Miracle CYOA

>>29608294
Well, if I'm fine I want to go see if Twilight survived. Whatever she's done she's still magic. And magic is friendship.

>>29608323
How sappy. But I agree.

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>>29608323
>>29608381
"I'll go see what happened to them." I struggle to my hooves.
"Jack, none of the others--"
I just look at her, trembling for entirely too many reasons.
"I'll go alone." I say terminantly.
She doesn't answer.
Once outside Sarim's door it takes effort to climb to the second floor with my burned hindquarters, but I grit my teeth and weather it.
Heat hits me the instant I exit the tower.
The giant, in a

(Too many burns, too mu-- too mu-- too much da--)

crater, looks back at me-- eye contracted to a pinprick and a few hands, spread around, twitching on the flo

(I have to find her to restart this--)

or in a try to reach me.
Water condensates and flows to the giant, it's flesh reforming little by little.
My head hurts.
My eyes feel odd, as if everything looked just a little different.
I do all I can to fight off the feeling of sickness that accompanies Twilight being nearby- And all I manage is to stay conscious and on my hooves.
Twilight shouts, dragging herself out of the crater, her voice filled with pain and fury in equal amounts.
Her horn alights, but it dies off immediately with a burst of blood from her ears.

>>29608813
Save her.

>>29609218
How.

>>29609436
I dunno. Run to her and get her away from the giant. Neither of them can kill each other and this is going nowhere.

>>29608813
Call out to her.

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>>29609591 >>29609218
>>29610387
I climb down again and, without hesitation, jump down the window.
She notices me immediately-- My fall is not discrete in the least, the already scorched earth ascending in a dust cloud around me.

(Can't let her can't let her can--)

If I hadn't seen her a moment before I'd think nothing happened to her.

"Twilight!" I shout, blood boiling,
"What?" To anyone who didn't know her she'd sound perfectly calm, talking just loud enough for me to hear across the distance. "This place is dangerous. You'd do well to go away." She pauses for a heartbeat, unblinking. "From this tower. From everything in it."

>>29610528
It is more dangerous for you. I have my friends with me, and we all protect each other. You are alone. Let me protect you like you tried to protect me, Twi.

>>29610528
Not if you don't go trying to fight the giant it isn't.

>>29610528
No can do twiggles. There's a miracle at the top of the tower and I need it.

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>>29610533 >>29610581 >>29610893
"How much of that danger is there because of you!?" I shout.
"I put no danger in your way. Only barriers, intended not to be trespassed- to be turned away from."
"And do you think I'd turn away?" I start advancing to her, "Do you think I, of all people, would give up!?" Tears stream down my cheeks, "Do you think I'd turn away from my memories and myself!?"

("Applejack? Applejack! What's happening!", Calls Truth to me.)


She walks to me too, and with a pang of fury I realize it's only to take even the dignity of being the one to bear on her from me. "I took nothing of value." She lowers her head to be at eye level with me, and for an instant her disguise falls, "Your argument does not bear it's own words. You sought to remember because, even without memories, you were yourself. Because you have always been one integral piece, unferettable and unbreakable by any force in this world or any other." She touches my cheek fondly and I punch her hoof away even when I can barely stand, and an iota of obvious emotion enters her voice for the first time, "You are yourself, and that's why I love you as much as I do."
"Why!?" The word raises through my throat like bile, a bawl that makes me feel ashamed, "Why did you do that to me if you, if you...!?" The word won't come, too tainted by everything that's happened.
"Because if I could do this to you," She gulps, "Because if I can do what you need me to, the others will be easy in comparison."

>>29611046
I defy you to tell me any reason that would require taking all our memories. You say my argument is unfounded? Justify your own.

>>29611046
Fine. If I'm still me underneath all the magic you inflicted on me, then you're still you under all the terrible things you've done to me and others. And if you're still you then you must know inside why what you are doing is wrong. Whatever you are trying to do, please work with us instead of against us.

