“Are you ready to go?” I jolt awake at the question and find myself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. As always, my power jumps into action, providing me numbers the moment I open my eyes and look around.
‘Location, warehouse approximately one thousand by one thousand square feet. No air vibrations, speaker is planting thoughts directly into my head, speaker does not have a physical form. Speaker does not mean me harm.’
I blink and shake my head before taking another look around, choosing to focus on my surroundings rather than the apparent benevolent mysterious speaker.
‘Bed is from Earth Bet Protectorate HQ Boston branch. Desk in middle from home dimension.’
I push myself off the bed and land on my feet slowly walking towards the desk as more pieces to this puzzle fall into place.
‘No windows, no doors, shutter is a barrier, oxygen is being used but oxygen level stays the same. Location is time locked, location is simulated.’
I reach the desk and find a laptop running with the screen displaying a word document.
‘Laptop is from home dimension, speaker is the being who sent me to Earth Bet.’
I pause, taking a steadying breath before I look at the word document. “Choose Your Own Adventure,” I mutter into my hand with wide eyes.
I remember completing one of these just for shits and giggles years ago only for a random omnipotent being to take notice and throw me into the life I chose. It is funny when one reads stories like that, not so much when one experiences them first hand. I can still remember the first few weeks on Earth Bet. Walking around in a daze and seeing numbers everywhere... it was not a good time.
Although, learning to use my powers after understanding what they were was very fun, and I doubt that other worlds will be nearly as bad as Earth Bet.
With some hesitation, I start scrolling through the prompt. It’s not like there’s anything tethering me to Earth Bet anyways, Scion made sure of that.
Looking over the prompt I am… somewhat surprised. The adventure will take place in ‘The magical land of Equestria,’ essentially placing me in the world of “My Little Pony.” I don’t have any illusions about what will happen once I complete this, but if I am going to a world based off a cartoon for all ages it can’t be that bad… can it?
I have a thousand points to spend starting out and I can become an Earth pony, Pegasus, or Unicorn for free… I completely ignore them along with the other equine races as I’d rather not be quadruped and limited to manipulating things with my mouth and tongue. Changelings have some potential, but I would rather not be half insect.
The non-equine races consist of Diamond Dogs, Minotaurs, and Griffins, all for one hundred points, the races listed have potential and being a Diamond Dog sounds interesting at the very least.
The mythical beings consist of: humans (one hundred points), sirens (four hundred points), dragons (four hundred points), centaurs (four hundred points), and alicorns (six hundred points). To be honest, the only one that even remotely interests me is the human race and taking it would put me at a disadvantage if everyone else on the planet can use magic and I can’t.
With a sigh, I choose to be a Diamond Dog for a hundred points, and move on to the next portion.
The next item on the agenda is the location I will appear at, and since I know next to nothing about the world in question I simply take the free option to wake up near ‘the small town of Ponyville.’
Next is origin and, hoo boy, age. I spend fifty points to make myself twenty years old and look at the roles available.
Traveler is basically a free fresh start and is pretty appealing right off the bat. Farmer seems decent as well, but I can’t imagine myself being good at it at all. Villian is automatically out seeing as it costs one hundred points and if this world really is based off of a children’s cartoon than I will never win. Noble is also out as it also costs a hundred points and I have never been able to bring myself to care about politics.
Selecting the traveler option, I move on.
Skills and Abilities pops up next and makes me thankful I didn’t choose to be a villain or noble. ‘Flash Mob’ is a free ability that basically grants anyone and everyone the ability to turn life into a musical at the drop of a hat. Villains never win in musicals and that is a fact. ‘Special Talent’ I am somewhat confused about given my situation and more than a little wary of. Would my power be considered my ‘special talent?’ My power is more along the lines of an ‘advanced talent’ with me being able to see the math behind everything, hell I’ve dodged bullets and lasers with it!
Being uncertain about this, I simply move on to other perks.
‘Giggle at the Ghosties’ is one of those perks where you can’t not buy it. Being able to laugh in the face of fear is pretty much a must have and the best part is it’s free for travelers. I pick up the ‘Friendly’ perk next for one hundred points so I might make some friends, another plus is that it gives me an amazing memory for names and people’s likes and dislikes. ‘The Sense’ perk follows shortly after, it costs a whopping three hundred points even with a discount for travelers but for having a reliable form of precognition along side my powers it is well worth it.
