Point-and-click writing warmup · 3:00am Jul 12th, 2016
EDIT: The game is done for now, but I might continue the story tomorrow if enough people want to keep playing or would like to participate or anything o: Thanks for playing with me!
Hello, folks!
I'm about to do some writing, but I need to get into the swing of things SO I THOUGHT WHY NOT PLAY A GAME OF SORTS WITH YOU GUYS FOR LIKE AN HOUR because why not.
So, if you're bored, click ahead.
So, my idea is to imitate the old school point-and-click games, with a bit of Homestuck in the mix. Essentially, I will write a paragraph of story, and then you guys will have the option to A) enter a command, such as "=> Twilight: Ponder existance" , "=> Twilight: Leave the room", and etc etc. In this case, I'll randomly select one of the first 3-5 commands posted in reply to my latest story comment. It can add to the story, or follow the plot, or whatever. Have fun with it. EDIT: I'll also probably pick any choice that has the most upvotes.
or B) choose from one of three options I'll add in in certain comment/story fragments. In this case, you guys "vote" for the option you want, and the option with most votes from 4 to 10 comments after will be the chosen one.
I thought it might be fun o:
Anyway, so I'll kick it off here, and then post the rest of the story in the comment section as it's being written.
Quick rules:
- No NSFW
- That's it until further notice
Still Frame
by Monochromatic and her followers and whoever else
Rarity's trip to Canterlot had been quite eventful to say the least. She'd managed to find all the fabrics she needed, save for that elusive red Saddle Arabian silk, and she'd had the opportunity of having tea with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. It had been, for all intents and purposes, a perfect trip.
Except... Except for those unpleasant fifteen minutes where she bumped against a very odd looking pony. To be more exact, it had been a blue unicorn stallion, sporting a beard so unkempt, she was certain it must have been illegal somewhere. Though Rarity herself tried -- and failed -- not to judge a pony by their appearance, she found that his appearance hadn't been what put her off from him. It had been how rudely he'd taken hold of her.
"Still frame," he'd muttered as he all but pulled her to him, repeating those two words over and over like a crazed mantra. Still frame, still frame, still frame.
And then he was gone, rushed off before she even had the chance to question him, to express her distaste at his outrageously barbaric behavior.
Hours later, on the train ride back home, her mind kept going back to the stallion and his... what had it been? A delirious ramble? A warning? It seemed as though she would never find out, but truth be told, she was too tired to dwell on it and so she fell asleep, head rested against the window, blissfully unaware of what would come next.
When she woke up, hours later, the unicorn allowed herself a drowsy yawn, though she suppressed the desire to stretch. It seemed the train had come to a stop, and she honestly couldn't be happier to be home. That was, of course, until she took a better look at the disconcerting outside view.
Ponies were scattered about, as one would expect on a busy Saturday night, but the hustle and bustle of the train station had come to a quite literal stop. Every single pony -- stallion and mare, colt and filly -- was paralyzed in place, still as a statue, and from the frame of the window, it was almost like looking at a photograph.
A colt looked up at a soccer ball frozen in mid-air. A filly's face was frozen in horror at seeing her dolly on the floor. A stallion's silent cry of pain went unheard and unfinished, the coffee a mare had thrown at him still flying -- or not? -- through the air.
When she looked back towards her train cabin, Rarity was horrified to see that, just like outside, every single pony inside the train had similarly been frozen in time.
What... What's going on...?
2
=>scream and panic. Dramatically.
Rarity's first urge was to scream, and if she'd it with her, faint on her red chaise longue as well. However, faced with this situation, she found it rather hard to scream, as though screaming might alert...
Something? Somepony? Or perhaps no one, since it seemed no one would be there to hear her scream.
In any case, the frenetic beating of her heart was loud enough.
She stood up from her seat, eyes fixed on a stallion near her, whose last action had been to stare at her intently. Some other time, she might have pointed out it was rude to stare, but she decided that there could always be an exception.
... =>
3
=> Rarity: Check out stallion
If Rarity were anypony else and not a lady, she might have taken this moment to admire the stallion. He certainly was handsome, and heavens, wouldn't it be amazing if it turned out he too was unfrozen? It would be like one of her romance novels where a gorgeous mare and handsome stallion saved the day, and then in the end, he'd declare his lo--
Rarity shook her head. That wasn't the time for such thoughts!
