//------------------------------// // What Will You Do? (Moonstuck) // Story: The League of Sweetie Belles // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// GMBlackjack: > Start You are now Cinder "Sweetie" Belle. You are overcome with your cuteness, which is unusual given how much time you spend around others nearly as cute as yourself. For some reason, you find yourself on the moon. What Will You Do? FanOfMosteverything: > Retrieve hooves from crater. Your hooves are already attached to your person! Why would you need to retrieve them? ...Unless you are currently standing in a crater. You honestly can't tell, the moon looks flat from here, but it could just be a really big, smooth crater with smaller craters in it. At the very least, you have confirmed that all four of your hooves are still attached to your person - and your tail, as a bonus. You decide not to count your head as a limb, even though it too is still where it should be. On you. It's supposed to be on you. It is not supposed to be on the moon. Speckle: >Check and see whether or not you are alone on the Moon. You take a look at your surroundings, finding no other ponies or people on the moon with you. You see several moon rocks, an expanse of moon dust, an improbable chair, an origami cranesitting in the chair, and a black number 30 that appears to be wearing a tiny hat. You see absolutely nothing else. Undeadking243: >Check the pumpkin. ABSOLUTELY. NOTHING. ELSE. Golden_Reflection: > check for atmosphere (how is breathing?) You wave your hoof in front of you, discovering that there is no atmosphere to speak of. Yet, you are breathing just fine. "Again? I was just in the Universe Generator!" Turns out speaking works just fine as well. Impossibly. Masterweaver: >Do a fancy jig. It's obligatory. You are overcome with the need to dance like there's no tomorrow. You hop onto your hind hooves and attempt to recreate the fancy dance you did in the Enchanted Library. You manage to pull off some seriously cool and smooth moves for about twelve seconds before you promptly fall flat on your face. The 30 with a fancy hat lowers to 25. You feel insulted, though you're not sure why. Blaze Rod: >Wonder how you got there. You come to the rather shocking and disturbing realization that you have no idea how you got here. Tracing back your memory, you remember walking in the halls of Swip while she was being re-constructed, thinking about how you probably shouldn't store any personal valuables in her since she seems to get blown up a lot. And then... it all goes fuzzy. The next thing you can remember for certain is being on the moon, thinking about hooves and craters. OmnipresentMicroorganism: >Search yourself for clues. You look yourself over. You find your communication device on the back of your neck, and the screen lights up when you touch it. From a cursory inspection, all the apps seem functional. As previously noted, you have all four of your hooves attached to your person, as well as your tail and head. Checking your horn you find that you can still use magic, lifting the communication device easily with your telekinesis. Goldenwing: >Search your clues for self. Your horn has not developed self-awareness in the last five minutes. There is a minimal Artificial Intelligence in the communication device, but that won't be a very good conversation partner. Masterweaver: >>Self your search for clues. You find yourself wondering if the abstract concept of the Searchcould have awareness? Maybe you could give it? Could you perhaps... become the Search? You attempt to be the Search. Your brain starts to hurt from attempting to do the impossible. Keywii_Cookies55: >Clue yourself for search. Not to be disheartened, you determine that you will find the Search's self! And to do that, you must become a clue! Makes perfect sense, at least right now, to your already strained brain. You lay flat on the ground, making an imprint of yourself in the moon dust. You stand up and examine the imprint - yes, definitely a clue. Now the Search can find you! But wait, that imprint isn't you, and if you become the Search you will find the not-you and that won't go anywhere because... After running your mind in senseless logical leaps for a few minutes, you gain +1 Insanity Point. There is truly only one adequate response to this course of events. SgtSarge_51: >interrogate the crane for clues to the search. "All right, crane, you're the most mysterious thing here! Tell me what you know!" The crane remains silent to your attempts at interrogation. You feel slightly silly. After all, why would words work? There are much better methods of interrogation. You grab the crane and start shaking it violently. "Tell me what you know!" The crane quickly unfolds to reveal that it was made out of a map. Neat. OmnipresentMicroorganism: Absorb the map’s knowledge, and then use tons of trial and error your super-cool origami skills to fold it into... a pair of Cartographer’s Radical Shades. For head-perching only, of course. ...What? A hat? No, no. That’s ridiculous. Who would ever fold a map into a hat of all things? Naturally, you look the map over, annoyed to find that whatever it was a map of, it's useless now. There are dozens of little childish drawings all over it. Stick figures of alicorns, batponies, seaponies, and what you think is supposed to be a changeling are littered all over the map, obscuring every feature on it. This map has seen a lot of use and probably means a lot to someone. Or it was just scratch paper lying around that some kid got ahold of. Satisfied that the map is useless as it is, you proceed to fold it until it takes the shape of some Radical Shades. You slide them on your head, deciding that it wouldn't be worthwhile to put paper shades over your eyes. You wouldn't want to go blind would you? Keep them below the horn, above the eyes, like all the cool kids do. After a- Wait up. How did you do that? You're pretty sure there wasn't enough paper in the crane to adjust to the shape of these fake glasses, and you've never done origami in your life. OmnipresentMicroorganism: >Consult with Science Cinder about this development. Science Cinder does not exist. However, Science Woona does, and she is a bit too busy trying to figure out why she's being asked to explain things for Cinder right now to be of much use. Where did Woona go? All Science Woona did was check out for the day and now Woona's been replaced! Starlit Rose: >Fail to not inhale the expanse of moon dust. While deeply pondering the predicament you find yourself in, you place your head a little too close to the ground and inhale. The good news is that this moon dust isn't a skin irritant, like most moon dust. The bad news is that it's definitely a nasal irritant. "AH... AH... CHOOOO!" The force of your sneeze creates a small mushroom cloud. Turns out this moon dust is an eye irritant