Journal of a Lost Changeling

Chapters

Journal Entry One
Journal Entry Two
Journal Entry Five
Journal Entry Six
Journal Entry Seven
Journal Entry Eight
Journal Entry Nine
Journal Entry Ten
Journal Entry Eleven - The Adventurers Complete Encyclopedia to Crafting and Mining.
Journal Entry Twelve - HAYO's guide to Crafting a new Industrial Revolution.
Journal Entry 13
Journal Entry 14
Journal Entry 15
Journal Entry 16
Journal Entry Three & Four

Journal Entry One

Entry one:

It has been almost two days since I woke up in this place. I don't know how long I had been passed out beforehand, and for the moment, it doesn't matter. I have more pressing matters to worry about. I guess I should write down the reasons for this journal, as well as the events prior leading towards that.

My name is Drone number 1074.

When in disguise, I use the alias Iota.

I am a Changeling.

I was on the front lines during the Canterlot Invasion.

And I am now lost.

During the Canterlot Invasion, I was fighting one of the unicorn regiments. Acting as a distraction for my brothers, I had all attention on me. One of the unicorns hit me with some spell that I didn't recognize, just as a large pink dome approached from the direction of the castle. The sheer physical force of the two spells instantly knocked me into unconsciousness.

I then awoke in a field that I didn't recognize. I instantly knew that many things were amiss. The first being a complete lack of connection with the Hive. I couldn't feel nor communicate with any of my brothers, sisters, or my Queen. I am cut off from my only companionship, with no way to find or call out to them. I believe the blast severed my connection due to the combination of the blasts. My guess is that the spell the unicorn tried to cast was some form of disorientation spell, or something along those lines. I'm not too sure about the large dome that approached, but due to current circumstances, I think it's safe to say that it was not meant to help us. It's possible that the two of them interacted in some form that seems to have altered my mind and body. This would not be such a problem were it not for the second thing I noticed.

My connection to the land and its' love seems to have been severed as well. This is very alarming. Equestria is normally rich with love, and can always be felt due to the ponies and their extreme peace. The ambient love is never enough for a hive to feed on, but can always be felt. The fact that I can't feel it anymore is cause for great concern. I feel no love in the land, air, or wildlife nearby. Only emptiness. I'd been without proper nourishment for some time before the invasion, and I've no idea how long it's been since then. Even now, I feel the pangs of hunger gnawing. It is not lethal just yet, but definitely hindering. Thankfully, I found some apples in a tree nearby. That will at least stave off the effects of love deprivation. It's not a permanent solution, in any case. I will still need to find some form of love to feed from if I'm to survive.

This is one of the reasons I have started to keep a log of my events and feelings. Should one of the hive-mates find it, I hope it will lead them to me.

It has occurred to me that I might seem a bit too calm for somebody on the verge of death by starvation. I will admit, when I first learned of my disconnection, I panicked momentarily. (Or , perhaps nearly an hour.) After a brief moment (approximately 40 minutes,) I started to feel the hunger pains increase, and remembering something I'd learned about survival; panicking never helps. This revelation forced me to calm down. (Also, tripping and falling down a small mountain helped. It also added to some injuries I had received during the invasion.)

It was only when I was done with my momentary weakness that I noticed the land around me. (Making hard contact with it a few times helped.) For whatever reason, the land around me seems to be made of slightly harder angles. Not only that, but everything seems to lack detail. The texture for everything is much smoother, but to the eyes, much harder. Even the grass I stand on doesn't feel right. I believe my senses are deteriorating.

This is another reason I write this journal, to keep track of whatever loss of sense or other deteriorating functionality in me that I may notice.

I wandered around nearby in an attempt to find some indication for where I am, with little success. I spent a certain amount of time looking for food, finding more apples, but no form of love. Once again, the lack of love in the land gives call for concern. There is wildlife nearby, but none of them would properly feed me.

Due to my lack of nourishment, I found myself exhausted before the end of the day. I dug a small hole in the side of a hill. I didn't have the energy to scavenge for branches and leaves to make a suitable hut, and although I wasn't a "digger" in the hive, I can still make a decent burrow.