=> Rarity: Stare at herself, see if there's anything out of the ordinary. / Get off the train and go to town.
She decided instead on checking herself for any injuries, and a rudimentary revision showed that she seemed to be perfectly fine. Perhaps instead she should make sure her friends were safe.
4
==> Rarity: Visit Sweetie Belle.
Rarity decided that first and foremost, she would have to check on her little sister. It wasn't that she wasn't terribly concerned for her friends, but she had no idea where any of them where. Sweetie Belle, however, was supposed to be in school, and by visiting her, she could hopefully check up on Apple Bloom and Scootaloo as well.
Still very aware of her surroundings, Rarity made her way out of the train and onto the platform. To her dismay, nothing had changed, nothing moved, and nothing seemed to be getting better. What in Equestria could have happened? Who could have done this?
Figuring that the answers wouldn't descend upon her, she made her way out of the station and towards the school. Several minutes later, she heard the distant sound of the town clock tower chiming thirteen times, and just as the thirteenth bell rang, she heard a door slamming on the house near the fountain, and she could have sworn she heard someone galloping into the alley near the bakery.
5
D) The option that was totally just hidden and I didn't just make up! It's there! Just look harder! Find an object that froze midair and see if you can stand on it. Because it's not as if the laws of physics haven't already been broken enough! Rules were meant to be broken, only in a ladylike way of course. More like really bent than broken.
If there were any objects floating about, Rarity would have been tempted to see if she was able to stand on them. She would have to visit Rainbow Dash eventually, and unless she suddenly sprouted wings a la Twilight, she would have to be ingenious. Unfortunately, the only mid-air object nearby was a pegasus, and she was most certainly not going to try standing on her, for heaven's sake.
=> Rarity: Pursue the mysterious galloping.
Rarity decided on going after the mysterious galloping, instead. It meant, after all, that somepony hadn't been frozen, and if she was lucky, they might have an explanation for what was going on.
She rushed into the alley, hoping to catch them before they left, but she had been too late. The dark and gloomy alley was all but abandoned save for her own presence.
"Hello?!" she called out, hoping to be heard. "Anypony here?!"
She let out a defeated sigh, and instead took to looking around at her surroundings. She noticed somepony had written a message in pink ink on the wall, and further along the way, she saw five crumpled up sheets of paper.
6
Rarity, ever one for cleanliness even in the most horrifying of times, headed towards the crumpled up pieces of paper. Honestly, if she wasn't in the middle of what seemed to be a horror novel, she'd organize a P.S.A. on littering.
Upon reaching the five crumpled up pieces of paper, she quickly looked around to make sure the mysterious pony hadn't returned. After verifying she was still completely alone, she levitated the papers into the air and began to read.
Her eyes grew wide at the messages written on the first four papers. Two familiar words had been written on them in a messy blue scrawl, and just the sight of it made her skin crawl.
STILL FRAME
Her mind flashed back to the crazed stallion, and she wished with all her heart she would wake up from this awful nightmare she seemed to be trapped in. She then turned her attention to the fifth paper, and found some relief at noticing it lacked the two ominous words.
In fact, it lacked any words! She turned it around, and rather than a message, she noticed somepony had drawn a pink square in the upper corner.
Carefully, she folded up the five papers and put them away inside her saddlebag before moving onto the pink writing on the wall. Just like the blue messages, a messy scrawl decorated the wall, as if whoever had written it had been in a hurry to leave.
You put two of me in your tea.
Her eyes went wide, and she glanced towards her saddlebag.
"Oh."
7
Clearly, whoever had designed this riddle certainly did not excel at making them hard to figure out, and Rarity supposed it was good fortune Pinkie Pie had not decided to make a living out of writing mystery novels.
Had Pinkie left this? When? Had she been the mysterious pony? Or had Rarity stumbled upon a completely unrelated activity the pink pony had organized before all... this?
It would seem that, if she wanted answers, she'd have to travel to Sugarcube Corner. Sweetie would have to wait for now.
