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Topic: ITT: Choose your own adventure

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Ben
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ITT: Choose your own adventure
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In this thread, I will post a choose your own adventure story. At the end of each of my posts, I will await replies with what the main character (who is the representation of all of you, collectively) will do next. I will go by whatever is the first reply, but it is possible to have it outvoted by the others if they turn it down, in which case I will go with whatever choice has the most votes. Anyway, let us begin....

Nathan Egbert is a pretty typical high school kid; he's in tenth grade, has fairly regular friends, and loves cashews. Unknown to him, he is about to save the world... maybe. One day, he wakes up late.
"Oh no! I'm going to be late to class!" Panicked, he got ready and dashed to the school. Relieved, he arrives at the gates to the school with a couple minutes to spare.But then he hears a noise in the bushes... if he investigates, he might be late to class....

Should he investigate the noise, forget it and hurry to class, or do something else entirely? You decide! Go go go!


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legobrick
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he should Forget it and go to school

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Deciding that school was more important than whatever mystery concealing itself in the bush, Nathan rushed into school, getting into his seat just as the bell rang. Morning classes were uneventful; he yawned and spun his pencil again and again, waiting for the monotony to come to an end. Finally, the bell rang - time for lunch. He grabbed his backpack and headed for the cafeteria. He looked around for his friends, but they didn't seem to be around anywhere. Slightly miffed, he got some food and went to eat alone. As he ate, he saw a group of kinds rathered around, looking at something. Should he get up and investigate, or mind his own business?

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legobrick
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He should mind his own business.

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Decided that it was none of his business, Nathan finished his food and headed back to class. He sat for a while and waited for the class to start again. Strangely, no one else came back into the classroom... "Odd," he thought to himself. "I'm the first one back sometimes, but my classmates aren't usually far behind me.... " He glanced up at the clock. Odd... classs should have started several minutes ago. The bell hadn't even rung. Starting to suspect that something strange was going on, he got up and glanced out the window.... but it was pitch black outside. Maybe the janitors were repainting the building and had covered up the windows to keep them clean. Yeah, that must be it....

He sat back down in his seat. He doodled for a couple minutes, but after a while he couldn't take it any more. There was definitely something weird going on. He opened the door to the classroom...

"Woah.... " There was nothing outside... just blackness. He stuck his hand out experimentally.

"I wouldn't go out there if I were you," said an unfamiliar voice. It was coming from... inside the classroom? Things were starting to get weirder and weirder. Should he listen to the voice and go back inside, or ignore its advice and walk out into the blackness?


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legobrick
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He should go back inside and talk with the voice

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Ben
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Deciding that the voice was probably right, and going into the blackness wouldn't lead him anywhere, Nathan shut the door and entered back into the classroom. He looked around for the source of the voice, but couldn't find it.
"Over here," said the voice, sounding exasperated. He turned and saw that the blackboard at the front of the room had somehow become a massive monitor; on it was displayed a woman wearing glasses and a frown, and looking impatient.

"Who are you? More importantly, where are we? What happened to my classroom!?" Nathan asked, starting to feel a little panicked.

The woman sighed. "Wow, they were right; you really ARE clueless. We tried leaving you clues earlier today. Obviously you weren't paying much attention." Nathan thought back... perhaps these clues might have been what was making the noise in the bushes, and what people had discovered during lunch. Oops. "Nathan Egbert," the lady continued, "You are the only one who can save the dimensional stability of the multiverse."

"Wat."

The woman gave another annoyed sigh. "All dimensions as well as the flow of time in each is held stable by a device called the Chronosphere. Occasionally, however, someone gets the idea that if they were to get a hold of the Chronosphere, they would be in control of time and all of the dimensions. Thus, we have to keep it secure. Unfortunately, it wasn't as well protected as we thought, and-"

"Someone stole your Chronothingy?" Nathan finished.

She frowned at the interruption. "Yes. Now the threads holding things together are in jeopardy, time is out of control in some places, and the dimensions are losing their connections. You have to get the Chronosphere back as soon as possible."

"How exactly am I supposed to do that? And why ME, of all people?"

"You have been chosen as the Hero of Time. Don't ask me why; I certainly wouldn't have picked you. In order to retrieve the Chronosphere, you must travel through time and various dimensions to try and find the thief; he could be hiding in any one of them. You may meet allies along the way; they're welcome to come with you back to this room, which we're going to use as headquarters."

"My classroom?"

"Yes. I've moved it into the Temporal Flux, allowing you easy access to the various dimensions-"

"Hold on a second; aren't there an unlimited number of dimensions? There's no way I'm going to find this guy if he could be anywhere."

"True, but the Chronosphere has a tendency to distrupt the dimensions in which it's placed, causing strange, unnatural changes. By tracking these, we can narrow it down to a searchable amount. We've prepared some equipment for you - look in that closet."

Nathan opened the closet in the back of the room. Normally, it contained extra paper and supplies for class, but now, it was empty, except for a watch, a backpack, and a belt. The belt had a large buckle with a few buttons on it, but the watch and backpack appeared normal.

"The belt contains a protective barrier; by pushing the top button, you'll become invincible for a few seconds. It takes a while to recharge, however, so be careful when you use it. Your watch contains a communications device and a transporter signal. It allows you to talk with me if you get lost, and lets you teleport back to here once you've confirmed that he's not in the dimensions you're searching. As for the bag, it is actually a link to a Temporal Node. It can store an unlimited amount of stuff. This effect doesn't work with living things, however. The last thing you're going to be needing before we send you to your first target is a weapon."

"Sweet! What kind of weapon? A lightsaber? Rocket launcher? Double machine guns!?"

"...no." In front of Nathan suddenly appeared three objects, floating in the air. There was a shiny silver sword, a fairly ordinary looking handgun, and a small, straight wooden stick about a foot long. Nathan raised an eyebrow at the stick.

"It's a magic wand, of course. You CAN cast magic, right?" explained the lady.

"Uh...."

"Ugh, brilliant. You are not only clueless, but you don't even know how to cast magic. Well, you might learn while in one of the dimensions you visit; I'm certainly not going to waste my time trying to teach you. If you chose the wand, then should you learn to cast magic, you'll be able to make it much stronger and use magic as a viable weapon. Without it, you might be able to learn a few tricks, but nothing that could be much help in a fight. As for the sword, it's completely indestructible, so it's a good choice should you choose to be reckless. The handgun magically regenerates ammo, but it takes about a minute for a full clip, so don't be too careless. The choice is yours; pick one."

Which weapon should he take?


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Wand.

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Ben
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Nathan grabbed the wand; the other two weapons disappeared with a poof. He couldn't use it now, but the process of powerful magic was too much to pass up. Hopefully he'd encounter someone who would be willing to teach him.
"Very well then," said the woman. "Now, we've narrowed the thief's location down to about 100 possible universes."

"100!? That'll take forever!"

"Don't worry; we'll work on narrowing it down further as you search. Besides, you wouldn't have to search them all anyway. Maybe you'll get lucky and find him in the first one... but I doubt it. Go ahead and pick a universe to explore first - any number between 1 and 100."

Which number should he pick?


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legobrick
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number 55

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"55, I guess," said Nathan, randomly picking a number.
"Very well then," said the woman. She stepped away from the monitor for a moment. "The machine is now calibrated. Just step out of the room when you're ready."

"What!? Out there?"

"Yes."

"If you say so...." He adjusted his backpack, checked that all of his equipment was in order, and opened the door. Taking a deep breath, he stepped out into the void.


