The summer air was crisp and clean as ever and made for the atmosphere to take a slow stroll around Ponyville which was exactly what Silver Runner was doing. Her mane gently swayed in the wind as Sugarcube Corner past her by and The Library became the next landmark in her vision. Silver was a purple earth pony, her mane was green and contained a streak of silver through it, her cutie mark was a blueprint which displayed her ability to make anything with the correct materials. As her name suggested she was exceedingly good at running, she was the fastest earth pony in Ponyville (a fact which she boasted on a regular occasion). She had on her possession a book and quill which were her most prized possessions which she took almost everywhere with her, the book contained notes from every place she had visited and often included a rough sketch of a blueprint to jog her memory should she forget how to create a certain item, and for that matter alone it was dubbed ‘The Crafting Encyclopaedia’ a name she had decided would be plastered on the front, back and side of the book making it nearly impossible to miss the fact that this was THE Crafting Encyclopaedia. She reached the library and continued on her walk but instead headed to her house to finish the experiments she was undergoing, she wanted to find a use for the seemingly useless material she had found buried under the ruins in the everfree forest, it was unlike anything else she had ever seen and had a gray colour but with small black indentations around it and the only way she seemed to retrieve this object was by getting some unicorns to help her excavate and move it using a form of magic that had been rarely taught in modern Equestria.
Silver’s house was an extremely messy place with axes, shovels, pickaxes an old swords scattered here and there which were usually accompanied by a frame with a nameplate which had a blueprint hanging by the smallest bit of tape you could possibly imagine. The walls were coated in papers and posters with bits of string and pins connecting them making her seem like a conspiracy nut, her desk was coated in a thick layer of chiselled stone beneath this layer was a 6x6 grid on a blue piece of paper where most of her experiments occurred, she pulled a hoof across the stone dust causing it to fall to the, already dust, wooden floor of her house as she grabbed a chunk of the strange stone she had found. It weighed more than usual stone and its odd appearance only piqued her interest, it was like nothing she or anypony in Ponyville had ever seen and she was still waiting on a reply from the Princess so she could confirm that this was a completely new rock and then perhaps she would find a use for it and become famous for her little discovery.
She placed the rock on the 6x6 grid and looked over it another time, it had an ominous beauty to it, she pulled a large, dusty book from the shelf and dropped it onto the table as she flicked through its torn and aged pages. She rolled her eyes
I would never let the Crafting Encyclopaedia get into this state... she thought as the yellow paper continually displayed no information about this mysterious rock she had excavated. The final page was in a decent condition in comparison to the rest of the book
“If there is a rock, mineral or substance of any kind not depicted in this book that is relevant then contact the publishers, if you are a pony of science then try to perform the relevant tests and practices surrounding the discovery of a new rock, mineral or substance.
Thank you”
Silver rolled her eyes, the books were always so imprecise with their identification scheme. There was always a form of contact or complex test to perform, she didn’t have the time for any of that nonsense and decided to perform her own tests based on the oldest practices of alchemy in Equestria.
What could go wrong?
She placed the rocks in many different formations before deciding that a doorway would be the most effective as it would catch each angle of the rock meaning that she could get her testing over with quickly and then attempt to make a form of axe or weapon out of it to prove that the rock was indeed useful in Equestrian living. The first test consisted of her attempting to use a form of fire on the rock, she lit the base of it with a pile of paper from an old book of hers and watched as the rock did absolutely nothing
“Well that was a waste of a perfectly good book” Pouted Silver as she thought of another, preferably sane, test.
She decided that using lava from Tartarus could provoke some sort of reaction with the rock, she placed a pair of flame retardant gloves over her front hooves and carried the small vial over to the doorway formation
“This had better do something... this cost too many bits to buy to just waste” Muttered Silver as she opened the top and poured the lava onto the doorway and watched as it did, once again, absolutely nothing.
She lost her temper at this point and began to kick dirt and leaves at the doorway which caused something to happen oddly enough, the leaves and dirt circulated around the doorway at an increasing speed and then it formed a filling for the doorway.
“What in Equestria...” She managed before something broke the sound barrier causing the glass in her house to shatter and her to temporarily lose the ability to hear and the sheer force for her to close her eyes.
She heard something, an ominous sound followed by the heavy breathing of an animal or another pony, followed by the sound of a rock and a piece of metal being rubbed together. There was a cough followed by the flicking of a few pages and then another attempt of rock and metal being rubbed against one another. An ominous tune began as the thing began to run causing the sound of hoofsteps to echo through her mind, the hoofsteps were now on dirt and the sound of a dog barking became audible and then there was static.
Her eyes opened, her hearing returned and she found herself in a completely unrecognisable landscape consisting of what appeared to be cubes. She was sat on some grass and around her were but a few trees, looking at her hoof she noticed that it was square
“What the...” She uttered in horror, fear overtook her and she began to run in a random direction weaving in and out of the trees as her breathing became heavier.
Those noises a second ago, the coughing and the static. What did it mean?
She stopped and looked around, she was now in a barren landscape.
What does a pony do in a situation like this?
