Terra Firma

I smirked as the strange group of a unicorn, two pegasus, and metal canine left to “harmonize” the rest of their friends. I followed closely behind, blade resting easily, for this world was hardly dangerous compared to those that I generated. I thought back to my world I named “The Devil’s Soul”, where I had found it to contain the Corruption. I entered another world of mine and gathered Crimstone and crimson seeds, then returned to The Devil’s Soul, where I planted and placed the infectious materials of the Crimson. Building a shelter afterwards, hanging from a floating island, I travelled to the surface time and again, recently finding that everything was now either Corrupt or Flesh. I had revelled in the chaotic beauty the mass of death held, as I saw Ebonstone trapped within the folds of Crimstone, and vice versa. I learned it was a mistake, for I was swarmed by Devourers, Eaters of Souls, Face Monsters, Crimeras, and Blood Crawlers.

I shuddered at the thought, for it was my most recent death. I did not dare venture to recollect my hard won money, instead attempting to make a cleansed area where I could stay in peace, and not fear the great Wyverns that controlled the sky, or the countless abominations that traversed the Corruption and Crimson. I walked into the lavender unicorn, who was apparently harmonizing an acquaintance. My stumbling woke me up, and caused the unicorn to lose its concentration, leaving a very angry dull yellow pegasus.

The enraged being shrieked, forcing the others to cover their ears, while I saw my health drop by a heart from the pure force. The pegasus flew at me, only for me to hit it with the flat of my Adamantite Sword, knocking it sideways. It didn’t deter it, for the creature charged at me again, this time making impact. the shock wasn’t as much as when Rainbow Dash had slammed into me, but it still took away five hearts. The unicorn finally managed to regain its senses, grabbing a hold onto the pegasus and starting to harmonize it again. I sighed, thinking this would be a long day.

An unknown amount of time later, the now large group travelled to a place near the town I was at that was extremely strange. It had upside down floating islands, with unusual creatures running about, and an even stranger being sitting on a throne on a hill. As the group and the being began to monologue, I tuned out and equipped my Legendary Adamantite Sword, prepared to fight. The being noticed this, and turned to me. “My, aren’t you the strangest thing here! I can feel the chaos coming from you, it’s amazing! Do tell me, where are you from? What are you? I could use a little pet like you.”

I glared at the being which had twisted its head upside down while smiling. “I have no reason to answer you, monster. Words will get you nowhere, and if everything else in this place is the average, you will be a cinch to kill. Besides, I could use an easy boss battle.” I smirked as I spoke, hoping the creature was tempted. It didn’t get to answer, before a great beam of colorful light shot from the group of six quadrupeds, leaving the cyan pegasus and metal dog with me. As the flash faded, I saw the creature had been turned into a statue, with a knowing smirk on its stone face. I immediately took out my Adamantite Pickaxe, and mined the statue to keep. As I opened my inventory and looked at the tooltip, it said, “Discord Statue” ‘The Spirit of Chaos, turned to stone. If powered by wiring, he will revert to his original form.’

“Hm, that’s rather interesting. Maybe I can still have that boss battle.” I muttered, blissfully unaware of the looks of shock, outrage, and piqued curiosity that were being sent my way. I then put an Angel Statue on my hotbar, and placed it, out of spite. These statues were completely useless, even according to the Merchant NPC. Why not mess with the minds of these simple creatures? The group just stared at the statue and myself, bemused. I couldn’t hold in my laughter anymore, and I fell to the ground, guffawing.

I felt a sharp pain on my cheek, and I looked up to see a frustrated lavender unicorn, apparently the one who slapped me. “What’s so funny? We just turned Discord back into a statue, then you somehow take the statue and place THIS useless piece of junk!” It berated, sweeping a hoof back to the Angel statue. “Give us back the statue, and give us all an explanation on what you are.”

I sobered up, opening my inventory and dropping the requested furniture. I then proceeded to remove the Angel Statue, that the white and purple unicorn from earlier had been admiring. I realized that items I placed still retained the original qualities from Terraria, my universe, and I saw that the Angel Statue had remained in the midground. “YES!” I shouted, pumping an armored fist in the air. I rushed over to the library that I woke up in after being knocked out, flew up the stairwell and set my spawnpoint on a starry sky-sheeted bed, before flashing back outside to the group, puffing for air. “I’m… *pant* Not… *pant* Used to… *pant* Running out of… *pant pant* Breath when running.” I gasped before straightening up. “This world has a core, correct?” I questioned, receiving confused nods in return. “Then I’m going to Hell. Adios!” I cried, before tunneling rapidly into the depths of the world. My pit kept the familiar aspects of foreground, midground, and background, making me feel secure, having some shreds of my worlds.