There was a massive exlosion for no particular reason.
Nathan rubbed his head.... "Uhh.... what a headache... I wonder how long I was unconcious." The floor seemed to be vibrating... where was he? Still rubbing his head, he got to his feet, and promptly hit his head on the ceiling. "Yeouch!"

"Oh great, someone appeared in the B-Bus again," said the person driving the rickity old bus.
"The jig is up!" said a voice from the vehicle's radio. Nathan checked that all of his equipment was still in place... good, everything was safe.

"Where are we?" he asked the driver.
"The Random Story, of course," the driver replied.
"Hey, you're not supposed to know that," said the passenger.
"Oh right. Umm.... You're in the.... not... random... not... story.... Yeah, that's it...."
"FISH!" yelled the passenger, pointing out the window at the massive mountain of fish that had appeared in front of the bus. Unable to grip the road beneath the slippery seafood, the car slid off the road, and into a massive desert that happened to be there. It slid so far that the road was competely out of sight.

"Look out, pink robots!" said the passenger. "Oh, I'm Marshall, by the way," he added non-chalantly.
The driver, who Marshall identified as Jayson, did a quadruple front flip out of the B-Bus.
"Don't worry... I'll handle the robots." He raised his hand in the air... there was a flash of red light....

(Author's Note: I insist that you listen to this for the rest of the post. Ctrl+Click it so it opens in a New Tab:

Now in his true form as the Red Power Ranger, Jayson began fighting the pink robots in an epic battle of awesomeness.

"What.... is going on here?" said Nathan, his eye slightly twitching.
"I ask myself that every day," said Marshall. "Hurry, the calorie sticks are in danger!" he suddently exclaimed before running off.

Should Nathan stay with the Red Power Ranger and fight the pink robots, or go with Marshall to save the calorie sticks? (That is not a question I ever thought I would ask....)


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legobrick
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Save the sticks

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Determining that the Red Power Ranger had things pretty well handled and lacking any way of assisting him in the first place, Nathan scrambled after Marshall. It wasn't long before they arrived at a massive office building, towering far up into the sky.

"Wow," said Nathan. "What is this going out here?"
Marshall shrugged. "Alright," he said, "Batman should be handling the ASA alright, so we've just got to sneak in the back and retrieve the calorie sticks." Nathan nodded; he had determined that he shouldn't try too hard to understand what was going on around here. Being as quite as possible, they snuck around to the back of the building. Marshall tried the handle on the back door. "Darn, locked; I can't say I expected any differently. Hold on, I think I've got something to take care of this.... " He reached in his pocket and pulled out a can of Spaghettios. "I don't suppose you have a can opener on you?" Nathan shook his head. "Darn. Oh wait, I think I might have one.... " Marshall fished around in his pocket for a minute. "Ha," he said, pulling out a can opener. He opened the can of Spaghettios and spread them all over the door handle, and tried it again. It opened smoothly. Inside was a staircase heading down to the basement; he entered, motioning for Nathan to follow.

At the bottom of the staircase was a massive earthworm. "Darn, I didn't know the defenses here would be so secure," said Marshall. The worm wriggled a little bit. "If only we had something to overload the metanephridium near the ventral nerves; the neprostome would pulsate and shut off its activationary septums."

"Um... yeah," agreed Nathan, feeling a headache coming on.

"Wait, I've got it," said Marshall. Reaching inside his pockets again, he pulled out an airhorn. He raised a finger to his lips, indicating to Nathan to be silent, and then pressed down the button on the horn. The loud burst of sound caused to worm to wiggle and then explode violently. Nathan felt his eye twitching again; he hoped all of the dimensions wouldn't be this weird.

With the worm out of the way, they were able to safely proceed to the next room. It was empty except for a rocking horse in the middle.
"Do we need to worry about the rocking horse?" asked Nathan, watching as the rocking horse continued its guitar solo.
"Nah, of course not," said Marshall. "Hmm, the calorie sticks should be in one of these two doors.... " He gestured towards two doors on the opposite wall. "I'm not sure which, though.... "

Should Nathan recommend the left or the right door?


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"It needs to be about 20% cooler." --Rainbow Dash

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legobrick
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Right, he goes right, right?

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"Let's try the right door," Nathan suggestion. Marshall nodded in agreement. They approached the right door and opened it... it was dark inside. Nathan felt around near the door frame for the light switch. He flipped it... but it remained black as pitch.

"Ah, the Darks must be turned on," Marshall said, nodding to himself.
"The Darks?" questioned Nathan.
"Yeah. You know, the opposite of the lights. We need to find the Dark Switch and turn them off."
"Ah," said Nathan. "Well, let's get to it, then." The two of them entered the dark room, feeling along the walls. It didn't seem like all that large of a room.

"Found it!" Marshall announced after a few moments. He flipped the switch, and the room lit up-... I mean... Un-darked. In the middle of the room was a pile of calorie sticks. "Yes! We saved them!" cheered Marshall.

"Yay... ?" said Nathan, looking questioningly at the calorie sticks. They certainly didn't seem that important.

"Excellent choice, suggesting the right door," Marshall added. "Your instincts were right on the money. It's a good thing these are safe; we would have been doomed otherwise. Hey, that's not a calorie stick.... " From within the pile, Marshall picked up a small, sparkly object. "Well, I'm not quite sure what this is, but since you helped me out, you can have it."

"Uh, thanks, I guess," said Nathan, taking the Sparkly. As he looked it over, he heard static from his wrist watch.

"Nathan, I belive what you've found there is important. I'm going to take you back to the base to have it analyzed," said the woman from earlier, her voice cutting through the static. Nathan nodded; he was eager to get out of here as soon as possible. He wasn't sure how much more weirdness he could handle. "Let me know as soon as you're ready to be ported back," she continued. Nathan looked around... he recalled her saying that he was welcome to bring back allies if he wanted. He supposed that he could ask Marshall to come along with him if he wanted, or he could continue on his own.

Should he ask Marshall if he wants to come along, or just head back by himself?


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"It needs to be about 20% cooler." --Rainbow Dash

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legobrick
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He should head back by himself

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Ben
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Marshall seemed nice and all, but Nathan didn't feel like he should drag anyone else into this mess. He reported that he was ready into his watch. As if someone was tugging at him with an invisible string, he felt a strange pulling sensation. It grew stronger, and, suddenly, he found himself lifted off the ground and headed straight through the ceiling. Rather than appearing on the floor above, however, he found himself back in his classroom, still floating around the Temporal Flux. Feeling a little dizzy, it took him a moment to regain his composure.

"Welcome back," said the woman, sounding not particularly welcoming. She was looking over the Sparkly. "Interesting... it appears to be some of the power from the Chronosphere. Removed from its holding location, it must be leaking. We should be able to use this trail to track down the thief much more easily. Good work." She cracked a rare smile.

"Uh, thanks," said Nathan, sitting down at his desk to rest for a minute. "Are all dimensions that weird, or... ?"

"No," said the lady, still examining the Sparkly. She walked off-screen for a moment; Nathan could hear a machine starting up. He realized he still didn't even know what to call her. He voiced this to her.

"You may call me Zephyr," she relied. "Now, we have a couple things we need to address. Firstly, I should be able to use some of the power from this piece of the Chronosphere to upgrade one of your pieces of equipment."

"Really? Sweet!"

"Also, once you're rested up, you'll need to pick another dimension to explore. Using the evidence from this shard, I've determined that the thief is not in dimensions 1-10 or 90-100. So, you need to pick a number between 11 and 89."

What piece of equipment should Nathan upgrade, and what dimension should he travel to next?


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"It needs to be about 20% cooler." --Rainbow Dash

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legobrick
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He should upgrade the wand, and go to 34

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Josh
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Nah, 27! Not 34!

