Crystal Symphony [CYOA]

“Let’s hear them out,” you ask Red Sulfur with a nudge of your shoulder.

“All of them are identical,” he smirks at you, “Left, straight, or right – they all share the same kind of difficulty…”

Your journey to the Dragon Spire is as wearisome and hard as your travels through the Crystal Mountains before it. The ridge of the mountains, uncannily similar to a spine of a real dragon, quickly turns into a torture test of sharp ridges and unimaginably hot surfaces. For you, this problem is more or less nonexistent; for Red Sulfur, however, this is something that can injure or outright kill him. For this, you take him on your back, reluctant as you are about this.

He is unhappy and prideful about this as you, but in the end, he rationally agrees; it’s weird to be happy about the fact that neither of you is enjoying this. You pass through the volcanic terrace and find yourself on a flat, heated highland. Before you there is a gigantic cave entrance which, again, shares a resemblance with skull of a dragon. The bottomless darkness of the cavern is eerie and dramatic; certainly, it makes ones imagination go wild with terror.

“Is there anybody out there?” you ask through the darkness as you begin to approach the entrance with a slow pace.

“You know if there’s a dragon there we are dead. There must be a reason they say to never visit this place...”

“In the diary it mentions Salt Sphere and Nifty Ribbon visiting, though; wouldn’t make sense with a dragon, right?”

Then, suddenly, Red Sulfur moves his head away from something that is not yet there. Out of the darkness emerges a flying rock that, despite the stallion’s best reaction and reflexes, strikes him straight into his forehead. The stallion cries in pain, stumbles back and falls on the barren, stone surface underneath him. With an open wound, he’s bleeding.

>What do you do now?

>>29452316
Protect. Stand between Red and where it came from. Demand that whoever is there to reveal themselves. We come in peace.

>>29452316
Trow a light spell in there, we must revel whoever it is.

>>29452558
Let's only use magic if they insist on being hidden.

File: CS Nifty Ribbon.png (45KB, 720x539px) Image search: [Google]

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“H-hey, are you alright there?” you ask Red Sulfur as you immediately come to his protection.

“Damn it,” he curses as his hood, voluntarily, tightens around his wound like a band-aid, “What was that?”

“Whoever you are,” your crystal, hollow voice echoes into the darkness, “Stop. We come in peace.”

There’s a momentum silence during which you and Red Sulfur exchange hesitant, fleeting glances. You take a deep, mental sigh and then, more than confident, you take a step forward only to have another rock smash right into your chin. The implausible power and force behind the throw cracks and breaks off a small part of your jaw into splinters.

“By Amore’s grace, stop throwing your stupid rocks!” you screech in anger and annoyance as you directly invoke the dark powers inside of yourself and scribble down the symbols of yet another spell. Your body bursts into a massive, black smog that devotedly twists and forms into a much bigger than usual ball of cold, hellish radiance. Without any hesitation you send the ball right into the cavern. The pure brightness blinds the rock throwing mare and exposes the rest of the cave to your glare.

>Body Changes:
06% [-1] Alicorn ‘Dark’ Magic [Magic]
02% [+1] Volatile Arcane [Magic]

28% [-1] Crystallized Flesh [Crystal]
01% [+1] Crystalline Debris [Damage]

The pony sitting inside is a mare that you recognize without a shadow of doubt – Nifty Ribbon. The cavern around her appears to be destroyed and tarnished in multiple, some unbelievable and unimaginable, ways. Before her lies an ebon hued, eldritch book – the Crystal Note. In the hooves of the mare you see a strange, sparkling ring the glow of which resembles the glow of her deep, lost eyes. You can see her Cutie Mark too – it is a hoof throwing a rock…

“D-don’t come any closer,” she whispers towards you two in her harsh and tired voice. She’s three years older now.

>What do you do now?

>>29452761
Nifty... what are you doing here?

>>29453001
Also try to convince her that it's us, Aurora Flare, her old music teacher.

“Nifty, what are you doing here?” you ask after you manage to calm yourself, barely.

“I don’t know you,” she mutters and then, hesitantly, raises her head at you, “Your presence makes me uncomfortable.” There’s a creepy silence as Nifty Ribbon silently stands up from the cold, stone floor and tiredly lowers her eyes, “A Crystal Golem, yes, I see. So this is what it was all about…” The young, teenage mare tightens the strange ring in her hoof and then, with a haste jump, she charges at you. You notice her previous Cutie Mark engulfing into powerful, blue fire; on its place is a completely novel, different Cutie Mark: a shattered golem.

