The First of Us - a Ciderfest App Story
Beginning: I Need Your Help
Words you heard Fizzy say earlier play over and over again in your mind. Am I just done here? Do I still have a purpose here? Maybe I should just go back where I came from.
“Oh, no no no, this won’t do at all. Or will it? Maybe, maybe not. Wait, won’t do what? What won’t do? What won’t it do? Will do, won’t do, what do, who do?” says a voice from seemingly nowhere.
You look around, trying to find its origin. “Who said that?”
“Me, over here!” The voice seems to be coming from a standing lamp.
“A lamp?”
“No no, I’m not the lamp. I’m the genie inside. OK, you got me. I’m not a genie.”
The lamp becomes enveloped in a sparkling golden light and morphs into a pale-skinned biped creature with a white beard, pointy ears, and a long round nose. He’s reminiscent of a troll or a leprechaun, but his expression suggests someone who is mischievous, but not malevolent. He is wearing a brown robe and a green stocking cap that hangs all the way down to his waist, and is leaning on a knotty walking stick. He’s so short that his head barely comes up to your waist.
“Mr. Moochick at your service.” He removes his hat and bows to you. You can’t help but notice that the ears which were peeking through his hat are still somehow attached to his hat.
“What do you want?”
“What do I want? Oh, I’m just here to help an old friend, but magic is in short supply, both friendship or otherwise, and I need your help. Now, now run along–” he pauses and looks around. He even looks under his feet.
“Oops… wrong dimension!” He then jumps up and bonks you on the head with his cane.
“Owch!”
“Sorry about that, but making choices can hurt, especially when all of them seem like the right one.”
“What choices? Where am I?”
“Not where you were before, my friend. Not where you were before.” As he speaks, the world around you swirls and shifts in strange hypnotic patterns. Occasionally you see something you think you recognize, but it’s gone before you can focus on it further. “Now pay attention. We’re going back to the beginning, to meet the first. It’s her crucial year, and I need your help.”
The twirling dance of colors lifts away like stage curtains, revealing a cozy farmhouse and horse stables.
“What is this?”
“Just a little ranch dressing.” He quickly pushes you from behind towards the entrance to the stables. “Come along, come along, tall creature.”
“What’s going on?”
“Just go on, go on,” Moochick says.
As you enter the stable, you can hear the whimsical voice of a young girl. “...and was the last time the girl Wendy ever saw him. For a little longer she tried for his sake not to have growing pains; and she felt she was untrue to him when she got a prize for general knowledge. But the years came and went without bringing the careless boy; and when they met again Wendy was a mother, and Peter was no more to her than a little dust in the box in which she had kept her toys.”
Off in the distance, you see the source of the voice, a human blonde girl wearing blue jeans and a faux leather vest. She’s seated on a pile of hay, reading a book to a horse. Not one from Equestria, a common earth saddle horse.
Mr. Moochick says, “Please talk to her for me.”
“For you? But why can’t you–”
“She no longer has eyes that can see me, or ears that can hear any Pony.” He frowns. “She is losing the ability to believe.”
The brown horse near the girl suddenly trots over to Mr. Moochick and nuzzles him. “But you can still see me, can’t you. How are you, old friend?” Moochick ran his hand along the top of her muzzle.
As you watch Moochick and the horse greet one another, you hear a gasp. “Who are you?” The girl is now on her feet.
Moochick asks, “Do you know who she is, [USERNAME]?” He continues, motioning with his hand, “That girl there, Megan, is the first human to ever meet Ponies… a long time ago.”
You ask Moochick, “What do you want me to say?”
“Who are you talking to?” Megan asks.
“Go on,” Mr. Moochick says. “Say hi.”
“I’m [USERNAME], and you’re… Megan?”
“Alright, how do you know that?” she asks, feeling a little uneasy.
“Mr. Moochick told me.”
“Moochick? You know– wait, no. How could you?” She scowled. “Oh, Danny put you up to this, didn’t he?”
“No.”
“Molly then. No, Molly wouldn’t do that. That’s too mean for her.”
“Mean?” you ask. “Why would it be mean?”
“They know what this means to me.” She looks sad. “But, how else could you know I am?”
The horse now nudges you towards her and whinnies.
“Well, T.J. seems to like you, and he’s never been wrong about someone,” she says.
You notice the book she was reading, now pressed to her chest. “What were you reading?”
“Peter Pan. First edition, actually. I was just… looking for wisdom, I guess.”
“Wisdom on what?”
She points at you with the book still clenched in her hand. “Moochick, you said?”
You nod.
“This is going to sound weird.”
“Try me.”
“There are many of these stories about kids who go to other worlds. But they almost never stay. Well, I’ve been to one. At least I think; I’m not sure anymore. It was years ago. I really don’t know. Maybe I just imagined it all? But, now I’m wondering, if I could go back, would I? Should I? It was all so wonderful, like a dream. But you always have to wake up, right?”
You can see tears in her eyes just before she wipes them away with her arm, and in this moment, you see a page in her book gleaming with an ethereal light; one of the pages from the Book of All Stories!
