Scattered Pages - Ponyville Ciderfest App Stories by RQKby RQKChapters#TheCriticDisapproves - The Critic's Disapproval#TheWatchersDeal - The Watcher’s Deal#NonReproducibleCertificate - Non Reproducible Certificate#TheCriticDisapproves - The Critic's DisapprovalThe Critic's Disapproval Code Word: #TheCriticDisapproves The best that you knew was that there was a page from the Book of All Stories somewhere in Canterlot. You came and searched and ended up empty-hooved. Reality had not changed—not yet, at least. If somepony does have the page, they haven't used it yet. And so you’ve ended up in Joe’s Donut shop. And as expected, the donuts here are delicious. This place is exactly the splash of color that Canterlot needs. You can see a few ponies here, some drowning themselves in sweets. You’ve seen many dream-shattering nights end in this place, and it seems tonight is no exception. That’s when she enters. Her demeanor is as pale as her coat, as expected, and yet you can see hints of a fiery disdain in her darting eyes. Many sets of eyes look up at this unicorn mare’s entrance. Some seem surprised to see her. Joe leans across the counter. “Zesty Gourmand?” he asks, disbelief in his voice. Zesty Gourmand, famed food critic of Canterlot’s Restaurant Row, glances about Joe’s donut shop. She glares at a few of the ponies sitting around, all of whom look too stunned to glare back. “So,” she coldly begins, “this is it? This is the place stealing away good patrons from places of good standard?” She snorts. “What nonsense!” “What are you doing here?” Joe asks, trotting out from behind the counter. “This isn’t your type of place.” “This shouldn’t be anypony’s type of place,” Zesty Gourmand counters. “And yet, all these ponies are here. Meanwhile, those restaurants that have adhered to the standards of good cuisine are empty. All of their patrons have come to places like this. Why is it that the good restaurants must risk loss of business over… this?” “Lady,” Joe begins, “your critiques have caused several of my friends to lose valuable business. And besides… your opinions on food are bad and you oughta feel bad.” “Absurd.” Her sharp facial features sharpen even more. “But I don’t expect you to understand. And thankfully… it is no longer necessary.” Joe frowns. “Why is that?” “Because,” she says as she magically pulls a sheet of paper from her cloak, “I will personally see this issue resolved.” You jump in your seat. Zesty Gourmand has the page from the Book of All Stories! You see her preparing it within her magical grasp. “I will be writing a review that makes it impossible for any restaurant to even exist that does not meet the minimum standard,” she declared. “I will save the culinary world.” “No way no how!” Joe tremulously roars, now advancing. “The only way to save the culinary world would be to stop any restaurants from becoming like all the ones you’ve destroyed!” “As if.” Joe chuckles. “Imagine that. Now that would be an amazing use for that, wouldn’t it? I could make every restaurant exciting! And good.” “That’s enough,” she spits back. She readies a quill and begins writing on the page. “Say goodbye.” She begins writing in it before you can react. But it will take a moment for her to finish it and for whatever dreadful changes she wants to make to take effect. On the other hoof, Joe seems to be glaring at the page. He might very well scoop it up if she were to lose it. No matter what happens, you feel that the entire restaurant industry is about to change. [CHOICE] Do you allow Zesty Gourmand to complete her “review”? Allow her to complete the review. (Villain) Tackle her, allowing Joe to take it instead. (Chaos) [ENDING A: VILLAINS] You stay rooted in place. In fact, when you see Joe inching further forward, you shuffle over and block his way. You aren’t going to let him get in Zesty Gourmand’s way. And soon enough, she finishes writing her review. A sinister smile appears on her muzzle. The world around you transforms and stretches and swirls around and then stops. You find yourself in a dull place that, while shiny and sleek, is very muted with the few colors it has. Any hints of personality this place may have had in another life are now gone, every table in the place now looks the same and seats samey-looking ponies. Shortly enough, a waiter approaches you. His mane is combed and gelled and his suit is spotless, but his blaise expression masks all traces of the stallion underneath. And he motions to the closest leather-seated booth. “Your table, sir,” he says, his tone monotonous. You take your seat. The cushioning is a little bit hard but is otherwise nothing spectacular. This is how it should be. You feel confident that those undeserving places, like The Tasty Treat, Sugarcube Corner, and Joe’s Donut Shop will no longer pollute the realm of dining. (+1 page for Villains) [ENDING B: CHAOS] You can’t let the restaurants of the world become the same bland song and dance. But there is little time. If you are to prevent that, your hand is forced. You tackle Zesty Gourmand. She is frail and light by nature so your tackle manages to completely down her; it disorients her so well that the page flies out of her magical grasp. Joe bolts over and takes the page within his own unicorn magic. He gives it a look over to see what words Zesty Gourmand has put down. “You ruffian!” Zesty Gourmand exclaims. “How dare you touch me!” “Sorry, not sorry. I had to do something to stop you,” you reply. “Thanks for that,” Joe says with a chuckle. “Now with this, I can change things for the better.” You see him write a few choice lines onto the paper, likely amending Zesty Gourmand’s review-in-progress. Shortly enough, he is done. The page vanishes. The world seems to spin for a moment. Colors move and blur together. When your senses focus again, you examine your surroundings to find them unchanged. Zesty Gourmand is no longer in the shop, and some small percentage of the patrons have disappeared. Of course—with so many other good options to choose from now, many would be there rather than here. You grin as Joe comes by with a confection that looks like a miniature city made of dough and icing. You’re in for a treat, as this place is going to give you something