Spirits of Light And Dark

Usually, Beatrix would be happy to see a Capper.

Usually.

The Capper from her world had been one of its heroes during the Cultist Wars. Not only did the anthropomorphic cat help in financing the cause and managing their bits, he even had given up his life by ramming an airship into the enemy base during the Final Battle and giving their troops the chaos they needed to breach the enemy’s lines. He was given a Hero’s Funeral after the war along with Spike, Sunset, Flash Sentry, and many others.

But none of that mattered to Beatrix who frowned upon hearing what this Capper had said about her. Already she could tell that he was a far cry from the one she knew.

“Hey! You’d probably look worse than this if you’ve gone to the Corruption!” Beatrix proclaimed, trying to show that she wasn’t some scrawny kid that the Merchant had said. Yet again he rolled his eyes.

“Maybe ‘foolish’ should’ve been added to that list as well. C’mon just look at that shoddy armor you’re wearing! You ought to buy some healing potions from me.” Capper stated with a smirk, causing Beatrix to further dislike him due to his obvious greediness. She doubted that the Capper the Mane Six first met was as bad as this one.

“I already have one,” Beatrix said as she lifted her only other healing pot she got from the chest.

“Yes, the only one,” Capper said before chuckling as Beatrix’s frown only grew. She secretly was surprised that he saw through her bluff and called her out on it. Does he somehow have the ability to check her inventory?

Before she could try to make another remark, Midnight decided to step in between the two.

“Alright alright… let’s try and keep things civilized alright?” Midnight asked before turning to Capper. “Look pal, if you keep pestering her about buying your things, I’ll spoil every single craftable thing you have in your inventory and show it to her.” The blue pegasus said, his face filled with grim determination. The anthropomorphic cat’s eyes went wide open upon hearing him say this.

“You wouldn’t dare…” The Merchant said with clenched teeth. Midnight simply shrugged before turning to face Beatrix.

“You could craft Lesser Healing Pots by using a Bottle, Gel, and Mushrooms at a basic Brewing Station which you can create by placing an empty bottle on top of a workbench. Alternatively, you could use Bottled Water, Daybloom Flowers, and Mushrooms to craft Regeneration Potions. In fact, let me show you every single recipe you could craft with Bottled Water.” The blue pegasus said. Just when he was about to grab her hand to pass all of his knowledge to her, the Merchant immediately pulled him back.

“Ok ok! I get it! Just please don’t ruin my business!” Capper pleaded. Midnight let out another sigh as he shook him off before turning to face Beatrix.

“He does sell some useful items, some of which you can’t craft, and others which require wasting resources. Your choice if you want to be kind to him.” The blue pegasus said. Beatrix simply stared at the Merchant who gave her pleading eyes and eventually sighed.

“Fine. I’ll be kind to you, but only because I know what you could be.” The purple mare said. Whenever she faced an alternative version of somebody, she always would give them a chance to prove themselves, even if the first version she met was evil. Alternatives of King Sombra for example, who had done considerable pain to her and her friends, had become allies in other dimensions. Alternatives of the Twin Maids, who were followers/slaves of Necro Twi during the First Cultist War, and leaders of the first half of the Second Cultist War, became well-known friends in other dimensions, though she tended to bump into others who were like the first. It was a risky gamble, yes, but it tended to produce more friends than enemies.

“Of course, there are some who appear good at first but end up showing their true colors later. Those hurt the most.” Beatrix silently thought to herself. That sadly was the truth when she faced The Fallen One. If it weren’t for him, or his actions, she might’ve gone down a different path where they would be on good terms at least. But no. He used her for his own purpose, caused her to experience true pain and anguish, and nearly ended the entire Multiverse by starting a doomsday prophecy called Lightendark that should’ve begun a hundred years later.

She wasn’t exactly sure where they were now. Time caused her to lose much of her original feelings for him. Did she still resent him for all the pain he did to everyone? Feel pity for him for the past that she eventually found out? Feel guilty of her own actions that seemed awfully similar to his, albeit with less disastrous consequences?

Beatrix mentally shook her head. It had been twenty years ago, and she had gone through so much joy through that time. Why poison it with something that happened so far in the past?