I awoke late the next day, hunger filling my body once again. At least I was rested. I ate a few apples to take the bite off the pains, but it did little to satisfy them.

I began to travel and explore, hoping to find any being capable of love. In my wanderings, I found what appeared to have once been a house. I say once been because all I actually found was just a few smoldering wood planks, a foundation, and some kind of desk. If the large amounts of soot and ash around it are anything to go by, it's safe to assume the desk was where the fire or explosion started. My guess is that some unicorn was tinkering with potions or magic that they weren't quite ready for, or got a few ingredients and reagents wrong. Upon further searching, however, I found something else interesting. On the desk, was a lone book, unharmed, and completely intact. More evidence to support that it was a magical accident that caused the untimely demise of his house, (And most likely, whoever owned it.) That book also happens to be the book I'm writing in right now. It's surprising that the desk managed to stay intact. In any case, this entire "house," is nothing but a pile of ash and ruins now.

I left the house once again in search of a suitable love source. Once again, unsuccessful. The only beings I found were large amounts of pigs and chickens scattered around the nearby field.

It is now, as the sun is about to set, that I've decided to write this journal. I've decided to use this journal to act as some way that the hive may find and rescue me.

I only hope that when they do, they don't find a corpse.

Journal Entry Two

Entry Two:

It has been an interesting day, to say the least.

My first odd interaction happened as soon as I woke up. In fact, it was what woke me up. I was startled as during the first hours of light by an intense thunderstorm. Not very interesting, until I noticed there wasn't a single cloud in the skies. After what felt like hours of constant thunder, (though it was probably only a few minutes,) I also noticed the lightning was very localized, and that it had started a small forest fire in a nearby swamp.

I followed the lightning on a whim, to find none other than a Zap Apple Tree. The leaves were growing in clumps along the branches of the tree as the lightning struck. I'd heard of these mystical trees before, but had never actually seen them. It was a marvelous sight, though slightly worrying as the lightning seemed to strike a little too close a few times.

By the time the lightning stopped, I'd noticed it was sometime around noon. While the morning had been interesting, I was still no closer to finding a sustainable food source.

The second odd event to happen today is something that gives slight cause for alarm. I came across a cow today. It was a lone cow, just grazing in the fields, right next to the swamp. I almost shouted for joy upon seeing this. To me, it was a sign of progress, of hope, of Life! It was a sign of Ponies! This meant I wouldn't starve in some random fields! I wouldn't have to starve any longer.

I hid under the tall grass and shifted my form into a cow, similar, but not a copy of the one I now had my eyes set upon. I slowly approached, so as not to seem desperate to feed. I've gone almost two weeks now without proper nourishment, and almost three days with no form of love at all. I'm surprised I managed to hold it together as well as I did, actually. I called out to the bovine, only to be ignored. Thinking that she didn't hear me, I went closer and called again. I was ignored a second time. And a third time, and a fourth time. Getting slightly annoyed at the cows obliviousness, I approached and tapped her on the flank. The bovine turned and gave me a look that was actually off putting. Once again I tried to ask directions. The cow simply stared at me in an with empty, unintelligent eyes. I was starting to doubt the intelligence of this cow. In fact, its mannerisms seemed to indicate it was a simple animal. Just my luck.

Just to test my theory, I started saying random and unintelligible phrases, as well as in various different languages. It was actually an amusing interaction in hindsight. I seem to specifically remember one instance when I started singing a song about a miniature Minotaur. I have no Idea where it even came from, it was just a small tune that played through my mind.

My efforts were in vain by the time all was said and done. The cow just simply did not give a buck! As a last straw, I removed my disguise. The green flames enveloped me, as I revealed my true form. I struck a dramatic pose, and gave a menacing gesture to the cow, as well as various other dazzling effects. I must say, I would have put some showmares to shame with that display. I know I was quite proud.

The cow didn't even budge.

Out of pure frustration, (mostly that that reveal had gone to waste) I swatted the sow on the flank. Interestingly enough, that got a reaction out of it. She ran away, giving a long moo as she left. I will say that I was surprised to see when my blow connected with her, her entire body turned a shade of red. I think I'm becoming delirious.