good. A thought does linger in the back of your mind: now that every place is great, no place is truly great. But this is worth enjoying for now. (+1 page for Chaos) #TheWatchersDeal - The Watcher’s DealThe Watcher’s Deal Code Word: #TheWatchersDeal The page is there. You see it floating within the alicorn’s mare’s magical grasp. But it’s everything else about this encounter that gives you pause. You are above the Crystal Empire. The air is lifelessly frigid and a constant low whistle of an ever-constant breeze fills your ears. You can barely see the streets of the Crystal Empire under a thick layer of clouds, but you can see the magnificent Crystal Palace poking its way up. You stand on nothing. And yet you do not fall through everything. This feels impossible. You don’t even remember how you got here. Moreover, the tall and lean mare before you similarly stands on nothing. Her piercing gaze is as cold as the snow below. She also carries some strange familiarity. You do not recognize the scar over her right eye nor the image of a crystallized tree that is her cutie mark. However, you know the large, opal eyes and the soft, fuchsia coat. Her mane, long and with well-rounded curls, is a striking gradient of cerise and violet that is punctuated by a stripe of arctic blue. A certain princess known best by those close to you as a mere foal comes to mind. “Flurry Heart?” you hazard. The alicorn chuckles. “In some sense. My name is Crystal Faire, but you would know me as Flurry Heart. You may call me that if you wish.” There is no more doubt. Before you is the princess of the Crystal Empire; older, colder, and far removed from the triumphant character depicted in stained glass windows at Canterlot Castle. She isn’t what you expected. Crystal Faire—this strange version of Flurry Heart—chuckles. “I know I am not what you expect. But just as your choices up to this point have at last brought you before me, so have all the choices I and those around me molded and shaped me into this form. Just as a different set of choices would have produced some ‘me’ you are more familiar with.” That had been a well-timed response. It was as if she was reading your thoughts. She tilts her head. “Well, it’s not so much reading thoughts. I just have a special kind of magic that allows me to know what you will do next.” Her gaze feels soul-piercing now. How? “The how is unimportant. Just have confidence that I know much about you. And I know why you have come before me today,” she says. She flashes the page from the Book of All Stories. She’s not wrong. You have come for the page. You cannot help but watch her carefully as she now paces. Despite circling through the air, you can hear her hoofsteps echoing through infinity. You wonder if you truly are where you seem right now; if she really is who she says, or if she is something alien. “You have been rather busy lately. You’ve had quite the hoof in directing the course of several histories. That kirin has caused quite a bit of trouble.” She chuckles and turns her gaze toward the sky as if contemplative. “As entertaining as it is, its time is finite. And I have confidence that this series of affairs will soon enough reach its proper, correct conclusion.” She stops. Her eyes wander. “In such cases, I am not one to intervene, certainly not directly. I am content to observe you and your struggles, just as I have been.” Crystal Faire looks at you out of the corner of her eye. “That being said, over the course of my life, I have become one who… nudges things in particular directions. Particularly… for affairs such as these.” Your eyes fall on the page again. She hasn’t used the page—not yet, at least. But now you wonder what she might use it for—if she wants to use it. Crystal Faire turns her gaze to the Crystal Empire. She watches it and considers it. “As it so happens, I do have a particular use in mind for this page,” she says. She pauses to examine it. “However… perhaps it can be used for other purposes. You have, after all, gone through the trouble of coming all this way to find me.” You see a yellowish aura course through her horn before she disappears. The page remains and flies through the air. You reach for it as it arcs around you, but you can’t get a grip on it. It’s avoiding you. “Thus… let us make a deal,” Crystal Faire says, suddenly behind you. You whirl to face her. And your mind races at what she means when she says ‘deal’. “As I am aware,” she continues as the page rejoins her, “a few factions are vying for pages like this one. Heroes, villains like Queen Chrysalis, chaotic types like Discord…” She then points at you. “I will allow you to choose which faction obtains it.” She disappears again. “However,” she says in your ear, now suddenly next to you, “I will then choose how that faction uses it.” As you recoil away, she chuckles and backs off. “And that is it. You get what you want, and I still get to choose my… nudge. So to speak. I believe this works out well for the both of us, don’t you think?” You stop to think. While this doesn’t necessarily get you the page, the page will go where you want it to. It seems like a good deal. The question is… will she honor her word? And what did she want to use it for anyway? You ponder this as you look down at the storm clouds surrounding the Crystal Empire. “I wonder… what do you think of me?” She is suddenly in your other ear. “Am I heroic? Villainous? Am I an agent of chaos?” Before you could give any sort of response, you see her reappear at a distance. “Don’t answer that,” she commands. “I have seen what you will say about me already. So… time to choose.” [CHOICE] Which faction should Crystal Faire give a page to? Heroes. Villains. Chaos. [ENDING A: HEROES] Crystal Faire smirks. “So you choose to give this to the heroes.” At first, nothing happens. You expect the page to disappear somewhere. But it does not. Instead, Crystal Faire creates a quill out of thin air. And she hums a soft tune as she writes a few choice lines into the page. Lines you cannot see. Before you can protest her using it instead of giving it to some heroes, a loud whistle erupts from the Crystal Palace as a rainbow shoots from its tip. The rainbow explodes in all directions, dispelling the