~ ~ ~
After a very disconcerting walk through the frozen Ponyville, Rarity finally reached Ponyville's very own bakery and sweet shoppe. Ponies were sitting on the tables outside, their cakes and cupcakes uneaten on their plates. It reminded her of the fact that she hadn't eaten anything at all. Surely nopony would really mind if she took a small bite, no?
But before she made her mind up on satisfying her stomach, she made her way to the shop first. To her surprise, however, when she tried to open the door, she found it was locked shut.
8
Rarity: Eat the cupcakes. Eat all of the cupcakes.
"Drat," she muttered, stepping away from the door and turning around.
Still no sign of ponies moving, and still no sign of anything of interest.
Except those cupcakes. Oh, they called to her and her stomach, which now grumbled in protest. Those sweet vanilla filled delicacies that kings and queens dreamed of, and there they were, all ripe for the taking and tasting and mmmmmm. It really wouldn't hurt to take one teensy bite, would it?
No, Rarity! That was technically theft, and honestly, those cupcakes must have been filled with calories! And everypony knew she was on a diet, and if Twilight ever got winds of her breaking it, she would simply never heard the end of it.
Except... no one would know it was her, would they?
~ ~ ~
Standing once more in front of the locked door, Rarity used a napkin to clean the crumbs of her mouth. In retrospect, she probably shouldn't have eaten all the cupcakes, but what was done was done, and there hadn't been a single witness. Besides, she was sure it was what Pinkie would have wanted.
Probably.
... =>
9
=>Rarity: knock and see if someone is home
Rarity decided that the polite thing to do was to knock. Sure, perhaps nopony would answer, but it didn't mean she couldn't try.
"Hello?" she called out, knocking three times on the door. "Missus and Mister Cake? Pinkie? Anypony home?"
She waited for a second, and just as she was about to knock again, a terrified and familiar voice inside the building called out, "Go away! Go away!" and moments later, Rarity heard a door inside the building slam shut.
"Wait! Pinkie Pie! It's me, Rarity!" she helplessly called out, knocking on the door several more times.
After at least five more minutes of pleading and knocking to no avail, Rarity resigned herself to the fact that nopony would be opening the door any time soon. What was she supposed to do now?
=>scream and panic. Dramatically.
=>Stay calm.
Rarity: Poke someone
=> Freeze in a dramatic (and sophisticated) pose. Might as well roll with it.
In honor of how I was introduced to these things: ==> Rarity check your equipment.
2
=>scream and panic. Dramatically.
Rarity's first urge was to scream, and if she'd it with her, faint on her red chaise longue as well. However, faced with this situation, she found it rather hard to scream, as though screaming might alert...
Something? Somepony? Or perhaps no one, since it seemed no one would be there to hear her scream.
In any case, the frenetic beating of her heart was loud enough.
She stood up from her seat, eyes fixed on a stallion near her, whose last action had been to stare at her intently. Some other time, she might have pointed out it was rude to stare, but she decided that there could always be an exception.
... =>
4085621
=> Rarity: Get off the train and go to town. Try to find her friends and confirm if they're frozen too.
Rarity: Check out stallion
=> Rarity: Stare at herself, see if there's anything out of the ordinary.
4085621
=> Rarity: Investigate the rest of the train, there may be someone else uneffected
3
=> Rarity: Check out stallion
If Rarity were anypony else and not a lady, she might have taken this moment to admire the stallion. He certainly was handsome, and heavens, wouldn't it be amazing if it turned out he too was unfrozen? It would be like one of her romance novels where a gorgeous mare and handsome stallion saved the day, and then in the end, he'd declare his lo--
Rarity shook her head. That wasn't the time for such thoughts!
=> Rarity: Stare at herself, see if there's anything out of the ordinary. / Get off the train and go to town.
She decided instead on checking herself for any injuries, and a rudimentary revision showed that she seemed to be perfectly fine. Perhaps instead she should make sure her friends were safe.
A) Visit Pinkie Pie
B) Visit Rainbow Dash
C) Visit Sweetie Belle
4085648
Rainbow's really fast and if she's unaffected, she can find everypony else much quicker.
4085648 ==> Rarity: Visit Sweetie Belle.
Family before friends.
4085648
Visit Sweetie
Something stupid has happened. It must have been the crusaders.
C) Sweetie Belle
4085648
A) Pinkie Pie. If there is anyone unaffected, it's her.
