• Published 13th Sep 2018
  • 573 Views, 4 Comments

CYOA Level 2: From Earth Bet to Equestria! - megabyte97



A jumper is thrown into Equestria and goes on an adventure to learn all he can.

  • ...
3
 4
 573

New Variables

It is late evening when I walk into Ponyville, the setting sun painting the sky a vivid purple and orange. I can hear my heart pounding away in my chest as I walk under the overarching sign stating ‘Welcome to Ponyville,’ and I take several deep breaths trying to calm myself. I’m not really scared, it’s more along the lines of pre performance jitters.

There are also ponies…

It takes me about half a block into town to realize that I didn’t even blink at the new species. Seriously, here I am surrounded by unicorns, pegasi, and… well I assume they are earth ponies, and I don’t even bother to acknowledge how strange it is. Granted the very next moment my mind is justifying my jaded view with how much I have seen on Earth Bet.

I suppose when one has seen others make rubber balls that can manipulate gravity, a man turn into an image of a wolf made out of metal blades and fishing hooks, and a skyscraper sized monster rain down lightning and radiation on a city… cartoon ponies don’t even make the list of weird shit.

I mean, sure, the quadrupeds waving their hooves at me like hands is unusual, but the way I can see their joints allowing their movement doesn’t make it all that special. The range of colors I can see spread out among the ponies is more unique, but again, when I have seen purple individuals made out of bones, it kind of loses its shock factor.

In fact, the most shocking point of my start into the small town is what breaks me out of my thoughts. I had not realized that I had stopped in the middle of the dirt road until a loud gasp interrupted my thoughts. A pink pony, and I mean a really pink pony, is staring at me. The pony doesn’t have a horn on her head or wings on her sides and yet… she is standing on air with an open mouth, wide eyes, and shrunk pupils…

Okay… no.

Up until this point I have understood almost everything. The pegasi flying around have been shaping the air in such a way that they could fly, the unicorns I have observed use a type of energy to mimic telekinesis, and the earth ponies seem to recycle energy from the ground… Every single one of these has made sense to my power even if I couldn’t understand it fully. I have prided myself on understanding how powers affect the world back on Earth Bet, but this pony…

‘Error, parameters undefined, equation not solvable.’

What the actual fuck?!?

The pink earth pony with the blue eyes just stands on the air for a moment longer before she is simply… gone, and holy shit the numbers do not like it! I can feel my left eye twitching as I stand there wondering how the hell the pink pony gave a middle finger to reality.

I have seen similar powers displayed before by several people, but never in such a way that it ‘no sells’ my power. What that pony did… there is simply no answer to how she did it. People back on Earth Bet did have abilities that had me getting strange answers but those were because of a hidden variable or constant.

I… I can’t…

“I see ya met Pinkie Pie.” A voice calls me out of the loop my mind was locked in. Looking to my left I see an orange earth pony with a yellow mane and tail walking up to me. The mare is wearing a stetson hat and pulling a cart with almost empty baskets, I focus my power on her and breath in relief as she makes sense. “Yeah, don’t worry, the mare has that effect on others. The name’s Applejack,” the mare continues in her southern accent holding out her right hoof towards me in greeting.

I blink before offering my left paw, “Archimedes,” I offer in reply, choosing to go with my hero persona instead of my real name at the last second. Touching the mare’s hoof brings new calculations to mind as I can feel the amount of force and energy behind it. From what I can see, the mare could easily destroy concrete with how she is right now…

“So, you’re new in town, I take it?” Applejack asks with a grin on her muzzle.

I nod an affirmation while discreetly trying to puzzle out the hidden variables that the mare has. I have found seven from our interaction so far, along with five equations I can’t solve without more information.

“Well shoot, if you’re looking to stay the night you should probably head over to Berry Punch’s Inn,” Applejack states while waving a hoof in the general direction Pinkie Pie went. “Just keep heading further into town until you get to Elm Street and take a left. The Inn is the purple building with the fruit bowl sign out front, ya can’t miss it.”

