[Interactive/Comment driven] (Author's notes are important) In an instant you, Scootaloo, are forced into a destiny that is too complex to imagine... Now what do you do?
[Interactive/Comment driven] (Author's notes are important) In an instant you, Scootaloo, are forced into a destiny that is too complex to imagine... Now what do you do?
My story is not solely comment driven. I have three branches with many subbranches and i expect there to be many shared branches... I have a really large branch to work off of. Way too much time on my hands. way too much.
Rating IS subject to change, easily. As are all tags. original rating, everyone. tag, slice of life. Main character, Scootaloo.
Waking up, you realize that once again you were wet. You take a moment to collect your thoughts. ‘Okay then, it looks like I’m on the west side of ponyville today…’ looking around, you recognize the area. The broken tree, that weird log that looks like a head, the snaky stream that meets with the arced bridge you were under. ‘Cool! The cakes are only four blocks away. So if I hurry, I can find some breakfast before school. The sun is just barely rising so no one is up yet.’ You think as set about your morning ritual.
You get up and quickly shake out your wings, an orange feather falls to the floor and your wings feel pretty weak. ‘Horsefeathers! I’m molting! Alright, no scooter then. I will just have to run today.’ You think to yourself as you walk out from under the small bridge you were under.
You look in the water of the stream and see that you mane is somewhat out of place. Bringing a hoof up, you carefully fix it back. The lines under your eyes easily disappear as you practice your smiles. One by one, you check them off. ‘Friendly, happy, excited. Check check check.’ Brimming with confidence, you finally climb up the small hill and trot towards your breakfast.
After 10 minutes, you find Sugarcube Corner and you sneak into the alley behind it. you quietly poke around in their trash and find a great breakfast for today. ‘Yay! They had left over banana nut muffins!’ “Score” you whisper. You gather up two of the muffins and a cinnamon bun, a little cardboard cake plate serves as your plate as you happily dig in.
Your breakfast finished, you happily sigh before placing the trash back. You might be eating out of it, but unlike dogs you happen to be kind enough to put what you don’t want back. The sun is firmly over the horizon and you figure you have at least forty minutes before school starts.
The wind picks up slightly and you look up. Your idol is hard at work moving clouds already. ‘I wish I could fly up there and help her.’ You think before walking away with a sigh. ‘She always gets up early like me, everyone thinks she is lazy because she likes to nap all the time. Why do I seem to be the only pony who realizes how much she works? She might look like she sleeps a lot, but no one else notices how unlike Foalton, Ponyville never catches rogue clouds from the Everfree. I’ve seen why though. She’s always ready, heck I have seen her pull all nighters when it storms real bad over there. And, every day she gets out here and works on the day’s schedule regardless of how tired she is…’ you lose sight of her as she moves on to the next sector of Ponyville's sky. ‘I wish I was more like Rainbow.’
You shake your head again as you continue walking into town. Thankfully, school was in the middle. So no matter where you slept in ponyville, you would always make it in time. Fully awake now after a bit of walking, you begin noticing more things around you. Your favorite Clementine bush was on your left, so you quickly plucked four or five flowers to eat for a snack at school. Placing them under your wing, you hear someone yelling. At first, you don’t know what they were saying but look around for the source.
It comes again a little louder and you recognize the voice, ‘Summer?’ you think before the words catch up to you. “-ut below!!!” it said and you barely move to the side in time to avoid the crash of one Summer Flight. A Pegasus filly who could barely fly better than you on your best days. Meaning it was unsafe for anyone around her when she actually takes to the air. You don’t know much about her other than the fact that she doesn’t fly well. Her mother had moved to ponyville about 2 months ago with her and they had kept to themselves for the most part.
Summer carefully stood up before looking at you with a toothy smile and a dazed look. “OH, sup Scoots!?” she asked as she brushed off her black coat. She put her flight goggles where they held back her pale silver, windswept mane.