too. Speckle: Wonder if you've lost your marbles. Given your recent acquisition of an Insanity Point, you are relatively certain it is safe to say you have lost a marble. Just one, though, the rest of them are still rattling around in your skull just fine. Masterweaver: >Spontaneously combust You decide it is a good time to test out your fire magic. You light your horn, finding that the flames burn bright even in the lack of proper atmosphere. You decide to have a little fun and cast fireball on the improbable chair. The chair explodes, sending flaming chunks of wood in several directions - including right at you. Your fur, which under normal circumstances shouldn't be particularly flammable, lights up like a Hearth's Warming tree thrown into a volcano. You keep enough of your wits about you to remove the fire with your magic before you suffer any serious burns, but that was still rather terrifying. Keywii_Cookies55 >You feel adventure calling! Adventure. Yes, that's right. You're on the moon, there must be adventure somewhere, right? You're the hero, after all. There must be something here besides an odd selection of hats! Pulling down your Radical Shades you strike a pose - it is time to look for adventure rather than wasting time setting fire to improbable chairs! You take a step forward... And lift up your Radical Shades to make sure you can see. Who knows where you will go and what secrets the moon show you? Blaze Song: >: Stop and think: "um.. before I go anywhere, maybe I should try to contact Swip, the others or even the LSB Command with my Communicator?" Right! You have your communicator! You pull it out and attempt to make a call. You have service! Oh, wait. That's local service only. Your communicator has tapped into a local network of some sort. Dimensional communication is down, and Swip apparently isn't in this universe at the moment. You try to contact something on the local network. All you hear isscreeching static. Undeadking243: >Tell the screeching static hello and then explore the Dark Side of the Moon. "Hello!" The static remains screeching. You decide now is as good of a time as any to go forth to the Dark Side of the moon. You're lucky the division of night and day is close by, otherwise this would have taken a few hours. You cross over and are completely surprised to find that, yes, it is dark. Can't really see - with or without your Radical Shades. Goldenwing: >Create torch. What a great idea - something a bit more controlled than random explosive fire. Except you don't really have anything to burn... Except the remnants of a wooden chair you left on the... what you're going to call the Bright Side of the moon. You scramble back, pick up one of the legs that looks significantly less charred than all the others, and light it up. It burns brightly. You are quite satisfied with your work. Golden_Reflection: >utilise torch to its full potential You hold the torch high and return to the Dark Side to find... More moon. Specifically, there are a few craters around, a large quantity of moon dust, and a sky full of stars. You can't exactly see very far with the torch. runtrivena: >Collect sample of moon dust You pick up some moon dust with your telekinesis with the intent of collecting it. You don't exactly have anywhere to keep it, at least not in a way that it would maintain the purity required for a true scientific sample. Goldenwing: >Jump as high as you can and pretend to be a pegasus. You jump into the air. The lower moon gravity allows you to jump significantly higher than normal, but even with this boon you still must come back down. You find yourself wondering if, one day, you'll be given a pair of wings for all your adventures. You decide it's best not to dwell on this fact. As you resolve to be happy with or without wings, you land on the ground once more and hit something metallic. A loud CLANG rings in your ears, stunning you. Luckily, you do not drop the torch. Goldenwing: >Play a drum solo, even though there's no atmosphere. Holding your torch high, you begin to play the sickest beat this area of the moon has ever experienced. The beat resounds through the lack-of-atmosphere and to the ears of all present. The audience (that is, only you) is rather pleased with the tunes coming forth from your musical genius. You hit the metal thing a little too hard and force it open. Turns out, it was a hatch, and now you are falling. Goldenwing: >It's the moon. Wait patiently while you slowly drift down. Actually, since the moon doesn't have an atmosphere, the acceleration due to gravity will ensure Cinder's velocity will increase unbounded. Granted, if she only fell for a few seconds she would be fine, but it's already been more than a few seconds. Ponygood 11: >Complain about contrived plot advancement. "Why does it always have to be falling?" you shout. "Why can't it be, oh, I don't know, a friendly cupcake or bouncy castle or surprise clown or something?" Thinking on it, you decide you really don't want it to be 'surprise clown'. Golden 123123123: > you believe you can fly You know what? Yeah! Yeah, you can fly! All you need to do is believe!Focus, become one with the fall... Until the fall becomes up! Basically, you need to throw yourself at the ground and miss. That seems reasonable. You take a deep breath, close your eyes, and think carefully. Fly. Fly. Fly. You can FLY. Fly. Fly. FLY... FLY! You begin to feel your body lift, as though all the threats to your personal safety are nothing in the face of your intrinsic belief in FLIGHT. You feel as though you have sprouted wings and are gliding on the wind. You are home fre- THUD. "Ow..." OmnipresentMicroorganism: >Examine the comical cartoony imprint you left on the ground, and then your surroundings. You pull yourself out of the little crater you made and light your torch again. You discover a perfect imprint of you - right down to the serene, confident face that believed it was flying. You feel more than a little silly for ever entering such a mental state. Your brain sure seems to be a little scattered and unreliable today. After checking yourself over and finding nothing wrong (you suspect that fall should have killed you) you take a look around. You are in a cave. Looking up, you cannot see the top of the pit you just fell down. At your hooves you have an imprint of yourself, a moon rock that looks like a face, and a small golden pendant. Further away you see two tunnels. You label the first one you saw 'forward' and the second one 'backward' Golden 123123123: > grab the gold pendant and turn your calligraphers sunglasses into a calligraphers fashionable hat and then become the fashion Pony You equip the gold pendant and decide to see how far you can take the CARTOGRAPHER'S Radical Shades. With a few swift motions of your hoof you have turned it into the Cartographer's Fashionable Hat. You strike a