The sun is setting now. I will continue my search tomorrow.

Entry 2.5

I woke in the middle of the night by an odd feeling that coursed through my body. It felt like magic, but of what sort, I don't know. I would also like to note that the writing in the previous pages of this book are now glowing. I"m too tired to determine the cause for now. I'm going back to sleep.

Journal Entry Five

Entry Five

I've received little to no sleep in the time I've been waiting. I've dug a small hole to be able to see just outside for some indication of time. Thankfully, I can see the sun rising right now. It's a relief that night has passed, though I've gotten such a small amount of rest. The sun is just above the horizon, but I keep hearing the sounds nearby. I can't get a solid glimpse at them. The hole is just big enough to look at the sky.

Now that I listen though, the sounds are a bit different. Not like they're a completely new sound, just the same old groaning and clanking. They sound... Well... I guess the only way to describe it is in frantic pain. Perhaps the townspeople have come hunting for me and are killing the monsters? No. That's not it. There would be something else. Someone screaming, or some sounds of battle. Perhaps the twang of the bows once again, but there's nothing.

Actually, now there's nothing at all. No more sounds of clanks, no growls, no groans, nothing. What would make them stop? I'm taking a risk, and am going to come out of my shelter.

Astounding! There is absolutely nothing nearby. It's as if the monsters simply vanished.

Incredible. I've just found something new about my night "visitors."

They weren't alive.

I come to this conclusion because after searching the nearby area, I found several charred bones, (disturbing) and burnt rotten flesh. (Revolting.)

Necromancy, unbelievable! This would explain the monsters appearance in the night, and their disappearance in the morning. The undead cannot live through the rays of the sun. There are many theories and myths about the "why," but the "how" is clear. Due to heat from the sun, the dead fester, and with the magic flowing through their bodies, burn when the light touches them. This raises many questions and answers about my current whereabouts. Only unicorns have the magic capacity to practice such acts. Not to mention the fact that it's illegal, and forbidden by almost all intelligent races currently living on the world. This leads me to believe that I was thrown very far from Canterlot, and landed somewhere near one of the borders of the country where law enforcement is harder to come by, making them prime places for crime, and otherwise "unwise," "unsafe," or "downright Stupid" magical experimentation. Like necromancy for example.

It would also explain the various sounds I heard. The growls seem obvious, since the living dead are always in some form of pain, and the clanking was the bones impacting one another. Judging the way that the burnt flesh is never connected to bone, and vice versa, I think there are at least two types of undead walking around at night. Some form of walking dead, or for lack of a better term, "Zombies," and some form of skeleton. I should mention that the bones I found are not pony. This leads me to wonder what kind of creature was trying to be summoned? The bones are too big to be a pony's, but the wrong shape to be a griffin. It's about the size of a Minotaur's leg bone, but oddly shaped. Perhaps the original summoner was trying to summon some new form of life?

I don't know enough about the subject to make any further conclusions. I'll go ahead and conclude my writings for now, since that seems to be the only thing of interest I've found so far. I'll write again if something else interesting pops up sometime through the day.

Well, something interesting happened all right. A few things actually.

The first event wasn't too serious, although very startling. Not ten minutes after I left and started walking through the forest nearby, I was startled (scared beyond all belief) by a sudden impact. Upon looking at my assaulter, I found it was a spider nearly as large as me. This startled me further, resulting in a panicked scramble in an attempt to get away from the giant arachnid. When I realized I wasn't in the process of being devoured, I took a second look at the 8 legged monstrosity, only to have it stare back with it's many uninterested eyes. I slowly rose with caution, though it was obvious that it had not intention of harming me. (Aside from the kind of pain one would associate with having a giant spider jumping on their backs from a tree. Hurts more than you think.)