Applejack smirks and starts moving towards the edge of the village, “Now I gotta head home before it gets dark, but you stay out of trouble ya hear?”

I nod absentmindedly and start walking further into town, thinking I might as well familiarize myself with the surroundings and look into the inn Applejack suggested. I wouldn’t mind having a temporary place to organize my thoughts in peace, and go over my supplies.

Heading further into Ponyville I start seeing more odd things. While some buildings have thatch roofs others have shingles, some buildings seem to have a theme like the gingerbread house I pass, and then there are the confusing shops such as ‘Quills and Sofas’ and ‘Barnyard Bargains’ which looks eerily like a ‘Wal-Mart.’

The locals are no less weird, or perhaps I should say the ‘society’ is weird. It’s… uncanny, the way everyone greets each other with a wave and a smile on their face… I smile and wave back when I need to, using my PR friendly persona while my heart thunders away in my chest.

I speed up my pace a little, wanting to find that inn even more now in order to have a quiet place to think. The surroundings fade in and out of my awareness for a while and it takes me an embarrassingly long time to realize I’m walking in a dazed state. I look around only to find that I am at the other end of town from where I started, and come across another strange sight.

I am standing in front of a very bright and colorful train, and I mean dollhouse train colorful, the type that little girls love, but hurts to look at after a while. This train is also sitting on tracks that should not allow a train to safely go from point A to point B, like ninety degree angle tracks…

I don’t…

My power kicks into overdrive once again as I jump onto the walkway between two of the units. The train itself must be made of some sort of alloy because the numbers simply don’t match up any other way. There are also four different variables imbued into the units of the train itself that shift and change every second of every inch. No, wait… It has a pattern?

I open the door to the train car, taking in all the changing variables and stroll in.

There are now seventeen different variables, or… no, there are three variables, but they are all utilized in different ways. There is an energy thruming through the train and this energy is a constant to make three variables. These three variables are placed into numerous equations that form an “if-then” system. The system branches off early on and-

I blink.

‘...What was I thinking about again?’

I look around finding myself on what appears to be a fancy train somewhat like I imagine the Hogwarts Express would look like from the inside. I frown, trying to recollect my thoughts from the last few minutes. I remember that one mare, uhhh… Applejack? I believe her name was Applejack, told me that I should go somewhere, and then… and then…

‘Why can’t I remember?’

“Sir?” I stiffen at the voice behind me. Turning around I am met with a unicorn with a bright red coat and green hair dressed in a blue suit standing only feet away from me. “Do you have a ticket, sir?” the unicorn asks with a smile on her face and it’s only then that I realize that there is a hole puncher floating in a blue field above her head.

“Well, of course,” I say, digging into my pockets visibly, only to be surprised when I grab something. Pulling out my prize I find myself holding a ticket which I give to the mare, still holding onto my sheepish smile.

The red mare takes my ticket and punches a hole in it before giving it back and walking further down the hall.

I look at the ticket in my paw, before opening one of the doors to a compartment. There are two padded benches hanging from the walls of the compartment and a large window to show the land as it passes by. Taking a seat as the train lurches forward, I turn my attention back to the ticket.

...The ticket is no longer in my paw.

‘...What? No, seriously… What?’

I put my head in my paws and sigh as the train picks up speed. ‘Shit, and here I wanted to get my bearings before jumping into the deep end,’ I think. Sighing once more, I dig into my pockets for real this time and pull out the storybook. I stare at the book with a pitch black unicorn in front of a crescent moon with half lidded eyes for some time before finally cracking it open.

‘Welp, might as well start somewhere…’

Author's Note:

I just realized that I do not have a single story that includes Ponyville in more than a passing mention aside from this one.

Leave a comment down below telling me what you think of the chapter... If you have the time of course. Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day!