P.O.N.Y.C.R.A.F.T.by SupercalifragilasticChaptersI: A World of CubesIII: The Other Side, Part IIII: The Other Side, Part IIIV: SunsetV: Meetings and MesasPrologue: The Magic DuelII: Truce?I: A World of Cubes"Ugh... what happened to me..." Twilight Sparkle groaned as she groggily opened her eyes. A white square sun was slowly inching across the sky. A square sun? With a lot of effort, Twilight Sparkle brought herself to a stand. The grass beneath her loudly crunched with every step she took. Twilight noticed that the grass she was standing on was unusually flat -- too flat. It was as if she was standing on a polished marble floor, only greener. Twilight decided to take a look around. She trotted around her immediate vicinity, observing the area around her. No... the sun wasn't the only thing that was square -- everything was square. Trees with square, slender trunks and huge, fat treetops dotted the landscape. The land was square, each incline and decline being at least a meter tall. And square flowers and tall-grass -- which, unlike the dirt and trees, were arranged in a plus-shape -- were everywhere. The creepier thing was, this world looked like an 8-bit video game. Everything was pixellated, as though somebody had glued tiny cubes together to create larger, more ornate blocks. "Oink!" "WHAT IN THE NAME OF CELE -- oh, heh heh..." Twilight Sparkle jumped back a few feet, but quickly relaxed, as it was only a pig. Well, if you could call something that was made of pink cubes, had red streaks across its back, and had "Derpy Hooves eyes" a pig. The thing oinked again, and trotted off in a random direction. Hmm... Twilight Sparkle thought to herself. The creatures here don't seem to think at all... it's almost as if they're being controlled... ` And, speaking of creatures, where was Trixie? The only thing Twilight Sparkle remembered was a duel... a magic duel, and her opponent was Trixie. Another thought popped into Twilight's mind. A while back, Princess Celestia had taught her an object-finding spell. If you could perform it right, it could tell you the exact coordinates of anything you wanted to find. All you really needed to do was form a picture in your mind. Twilight Sparkle decided to use that spell. Her horn started glowing, and she created an image of Trixie, in her robe and pointed hat, in her mind. But, suddenly the magic aura surrounding her horn dissipated, the spell stopped working against her will. Twilight tried to perform the spell again, but it had the same results as before. It was like something was rejecting her magic. "Something doesn't like your magic?" "Will you stop doing tha -- Trixie!" Twilight had spun around to see Trixie, still in her costume-like clothing. She was the only round thing to be seen. "H-How did you find me?" Twilight asked. "Well, the thing is... you have a bad habit of saying your thoughts." Trixie answered, a smug look on her blue face. Twilight Sparkle didn't reply, so Trixie continued speaking. "And, F.Y.I, I want my revenge." Trixie's horn started glowing. Twilight started to shake, but relaxed, as Trixie's spell suddenly cut itself short. Trixie looked at her horn in embarrassment and blushed. "What happened?" she said, confused. "Hm." Twilight chuckled. "Looks like we're all in the same boat." III: The Other Side, Part IAs Twilight Sparkle and Trixie were walking in the woods, another being, another intelligent being, lived a few miles off. Let me tell you a bit of his story. Steve's morning was not a comfortable one. First he had to get out of bed. On normal days, he can just slide out of bed, but today his stubborn legs kept refusing to carry his lean body over to the kitchen. Steve decided that he had no other choice but to barrel off the bed like a sack of potatoes, roll towards the door, across the hall, and out to the kitchen... which was no problem for him. Every cobble, plank, and brick was crafted by his own bare hands, and he had a map of his entire mansion -- in his head. Now, only one thing was left -- his legs. Eventually, after try and failure, they saw who's boss and in a few moments Steve was back up to his feet. The rest of the everyday morning plan was simple: fetch a pork chop or two, throw it in the furnace, eat it, and get his normal work clothes -- which consisted of a ragged, cyan cotton shirt and a dirty pair of blue denim pants -- on. Steve, having transformed from a bed grump to a man with a plan, cantered out of his house and down to Coalwood, the small village that lay near his gigantic lair-of-a-house. Steve had one objective in mind: he noticed that his iron armor was getting worn lately; hopefully the town blacksmith, who made armor, could help. He shuffled over to the smithy -- only to notice that the unique L-shaped building wasn't there. In its original place stood a whole new construction, freshly built. III: The Other Side, Part IILet's take a good look at who Steve is looking for. It was a pretty normal day for me. All days were normal for me, really. Standing behind the counter, waiting for customers to spend some emeralds -- which were the main trade currency