…?

"The School of Magic? You mean Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns?" you ask, your tone going high to the surprised side, causing her to blush slightly for a moment.

Well, you do know that she is Princess Celestia's pupil, but that sort of thing is like a distant title like "being a noble" or something like that. As much as it seems obvious in hindsight, knowing that she went to that school strikes much closer to home on how incredibly talented she must be.

It strikes particularly close to home, in fact, since your parents forced you to attempt (and fail) the admission test multiple times, up until you were too old for the maximum age requirement.

"Good heavens, that school is for genius unicorns, isn't it? I've met unicorns in university that could do less magic than some of the youngest students in there," your thoughts finish escaping through your mouth before you can finally reign them in again.

But not before Twilight is clearly blushing furiously, wearing that embarrassed smile of somepony who doesn't know of how much they are capable of.

It once again strikes you how young this mare is, but you do believe you are starting to get a read on her.

"Oh darling, Twilight here is a genius, and don't let anypony tell you otherwise," Rarity suddenly joins the conversation, putting an foreleg around Twilight in a side hug.

The purple mare, on her part, honestly doesn't know how to react.

"Well, when you put it that way… But wait," Twilight's eyes suddenly light up, her embarrassment quickly forgotten, "did you say you go to university?"

"I, uh… well, yes. Why?"

"I've always dreamed of going to university!" she says, surprising the two of you with her sudden excitement, "I mean, I still dream about it, but I'm living in Ponyville in order to do research and all... But I mean, just think about it! The studying, all those advanced books, and you actually have to make a thesis to graduate, don't you?"

You look at Rarity, who seems as puzzled as you.

"Yes, but… isn't that the same of what you did… in the School of Magic?" you suppress the 'what you did your whole life?' part of the question, but you can see that Rarity picked up on it.

"Of course not! Up until now I've only ever studied and learned. University is the place where ponies actually expand on those subjects, where they create new things! Some of the best books I've read were based on the graduating thesis of those ponies."

The two of you look at Twilight as she keeps excitedly talking about the merits of "the pursuit of higher education", as she said, and you can't help to think that deep down that part of her is quite endearing.

"Mommy? Ah, found you!"

Until you are all interrupted by your daughter, her eyes still looking around in wonder.

"I'm glad you enjoyed your stay so far Silky," you say with a smile, ushering her closer to you, "these are Rarity and Twilight Sparkle. And Rarity here is going to help us find a dress for me and you today."

Your daughter exchanges some well behaved greetings with the two mares, and Twilight stays for a while longer before she excuses herself, and Rarity can focus solely on the two of you.

You really don't see what all the fuss was about. Twilight, you come to the conclusion, clearly was just not used to it.

You are on top of a slightly raised one-pony podium, with several measuring tapes surrounding you, gently floating in blue auras. Granted, Rarity didn't bring out the corset on you, but you like to think that you're slim enough that it wont be needed, even at your (not at all important, thank you very much) age.

Silky Stream is calmly sitting on the other side of the room, watching as you are measured, posed and sometimes prodded by the white unicorn.

"Oh, this is going to be such a delight," she says, both to herself and to you as she brings out a few samples of cloth for color comparison, "clothing for younger ponies have really different focuses than for grown mares, not to mention that she is a pegasus, but I have some ideas that I think you'll find wonderful."

"I can't even begin to imagine how you'll pull this off," you say, with some honest flattery, "but I'll be sure to follow whatever you say is best. As long as Silky over there likes it as well, of course," you say, giving both ponies a short wink.

"Mom looks pretty in anything," your daughter replies, crossing her forelegs as if stating the obvious.

You and Rarity both let out a few short laughs.

"Now Velvet, I was thinking about something a bit shorter," she says thoughtfully, "something like a summer view. But how short are you used to having your dresses?"

You let out a small "oh" as the conversation inevitably reaches the point you knew it would. But, like you had concluded not long ago, you like Rarity. She is an elegant and refined mare, and clearly is extremely professional.

So what harm is there in sharing a secret among friends?

"Rarity, could you come with me for a moment?" you ask, stepping down from the podium, and going to a place with less… mirrors.

Its not exactly a secret, and its not something your daughter does not know about either. But it's also not something you see the necessity to parade around… You don't like to think about it as discomfort, but as having elegance about it.

"Is there a problem? Did you not like the summer idea or something?"

"It's nothing, really. Just something I'd like you to keep in mind, since we are still taking measures and all."

Rarity gives you a puzzled look as you turn your right side to her, and gently undo the subtle knotting that keeps the skirt of your dress firmly in place, over your flank.

"What is… oh dear Celestia!" she gasps, eyes wide and hoofs going to her mouth as honest shock overtakes her features.

You are only very slightly uncomfortable about her reaction, but to tell the truth you are far more glad that you're not seeing revulsion in her eyes, as you have seen… in other circumstances. That really goes to show that she has a good heart.

"Oh darling Velvet, how…? what…? Oh I'm so sorry about it, I had no idea!"

"Rarity," you say calmly, redoing the knots of the bindings with a flick of magic while you walk towards her, "it's fine. Really."

"But I mean, you don't even show any sign that-"

"Exactly," you interrupt her, "and since this doesn't change my life in the slightest, there's no reason to make a big deal about it. I'm just letting you know because you are my friend, and because this isn't the sort of thing I can omit to my trusty couturier, is it?" you say with a mischievous and well humored wink.

You slowly talk the shock out of her, as you see her surprise slowly turn into some other feeling, that finally seems to settle in the form of determination.

"Well then, in that case we'll go for an autumn look," she says decidedly, "two sets of long flowery dresses, and they will be fabulous!"

"That's what I wanted to hear," you smile, "although wouldn't Silky look cuter in a shorter dress? It might also help her when she definitely tries to fly in it" you say with a laugh.

And the two of you go back to the measurements, idly chatting as Silky Stream watches.

[The cost of beauty]

[Rolling 30 + 2d10 = 39 bits]

I gotta say, I'm surprised at the dice's interest in advancing both of those niches of friendship. Bumping into an Element bearer is a not a high chance on the list, yet you met Rarity on your first try back then. And now re-meeting Twilight herself on this second roll, which had a good chance of being "Rarity is alone" since it's a social action aimed at her (and Sweetie Belle) specifically, is…

Rarity is now a good friend of yours! You two go along well, and you have shared a personal secret with her, the bond between the two of you growing deeper.

Although you were not focused on it, you have spent enough time with Rarity to notice she would have affinity with GRAIL, as well as some other Lore...

You are no longer acquaintances with Twilight Sparkle, you are now friends! You think you are getting a better read on the young mare, with all things academic apparently sparking her interest.