My second event of the day is much more satisfying, and for once, is actual good news. I was scavenging for more food, trying to at least find some more apples to make my current levels of love last as long as possible. I don't want to have to feed on unpleasant emotions again. After finding some apples, I started searching for some other forms of food through the nearby plains. While walking through the tall grass, various seeds kept getting caught in my leg holes. It became a constant irritation, so I started scooping them out, when a nearby chicken/duck approached me. (They have the colors and sounds of a chicken, but the shape of a duck. It's very confusing. I will from now on refer to them as chucks.)

It started to eat the seeds from off the ground, and out of my hooves. After a few moments, I started to feel one particular form of emotion. Lust. I was surprised at first. I began looking around in an attempt to find the source. Turns out, it was the chuck. I thought that perhaps it was just that time of year, so I shrugged it off, since the emotion isn't one I can feed off of. As I continued to clean my hooves and cavities of the seed, I noticed another chuck approach. I watched as it too ate the grass seeds out from my hoof, and it too entered a "needy" state. What happened next was one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen.

The two chucks right there followed the call of nature, but not in the way it intended. Unless simple kissing is the new way all beings reproduce these days. That's exactly what happened, however. The chucks "kissed," and then low and behold, there was a small chuckling. (Okay, that's fun to say.) Even more interesting, I actually managed to feed on the ambient love I felt. This should not be possible. While changelings can feed on lust, it's not really sufficient. Not only that, but unintelligent creatures (pigs, chickens, chucks, etc...) do not give off the feelings necessary to actually provide sustenance. Even odder, I could swear I could actually "see" the love they were giving off. This just may be me losing my mind though...

I don't even know how this is possible, so I will move on to the last event of today.

This event was much less exiting as the previous two. I came across a large cave on the edge of the forest and the plains. Nothing too special really. Being a changeling, I longed to go inside, as I feel a bit more comfortable underground, but after hearing the groans of the undead near the entrance, I decided against it.

It was growing dark, so I returned to my hole once again. As I'm writing this however, I can see large plumes of smoke in the distance near the sunset. It's coming from the plains. I'll have to check it out tomorrow. I'd like to reach actual civilization, which would bring me closer to the hive. I would be able to find another hivemate, or at least another changeling. In any case, I'd best get to sleep before the hordes of the undead keep me from sleep all night.

Journal Entry Six

Entry Six

Two things of significance occurred today up to this point.

My first event of interest was waking up. I woke early, before the sun had risen, and decided I could at least get a good look at my less than living neighbors. Up till now, all my ideas of them have been inferences and assumptions. I believed there would be dead ponies walking around. I came to a bit of a shock when I first caught an actual glimpse of the creatures that have been haunting the night. These were bipedal creatures, taller than the average pony, and had both front hooves outstretched in front of them, some of them wearing and holding various different things. There were so many different items it was hard to come to any conclusion about them. They all stood around, doing nothing. All of them had varying levels of decay about their bodies, ranging from almost completely covered in flesh, to almost no tissue of any kind. I noticed that the ones with the more bone exposed seemed to carry bows.

I also took note of another creature I'd not yet seen. It was quadrupedal, with a tall body and large head. It's skin was a mottled green, and on its face was a look of sorrow or anger. (I later found it was sorrow.) Feeling it was better to lean towards caution, I decided it was best to leave it be as the sun rose. I was able to witness the zombies and skeletons burn almost instantly, but the new creatures were unaffected.

One of the nearby zombies for whatever reasons decided to attack the green beast that was closest to it. To my shock, the green beast started to expand and flash with light. It gave a loud hissing noise, and suddenly, to my horror, exploded. I could see a crater roughly 6 meters around where the two bodies had previously been. My earlier tactic of staying away was suddenly reinforced. I was grateful I had followed that instinct.

I have decided to call these green creatures "Hissers."

The second event today happened later. After the sun had fully risen, and all the monsters had died, I started making my way towards the columns of smoke I'd seen last night. I started traveling, taking everything I'd gathered with me. Fifteen apples, a few bones I'd kept for whatever reason, (I threw the rotting flesh out. Stank something awful) about five hooffulls of wheat seeds, and a few Zap apple saplings I'd kept, just in case. Oh, and a pumpkin that I'd found. I stopped once for a snack, using a few handfuls of the seed I had and giving it to a few nearby chickens. (Don't judge me, I'm trying to survive!)