“Nifty Ribbon,” you barely manage to avoid her, surprisingly powerful, attack, “Come to your senses!”

“My senses,” she tiredly wobbles her head towards you, “My senses are fine. It is my destiny to destroy golems of the Shadow Tyrant, after all. If it is my destiny, then I’m going to follow it diligently; it’s only fair.”

“No-no,” Red Sulfur grunts with annoyance as he waves his hoof towards Nifty, “I think you’re in wrong here.”

“You make me uncomfortable, too,” she flinches a glare in his direction, making the stallion shudder.

“Listen, Nifty,” you plea for her as she attempts to smash her hoof in your face, “I’m your teacher, Aurora Flare!”

“Aurora,” she pauses, “You are not Aurora; you are a crystal golem. It is my destiny to destroy golems such as you.”

>What do you do now?

>>29453189
Tell her want we know about her, how she never like our music classes because she was not musically adept and she started to skip our classes. Also the last thing she ask us is why we choose to be a teacher and not a conductor.

“Nifty Ribbon, I’m your school teacher,” you attempt to explain as her fist flies into your direction once again, “Aurora Flare, please, try to remember. You’ve skipped my classes because you were not musically adep-”

You manage to dodge again, barely, as he hoof passes a few inches above your head. You sense magic in her hoof.

“My special talent should be crushing the likes of you! I should be hitting you, what am I doing wrong?” she gasps and shouts and then stops death on her tracks, “This is wrong… It’s not my destiny. I’m a failure at this, right?”

“This is not your destiny, Nifty Ribbon, please listen to me. This is not what you are; this is not your destiny! Please, I’m here to help you, but I need you to stop attacking me. Do you remember asking me about my Cutie Mark?!”

“Of course, you are right,” your student takes an empty breath, “My destiny is… my destiny is…” She silences herself in though as the vivid, blue flame engulfs over her flank once more. “What is it… what is it?! To be left alone?”

For now, she is simply standing there, thinking.

>What do you do now?

>>29453815
Oh Nifty. You can't force your cutie mark, or destiny. Please, Nifty Ribbon, listen to me. Tell her what happened to us and why we're here.

>>29453815
We got to get the ring away from her, it's messing her up.

“Oh Nifty, you can’t force a Cutie Mark or destiny; you know that. You just have to wait until it appears eventually.”

“No,” she mutters painfully underneath her breath, “That’s not true; you just have to know what it is. My Cutie Mark have never appeared, it didn’t had to.” The teenage mare raises her empty eyes at you; she has a hurt smile plastered over her face. “I know my destiny now,” she silently tightens her hold over the strange magical ring, “Of course, my special talent was to find this ring and use it. Salt Monument entrusted me with this; I’m good at this.”

“Nifty,” you stumble, “You are not making any sense here. Please, I want to tell you what happened to me-”

“Are you here for the Crystal Note?” she asks blandly as her new Cutie Mark begins to take shape, “Are you?”

“Help me out here, Red Sulfur,” you grumble at the injured stallion with a note of apology afterwards.

“Huh?” he asks with inattention as he then casts his eyes towards Nifty, “I can throw something at her, I want to.”

>What do you do now?

>>29454069
Well she's not attack us, but that ring is not good at all. We should inform her that the group got capture by the vaiser.

>>29454069
The ring changes her cutiemark. No, Red. I'm to talk with Salt.

“No,” you shake your head at Red Sulfur in negative, “I’ll talk this over with her.”

Red Sulfur simply shrugs his shoulders back in response; he then painfully rubs his slowly bleeding gash.

“Nifty Ribbon,” you attempt to harden your voice to one of a teacher, “I’m here for the Crystal Note too, yes, but I’m here for you as well. You are the only one left; all of your friends from the “Revolution Song” have been captured.”

“…That is a ruse,” she pauses in shock, “No, that can be right. You captured them and now you’re here for me!”

“No,” you shout at Nifty Ribbon in panic, “They have been captured for a while now, by the Vizier none the less.”

