Terra Firma

I felt an insatiable hunger, one I had felt ever since I came to be. I shuffled and moaned, my body ravaged by time, the signs of fights won visible as arrow shafts in my greenish grey body. My red eyes wandered, scanning for life, gazing for the only way to stifle the bottomless pit of my stomach. I found what I needed, what I desired, what I wanted. I could sense the creature, the intruder upon the world, hiding behind a wooden door. I slammed my fists upon the barrier, kicking my feet and grumbling in pain and hunger. I needed to feed… The pain was too much… There! I thought sluggishly, as I managed to smash the door open. I stumbled to the feast, reaching my clenched fists to his warm body, fingers twitching in anticipation. Suddenly a glowing orange and silver blade flashed, carving a gap in my chest. I was knocked back, feeling something new as my body evaporated, watching as the few coins I had gathered through my existence dropped, along with the shards of my form. I felt… Relief.

I was free.
--------------------Terra Firma’s POV--------------------

I watched as the door to the library was flung open, to reveal a Pincushion Zombie. This one was enormous, with a ridiculous eighty health, and a hulking body. With the new aspects of this world, I saw how its ribs shown, barely held back by the pale skin, a sunken pit where the stomach would be. Wooden shafts stuck jaggedly from it, providing a surprisingly effective defense against attacks. Then the eyes… The glowing red eyes flowed with hunger and desire, as if it needed to eat. It reached its clammy arms to me, fingers shaking in their tight fists, held back by rigor mortis. I felt pity for the creature, now that I saw new emotions from it. I swung my Hardlight Blade at the zombie, slicing a massive cut into its chest, immediately putting it out of its misery. As the scraps and chunks of its body fell, I saw a small shower of silver and copper coins drop with the remains, which were now vanishing.

“Wha-what was th-th-that?” I heard Twilight say from behind me, voice quavering with fear. I slowly closed the door, prepared for more mobs, and turned to her, speaking, “A zombie. Native to my worlds. Normally they just seem blank, mindlessly trying to kill me, but this one… It had emotion. I simply put it out of its misery, and got some cash as well.” Fluttershy was next to speak, shaking and hiding behind her mane. “Did you have t-t-t-to k-k-k-k-k-kill it?” She sobbed, staring at where the body had disappeared.

I shook my head at her naivete, then stopped from going down the road of arrogance once more. “Yes, I did, otherwise it would have killed and eaten all of us. I have to go now, more are sure to be attacking the rest of,” I shuddered at the name, disgusted by the pun, “Ponyville.” I then turned around, opened the door, and closed it, before taking flight to find more of the abominations.

I felt an impact, and was knocked out of the sky, as an ovoid thing flitted by on invisible wings, strands of flesh trailing behind it. The Demon Eye, this one the nasty Cataract Eye, turned and arced back to me. I swung my sword, only to get impacted by a normal Cataract Eye from behind, unlike the strange one that interrupted my flight. As the standard monster flew by, I caught a glimpse of another portal like the one I came through in the distance, with all sorts of deadly creatures pouring out. I swung my Hardlight Blade in a panic, luckily slicing the Odd Cataract Eye and the Normal Cataract Eye in half. I rushed to the portal and brought out my Forerunner Pickaxe, swinging hard at the side of the structure, just as a Voodoo Demon flew out, Guide Voodoo Doll clutched in a claw. As the portal was impacted, it shattered, flinging me far, completely ignoring my Ankh Shield. I blacked out to the sight of a Bone Serpent leaping out of the ground, following a swarm of Hell mobs to a mountain range in the distance.

I awoke to a slap in the face. Rainbow Dash was in front of me, hoof at the ready to hit me again. “Don’t do that again.” I stated, scaring the crap out of the cheeky pegasus, causing me to smirk. I saw the sun was in the middle of the sky, the Blood Moon having ended. I stumbled to my feet, before gazing around the town. I gasped in shock, seeing the carnage-or rather, lack of it-that had occurred. The entire town was completely unscathed, not a drop of pony blood anywhere, no doors smashed open. “What.” I said, surprised.

“Yeah, you got knocked out.”

“What.”

“Did you hear me?” Rainbow Dash said, beginning to become exasperated.

“What.” I spoke, this time just in spite, enjoying the reaction I received, which was the pegasus leaving in a huff. I smiled, before walking around, looking for signs of the Blood Moon. There was nothing, not a scratch on the houses, not a shard of broken glass anywhere. A familiar, annoying squish was heard behind me, and I turned to find a Green Slime. “Okay. Seriously, what the fuck happened. WHY IS THERE A DRYADDAMN SLIME HERE?!” I shouted, fists clenched and raised in the air. Said Slime simply vibrated, before bouncing to me again. I sighed and took out my sword, before swinging at the pest. A loud Splat was heard, as the creature blew apart into blobs of gel, and a mouldy wooden staff. The stick was a dark brown, with a smooth curve at the top, and strands of green goo stretched upon the arc. “...” was all I had to say, staring at the Slime Staff.