You quickly put on a smile as you answer her, “Just heading to school Summer, what about you though? What are you doing here? I thought that you lived on the east side of ponyville.” Your eyebrow raised as the thought genuinely took root in your mind. ‘Why is she over here? It’s like she purposely chooses the weirdest places to pop up. Ever since her mom signed her up for school, no one has seen any of her. And, she never shows up at school events. She never gets involved with the community. The only thing we know she does is write. Ever since they moved in, the three local bookstores have had new books penned by one Autumn Flash. They are alright, but then again I don’t like adventure romance. Too realistic, if you ask me.’
Summer looked away while saying, “Well, I was practicing my flying when a rogue wind gust blew me WWAAAYYYY off course and I ended up here. Crashed. And hurt.” Her eyes welled up as she suddenly started saying oww repeatedly and holding her head.
You shake your head and say, “Rub some dirt in it and come on, school starts in…” you look at the sun, “about ten minutes.” helping her up off the ground, again, you both started walking to school.
“whew, that was close.” You think you hear something and turned around, looking at Summer.
“What?” you ask her.
Her head comically shook, “I didn’t say anything!” she said as she started running ahead of you…
‘Weirdo’ you think as she ran past you.
I followed the main street in town and got to school just in time to meet up with my two best friends, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. As you run to meet them, a strong feeling of submission runs over you and time slowed to a standstill. The world around you turns gray and the darkness runs cracks, then streams, until a lake of black covered my sight.
Waking up, you hear the voice once more. “WAKE UP SCOOTALOO.” It tells you.
Your wings ruffle as you attempt to observe your surroundings. Attempt is used quite nicely because you realize you can’t see. In a panic, you scream… But, you don’t hear it. You know that when you tried to scream, you threw yourself back; and didn’t feel the floor hit you. Then you notice you can’t feel your legs, even though you tried your hardest to move them around. Panicking, you think to yourself. ‘W-what’s going on!? What happened to all of my senses? I can’t see, hear, feel, taste, or smell!’
“BE CALM. YOU ARE NOT WITHIN YOUR BODY ANY MORE. OF COURSE YOU CAN’T DO ANY-*COUGH COUGH* oh, that voice hurts my throat… shit… well, disregarding all of that stuff. You have been selected Scootaloo.” The voice said.
‘Selected for what? AND WHO THE BUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!??’ your anger rises to unknown levels and a deep crack resounds throughout your mind. An exhilarating flood of power flows through your mind. ‘What. Gives you. The right. To. Rip. Somepony. From their OWN BODY!!!!!’
“I have done what I did for more reasons than you have time to live. The world is at a crossroads Scootaloo. Mytheria is on the edge of a thousand roads. A million turns. A billion forks. A trillion ends. The forces that be have shifted and been uprooted. There is no real reason that I chose you. If you want it as a form of solace, then I have nothing for you. The only reason with any weight is your status in the world. A simple 14 year old filly, no parents or family, only three friends, really… I am doing you a favor if anything. For example, Scootaloo, you are destined to die today. You have never flown in your life. For most pegasi, that is not a problem. They may not have been born with functional wings, or something injured them. But you? You were caught up in the attack on your mother and father when you were a newborn foal. Your parents fought valiantly to protect you. Your mother, Silver, held off the intruders with her aerial abilities while your father attempted to get you out of the house. In an ingenious move by the attackers, three spells were fused into a single devastating attack. A horrible spell called Rending Life Corruption was used on all three of you.
“Your father was able to teleport you out of the house, even as he and Silver were killed from magical overload. While you did survive the spell, you were still damaged by it. Unseen by the ponies who found you and the head marestress of the orphanage in Manehattan. Undetected by the unicorn who adopted you. And unnoticed, even by the star pupil of Celestia herself. You had been suffering from a magical disease. It tore your soul from the channels of magic and even after it healed, It did so in a seriously dangerous way. You have molted every week since you were 6. Your wings have never let you fly, and your hooves BARELY support you on the clouds. You are polluted with over ten years of pure, undiluted magic. It has built up higher and higher and higher. When you woke today, you molted again. Even though you just stopped two days ago. Today is the day that your whole entire body fails to keep it from breaking free. Today is the day that you choose. Today is the day that you live, or today is the day that you die.”