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no, number 26
Hey josh Sigh up for Come back when your dead, please?

-- Edited by legobrick on Sunday 27th of February 2011 06:21:02 PM

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"I'd like to have my wand upgraded, if you wouldn't mind," he said, pulling it out of his pocket and holding it forward. It pulsed with energy for just a moment. He couldn't see any difference, but he knew that it was now stronger. "As for which universe to head to next, I'll take number 34."

"Very well then," said Zephyr. She stepped away from the screen for a moment. "Just step out the door when you're ready," she said as she returned. "And... be careful down there. This next universe will definitely keep you on your toes."

Feeling a little nervous now, Nathan opened the door and looked out into the blackness. Conjuring up his courage, he stepped into the darkness.

Like last time, he awoke with no idea how long he had been unconcious. At least he wasn't in a car this time. Getting up, he took a look at his surroundings. Everything here appeared fairly normal; he was nearby of a dirt path. Squinting into the distance, he could make out what appeared to be small town. From another part of the path, hidden behind a few trees, he heard a girl's voice.

"...and we need to check the food supply before we leave, as well. We're supposed to be meeting the others soon, so we should hurry back."

Should he investigate whoever is having the conversation, or forget about it and head to the town?


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"It needs to be about 20% cooler." --Rainbow Dash

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Illegally doubleposts:
OT: Too late, he already went to 34.


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"It needs to be about 20% cooler." --Rainbow Dash

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legobrick
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follow the voice

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Deciding that it would be best to investigate the voice - after all he knew nothing about this place - Nathan carefully stepped onto the path past the trees to speak to whoever was talking. He opened his mouth to say some form of greeting, and then realized that the person he was about to talk to wasn't actually a person at all, but a small, purple unicorn pony. He froze, his mouth hanging open awkwardly. He blinked a few times, hoping it would go away. It didn't. Purple... unicorn... pony....
Panicked, he ran back through the trees.
"Zephyr! Zephyr!" he said into his watch.
"What?" she replied after a moment, sounding annoyed.
"There has been a terrible mistake! I've been transported to a sissy world with purple unicorn ponies!"
"You chose it."
"But... but I can feel my manliness draining away by the second!"
"Just go look for the thief or some evidence of the Chronosphere."
"But.... but...."

Should he continue trying to plead his case with Zephyr and try and get out of here, or go back and talk with the pony?

(Author's Note: Hahahaha, you chose dimension 34. This is going to be hilarious.)


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"It needs to be about 20% cooler." --Rainbow Dash

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Talk to dem pony

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Grimacing slightly, Nathan accepted his inevitable fate. He returned to the pony, who was still standing on the path, looking slightly confused. He gathered up the few shards of dignity he had left, cleared his throat, and finally spoke.
"Hi," he said, looking down at the pony. There was a moment of awkward silence. "Um... I'm Nathan," he continued, not exactly sure what ponies talked about.
"Twilight Sparkle," said the pony, nodding her head in acknowledgement. "I don't mean to sound rude, but I don't think I've ever read about anything like you. What are you, exactly?"
This seemed like a fairly ordinary question to the pony. "Um, I'm a person. A human."
"Interesting. A human... This must be one of the undocumented species of Equestria! Spike, take a note." A small purple dragon, who had gone unnoticed by Nathan until just now, pulled out a piece of paper and began writing down what Twilight was saying as she described him. He tucked the note away as she finished. "Are you headed to Ponyville?"
"Uh, I guess so... " said Nathan. "I'm actually looking for someone."
"Another human?"
"Uh..." Now that he thought about it, Nathan wasn't even sure the thief was human. He could be from any dimensions, so he could be anything. "I'm not sure," he admitted.
"Well, I'd offer to help, but we're actually in the middle of a crisis right now. You see, no one has heard from Princess Celestia for a while now, and we're starting to get worried. Without her, there's no one to raise the sun in the mornings."

Nathan realized that it was night time; in his previous panic, he hadn't even noticed. Twilight continued, "So, we're planning a journey to Canterlot to investigate. I'm supposed to be meeting the others shortly. You can come along, if you'd like."

Now that he thought about it, Zephyr had said that the Chronosphere could cause unnatural events in various dimensions. This could possibly lead him to it....

Should Nathan go with Twilight Sparkle and investigate this strange occurance, or go search for the thief on his own?


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"It needs to be about 20% cooler." --Rainbow Dash

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I'll come with you

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As he followed Twilight to Ponyville, she further explained the situation.

"It was only a couple months ago that Nightmare Moon, the evil mare in the moon, was released from her thousand years of imprisonment. My friends and I were able to use the Elements of Harmony to stop her from bringing the Eternal Night and rescue Princess Celestia. However, it hasn't been day for... well, days. We fear that Nightmare Moon may be behind this once again."
"Oh, we're here," she said, stopping suddenly. Listening to Twilight's story, Nathan had hardly noticed that they had entered a moderately sized town. Ponies of various colours were milling about with their daily tasks; in the town square, a small group of about five was gathered - this must be 'the others' that Twilight had mentioned. Upon seeing their approach, the pale yellow one gasped and ducked behind the blue one, which, Nathan noticed, had wings.

"Ooo, what did you find, Twilight? Who's this?" said the bright pink one, walking up close enough that Nathan had to take a step back in order to maintain some semblance of personal space. The white pony looked at him quizzically, as if sizing him up.

"Oh, I suppose some introductions would be in order," said Twilight. "Everyone, this is Nathan. He's going to help us out."

"Looks to me like he might just slow us down," said the blue one. Nathan wasn't quite sure if she was just being friendly or if it was a genuine complaint.

"An extra pair of hooves never hurt anybody. Good to meet ya," said the orange pony with the hat. The yellow pony mumbled something but Nathan wasn't able to quite pick up exactly what she was saying. Twilight quickly introduced him to the others - the white pony was named Rarity, the blue one was Rainbow Dash, the quiet yellow one was Fluttershy, the orange one was Applejack, and the pink one was Pinkie Pie. Nathan felt his head spinning; he wasn't sure he was going to be able to remember all of that. He certainly was getting a little more invovled in things than he had intended.

"We can save the gettin' to know each other fer later," said Applejack, looking up at the starry night sky with concern. "But fer now we've gotta get movin'. This night has lasted long enough as it is." No one could argue with her logic; the sound of Nathan's footsteps mixing with the clopping of the ponie's hooves, the unsual group set off into the night.

(Author's Note: Whew, that's enough for now. Writing about ponies is strangely tiring.... At any rate, there's not any predesignated choice here, but if you think of any particular action you want Nathan to do, say so. If no one says anything, the story will just continue normally next time I get some time to throw a post together.)


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(20% legally doubleposts)

"Hurry up! How can you all be so slow? Sheez," said Dash from ahead, flitting from cloud to cloud impatiently.
"Some of us are trying to conserve our strength, Rainbow Dash," Rarity snapped back. "It's still a long way to Canterlot, and we have no idea what will be waiting there when we arrive."
Feeling out of place, Nathan followed along with the ponies, fiddling idly with his wand. He hoped that eventually someone in at least one of these strange dimensions would be able to teach him a thing or two about magic... but what if he just couldn't do magic? After all, he hadn't really heard of any humans from his dimension being particularly magical. He dismissed the thought; he'd learn in somehow, no matter what.

"Hey Twilight! Where's Spike? Normally he'd be complaining about now," piped up Pinky, her high voice seeming loud and piercing in the quiet night air.
"I told him to stay behind and keep an eye on things," Twilight replied. "If something dangerous is waiting for us at Canterlot, I don't want him to be hurt."
Fluttershy looked slightly panicked at the thought of 'something dangerous.'
"Don't worry, sugarcube; no matter what's going' on up there, I'm sure we'll be able to talk a lick of sense into'em," said Applejack, noting her worried expression.