entirety of the storm and revealing clear, sunny skies in all directions. And when you next look down, you can finally see the streets full of crystal ponies glistening in the sunlight. Some appear as if they are cheering. It’s a familiar sight; a normal sight. At that, the page disappears. Crystal Faire begins to depart, passing by you as she goes. She stops for but a moment and says, “You chose well. As I knew you would.” She then trots onward before disappearing into nothing; a loud bang signals her departure. And now you are left alone to stand there, impossibly as you are, to ponder what she has just done. (+1 page for Heroes) [ENDING B: VILLAINS] Crystal Faire cracks her neck. “So you choose to give this to the villains. Well…” The page suddenly disappears within a loud bang. You can’t fathom where it went—yet. She suddenly appears in front of you. “Now that you have chosen,” she says, her voice now much more sinister, “allow me to let you meet an old friend of mine—some version of her, anyway.” Before you can react, your world folds together. All your senses collapse into a single point, and for a moment, you do not exist. When it comes back out, you fall and hit the ground. It’s hard and green-colored and feels… organic. You look up to see a horde of changelings staring back at you. They all have blue eyes, black carapaces, and numerous holes in their legs. You see a much larger one of them—Queen Chrysalis—looking down on you from atop her rocky throne. You see another, colorful changeling. Thorax, ascended with his green carapace and orange horns, lays unconscious underneath one of Queen Chrysalis’ legs. A quick glance around sees several cocoons containing the silhouettes of ponies hanging from the ceiling. Queen Chrysalis throws her head back and laughs. “Well, you must be the one who I should thank for giving me that page of tremendous power. See what I was able to do with it?” With a swift kick, Queen Chrysalis sends Thorax tumbling to the floor. He barely responds. And now she turns to you. “Now, since you are here,” she sneers, “it should be only fitting for us to express our gratitude.” And without further prompt, the entire changeling horde converges on you. (+1 page for Villains) [ENDING C: CHAOS] Crystal Faire laughs. “So you choose to cause chaos? So it shall be, then.” The page suddenly disappears within a loud bang. You can’t fathom where it went—yet. With a mischievous grin, Crystal Faire approaches you. She passes you by but not without patting you on the back. “Do keep an eye on the storm, will you?” Before you can react, your world folds together. All your senses collapse into a single point, and for a moment, you do not exist. When it comes back out, you fall and hit the ground. As you pick yourself up, you notice that it is still cold and windy. But as you glance around, you find that you are now in the center of Ponyville with its homely, timber-framed and thatched-roof homes. You shiver. It’s freezing. And Ponyville is covered in snow. “Discord!” a shrill voice cries. You turn to see Twilight Sparkle yelling at a draconequus lazing about the sky. Discord floats down to meet her. “Come on, Twilight. A little more thanks are in order.” “For what?” she spits. “I saved the Crystal Empire after you broke the Crystal Heart.” He held a claw to one of his ears. “Come now, let me hear you say it?” Twilight Sparkle looks a little more red in the face. “I admit that you did. But now we have this here. Get rid of this storm!” “I can’t.” In a flash of light, he reappears wearing a raincoat. “I can only take the storm around the Crystal Empire and move it somewhere else.” “Did you have to move it to Ponyville!?” Twilight Sparkle cried. Discord laughed. “I have to move it somewhere!” He bent down and patted her on her back. “But fear not, Twilight. I know you’ll solve this little conundrum somehow.” (+1 page for Chaos) Author's Note For further reading about this alternate Flurry Heart—Crystal Faire, see Reflections - Fimfiction #NonReproducibleCertificate - Non Reproducible CertificateNon Reproducible Certificate Code Word: #NonReproducibleCertificate “So…” you tentatively begin, “you’re… selling a page, right?” Flim and Flam, standing on the small stage that they are, glance between each other. You saw them peddling something new, likely one of their latest scams, and came over to see. A few others have gathered to watch with some whispering of buying. An advertisement standing next to them reads, in big letters: Buy ownership of a page from the Book of All Stories “Oh no no,” Flim replies. “What we are selling is a certificate of ownership for a page from the Book of All Stories!” “That’s right,” Flam says with a twirl of his mustache. He levitates the “certificate” out so that you and everyone else can see it. “What we are selling is a one-of-a-kind certificate that says that you, good patron, are the verified owner of one page from the Book of All Stories.” “A Non-Reproducible Certificate. N.R.C., if you like,” Flim continues. “So what do you say? You seem rather interested in the page. Would you like to buy ownership of it today?” You think about this. This is feeling stupidly familiar. “If I buy that certificate, will I also get the page itself?” you ask. “No no,” Flam replies. “You would get the certificate that says that you own the page. Better act now as there is only one certificate like this in the entire world! And demand is high.” Caramel Malt, carrying a saddlebag bursting with items she bought from around the market, walks up next to you. “Hey, are they really selling a page?” You lean over. “No. Not even close.” She frowns. “So then what are they selling?” You glance back up at Flim and Flam still up on their stage peddling to the moderate crowd that has gathered. You pull her aside. “It’s a scam,” you tell her. “They’re just selling a piece of paper that says things but does nothing. It’s completely worthless.” “So… completely worthless even though it says we would own the page.” “Yeah. That’s right.” You look her up and down. “I see you’ve been busy.” Caramel Malt flicks some of the doodads hanging out of her saddlebags. “Haha, yeah. I want to buy things, don’t you know?” “Were you planning on buying a