You sit in shock, you learn about your parents and their killers, a magical disease that can kill you today, that not only Equestria, but that all of Mytheria were at a turning point in history that you have been chosen to do… something about it. It was almost too much. Gathering your will, you think to the voice one last question. ‘W-what… what do I have to do? In order to live.’
Despite your lack of senses, you know that the owner of the voice is smiling. “My dear, dear Scootaloo… there is a predicament, as I said earlier. As the route stands now, the world will DIE. All life will become extinct. The cataclysm for this route’s foundation principle, is if nothing changes. You have been selected. If you want to live, then all you have to do. Is CHOOSE to live, CHOOSE to love, or learn, or kill, or pillage, or have foals, defeat badguys, IT DOESN’T MATTER! Whatever you do, if you choose to live, will save all of Mytheria. Even if you become the most evil tyrant ever… it will be a kinder fate.”
“So now it is time to hear your answer Scootaloo. If you choose to die, we will select another pony. If you choose to live, then your fate will be unbound and the world set free. So CHOOSE!!!
LIVE
OR
DIE!!!!!”
With only a moment of hesitation, you make your decision.
A large sigh rings through the void and you jump at the sound of laughter. “As if you could choose anything else?” a mocking tone accompanied the rhetoric.
‘So, h-how are you going to save me?’ you ask, the knowledge that your body is merely a dam of sticks holding back the torrents of pure magic and ready to burst THIS very day was both unsettling and exhilarating.
“Well, I am glad you asked me. There are a few ways to go about doing this, but the fastest way is already in progress. A complete conversion of your body. The problem is that your body can’t hold anymore unrestrained/controlled magic. By removing your soul from your body, it has already started the conversion in order to save itself.” The voice paused, as if to judge her. “When I think about it… I don’t actually know what you will become. There is no guarantee you will look the same… Unsettling.” It whispered. “Very unsettling indeed. But at the same time, so VERY interesting.” A soft chuckle followed.
“Do you have any questions?” the voice queries.
‘W-will my friends still like me?’ you ask. Your friends are all that you have in the world, nothing means more to you than them.
The voice was silent for a while before replying, “Yes, they will stand by you forever. After all, you are the Crusaders.”
A smile graced you lips as you “felt” a shift in the world around you. ‘Is it time for me to return?’
“Yes Scootaloo, but remember that change is the key to saving Mytheria. And a word of warning, your new body will still be destroyed by your magic if you don’t release some every now and then. And this time around, not only will you die but everyone in the vicinity will as well.”
You contemplate his words as your smell returns. With a last thought, you say ‘Thank you. I promise that I will protect Mytheria from anything that threatens it… Goodbye.’
You then disappear as your senses take full hold.
A figure walks out of the shadows of the voided place. “Haha, good luck kid.” He then focused magic of unbridled power into his body. “You will need it if you hope to challenge HIM…”
He then disappeared, returning to his rightful throne in the multiverse.
In the Everfree, a sleeping beast awoke with the presence of a Master…
You groggily process the information assaulting your senses as you wake up.
You see both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle sleeping on your hospital bed. The sun is up so you know they must have stayed up watching over you. A smile graces your lips as you settle down under the covers and hug them as they sleep. They snuggle into you as your eyelids drift a little. ‘They will always be here for me. Even if I change, they will change with me… Thank you, whoever you were. Thank you.’
Just as your eyes close shut, you hear the door open and a loud gasp. There in the doorway stood the nurse. He looked at you before closing the door quietly. You hear galloping as soon as the door shuts.
‘odd… why did she act like that? I wonder… I guess I will deal with it when I wake up.’ You shrug before closing your eyes once again…