They trudged along for what seemed like hours; it was hard to keep track of time because of the constant night. Nathan tuned out the ponie's conversation, absorbed in his own thoughts. It was certainly strange; just a while ago he was going to school without a care in the world apart from tests and various homework assignments that he had forgotten, and now he found himself working to save not only the Earth, but all of the dimensions in existence. He sighed; Mondays never went as planned, but this was just ridiculous. After a while, the towers and turrets of a castle-like city came into view perched like some sort of strange bird of prey on a nearby cliff.
"Let's wait here for a while," said Twilight, coming to a halt. "We want to be rested when we arrived." No one argued with that - after so much walking, everyone was glad for a rest. Even Dash seemed willing to take a while to rest up. Twilight walked a few feet off the path; there was a sparkling flash of purple light, and a roaring fire was there waiting for them.
"H-how did you do that?" asked Nathan, looking at the fire in awe.
"I just conjured it with some magic; all unicorns can do that sort of thing," Twilight replied simply.
"But not as good as Twilight! She's the best!" Pinky added, sitting dangerously close to the fire. Everyone gathered around the fire, staring into the flames. The intense silence was broken as Pinky started singing a song about friendship. Nathan chuckled; he had almost forgotten that the group he was travelling with was indeed a group of ponies - this type of thing was probably typical. As the song continued into the fifth verse (much to the chagrin of all who were still listening,) Nathan found his thoughts drifting back to Twilight's ability. She could cast magic.... maybe she'd be able to teach him?

Should Nathan ask Twilight for instructions in the ways of magic, or wait until he can find a different teacher?


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Ask Twilight!

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If this was his chance to learn magic, he wasn't going to pass it up. Nervously, he stood up and made his way over to Twilight. "Um.... Twilight?" he said, not looking directly at her.
"Hmm?"
"Uh, could I talk to you about something, um, over there?" He wasn't quite sure why, but he didn't like the idea of trying to learn magic in front of all of the others - he would no doubt be a total failure at first.
"Sure, I guess so," Twilight replied, getting to her hooves. She followed Nathan aways from camp. "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"
"I was actually kind of hoping that you could, uh, teach me how to do magic."
"Not everypony can do magic, you know; usually, only unicorns can do it, and it most often only pertains to their own special talent," she explained. "If you haven't learned any yet, then maybe you just aren't very magical."
Nathan frowned a little; he had been afraid of this. "But could you at least show me how it's done? Maybe if I practiced a little...." he pleaded.
"Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt. Watch closely." Twilight focused her gaze on a nearby stone; the horn on her head began to glow with a faint purple light, and the stone was surrounded with a shimmering aura - it rose up into the air, flipped around, and placed itself on top of a smaller stone. "The trick is to channel your consciousness into your horn," she explained, "...or whatever it is you're using for magic, I guess," she added, noting Nathan's lack of horn.
"Alright, I'm going to give it a try." Feeling a little self-concicous, Nathan pulled his thin wooden wand from his pocket. He looked around; he should probably start with something small. A small pebble caught his eye - that should do nicely. Taking a deep breath, he pointed his wand at the pebble and concentrated.
"Relax," said Twilight. "You're not going to be able to channel magic well if you're so tense."
Nathan nodded, trying to relax a little. He concentrated on the wand. She had said he had to channel his consciousness into it... easier said than done. Shutting his eyes, he concentrated harder. Move, you stupid rock.
"Hey, you're doing it!" His eyes snapped open; his wand, previously a dull stick of wood, was glowing brightly at the tip and, not far away, the pebble was floating high in the air. Nathan's jaw almost dropped in shock; the pebble dropped a few inches. He regained his concentration, and it held in place. Keeping his wand pointed at the pebble, he tried to move it around. It was difficult at first, but after a couple minutes, he was able to sending it zooming around at will.
"Not bad at all," said Twilight with a smile. "That's pretty impressive."
"Thanks," said Nathan, turning to her. The pebble flew out of the air and smacked her on the side of the head with a crack. "Oops." He needed to be a little more careful when he was casting spells....
"Ow," said Twilight, squinting a little at the pain. Nathan looked back down at his wand. It wasn't glowing any more; it stopped as soon as he let the pebble go. He wondered what other types of spells he could learn to cast...
"Hey, are y'all about finished over there? It's about time ta get goin', wouldn't ya say?" called Applejack from back at the camp.
"You can always practice more later," said Twilight. "Maybe we should get going...."

Should Nathan insist on staying and learning more magic, or is it time to proceed to Canterlot?


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Canterlot.

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Nathan nodded to Twilight and pocketed his wand. She was right; he could just practice later. They hurried and caught up with the group, who had just turned off the main road and onto a steep mountain path. The narrow stone walkway spiraled up the mountain for a few miles, finally reaching the massive gates of Canterlot. In silence, the group followed that path; even Pinkie was uncharacteristically quiet. There was a feeling of foreboding in the air... something was definitely not right around here. It wasn't long before they reached the gates, elaborated gilded and decorated in an artists depiction of the rising sun. One was hanging ajar at an unusual angle, leaving enough space for them to enter.
"That's strange," said Twilight, looking around. "There are always guards here to welcome visitors and keep out any monsters that wander up here... " Looking concerned, she entered the gates. Nathan and the other ponies followed, every sound they made echoing eerily.

"This isn't how I expected Canterlot to look at all," said Rarity in a hushed voice, "Something must have happened here.... " Nathan had to agree with her; though the city looked like it had once been bright, pleasant, and elegant, many of the buildings were damaged or even destroyed, rubble was all over the street, and there wasn't a single other person - or pony - in sight.
"I'm going to see if I can find anyone," said Dash, launching into the air with a whooshing gust of wind.

"The rest of us will do what we came here for - check on the princess. C'mon, y'all; let's hurry to the palace," said Applejack, leading the way. Their hooves (and shoes, in Nathan's case,) crunching through the rubble scattered on the ground, the others followed. Nathan could see their destination, even through the murky fog that hung about the empty city - the massive, towering castle was hard to miss.

Having still not found a single other living thing, they arrived at the gates of the castle. Streaking across the sky, Rainbow Dash caught up with them, looking slightly worried, though she tried not to show it. "No one else is around; the whole city is like this. "Whatever did this, I'm not sure we're going to be able to talk it into going somewhere else... "
"Let's keep calm, everyone," said Twilight, sounding just as panicked as everyone else. "Worrying is going to get us anywhere. First things first, let's try the throne room." She nudged the door, which swung open with an echoing creek. It was pitch black inside; everyone entered slowly. Suddenly, there was a whizzing bang; Fluttershy squeeked in terror and hid behind Applejack.
"Sorry," said Pinkie Pie with a giggle. "I thought I had something in my bag that would light this place up a little; I guess all I had was confetti." There was another bang as she let off another party cracker full of confetti. With a sigh, Twilight lit up her horn, but even the bright purple glow didn't light up the darkness as much as Nathan would have liked. The inside of the castle was in just as bad shape as the outside; the curtains and wall hangings were torn and scattered about, and the furniture was tossed around randomly.

"This looks bad," said Applejack, looking around warily.
"Hurry, Princess Celestia might be in trouble!" Twilight exclaimed. As fast as they could go without tripping over the mess, everyone rushed through the castle, up the staircase to the second floor. They burst through the door to the throne room... Celestia, with her back to the group, was in the center of the room. She eminated a glorious white aura, glowing from the feathers of her wings to the tip of her horn. Despite the lack of wind in the room, her shimmering pastel mane flickered and flitted about as if made of fire.
"Thank goodness you're alright!" said Twilight, walking forward. "What happened in here?"