Capper meanwhile let out a sigh of relief, grateful that Beatrix wouldn’t ruin his career through the Guide’s vast knowledge.

“Do you wish to buy anything madame?” The anthropomorphic cat asked, trying to add as much politeness as he could in his sentence. Snapped out of her thoughts, Beatrix looked over at her somewhat decent amount of coins before nodding.

“Yeah let’s just see what you have shall we?” Beatrix responded, causing Capper to grin as he began to take out so much stuff from his pockets that nothing but magic would make this possible.

“We have a Mining Helmet, Piggy Bank, Iron Anvil, Bug Net, Copper Pickaxe and Axe, don’t think you’ll be needing that unless you lose it, torches, lesser mana and healing pots, wooden arrows, shuriken, rope, and sickle! That’s all I have in stock for now but I might eventually add some more stuff.” The Merchant said, the ground covered by the amount of stuff around him. The platinum-maned mare simply blinked before choosing two options.

“I’ll take the Anvil and Bug Net,” Beatrix ordered.

“That would be 66 Silver,” Capper said, smiling when the mare fished her money from her pocket and handed it to him. Handing the two items to Beatrix, she smiled at the fact that (1) she wouldn’t have to mine as much material for the anvil and (2) perhaps she could sell some things she catches with the Bug Net to Capper, gaining a profit. Placing both items into her inventory, she climbed on top of the house and began to sort her stuff.

Within a few moments, she had placed various crafting stations next to each other. That included a furnace, anvil, and workbench placed side by side along with a fireplace (apparently that gives a life-gen boost), and a chest where she comfortably placed everything she wouldn’t be needing anymore.

“I’ll probably sort things better when I have more chests to fill,” Beatrix said to herself before dropping down to the ground. “Hey Midnight, how can I craft bottles?” The purple mare asked, eager to try potion-making again like she had done when she was younger. The Guide looked up to the sky to see where the sun was.

“You’ll need to mine sand blocks and bring them to the furnace to create glass. Then turn that glass into bottles and just stand in a body of water to turn them into bottled water. But you’ll need to hurry. Night will approach us soon. I’ll just prepare some things in the house alright?” Midnight said. He still looked worried, but not as worried as before. Perhaps her journey in the Corruption had made the Guide realize that she could handle it. Beatrix smiled before heading out to the desert on the left. As she began to walk through the forest though, a sudden feeling of hunger surged through her body as her stomach growled.

“Yeah, it’s been a day since I came here. I should eat something at least.” Beatrix remarked. Sure, when she ate the mushrooms that Midnight gave her whenever she was knocked down, they healed her, but they didn’t necessarily fill her despite their huge size. Looking up she could see an apple hanging from one of the trees. With a good blow from her axe the apple fell next to her for her to pick up. Taking a small bite out of it, her eyes widened when the entire fruit suddenly disappeared in front of her eyes, yet at the same time, she felt she had been filled by it. Not only that, she felt a bit faster and stronger.

“Some type of perk I guess?” Beatrix asked herself before continuing on. With her small speed boost, she ran towards the desert and began to mine up the sand. As she looked up to the palm trees next to the oasis, she remembered how Midnight said that the more houses there were, the more likely people were to arrive.

Soon the purple unicorn found herself knocking down palm tree after palm tree despite the sun being dangerously close to the horizon. She still wore wooden armor, meaning that she was as weak towards zombie attacks as she was, but the confidence she had gained with her flaming arrows made her continue her work.

She had just finished creating the first palm-based house when the sun disappeared under the horizon. A zombie slowly crept into her vision, but a few flaming arrows placed it down. But as the horde of zombies and demon eyes began to surround her, Beatrix simply swallowed the light blue liquid of her recall potion before disappearing back towards the base. She didn’t want to go through the hassle of creating more housing compartments while fighting the horde.

“Maybe when I’m stronger I could do that. Not now though.” Beatrix thought to herself as she calmly walked towards her furnace. Even though she was still out in the night, she felt safer knowing that her base was underneath her. It didn’t take much to follow Midnight’s steps in crafting bottles. Unfortunately, there was no source of water nearby which she could draw except for the oasis in the desert or the chilling pools of water in the snowy biome, both of which were far away.