I made my way through a swamp. Not the most pleasant or clean of places, but it was in the direction I needed to go. It was an interesting experience to say the least, if not slightly disgusting. There were entire trails and splotches of some kind of slime everywhere. Icky. Thankfully, as I neared the exit to the swamp, there was a clear pool of water. I decided to take the time to wash myself. It has been at least a week since I even cared about hygiene.

After a relieving bath, I went back on my way. A few miles after, in the later hours of the afternoon, I saw the pillars of smoke once again. Judging by the distance I've covered, and how much closer the columns look, It's safe to say I'll make it tomorrow. I decided to make camp for the night. I'd make it there about mid morning tomorrow with good rest. The sun is setting now, So I'll write when I arrive at the settlement tomorrow.

Journal Entry Seven

Entry Seven

Today, my hopes for rescue, and finding my way home were shattered.

Reading back, I see several entries when I was undergoing starvation where I would ramble about how I was not in Equestria, or that I was in a different world. After my starvation, I brushed the writings off as hunger driving me to insanity, and that I was delirious. They very well may have been my clearest thoughts since the battle. There has been no contact with the ponies, animals don't behave as they should, monsters that should not exist roam the nights, and the world does not look like it should. Now, it seems that ponies exist nowhere. Why do I say this? I reached the settlement that I'd been traveling towards for the past two days.

Using some new found strength, I transformed into a pony, readying myself. I decided I'd play the "stranded lost soul" to gain sympathy from the ponies. It fit, since that was my experience for the past few days. As I got closer, I thought about how dramatically I needed to play it out, when I noticed the inhabitants. They were not ponies, nor any manner of creatures I've ever seen before. I don't even know how to classify them.

They seem to have similar body structures to the zombies I've seen roaming the night, only less...well...dead. They walk upright on two hind legs, have large heads, no snouts, small ears further down their head near the middle rather than on top, and all wear garments of some sort. I've been watching and observing from a distance for a while now. While I can now make adequate guesses about their physiology, I know nothing of their psychology. I can't determine anything about their social structure, behavioral patterns, culture, or anything along those lines.

Seeing this village has now confirmed a shocking, saddening, and terrible revelation to me.

I am no longer in Equestria, or even Equis for that matter.

There are no ponies, no changelings, no griffins, no Minotaurs, no hive.

No chance for rescue.

No chance for hope.

I am truly alone in a world I don't even know the slightest thing about.

This raises so many questions! How did this happen? What caused the spells that hit me to react this way? Where am I in relation to Eqis? Am I on another planet? Another universe? What do I do from here on? Do I wait for rescue if it comes? Do I hope that someone from the Hive, or any random pony made it through as well? Or do I live on, trying to make a full life of my situation? Do I try to live a normal life, and just give up on my hopes for Equestria?

Or do I give up on life?

Should I just let myself die?

How am I supposed to live knowing that everything I've known is now lost?

I truly don't know as of now.

I guess I should step out of such depressing thoughts and try to at least observe more about my potential future neighbors. There are more important things to worry about for now. For now, I'll start stating my observations on the village itself. While I can't make too many observations about the inhabitants themselves, I can say what I see of the buildings. It is a small settlement, too small to be a town. It's just big enough to house a mid sized tribe. There are many buildings laved around the entire village. Most of them seem to be storage sheds/shacks, and houses. Two of the houses have small fenced out areas near the back with an assortment of animals. Strewn about are fields of all sizes around the entire village, containing various different crops inside. Nearer towards the center, I can see what I believe to be a Blacksmithing shop. In the very center, is a large multi-story stone tower. My best guess is that it's some form of guard tower. Makes sense, with the monsters that rule the night.

For the moment, that's all I can really see. I still have yet to make any judgments of the locals, but I will do that tomorrow. I'll record their social interactions, and try to get some kind of grip on their society tomorrow. Right now, I need to rest. Rest and think.

Journal Entry Eight

Entry Eight

Today I decided to scout the village once again. I bulked up enough courage to get closer to the settlement to observe, study, and get a better feel for how they conduct themselves in social circumstances.