pose and toss your mane back, grinning. The pendant itself is in the shape of a bird with wings outstretched. OmnipresentMicroorganism: >Walk backwards into the forwards tunnel, to confuse any potential adversaries. You do them one better - you moonwalk into the forwards tunnel, giggling to yourself as you do so. You quickly lose sight of the area you landed in since you are holding the only source of light you are aware of. After a few minutes of walking, you begin to wonder if this tunnel is never going to end. Glancing behind you, you see nothing but more tunnel as far as your torch's light reaches. Keywii_Cookies55: >Break into a sprint, it's faster and good exercise. Ponies can't exactly be said to sprint, but you can definitely gallop! You rear up on your hind legs and sped down the tunnel as fast as your little hooves will carry you, kicking up moon dust in the process. You have to re-light your torch a few times since you're moving so fast, but that's nothing to be all that concerned about. There's no indication the tunnel will end anytime soon, but you aren't going to give up now! You'll keep going until you find something or something finds you! Masterweaver: >Find a marble and realize it isn't yours. You trip over a marble. In the moments between the start of your fall and the hard impact of your skull with the ground, you note that you have never seen this marble before. You black out. Undeadking243: Meanwhile... "What do you mean, Cinder's been replaced?" "I mean exactly what it sounds like. She's been replaced. With an adorable Woona, nonetheless." "Woona? Not... Luna?" "Yep. She didn't seem to understand why I was confused by it." "Right. Any ideas?" "At the moment? No." Golden 123123123: Wune> have an existential crisis about interdimensional travel You are now Princess Woona. You find yourself aboard what you've been told is a spaceship. You are currently sitting on a really nice bed that you're told belongs to somepony named Cinder. A lot of the ponies who look really similar seem a little worried about her. You don't really have any idea what's going on, but you feel like you should try to help. Even though this might be your fault. Maybe. You're not sure. All the strange ponies say it's not your fault... Goldenwing: >Stand so incredibly still that they can't see you. Observe and analyze like a low-altitude recon Woona. You press yourself belly-first onto the bed, spreading your wings like the low-altitude recon Woona you know you are. You narrow your eyes so that they look closed, but you can still see through them. You cease all movement aside from breathing, and that you keep to an absolute minimum. You watch. And wait. A voice coming from all sides informs you that she can still see you. Panic! Plan B! Ponygood11: >Boop their snoots, Woo- Oh no! Disembodied voices have no snoots to boop! Plan B is a bust! SgtSarge_51: >Boop your own snoot in panic! Forgetting that you were trying to be invisible, you boop yourself in the snoot. This manages to calm you down long enough to think. Masterweaver: >Contemplate your adventures in a manner that conveniently describes when you are on your own timeline. You try to figure out how you got here... You were visiting the moonagain and were having a nice snow day with your friends. You hadn't even gotten everyone together yet, far as you remember. You'd just finished making this amazing crane... Oh, that's right! You noticed your Hard Boiled Points had gone down! That was unacceptable! And you did... Actually, you don't remember what you did. You were here after that. runtrivena: > Ask the disembodied voice for help. You turn your head to the ceiling - that seems as good of a place as any to address the voice. The voice is surprisingly helpful. It introduces itself as the spaceshipin a somewhat arrogant tone of voice. She tells you all you need to do is sit and wait while the other Sweeties figure out what's going on. She has some video games for you to play if you want. You have no idea what those are. Goldenwing: >Declare spaceship to be the ERS Lulu You name the spaceship the ERS Lulu. She proceeds to inform you that her name is Swip. You tell her that's a stupid name. It's just Ship with a letter swapped out! She says she doesn't care what some child thinks, it's her name and she's sticking with it. You stick out your tongue indignantly. OmnipresentMicroorganism: >Check to see if the cheese frequency transcends dimensions. No luck! That only works on the moon. Swip asks what you're doing. You say you're thinking about cheese. She has no further comment on the matter. Ponygood11: >Sniff around for something interesting. Now that you're thinking about cheese, you are kind of hungry. Using your amazing cuteness powered nose you set to work in an attempt to find the tastiest thing you can! Instead, you find some kind of squid walking on two legs. She looks grumpy. At least three different people and probably more if I didn't post now: BOOP. HER. SNOOT. Boop. She rolls her eyes, complaining to someone else about you being one of the 'cutesy types'. You are shocked by her apathy. Ponygood11: >Induct this one into the Way of Cute. Your dignity demands it. You tug on the squid's tentacle and make her look at your wide, adorable eyes. This gives her pause - good, you have her attention. You start discussing the finer points of the Way of Cute, beginning first with the eyes. The squid has some pretty good eyes, you have to admit, but she isn't making full use of them! Always walking around with a frown or a scowl. Turn that frown upside-down, accent those eyes, girl! She no longer seems apathetic. Now she's baffled. Good. That's the first step of indoctrination. Now, you'll need to demonstrate the power of the Cute. You reach for your Cartographer's Cap , intending to fold it into something amazing. Oh no! You forgot! You folded it into a crane and it's currently on the moon! Now how will you show her the power of Cute? KeywiiCookies_55: >If your cap is missing it's time to resort to noises. MAKE A SQUEAK You look up to the squid's very lost face and let out a shrill-yet-adorable-as-heck squeak. The squid falls over. Success. SgtSarge_51: >Jig your way to the bridge! You throw your hooves into the air and do a very silly jig through the halls of the spaceship and onto the bridge. You find a lot of Sweeties looking at a very shiny picture of a lot of floating spheres. The captain is arguing back and forth with the young pony with hands about something you don't understand. The scary unicorn glares at you, while the cool one with shadesmoves her head strangely. Is she trying to wink at you? A bunch of really creative people: BOOP. You jump into action. None are safe from your whirlwind of boops! The Way of Cute is shown to all! All four of them fall to your immense power! The cool pony is first, and after a triple loop-de-loop in