They collect resources.
They make a pickaxe.
They survive.
*Silver Runner: A Crafters Tale*
Dear Reader,
My life has been devastated because of my hastily made actions with the mysterious rock the excavation team had discovered, and I find myself in a conundrum of which I can’t seem to find an end to. This world functions nothing like our own and I can’t shake the feeling that I won’t be leaving until I realise what that rock is really used for.
Yes, I have a feeling this will be my new home for some time...
Silver took another moment to understand that her surroundings were made entirely of blocks, this fascinated Silver a world like this was a marvel to any type of archaeologist or scientist. Silver was neither but she was indeed taken back by the discovery of this world and was eager to find out it’s history and perhaps a name, something many ponies couldn’t say they had done in their lifetime. This was a whole new world she stood in and she had the ability to study it first hoof. Though her surroundings piqued her interest she thought it would be best to find a form of shelter for the upcoming night so she could at least sleep peacefully and have a place to stay during the time she would undoubtedly spend in this world. A single item stood out among the blocky scenery which surrounded Silver and that was a large book placed perfectly centred in the barren landscape, a book that seemed strangely similar to her.
She approached the book to see that it was her very own ‘Crafting Encyclopaedia’ but more block shaped in appearance as was everything in this strange world, she flicked open the pages and saw that the contents were different to what they had been in Equestria, the pages were blank with square boxes ready to be filled with recipes and explanations. The only item she found was a three dimensional diagram of a log titled ‘Wood’ and had the note ‘Very important material’ attached to the bottom of the page.
She looked around for a tree and spotted one atop a hill that looked reasonably small as she approached it she took the time to study the trees blocky appearance and appreciate its even blockier leaves before attempting to formulate a plan of action. She looked at her hoof and back to the tree as she realised that she had no tools in her possession but the Crafting Encyclopaedia.
“Well...” Muttered Silver to herself as she raised a hoof “No harm in trying...” she began to tap the log gently on one side before noticing a crack form throughout the log slowly as she did so. Fascinated by this development she halted all movement for a second causing the crack to disappear before her very eyes, much to her disbelief, and she realised that this crack on the log was more than likely a display of the breaking of this blocky log. She began to tap the side of the tree again and remained doing so for a matter of seconds before the log broke and dropped a smaller version of itself to the floor.
“This certainly isn’t like Equestria...” Mused Silver as she scooped up the small log and placed held it in her hoof before proceeding to break the entire tree down, after she had gathered the logs up she decided to return to where she had first came from and flicked open the pages of the Crafting Encyclopaedia and attempting to find out what to do with the logs.
A new note had been attached to the bottom of the page labelled ‘Wood’ which simply stated:
“Wood can be broken down into various objects such as sticks, however to do so you must cut the logs down into planks. Raw wood can be used as fuel when cooking things”
She read over the note twice before registering what it had said and began to puzzle over how to cut the logs down.
She first attempted hitting in front of her with the logs in her hoof but this proved to be less than successful so deciding to read through the encyclopaedia once more she returned the logs to the floor in front of her and flicked through the book.
“To break down materials use a form of crafting mechanism, knife, axe or hoof will do”
The sheer thought of using her hoof to break logs into planks was indeed a laughable idea to say the least and immediately searched for any form of tool she might have brought along with her or obtained on her journey to this strange world. After a solid eight minutes of searching for a tool she realised that she would indeed have to use her hoof to break down the logs, a major inconvenience to say the least. She picked up the log and began to fiddle with it allowing the block to move freely in a loose grasp as she attempted to figure out what exactly was meant by ‘Break down’ and after a few minutes more of this she managed to figure it out.
Placing a hoof atop the block and a hoof on the bottom of the block she somehow managed to squeeze the log into four separate blocks which resembled planks, she repeated this process with the rest of the logs she had obtained creating a grand total of thirty-two wooden planks. She eagerly opened the encyclopaedia and found that a new entry named ‘Wooden Planks’ had been made inside.
“Planks can be used as a building material or to craft into sticks, workbenches, chests, fences, signs, doors, hatches and tools”
This information had been far more informative than the notes for the logs previously but at least now she knew how to break items down and could construct a shelter from the wooden planks she had crafted. The first thing she would need to make was a workbench and she decided upon doing so shortly after she read the extract, she put four planks next to one another and crushed them together resulting in a surge of unknown magic to shoot between her hooves and crate a workbench which she then cradled in her hooves acknowledging the distinct difference between the appearance of a workbench and the appearance of the wooden planks. With the workbench crafted she decided it a suitable time to begin the construction of a simple shelter.
The sun set over the blocky grass hills of the unknown world and the small wooden hut stood tall atop the hill where the tree had once been, the air was crisp and cool to Silver as she trotted slowly to the front of her hut and placed down a door. She leant against the wall and watched the sunset peacefully, satisfied with her work on the hut and her progress she decided it was time to get together a set of tools and begin to piece together a furnace which she could use to smelt discovered ores or cook discovered food, the concept of an unknown ore or food excited Silver immensely as it would only add to a detailed report at the end of her journey even if everypony didn’t believe her.