certificate?” She looks up and sees the price Flim and Flam have advertised on their sign. It is very high. “I’m thinking about it. I mean, it would clean me out, so I don’t know…” You sigh. “Caramel, I have a bridge in Manehattan that I can sell to you.” She blinks. “What? Really!?” “No!” You pause to collect yourself. “It’s a scam. Okay? Don’t buy into any of this.” Caramel Malt deflates. “Oh, okay…” You look back up. You can see the certificate that Flim and Flam are peddling. You see that the certificate contains, in its background, a picture of a page from the Book of All Stories. “I will say, though, I think Flim and Flam do have an actual page laying around somewhere,” you say. You point at the certificate. Caramel Malt also looks. “Yeah. Seems so. You think we can find it?” That’s a question. You have no reason to believe they would be keeping the page nearby, and you have no reason to believe they would need to go back to revisit it anytime soon. “Not quickly,” you reply. “So what do we do?” Caramel Malt asks. You think your options over. An obvious choice would be to leave Flim and Flam to it. It isn’t as if you can do anything else. But a thought does occur to you. You approach the stage. “Hey, what makes it non-reproducible?” Flam looks down at you. And he smirks. “Glad you asked. It’s non-reproducible because there is no other certificate like this out there. This is an authentic document.” So it’s not protected in any way. That’s all you need to know. There is an idea you have that involves taking the non-reproducible thing and reproducing it anyway, but it would take a bit of doing depending on what resources you have available. It might not be worth the trouble since Flim and Flam could just pull this scam somewhere else; not like you will get a page out of this anyway. [CHOICE] Do you leave things be or do you enact a plan to screw the N.R.C. market? Leave Flim and Flam to be. (Villain) Flood the market with copies of the certificate. (Chaos) [ENDING A: VILLAINS] You decide that getting in the way of whatever is going on just isn’t worth the hassle. Any effort you might spend trying to deal with this would be better spent trying to recover the actual page. You’re still not sure how you’re going to manage that. So you step back. You and Caramel Malt simply watch as Flim and Flam work the crowd. You see the spectators increasingly enthralled with their options. Eventually, one unfortunate sucker takes the bait and shells out the exorbitant bits the brothers were asking for. Flam gives the sucker the page and has them sign their name on it, completing the certification. And that’s all. The sucker trots away with the certificate. You know for a fact that that pony will never ever see the actual page for as long as they live. “So that’s that,” Caramel Malt says with a sigh. “Those brothers got their bits.” “Yeah. Nothing we can do about it now.” You turn to her. “Come on. There’s more work to be done.” (+1 page for Villains) [ENDING B: CHAOS] You whisper to Caramel Malt, “Did you happen to buy anything that duplicates things?” Caramel Malt gasps. “Actually, I sorta did. I almost forgot. I bought some water that’s supposed to make copies of things that you soak in it.” “That will work. Follow my lead.” “Okay,” she whispers back. “Flim, Flam, we’re sold,” you announce. They beam with delight. “Excellent. Let’s make the exchange…” Flim says. You give them the bits—all of them, no less. “Now. We’ll just have you sign the certificate, and then the page will be truly yours,” Flam says as he produces a quill. You turn to Caramel Malt. “You said you wanted to put your name on it?” It takes her a second, but she nods. “Yeah. I did?” “Okay… I wanted to put my name on it.” It takes her another second. “We can’t both put our name on it, can we?” You sigh. You turn to Flim and Flam. “Uh, the two of us have to talk about whose name we want to put on the N.R.C..” You wave at them and motion for them to give it to you. “But I’ll take that now.” The brothers look at each other and then magic the certificate into your hands. You and Caramel Malt retreat to a safe place. You sit down and prepare to duplicate the certificate with whatever she has. As she pulls out a large canister, you frown. “What is this?” you ask. “Mirror Pond water?” She shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe?” You look her in the eyes. “What were you planning on doing with that, Caramel?” “Shut it. What do you need this for?” “You’ll see,” you reply. “Give me that pan sticking out of your saddlebag.” She does so. You take the pan and pour the water into it. You then drop the certificate into the water. It seems to increase in thickness several times. Then, as you pull the certificate out, you pull out what has to be a few hundred copies of it, all neatly stacked. You hand one to Caramel Malt, instruct her to sign it, and then you sign another one. You still have a few hundred unsigned certificates. “Right. Now we’re ready.” You clean everything up and head back over to Flim and Flam. You see them still entertaining a crowd, trying to goad them into begging them to make another certificate. “Hey, everypony!” you exclaim. “Free certificates for everypony!” Without further ado, you begin handing them out. The ponies react first with confusion as you surprise them and then shocked gasps pass around as they realize what exactly you’re handing them—what you’ve done to hand them these things. “Hey!” one of the spectators exclaims. “This is a real deal!” “Whaaat!?” Flam cries. He snatches one of the certificates and scans it. “What? This is… how?” “It’s a certificate of ownership for a page from the Book of All Stories,” you reply. “How are there so many certificates!?” Flim exclaims. “That… it was non-reproducible!” “Hey. Copy paste. I reproduced it.” Flim and Flam exchange glances. “How…?” they both wheeze. “Hey, so I own the page now!” one pony exclaims. “Hey, so do I!” another yells. “Me too!” a third cheers. A fourth scratches her head. “Wow. How the heck is this supposed to work?” “Excellent question,” you reply. “I guess, in a sense, we all have equal ownership of the page, don’t we? Make sense?” All the ponies nod. Flim and Flam stare daggers at you now. “Good. Now, since we’re all here, let me introduce you to a concept I call ‘The Stock Market’.” (+1 page for Chaos)