the air you boop both the captain and the arm-horse-thing. With a sly grin you jump back, booping the scary unicorn even though you're scared. They laugh and roll their eyes! This is great! They see your cuteness! And then they get right back to whatever boring thing they were doing. Nothing has changed. Golden 123123: >you must discover the source of their cute resistance What could be causing it? Almost nothing is resistant to the power of Cute except for evil things. And yourself, of course, because you are cute and are immune to your own charms. Wait. You look closer at the cool unicorn... she's small, has a dimple when she smiles, and scurries around like a little filly. The hand-horse has super big eyes and talks with a little squeak that would bring out the "AWWWWWWWS" in everyone. Even the scary unicorn has what you like to call The Eyes. Oh no. They're immune because they're all cute and they spend all their time with each other! They're immune due to overexposure! Ponygood11: >If cuteness is ineffective... then maybe princessness will work instead! Declare that you are commandeering the ERS Lulu, and direct its crew to solve the mystery of your missing hardboiled points! And getting back to the moon, I guess. You inform them in no uncertain terms that you are Princess Woona, Lunar Diarch of Equestria, and you order the crew of the ERS Lulu to figure out what happened to your hardboiled points! They have no idea what hardboiled points are. The spaceship seems rather insistent that she is not the ERS Lulu. You decide to order them to get you back to the moon and your friends instead. This they react to. The captain sits down and invites you to take a seat on her lap. That seems like a suitable course of action, so you accept. She spends a few minutes explaining to you that they are already trying to figure out how to get you back to the moon, since they need to get to the moon to find Cinder. They're working as hard and as fast as they can. She promises. Pinkie promises even - though you're not sure what that means. This seems acceptable. Though you're struck by a distinct lack of things you can do about the situation at the moment. SgtSarge_51: >You might not be able to help, but I’ll bet Science Woona can! Engage Science! Help with what? Science can't be engaged without anything to engage it at! Goldenwing: >Wake up in the caves, one marble poorer. You wake up in the lunar caves, having lost the marble you tripped on. You are now resting on top of a giant pit of marbles. There's a bright white light above you. "What the...?" Golden 123123: > swim in the marbles like you are a duck in a pile of gold There were more reasonable things that crossed your mind. Searching around the area to see what was around, trying to use your intuition to figure out what was going to happen next... But the moment swimming in the marbles occurred to you, your heart was set. You engage in several different aquatic activities in the glassy sea - backstroke, breaststroke, and even backflips. At the end, you spew out a stream of marbles from your mouth and kick some out of your ears. This does not remove your Insanity Point. Goldenwing: Set the marbles on fire. You launch a fireball at some marbles in front of you. Nothing happens. You are mildly disappointed. Golden 123123123: Science Luna> engage science on the marbles Marbles are made of glass. Under normal circumstances, glass is not a flammable material. Ergo, the marbles did not light on fire. Of course, these are hunger marbles; not regular marbles, but they're still made of glass so the same principle applies. OmnipresentMicroorganism: Science Woona> Explain what in all things cute a hunger marble is. Oh, that's easy! They're lifeforms made of moon sand glass that are able to eat thirty times their body weight in a second! They're carnivorous, too. They spend almost all their time asleep in deep hibernation until something disturbs them enough to trigger The Hunt. Undeadking243: >Run. You aren't sure why, but you suddenly feel as though these marbles are going to kill you. You look around carefully and see the edge of the pit - there's even a convenient ladder at the edge. You try to run to it, but realize that doesn't exactly work on a sea of marbles. So you swim. You start to hear growling. Ponygood11: >Fashion an origami hunger marble and, in your best hunger marble impression, convince the rest that you'll give them indigestion. As you stumble through the sea of hunger marbles, you unfold the useless map and shape it into a fake hunger marble that... just looks like a round wad of paper to you. However, upon completion of this task, the ever-present growling stops. You are now waist-deep in a vat of marbles that probably want to eat you, but are no longer reacting to you. The ladder is about two yards away. Ponygood11: >Proceed up the ladder in a calm and orderly fashion. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" You flail wildly in the direction of the ladder, panic setting in. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" You grab hold of the ladder, but your hoof slips off. You begin to hear the growling again. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" You hoist yourself and your Cartographer's Fake Hunger Marbleout of the pit, falling flat on a smooth, marble surface. Not made of marbles, you understand, made of the rock. You are briefly overcome with how silly a pit of marble filled with marbles is. As you laugh, the growling of the hunger marbles dies down. Golden 123123123: > seems like the perfect time to have a picnic Yes, it does, doesn't it? You fold out the map and sit on it, pleased with yourself. It's a great time to sit, relax, and enjoy yourself. Definitely no Searching for the Search or any marble nonsense. Nope. Nosireebob. Now if only you had food... Masterweaver: >Notice the huge feast just offscreen and don't question it at all. You look upon a massive feast off to the side, set upon a large marble table. All the chairs are empty, but one of them happens to have your cutie mark on it. Cool! Nothing amiss about a feast in the middle of nowhere next to a pit full of carnivorous marbles. Nothing at all. You walk to the feast. "Wait a minute. This isn't..." You sit down, delighted to find a bunch of moon cheese on a plate in front of you. "Something's wrong here. I'm not eating that." It smells really, really good... OmnipresentMIcroorganism: >Look for the pony behind the curtain. There really must be something going on here. Putting the moon cheese down, you scan the area carefully. You see the pit of marbles, the marble table, the map you laid out as a picnic blanket, the chairs - each of which are adorned with a cutie mark you recognize, and a mysterious white mistyness all around. Someone has to be responsible to this. You promise yourself you will find the pony (or person) putting