"Ah, Twilight... my faithful student, as always... " Celestia's voice would have been gentle and calming, if not for the strange edge it had to it. Something wasn't right here... despite not being able to use it properly, Nathan found his hand drifting towards the pocket containing his wand.
"Where are the others?" Twilight asked, taking a step closer. "I hope we weren't too late to stop some sort of disaster."
"Don't worry," Celestia said soothingly, "you're not too late; in fact, you're just in time to join them!"
Quicker than Nathan could react, she spun around and dashed forward with a startling flash of brilliant white light; her hooves didn't even touch the ground because of her sheer momentum.

"Look out, Twilight!" With only a split second to react, Applejack, the closest, surged forward and pushed Twilight out of the way, sending her sliding across the debris-strewn floor with a trail of dust. With the sickening snapping and crunch of shattered bones, Applejack took the brunt of the blow, flying backwards several feet due to the inertia of the impact. Fluttershy gasped; Rarity looked dumbfounded; Nathan winced; Pinkie Pie was, for perhaps the first time in her life, unable to say anything at all.
"No!" exclaimed Twilight, getting to her hooves.
"Why you.... " said Rainbow Dash in a rage, unfurling her wings and preparing to charge. Celestia turned to face the group; it looked like there was going to be a fight. Suddenly, there was a massive cracking noise, and a pony flew in through the roof, leaving a cloud of dust and a large hole in the ceiling. The moonlight streamed in from the night sky outside.

"Celestia," said the new pony, her voice grim and determined. Her mane sparkled like the night sky, and her eyes had an icy glint to them; her very presense was chilling.
"Luna... " Celestia replied, looking at the other pony with loathing. Then, strangely, her look of pure hatred changed to one of terror and, inexplicably, sadness. Faster than the eye could follow, she flew out the newly formed hole in the ceiling.
Luna turned to Nathan and the others. "All of Equestria is in danger, starting with Ponyville. Get back there as soon as possible; they're going to need you." With that, she took off, not leaving anyone the change to say a word.

There were a few seconds of stunned silence, and then everyone gathered around Applejack, who was still in a crumpled heap on the floor.
"Oh no oh no oh no," Pinkie began repeating in a panic.
"AJ! Are you alright!?" said Twilight, sounding alarmed.
"Don't worry about me; the Apple family's tough. Ah can take it," said Applejack, sounding strained. "Y'all heard Luna - we need to git back ta Ponyville as soon as possible. Just carry me back like this; Ah'll be fine. The Doc can take a look at me when we get back." Despite her words, she looked like she was fading fast... but if the group didn't hurry back, Ponyville could be destroyed.

Should the group take Applejack back like this, disregarding her condition but getting back quick enough to help the town, or should they stay here and treat her, but risk not arriving at Ponyville in time?

(Author's Note: Ponies - SERIOUS BUSINESS.)


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he should help Applejack.

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Twilight looked torn; suddenly forced to choose between her friend and her home town had left her stunned, unable to reach a decision. Nathan knew that action had to be taken quickly, so he took charge.
"There's no way you're going to make it back like this; we need to take care of you here and now," he said, stepping forward.
"But everyone back home is in danger" said Applejack. "If y'all don't get back there, everything'll-"
"Save your strength; we'll get back there as soon as possible," said Nathan, trying his best to sound what he hoped was soothing. "Don't worry, everything will be alright.... I hope," he added under his breath.
"If ya say so... " Applejack replied, her voice sounding faint. "Ah'm feeling a mite tired... Think Ah'm gonna... rest up... a bit... " Exhausted and weakened by pain, she passed out.
"Okay, we've got to act now. I don't suppose there's anywhere around here to get medical supplies?" said Nathan to the others.
"Dash," said Twilight, turning towards her, "I need you to fly to the Canterlot Clinic; the doctors may not be around, but their supplies will be. Grab whatever you can carry and bring it back here." Dash nodded and bolted off through the hole in the roof.
"What exactly are we going to do?" asked Rarity, sounding concerned. "No one here knows anything about treating her, even if we have the supplies."
"I've read about it a little," said Twilight. "Hopefully it'll be enough."

With a clatter, Dash returned, dropping a bag of various medical instruments and bandages onto the ground. "I hope that does it; that's all I could find that wasn't ruined."
"I think it'll do," said Twilight, looking them over. "Rarity, I'm going to need your help. You too, Nathan."
"Me?" said Nathan, sounding a little surprised. "What am I going to be able to do?"
"It's going to take all three of our magic to hold everything in place. Once we've got it, Fluttershy, you apply the bandages to keep things in place."
"Um, okay," said Fluttershy nervously. Nathan didn't blame her, but at least her role was the easy one. He could barely move a rock. How was he going to move someone's bones and muscles back into place, especially without being able to see them? Well, he'd give it his best try. He pulled out his wand, glancing at the others. Rarity and Twilight were standing over Applejack, examining the injury and deciding the best way to take care of it; Fluttershy was preparing the bandages from the bag of supplies; Dash paced nervously; Pinkie watched everyone else, trying and failing to be unobtrusive.

"Okay, we're ready. Nathan, there are two broken ribs about half-way down the length of her body; we need you to hold those in place. They aren't shattered, so you should be able to fit them back without much trouble," said Twilight, emotionlessly and methodically. Nathan could tell that she was in shock, but was holding back her emotions until the situation was properly handled. "Rarity and I will handle everything else." She took a deep breath. "Alright, here we go."

Nathan pointed his wand at the injured pony and concentrated. He shut his eyes, trying to visualize the few anatomy diagrahms he had had to learn in high school. It was human anatomy, of course, but the basics were the same. With the magical extensions of his senses, he could nearly feel Applejack's soft orange coat near where he was channelling his energy. He squinted his eyes tighter; the feeling cut off abruptly. Remembering Twilight's advice, he took a deep breath, and tried again. Magically probing deeper, he could feel the damage in the injury; everything definitely wasn't right there. The blow must have been very forceful to cause this much internal damage; it was a surprise Applejack was still alive at all. He could feel things moving about slowly; Twilight and Rarity must already be at work. It wasn't long before he was able to pinpoint the broken ribs. Twilight had been right - they weren't that badly damaged. Concentrating, he nudged them just a tiny bit experimentally. They moved without much trouble. Very slowly, he adjusted them back into place.
"I've got it," he said, his eyes still closed and his wand still held out.
"Now, Fluttershy," Nathan heard Twilight's voice say.
"Um, okay. Here I go.... "

Nathan felt pressure on the bone as Flutteryshy applied the bandages; he applied just enough extra pressure to keep it in place.
"You're going to have to wrap them tighter than that," said Twilight.
"Oh, sorry; I just didn't want to hurt her," Fluttershy replied quietly; she adjusted the bandages until they were firmly in place.
"Alright, finished."

Exhaling, Nathan lowered his wand and opened his eyes. The others looked just as worried as he felt. Applejack's side was bound up tightly, covering the bruised and purple wound.
"Well, that's the best we can do for now," said Nathan, pocketing his wand. "We've got to hurry to Ponyville; we might not be too late to stop all of the damage."
"But who's going to carry Applejack?" said Pinkie, speaking up for the first time in a while.
"I've got it," said Dash, bending down and scooping her injured friend onto her back.