I suddenly felt extreme heat, as if there was lava right below me. I broke open a single block to peer through, only for magma to gush through and drain my health. “Terra Firma likes to play in magma.” Said the death message, as I felt the energy that was my form swirl in the void, waiting to be reborn. Whenever I died, I felt immense pain, but then nothing. I always entered a black void, that held a faded view of where I had left the world, and the words ‘You Are Dead...’ in the center of it, screaming and mocking me. I coalesced, materializing next to the bed where I set my spawnpoint. “Oh my dryads… That was not fun.”

I drank a Greater Healing Potion, before trudging back to the site where I died. As I arrived, I saw the group from earlier gazing mournfully at the pit that I dug, as the molten rock that incinerated my body swirled deep below. “Don’t bother looking for my gravestone. They don’t have any monetary value.” I stated, walking up behind them. “Terra! We thought you were dead! I notified the Princesses when you didn’t come back up, they should be here soon.” The lavender unicorn shouted, tear stains marking its face. “I DID die. Didn’t you see the death message?”

“We did.” A regal voice sounded from behind me, causing the others to whirl in shock, before bowing. I simply turned my head, casting a quick glance, before shrugging. “And who exactly are you? Another stupid creature with no knowledge of the world?”

The unicorn from earlier gasped, before shrieking, “That’s Princess Celestia! She’s not stupid!” “Calm down, Twilight Sparkle. This being’s insult means nothing to me.” ‘Celestia’ said, and then another voice spoke. “But it did to me,” said a midnight blue creature, the was flapping its wings in front of me, dressed in silver regalia. Its horn glowed dark blue, and suddenly I was floating above the ground. “Put me down, you imbecile. I’m a damn Terrarian, I could slay you where you are!”

A slap across the face from the flying creature. “Not until you apologize to us!” I sneered, seeing how I didn’t take a lick of damage. “I see no reason to. You are not an NPC, and yet you are not a stupid, docile creature like a squirrel or rabbit! You fail to hurt me, so you are an excuse for a mob! Now release me!” I suddenly fell, slipping into the pit I had dug. I flapped my Frozen Wings, launching my form high into the air, before releasing my chilling grip on the air and dropped onto the ground, crouched and in the center of a crater.

“Please. That is not even worthy of a simple slime. Go take some tips from the Eater of Worlds.” I grinned, enjoying the playing quite a bit. I hadn’t even lost a full heart. Suddenly there was a golden flash, and everything went black.

-------------------- Meanwhile, in Requiem --------------------

A lone Ebonstone block sat in the midst of a sea of dirt and stone. It pulsed suddenly, spreading its influence, the infection growing exponentially as more and more blocks were converted. A portal, like the one that brought Terra Firma to Equestria, formed in a cave, where the Crimson and Corruption was spreading. As the respective biomes made contact, a large swath of the different blocks vanished in the midst of light. The Crimson ones appeared deep below the ground level, between Ponyville and Canterlot. The Corruption blocks formed deep in the heart of the Everfree, slowly mutating the dark plant life.

The horrific plagues began to spread.

-------------------- Terra Firma’s POV --------------------

I awoke once again lying down, but this time on the dirt floor. I stumbled to my feet, shaking my head as I checked for any status effects. I saw two in the upper right corner where they showed, one labeled ‘Chaos State,’ and the other, ‘Solar Wind.’ I attempted to dispel them, only to let out a grunt of pain as I lost a few hearts. “Ugh… What happened?”

“You angered the Princesses, that’s what.” Came the snarky and annoyed reply from Twilight Sparkle. “I hope you’re proud of yourself.” I shook my head once again, trying to hide a smile. “I’ll admit, the gold flash left me with two very strange debuffs. And one of them should only appear when I use the Rod of Discord to teleport.”

“Debuffs? Rod of Discord? Teleporting? Seriously, what are you? I’m sure the Princesses want to know as well. That is, if you’re willing to stop antagonizing them.” I pouted, a morose frown on my face, replying, “Awww, but it’s so fun!” A deathly glare was returned, and I immediately shut up. “Alright, I’ll behave. Also, do you have any open housing here? I have an idea.”