you through all this. Folding your map into a Cartographer's Cutlass, you take full advantage of the oddity of your situation and march forward into the mist. A shape begins to take for- Golden 123123123: PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE PONY BEHIND THE CURTAIN Looks like there's nothing here. "Get ahold of yourself, Cinder!" Everything's fine, just a bunch of mist. Nothing here at all. "Come on... come on..." You feel the need to stop straining yourself so much. Golden 123123123 >stumble across a completely unimportant Rock As you stumble through the mist, you trip over a rock. Having learned your lesson from tripping on the marble earlier, you manage to keep your footing. You look down. It's a completely normal, unimportant rock. You frown. Keywii_Cookies55: >Three out of Four unimportant rocks recommend you push them. Gingerly, you use your Cartographer's Cutlass to push the rock. "Hey! Watch it!" You back up in alarm - talking rock? That's... while not exactly the most outlandish and ridiculous thing you've seen, it is pretty shocking since you weren't expecting it. Golden 123123123 Science lune> execute science on the rock It's a rock. It can talk. There's nothing out of the ordinary here. OmnipresentMicroorganism: >Apologize to the rock for your brash actions. "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't kn-" "Did you just assume rocks couldn't talk? Cheese Louise..." "I've never met a talking rock before!" "Oh, sure, likely story. Everypony's met a talking rock! The rock just didn't talk back! Some ponies, I swear..." "I still didn't know they talked! I never formally met them!" Thinking it over, you extend a hoof. "Hi, I'm Cinder, what's your name?" "Oh for the... I'M A ROCK! What makes you think I have a name!?" This isn't going well. Masterweaver: >Point out that all the talking rocks you've ever met have a hard-light body. "Actually... come to think of it, I did know a talking 'rock'." "Oh sure, now you think about it." "Her name is Celia and she has a hard-light body projected from a crystal in her forehead!" "...That's not a rock. That's a magic weirdo thing. Don't you dare compare us." "Well, I was trying to empathize. Find some common ground...?" "We're standing on the same ground right now." "Heh. Nice." "That wasn't a joke." "Oh..." SgtSarge_51: >Ask the rock about the mysterious mist. "So, do you happen to know anything about this mist then?" "I'm not telling you anything about the Fog of Exegesis!" "Oh." Masterweaver: >Take the rock hostage. You pick up the rock. "PUT ME DOWN!" You don't feel all that inclined too. Golden 123123123: >BOOP THE ROCK Might as well. You tap the rock with your hoof. "So... soft..." You are pretty sure hooves aren't soft, but then again it might be soft to a rock. "Do you like soft?" "I don't know! I'm a rock!" You boop it again. Since it doesn't respond immediately, you think you've calmed it down. "So... got anything to tell me?" The rock is silent. "Hello?" SgtSarge_51: >Yeet the Rock. You toss the rock behind your shoulder, hoping to get its attention. "OW." "...Rock? You sound weird." You don't hit anything. Ponygood11: >Abandon all your inhibitions and chase the rock like a cat! You pounce after the rock and land on absolutely nothing. "Who are you!?" Ponygood11: >You are Discount Woona. You are now Princess Woona again, and you feel as though someone, somewhere, has just insulted your Woona-ness. Woona-ness is very important, after all. You are currently bored out of your mind. The kid-with-hands had started trying to explain to you what she was doing to find Cinder, but even though she is your age she started blabbing on and on and on so much like an adult that you just tuned it out. You are currently laying face-first flat on a table while the mini-alicorn eats a salad in front of you. She may be small, but she is larger than you. Undeadking243: >Time to sing the bored song~ You're bored. Oh so very bored. So bored you feel the need to sing a tune about being bored. It's a nice tune, if a bit repetitive, and the words come to you through your powers of cuteness like always. After you finish, the mini-alicorn suggests that you might be able to do something to alleviate your boredom. There are things to do around the ship, after all. Ponygood11: >Be Discount Cinder. You are the Crown Princess and you are a bit too depressing to be featured in this chapter. Undeadking243: >Remember someone talking about video games. You are Princess Woona and you decide to ask about video games. You have no idea what those are. You are given a controller and sat on a couch in front of a screen. A character selection screen pops up with dozens of options. You are slightly overwhelmed. OmnipresentMicroorganism: >Choose the one that looks the most like you. You find a perfect match: a blue alicorn with stars in her mane! She's powerful, regal, and has the most adorable snoot oh how you wish you could boop it! Her name is even close: Luna! You proceed to lose horribly because you have no idea how to play video games. But hey, she was cool! Keywii_Cookies55: >Ask if there's easier games to play The SRS Lulu provides you with a wide selection of games that are easier, each of them with bright, colorful box art that draws your attention. Every. Last. Game. There are dozens of them. Do you pick the cute green one, or the brown one that looks exciting? What about the one with those human creatures, or the ponies engaging in space travel? What about that one with the neon lights, the martial artists, the spaceship building, the world made of cubes, the... the... You feel like your brain is overheating. SgtSarge_51: >Find a game about that “Luna” character. That one really spoke to you. You ask the SRS LULU to find a game about Luna. She finds you one, entitled The Nightmare Cometh. Looks a little scary from the cover, but you're too curious to say no. You enter the game as Luna. Immediately a nightmarish black alicorn appears on the screen and screeches so loudly spit flies out of that... exceedingly detailed mouth. She generates a scythe and brings it down on Luna and... It's all black. No, wait, it's just the Flat one holding a censor bar over the screen. You complain that you're playing a video game. She insists that this is probably a bad idea. At least you think that's what the series of noises coming out of her mouth meant. Ponygood11: > attempt to distract her with the power of cute You widen your eyes and smile the most adorable smile you can think of. The power of cute WILL work this time! You're sure of it! The Flat does the exact same, except her face is now surrounded by silly cats doing adorable things on a loop. Kittens playing with toys, bouncing and falling, and sitting in sinks... even the grumpy one looks so CUTE! It's too much. You let out an AWWWWWWWWWW. You were right. The power of cute did work. On