4
==> Rarity: Visit Sweetie Belle.
Rarity decided that first and foremost, she would have to check on her little sister. It wasn't that she wasn't terribly concerned for her friends, but she had no idea where any of them where. Sweetie Belle, however, was supposed to be in school, and by visiting her, she could hopefully check up on Apple Bloom and Scootaloo as well.
Still very aware of her surroundings, Rarity made her way out of the train and onto the platform. To her dismay, nothing had changed, nothing moved, and nothing seemed to be getting better. What in Equestria could have happened? Who could have done this?
Figuring that the answers wouldn't descend upon her, she made her way out of the station and towards the school. Several minutes later, she heard the distant sound of the town clock tower chiming thirteen times, and just as the thirteenth bell rang, she heard a door slamming on the house near the fountain, and she could have sworn she heard someone galloping into the alley near the bakery.
A) Follow hoofsteps into alley
B) Investigate house
C) Proceed to school
4085695
Because they're totally common.
A) Visit Pinkie Pie.
A) Follow footsteps
D) The option that was totally just hidden and I didn't just make up! It's there! Just look harder! Find an object that froze midair and see if you can stand on it. Because it's not as if the laws of physics haven't already been broken enough! Rules were meant to be broken, only in a ladylike way of course. More like really bent than broken.
4085695
A) Pursue the mysterious galloping.
4085695
=>visit Sweetie Belle
4085710 4085712
5
D) The option that was totally just hidden and I didn't just make up! It's there! Just look harder! Find an object that froze midair and see if you can stand on it. Because it's not as if the laws of physics haven't already been broken enough! Rules were meant to be broken, only in a ladylike way of course. More like really bent than broken.
If there were any objects floating about, Rarity would have been tempted to see if she was able to stand on them. She would have to visit Rainbow Dash eventually, and unless she suddenly sprouted wings a la Twilight, she would have to be ingenious. Unfortunately, the only mid-air object nearby was a pegasus, and she was most certainly not going to try standing on her, for heaven's sake.
=> Rarity: Pursue the mysterious galloping.
Rarity decided on going after the mysterious galloping, instead. It meant, after all, that somepony hadn't been frozen, and if she was lucky, they might have an explanation for what was going on.
She rushed into the alley, hoping to catch them before they left, but she had been too late. The dark and gloomy alley was all but abandoned save for her own presence.
"Hello?!" she called out, hoping to be heard. "Anypony here?!"
She let out a defeated sigh, and instead took to looking around at her surroundings. She noticed somepony had written a message in pink ink on the wall, and further along the way, she saw five crumpled up sheets of paper.
... =>
4085739 => Rarity: Read the pink message
4085739 Seems like the only logical thing to do is:
=> Investigate ink and paper
Rarity: Read message
4085739 ==> Rarity: Clean up the papers. Who in Equestria would litter at a time like this?!?! How uncouth!
4085739
=> Pick up paper, quickly look to see if somepony made sure you picked up the paper, then read paper.
4085739
=> Retrieve limbs from chest=> Examine papers, then the pink writing
4085739
=> Rarity: Investigate both the ink and papers.
4085739
=> Examine the message and the five pieces of paper. Put the skills you gained from reading detective fiction to good use.
4085753 4085754 4085755
6
Rarity, ever one for cleanliness even in the most horrifying of times, headed towards the crumpled up pieces of paper. Honestly, if she wasn't in the middle of what seemed to be a horror novel, she'd organize a P.S.A. on littering.
Upon reaching the five crumpled up pieces of paper, she quickly looked around to make sure the mysterious pony hadn't returned. After verifying she was still completely alone, she levitated the papers into the air and began to read.
Her eyes grew wide at the messages written on the first four papers. Two familiar words had been written on them in a messy blue scrawl, and just the sight of it made her skin crawl.
Her mind flashed back to the crazed stallion, and she wished with all her heart she would wake up from this awful nightmare she seemed to be trapped in. She then turned her attention to the fifth paper, and found some relief at noticing it lacked the two ominous words.
In fact, it lacked any words! She turned it around, and rather than a message, she noticed somepony had drawn a pink square in the upper corner.