Wandering inside of the cabin she remembered it had no windows or light source and was immediately surrounded by darkness in her own shelter.
“This needs to be fixed” Muttered Silver, she left her door open to allow the faint light of the moon to illuminate the small cabin as she discovered how to craft a wooden pickaxe and shovel to help her find something that would light her cabin up.
She left her cabin with the tools and a few wooden planks to find some kind of cave entrance which would allow her to easily locate any minerals hidden beneath the dirt blocks of this strange world.
A hole in the side of the hill was indeed a sight for sore eyes as Silver approached it in disbelief after having searched far and wide for any form of cave opening and failing miserably, she leant forwards into the cave opening and was greeted by a gust of wind from the depths and a swarm of blocky bats to fly towards the cave opening to escape their dark hiding spots within the cave, disturbed by the appearance of a pony looking for minerals. Silver jumped back at the sight of the bats and waited until it was clear before she cautiously placed one hoof onto the stone floor of the cave and deciding it safe to enter the opening and begin her exploration.
The cave was about as dark as her small hut had been and it was difficult to spot anything that wasn’t stone or dirt around her to which she began to lose hope in her excavation, however as this thought registered in her mind she bumped into a peculiar looking rock. It’s appearance was similar to stone but had black specks in it making Silver believe this could be the first ore she would discover in this new world, with this idea in her mind she swung the wooden pickaxe at the presumed ore and hacked away at it before the ore disappeared and a chunk of black mineral landed on the floor before her. Picking up the mineral and holding it in the same hoof as her shovel she decided to return to the surface to analyse and identify this new mineral. She returned to the cave opening and took note of its location before sprinting back towards her hut, the door still left ajar from when she had left before. She picked up the crafting encyclopaedia and placing the mineral in the light she frantically flicked through the pages before locating the new entry titled ‘Coal’
“Coal can be used for fuel or torches to create light”
“Figures...” Sighed Silver as she rolled her eyes at the note “But at least I can solve my lighting problem now” she broke down a few planks to sticks before attempting positioning the coal and sticks on the crafting table, it took a while but eventually she managed to create a few torches which she hung from the walls of her hut illuminating it to the point where it seemed like daytime inside of her hut, she decided to harvest some stone from the cave opening and obtain some more coal before settling down and resting for the evening.
The cave opening was now lit with the torches Silver had crafted and she had began to mine out the wall where she had first found the coal to achieve her goals of crafting a furnace and a few more torches before turning in for the evening. She had mined a large amount of the wall out and was satisfied with the work she had done, turning to leave however she was blocked by a horrific sight.
In front of her stood a bipedal creature with a majority of its head missing and the clothes it wore torn up and burnt, it made no sounds aside from haunting groans and extremely heavy breathing as it approached Silver.
“H-hello?” Stuttered Silver as she grasped her pickaxe tightly “I-I’m Silver Runner...” the attempted communication appeared to do nothing to stop this creatures approach and she attempted to come up with a plan of escape. Her mind raced as ideas came and went and she settled on raising her pickaxe high above her head and swinging it down hastily, catching one of the creatures limbs as it stayed on its course. The creature was sent back a small distance and made a sound of pain as it did so to which Silver leapt past the creature and ran for the cave opening in a frantic attempt to escape the monster which had just approached, as she ran she was interrupted by the creature swinging its limbs at Silver sending her stumbling into a stone wall. Once again she swung her pickaxe but this time didn’t stop, her eyes firmly closed and the creature emitting its horrible noises of pain as the pickaxe battered it repeatedly.
Suddenly there was silence as the creature emitted one louder and more drawn out noise. Silver opened one eye and the creature had gone in its place was nothing more than a small scrap of the creatures rotting skin which looked and smelt so vile. She kicked it into the cave and began a run towards the hut once more, shaken by the assault that had just taken place. Had she just ended that creatures life?
Silver placed the stone onto the crafting table and managed to piece together a furnace which she placed in the opposite corner to the crafting table before opening the crafting encyclopaedia and trying to see if an entry depicting that creature was recorded in any of the pages. Finally she found a page with a rough sketch of a similar looking bipedal creature titled simply:
“Zombie”
She froze at the word, such a name was only used in horror films and fairy tales back in Equestria.
“Attacks anything that isn’t an undead creature, spider or insect, known to drop rotten flesh on occasion but also carries armour on a less frequent basis”
She was still uncomfortable with the fact the term ‘Zombie’ was used as this creatures title and that it failed to specify why the creature was bipedal when there was rarely any bipedal creatures back in Equestria, was this an entirely new race she had discovered? And the extract also mentioned undead creatures, spiders and insects which meant that there were going to be different creatures other than the zombie in this world and that they would almost certainly be hostile to her as well.
She decided to finish her first day in this new world and get some well deserved rest, she put some coal in the furnace and lit it before sitting and leaning against it and falling asleep near the warmth of her furnace.
Today I may have been faced with challenges and peril but nothing in life can be for free, benefit from your experiences and take on the challenges today brings, for tomorrow they may be gone.
Silver Runner