YOU. Eclipse_Nova: >There's someone that can beat you in cuteness level, this certainly cannot stand. Ask the Flat to teach you The Ultimate Cuteness You fall to your knees and beg she teach you the ways of the Ultimate Cuteness! You must know - as the adorable Princess of the Moon it is a requirement that your Cuteness be top-tier! The Flat agrees. She holds you up... and stuffs a gummy kitten into your mouth. You start glowing with the power of Cuteness. You feel... satisfied. Golden 123123123 > science lune: examine pumpkin It does appear that the entity Cinder is trying to deal with has a pumpkin-aura of some sort. What this means is... decidedly uncertain. Keywii_Cookies55: >Be the fire horse. You are Cinder and absolutely nothing is happening to you. "Who the heck are you!?" Ponygood11: >I'm a cat! Uh, I mean, you're a cat! Uh. Meow. "...A cat." No, seriously, there's nothing there. No cat. Definitely not an orange cat. "You're a cat." Hey, over here! The rock has something to say to you! "That's a pretty orange cat." "I know, right?" Traitor. StgSarge_51: >Pet the cat You know what, fine, I was trying to have sort of meta-weirdness that keeps confusing everyone, but nooooo, you have to pet the cat. Because of course you do. Fine. You pet the cat. Cat is happy. The power of your cuteness compels him to just be there. ...You know what, screw it. Science Woona? You can narrate. I'm out. Toodeloo! Wait, what? ...Uh, well... Cinder is in a mysterious mist with a talking rock and an orange cat that is very satisfied with being petted. The cat has an essence of pumpkin on it. What does Cinder... you... do? ...This was not in my job description! Golden 123123123: > ask the cat if he knows what happened ...You... ask the cat if it has any idea what just happened. "Of course, I know lots of things! Like how you hit me with a rock, how this rock is rude..." "Hey! Show me more respect than that!" "...and how you really weren't supposed to see me. Or talk to me. But... oh, I can't be mad, you give SUCH good pets..." A singular stroke of the hoof over fur is not a pet, it is part of the act of petting. This cat is not being grammatically correct. "Anyway, you're stuck in a limbo of sorts, Cinder. You have replaced a cuteness that is not your own, and the thin veneer of sense in this world is struggling to accommodate." OmnipresentMIcroorganism: >Ask the cat why you weren’t supposed to see him. "Well, I covered myself in pumpkin dust, obviously." He licks his paw in the standard cat fashion, as expected for one of his ilk. "I don't like being seen. I try to get naps, you know? A-" Keywii_Cookies55: >The World resonates with a loud cracking noise Tell the captain of this pirate ship you wish to navigate on this high-seas adventure. You are First Mate Cinder Belle of the SRS Lulu, and the smell of the sea meets your nose. You smile - it feels great! "Hey, can I navigate for once?" The captain says yes. You hop to the wheel. Amazingly the cat and rock in your saddle do not fall off from the motion. The sun is high and the sea is sparkling. You can smell ADVENTURE! VoidTemplar2000: >FInd some cake and eat it You dig around in your stylish pirate outfit and pull out the terrible, chalky rations the crew mockingly calls cake. It's nutritious, but that's the only good thing that can be said about it. You bite down - and discover that it's as hard as a brick. As always. Maybe, with luck, you won't chip a tooth trying to eat it this time. Golden 123123123: Princess wuna> be captain of the SRS Luna You are Captain Woona of the SRS Lulu (which you named, naturally) and you have just turned the wheel over to your first mate. "I wonder if my rock can eat this..." You like your first mate. She doesn't talk like everyone else. It's fun! And she's saved your life on multiple occasions. Of course, you've saved hers. You kept score at first but both of you lost count at some point, such is the way of adventure on the high seas. Ponygood11: >Come to a shocking realization. Something's wrong. A kraken erupts from the waves, flailing its tentacles wildly. You and Cinder ready your Cartagropher's Cutlasses and dare the beast to attack! It sure was shocking that it showed up, though. VoidTemplar2000: > Offer the Kraken cake You tear the cake out of Cinder's hooves and throw it right at the kraken's monstrous eye. It squishes and then explodes in a shower of confetti. This doesn't seem normal to you, but Cinder is cheering excitedly. "That was awesome! Just like Pinkie!" Who in the name of the moon is Pinkie? OmniprsentMicroorganism: >Meanwhile... "Suzie! She's not responding!" "Do you have anything? Any soul signal?" "Yes, but I can't reach it! It's almost like her mind is elsewhere!" Ponygood11: >Now sail forth for the second star on the right! That's no star You didn't remember it being night, but that makes as much sense as anything. You tell Cinder to go right for the silver star. It welcomes you. It invites you. It wishes for you to be safe. Undeadking243: >Celestia: Your sister is missing. Um... Celestia is looking down at an unconscious Cinder, surrounded by various batponies who seem equally worried and confused. Celestia's not sure what's going on, but this is the only place she feels any trace of her sister, Woona. MazingerZ: >Arm the harpoon The star arms a harpoon and points it at you. You blanch. Uh oh. Keywi_Cookies55: >Cinder: Question this You are Cinder and a star is currently pointing a harpoon gun at you. This doesn't make the slightest bit of sense. Something's wrong. "Captain? Something's wrong." Captain Woona points out that a star is currently pointing a harpoon gun at you, so that should be obvious. "No, I mean, about this place. It's wrong, off, and... we have duplicate cutlasses?" You hold up your Cartographer's Cutlass to Woona's. They are exactly the same in every way. Woona seems surprised by this. She's not sure what it means. You aren't either. You swear you can hear cheese... Eclipse Nova: >Woona: use cheese sense. You are Woona and you realize you have access to the cheese frequency! You can hear voices calling out in... confusion? The harpoon flies true, stabbing the wood in front of you. SgtSarge_51: >Tell the star to chill for a minute, you’ve gotta figure this cheese situation out. You glare at the star and ask it if it would mind holding this confrontation for a bit. It starts to complain, but you turn on the waterworks, shutting it up instantly. "What the..." Ignoring Cinder, you focus on the cheese. Hmm. It's almost like you can hear voices? You reach out to them, but not much happens. There's only garbled noise in response. Golden 123123123: > use Cinder as an antenna You pick up Cinder and lift her high above your head. "Wh- what are y-" You shush her with a boop. Her eyes light up in recognition and understanding. "Oh..." The sound of cheese fills your ears. There is