Carefully, she folded up the five papers and put them away inside her saddlebag before moving onto the pink writing on the wall. Just like the blue messages, a messy scrawl decorated the wall, as if whoever had written it had been in a hurry to leave.
Her eyes went wide, and she glanced towards her saddlebag.
"Oh."
... =>
Rarity: Go to Sugarcube Corner
4085772
=> Go to the lair of the Pink Pony.
4085772 =>Go the the one place that reminds you of pink and sugar cubes, Sugar Cube Corner. Also begrudgingly accept that Sweetie may have to wait for now.
4085739 Put those papers in the recycling bin of course! Oh and report that awful act of vandalism that poor wall was subjected to. (Also is supposed to be a serious sort of thing? Because I'm sort of just making jokes right now and not truly contributing anything of value.) edit: never mind, I'm too late on the scene.
4085780 4085790
7
Clearly, whoever had designed this riddle certainly did not excel at making them hard to figure out, and Rarity supposed it was good fortune Pinkie Pie had not decided to make a living out of writing mystery novels.
Had Pinkie left this? When? Had she been the mysterious pony? Or had Rarity stumbled upon a completely unrelated activity the pink pony had organized before all... this?
It would seem that, if she wanted answers, she'd have to travel to Sugarcube Corner. Sweetie would have to wait for now.
~ ~ ~
After a very disconcerting walk through the frozen Ponyville, Rarity finally reached Ponyville's very own bakery and sweet shoppe. Ponies were sitting on the tables outside, their cakes and cupcakes uneaten on their plates. It reminded her of the fact that she hadn't eaten anything at all. Surely nopony would really mind if she took a small bite, no?
But before she made her mind up on satisfying her stomach, she made her way to the shop first. To her surprise, however, when she tried to open the door, she found it was locked shut.
... =>
Rarity: Eat the cupcakes. Eat all of the cupcakes.
4085796
=> Rarity: knock on the door
4085796 =>For fear of breaking the oppressive silence with a knock, she instead tries to peer through a window. Hoping to spot something or someone.
4085799
8
Rarity: Eat the cupcakes. Eat all of the cupcakes.
"Drat," she muttered, stepping away from the door and turning around.
Still no sign of ponies moving, and still no sign of anything of interest.
Except those cupcakes. Oh, they called to her and her stomach, which now grumbled in protest. Those sweet vanilla filled delicacies that kings and queens dreamed of, and there they were, all ripe for the taking and tasting and mmmmmm. It really wouldn't hurt to take one teensy bite, would it?
No, Rarity! That was technically theft, and honestly, those cupcakes must have been filled with calories! And everypony knew she was on a diet, and if Twilight ever got winds of her breaking it, she would simply never heard the end of it.
Except... no one would know it was her, would they?
~ ~ ~
Standing once more in front of the locked door, Rarity used a napkin to clean the crumbs of her mouth. In retrospect, she probably shouldn't have eaten all the cupcakes, but what was done was done, and there hadn't been a single witness. Besides, she was sure it was what Pinkie would have wanted.
Probably.
... =>
4085809
Rarity: knock and see if someone is home
4085819
9
=>Rarity: knock and see if someone is home
Rarity decided that the polite thing to do was to knock. Sure, perhaps nopony would answer, but it didn't mean she couldn't try.
"Hello?" she called out, knocking three times on the door. "Missus and Mister Cake? Pinkie? Anypony home?"
She waited for a second, and just as she was about to knock again, a terrified and familiar voice inside the building called out, "Go away! Go away!" and moments later, Rarity heard a door inside the building slam shut.
"Wait! Pinkie Pie! It's me, Rarity!" she helplessly called out, knocking on the door several more times.
After at least five more minutes of pleading and knocking to no avail, Rarity resigned herself to the fact that nopony would be opening the door any time soon. What was she supposed to do now?
Aaaaand I'm ending it here for now because I do need to get some other writing done! Thank you all for participating, and let me know if you want to continue this tomorrow or whatever. It was a lot of fun o:
4085823
Rarity: check the back door.
Rarity: Go inside anyway.
That was fun, and I want to know what happens. If you decide to do it again and I'm online, I'll definitely be here
4085823 Hah! For some reason being the last choice chosen makes me rather happy.
But this was a lot of fun and I do hope to continue this as I want to know what happens as well as just this beings lot of fun