My findings were actually somewhat disappointing I guess I could say. All observations on the town and it's inhabitants have been relatively minor. At least when compared to some of my previous findings and observations. The locals seem to be herd or pack based. The entire settlement is composed of a single race, with many inhabitants. They interact with one another as a pack or herd would, as well as always stay somewhere near the center of the town. However, some will stray from the pack and leave for some time. I wan't able to get sufficient data on what activities they participated in. The strays would not wander far, nor stay for too long.

Some other discoveries of mine. I discovered that the one of the nearby buildings was filled with books. In all honesty I have no idea how many books were contained, but judging how many shelves I found, I'd say it was either the home of an enthusiastic collector, or a library of some kind.

I also managed to get a closer look at their garments as well. They seemed to be somewhat uniform. My guess is that they either signify class or job position. Since they treated each other with more or less the same amount of respect when interacting, I would guess it to be the latter. I won't rule out a class system just yet.

In the hopes of being able to communicate with them at some point in the future, I also took the time to try and identify how it is they communicate. While when I transform into one when I do finally intercept one, it would still be a good idea to have some basic knowledge on manners and social courtesies. I don't want anything to blow my cover.

It has also come to attention that I made most of these observations while hiding in a tree. While that in and of itself isn't that big of a deal, I noticed that the leaves and branches seem to be extremely sturdy compared to their size. While changelings are normally fairly lightweight, I found myself able to stand on the very outer and top branches. I also notice that, like the dirt on the ground, the leaves and branches group together in an almost square manner. It's very intriguing I have no idea why nature would create or evolve the entire world like this.

I found a nearby chicken and fed it some more seeds for a light snack to replenish my magic reserves. Never hurts to be prepared.

My few minor findings have given me time to muse upon my future. After my previous entry, I see I was not in the highest of spirits. Of the goals provided, a simple death is the least logical or helpful. I also think that waiting for some form of rescue would be counterproductive as well. My best option is to either live my life now as I see fit, or find my own way home. I spent a large amount of time considering the answer. While the odds of me finding my own way home are small, I refuse to give up hope. On the other hand, Just living would give me a fresh start. No hatred or scorn from the ponies, which will most likely be large due to our loss from our failed invasion. I spent hours sitting and thinking of an answer, trying to make a decision. Then it occurred to me.

Why not have both?

I can't believe it took me so long to come to this conclusion. I was quite frankly shocked at how hard the realization hit me. Some have told me I have an bad habit of over analyzing the details. I missed the big picture. The best solution is to simply live life, while attempting to find ways back home.

I can be pretty thick sometimes.

In any case, now that I've come to that conclusion, I will attempt to mingle with the locals tomorrow. I'll set a trap, (harmless pit) and take on his/her role for the day to see if I've got it down.

I need some rest. I need to be of sound mind tomorrow if I'm going to pull it off. Wish me luck.

It is with some small amount of hindsight that I see that I asked a book for luck. Perhaps my mind is truly starting to deteriorate? I hope not. I just got myself together and came up with a plan.

Journal Entry Nine

Entry Nine

Lady luck decided to smile upon me today. My efforts to gather information over the past 12 hours or so have been very informative. I spent the better part of the day mingling with and observing the customs and rituals the natives practice. I'm fairly sure I have the basic structure for their society down for the moment. The events of the day have been as follows.

As the day began, I emerged from my hole. The sun was just rising, and the locals had not yet woken. I took the opportunity to set up my trap. Now, changelings aren't the best, or fastest diggers. That title goes to the Diamond Dogs. We can still create caves and holes in a timely manner, so making my snare was the easy part. My trap was quite honesty...well... nothing more than a hole in the ground. Literally, nothing more than a pit right under a small decrease in elevation. Thankfully, most of the hole was hidden simply by that change in elevation. In hindsight though, I don't think that hiding the trap was actually necessary. That'll come later though.

After catching one of the few locals that would occasionally walk outside the village alone, I formed a stasis cocoon around him. (I assume it was a him.)