“That was pointless.” I muttered, before picking up the rare drop and walking back to the library. “Maybe Fluttershy wants a pet blob that flies.” I grumbled, opening the door. Twilight Sparkle was busy reading multiple books, with Isis wandering about the room. “Oh, hey Terra! These books are really amazing! They’re in a really ancient Equestrian language, so I’m busy translating some of them! Isis even helped!” She said cheerfully, looking up from the oddly familiar tomes. “Wait… Isis helped?!” I replied, shocked. “Of course I did.” the Dryad spoke up, startling me even more.

“You-you can talk?! YOU’RE SENTIENT AND YOU NEVER FUCKING TOLD ME?!” I cried, pointing accusingly at the NPC. Isis wore a smirk, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “I was just messing with you. I mean, I came into being here on Equis, of course I can talk.” I fell onto my butt, shell-shocked. If this Dryad had been fooling me ever since she arrived… Did all the other NPCs do that to me as well? “I know what you’re thinking, and no. It’s just here on Equis, where us naturally-generated people can think.” I shook my head, attempting to think clearly. It was good to learn that it’s only here that the NPCs are sentient, otherwise I would have a LOT of explaining to do when I returned to Requiem. Jake the Guide would be so pissed to learn that he was the fifth to arrive…

“So, where exactly did you get those books? They look familiar to me.” I asked, wandering over to Twilight. “We went and got them from the big stone building over near Canterlot. For some reason it was made of these bluish bricks, and there was an old guy kind of like you walking around. There were these weird metal shelves all over the place, with tons of books on them. Did you know that they’re spell books? This one is called Crystal Storm! I’m trying to get it translated to modern Equish, so then I can properly study it. I can hardly wait to publish a research paper on my findings!” I swear, Twilight squeed with excitement, talking about the Crystal Storm. “Wait… Crystal Storm? You found a Crystal Storm at the DUNGEON?!” I yelled, once again shocked.

“What do you mean, dungeon? And there are more of these? I gotta find them!” Twilight misinterpreted, and began prancing about with glee. “Yes, dungeon. You and Isis managed to travel safely into the fucking dungeon, grab multiple books, and you found fucking SPELL BOOKS THAT I CAN’T CREATE UNTIL HARDMODE?!” I cried, face turning red. “You can MAKE these?! That’s incredible!” Came the ignorant response. I just facepalmed, before grumbling and sitting down. “Let me at least try to help. I only know how to cast the spell, and that’s only by literally holding the book out like an idiot.” Twilight sat down and clapped her hooves with happiness, nodding rapidly. I sighed, and got to work.

An exhausting few hours later, we had managed to fully translate the tome. “So, apparently, I can use this book to apply the enchantment to my weapons? But it takes away ALL my mana except for ONE star to add it? Ugh.” I grumbled, glaring at the Crystal Storm tome. “Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleeeeaaase?” Twilight pleaded, giving me the dreaded puppy eyes. My heart melted at the adorable sight, causing me to sigh as I died internally. “Fine. But we’re doing it ONLY to my Megashark, because I don’t want to ruin my sword.” A loud shout of glee and a few minutes of prancing later, I was holding the spell book next to my Megashark, reading some lines out loud. I channeled my mana in a way I never knew I could, and watched in interest as the tome began glowing bright blue, and my mana stars quickly dropped to one, before the used ones vanished. My Megashark glowed a bright blue as well, before a sudden, purple flash blinded Isis, Twilight, and I, leaving us blinking after the light disappeared. I looked at my Megashark, which was now colored an ocean blue, with a magenta barrel, and icy crystals sprouting from the top. I looked at it, and found something new. “Megashard”, in cyan text, showing the highest possible rarity. The tooltip read, ‘Megashark’s twin brother. Shoots crystals along with bullets.’ The stats were the same as those for the Megashark, except it did 50 damage, and used 1 mana as well. I smiled, my eyes shining with a predatory gleam, and I removed my crystal bullets from my ammo slots.

“I suggest you move out of the way. I gotta test this out.” I chuckled, lifting up the weapon threateningly. As the dryad and unicorn scurried away from the firing direction, I pulled the trigger, and laughed maniacally as blue crystals began spewing from the rotating barrels at a ridiculous pace. As five crystals left the barrels in a single second, a single unit of mana was used, steeply draining my ten mana. As my finger left the trigger and the barrel spun down, I smirked at the swarm of glowing holes peppering the wall. “Maybe we should test it outside next time,” Twilight said, staring at the smoldering miniature craters. Isis just laughed, seeing the wreckage I wrought upon the library wall.
--------------------Crimson’s POV--------------------

I was woken up by the sound of bullets hitting wood. Rubbing my eyes from the sleep that accumulated, I shrugged the covers off of my body and dropped to the floor. I materialized my armor, before sneaking downstairs and peeking around the corner. I saw Terra Firma holding a massive minigun, the multiple barrels slowing down as the last thing flew from it. It had crystals sprouting from the top, like a Needle Rifle or a Needler, and the body was a similar color. My eyes widened inside my visor as I saw the result of it, the wood still smoking and glowing. “Maybe we should test it outside next time,” Twilight spoke, with the dryad from earlier chuckling. As the unlikely trio went out the door, I shook my head with a massive grin. Some things were worth living for. Explosions and such were a given.