The Roads We Take

by One of the Crowd

Rating: teen
Tags: Alternate Universe, Human, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other
Length: 3927

We all have our own paths in life. This poses a question though; how much would you change if you were thrown into a whole other world? How different would your path be? What if you weren't the only one?

Choices are one of the many curses of intelligence. What to do and where to go, but what about the choices we don't make? Are we neat or slobs, Friends or enemies, maybe even good or evil. Now, if you were thrown into a world where a choice can change your very way of thinking how would you change?

A comment driven story.
Tags will be added as decisions are made.

Published 2016-04-19 01:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2018-03-07 22:28:22 UTC

Prologue

Prologue-

Off in the city of Canterlot a crowd of ponies was gathering outside of the palace all mumbling with discontent. The mob had started forming only a few hours ago when the news had spread of a new kind creature appearing throughout Equestria. The princesses had known of the creatures for some time, but kept things quiet for these exact reasons.

“The crowd has doubled in the past hour,” an orange unicorn guard said while looking over the balcony.

“It appears that it has, Lighting.” Celestia said while looking towards the crowd as well. “This reminds me of that speech I gave after the wedding incident.”

“You mean the invasion, your highness?” Lighting asked.

“Yes, but calling it an invasion only incites more demand for a war when there is no reason for it. Their queen is in the dungeon so they have no leader,” Celestia reasoned.

“Unless they decide to try again.” He said under his breath before realizing exactly who he was talking to. “Wouldn’t it be a better idea to get rid of the problem now that their queen is gone?”

“How would going to war with an entire species benefit Equestria?” She asked with a raised an eyebrow. “A country would be a different story, but a species is something else entirely.”

“They are parasites ma’am, they would only serve to harm our home.” He shot back with relatively sound logic.

“That’s a debate for another time. Please excuse me.” She said which resulted in Lighting saluting her as she walked out onto the balcony to finally address the rather large crowd forming outside.

She looked across the crowd seeing many ponies with a multitude of expressions ranging from angry all the way to fearful. The crowd quieted down their talking as they saw the princess step out into the sunlight which seemed to radiate with her coat. Her mane flowed in the non-existent breeze like it always did due to the immense magical power she held. Clearing her throat she then spoke with the royal canterlot voice to address the crowd.

“My little ponies, it has come to my attention that a new creature has appeared in equestria and has created some minor problems where they have been spotted.” She said which got the crowd to start talking again, mostly in agreement. Celestia cleared her throat again which got the crowd to quiet down long enough for her to continue her speech.

“These problems have included certain animals disappearing as well as assorted items being stolen from our homes. I have created a plan to stop this problem before it becomes any worse than it currently is and hopefully, create peaceful relations with these new creatures.” The crowd started to mumble again though it wasn’t exactly happy with the last bit of that sentence.

“This is going to be a long day” Celestia thought before continuing to address the crowd in order to quell the riots that were sure to break out if this was not handled properly. It’s never easy taking care of a country of fearful ponies.

****Somewhere else****

In a rather rural area far away from any villages with ponies stood makeshift tents made of materials ranging from leaves to animal skins. Music could be heard coming from the center of the city of tents, but it wasn’t from any instrument that could be found in equestria. Various people were walking around doing various things essential to keeping the thing from falling apart.

“Hey Mark, what do you want me to do with these dead batteries?” A someone asked a rather pale man wearing a T-shirt that was ripped and muddy with jeans that were equally deteriorated.

“You’re sure they’re dead? We only have so many left for the radio.” Mark replied while taking out an old gameboy.

“I’m pretty sure. Radio stopped working and swapping their places didn’t help.” The other guy said while handing them over. Mark grabbed the batteries and put them into the old handheld before flipping the switch to see if anything would come on. The light flickered red before going dark again.

“Alright, they’re dead. Go grab some from Alex and make sure you kill the radio in an hour.” He said while taking back out the dead batteries and putting them in his back pocket to be used later for something. He really didn’t know what uses for them were other than just keeping them out of the water.

“But Alex is scary!” The other guy complained to Mark who just nodded,

“He is, but he’s not dangerous. Just ignore the tattoos and don’t mention his quirks and you’ll be fine.” Tony said while putting on a smile for him.

“Alright. OH, Brian wanted to talk to you about leaving. You know, trying to make it out there on his own?”

“I know, I was going to go talk to him in a minute.” Mark replied before the other guy walked off to go find Alex. He passed by many tents all of which had something unique about them. These differences ranged from discarded junk hanging from the entrance to flowers planted outside of them. One even had some poison joke hanging just above the entrance; that guy didn’t like people.

