Lost...and Found?! A Surprise CYOA

[Ruriska]

It was a shame Itsy Bitsy hadn't been born with the web building skills of her spider brethren. She imagined a strong line of silk would have helped make carrying the heavy metal a lot easier. But alas, that was not one of her gifts.

But she had been blessed with extra limbs and she used them to tackle some of the more awkward shaped metal. She also made sure to bend and lift with her knees, following proper worksafe protocol.

As she worked, she listened out for the others and hoped the other teams would be alright. The poor trapped Phonies were so close to freedom. They couldn't fail now.

D: Lift with your knees and arms.

[thy]

Other than the Strongarm who'd come along with them, it looked like the rescue team was all babbies, so they'd have to get pretty creative if they wanted to do any real damage to this fence. She spent most of the wait time thinking. Digging would take too long, and they didn't have much strength between them...no, she still had no idea what role she'd play when the time came.

They didn't have forever, though. She rushed forward with her team - someone else was already picking the lock, which seemed like the best course of action for a babby - oh, that pegasus had the right idea, didn't she? But it'd be a lot better if she had help, especially if it was directed well. "Hey!" Lemma called, looking over at that poor alicorn on the other side of the fence. "We've almost got you all outta there - but I think it can go faster if we all focus on...this spot!" She picked somewhere lower to the ground, so that everyone could reach it easily with their hooves (and then run through it later). There were so many phonies here, after all: as long as they all focused, they'd be able to make their own weak spot.

D: Be the director B)

[Blinded By Silence]

Sword-Sworn nodded as the others of the distraction team got to work. She was particularly impressed with Paper Tiger's screeching, man could that little voice carry! It was the trama, she would bet on that. Trama always gave Main Characters some pretty cool abilities. Ess didn't want to interfere, PT had earned their screaming match far more than she had, so she went off to go help knock over some plastic piles.

B: Knock down a plastic pile to imply some sort of movement across the river.

[Scaramouche Fandango]

At first, the plan seems to go off without a hitch. The distraction team does their job perfectly, and the bridge team gets the bridge in place. The rescue team, after a few quick hugs, herds the whole group out and over the bridge...

And that's when the ground starts shaking violently. Rhythmic thuds get closer and closer, shaking the bridge loose from its pivot post and into the molten plastic. The guards stop, bracing themselves. Something is coming, something big...

"U-NYE-LOO-LAY-DOO?"

The group stops, staring in awe as the prototype comes into view. Its sharp beak gnashes as its eyes whirl furiously. Its fur is matted and studded with little bits of plastic, its mane bristles with rage as it stares you down.



"It's ok, we're on the other side of the riv-" Catch begins to say... and then it steps right into the molten plastic, seemingly immune to the melting effect on its fur.



What do you do now?
A: Run
B: RUN
C: RUN!
D: RUN!!!

@Maxx @Jun @Blinded By Silence @Syrcaid @Nym @thy @purpleroses @Ruriska @FrostyPeaches

[Blinded By Silence]

Sword-Sworn was not one to spook easily. She was the one who laughed in the face of danger, who bore her bravery (maybe not as silently) as the heroes she idolized. But this?

This scared her.

She felt all of her fur stand up on end as the monstrosity rose to its full height. Her mouth tried numerous times to form words, she wanted to move, to help, but she was frozen. It wasn't until the damned thing walked right through the molten river that the ice in her veins began to boil as panic shot through her.

"R-r-run!" She cried, scattering plastic as she turned to bolt.

D: RUN!!!

[Maxx]

Paper Tiger turned back from the friends she had returned for, joyously partaking in the loving comradeship that only Phonyland could provide. Their assortment of bright colours almost lit up the gloom of the cave with the glow of friendship. Paper Tiger had learnt despite her fears, size, and absolute cowardice, she would not regret being a loyal and loving Phriend, and would never regret risking her short life to find them again.

Then she turned to see the monster that put jorts to shame.

Ah, so this was the (many times) aforementioned Trauma that wiped all recollection of this plastic wasteland under a hollow mountain. Most definitely. She could almost feel her memories being wiped at this very moment and being replaced with primal terror.

"WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY" she cried, D. RUN(NING)!!!

[Jun]

In that moment, Diamond decided she would never partake in one of these CYOAs expeditions again.

She turned around and chose to E. All of the above D: RUN!!!

[Syrcaid]

"Holy shhhhhh...!!" Nightvine rarely swore, but this was that special reserve kind of time to swear. 

The sort of swear reserved for tea with the royalty. A fine cask of vintage stuff that was saved for a hundred years or so.

His legs were already moving before the rest of him even knew what was going on.

"HOW DID IT GET SO FLUFFYyyyyyyyy...!!??" It was clear there were several parts of his brain and body that hadn't caught up to firing on all cylinders.

D: RUN!!!

[spoiler][/spoiler]

[purpleroses]

Torte could feel her heart pounding in fear and excitement. What the hell WAS that?

Despite part of her curiosity getting to her, she wasn't about to actually find out. She bolted, as fast as her little legs and wings would take her. She was not gonna stick around for long!
"Everyone run!!" she shouted.


D: RUN!!!

[FrostyPeaches]

They did it? All of these old phonies were saved? Didn't that seem a little too easy?

Bullseye checked them out as they reunited with one another and started to get a little too chatty as they walked. Which one looked like Paper Tiger's family? None of these looked like anyphony... Who are they?

Her inner thoughts was once more interrupted by the shaking of the ground. Did the hippos come back? Turning around to see what it was, she only managed to catch a few words from the monstrosity coming towards them. It stepped on the gross liquid river of goop like it was unsinkable.

"U WAT DO?" she screamed as she ran as fast as she could, now desperately wishing that she really had wings to fly with. This search party was more like death's party. "OK BYEEE!"

Just up ahead, she noticed the orange babbin. Paper Tiger had to outrun faster than the saved lot. "GOODNEWS, NONE OF THEM LOOK LIKE YOU. ONLY YOU NEED TO LIVE, WE CAN SACRIFICE THE OTHERS!"  Nudging her from behind to add some speed to her short legs, Bullseye needed her to hurry up. "BUT YOU GOTTA RUN FASTERRRR!! DON'T LOOK BACK! WE GOTTA GO!!!"


D: RUN!!!




[spoiler]

[/spoiler]

[Nym]

Wh-
Ho-

THEY WERE ALL GOING TO DIE. This was it! Weatherly did the one thing he wished he had done numerous times before; he RAN!

D. Run!!!

[thy]

The relief from their success was short-lived. Lemma hardly had the time to ask after any of these Phonies' names (she didn't, er, know them, it seemed) before the ground started its violent quake.

What had Phonyland's propietors been doing? Lemma couldn't stick around to get a sense of what this thing was: all she could do was D. RUN!!!

[Ruriska]

Everything had been going so well. Their plan was coming together, everyone playing their part. But then it] appeared.

Itsy Bitsy didn't know what it was but she reacted how any other spider would when faced with a large dangerous creature that wanted to squash them - she ran!

D: RUN!!!

[Scaramouche Fandango]

If it had just been them, if they'd tried to get out alone from under the mountain, it would have never worked. They would have all been trapped, imprisoned with their friends by the mad beast and its lackeys.

But the Strongarms got them back up as they scrambled through the darkness. The jorts field was dangerous, but the Strongarms shoved them through.

The hippos were neutralized by the Transmorphers, pushing plastic down on them from above.

The Faux helped them up, carefully lifting them into vehicles and driving them to safety.

And each of these were accompanied by Tolls, braving the deeper darkness to come to the aid of these topsider strangers.

It shouldn't have worked, but it did. It did! A daring rescue from the scrapheap of history. The phonies found themselves collapsed in a group, mixed with the friends who had helped them. There was much in the way of hugging and kissing and tears of joy and sadness. They'd done it! They'd rescued their friends, and together they would leave this mountain. It had been an arduous journey, but they'd done it. Through the magic of friendship, the missing phonies had been rescued... and now they all knew about the dangers that lurked in the mountains outside of Phonyland. The prototype Phurby was still out there, after all- waiting for anyone foolish enough to spelunk where it lurked.