Moving as quickly as they could, the group began the trek back to Ponyville.
"So, why did Celestia attack us? I thought we were going there to save her," said Nathan as they walked.
"I've been trying to figure that out myself," Twilight replied. "It just doesn't make sense.... she's always been such a kind and considerate ruler.... "
Nathan thought back to Zephyr's previous words... the Chronosphere had a tendency to disrupt dimensions that it entered... perhaps this is how it had disrupted this one? Maybe if he found the thief, or at the least a piece of Chronosphere energy like what had been in the last dimensions, things here would go back to normal. His train of thought was broken as he heard Fluttershy gasp.
"L-look!" she stammered, staring into the sky. From the direction of Ponyville, massive black clouds of smoke billowed ominously.

(Author's Note: That's it for this post; I'm too tired to write any more. I'll illegally doublepost later to get you to the next choice.)


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(Doublepost, all the way across the sky! So bright, so vivid....)

Seeing the smoke, Twilight gasped and dashed towards the town. "Hurry!" she shouted back at the others. Nathan glanced back at Rainbow Dash as the rest of the ponies hurried ahead.
"I'll catch up in a minute; go!" said Dash, adjusting the unconcious Applejack on her back. Nathan nodded and joined the others, heading for the town.

The quiet, pastel colored town of Ponyville was in shambles. Flame provided the only light in the darkness of the eternal night, causing flickering shadows to dance about, revealing ponies hap-hazardly trying to put out them out. Twilight looked around and quickly assessed the situation. Climbing atop one of the few buildings still standing undamaged, she began calling out orders, bringing organization to the rescue efforts.
"Pegasi, gather up all of the clouds you can and start a storm over the most vital areas. You there, start a bucket chain to the lake - use whatever you can to carry the water. You three, start looking for anyone too young to help and get them out of here as fast as possible!" Feeling slightly useless, Nathan joined the group carrying water from the lake. It wasn't long, however, before he heard someone calling his name.
"Hey! Nathan! Come over here!" It was Rainbow Dash. Handing his bucket to someone else, Nathan hurried over as quickly as he could. "I need you to keep an eye on AJ while I go help with the storm," she said, carefully laying the unconcious Applejack on the ground. "Just don't let anything happen to her, okay? She's still weak." With that, she flew off towards the center of town, where a massive storm was beginning to take place.

Being careful not to touch her injury, Nathan scooped up Applejack. "Wow, you're heavier than you look," he said. "Let's go find somewhere less... firey." Heading away from the burning town, he found a spot in a nearby grove of trees that looked relatively safe. Setting down the injured pony, he sat and watched as the burning lights in the town went out one by one.

Remember, Ctrl + Click to open in a new tab.
Atmospheric background sounds for the win.)

Before long, the town was quiet, save for the sprinkling from the few remaining rainclouds. Nathan heard the crunching of wet leaves as Fluttershy approached. "Um, Twilight says it's safe to go back now," she said, kicking at the ground nervously. "And... um... that was very nice of you to look after Applejack."
"Yeah, no prob," Nathan replied, getting to his feet. "Well, I guess I should carry her back-"
"That won't be necessary." Applejack got unsteadily to her feet, her legs shaking a little with the strain.
"Woah, how long have you been awake?" asked Nathan. He had been sure she had been unconcious this whole time.
"Just a couple minutes. Ah take it we didn't make it back in time... " she said, looking at the ruins of the town in the distance; Nathan wasn't sure, but it seemed like she was fighting back tears, despite her emotionless expression. He didn't blame her - seeing her hometown get destroyed like this while she was helpless to do anything must have been terrible. "Are the others alright?"
"The mayor says that everyone got away safely," said Rainbow Dash, sending leaves swirling into the air as she landed nearby. "There were a couple cuts and bruises, but nothing serious." Trying to sound nonchalant, she added, "Oh, and it's good to see you're okay, Applejack."
Managing a small smile, she replied, "Of course; y'all didn't think a little injury like that was gonna do me in, did ya?"

"Welp," Applejack continued, "we'd best be headin' back and seeing what we can do ta help." She took a step forward, but stopped, wincing in pain.
"Um... do you need some help, Applejack... ?" said Fluttershy quietly, her soft voice almost lost in the sound of the falling rain.
"Nah, I can get back by mahself," she said, taking another step with a determined expression on her face.
"Hey, stop being so stubborn," said Dash, landing next to her. "There's nothing wrong with relying on a little help from your friends." Fluttershy approached her from the other side. Applejack now supported between her two friends, the trio slowly made their way back towards the town. Feeling a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, Nathan followed after them.

(Author's Note: Yeah, yeah, I didn't make it to the next choice. I'll get there tomorrow.)


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OOC: Fear not, I'm almost done putting the next post together; I just have been a little busy these past few days. It should be up later today. Also, this one finally has a choice in it. Yay~

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Arriving back at the ruins of the town, Nathan was surprised to see the pony from earlier - Luna, Celestia had called her - standing amidst the ashes. Seeing him and the others approaching, she turned to face them.
"Hmm, the traveler is here at last. Should you have arrived earlier, perhaps you would have been able to prevent this disaster. Still, I don't envy you the choice you had to make." Despite her words, she didn't seem disappointed.  "I'm glad to see you're recovering, Applejack," she added.
"Thank ya kindly," Applejack replied. "But now ain't the time fer formalities. Celestia's gotta be stopped - there's no way she's actin' like this on her own. Somethin's gotta be behind it."

"But what?" said Twilight, approaching. Her wet mane was plastered to her head by the rain, and her voice was slightly hoarse (Author's Note: HA.) from yelling orders over the commotion. More than anything else, she looked exhausted. Behind her followed Rarity, looking glum and sullen, and Pinkie Pie, who bounded along looking largely unaffected by the day's events.

"I think I know what's behind this," said Nathan. "It might take a while to explain, and I don't know all of the details."
"Ooh, a story!? I love stories!" exclaimed Pinkie. "This one time, I heard this story about a story about a bowl of-"
"Pinkie," Twilight interrupted.
"Oh, right. I'll have to tell you later; Nathan's story is probably a teensy bit more important right now."
Everyone stood looking at him expectantly. Taking a breath, he began his story from the beginning.
"It all started like an ordinary day...."

Drenched from standing in the rain, he finished his tale several minutes later. "...and so now I'm here. So, what I'm saying is that if we can find this thief, or at least the Power Shard from the Chronosphere, things might return to normal."
"That's easier said than done," said Rarity. "If it could be anywhere in Equestria, we could be searching for years. There has to be some way to track it... Wait, Nathan, do you have any of the Chronosphere right now? I may be able to pick up it's signal with a tracking spell."
"No, sorry, I don't-..." Nathan began. "Wait a second." He pulled out his wand. "This was enchanted with a piece of the last Power Shard I found. Can you get the signal from this?"
"Hmm... " Rarity inspected the wand carefully. Her horn lit up as she examined it. There was a moment of tense silence. "I think I may have something here.... Yes! Yes, I've got it. It's fairly close by - the Everfree forest, if I'm not mistaken. Wait, but what's this?" She frowned and paused for a moment. "There seems to be another similar signal coming from Dragon Mountain. Hmm.... "

Should Nathan suggest traveling to Dragon Mountain, or venturing into the Everfree Forest?


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Dragon Mountain.