among villagers -- on my wares. The job got quite boring, but it was the only funding activity I had, really. I was sitting there, behind the oaken counter, polishing swords. Swords didn't exactly sell in Coalwood. As most villagers were blessed with the occupation of farming, swords weren't really that popular. Neither was any type of tool that wasn't a garden hoe, to be exact. "Phew..." I sighed as I placed another sword in my chest. "Eighteen down, two to g--" BOOM! I looked up. There was a tall, two-legged creature standing at the main door. I immediately initiated my "zombies-broke-down-the-door plan" -- which happened to be, with difficulty, cramming myself in the cupboard under the counter and locking the door. "Hey, no need to play gopher, Marty," a gruff, disembodied voice said calmly. I knew that voice. "St... St... Steve?" I stammered. "Marty, it's just me. Get out from under there." I slowly unlocked the cabinet door and brought myself to an upright position. It was Steve! "Oh! Hi Steve! Is there anything I could do?" I questioned. "Yes, do you still have some iron leftover from that sale last week?" Steve asked. "Yea, actually I do." "Okay, well, you think you can fix my armor?" "Sure. Where is it?" "Right here." Steve walked over to my counter and, casually conjuring them his inventory, laid the dented suit and eight emeralds on my beige wooden desk. He turned around and, with an emotionless face, collapsed onto a wooden bench. I started to go to work. Picking up the worn armor, I shuffled out behind my counter and walked to the stairs, opening up the door that sat beneath them. Then, with an alertness, I cautiously walked down the rough cobblestone stairs. The clammy basement was too dim to see clearly. I blindly waved my hand against the rough wall until it touched something thin and hard. Then, grasping tightly onto it, I pulled it down. A click played, and light instantly blasted into the dark basement. Now being able to see correctly, I set to work. IV: SunsetRunning DecompileJavaCode.bat ==RUNTIME BEGIN== Java Compiler v1.0.4 by Mojang AB This program is protected by Copyright MDXLVII Do Not Distribute! Script to load: TurnDayIntoNight Opening minecraft/obj/scripts/TurnDayIntoNight.java... Done. Loading minecraft/textures/moonphases.png... Done. Unstiching minecraft/textures/moonphases.png... Done. Loading correct moon phase image... Done. Changing ingame time... Done. Changing ingame global lighting... Done. Opening minecraft/obj/scripts/SpawnNightMonsters.java... Done. ==RUNTIME TERMINATED== Press any key to continue "Wow... I never knew sunsets here are so much like the sunsets on Equestria..." Twilight Sparkle observed. The 10-minute day was coming to an end. The white square sun, which was now gaining a yellow tint around its edges, was slowly lowering behind a rough horizon, the sky turning a blood red as it gives out its final rays. Twilight turned around. A full moon was rising, and square stars of various sizes were beginning to appear in the sky. Night had fallen in only 1 minute. Twilight had to light her horn to see in the pitch-black environment. She observed the terrain for a little bit... then stopped dead. Grrrrrr..... uhhhh... auhhhhhgh.... Twilight Sparkle's eyes shrunk. The moans were getting louder and louder as a tall shadow advanced upon her. That's when she saw the zombie. The thing looked hideous. Its two legs were barefooted and crisscrossed with gashes, its slimy green arms were reaching out in hunger, and it smelled like a rotting carcass... but the most scary thing was its face. Where two eyes should be were instead empty sockets, staring straight at Twilight. The zombie moaned again, still clambering towards Twilight. "Hey, uh, hello there..." Twilight said, trying to negotiate. The zombie groaned again and angrily bared teeth. Twilight shuddered -- no... this thing didn't hug. It killed without mercy. Twilight figured she had no choice but to defend herself. She readied a spell, but it quickly stopped short. She had forgotten that unicorn magic didn't work here. So, she raised a hoof and punched the zombie. It flashed red and cringed, but nonetheless it was still alive. Twilight smacked the zombie's chest again and again, until it collapsed and dissolved into white smoke. In its place stood four objects -- two piles of stinky red material, an white, gleaming sword, and a glowing orb that flashed green. More shadows were shuffling into Twilight's field of view. Twilight picked up the shiny blade in front of her and looked around. There were more zombies surrounding her, but there were also thin, white mobs armed with bows -- skeletons, Twilight guessed -- lime-green entities with four pig-like feet and the strangest faces, and spiders... insanely large spiders, to be exact. The entities were walking towards Twilight Sparkle, hungrily staring at their next meal. Twilight raised her new weapon and, closing her eyes, ran it through the nearest monsters. It took a few hits to each one, but eventually they all fell and dropped different items -- she learned that skeletons dropped bones and arrows, spiders