Megan continues, “I’m supposed to go away to college after summer is over. I’m studying to be a farm vet. But I keep second guessing myself. I feel like this is my last chance. If I leave, I’ll never see any of them again. Or maybe it’s already too late. I don’t know. I feel like I belong to two different worlds. Does that sound crazy? Anyway, what would you do? Would you run away from everything to another world?”
[CHOICE]
Show her the convention (Hero)
Tell her she's delusional (Villain)
Tell her to merge the two worlds (Chaos)
The First of Us - a Ciderfest App Story
Villain: Tell her she's delusional
You say, disapprovingly, “Well, you’re definitely insane; off your rocker.”
She looks at you, both shocked and hurt. “What?”
“Yeah. You… need therapy. Honestly, you should consider getting committed if you believe a wild story like that.”
“What are you doing?” Mr. Moochick asks.
“Yeah, I used the name Moochick to see if you were really still that crazy. Never saw him before in my life.”
Megan begins to cry. “You, you… I thought you were nice! How could you say that to someone?!”
“I’m just brutally honest, I suppose. Grow up, Wendy.”
“Get out of here! Get out!” With tearful eyes and a face turning redder, she shoves you out of the stable and slams the door shut.”
Even the door wasn’t enough to conceal the screams of sorrow coming from within. Mr. Moochick simply glares at you. “Well, that was rude and completely unnecessary. You know what, you’re not coming back. Enjoy being lost, in another time and place.” Moochick vanishes before your eyes in a swarm of colorful sparkles.
You grin, as you look at the Peter Pan book that you craftily-snatched from Megan as she pushed you away. “That’s fine, little fellow,” you say as you open the book to the glowing page and rip it out. “I don’t need your help to get home.”
The First of Us - a Ciderfest App Story
Chaos: Tell her to merge the worlds
“What if you could have both worlds?”
“What?” Mr. Moochick asks.
“What?” Megan asks.
You motion to Megan’s book. “Can I see that?”
Megan hesitantly offers it over. You flip through the pages and show her the magical one.
“See this?”
“Yeah? Page 28.”
You quickly figure out that all magic is currently invisible to her. You hold out the book and ask her to place her hand on it. “My turn to tell you something that is going to sound weird.”
She looks at the book and then at you, showing the first hint of a smile that you’ve seen so far. “Try me.”
“If you place your hand on this, and wish for it, you can blend this world with your dream world. You don’t have to leave either one.”
Mr. Moochick seems worried. “Ohhh, I’m not so sure that’s a good idea. That could make quite a mess. I might need more than one broom to clean it up! An entire army of brooms! I hope I remember where my other hat is.”
Megan says, “Well, alright, I’ll try it. What the heck, right?” She places her hand on the book. “I wish for this world and my magical world to be one and the same.”
Mr. Moochick grabs hold of your leg, not sure of what to expect. Winds pick up, thunder shakes the stable, and pieces of the roof break off. The horse, T.J., whinnies in a panic and runs outside. You and Megan follow and a kind of mayhem the likes of which you have never imagined begins to surround you. Parts of the sky are dark, others light, others some color you’ve never seen it before. Trees are changing. Creatures that don’t belong are running around in terror.
“Oh, no, what have we done?” Megan asks.
The First of Us - a Ciderfest App Story
Hero: Show her the Convention
You look back to Mr. Moochick and ask, “Can she come back with me?”
“What will that do? She won’t be able to see me, or any of the other Ponies.”
“Maybe she doesn’t need to yet,” you reply. “It’s everything else.”
Mr. Moochick’s eyes widen. “Oh, yes, yes. That could work.”
You look back to Megan. “I’m not going to tell you where you belong, but I think there’s something you should see.”
Megan looks at you confusedly, but nods. “O…kay?”
You warn her, “This may hurt a bit. Like any big decision.” You look to Mr. Moochick. “Do it.”
Moochick says, “Alright, here we go!” He leaps into the air and smacks you both with his cane. Again, the chaos of colors and light appear.
“Where are we?” Megan asks, frightened.
“It will be OK in a moment.”
Finally the spell completes its work and you find yourself back at the convention. Megan’s eyes widen at the sight that lies before her. People with clothes adorned with Ponies, plushes cradled in their arms or riding shotgun on their shoulders, beautiful costumes, and merchandise. Her head turns towards someone as she hears them say, “I wouldn’t even be alive today if it weren’t for ‘My Little Pony.’”
Megan gasps, and falls down to her knees, weeping silently into her hands.
You ask Mr. Moochick, “Did we just make this worse?”
Mr. Moochick looks hopeful. “I don’t think so, friend.”
Megan stops, pulls her hands away from her face, and looks behind her. “Mr. Moochick?”
“You can see me?”
“It is you!” She smiles, and picks him up and hugs him. After putting him down, she asks, “What is all of this? What is this place?”
Moochick smiles and takes her by the hand. “This is what you helped start, many years ago.” He tugs at her, motioning for her to stand up, and then he leads her into the crowd. “
All of these people are here for their love of the little Ponies, and all of the other creatures who dwell within their world. Come with me Megan, for there’s much to see. I’ll show you what humans and Ponies have been able to accomplish together. They have done things so great, they’re nothing short of miraculous. An entirely new kind of magic was discovered, and using it, they have changed their world for the better. Some of these humans call themselves Bronies. Others, Pegasisters. And of their kind, you were the very first.”