I would like to mention quickly that contrary to popular belief, should a non-changeling that could understand this language find this journal, a changeling stasis cocoon does not transform its occupant into a changeling. I can see where an overactive imagination can lead to such conclusions, but the common opinion that the green pods occasionally used to house prisoners transform it's host into a hive member. A stasis cocoon is simply used for keeping anyone we don't want running around in a place they won't interfere.

Back to the locals.

After subduing and taking the form of the now imprisoned villager, I headed out in an attempt to learn more about the social structure and basic interactions with my now soon to be neighbors. An odd thought, but I don't quite know how else to describe what they will be, or are to me.

On the topic of odd things, Bipeds. Walking on my two rear hooves and legs was a very different and downright weird experience. Now, I know this isn't the first time that a changeling has had to adopt this form of locomotion. Many changelings actually prefer to take the forms of other species, such as Minotaurs. It was simply my first.

So, anyway, I arrived at the village in disguise, trying to mimic the patterns made by the villager I was currently impersonating. He/she/it (I've yet to actually bother to identify gender,) was a bit of a loner. That was what allowed such an easy capture. After observing the patterns my current persona before replacing him/her/it, I was confident in my ability to play the part. As long as I don't have to actually speak to any of them, since I have yet to actually identify how it is they communicate. From a distance, all I can hear are various grunts and such, but then again, every language sounds like that from a distance...

I kept myself away from the center of the town, and by proxy, away from the potential center of attention. I chose to instead browse around the buildings near the edge of town. In attempts to learn more about the society at large, I wandered inconspicuously around aimlessly gathering as much information as I could about these local creatures and customs. My search lead me to a few particular buildings.

One of them, was an open building, with a large pit filled with what I would assume to be either somewhat cooled lava, or very hot coals. Standing beside that were a pair of what I think would be safe to call stone ovens. They were stacked on top of one another, and made of large pieces of rocks shaped into some form of kiln, or at least, as far as I could tell.

The other, however, was without a doubt, a library. Be it public or private, I still don't know, but I intend to find out soon. What came as a shock, and a relief, was that some of the texts in the library were, for the most part, written in the standard Equish language.

I decided to make off with a few select books that I could. Not wanting to be caught in case it was a private library, and left with all haste. Tomorrow I will sort and look through the books I found, and see what they contain within them. Hopefully, I will find something of use. For now, however, I will rest. It's been a long day.

Author's Note

That's right, I'm not done yet.

Sorry I haven't updated for so long. For the most part, I've been waiting for the Zap Apple mod to update, so I could play along and still record Iota's adventures. However, since 1) that doesn't seem to be happening sometime soon, and 2) I lost the save file anyway, this will be the last chapter that contains a portion of it that was me actually playing Minecraft while role-playing as a lost changeling.

So from here on out, I'll be actually making stuff up. Y'know, like an actual writer would... :twilightsheepish:

I can guarantee the next chapter won't take so long, but I can't say how soon it will come out... My schedule is kinda unpredictable at times...

So! That being said, Leave feedback, and I'll see you when I make the next chapter!

Journal Entry Ten

Entry Ten

It is morning, and I have decided to write my findings as I sort through them, taking notes on them as I discover what help they may be. It will allow me to look back upon the results from a fresh perspective, as well as be able to study my feelings on them as I feel it. A fresh point of view would help in the future I think.

I would first like to state my observations of the books I have in my possession as of right now. There are only four of them at the moment. They are quite hefty though, so they should contain a good deal of knowledge, given their titles. The largest one is probably one of the largest tomes I've ever seen. The other three are still quite large, and hopefully, they will all contain at least some decent answers to the questions that have yet to be answered since I arrived.

The four books are titled, (in order of largest to smallest,)

The Adventurer's Complete Encyclopedia to Crafting and Mining. (The title reflects it's size well.)

HAYO's guide to Crafting a new Industrial Revolution. (Once again, Large name, Large book)

A Beginners Guide to Building Machines.

