//------------------------------//
// Frazzle Dazzle 
// Story: AlwaysDressesInStyle's Ponyville CiderFest '23 Interactive App Stories 
// by AlwaysDressesInStyle 
//------------------------------//

Hook: Never upset the Balance of Nature or the Frazzits will mix things up.



Story #325
Title: Frazzle Dazzle
Keyword: Mishmash
Characters: Heart Throb, Ember, Katrina
Chaos/Villain





It’s an ordinary visit to the Dell Dwellers, gnome-like creatures who maintain the balance of the Mystificent Forest.  Over the years, ponies have made friends with a wide variety of creatures, including Katrina, a bipedal cat who had once enslaved the Bushwoolies.  Initially reluctant to change her ways, she’d eventually given in and decided to be good again.  She’s joined you on this visit, eager to see the Balance of Nature up close and personal.

Also along are Heart Throb and Ember.  The pink pegasus is a hopeless romantic, while the purple filly is energetic and always getting into mischief.  Heart Throb is keeping an eye on Ember, to make sure she behaves.

The Dell Dwellers live in a cavern below the forest floor.  It’s a factory, where rough lumps of rock are turned into smooth stones for skipping, and acorns are turned into oak tree saplings.  In the center of the factory is a barrel labeled ‘Balance’.  It’s what contains the Frazzits, multicolored ectoplasmic entities that spread chaos wherever they go.

The ever-rambunctious Ember proves too much for Heart Throb to handle, and she knocks over the barrel while galloping through the Dell Dwellers’ factory.  Wind Whistler and Shady had warned all of you about this exact scenario in advance.

Ember’s personality flip flops with Heart Throb’s.  Instead of swapping personalities, the Dell Dwellers all act inverse to their own orderly nature.  Lumps of rock are ground into powder, while acorns are smashed.  The newly love-obsessed silly filly starts chasing the Dell Dwellers around their factory, trying to kiss them.  Heart Throb, on the other hoof, is acting bold and brash, running around the factory without a care in the world.

Something has to be done to restore order.  Right?

Why return to normal?  Normal is boring.  Chaos is where it’s at.  There’s a power vacuum just waiting to be filled.  The thoughts come unbidden, and won’t stop.  Your very thoughts are urging you to take over and enslave the Dell Dwellers.  With their unique powers, they’d be far superior in producing witchweed potion than the bushwoolies ever were.

You recognize the intrusive thoughts.  That was Katrina’s whole shtick.  It stands to reason that if Heart Throb and Ember have flip flopped, the same can be said of you and Katrina.

You realize that she’s been bottling this up for years, walking a razor’s edge between good and evil. The evil tendencies are still inside her, looking for a way out.  Now they’re your problem.  She’s adapted surprisingly well, but she’s had her friend Rep to help her all these years. You don’t have that luxury in your present state.  The only one here who could possibly understand what you’re going through is Katrina herself, but she’s acting like you.  Your memories are hazy.  The question is whether Katrina’s got any clarity with your thoughts running through her head instead.

You hope so, because a cursory scan of the situation indicates that she’s your only hope. Your own thoughts are urging you to betray the ponies, Katrina, the Dell Dwellers, and everyone else.





[CHOICE]Do you give in to temptation?

>Of course not. (chaos)

>Yes!  Give me witchweed potion! (villain)