dropped their eyeballs and some string, and those hissing green things dropped piles of gray dust. In a short bit Twilight's vicinity was rid of monsters. She walked up to some bones, spider-eyes, and green orbs. As she walked near, the three items floated towards her and nudged her chest. With two pops and a ding, the three items were gone. "What is this?" Twilight asked to herself. "Is this some sort of magic?" Twilight pictured the bone in front of her. She looked down... only to notice that the sword in her front-right hoof was now a bone. She imagined the spider-eye that flew into her body. Suddenly, the bone shape-shifted into a spider-eye. Twilight, now interested in this shape-shifting item, pictured the orb. The spider-eye disappeared, leaving nothing in its wake. Okay... so she couldn't select green orbs. She thought about the sword again, and it materialized. An idea hit Twilight. What if this strange item-magic was considered greater than unicorn magic here? That this new magic needed the power that Equestrian magic had in order to function? This was great! She could write a whole book about this strange new land! She could write to Celes-- Sssssssss... Suddenly a cloth was wrapped around Twilight's mouth. Her vision started fading away... she was fainting as a sudden explosion threw light onto her surroundings. Before she completely fell unconscious, Twilight Sparkle could swear she saw a gigantic house -- a mansion -- in the distance... V: Meetings and Mesas"Uhhh... what happened last night...?" Twilight Sparkle asked to herself, still wondering why she had woken up so quickly. She looked further down the bed she was in, and gasped. There was some twolegged thing holding a sword, a sky-blue sword that glimmered purple in the warm, homelike atmosphere, at her throat. "Wh... what do you want? Is this a foalnapping? What's your name?" she nervously questioned, now trembling from head to hoof. "First, you answer me. What are you?" the creature forcefully commanded. "I... I'm T-Twilight Sparkle... the P-Princess of Friendship..." Twilight stammered. Her pupils were shrinking fast. "The Princess of Friendship... there's no such thing! Speak the truth, you roundish monster!!!" the biped yelled at Twilight, its indigo eyes leaking with self-defense. The last thing it wanted was this purple thing to attack it. "It is the truth! And I'm not a monster!" Twilight shouted back. The creature didn't seem to look too convinced, but slowly it lowered its weapon. Twilight started to breathe easier. "Hmmm... you don't seem to look too dangerous." the strange being said to Twilight Sparkle. "As such, for the most part, I'll be Mr. Nice Guy." It sheathed its sword, and extended its hand, hoping for some sign of friendliness. Twilight raised her own hoof, and shook the creature's arm. The odd mob softly smiled, knowing deep inside that this... horse-thingy meant no harm. It began to speak in a voice as rough as rocks: "My name is Steve. And I was the one who saved your life last night." "Saved my life?" Twilight responded. "Yes. If I hadn't stepped in last night, you would've been a pile of dust in a cluster of Creeper craters." "Well... okay... but what are Creepers?" A pang of nervousness struck Twilight. A pile of dust? In a cluster of holes? Good thing Steve was around. But, now that she wasn't feeling threatened anymore, Twilight Sparkle could get a closer look at Steve. She noticed that Steve was mostly dressed in blue; he wore a work-shirt the color of Rainbow Dash, and dark-blue jeans. His eyes were of similar color to his pants, and the only hair to be found on Steve was neatly-trimmed brown hair on the top of his head, and a slight stubble. After hesitating for a bit, Steve decided to answer Twilight's question. "Creepers are the most stupid little things," he said. "They walk up behind you, without making a sound, and explode. They sink their own ship, hoping to take you down with them." "And those monsters I saw last night? I thought they were zombies, and skeletons... you see, I really like fantasy books." Twilight replied. "Yes... Twilight... they are zombies, and skeletons, and spiders... but, the really sucky thing is, you haven't even scratched the surface of what I deal with every night." * * * * * "Well, today's been a good day!" Trixie said to herself. Her day was good indeed. She had gotten used to her blocky surroundings, and had learned a few tricks about this place. Trixie learned that she could break blocks by hitting them, and then collect the materials by standing near their remains. Dirt, wood, and sand she could easily collect, but Trixie had difficulty mining stone. When the stone blocks did break they left nothing for Trixie to obtain. Tree leaves dropped nothing but the occasional sapling, and rarely an apple. Tall grass sometimes dropped seeds, and dirt cubes with grass growing on top -- "grass blocks," Trixie called them -- dropped dirt as well. Trixie also figured out how to select objects, and how use them. She had quite a bit of fun, placing the goofy blocks to create various structures. Saplings, she eventually