Eventually the guy reached a tent that was covered in mud to leave the insides cooler than any of the other tents.There was a lot more junk piled around this tent with bits and pieces of old electronics taken apart.

The battery guy swallowed his fear before walking into the darkened tent. Even more junk was scattered around with a tall shirtless man was taking apart a radio with a screw driver. He had various tattoos across his body with a multitude of different designs. One that stood out though was three butterflies that were on the side of his neck.

“H-hey, Alex. C-can I-” Alex tossed batteries at the guy without looking up.

“I heard the radio die. Unless you were coming to get me to fix it, it needs batteries.” He said while continuing to tinker with the radio.When the guy didn’t leave Alex got a little confused. “What?”

“Nothing just-”

“I look freaky?” He asked. The battery guy just nodded with a melancholy expression. “I’m used to that. Just take your batteries and get going.”

The battery guy nodded and beat a hasty retreat from the scary looking individual and his random technododads.

Alex just sat in silence for a few more minutes after that guy had just left. He wasn’t exactly happy that everyone looked at him like he was going to hurt them. Sure he had a lot of tattoos, but that was from his teenage years before realizing how far he took it and only got one more tattoo afterwards.

“*Sigh* Aren’t we supposed to look past appearances?” Alex asked himself as he put down the radio and looked towards his screwdriver. “At least you won’t judge me screwy.” The screwdriver did not respond, but Alex cracked a grin at it. “Screwy, you’re crazy man!” He said happily.

“Hey, Alex. The hand crank broke again.” Another guy said as he walked into Alex’s tent.

“Why am I the only one that can fix anything?” Alex thought as he put screwy back into his right boot and followed his new acquaintance out of his tent to go fix the messed up hand crank. When Alex left his tent a chill ran down his spine,

“I wish I had a shirt when I got sucked into this.” He said to himself which go this friends attention.

“I thought you just didn’t like wearing a shirt.”

“Nah, these tattoos scare off everyone so I tried to keep them covered back home.”

“Any special ones?” Alex thought for a moment about that question. Sure, plenty of them have stories but none really were any better than the rest. Finally he thought of one, Flexing his arm he showed off a particularly interesting tattoo of a chinese dragon.

“This one I got after winning a bet. This tattoo cost over a thousand bucks but it was free for me.” He said with a smug smile on his face. “It costs so much because of the style and artist which I suppose don’t matter much now.”

“I suppose not. What about that one?” The other guy asked while pointing towards a samurai tattoo on Alex’s chest.

“That one? Oh, that story isn’t really interesting…”

Far away from Alex and his tattoo conversation Mark was talking to someone who had an aggravated expression on his face.

“So what, we just stay here and waste away? I want to go home damn it!” The guy yelled while throwing his hands up in the air. Mark just put a hand to his head and shook it slowly,

“Brian, we can’t afford to just leave. We need each other man.” Mark reasoned while putting a hand on Brian’s back. He however, smacked Mark’s hand and jerked away.

“We’re falling apart Mark! How long do you think they’re going to listen to you if we don’t even try getting home?” Brian asked while motioning to the sub par living conditions they were in. “No one should have to live like this! How long before one of us get’s killed by a timber wolf, or one of those manticores? I can’t keep everyone from wandering off like I’ve been especially when more keep coming in!”

“You have to, they respect you Brian and if you leave, they leave.” Mark responded.

“That might be best for them! Why live like this when there are ponies that are willing to help?”

“And what if it becomes a Zecora situation? I’d rather not have them go out without any idea on what the situation would be.”

“And if it’s not like that? You’re putting them at risk on a maybe!”

“That’s what you’re doing too, Brain!” Mark borderline yelled before taking a deep breath. “At least they have some place to come back to if they fail out there Brian. If we just give up on this then what happens if I’m right?”

“I don’t know, but anything is better than living like this.”

“This conversation is over Brian. Leave if you want, but know you’re fucking over everyone that follows you out!” Mark finally snapped before storming away from Brian who huffed in frustration.

“Jackass is going to get us all killed.” Brian thought to himself as he picked up his makeshift machete that was lodged in the ground beside him. He started to walk in the opposite direction of Mark so he wouldn’t have to talk to the moronic jackass anymore. Mark was the one who came up with whole stupid idea to begin with and hadn’t pushed to try and get home.