“No,” she shakes her head at you, “We took all safety measures to avoid her… It only makes sense she’ll be here with a golem and one of her servants.” Nifty Ribbon takes another, deep breath. Her eyes open wide as she notices Red Sulfur crawling in the dark that has consumed the cavern the moment your spell finally fragmented; you are able to see her Cutie Mark transforming into another one: a skeletal hoof chained by a rusty metal chain to a crystal note.

“Ugh,” You are able to hear Red Sulfur blurt out in pain, although you are unable to see where he is located.

“I know now, my special destiny is to protect it from you,” her powerful, menacing voice echoes, “I’m not going to give you this book for as long as I live,” her voice grows in a crescendo, “If you are really her, then leave me alone.”

>What do you do now?

>>29454548
Red! Are you okay!? Nifty, if you know me, then I have never left you alone. Even when you wanted to be alone. Let me help you Nifty.

>>29454548
Huge this broken poner, she is broken for years of trying to find her destiny. Now she has a ring that force a density onto her to what she fully believe in.

“Sulfur, are you okay?!” you ask him through the darkness, “Red Sulfur?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” the stallion whispers through his clenched teeth, “I’ll just... go, stay somewhere far away.”

“Stay close, I might need your help if things turn sour,” you tell him with a mental smirk; he shrugs back, probably.

With a deep, determined nod you take a step into the darkness to find and approach the poor mare sitting in pure segregation at the very end of the cavern. The closer you get, the more you are able to distinguish her features. It is certain that the reign of King Sombra and the hardships of war took their toll on everypony, and Nifty is not an exception. Her usually clean and blonde muzzle is decorated with scars, bruises and wounds. Her mane is spoiled and drenched too. She has been fighting for her life and future against the predators and soldiers of Sombra alike.

Nifty Ribbon is broken, she certainly is. To never find your Cutie Mark is a horror than you can imagine quite easily. Now, she is in possession of a ring that enforces any wish, any destiny she wants, on herself. But it is a genie; it is a false desire fulfilment - a lie. Cutie Mark is a part of you, and everytime she changes it, it changes who she is. You stop in front of clutching and cowering pony without any hostility, or emotions present. In her hooves there is a blue, magical ring of destiny and the Crystal Note. She looks at you with a fragile glance.

“What do you want?” she asks.

“I want to help you,” you say, “Just like the last time, Nifty Ribbon. Tell me what is bothering you.”

“Please, leave,” she murmurs as she bits the lower end of her lips, “If you do, I’ll do something right, finally.”

“Nifty Ribbon,” you tenderly elevate your voice, “Tell me what is bothering you.”

“It is my destiny to protect the Crystal Note; it is our only way to defeat Sombra and his lackeys. This is my fate.”

>What do you do now?

>>29455007
Is this what you really want, being stuck in a cave for the rest of your life, with no one to talk to because of a stupid book?

“Is this what you really want to do, Nifty? Be stuck in a cave for the rest of your life – with no pony to talk to?”

There’s a small, scarcely visible spark of blue in her presently clouded and hollow eyes. She is no rush to respond, an uncomfortable twitch jumps by her face. She vividly wobbles her head and turns to face you, “This is what I’m good that, this is my destiny, it is my special talent,” she pauses and wiggles the note closer to herself, “It’s my Mark.”

“No,” you softly place your hoof on her shoulder. With a scared, uncomfortable gesture she immediately shrugs it off. “This is not your destiny, Nifty Ribbon. No destiny is so cruel to force a pony to abandon their life to solitude.”

“T-then what is the mark that I have? If I fail my only purpose in life, then I am nothing. I will not fail it …or them.”

“Tell me, Nifty Ribbon,” you kneel before her with a ginger sit, “Who is it that you must protect this note from?”

“I-,” she hesitates, “I do not know? From everypony bad who wants to have it; from Shadow King and the Vizier?”

“From everypone, Nifty Ribbon? Nopony, but you, is to have this book for themselves?”

“T-that’s right,” she falters once again, “I think that is right? Oh no, am I interpreting my Cutie Mark wrong?!”

>What do you do now?

>>29455562
I truly wonder what will happen if we say "Yes, I do think so. Just look at it. You're bind to the book like a slave, and the skeletal look of the hoof can't mean anything good for you. Do you want to lie there, bare bones, over this cursed book?"

Yeah, let's do it. If that won't work I'm opting for just punching her in the face just enough to knock her out, then get the fucking ring far away from her. After that it could be better to talk.