>>29611107 >>29611118
"The others?" I wonder if I don't feel anything because I am simply too overfilled for it to fit, or because I already knew this on some level. "You'll do this to all of them?"
She nods patiently, "Rarity made the rest of us make do without her. I will not make the same mistake."
I just look at her, struggling to process all of this, and a single word is all I can manage: "Why?"
"Telling you would miss the point, wouldn't it?"
"No! You can't-!" Anger is the only thing I can manage, so I use that, "You can't be so high and mighty, tell me why! Explain me your reasons, if you like picking mine apart so much!"
Her expression shifts in a way that I can't help but think is that of a director whose script was just wasted, "You do have to ask that, don't you..."
"Yes! I don't know how you've changed, but if there's anything of the mare I know-" I sob, "If there's anything of my friend in there, you'd know how wrong this all is! How much you've hurt me!"
"What you do in the tower is outside my grasp. To blame me for your actions, to say I am the villain while you make me watch as you run against a wall, again and again..." Her wings flare and she advances, horn alight and ears bleeding, to offer me a trembling hoof, "It's the height of hypocrisy, and it tears me apart. Grab my hoof, Applejack. Come with me if you truly are my friend."

>>29611554
I am not blaming you for my actions. I am blaming you for yours. I know that what I do in the tower is my decision, but taking my memories against my will was yours. If you want me out of the tower, tell me why. Maybe it will be a good reason. Maybe I will be convinced. Your current method doesn't do anything but irritate me because I have no reason to stop doing what I am doing. Give me a reason to stop instead of trying to stop me.

And I offer you a counter proposal. Instead of taking your hoof, take mine. Come with me back into the tower and leave the giant behind. Let us try to heal you.

>>29611554
Don't get so defensive and don't change the subject. I didn't say you were the villain I just said you hurt me. Now answer the goddamn question.

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>>29611597 >>29611607
I look at her, reading beyond all the masks she wears -for my sake and for her own- noticing her every twitch and every glimmer on her eyes, and even the way she breathes.
Fear, anger, frustration, hurt... hope, and....
And cold, utter, calculating determination, equal in volume and opposite in means to mine.
I lift my hoof, but don't touch hers.
Both of us stand still for a moment, trembling.
"This is me making the same offer." My jaw trembles when I speak, "Grab my hoof. Come with me."
"That defeats the whole purpose of this." She doesn't lower hers. I don't either.
"I hate you." I say plainly, trying to muster some calm. "I can't lie about that. I hate you for all you've done to me. But I also hate you because you did this being my friend. If you came with me..." I am at a loss of words for a moment, "If you came with me, I could try to forgive you."
She just looks at me, and after a moment starts reciting: "And thereupon stood two dancers, communing despite their transgressions. Each offered her hoof, what she believed to be true salvation, and each beheld the other's hoof, what she believed to be utter doom."
I don't answer. Her horn dies down, but her wings stay flared.
"That's a warning as much as an offer, Applejack. I have been patient until now," She flaps her wings, raising, "I won't be anymore. Turn away now, or face me."
"Don't go." Is all I can manage to say.
"You could've come with me." Is all she says.
She flies up to the structure in the sky.
I turn away- to the tower, and head for it again.
The wind blows past the trees, and I feel cold.
"AJ?" Lud peeks in from the window of the second floor and extends down a rope for me to climb. fastening its other end. "I didn't feel it was my place to interrupt. Do you want to talk about it?"

>>29611904
>You could've come with me.
You could have given me a reason to bitch.

>>29611904
She wanted me to leave the tower but refused to tell me why. I asked her several times and she just would not give me any reason. She just hurled insults instead. I almost wish she HAD convinced me to leave. This place is horrible.

>>29611963
Because she's an idiot. If want someone to trust your judgement without asking why then it would be a good idea to explain why the things you are doing that look awful are actually alright.

>>29611972
I agree that her methods are making us MORE likely to press on instead of less and she cannot see it, but bear in mind that she IS quite insane by this point.