“Doesn’t the bastard realize some of us have families we miss.” Brian said to himself while letting out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. He walked past tent after tent as he made his way towards the edge of the tent city that he had a hand in creating. When he reached the edge he stopped and kept his eyes toward the horizon. It would be so simple for him to just keep going without anyone stopping him, but was that really the best option? What if Mark was right?

Looking back towards the tents and random junk that littered the place that he had stayed for the last 3 months. The decision was easy enough as he took another step away from the people that served only to hold him back.

Author's Note

Before anyone points out how vague this is, there is a reason for it! Now that that is out of the way it's time to have the first round of voting! that being which character we will be following. Vote in the comments and remember, bacon! (Almost forgot, the second highest voted character's neutral trait will go to the most voted)

Mark-

Natural leader- This is the kind of guy you are willing to follow either through respect or fear. Just because you're mad doesn't mean you'll leave...as fast.

Penny pincher- This guy does not like to be wasteful and will do very strange things if it means he can save anything. This can lead to some unforeseen consequences both good and bad.

Town creator- (Mark special) Mark created this town with Brian to try and help any human that wound up in Equestria. Humans have heard of him before and may ask for his help which he will of course grant.

Back Talker- You'd never guess he'd have an issue with you until you hear he's been saying something behind your back! He might say things that will get him in trouble with some very important ponies.

Alex-

Resourceful- every situation calls for some action but for this guy he has a few more options. Able to use random objects to make new equipment life is much easier on this guy.

Scary- Through appearance or other means he is scary! Intimidating is much easier for this guy which can scare off would be enemies and would be friends.

screw loose- (Alex special) With his trusty screw driver alex always has a useful tool though he thinks it talks to him. This will creep out many ponies.

anti-social- He finds making friends to be a bit difficult considering some aspect of himself. Friends are more likely to leave.

Brian-

Determined- This guy absolutely refuses to give up on something no matter how difficult. This makes getting what he needs or wants a more probable outcome.

Fighter- He is a bit more aggressive than other people, but that means he knows a thing or two about fighting. He can take a punch and deal one out.

Machete man- (Brian's special) Brian made this machete when he first dropped into Equestria 3 months ago out of a broken mirror shard and a few sticks. This gives him a weapon he can actually use though it makes him seem a lot more threatening.

Diplomatically challenged- He is not a friendly individual and wont always pick the peaceful solutions to conflicts. This will most definitely bite him in the ass.

A Single Step

You could hear owls all around in that tent city. The moon was high in the sky watching over what bits of humanity lay within that plain. There was almost no human still awake aside from the few that were supposed to be watching over them and raise the alarm if something were to happen. They however were not the only ones still awake, Alex lay in the pile of leaves he called a bed trying to finally fall asleep but for some reason he couldn't. There was something different and he couldn't quite place his finger on it. Something just felt off, different, wrong.

"psst Hey Alex, I need to talk to you." He heard someone whisper from the entrance of his tent.

"What do you want?" he asked while getting up and stretching, a popping noise could be heard from all his joints. He approached the door and saw Mark standing there looking extremely nervous and worried. This was strange for him as normally Mark was calm and collected. "What's going on?"

"Have you seen Brian sense yesterday?" He asked. Alex had to think it over as he and Brian would often but heads over the stupidest things so he didn't typically talk to him if he could avoid it.

"Can't say that I have, why what's going on?"

"Nothing, don't worry about-"

"Do not pull that shit with me." Alex cut him off. He wasn't going to let Mark brush over anything important like someone going missing.

"I think, I think Brian ran off on his own."

"...I'm going back to bed." he said annoyed that he was ushered out only to be told that the biggest asshole in the camp was gone. Alex always thought that Mark gave Brian way too much credit anyway when it came to keeping the place together. Mark had been the one to organize everyone and keep the others from panicking and fighting each other over who got to do what. Brian however, he only ever really threatened people that got in his way or tried to steal from the camps supplies.

"Wait! Alex, it's important that Brian comes back. If he goes out there and causes trouble it's going to come back on all of us." Mark said grimly. Now this was something that everyone was thinking would happen sooner or later, but no one would expect Brian to do anything that would put the place in any real danger.

"If you're that worried about it then send someone out to go find him." he responded still annoyed that he was being told about something he really couldn't care less about.

"If I tell anyone that he's gone then others are going to leave Alex."

"You told me."

"Exactly."

"Wait, what?" Alex said surprised.

"Alex, you have shown that you care about everyone here as much as I do so I know you wont run off and do something stupid if I send you out to go find Brian."