>>29455941
>harming our own student
I know we stop being a teacher because of sombre, but she is still our student.

>>29455972
And do you have any idea how to make things work without her being a maniac again? I really hope the first suggestion will work, but I am open for alternative solutions.

>>29455941
>Yeah, let's do it. If that won't work I'm opting for just punching her in the face just enough to knock her out, then get the fucking ring far away from her.
Fuck you.

Let's try to ask her to give us the ring.

>>29456089
No fuck you. I am only presenting alternatives if the negotiations will fail. Fucking again.

>>29456089
If that don't work we can hit her the hard truth, she became what she and the "Revolution Song" was fight ageist. A slave to not only the book, but to the ring as well.

You lean your head closer to hers, “I think you are, Nifty Ribbon. I do think so. Look closely at your Cutie Mark and tell me what you see, only honestly?”

Her empty eyes lower to look at her own flank. With a wobble of her lips, she says, “A hoof chained to a book…”

“Exactly, how grim is that, Nifty Ribbon. You are bonded to the book like some sort of slave, now, and the skeletal look of the hoof can only mean one thing – and that is that you won’t let it go until you die. Tell me, Nifty Ribbon, do you want to lay there, dead and rotting, with your bones exposed, all for the sake of this cursed and devilish book?”

“I do not want to,” she whispers uncomfortably with a shake of her head, “But it is up to me to decide. If this is the only thing I can do right. This is the only thing the universe tells me to follow – I must. It is my calling, my destiny.”

You sight, mentally. You imagine a pony telling you that your destiny, your Cutie Mark, is wrong, that it is unhealthy. You wouldn’t believe whoever decided to approach you with such subject, no matter how hard they would try to convince you. It appears that one’s mind and personality swifts with hers Mark. You will have to somehow convince her to change her Cutie Mark to something different, something completely unrelated to this book; or maybe…

“Then give me the ring,” you open your hoof and gently nudge it towards her, “Can you give me your ring?”

“The… ring?” she asks with an unexpected, confused and scared jolt of her head, “I don’t know, I need it.”

“Do you need it?” you ask, “You found your Cutie Mark with its help, did you not? You don’t need it anymore.”

“I’m not so sure… am I?” she asks herself in hesitation, “My destiny has nothing to do with this ring but…”

“Nifty Ribbon,” you give her the most open and honest voice you are able to conceive, “Please, can you give me your ring? My name is Aurora Flare; I am your musical teacher from three years ago. I won’t use it for anything bad.”

“…The ring,” she pauses and carefully opens her hooves to reveal a small, silver ring. The powerful, magical artifact is burning with a crystal-clear, ghostly sapphire flame. You lower your hoof to touch the object for as long as she allows it. Your crystal hoof slides over the abraded surface of the ring, an eldritch magical surge brazing through you. The cursed object attempts to taint you too but, thankfully, your crystal body is nothing less than a prevailing neutralizer.

As soon as you remove the ring from her possession, however, her Cutie Mark immediately crumbles and disintegrates. Her hollow pupils go out only to return to their bright, vivid azure hue soon after. With a gasp and a cough the filly shudders in your presence and then, her tired body is no longer able to support her. She loses conscious and plummets into your open embrace. She’s breathing and alive– the ring didn’t give her much sleep.

>It is said that this ring grants its wearer the ability to change his Cutie Mark. The previous owner of this ring, a hermit blacksmith, was famous across all of Equestrian for creating powerful weapons that could strike down dragons and cut down mountains alike. It is said that he used the power of the ring to do work one pony couldn’t.

>Inventory:
>Ring of Destiny

>What do you do now?

>>29456537
Make sure she will be warm and as healthy as possible when she'll wake up. Also prepare for her to be scared, dunno if she'll remember the encounter. Secure the ring.

I'm actually very glad we didn't have to punch her in the face.

>>29456537
Let grab that book and our student, then head on out back to Trotland Ruin before going back to the Crystal Empire.

>>29456630
>"Hello again, Crystal Note."

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I'm pausing here for today, thank you all for playing. If you could, I would be very happy to hear what you think about the drawing of Nifty Ribbon as well as any feedback towards the Quest so far. Maybe you can leave it here or in CYOA general if you want.

>>29456653
I'm super happy I wasn't the only one to play today. Partly because I was gone most of the time.