mad screeching. Everything seems to fall apart at the seams... The cat seems upset. All is white. Ponygood: CINDER --------- FLAG ------------- CINDER AND -------------- IS ------- CAT ---- IS WOONA IS ----- GROUP IS ------- YOU ON ------ ROCK IS -------- GROUP FLAG ------------- NOT IS ------------------ NOT WIN -------------- NOT ALL ------ IS ----- WHITE FLAG IS HIDE NOT GROUP IS YOU ALL IS WHITE ALL IS TIME LONELY CINDER AND WOONA IS ASLEEP IDLE CAT IS WIN ROCK IS EMPTY CELESTIA IS SAD CHEESE IS ____ Keywii_Cookies55: >You're wandering a white void, surrounded by sights and sounds, none of which add up. There's a pirate adventure, and a banquet on the moon, and a spaceship filled with the same pony. It was all cascading into a crescendo up until a moment ago, but now it's still. The question remains... Who are you? Ponygood11: You are JOHN CENA! "BWA BWA BWA BWAAAA-" "BURGERBELLE! Woona's passed out! Now is not the time!" OmnipresentMIrcoorganism: You are Swip "I'm detecting something. A connection." "Follow it!" "Aye, Suzie!" Golden 123123123: > you are a random background Pony You are a random batpony. You are standing with several of your brothers and sisters next to Celestia, looking down at the unconscious form of a strange white unicorn. She entered the Mist of Elysium... which was a bad idea. Why was she even in there? Why is she holding a rock? ...Is she stirring? Eclipse_Nova: >New character: Pause and ponder. Keywii_Cookies55: >You are Cryo You are Cryo and you feel like Cinder is off somewhere doing something more exciting what you're doing. You feel jealous. SgtSarge_51: I am inevitable I am inevitable. Not you. Me. Meow. Ponygood11: >I am Groot. ...What? Seriously, what? Ponygood11: >Cleverly discover this chapter's antagonist. Clever? Clever? I'm the CAT! Come on! How is that not obvious by now? Golden 123123123: > catagonist: monologue your evil plans Well, if you insist... My plans are not all that evil, you understand. I am but a remnant of Discord's magic given form now that he's... indisposed, at the moment. I was, annoyingly, stuck on the moon, trapped in the Mist of Elysium. Couldn't even do anything! But then, I felt a little prod from another realm. A mind of fire and brilliance! I grabbed it. Didn't really know what was going to happen, but I swapped Woona and Cinder. Delightfully chaotic, though Cinder did ruin my nap... Pumpkin dust is supposed to ensure I can sleep as long as I want! All I need to do is get out of this pathetic universe. And with what Swip and the others are doing, well, that should be much easier for me. Then you'll never hear from me again! I'll be free! Assy Assman: > Sniff your own butt. I am not some common dog, I will do no such thing! You have no control over ME, you fools. Also, that name really matches your aura. Nice pick. Ponygood11: >Realize that antagonists almost always get defeated in embarrassing or painful ways, and wonder what you could do to be more of a hero-- or antihero, at least. I was concerned about that at first - hence all the pumpkin stuff. But you know what? Cinder and Woona are currently out of the picture, and the moment they arise I will leave and be FREE! The Sweeties are falling right into my plans, and Celestia can't do anything - just like you! Who else is there to stop me? SgtSarge_51: >Rock: save the day! You are now the rock. You tell yourself that, as a rock, you can't do much aside from talk. Maybe there's someone else who can help? Keywii_Cookies55: >Tinder: Wake up Masterweaver: >Cinder: Check on Tinder. Golden 123123123: >Tinder: Check on Cinder Error: Tinder not found. Also... what? ...You are Cinder. And you remain asleep... Ponygood11: >Science Woona: science yourself into existence! Finally, someone got the right answer. By the power of SCIENCE! I hit you with this flag! Wha- OW! OW! STOP IT! It's a well known fact that cats hate flags! Flags are the antithesis of both pumpkin spice and hairballs, so it's super effective in this case. Quit it! MEOW! Also, cats screaming in pain is scientifically proven to wake up young ponies! OmnipresentMicroorganism: >Burgerbelle: Play an appropriate Awakening song. They're awake. Made with photoshop, unsure where individual images came from at this time. Ponygood11: >Search yourself for cats. Golden 123123123: > cats yourself for search Masterweaver: >Self your cats for search The two of you feel the Search come upon you. As the sounds of Awakening fade into the background, the Search directs you to your adversary: the orange cat, now easily visible to everyone who cares. It is just the two of you in the whiteness with a cat being beat over the head by a... ...yellow flag? SgtSarge_51: >Cat: WRYYYYYYYY! WRYYYYYYYY! Golden 123123123: >Woona +Cinder: introduce yourselves to each other "Hi, I'm Cinder!" Woona introduces herself with an adorable wink. Pongyood11: >So this is the pony you've switched with... Quick! Boop her before she boops you! You both get the idea at the same time and boop each other. The cuteness overload is too much to handle! You both get +1,000,000 cuteness power! SgtSarge_51: >Quick, while he’s WRYYing! Cinder: cast Fireball! Woona: cast Cute....er.....ball? You push your cuteness powers to their maximum and, together, create a fireball mixed with the shimmering power of cuteness. It flies right toward the cat while making meowing noises much more adorable than his. He really has been WRYYing for a long time, hasn't he? Geez. The cute-fireball impacts... "ENOUGH!" ~~~ Cinder fell to the ground as the white expanse became dark, like midnight. She tried to move, but couldn't - the mental power of the cat was just too much. Vaguely, she could make out the shape of Woona next to her, trembling. "All I wanted was to be free from this goddess-forsaken rock!" the cat hissed, striding toward Cinder in that arrogant way cats walked around. "Nothing but moon and mist, moon and mist! You were that opportunity... and I will not let you ruin this! Chaos needs to be free!" He brought out his claws, pointing them at Cinder. "Once your crew makes that portal, you will be no more." He traced his claws under Cinder's neck. "I wish I could take care of you now, but they need that connection to find you." Cinder grunted. "You... won't get away with this..." I'm being so cliche right now. "What, do you expect me to say 'I already have?' Are you ridiculous? Your current conscious state is a massive threat! So I'm going to keep you right where I want you... Trapped in this dreamscape. And don't get any ideas on imagining a way out, this is my dream, not yours." He turned to Woona. "It isn't even yours." Woona looked up with big eyes. "N-no..." "Aww, don't be sad, you probably get to live. Aren't even physically h-" "It's not my dream," Woona interrupted. Then she grinned adorably. "But it's not yours either!" "Wh-" She booped him. A shimmering white light