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// Toxic 
// Story: My App Stories for Ponyville Ciderfest 
// by ImThatGuy 
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Disgrace! Shame! Svengallop had lost everything he had, everything he had ever worked for. His life’s work, undone by the incessant meddling of a magical princess hovering just outside his sight range and some random farm pony.

He had not taken his fall from grace well, but had spent his days since his firing wallowing in his own self-pity and resentment. All his thoughts now bent towards just how to rebind the threads of his old life and to regain the status he had lost.

“How dare those ponies do this to me!” Svengallop roared to himself as he walked down a lonely alleyway in Las Pegasus, “You save Equestria a couple times and suddenly you’re allowed to do whatever you want to whomever you want.”

As the disgraced manager made his way down the grungy alley, muttering to himself and lamenting his misfortune, a faint light in the distance caught his eye. Far off in the corner of the dimly lit alleyway, beneath a pile of what could only generously be described as trash, a pale glow emanated softly. 

“Hmm? What’s this?” Svengallop muttered to himself as he was inexplicably drawn towards this most unusual phenomenon. 

He approached carefully, as one would do if seeing strange lights radiating from a pile of trash in an abandoned alley. Despite this, some part of himself, deep down, compelled the pony forward towards this strange discovery. As he approached, the light seemed to increase in intensity as a single object, what seemed to be a page from some mysterious spell tome, rose from its hidden spot to hover before Svengallop’s eyes.

Svengallop gawked in utter amazement at what he saw before him. Words and images wove themselves around the page, floating, hovering, sliding across its magical surface as though under some mighty enchantment. But despite the beauty and magic of the object that hovered before him, Svengallop’s attention was glued to what the words and images on the page portrayed.

“How can this be?” Svengallop wondered, “This is the day that traitor Coloratura fired me! It’s all here, a perfect transcript of the entire tragedy.”

Svengallop reached out a hoof to seize the artifact which seemed to glimmer and shine even brighter as he touched it. The bewildered pony stared longingly at the image of his former self. Confident, successful, powerful! He had had it all and he had lost it all…but as he stared into the enchanting glow of the page, a thought slithered its way into his calculating mind.

“I see.” He said, “This page can be changed. My own story can be rewritten and all the wrongs I’ve endured can be made right again.” 

A cruel and cunning smile curled its way onto Svengallop’s lips as his mind fluttered at the thought of regaining his position and power over the world of show business. He couldn’t help but chuckle to himself at the thought of it.

It is here that you, having come in search of a rumored Book of All Stories page that was sighted in the area, find Svengallop laughing away in the alley. You notice him holding the page and, having realized the gravity of the situation, leap into action, swiping the page from Svengallop’s hooves before he can react to you.

“Huh!?” Svengallop gasps, “No! You can’t do this to me! I..I... I need that page, you don’t understand.”

You hold the page high up above where he can reach it, “Do you now?” you say somewhat sarcastically. 

Svengallop throws himself to his knees, “Please.” He begs, “I can get my old life back, my wealth, my status, my fame. I can change everything back to how it was before my life got destroyed!”

You seem unconvinced.

Svengallop desperately racks his brain for anything he can do to salvage the situation. He thinks for several moments before a new thought enters his brain.

“I can cut you in.” He said, “I was the manager to the biggest pony pop star in Equestria and if you let me change my history to regain my former position then I would gladly let you reap the rewards of Countess Coloratura’s success.” Svengallop smiles a reluctant, if not somewhat friendly smile.

[CHOICE]

What should you do?

> Let Svengallop become Countess Coloratura’s manager again. (Villain)

> Keep things as they are. (Hero)

[ENDING A: VILLAIN]
You think it over for a few moments and begin to feel what must be some perverse form of pity for this pony. Plus, his promise of compensation doesn’t sound half bad at all.

“Okay then, Svengallop, you’ve convinced me.” You say, before rewriting the events of the Helping Hooves Music Festival.

With a stroke of your pen, all of Svengallop’s misdeeds were never discovered and the position of power over Countess Coloratura is restored, much to the corrupt manager’s delight.

(+1 page for Villains)

[ENDING B: HERO]

You think it over for a few moments but decide that Svengallop was not worthy of the position he once held. His egotistical actions led him to his own downfall and your feelings on this matter are quite settled.

“No, Svengallop.” You say firmly, “You must suffer the consequences of your actions and I will not help you cheat your way back to what you lost by the very same bad behavior.”

You turn away and leave the dejected Svengallop alone in the alley to live with the life he made for himself. 

(+1 page for Heroes)