>>29611990 >>29611972
>>29611963 >>29611931
I climb he rope and stand besides her, feeling too spent to talk immediately.
"Jack?" Her voice is filled with concern.
"She..." I breath deeply, "I don't recognize her." I fall against the wall.
"Nothing?" Her hoof approaches her mouth, a gesture she must've taken from Rarity.
The idea is oddly amusing to me, amusement that is then overwashed by another fit of weariness.
"She had the same twitches and lied the same way, but I don't recognize her." Is this apathy, or am I simply too tired to feel sadness right now? "She wouldn't lie to me, and stopped dodging the issue if I pressed her to."
The look Lud gives me is odd and distant, and and she doesn't seem to find words at first, "Jack? Do you want to sleep?"
I nod weakly. I could use resting right now.
"And do you want to not wake up again?"
I don't know how to process the question at first, which seems to worry her more, "If you ever feel like that, please tell us." She works her mouth for a moment, and all I can think of is how odd that habit is considering she has no tongue, "I know-- knew people like that. And I never could help them because they never admitted it. Please don't be like that too."
I nod weakly, not knowing what else to do, and head for Sarim's door.
He notices me but doesn't say anything, instead pointing quietly in a direction and moving out of my way. I follow his direction, and find Mirria sleeping on a mat under the trees.
It'd be a lie to say I do anything but collapse. Truth asks me something, but I shrug it off- I can answer it sometime later.
Mirria wakes up in shock under me, but when she sees my face she simply slides to a more comfortable position -one where her bandaged wings won't be pressed painfuly- and wraps her legs around me.
It feels good to be the small spoon every once in a while.
There are worse ways to fall asleep.

Paused. Bump if you feel like it, I'll write a prompt tomorrow if it hasn't 404d.

>>29613237

>>29613742

>>29614573

Unadorned armor, glimmering violet...
...Fractured pauldrons, destroyed between the weight and the shoulders that bear it...
...Pierced chest armor, blood flowing over it...
...Bent knees, unable to straighten anymore.

Something awakes me. I make the effort of standing and, after realizing how low it is, do so with my head tall. Rainbow would be mad if I had bad poise- ruins your back, she insists.
"I didn't want to wake you up." The head of the Twilight-looking machine that spoke to me earlier floats besides Ludwig in telekinesis, "I made it work again. Sort of. But the thing insists only you are authorized to talk with it." A burst of electricity flares from the thing's horn, making Ludwig yelp, "And it keeps doing that." She leaves it in the floor besides me.
"Unauthorized access to systems detected." Says the head simply. "Undo the alterations or contact an authorized user."

>>29616696
Hello yes I am the apple.

>>29616696
I told it that if it couldn't help protect either me or Twilight it should return here to me.

>>29617056
Also that when it returns to me it should ask me what to do next which is why it is here I think.

>>29616815
I grab the head, "I am Applejack."
"Confirming voice print... main databases unreachable, using cached copy. Identity confirmed, User Applejack authorized. Please, undo all changes to the system."
"What changes?"
"Main energy system not found. Secondary energy system not found. Tertiary energy system added, not sanctioned by the main database. Radio communications system not found. Etheric communications system not found. Geolocalization systems not found. Repeated tries to access the main data loop. Repeated tries to tamper with the data relay loop. Subspace relay present, but nonfunctional for unknown reasons."
"What happened to all those?" I ask Lud.
"You think I'd guide Twilight here?" She gives me a bothered look, "I took out anything that looked like it could."
"Queen of lies." Says a familiar voice behind me.
"What?" I ask aloud, turning to see no one.
My vision flashes green again, another headache splitting my head.
"Purple widow, killing her beloved."
"Applejack?" Asks Ludwig.
"Who are you?" I ask, not expecting an answer.
"What's wrong?" Ludwig looks around too, "We are alone."
Truth's voice comes to me, "What in Tartarus happened before?"
"And thereupon stood...." The unknown voice fades for a moment, "...still as the world moved."

>>29617863
I talked to Twilight and asked her to share her truth. She declined.

>>29617863
Tell them what happened and about truth.

>>29617863
I've got more voices and more headaches. Same old same old.

Bemp
No connection other tgan my mums 3 g, wgich i dont want to use, so paused for the night

>>29618789