• Member Since 8th Apr, 2013
  • offline last seen January 15th

Sharp Spark


Nothing says I miss you quite like war poetry carved in your door with a stanley knife.

T
Source

The aristocratic and well-to-do unicorn Flash Fog has made a wager that she could circumnavigate the globe in only eighty days. Thankfully, she will not have to make the journey alone. With the assistance of her loyal valet, Porter Stout, Madame Fog is ready to face any adventures the journey may lead to.

This is the story of one of those adventures.

Based on the game 80 Days. As such, this story is presented in a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure format, utilizing hyperlinks in each chapter rather than standard linear navigation.

Chapters (108)
Comments ( 38 )
horizon #1 · Jul 26th, 2016 · · · . ·

Sirrah, your contention as to the most salient physical characteristic of a princess is scandalously absurd.

For how could a sharkpony be a princess, lacking a tiara?

:rainbowwild:

but seriously this is amazing <3

I knew you'd be back. *straightens tie*

7465149
Haha, :twilightsmile: I'm flattered that you'd even remember me. No promises about further work; I'm mainly back because Horizon's challenge caught my eye and I got this idea in my head. I'm terribly far behind on watching the canon show, and unlikely to write much ponyfic because of that.

Well, I'll be damned. I didn't think I would see you around again.

GaPJaxie #5 · Aug 9th, 2016 · · · . ·

A WORTHY RIVAL APPEARS

Based on the game 80 Days...

I'm asking the following out of principle. There's no malice or ill intentions or passive agressiveness in this question:

You do know that "80 Days Around the World" by Julius Verne was before that game, right?

7467245
Of course. But this story is very definitely based on the game, drawing on its vaguely steampunk milieu, Passepartout as point of view character, and nonlinear narrative structure. It's based on Verne insofar as the basic premise is his, but I'm drawing a lot more from the 2014 interactive fiction work than the 1873 novel.

horizon #9 · Aug 10th, 2016 · · · . ·

My evening has become this on infinite loop

Best ending. Perhaps not objectively best in terms of trip speed, and definitely not the most illuminating about the source of the problems, but the most noble and emotionally satisfying.

Despite the fact that this ending seems superficially similar to many of the others -- if you're cheating and reading the endings out of order -- it conceals something quite remarkable. I don't think a reader can be said to truly understand the attack that drives the second half of the story unless they've made the choices that get them here fairly.

And one of the things that bowls me over about this story is how much it understands the source material of 80 Days. Making the choices to get here requires a willful disregard for what the game tells you your place in it is (a mere butler playing a subsidiary role to the adventurer who employs you), and an embrace of what the game repeatedly shows you your role is:

The protagonist.

Fogg/Fog may drive the trip, but it's Passepartout/Porter Stout who drives the story. The game couldn't me more blatant about this if it tried: he is literally the narrator/author. It forces you to make every choice that unrolls the tale, and only very rarely (in some of the later DLCs incorporated into the game, like the North Pole trip) does it ever hint that the agent of the travel decision was your employer. Because, for the most part, he is completely passive; the choices are your character's. The sense in-game that you're babysitting Fogg is a recurring theme, and in fact it's a hint to what unlocks all of the best content.

Fogg is an albatross. Almost, in some ways, an antagonist -- because almost any encounter in the game is worthy of being the focus of a story of its own, and yet you are doomed to only ever see a tiny piece of it due to the inexorable march of Fogg's deadline. I think the people who played the game as if Fogg was more important than themselves, as if "winning" was more important than the journey, are the ones who found the game shallow. Breaking those chains and thinking of the game as your adventure, making choices that drive the story rather than the trip, lets the story unroll.

And getting to this particular ending follows that philosophy to a T. This isn't Fog's tale. This isn't the story of the characters with whom you interact. This is Stout's story, your story, and it's fitting that reaching the biggest revelations requires two decisions which explicitly treat it as such.

... and even an Inside UFO 54-40 homage. You magnificent bastard.

I've (finally) reviewed this on my blog as part of my 80 Days crossover roundup! Thank you for an entertaining read. :twilightsmile:

Well, that bodes ill.

Huh. So I guess this is just an easter egg? Because I explored all the other branches of the story, and none of them seemed to lead to this chapter...

Really well done. I like that no one path reveals everything about the fate of the Sharkponies, so re-reads of the story give new insights into scenes observed in previous read-throughs.

Well.
There goes my plan to download this. :/

This story is dark, hot damn!
So that's A, F, G, H, D so far. E too, I think. Two or more endings left, huh?

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Well, that was amazing.

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What does shark-talk sound like, I wonder. c.c

7471016
Or you can just hit the first choice every time. :V

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whoa, dick move there D:

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Aaand karma, :D

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Save us from the sharkfillies. D:

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Ooh, so he can be in various places when this happens.

Also, "a scream jolted awake".

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Dang it, none of these feel like actual endings. D:

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Thank god.

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So is the shark Princess a dude? :O

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Ooh, she's got a name! :O

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Okay, this is great. XD

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Geez, every question I have has an answer somewhere in here. Good job.

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I kinda thought that's what Sawtooth meant in the one ending. Poor fool, he had no idea.

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Man, no way to save the city, is there?

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Fantastic. :D

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Well, that was fun. :D

My favorite part was when Porter was gay for the shark. :pinkiehappy:
There were lots of good parts of this, but I feel like there were also way too many places where all the choices resulted in the same information or same narrative just dressed different, and then immediately squished themselves back together into one plotline.
It was fun to explore, though! Lots of very interesting little pieces of world-building.

Soge #36 · Feb 6th, 2017 · · · . ·

7470924 I agree. After getting to A and B (which felt too tame), this was a breath of fresh air.

Soge #37 · Feb 6th, 2017 · · · . ·

7471016 You can also reach it if you Allow Crank to go into the tunnel, and then decide to wait for him.

“Sawtooth left words for you, drypony. He says that he is sorry to not be here, but he must go with the many to the Upper Currents. Even still, he will not forget your name.”

And the true meaning of those words only becomes clear after fully exploring all the other endings. Ironically, if I'm remembering correctly, it isn't even possible for Porter to learn the real meaning of "the Upper Currents" and still reach this ending.

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