#TheCriticDisapproves - The Critic's DisapprovalThe Critic's Disapproval Code Word: #TheCriticDisapproves The best that you knew was that there was a page from the Book of All Stories somewhere in Canterlot. You came and searched and ended up empty-hooved. Reality had not changed—not yet, at least. If somepony does have the page, they haven't used it yet. And so you’ve ended up in Joe’s Donut shop. And as expected, the donuts here are delicious. This place is exactly the splash of color that Canterlot needs. You can see a few ponies here, some drowning themselves in sweets. You’ve seen many dream-shattering nights end in this place, and it seems tonight is no exception. That’s when she enters. Her demeanor is as pale as her coat, as expected, and yet you can see hints of a fiery disdain in her darting eyes. Many sets of eyes look up at this unicorn mare’s entrance. Some seem surprised to see her. Joe leans across the counter. “Zesty Gourmand?” he asks, disbelief in his voice. Zesty Gourmand, famed food critic of Canterlot’s Restaurant Row, glances about Joe’s donut shop. She glares at a few of the ponies sitting around, all of whom look too stunned to glare back. “So,” she coldly begins, “this is it? This is the place stealing away good patrons from places of good standard?” She snorts. “What nonsense!” “What are you doing here?” Joe asks, trotting out from behind the counter. “This isn’t your type of place.” “This shouldn’t be anypony’s type of place,” Zesty Gourmand counters. “And yet, all these ponies are here. Meanwhile, those restaurants that have adhered to the standards of good cuisine are empty. All of their patrons have come to places like this. Why is it that the good restaurants must risk loss of business over… this?” “Lady,” Joe begins, “your critiques have caused several of my friends to lose valuable business. And besides… your opinions on food are bad and you oughta feel bad.” “Absurd.” Her sharp facial features sharpen even more. “But I don’t expect you to understand. And thankfully… it is no longer necessary.” Joe frowns. “Why is that?” “Because,” she says as she magically pulls a sheet of paper from her cloak, “I will personally see this issue resolved.” You jump in your seat. Zesty Gourmand has the page from the Book of All Stories! You see her preparing it within her magical grasp. “I will be writing a review that makes it impossible for any restaurant to even exist that does not meet the minimum standard,” she declared. “I will save the culinary world.” “No way no how!” Joe tremulously roars, now advancing. “The only way to save the culinary world would be to stop any restaurants from becoming like all the ones you’ve destroyed!” “As if.” Joe chuckles. “Imagine that. Now that would be an amazing use for that, wouldn’t it? I could make every restaurant exciting! And good.” “That’s enough,” she spits back. She readies a quill and begins writing on the page. “Say goodbye.” She begins writing in it before you can react. But it will take a moment for her to finish it and for whatever dreadful changes she wants to make to take effect. On the other hoof, Joe seems to be glaring at the page. He might very well scoop it up if she were to lose it. No matter what happens, you feel that the entire restaurant industry is about to change. [CHOICE] Do you allow Zesty Gourmand to complete her “review”? Allow her to complete the review. (Villain) Tackle her, allowing Joe to take it instead. (Chaos) [ENDING A: VILLAINS] You stay rooted in place. In fact, when you see Joe inching further forward, you shuffle over and block his way. You aren’t going to let him get in Zesty Gourmand’s way. And soon enough, she finishes writing her review. A sinister smile appears on her muzzle. The world around you transforms and stretches and swirls around and then stops. You find yourself in a dull place that, while shiny and sleek, is very muted with the few colors it has. Any hints of personality this place may have had in another life are now gone, every table in the place now looks the same and seats samey-looking ponies. Shortly enough, a waiter approaches you. His mane is combed and gelled and his suit is spotless, but his blaise expression masks all traces of the stallion underneath. And he motions to the closest leather-seated booth. “Your table, sir,” he says, his tone monotonous. You take your seat. The cushioning is a little bit hard but is otherwise nothing spectacular. This is how it should be. You feel confident that those undeserving places, like The Tasty Treat, Sugarcube Corner, and Joe’s Donut Shop will no longer pollute the realm of dining. (+1 page for Villains) [ENDING B: CHAOS] You can’t let the restaurants of the world become the same bland song and dance. But there is little time. If you are to prevent that, your hand is forced. You tackle Zesty Gourmand. She is frail and light by nature so your tackle manages to completely down her; it disorients her so well that the page flies out of her magical grasp. Joe bolts over and takes the page within his own unicorn magic. He gives it a look over to see what words Zesty Gourmand has put down. “You ruffian!” Zesty Gourmand exclaims. “How dare you touch me!” “Sorry, not sorry. I had to do something to stop you,” you reply. “Thanks for that,” Joe says with a chuckle. “Now with this, I can change things for the better.” You see him write a few choice lines onto the paper, likely amending Zesty Gourmand’s review-in-progress. Shortly enough, he is done. The page vanishes. The world seems to spin for a moment. Colors move and blur together. When your senses focus again, you examine your surroundings to find them unchanged. Zesty Gourmand is no longer in the shop, and some small percentage of the patrons have disappeared. Of course—with so many other good options to choose from now, many would be there rather than here. You grin as Joe comes by with a confection that looks like a miniature city made of dough and icing. You’re in for a treat, as this place is going to give you something good. A thought does linger in the back of your mind: now that every place is great, no place is truly great. But this is worth enjoying for now. (+1 page for Chaos)