discovered, grew very fast. At first, the plant would remain completely still, but after 30 seconds or so, instantly pop into the form of a tree. Trixie collected saplings from different tree types -- some trees had brown trunks, others had white trunks with black spots, and still others had very dark trunks and bluish-green leaves, reminding Trixie of Hearth's Warming -- and planted them. She could farm trees, resulting in infinite wood! Trixie trotted around, but then stopped dead. She was looking at a sign. The wooden board proclaimed: DISCO MOUNTAINS "Disco Mountains?" Trixie asked. The only reply was an echo. Trixie observed the sign some more, and noticed a small sheet of paper tacked to the side of it. Text was written on it, in a very untidy scrawl: GOING TO GET SOME CLAY SOON Trixie guessed some intelligent being came here, and wrote a reminder to quarry some clay from this place -- wait... Clay? Clay? Trixie looked beyond the sign. She could not believe what she saw! In front of Trixie stood plateaus, humongous, blocky plateaus that stretched farther than the eye can see. They were all a reddish-brown color, with the occasional orange, red, white, or yellow stripe. And the Disco Mountains were made entirely of clay. Red sand filled the low spots of this strange land, with cacti and deadbushes growing from it. Tall pillars of hardened clay stood tall, casting shadows on the clay and sand below. And, on top of the many plateaus and hills, were small patches of grass, with trees growing off of them. The entire biome was fascinating -- she couldn't wait to see what the Great and Powerful Trixie can find here! Prologue: The Magic DuelThere were normally clear skies stretching over the cobbled streets of Ponyville, but today it was thundering hard. The only ponies to be found outside were two duelers on Mane Street. "Come on, Twlight! You too scared to fight the Great and Powerful Trixie?" Trixie, a blue unicorn dressed in wizard's robes, menacingly spat, a wicked look plastered on her face. "No! I am not!" Twilight Sparkle, a lavender-colored unicorn not dressed at all, retaliated. "Then let's do this!" Trixie whooped. Their horns began to emit a soft, sparkly glow, gradually gaining in power. Neither pony knew which one was going to blast first; the contestants just kept powering their horns. After a few seconds of charging their weapons, Trixie and Twilight Sparkle fired their spells. A bright red laser jumped from Trixie's horn. A white beam -- a teleportation spell -- leapt from Twilight's. "Ha!" Twilight Sparkle shouted as she dodged Trixie's attack. Trixie, on the other hand, wasn't quick enough to sidestep from Twilight's spell. With a short "oh!" of surprise, she had frozen, unable to move as a faint magical aura slowly engulfed her. As she watched Trixie slowly fade away, Twilight Sparkle looked down at her own hooves, which were feeling unusually light. Twilight gasped at what she was seeing. Her hooves were covered with an aura, too... ...which was the last thing she remembered before she blacked out. II: Truce?"So... you want to call it a truce?" Twilight Sparkle questioned hopefully. Trixie hesitated, then disappointingly replied: "Yeah... I guess so..." Twilight smiled at the sound of this. For a minute or so, there was silence as the two equestrians walked through a nearby wood. This is incredible, Twilight thought, a curious look on her face. Everything is made from cubes... Celestia's probably not going to like this... Trixie had a very different prospect. This world might be blocky, and I may have agreed to a truce... but I'm still gonna get my revenge... someday... Trixie evilly imagined. She couldn't suppress a wicked look, not behind Twilight's back. "Hey, look!" Twilight Sparkle shouted. They had stumbled upon a cave -- a hole, to be exact. An estimated fifty meter drop, straight down, leading to a pit of... lava? Lava wasn't supposed to be found this close to the surface... well, unless something had moved it, something that wasn't afraid of handling steaming-hot objects... Trixie glanced into the deep pit. It was so strange... like this odd world Twilight had gotten them both into! "Twilight... why did you use a teleportation spell?" she randomly asked. Twilight looked at her, taken aback from the sudden question. She replied, blushing as she spoke: "Well, I guess I was a little nervous..." Nervous? More like scared, Trixie thought. "... and wanted to get away from the duel, so I tried to teleport you away from the general premises..." More like general stupidity! Trixie imagined with her cruel voice. "... so I ended up using a spell that still needed to be finished. You know Starswirl the Bearded, never ending what he starts?" No, you imbecile! Trixie silently replied, not saying a word. They continued along the forest, observing the strange trees that surrounded them, until Trixie broke the silence. "So, what do you wanna do?" she asked, placing her elbow on the nearest tree. "I don't know... I mean, this place is fascinating... what do you want to do?" Twilight responded. "Eat something that's not blocky."