"Give me a single reason to go out and bring that asshole back here!"

"I've already told you, he's going to cause the ponies around here to come against us because he can't keep his temper in check."

"Mark, there is almost sixty of us. you can find someone else." Alex said still trying to get out of this whole situation without having to deal with Brian at all.

"I can't, everyone else either wouldn't get involved or would leave with him the minute they know he's gone."

"So not getting involved means me right now."

"Come on Alex, please you have to do this for us!" Mark was basically begging him at this point but Alex was firm in his belief that Brian wasn't worth the hassle of hunting down. That was until he thought he heard muffled talking from his own boot and pulled out that screwdriver he held onto so tightly.

"What, no! Screwy he's a...he said I'm crazy and you're not real...yeah but...fine." Alex said before looking back at Mark. "First, no one and I mean NO ONE is allowed to touch anything in my tent while I'm gone. Second, I want an actual say around here instead of having to listen to you or Brian order me around. No more of this pseudo monarchy bullshit or I'm leaving. Finally, if I have to beat his ass and drag him back here I do not want to hear a word about it. These are my and screwy's terms, and no we will not negotiate."

Mark looked at Alex with that same awkward and slightly worried look everyone else had when they saw him directly talking to that screwdriver. Mark had to genuinely think over the terms Alex had set fourth because of that very reason as well; could he honestly let someone, who obviously wasn't healthy mentally, have a powerful voice over what they do in this place? What about beating on Brian? wouldn't he just run away again and that prove that he didn't know what he was doing? Is it even worth it?

"Fuck me, Fine but if you can avoid fighting him then you wont. And do not go causing trouble for us out there you hear?" Mark finally said.

"You got it, I'll head out tomorrow. I've got a few things I've got to take care of first." Alex said before making his way back to his tent. Brian just stared at him walking away wondering if he had made the right choice in sending Alex out to go after Brian instead of going himself. He looked around at the small tent city he had created over the past 5 months and realized that this was the right choice. If he wasn't there then how would the whole place not come crashing down?

***Early the next morning***

Alex came out of his tent with a belt made out of a vine and what looked like a broken motherboard attached to a radio handle hanging off it. He made his way towards the edge of the tent city as the breeze blew against him and he asked himself one last time if doing that was the best idea. Looking back he saw a small crowd forming around Mark, all questioning where Brian was and who was going to keep them safe now.

"Even if I don't like the guy, I guess I've got to do this for those guys." he thought as he started making his way towards the closest village that they knew about.

Canterlot

"Princess." Lighting said with a salute as Celestia walked into her private study.

"Good morning Lighting. How was the play last night? You and your wife have fun?" She asked with a smile on her face which quickly changed to a frown when she saw how serious Lighting seemed. "something the matter Lighting?"

"It's about those creature ma'am. I know you don't wish to be hostile towards them but I ask you reconsider before they-"

"Before what Lighting? Before they have a chance to integrate into our society peacefully?" She asked almost mocking him.

"I do not mean to offend princess, but what if they do not wish to integrate peacefully? what if they're the first wave in some conquest of Equestria? What if they are working with the changelings?" He said with those seemingly real threats in his mind

"Well I most certainly hope that is not the case but if it is then you may do what you please. We however will not attack them first." she said affirmed in her belief that this can all end peacefully.

"You're majesty, that is exactly what we did with the changelings upon first contact and look at how that ended up."

"This discussion is over Lighting. You will not harm these creatures until we've learned of their intentions."

Lighting begrudgingly nodded and made his way back to his post outside the door. The princess's plan was sure to fail, if those creatures viewed Equestria as weak then they were sure to try conquering it and Lighting was not going to let that happen, not while he lives and breathes.

Author's Note

Yes I wrote the next chapter, look at the blog from today to see why I've been gone. (3/7/2018). Alex won previous round of votes and Brian was second. Here's the next round.

Animal lover- Alex is kind to the creatures that reside around him big and small. They realize this and some creatures will help him out or not bother him. This can help Alex avoid conflict with certain creatures and he'll occasionally get a present.

Light step- Alex is a lot more cautious about his footing than other people. This makes it so he wont make as much noise when sneaking around and he'll be able to catch himself if he slips. This can help alex out of some situations where fighting isn't an option.

Calm in body and mind- (this negates the negative of Brian's neutral trait) Alex doesn't go looking for fights and can keep his calm in even the most difficult or infuriating situations. This will help alex avoid lose friends in the future as well as make others think twice about attacking him.