#TheWatchersDeal - The Watcher’s DealThe Watcher’s Deal Code Word: #TheWatchersDeal The page is there. You see it floating within the alicorn’s mare’s magical grasp. But it’s everything else about this encounter that gives you pause. You are above the Crystal Empire. The air is lifelessly frigid and a constant low whistle of an ever-constant breeze fills your ears. You can barely see the streets of the Crystal Empire under a thick layer of clouds, but you can see the magnificent Crystal Palace poking its way up. You stand on nothing. And yet you do not fall through everything. This feels impossible. You don’t even remember how you got here. Moreover, the tall and lean mare before you similarly stands on nothing. Her piercing gaze is as cold as the snow below. She also carries some strange familiarity. You do not recognize the scar over her right eye nor the image of a crystallized tree that is her cutie mark. However, you know the large, opal eyes and the soft, fuchsia coat. Her mane, long and with well-rounded curls, is a striking gradient of cerise and violet that is punctuated by a stripe of arctic blue. A certain princess known best by those close to you as a mere foal comes to mind. “Flurry Heart?” you hazard. The alicorn chuckles. “In some sense. My name is Crystal Faire, but you would know me as Flurry Heart. You may call me that if you wish.” There is no more doubt. Before you is the princess of the Crystal Empire; older, colder, and far removed from the triumphant character depicted in stained glass windows at Canterlot Castle. She isn’t what you expected. Crystal Faire—this strange version of Flurry Heart—chuckles. “I know I am not what you expect. But just as your choices up to this point have at last brought you before me, so have all the choices I and those around me molded and shaped me into this form. Just as a different set of choices would have produced some ‘me’ you are more familiar with.” That had been a well-timed response. It was as if she was reading your thoughts. She tilts her head. “Well, it’s not so much reading thoughts. I just have a special kind of magic that allows me to know what you will do next.” Her gaze feels soul-piercing now. How? “The how is unimportant. Just have confidence that I know much about you. And I know why you have come before me today,” she says. She flashes the page from the Book of All Stories. She’s not wrong. You have come for the page. You cannot help but watch her carefully as she now paces. Despite circling through the air, you can hear her hoofsteps echoing through infinity. You wonder if you truly are where you seem right now; if she really is who she says, or if she is something alien. “You have been rather busy lately. You’ve had quite the hoof in directing the course of several histories. That kirin has caused quite a bit of trouble.” She chuckles and turns her gaze toward the sky as if contemplative. “As entertaining as it is, its time is finite. And I have confidence that this series of affairs will soon enough reach its proper, correct conclusion.” She stops. Her eyes wander. “In such cases, I am not one to intervene, certainly not directly. I am content to observe you and your struggles, just as I have been.” Crystal Faire looks at you out of the corner of her eye. “That being said, over the course of my life, I have become one who… nudges things in particular directions. Particularly… for affairs such as these.” Your eyes fall on the page again. She hasn’t used the page—not yet, at least. But now you wonder what she might use it for—if she wants to use it. Crystal Faire turns her gaze to the Crystal Empire. She watches it and considers it. “As it so happens, I do have a particular use in mind for this page,” she says. She pauses to examine it. “However… perhaps it can be used for other purposes. You have, after all, gone through the trouble of coming all this way to find me.” You see a yellowish aura course through her horn before she disappears. The page remains and flies through the air. You reach for it as it arcs around you, but you can’t get a grip on it. It’s avoiding you. “Thus… let us make a deal,” Crystal Faire says, suddenly behind you. You whirl to face her. And your mind races at what she means when she says ‘deal’. “As I am aware,” she continues as the page rejoins her, “a few factions are vying for pages like this one. Heroes, villains like Queen Chrysalis, chaotic types like Discord…” She then points at you. “I will allow you to choose which faction obtains it.” She disappears again. “However,” she says in your ear, now suddenly next to you, “I will then choose how that faction uses it.” As you recoil away, she chuckles and backs off. “And that is it. You get what you want, and I still get to choose my… nudge. So to speak. I believe this works out well for the both of us, don’t you think?” You stop to think. While this doesn’t necessarily get you the page, the page will go where you want it to. It seems like a good deal. The question is… will she honor her word? And what did she want to use it for anyway? You ponder this as you look down at the storm clouds surrounding the Crystal Empire. “I wonder… what do you think of me?” She is suddenly in your other ear. “Am I heroic? Villainous? Am I an agent of chaos?” Before you could give any sort of response, you see her reappear at a distance. “Don’t answer that,” she commands. “I have seen what you will say about me already. So… time to choose.” [CHOICE] Which faction should Crystal Faire give a page to? Heroes. Villains. Chaos. [ENDING A: HEROES] Crystal Faire smirks. “So you choose to give this to the heroes.” At first, nothing happens. You expect the page to disappear somewhere. But it does not. Instead, Crystal Faire creates a quill out of thin air. And she hums a soft tune as she writes a few choice lines into the page. Lines you cannot see. Before you can protest her using it instead of giving it to some heroes, a loud whistle erupts from the Crystal Palace as a rainbow shoots from its tip. The rainbow explodes in all directions, dispelling the entirety of the storm and revealing clear, sunny skies in all directions. And when you next look down, you