I: A World of Cubes"Ugh... what happened to me..." Twilight Sparkle groaned as she groggily opened her eyes. A white square sun was slowly inching across the sky. A square sun? With a lot of effort, Twilight Sparkle brought herself to a stand. The grass beneath her loudly crunched with every step she took. Twilight noticed that the grass she was standing on was unusually flat -- too flat. It was as if she was standing on a polished marble floor, only greener. Twilight decided to take a look around. She trotted around her immediate vicinity, observing the area around her. No... the sun wasn't the only thing that was square -- everything was square. Trees with square, slender trunks and huge, fat treetops dotted the landscape. The land was square, each incline and decline being at least a meter tall. And square flowers and tall-grass -- which, unlike the dirt and trees, were arranged in a plus-shape -- were everywhere. The creepier thing was, this world looked like an 8-bit video game. Everything was pixellated, as though somebody had glued tiny cubes together to create larger, more ornate blocks. "Oink!" "WHAT IN THE NAME OF CELE -- oh, heh heh..." Twilight Sparkle jumped back a few feet, but quickly relaxed, as it was only a pig. Well, if you could call something that was made of pink cubes, had red streaks across its back, and had "Derpy Hooves eyes" a pig. The thing oinked again, and trotted off in a random direction. Hmm... Twilight Sparkle thought to herself. The creatures here don't seem to think at all... it's almost as if they're being controlled... ` And, speaking of creatures, where was Trixie? The only thing Twilight Sparkle remembered was a duel... a magic duel, and her opponent was Trixie. Another thought popped into Twilight's mind. A while back, Princess Celestia had taught her an object-finding spell. If you could perform it right, it could tell you the exact coordinates of anything you wanted to find. All you really needed to do was form a picture in your mind. Twilight Sparkle decided to use that spell. Her horn started glowing, and she created an image of Trixie, in her robe and pointed hat, in her mind. But, suddenly the magic aura surrounding her horn dissipated, the spell stopped working against her will. Twilight tried to perform the spell again, but it had the same results as before. It was like something was rejecting her magic. "Something doesn't like your magic?" "Will you stop doing tha -- Trixie!" Twilight had spun around to see Trixie, still in her costume-like clothing. She was the only round thing to be seen. "H-How did you find me?" Twilight asked. "Well, the thing is... you have a bad habit of saying your thoughts." Trixie answered, a smug look on her blue face. Twilight Sparkle didn't reply, so Trixie continued speaking. "And, F.Y.I, I want my revenge." Trixie's horn started glowing. Twilight started to shake, but relaxed, as Trixie's spell suddenly cut itself short. Trixie looked at her horn in embarrassment and blushed. "What happened?" she said, confused. "Hm." Twilight chuckled. "Looks like we're all in the same boat."
III: The Other Side, Part IAs Twilight Sparkle and Trixie were walking in the woods, another being, another intelligent being, lived a few miles off. Let me tell you a bit of his story. Steve's morning was not a comfortable one. First he had to get out of bed. On normal days, he can just slide out of bed, but today his stubborn legs kept refusing to carry his lean body over to the kitchen. Steve decided that he had no other choice but to barrel off the bed like a sack of potatoes, roll towards the door, across the hall, and out to the kitchen... which was no problem for him. Every cobble, plank, and brick was crafted by his own bare hands, and he had a map of his entire mansion -- in his head. Now, only one thing was left -- his legs. Eventually, after try and failure, they saw who's boss and in a few moments Steve was back up to his feet. The rest of the everyday morning plan was simple: fetch a pork chop or two, throw it in the furnace, eat it, and get his normal work clothes -- which consisted of a ragged, cyan cotton shirt and a dirty pair of blue denim pants -- on. Steve, having transformed from a bed grump to a man with a plan, cantered out of his house and down to Coalwood, the small village that lay near his gigantic lair-of-a-house. Steve had one objective in mind: he noticed that his iron armor was getting worn lately; hopefully the town blacksmith, who made armor, could help. He shuffled over to the smithy -- only to notice that the unique L-shaped building wasn't there. In its original place stood a whole new construction, freshly built.