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"We're heading to Dragon Mountain," said Nathan decisively. "If something there is making the same signal, it's got to be related. Should we leave now or wait until morn-... oh, right," he finished, remembering that morning wasn't going to come until they had restored Celestia back to herself.
"We should get going as soon as possible," said Twilight. "We need to get the Princess back to normal before this type of disaster happens again!"
"I reckon yer right about that one, sugarcube," said Applejack. "The sooner we get this problem solved, the better. We should-"
"Hoooold on a second!" Pinkie interrupted. "You can't come with us at all! You're hurt and so you need to stay here and rest and then when we're finished we can come back and tell you how it all went, okay?"
"I have to agree with Pinkie Pie," Rarity added. "There's no way you can come with us like that! You'd just hurt yourself even more. Besides, you'd just slow us down." Applejack frowned, but realized that the others were right.
"I s'pose y'all are right... Ah'll just stay here an' keep an eye on the rebuilding."
Twilight nodded, glad that things were settled. "Come on, girls, let's get moving. Oh, and you, Nathan."

(Author's Note: It's late. I'll have to finish this up later.)


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"Let's rest here for a while," said Twilight as they reached the foot of the mountain. "We won't be able to stop during the climb up, so here is as good a place as any." Gratefully, Nathan sat on the ground just off the dusty trail, his legs throbbing painfully. He wasn't used to walking so far. Laying on his back, he looked up at the stars twinkling in the night sky. It must have been a day or two since he arrived here in this dimension. How much longer was this quest going to go on? Though he knew that this was important, he was starting to feel a little homesick.... Hopefully the thief would be caught soon. Lost in thought, he didn't even notice as he drifted off to sleep.

"Come on, sleepy head! It's time to get up!" Nathan felt himself being nudged. With a sigh, he opened his eyes. Pinkie was prodding him with her hoof. "Yay, you're up! It's time to go up the mountain! Are you excited!?"
Mumbling something unintelligible, Nathan got to his feet. It felt strange to wake up and have it still be the middle of the night. "Yeah, let's go," he said.

The journey up the narrow mountain path was more uneventful than expected. Though it was a steep climb, it was surprisingly free of dangers. Nathan was mildly surprised as they reached the plateau near the top - the location of the Dragon's Cave.
"The signal seems to be coming from in there," said Rarity, her horn glowing faintly as she channeled the tracking spell. "The dragon is gone, so it should be safe... but we should still be careful."
The others nodded in agreement. 

(Author's Note: Meh, that's all for right now. I'll probably finish later today. Don't worry; I'll get to the next choice eventually.)

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"Be ready for anything," said Nathan, pulling his wand out of his pocket as he faced the ominous looking cave. "Whenever the Chronosphere is involved, things have a tendency to get... out of hand." He glanced over his shoulder and saw the others standing behind him. He hoped nothing happened to anyone in there.... Gritting his teeth, he advanced into the cave.

It was dark inside; it seemed empty, though he couldn't tell for sure. Extending his wand, he concentrated. So far, the only spell he had managed to cast was a simple telekinesis spell... but a light spell shouldn't be too difficult. Taking a deep breath, he concentrated... and allowed himself a smile as the tip of his wand began to glow brightly, illuminating the room with a pale white light. "Anyone see anything?" he asked the others, who had entered behind him.
"There there there!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie. "I see it!" She trotted over to the corner of the room, where the dirt had been disturbed, and began digging with her hooves. Within seconds, a sparkling, shining object was revealed.

"That's it!" said Nathan, running over to her and grabbing the Chronoshard out of the dirt. He let the light on his wand go out; the glow from the shard was enough to light the small cave. Everyone gathered around him, examining it.

"That's what this was all about? It seems like a strange thing to cause so much trouble," said Twilight.
"It doesn't matter what it looks like," Fluttershy added quietly. "We just need to make it bring Princess Celestia back to normal."
"Do you know how to do that, Nathan?" Rarity asked.
"Uh, actually, no," Nathan admitted, "but I'll ask." He pressed the button on his watch.  "Zephyr, I've found the-" he began.

"Well, well, well... I'm impressed." Nathan spun around. Standing in the entrance to the cave was a shimmering white figure - Celestia.

(Author's Note: Music for here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz58AJqCMeE )

"I expected you to fall for my trap and head to the Everfree forest. You're more astute than I thought. Unfortunately, that isn't going to help you now." She lowered her head; her horn began to glow. Twilight stepped in between her and Nathan; the other ponies followed after, forming a barrier between the two of them.

"Nathan," said Twilight. "You've gotten what you came here for. Take the Chronoshard and get out of here. If you manage to find this thief and get the Chronosphere back, things here will return to normal. I'm sure the ponies of Ponyville will be able to hold out until you've found him.  As for us...." She looked around at her friends. They looked back, determined. Rainbow Dash gave her a nod. Facing back at Celestia, she planted her hooves firmly on the ground; her horn began to glow as she began channeling a spell. "...we'll buy you enough time to warp out of here. Now go!"

Spoiler


Should Nathan stay with the others and fight, or warp back to the headquarters with the Chronoshard?

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Josh
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Fight fight Fight Fight!!!!

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Ben
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Nathan looked at the Chronoshard in his hand. If he left now, he could take it, and save the universe... but he wasn't just going to abandon his new friends. Shoving the shard into his pocket, he pulled out his wand. Wait... none of the spells he knew would be of any use in this situation. Well, that left only one thing....

"YaaaaAAAAAA!!!!" With a yell, Nathan ran forward and tackled Celestia, pushing her to the ground. She was stunned only for a moment, and then launched into the air, smashing Nathan against the ceiling with a crushing THUD. Nathan fell, but was caught by Rainbow Dash. From the other side of the room, Rarity used her magic to break off the ends of several stalagtites and fire them, missle like, at Celestia, who dodged out of the way quickly before charging at Fluttershy. With a squeak, Fluttershy leapt out of the way, barely avoiding the larger pony's strike. Taking advantage of Celestia's miss, Twilight fired a bolt of energy from her horn - it hit its target square on, but Celestia simply absorbed the bolt into her own horn, and fired it back at Twilight, even stronger than before. Not expecting this, Twilight took the blow, and was knocked skidding across the cave.

"Why you big mean meaniepants!" said Pinkie Pie, running forward and kicking the princess squarely in the jaw. Celestia's horn shone for just a moment, and Pinkie was knocked backwards by a powerful explosion of light.

"Twilight!" said Rainbow Dash, gliding to the ground and depositing Nathan, "We need to use the Elements of Harmony!"

"We can't!" Twilight called back as she got to her hooves, wincing in pain. "Applejack isn't here! We need all six of us in order to-"

"Y'all rang?" said a voice from the entrance to the cave. To everyone's surprise, there stood Applejack, looking still injured and weak but determined. "Well? What're ya waiting fer? Do it!"

Twilight nodded. "Now, everypony!" Each of the six ponies slowly began to emit a faint light... but Celestia had other plans. Taking advantage of their distraction, she attacked, magically picking up Rarity and sending her flying into Applejack. The two of them collided with a painful sounding thud, and the glowing stopped.

"We can't summon the power of the Elements if we keep getting interrupted like this!" said Rainbow Dash in a panic.

"Don't worry; I've got this," Nathan yelled. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at Celestia. Please do something.... he thought to himself. With a shower of sparks and a roar, a small fireball shot from the end of the small stick of wood, hitting Celestia with a sizzling crackle. "Ha! Take that!" Nathan's look of triumph faded as she turned to face him, looking furious. "Uh oh...." The ponies were glowing more brightly than before. They only needed a couple more seconds. Celestia charged Nathan; he squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself. He felt a sharp, burning pain in his side, followed by a forceful blow to the back of his head - she had rammed him into the wall. Slumping to the ground, he placed his hand to his side where she had hit him... it came away covered in blood. Her horn must have pierced his side. Just above him, Celestia stood, preparing to deliver the finishing blow.

Just then, the room lit up brightly in a glimmering light show of rainbow colors. A massive rainbow beam shot down from the ceiling and, rather than hitting Celestia, flew into Nathan's wand, which glowed brilliantly. Grabbing it, Nathan pointed the wand up at Celestia.