came out where her hoof touched his nose, creating an explosion that tossed the feline back. "What!?" the cat shouted. "It is the power of cuteness!" Luna declared. "A power that transcends all dream barriers!" Cinder stood up, finding that the weight had lifted. "Yeah!" She reached into her mane and pulled out the Cartographer's Cutlass, pointing it at the cat. "And with it, we shall defeat you! Cuteness..." "...and friendship!" Woona shouted, producing her own identical cutlass. "This is my dreamscape!" the cat shouted. "I can do anything!" He drew all his claws... and nothing else happened. "W-what?" "I am Princess Woona!" Woona declared. "Princess of the Night! Princess of Dreams!" She twirled her cutlass in the air. "Nobody has control of this dream now." "And you don't understand cuteness!" Cinder added. The cat blanched. "No... No, get away! I just need t-" The flag appeared again, smacking him over the head. "I AM GOING TO FIND YOUR REALM, SCIENTIST, AND I WILL MAKE YOU SUFF- OW!" "Hiiii-yaaaa!" Woona and Cinder shouted at the same time, bringing their cutlasses down on the cat at the same time as the flag. The cat hissed, lashing out - but the swords improbably folded into hang gliders and swept them out of the way. Swinging back around, they smacked the cat in the head with their hooves. An explosion of cuteness energy made the two mares' manes flip wildly in the shockwave. They folded a pair of paper hands and high-fived each other. The cat growled. "I... will be free! I... I will..." "How bout... no?" Cinder asked. She and Woona caste the cute-fireball once more, surging with power neither of them fully understood. "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" the cat screamed as it was engulfed. Woona and Cinder jumped into the air, cheering. The dream began to fade... ~~~ GMBlackjack: > Be Cinder You are Cinder and you have just woken up in the warm embrace of a Celestia. You see a lot of batponies, the rock, and the cat, which appears to be stirring. "It's okay, my little pony," Celestia says. Keywii_Cookies55: >Hug Celestia back and tell her about your friends on Swip. You pull the Celestia into a hug. "It's okay..." she says again. "...You must be worried about Woona, huh?" Celestia smiled warmly. "Yes. Can you tell me where she is?" "She's with my friends - I think. They should be here soon." The cat opens an eye and quickly closes it when he catches you looking. Ponygood11: >Offer the cat a new path. You release yourself from Celestia's embrace and walk to the cat. It sees you, eyes open in alarm, but then it decides it's going to act like a completely normal cat and yawn. "That's not going to work," you said. "I know it's you. You did all this. Swapped us, everything. And dusted yourself in... pumpkin? To mess with everything. But now we can see you. You're the cat." The cat tries to look normal, but you can see the nervous twitch in its eyes. "When the other Sweeties get here, we'll let you go." The cat stares at you. "WHAT!?" "You're just stuck here. You haven't actually hurt anyone, though you tried." You smile. "Let's just give you a chance. What do you say?" Golden 123123123: > cat: be chaotic neutral please consider chaotic neutrality The cat looks at you. With a glare and a scoff, he puts his paw in your hoof. "Fine. I guess. Wouldn't be smart to do anything else, would it?" You pull him into a hug. He objects, but you don't let that deter you. SgtSarge_51: >Suddenly Sweeties A portal opens up in front of you, the cat, and Celestia, depositing a plethora of familiar Sweeties into the area... And Woona. "Hi!" you wave at Woona. Woona grins, telling you how awesome that dream sequence was! "It was pretty great." The two of you have a nice friendly hug. Woona notices the cat. She takes one look at it - and pulls it into a big hug. "AAAAAAAAAAAA!" the cat screams. You giggle. Ponygood11: >Ask someone about your pendant. Celestia lifts the pendant off your neck and examines it with her magic. "Hmm... this appears to be an illusion amulet. Why, with it, you might be convinced that rocks could talk!" You twitch ever-so-slightly. You hope no one notices you toss the rock away. The batponies ask what it was like in the Cheese Frequency. "...What? The CHEESE frequency?" You have no idea what to tell them. Golden 123123123: > tie up loose threads You are Princess Woona. You run to your sister and pull her into a great big hug. She says she missed you and was so worried. You giggle - you had everything under control. You and Cinder beat the cat! That cat with the grumpy expression! And now he's your friend. She comments that not all chaos is irredeemable, apparently. "Yeah, we've met a lot of good Discords, even!" Your sister looks at Cinder like she might be a little crazy - but she chuckles anyway. You sister would like to meet these other Discords. You would rather not, and your sister says that is okay. "There are lots of other worlds to check out, Woona. Why not one where everything is candy?" Heck. Yes. Your sister is disapproving, but you don't care. Endless candy awaits! OmnipresentMicroorganism: > High-five and do a freeze-frame while happy music plays in the background. You two jump into the air and hoofbump while cheering. The adventure, at long last, has come to an end. Eclipse_Nova: >Roll the credits! The League of Sweetie Belles: What Will You Do? THE END Written by G. M. Blackjack. Based on the work 'Moonstuck' by egophiliac. STARRING: Cinder as Papercraft Prodigy Woona as Princess of Cute Hunger Marbles as There is Nothing Scarier The SRS Lulu as Swip The Sweeties as Victims of Woona's Nameless Narration The Rock as Totally Just Your Imagination. Yep. Exactly. Rocks Can't Talk. Yep. The Cat as The Catagonist The Batponies as Background Cheese Ponies Celestia as Best Sister Science Woona as MVP and ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ELSE. CONTRIBUTORS: FanOfMostEverything (1 command) Speckle (2 commands) Undeadking243 (6 commands) Golden_Reflection (2 commands) Masterweaver (10 commands) Blaze Rod (1 command) OmnipresentMicroorganism (15 commands) Goldenwing (9 commands) Keywii_Cookies55 (11 commands) SgtSarge_51 (15 commands) Starlit Rose (1 command) Blaze Song (1 command) Golden 123123123 (22 commands) runtrivena (2 commands) Eclipse_Nova (4 commands) VoidTemplar2000 (2 commands) MazingerZ (1 command) Assy Assman (1 command) THE WINNER: Ponygood11 (23 commands) GMBlackjack: >Stinger Well, glad that's taken care of. Now I know where Woona is, everything's back to normal. I'm warning you, though, when I go on break she better still be there when I get back. I have this flag and I'm not afraid to use it! Also, hmm. Analysis shows something... different about Cinder from when she first arrived. I think that amulet did more than just make her talk to rocks... +Permanent Bonus: Minor cuteness-based reality warping; papercraft.