Killing a zombie that was knocking against one of the doors, Beatrix swiftly walked inside the house only to see Capper as the only member inside the compartment. Confused by Midnight’s absence the purple mare stepped towards the anthropomorphic cat, who seemed to be counting his money on the table.

“Hey, Capper! Where’s Midnight?” Beatrix asked. The Merchant, startled by her sudden appearance, nearly fell out of his chair, the pile of silver on the table shaking as well. Recovering himself the cat looked at Beatrix with a slightly annoyed expression.

“Oh Midnight? He’s under the house mining or something. That’s what he said at least.” Capper stated as he gestured to the next room in the house. Opening the door, she could see that there was a trapdoor on the floor, along with the subtle rhythmic tempo of somebody mining. Slowly walking towards it, the mare opened it and saw Midnight all the way down, mining away at the earth.

“Hey, Midnight! What are you doing?” Beatrix asked, puzzled. Even all the way down there, she could see that he had a grin on his face.

“Mining of course! You want some stronger gear, right? Come down and help me then!” The blue pegasus exclaimed. Dropping down the platforms that he had set up, Beatrix found herself squeezed next to Midnight, and she soon realized that he had accidentally made space for only one.

“Hey, Midnight can you move please?” Beatrix asked as she tried and failed to move back up.

“I’m trying…” The blue pegasus said as he tried to find his own space, but with the two pressed so tightly together they were barely able to move at all. “Wait, let me do something.” Midnight said as he began to mine towards the side. The two suddenly fell onto the ground as he moved forward, the pair letting a small ‘oof!’ while doing so.

“Yeah, I think from now on we should only allow one person to mine. Or at least expand this spot.” Beatrix stated, to which Midnight nodded.

“You mine down, I’ll see if there’s something to the side.” The blue pegasus said as he continued the direction he was in. The purple unicorn nodded as she began to mine down. Even though she didn’t need to put much force into mining blocks since she knew it depended on the tool and coursing Terraria’s magic through her, it nevertheless became boring as she found herself mining endlessly downwards. She suddenly let out a yelp as she landed into a small puddle of water that was beneath. It wasn’t deep, but it nevertheless surprised her.

“Beatrix! Are you ok!?” Midnight yelled out from above, his voice sounding a bit faint from being very far away. The mare looked up and saw Midnight peering downwards.

“I’m ok! Just a pool of water! Wait! I can now get bottled water!” Beatrix exclaimed as she began to produce the item she needed, rapidly filling each glass bottle with water. “I’m going up!” The mare exclaimed as she began to climb upwards by placing wooden platforms above her and jumping up. Jumping out of the trapdoor, Beatrix walked past Capper, who didn’t notice her, and outside of the house. Climbing up the side of the house, she walked towards the workbench and placed a bottle on top of it, forming a makeshift brewing station.

Taking the day bloom flowers out of the nearby chest as well as the mushrooms from her inventory, she felt the palm of her hands warm up as two regeneration potions appeared in her hand. She grinned as she held the reddish potion in her hand. Storing the rest of the items in the chest, Beatrix climbed down the house and reentered it (again Capper didn’t notice her) before climbing down the trapdoor.

“Midnight! I did it!” Beatrix exclaimed as she found the stallion who continued mining. He wiped the dust off of his hand before grinning as she showed her the two potions she made.

“That’s awesome! This thing can heal you 2HP per second for 8 Minutes! Do you know how much in total that is?” Midnight asked. The mare attempted to calculate it but was so happy that she was too distracted to answer. “Alright let me tell you. 960 HP!”

Beatrix’s mouth simply opened in shock as she heard him state this number. She looked down at the potion then at him, then back at it as she realized just how truly powerful this thing was.

“Wait… 960HP!? That’s nearly a thousand!” The mare exclaimed. Midnight just grinned.

“Yep! It’s actually more than the Max HP a Terraria can get, which is 600. You’re at 100 HP right now, but there are ways to get more.” The blue pegasus said, grabbing her attention.

“How?” Beatrix asked, looking at him as he dropped down the shaft she was working on and mining a bit. The purple mare followed him and looked down just when he broke through a wall and revealed a hidden cave.

“Well, why don’t we find out?” Midnight asked as he gave her his hand. She smiled before dropping down next to him, the two of them ready to drop down into the unknown.