can finally see the streets full of crystal ponies glistening in the sunlight. Some appear as if they are cheering. It’s a familiar sight; a normal sight. At that, the page disappears. Crystal Faire begins to depart, passing by you as she goes. She stops for but a moment and says, “You chose well. As I knew you would.” She then trots onward before disappearing into nothing; a loud bang signals her departure. And now you are left alone to stand there, impossibly as you are, to ponder what she has just done. (+1 page for Heroes) [ENDING B: VILLAINS] Crystal Faire cracks her neck. “So you choose to give this to the villains. Well…” The page suddenly disappears within a loud bang. You can’t fathom where it went—yet. She suddenly appears in front of you. “Now that you have chosen,” she says, her voice now much more sinister, “allow me to let you meet an old friend of mine—some version of her, anyway.” Before you can react, your world folds together. All your senses collapse into a single point, and for a moment, you do not exist. When it comes back out, you fall and hit the ground. It’s hard and green-colored and feels… organic. You look up to see a horde of changelings staring back at you. They all have blue eyes, black carapaces, and numerous holes in their legs. You see a much larger one of them—Queen Chrysalis—looking down on you from atop her rocky throne. You see another, colorful changeling. Thorax, ascended with his green carapace and orange horns, lays unconscious underneath one of Queen Chrysalis’ legs. A quick glance around sees several cocoons containing the silhouettes of ponies hanging from the ceiling. Queen Chrysalis throws her head back and laughs. “Well, you must be the one who I should thank for giving me that page of tremendous power. See what I was able to do with it?” With a swift kick, Queen Chrysalis sends Thorax tumbling to the floor. He barely responds. And now she turns to you. “Now, since you are here,” she sneers, “it should be only fitting for us to express our gratitude.” And without further prompt, the entire changeling horde converges on you. (+1 page for Villains) [ENDING C: CHAOS] Crystal Faire laughs. “So you choose to cause chaos? So it shall be, then.” The page suddenly disappears within a loud bang. You can’t fathom where it went—yet. With a mischievous grin, Crystal Faire approaches you. She passes you by but not without patting you on the back. “Do keep an eye on the storm, will you?” Before you can react, your world folds together. All your senses collapse into a single point, and for a moment, you do not exist. When it comes back out, you fall and hit the ground. As you pick yourself up, you notice that it is still cold and windy. But as you glance around, you find that you are now in the center of Ponyville with its homely, timber-framed and thatched-roof homes. You shiver. It’s freezing. And Ponyville is covered in snow. “Discord!” a shrill voice cries. You turn to see Twilight Sparkle yelling at a draconequus lazing about the sky. Discord floats down to meet her. “Come on, Twilight. A little more thanks are in order.” “For what?” she spits. “I saved the Crystal Empire after you broke the Crystal Heart.” He held a claw to one of his ears. “Come now, let me hear you say it?” Twilight Sparkle looks a little more red in the face. “I admit that you did. But now we have this here. Get rid of this storm!” “I can’t.” In a flash of light, he reappears wearing a raincoat. “I can only take the storm around the Crystal Empire and move it somewhere else.” “Did you have to move it to Ponyville!?” Twilight Sparkle cried. Discord laughed. “I have to move it somewhere!” He bent down and patted her on her back. “But fear not, Twilight. I know you’ll solve this little conundrum somehow.” (+1 page for Chaos) Author's Note For further reading about this alternate Flurry Heart—Crystal Faire, see Reflections - Fimfiction
#NonReproducibleCertificate - Non Reproducible CertificateNon Reproducible Certificate Code Word: #NonReproducibleCertificate “So…” you tentatively begin, “you’re… selling a page, right?” Flim and Flam, standing on the small stage that they are, glance between each other. You saw them peddling something new, likely one of their latest scams, and came over to see. A few others have gathered to watch with some whispering of buying. An advertisement standing next to them reads, in big letters: Buy ownership of a page from the Book of All Stories “Oh no no,” Flim replies. “What we are selling is a certificate of ownership for a page from the Book of All Stories!” “That’s right,” Flam says with a twirl of his mustache. He levitates the “certificate” out so that you and everyone else can see it. “What we are selling is a one-of-a-kind certificate that says that you, good patron, are the verified owner of one page from the Book of All Stories.” “A Non-Reproducible Certificate. N.R.C., if you like,” Flim continues. “So what do you say? You seem rather interested in the page. Would you like to buy ownership of it today?” You think about this. This is feeling stupidly familiar. “If I buy that certificate, will I also get the page itself?” you ask. “No no,” Flam replies. “You would get the certificate that says that you own the page. Better act now as there is only one certificate like this in the entire world! And demand is high.” Caramel Malt, carrying a saddlebag bursting with items she bought from around the market, walks up next to you. “Hey, are they really selling a page?” You lean over. “No. Not even close.” She frowns. “So then what are they selling?” You glance back up at Flim and Flam still up on their stage peddling to the moderate crowd that has gathered. You pull her aside. “It’s a scam,” you tell her. “They’re just selling a piece of paper that says things but does nothing. It’s completely worthless.” “So… completely worthless even though it says we would own the page.” “Yeah. That’s right.” You look her up and down. “I see you’ve been busy.” Caramel Malt flicks some of the doodads hanging out of her saddlebags. “Haha, yeah. I want to buy things, don’t you know?” “Were you planning on buying a certificate?” She looks up and sees the price Flim and Flam have advertised on their sign. It is very high. “I’m