III: The Other Side, Part IILet's take a good look at who Steve is looking for. It was a pretty normal day for me. All days were normal for me, really. Standing behind the counter, waiting for customers to spend some emeralds -- which were the main trade currency among villagers -- on my wares. The job got quite boring, but it was the only funding activity I had, really. I was sitting there, behind the oaken counter, polishing swords. Swords didn't exactly sell in Coalwood. As most villagers were blessed with the occupation of farming, swords weren't really that popular. Neither was any type of tool that wasn't a garden hoe, to be exact. "Phew..." I sighed as I placed another sword in my chest. "Eighteen down, two to g--" BOOM! I looked up. There was a tall, two-legged creature standing at the main door. I immediately initiated my "zombies-broke-down-the-door plan" -- which happened to be, with difficulty, cramming myself in the cupboard under the counter and locking the door. "Hey, no need to play gopher, Marty," a gruff, disembodied voice said calmly. I knew that voice. "St... St... Steve?" I stammered. "Marty, it's just me. Get out from under there." I slowly unlocked the cabinet door and brought myself to an upright position. It was Steve! "Oh! Hi Steve! Is there anything I could do?" I questioned. "Yes, do you still have some iron leftover from that sale last week?" Steve asked. "Yea, actually I do." "Okay, well, you think you can fix my armor?" "Sure. Where is it?" "Right here." Steve walked over to my counter and, casually conjuring them his inventory, laid the dented suit and eight emeralds on my beige wooden desk. He turned around and, with an emotionless face, collapsed onto a wooden bench. I started to go to work. Picking up the worn armor, I shuffled out behind my counter and walked to the stairs, opening up the door that sat beneath them. Then, with an alertness, I cautiously walked down the rough cobblestone stairs. The clammy basement was too dim to see clearly. I blindly waved my hand against the rough wall until it touched something thin and hard. Then, grasping tightly onto it, I pulled it down. A click played, and light instantly blasted into the dark basement. Now being able to see correctly, I set to work.
IV: SunsetRunning DecompileJavaCode.bat ==RUNTIME BEGIN== Java Compiler v1.0.4 by Mojang AB This program is protected by Copyright MDXLVII Do Not Distribute! Script to load: TurnDayIntoNight Opening minecraft/obj/scripts/TurnDayIntoNight.java... Done. Loading minecraft/textures/moonphases.png... Done. Unstiching minecraft/textures/moonphases.png... Done. Loading correct moon phase image... Done. Changing ingame time... Done. Changing ingame global lighting... Done. Opening minecraft/obj/scripts/SpawnNightMonsters.java... Done. ==RUNTIME TERMINATED== Press any key to continue "Wow... I never knew sunsets here are so much like the sunsets on Equestria..." Twilight Sparkle observed. The 10-minute day was coming to an end. The white square sun, which was now gaining a yellow tint around its edges, was slowly lowering behind a rough horizon, the sky turning a blood red as it gives out its final rays. Twilight turned around. A full moon was rising, and square stars of various sizes were beginning to appear in the sky. Night had fallen in only 1 minute. Twilight had to light her horn to see in the pitch-black environment. She observed the terrain for a little bit... then stopped dead. Grrrrrr..... uhhhh... auhhhhhgh.... Twilight Sparkle's eyes shrunk. The moans were getting louder and louder as a tall shadow advanced upon her. That's when she saw the zombie. The thing looked hideous. Its two legs were barefooted and crisscrossed with gashes, its slimy green arms were reaching out in hunger, and it smelled like a rotting carcass... but the most scary thing was its face. Where two eyes should be were instead empty sockets, staring straight at Twilight. The zombie moaned again, still clambering towards Twilight. "Hey, uh, hello there..." Twilight said, trying to negotiate. The zombie groaned again and angrily bared teeth. Twilight shuddered -- no... this thing didn't hug. It killed without mercy. Twilight figured she had no choice but to defend herself. She readied a spell, but it quickly stopped short. She had forgotten that unicorn magic didn't work here. So, she raised a hoof and punched the zombie. It flashed red and cringed, but nonetheless it was still alive. Twilight smacked the zombie's chest again and again, until it collapsed and dissolved into white smoke. In its place stood four objects -- two piles of stinky red material, an white, gleaming sword, and a glowing orb that flashed green. More shadows were shuffling into Twilight's field of view. Twilight picked up the shiny blade in front of her and looked around. There were more zombies surrounding her, but there were also thin, white mobs armed with bows -- skeletons, Twilight guessed -- lime-green entities with four pig-like feet and the strangest faces, and spiders... insanely large spiders, to be exact. The entities were walking towards Twilight Sparkle, hungrily staring at their next meal. Twilight raised her new weapon and, closing her eyes, ran it through the nearest monsters. It took a few hits to each one, but eventually they all fell and dropped different items -- she learned that skeletons dropped bones and arrows, spiders dropped their eyeballs and some string, and those hissing green things dropped piles of gray dust. In a short bit Twilight's vicinity was rid of monsters. She walked up to some bones, spider-eyes, and green orbs. As she walked near, the three items floated towards her and nudged her chest. With two pops and a ding, the three items were gone. "What is this?" Twilight asked to herself. "Is this some sort of magic?" Twilight pictured the bone in front of her. She looked down... only to notice that the sword in her front-right hoof was now a bone. She imagined the spider-eye that flew into her body. Suddenly, the bone shape-shifted into a spider-eye. Twilight, now interested in this shape-shifting item, pictured the orb. The spider-eye disappeared, leaving nothing in its wake. Okay... so she couldn't select green orbs. She thought about the sword again, and it materialized. An idea hit Twilight. What if this strange item-magic was considered greater than unicorn magic here? That this new magic needed the power that Equestrian magic had in order to function? This was great! She could write a whole book about this strange new land! She could write to Celes-- Sssssssss... Suddenly a cloth was wrapped around Twilight's mouth. Her vision started fading away... she was fainting as a sudden explosion threw light onto her surroundings. Before she completely fell unconscious, Twilight Sparkle could swear she saw a gigantic house -- a mansion -- in the distance...