"Taste the rainbow," he said, releasing the energy.

The stored energy in the wand burst out of the tip with strong enough force that Nathan would have been knocked over if he hadn't already been sitting on the ground; it was so bright that he was temporarily blinded. When the brilliance finally faded, Celestia was no where to be seen.

Everyone cheered. Nathan felt himself smiling broadly. They had done it; Equestria was saved. He wasn't sure exactly what had become of Celestia, but he knew that from now on, things here were going to be safe. His vision flickered for a minute. For some reason, he couldn't make out what the others were saying as they chattered happily to each other. He felt tired.... He heard the cheerful noises of the ponies turn to panic as they approached him. He wondered for a moment what was the matter... oh well. It couldn't be that important. He'd worry about it after he rested for just a minute. Slowly, his vision faded to black.

 

 

"Mmm." Nathan felt the back of his head pounding. What a headache.... He tried to roll over, but something was stopping him. How annoying. He just wanted to go back to sleep.

"Hey, he's awake! He's awake!" said a sharp, piercing voice. Ugh... Pinkie Pie, why did you have to be so loud? Wait.... Suddenly, memories came flooding back to him. Equestria, Ponyville, his friends, the fight with Celestia. He sat up quickly, his eyes snapping open. He was in his classroom, lying in a makeshift bed made from desks pushed together. The window on the other side of the room was pitch black... he must be back in the Temporal Vortex. With a bit of trouble, he turned around and looked at the whiteboard. It was dark, but just seconds after he looked at it, it came to life, turning back into the familiar monitor. Zephyr was on the screen, looking expressionless as usual.

"I'm glad to see you made it back with the piece of the Chronosphere," she said.

"It's good to see you too," Nathan replied. "How did I end up here?"

"You just warped back, using your watch. I assumed you just pressed the button after you had been injured."

"No, I didn't... I passed out. That means...."

"I pushed the button," said Twilight, approaching. "I remembered you telling us about it while you explaining the Chronosphere earlier, and thought it would be the only way to get you to somewhere you could be treated quickly enough. Though, I was a little surprised that it took the rest of us as well."

"The rest of... ?" Glancing around, Nathan noticed that his colorful pony friends were scattered about the room, listening.

"Well, you know the drill by now," Zephyr continued as if the room wasn't populated by ponies. "With this piece of the Chronosphere, I'll be able to upgrade a piece of your equipment. After that, it's off to another dimension to try and find the thief. While you were gone, I managed to narrow it down further. Excluding 55, which you've already visited, the thief is somewhere in dimensions 35 through 89."

"Um... " said Fluttershy from the corner of the room. "I think Nathan should rest a little longer. He was hurt pretty badly." Zephyr frowned at her; she squeaked and retreated back into the corner.

"Oh, that reminds me," said Zephyr. "Every time you visit a new dimension, in addition to you, I'll be able to transport up to two of your allies as well. Have you made your decision?"

 

Choices to be made:

  1. Should Nathan stay and rest for a while, or head out immediately?
  2. Which piece of equipment should he upgrade?
  3. Which dimension should he visit next?
  4. Who should he take with him?

 

Dimensions remaining: 35 - 54, 56 - 89

List of Current Allies:

  • Twilight Sparkle
  • Rainbow Dash
  • Rarity
  • Applejack
  • Fluttershy
  • Pinkie Pie


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"It needs to be about 20% cooler." --Rainbow Dash

Of course you should listen to me. Have I ever lied to you before?
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He should wait for a few hours, upgrade his watch, go to universe 26, and take Pinkie Pie and Twilight.



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Ben
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They already know that the thief isn't in universe 26.

Dimensions remaining: 35 - 54, 56 - 89

Pay more attention to the post, you silly filly.



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Of course you should listen to me. Have I ever lied to you before?
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Josh
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42, then. That IS the anwser to life, the universe, and everything.



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Ben
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(Author's Note: Wow, so long without a post.... )

Nathan voiced his choices to Zephyr, and layed back down in the make-shift bed, hoping to get a few more moments of sleep before heading out. Pinkie had other plans.

"Hey, Nathan," she called, digging through the closet in the back of the room, "How are we supposed to throw a party if you don't have any balloons or streamers in here? We at least have to have a cake! Can you imagine a party without a cake! That would just be AWFUL!" Nathan mumbled something and got to his feet. So much for sleeping.... Lifting up the side of his shirt, he took a look at his injury. It was tightly bandaged, but he could still see traces of blood that had seeped through.

"Hey, who bandaged me up?" he asked, looking around the room.

"Um," said Fluttershy nervously from the corner, "I did. I've taken care of a few animals who had gotten hurt, so I know a little bit about it."

"Thanks," Nathan replied sincerely. Fluttershy blushed and mumbled something unintelligible. 

Nathan passed a few hours with his new friends; it was the first time that they'd had to just talk without being in an immediate crisis. He found himself liking the colourful bunch more and more. All too soon, however, it was time to set off yet again.

"It's time," said Zephyr, appearing on the monitor.

"Yeah, I know," Nathan replied. "Oh, and I decided that I'd like my watch upgraded this time, if you wouldn't mind." For just a moment, the watch glowed brightly, and then stopped. It looked pretty much the same.

"It will now allow you to communicate with your friends in addition to me," Zephyr explained, seeing the confused look on Nathan's face. "They'll be able to hear from you and reply to you when you speak into it. You'll be able to talk with the companions you take with you, as well as those still here in the Temporal Vortex. Now, get going; the longer you waste time here, the longer the thief has to escape."

Nathan opened the door and looked out into the blackness. "Twilight, Pinkie, are you ready?"

"Wow, this is going to be so excited! Are you excited, 'cause I'm excited! I don't think I've been this excited for at least a few hours, or maybe even days!" said Pinkie, practically bouncing. Twilight simply nodded.

"Y'all be careful out there," said Applejack.

"Remember, being safe should be your top priority," Rarity added.

"If anyone gives you trouble, let me know; I'll go down there and show them who's boss!" Rainbow Dash interjected.

"...bye," said Flutteryshy almost inaudibly.

"That's enough with the goodbyes," said Zephyr, sounding annoyed like usual. "They're only going to be gone for a little while." Nathan waved back at the others, and stepped out into the darkness, bracing himself.

 

Paved roads, the sound of traffic nearby.... Nathan found himself thinking about how similar this new universe was to his own. This wasn't his, was it? He glanced around, taking in their surroundings. Twilight was curiously studying a nearby parked car, and Pinkie Pie was darting around, trying to see everything. They were in the parking lot of what appeared to be a series of small apartment complexes. From the look of things, it was around ten in the morning. Well, he might as well get searching. First things first, he had to go ask someone if they had seen or heard of anything unusual. Approaching one of the apartments, he knocked on the door.

"Hi," he said as a young man answered. "I'm Nathan Egbert, and-" He stopped talking, seeing the very strange look on the man's face. "...Is something wrong?"

"Nathan... Egbert?" he said, looking at him curiously. Catching sight of the ponies, he added, "And are those.... ? Oh, wow.... Um, you better come inside."

Should Nathan enter, or insist on staying outside?



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"It needs to be about 20% cooler." --Rainbow Dash

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go inside, but carefully.



__________________ 
I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.

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Ben
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(Fear not, for I have not forgotten you all. It's just the end of the semester again here at college so things are a little busy. I'll have the next part of the story up probably by this weekend. My last day of class is Wednesday, and then I just have a week of tests.)



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"It needs to be about 20% cooler." --Rainbow Dash

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