thinking about it. I mean, it would clean me out, so I don’t know…” You sigh. “Caramel, I have a bridge in Manehattan that I can sell to you.” She blinks. “What? Really!?” “No!” You pause to collect yourself. “It’s a scam. Okay? Don’t buy into any of this.” Caramel Malt deflates. “Oh, okay…” You look back up. You can see the certificate that Flim and Flam are peddling. You see that the certificate contains, in its background, a picture of a page from the Book of All Stories. “I will say, though, I think Flim and Flam do have an actual page laying around somewhere,” you say. You point at the certificate. Caramel Malt also looks. “Yeah. Seems so. You think we can find it?” That’s a question. You have no reason to believe they would be keeping the page nearby, and you have no reason to believe they would need to go back to revisit it anytime soon. “Not quickly,” you reply. “So what do we do?” Caramel Malt asks. You think your options over. An obvious choice would be to leave Flim and Flam to it. It isn’t as if you can do anything else. But a thought does occur to you. You approach the stage. “Hey, what makes it non-reproducible?” Flam looks down at you. And he smirks. “Glad you asked. It’s non-reproducible because there is no other certificate like this out there. This is an authentic document.” So it’s not protected in any way. That’s all you need to know. There is an idea you have that involves taking the non-reproducible thing and reproducing it anyway, but it would take a bit of doing depending on what resources you have available. It might not be worth the trouble since Flim and Flam could just pull this scam somewhere else; not like you will get a page out of this anyway. [CHOICE] Do you leave things be or do you enact a plan to screw the N.R.C. market? Leave Flim and Flam to be. (Villain) Flood the market with copies of the certificate. (Chaos) [ENDING A: VILLAINS] You decide that getting in the way of whatever is going on just isn’t worth the hassle. Any effort you might spend trying to deal with this would be better spent trying to recover the actual page. You’re still not sure how you’re going to manage that. So you step back. You and Caramel Malt simply watch as Flim and Flam work the crowd. You see the spectators increasingly enthralled with their options. Eventually, one unfortunate sucker takes the bait and shells out the exorbitant bits the brothers were asking for. Flam gives the sucker the page and has them sign their name on it, completing the certification. And that’s all. The sucker trots away with the certificate. You know for a fact that that pony will never ever see the actual page for as long as they live. “So that’s that,” Caramel Malt says with a sigh. “Those brothers got their bits.” “Yeah. Nothing we can do about it now.” You turn to her. “Come on. There’s more work to be done.” (+1 page for Villains) [ENDING B: CHAOS] You whisper to Caramel Malt, “Did you happen to buy anything that duplicates things?” Caramel Malt gasps. “Actually, I sorta did. I almost forgot. I bought some water that’s supposed to make copies of things that you soak in it.” “That will work. Follow my lead.” “Okay,” she whispers back. “Flim, Flam, we’re sold,” you announce. They beam with delight. “Excellent. Let’s make the exchange…” Flim says. You give them the bits—all of them, no less. “Now. We’ll just have you sign the certificate, and then the page will be truly yours,” Flam says as he produces a quill. You turn to Caramel Malt. “You said you wanted to put your name on it?” It takes her a second, but she nods. “Yeah. I did?” “Okay… I wanted to put my name on it.” It takes her another second. “We can’t both put our name on it, can we?” You sigh. You turn to Flim and Flam. “Uh, the two of us have to talk about whose name we want to put on the N.R.C..” You wave at them and motion for them to give it to you. “But I’ll take that now.” The brothers look at each other and then magic the certificate into your hands. You and Caramel Malt retreat to a safe place. You sit down and prepare to duplicate the certificate with whatever she has. As she pulls out a large canister, you frown. “What is this?” you ask. “Mirror Pond water?” She shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe?” You look her in the eyes. “What were you planning on doing with that, Caramel?” “Shut it. What do you need this for?” “You’ll see,” you reply. “Give me that pan sticking out of your saddlebag.” She does so. You take the pan and pour the water into it. You then drop the certificate into the water. It seems to increase in thickness several times. Then, as you pull the certificate out, you pull out what has to be a few hundred copies of it, all neatly stacked. You hand one to Caramel Malt, instruct her to sign it, and then you sign another one. You still have a few hundred unsigned certificates. “Right. Now we’re ready.” You clean everything up and head back over to Flim and Flam. You see them still entertaining a crowd, trying to goad them into begging them to make another certificate. “Hey, everypony!” you exclaim. “Free certificates for everypony!” Without further ado, you begin handing them out. The ponies react first with confusion as you surprise them and then shocked gasps pass around as they realize what exactly you’re handing them—what you’ve done to hand them these things. “Hey!” one of the spectators exclaims. “This is a real deal!” “Whaaat!?” Flam cries. He snatches one of the certificates and scans it. “What? This is… how?” “It’s a certificate of ownership for a page from the Book of All Stories,” you reply. “How are there so many certificates!?” Flim exclaims. “That… it was non-reproducible!” “Hey. Copy paste. I reproduced it.” Flim and Flam exchange glances. “How…?” they both wheeze. “Hey, so I own the page now!” one pony exclaims. “Hey, so do I!” another yells. “Me too!” a third cheers. A fourth scratches her head. “Wow. How the heck is this supposed to work?” “Excellent question,” you reply. “I guess, in a sense, we all have equal ownership of the page, don’t we? Make sense?” All the ponies nod. Flim and Flam stare daggers at you now. “Good. Now, since we’re all here, let me introduce you to a concept I call ‘The Stock Market’.” (+1 page for Chaos)