V: Meetings and Mesas"Uhhh... what happened last night...?" Twilight Sparkle asked to herself, still wondering why she had woken up so quickly. She looked further down the bed she was in, and gasped. There was some twolegged thing holding a sword, a sky-blue sword that glimmered purple in the warm, homelike atmosphere, at her throat. "Wh... what do you want? Is this a foalnapping? What's your name?" she nervously questioned, now trembling from head to hoof. "First, you answer me. What are you?" the creature forcefully commanded. "I... I'm T-Twilight Sparkle... the P-Princess of Friendship..." Twilight stammered. Her pupils were shrinking fast. "The Princess of Friendship... there's no such thing! Speak the truth, you roundish monster!!!" the biped yelled at Twilight, its indigo eyes leaking with self-defense. The last thing it wanted was this purple thing to attack it. "It is the truth! And I'm not a monster!" Twilight shouted back. The creature didn't seem to look too convinced, but slowly it lowered its weapon. Twilight started to breathe easier. "Hmmm... you don't seem to look too dangerous." the strange being said to Twilight Sparkle. "As such, for the most part, I'll be Mr. Nice Guy." It sheathed its sword, and extended its hand, hoping for some sign of friendliness. Twilight raised her own hoof, and shook the creature's arm. The odd mob softly smiled, knowing deep inside that this... horse-thingy meant no harm. It began to speak in a voice as rough as rocks: "My name is Steve. And I was the one who saved your life last night." "Saved my life?" Twilight responded. "Yes. If I hadn't stepped in last night, you would've been a pile of dust in a cluster of Creeper craters." "Well... okay... but what are Creepers?" A pang of nervousness struck Twilight. A pile of dust? In a cluster of holes? Good thing Steve was around. But, now that she wasn't feeling threatened anymore, Twilight Sparkle could get a closer look at Steve. She noticed that Steve was mostly dressed in blue; he wore a work-shirt the color of Rainbow Dash, and dark-blue jeans. His eyes were of similar color to his pants, and the only hair to be found on Steve was neatly-trimmed brown hair on the top of his head, and a slight stubble. After hesitating for a bit, Steve decided to answer Twilight's question. "Creepers are the most stupid little things," he said. "They walk up behind you, without making a sound, and explode. They sink their own ship, hoping to take you down with them." "And those monsters I saw last night? I thought they were zombies, and skeletons... you see, I really like fantasy books." Twilight replied. "Yes... Twilight... they are zombies, and skeletons, and spiders... but, the really sucky thing is, you haven't even scratched the surface of what I deal with every night." * * * * * "Well, today's been a good day!" Trixie said to herself. Her day was good indeed. She had gotten used to her blocky surroundings, and had learned a few tricks about this place. Trixie learned that she could break blocks by hitting them, and then collect the materials by standing near their remains. Dirt, wood, and sand she could easily collect, but Trixie had difficulty mining stone. When the stone blocks did break they left nothing for Trixie to obtain. Tree leaves dropped nothing but the occasional sapling, and rarely an apple. Tall grass sometimes dropped seeds, and dirt cubes with grass growing on top -- "grass blocks," Trixie called them -- dropped dirt as well. Trixie also figured out how to select objects, and how use them. She had quite a bit of fun, placing the goofy blocks to create various structures. Saplings, she eventually discovered, grew very fast. At first, the plant would remain completely still, but after 30 seconds or so, instantly pop into the form of a tree. Trixie collected saplings from different tree types -- some trees had brown trunks, others had white trunks with black spots, and still others had very dark trunks and bluish-green leaves, reminding Trixie of Hearth's Warming -- and planted them. She could farm trees, resulting in infinite wood! Trixie trotted around, but then stopped dead. She was looking at a sign. The wooden board proclaimed: DISCO MOUNTAINS "Disco Mountains?" Trixie asked. The only reply was an echo. Trixie observed the sign some more, and noticed a small sheet of paper tacked to the side of it. Text was written