Equipment comes next and I immediately buy three ‘Bits’ for one hundred and fifty points giving me a starting capital of nine hundred bits. The ‘Party Cannon’ is free for travelers and if I can really pull it out at anytime it could be really useful, purchased for zero. The ‘Story Book’ is the next piece of equipment I pick up for a measly one hundred points, seriously, for getting all the myths, prophecies, and legends of any world one goes to one hundred points is a bargain especially if one encounters more worlds with magic. Finally I pick up the ‘Gem Collection’ as my final piece of equipment. I remember a few stories where gems had magical properties and allowed individuals to perform magic even in circumstances where they shouldn’t be able to.
I look over the list of perks and equipment one more time in case there is anything else I deem necessary. Nothing catches my eye and with a click I finalize my perks and equipment.
Drawbacks pop up with a little counter at the top exclaiming “You have -0 points.” I’m guessing at this point the finalize button at the bottom would have been greyed out if I had a negative amount of points. With no reason to take a drawback I click the finalize button at the bottom.
“It seems that you’re ready,” I yawn and walk back to my bed before collapsing on the mattress and drift off to sleep.
I wake to the sound of birds calling to each other. Opening my eyes is a mistake as it is extremely bright and my power takes over for my sight as I slap a furry arm over my eyes.
‘Eyes are three point seven five six times larger than normal, facial features are three point one two eight times bigger and are elongated by a factor of four point seven two. Ears are enhanced by a factor of eight point two, sense of smell is increased by a factor of fifty point zero two. Birds are twenty feet in the air following a circular pattern and two hundred and sixty three trees are currently echoing the disrupted air currents.’
I open my eyes slowly and blink rapidly, note to self, enhanced senses suck when combined with thinker powers.
‘Brain is reinforced by a factor of eighty two point one.’
“...Well, that’s useful,” I mutter, running the calculations in my head. Surprisingly it comes out to a net positive, sure I might have to pace my powers, but other than that I upgraded my range without a drawback.
Blinking tears and sleep away, I find myself lying under an apple tree a little ways outside a small town. Hell, it looks like it jumped right off the pages of a picture book, with thatched roofs surrounded by lush green plains, and even a dirt road leading right to it.
It’s… jarring how alien the surroundings are. I’m so used to seeing skyscrapers and shingle roofs, greys, whites, and stale brown buildings… I know the feeling will probably wear off eventually, but right now I can definitely feel that… culture clash moment.
I let the moment pass, trying not to think of all the luxuries I gave up for an unsure adventure, and take stock of what I have. Looking down, I see I have a blue coat of fur and my legs bend in strange ways. I am wearing what could be generously called a ragged vest with small pockets on both sides. Reaching into the pockets, my new paws are swallowed up to my elbows before they brush against two things. I pull the items out and find myself looking at two fairly decent sized bags closed by ropes at the tops. The two bags can barely fit in my paws and opening them gives me a view of numerous gold coins in the left bag and quite a few gems in the right bag.
I blink before carefully tying both bags closed and dropping them in my apparent pockets of holding. Climbing to my paws, I start walking, or more accurately I start stumbling in circles. My balance has changed with my new limbs making me feel like I’m leaning forward as I move.
‘Body is topheavy, muscle mass and muscle density has increased by a factor of two point three. Bone density has increased by a factor of two point seven.’
I am grateful for my power in times like these. Learning to stand, let alone walk on unfamiliar limbs would normally take quite a bit of time. My power streamlines the process and what should take days of working out how my body moves instead takes minutes.
It takes a conscious effort on my part to turn my power off, or at least ignore it, and that is what I do once I am able to effectively walk. Many individuals would probably wonder why I would do such a thing, but… well… there are downsides to being a “Thinker.”
Putting one paw in front of the other, I leave the numerous apple trees behind and head towards the small town. My first priority is to acquire food, water, and shelter for the night. While I could have picked several apples from the trees, I have a feeling that simply taking them would be a bad idea.
‘It’s a beautiful day outside,’ I think with a chuckle. ‘Birds are singing, flowers are blooming,’ I grin and lock my arms behind my back. ‘The stage is set, and the die is cast. A new chapter unfolds…’
I continue down the road.
Author's Note
Whelp, this story has been in the works for a while now, and I actually know where I am going with it for once so... yay?
If you have the time leave a comment down below with your thoughts on the chapter. Thanks for reading and I hope you readers have a wonderful day.
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!