“that’s more like it. And I’m sure there are plenty of houses for sale here in Ponyville.” I chuckled at the name, it was so stupid. “Good to hear. I’ll test out my… Idea… Later, when I’m done explaining.” As we walked back to town from the pit I’d dug, which I’d woken up beside, I saw a small patch of fleshy red grass. Shrugging, thinking it was an illusion, I hurried to catch up to Twilight.

After a bit of walking, we arrived at the living tree. I saw a sign outside, and found it said ‘Golden Oaks Library’. We stepped inside, and I found that all the creatures that had been harmonized, as well as the Princesses and the metal canine, cyan pegasus, and a small, purple dragon were waiting. I took a deep breath, before striding forward. “I am Terra Firma, a Terrarian. As far as I know, I am the only one. I think of myself as a Player, because I am able to generate, name, and delete worlds, as well as almost fully interact with my environment. My aspect is split into three parts, the foreground, which all living creatures, as well as most blocks, reside in, the midground, which contains decorations and furniture, and some blocks, and the background, which contains walls. Beyond the background is the sky-wall, or concept of the rest of the world.

“When Twilight had said that I had died, she was right.” Several gasps of shock. “As a Terrarian, I die when my hearts reach zero. They represent my health, with one heart equal to twenty health. I had died by lava when I was attempting to find the Hell on this world.” Celestia butted in, “So the ‘death message’ that we sensed in the fabric of our universe, was you?” I nodded, glad that this one understood. “Correct. In my world, when I die a death message is displayed. They are typically humorous, and I have no idea why. The death message from the lava was “Terra Firma likes to play in magma.” I respawned here, because I had set my spawnpoint using the bed upstairs. My death message is displayed for a few seconds, before fading. During that time, I have a view on the site of my exit of my form, although shaded darkly and the words ‘You Are Dead...’ displayed in a bloody color. After a few seconds, I reform at my spawnpoint, granted a second or two of invincibility.” The alabaster unicorn stood on its hind legs, before falling backwards onto a couch in a swoon. “I am a Softcore Terrarian. This means when I die, I lose half of the money I carried on me. I lost five platinum coins to that lava, and I’m rather upset by that. One platinum coin is equal one hundred gold coins, one gold coin is worth one hundred silver coins, and one silver coin has the value of one hundred copper coins. Most mobs drop copper coins on death, with some dropping silver, and bosses always drop gold.”

The midnight princess that I argued with earlier raised an eyebrow at this. “What, exactly, is a boss? You spoke of it before, but we didn’t understand.” I facepalmed. “Don’t you things have ANY knowledge on the workings of the world?!” Twilight shouted indignantly in response, “We do for OURS, but you come from an entirely different universe!”

My jaw dropped. “What.”

“You heard me.”

“Well, that explains quite a bit. A boss is like a super mob. They have extremely high health all of them upwards of six-thousand health, except for the Brain Of Cthulhu, which has one thousand, but is invincible until you destroy all of the Creepers that follow it.They drop very useful items, specifically Healing Potions, Greater Healing Potions, money, either Demonite Ore or Crimtane Ore, depending on if the world contains the Corruption or the Crimson, and Demonite or Crimtane bars as well. Upon entering Hardmode, they will then drop Hallowed Bars, which cannot be obtained any other way.”

“How does one enter this Hardmode you speak of?”

I shuddered. “Do you truly want to know?”

“I am quite sure.”

Shaking my head, I said a very simple phrase. “Kill the Wall of Flesh.” Upon uttering the name, whispers echoed from everywhere, spooking everyone in the room. I even saw illusions of The Hungry flit from one wall to the other, before vanishing. “And it has not been killed here. Its name holds even stronger power, so much that it could be summoned simply by repeating its title. And if it were to awake, everyone would die.”

The inhabitants of the room were trembling in fear, even the Princesses. “Do you have natural illusions here? I thought I saw some Crimson grass on the way here.” At the shaking of heads, I grew determined. “Then the Crimson is here. I have no idea how, but it’s spreading. I have to go find a way to stop it, and I have to make sure noone accidentally awakens the Brain of Cthulhu.”

“How are you going to do that?”

“I will have to enter the Womb of Death.”

The Princesses looked determined. “Then we shall all come.”

I shook my head, both at their foolishness and their determination. “Then it shall be your death. The creatures of the Crimson will waste no time in rending you limb from limb, and you don’t respawn like me.”

“I must go alone.”