on it, in a very untidy scrawl: GOING TO GET SOME CLAY SOON Trixie guessed some intelligent being came here, and wrote a reminder to quarry some clay from this place -- wait... Clay? Clay? Trixie looked beyond the sign. She could not believe what she saw! In front of Trixie stood plateaus, humongous, blocky plateaus that stretched farther than the eye can see. They were all a reddish-brown color, with the occasional orange, red, white, or yellow stripe. And the Disco Mountains were made entirely of clay. Red sand filled the low spots of this strange land, with cacti and deadbushes growing from it. Tall pillars of hardened clay stood tall, casting shadows on the clay and sand below. And, on top of the many plateaus and hills, were small patches of grass, with trees growing off of them. The entire biome was fascinating -- she couldn't wait to see what the Great and Powerful Trixie can find here!
Prologue: The Magic DuelThere were normally clear skies stretching over the cobbled streets of Ponyville, but today it was thundering hard. The only ponies to be found outside were two duelers on Mane Street. "Come on, Twlight! You too scared to fight the Great and Powerful Trixie?" Trixie, a blue unicorn dressed in wizard's robes, menacingly spat, a wicked look plastered on her face. "No! I am not!" Twilight Sparkle, a lavender-colored unicorn not dressed at all, retaliated. "Then let's do this!" Trixie whooped. Their horns began to emit a soft, sparkly glow, gradually gaining in power. Neither pony knew which one was going to blast first; the contestants just kept powering their horns. After a few seconds of charging their weapons, Trixie and Twilight Sparkle fired their spells. A bright red laser jumped from Trixie's horn. A white beam -- a teleportation spell -- leapt from Twilight's. "Ha!" Twilight Sparkle shouted as she dodged Trixie's attack. Trixie, on the other hand, wasn't quick enough to sidestep from Twilight's spell. With a short "oh!" of surprise, she had frozen, unable to move as a faint magical aura slowly engulfed her. As she watched Trixie slowly fade away, Twilight Sparkle looked down at her own hooves, which were feeling unusually light. Twilight gasped at what she was seeing. Her hooves were covered with an aura, too... ...which was the last thing she remembered before she blacked out.
II: Truce?"So... you want to call it a truce?" Twilight Sparkle questioned hopefully. Trixie hesitated, then disappointingly replied: "Yeah... I guess so..." Twilight smiled at the sound of this. For a minute or so, there was silence as the two equestrians walked through a nearby wood. This is incredible, Twilight thought, a curious look on her face. Everything is made from cubes... Celestia's probably not going to like this... Trixie had a very different prospect. This world might be blocky, and I may have agreed to a truce... but I'm still gonna get my revenge... someday... Trixie evilly imagined. She couldn't suppress a wicked look, not behind Twilight's back. "Hey, look!" Twilight Sparkle shouted. They had stumbled upon a cave -- a hole, to be exact. An estimated fifty meter drop, straight down, leading to a pit of... lava? Lava wasn't supposed to be found this close to the surface... well, unless something had moved it, something that wasn't afraid of handling steaming-hot objects... Trixie glanced into the deep pit. It was so strange... like this odd world Twilight had gotten them both into! "Twilight... why did you use a teleportation spell?" she randomly asked. Twilight looked at her, taken aback from the sudden question. She replied, blushing as she spoke: "Well, I guess I was a little nervous..." Nervous? More like scared, Trixie thought. "... and wanted to get away from the duel, so I tried to teleport you away from the general premises..." More like general stupidity! Trixie imagined with her cruel voice. "... so I ended up using a spell that still needed to be finished. You know Starswirl the Bearded, never ending what he starts?" No, you imbecile! Trixie silently replied, not saying a word. They continued along the forest, observing the strange trees that surrounded them, until Trixie broke the silence. "So, what do you wanna do?" she asked, placing her elbow on the nearest tree. "I don't know... I mean, this place is fascinating... what do you want to do?" Twilight responded. "Eat something that's not blocky."