A Beginners Guide to Alchemy and Equivalent Exchange -3rd version-

Let's start with outward appearances, or "Judging the books by their covers." (I don't know why I found that so amusing,)

The first book, The Adventure's Encyclopedia to Crafting and Mining, is truly massive. The book is almost four hooves thick, and looks very worn and used. The cover is chock full of notches, blemishes, scratches, smudges, stains, and the like. This must be a very old book, and judging by the binding and the style it seems to have been made and decorated, it definitely exceeds me in years, as well as most ponies. The cover is a simple earthen brown, and has an elegant green pattern embroidered into it. The pattern consists of several different various plant life that I've found nearby.

The pages look worn from constant use, some of them with tears, and chunks missing from them. The Encyclopedia seems to have seen better days, but still has many many more to go. The book it'self is about an entire leg's length long. I have no doubt that this tome will contain several answers to my many almost endless questions. I look forward to studying the contents held within.

The second book, HAYO's Guide to Crafting a new Industrial Revolution, looks to be in the exact opposite condition of the book I have just finished observing. Not only is it free of almost any kinds of signs of actual use, it also appears to have been made from some of the most perfect and precise materials I've ever seen. The entire book is made of some form of parchment that feels and looks all too perfect. Unlike standard parchment, which is rough due to current methods of creating paper and publishing books that are far from efficient, and lack any form of uniformity, This book seems to have been created straight from the heavens above. I'm sure it would be a librarians dream come true.

The cover, isn't made of leather, or wood as some books tend to be. No. The cover to this guide is made of pure metal. Now, I'm no smith or metallurist, so I can't identify what this material actually is, but I can at least describe it. It has a certain reflective quality, and doesn't look like it contains any kind of flaws or blotches of whatever metals were used to make the material, so that leads me to believe either this alloy is made from very advanced material, or it was hammered, rolled, and flattened in a way that leaves absolutely no major marks or dents. Quite a feat in and of it'self.

The third book, A Beginners Guide to Building Machines, is a much more normal looking book. It certainly is a hefty book, but doesn't seem to have quite the amount of use the first book has, nor be made from any of the special materials of the second. Nothing much looks too out of place or unusual. Although, it does have an interesting pattern etched into the cover. Orange colored lines in a kind of boxed-in zig-zag pattern adorn the edges and various other sections of the cover.

What made this book catch my attention, though it was fairly common looking, was what was written on the back. The book claims to be able to teach me how to make machines that could make my everyday life simpler. It's methods are to use various machines described in the book. We'll see how useful these machines could be in the future. There isn't much more to the outside of the book. I'm eager to search the contents inside it. We'll get to that later though.

The last book, A Beginners Guide to Alchemy, is perhaps the most mysterious. Not puzzling, or intriguing. Mysterious. There is a distinct feeling of magic emanating from it. That's completely explainable, though, since Alchemy in and of it'self is a form of magical study. In fact, I expect this spellbook to be the least informative, or rather, will teach me more of things I already had a vague idea of. I brought it because I have expressed some interest in Alchemy in the past, and, with recent events, I felt now would be as good a time as any to learn.

The cover alone doesn't look too out of the ordinary as far as spellbooks go. It has a purple covering, a gold embroidered logo on the front, and the title in a silver thread. There are also various patterns and decorative designs on the cover as well. The outward appearance isn't too surprising for a spell tome, so that one isn't as intriguing. I expect this is the one I'll be using the least of.

That concludes my observations of outward appearances, and in my next entry, I'll be covering the contents.

Author's Note

Ok, short chapter I know, and not much else happened, but we'll see what happens next chapter.

Who can guess what these various tomes were for?

(If they weren't obvious already... :twilightsheepish: )

Leave comments and feedback below!

Journal Entry Eleven - The Adventurers Complete Encyclopedia to Crafting and Mining.

Entry Eleven

I'm somewhat anxious as I start to read through the first tome. Just looking at the size of this encyclopedia is intimidating. I'm not too sure how much of the information I'll be able to retain, if any. There must be so much knowledge stored within this one book, and I'm about to take the plunge of my life. I'm not a scholar, I'm just a drone. But in order to survive and learn more about this new place, I have to reach out of my norm. Well, I guess there's no use stalling any longer, let's dive in.

Looking at the contents, I see that my earlier hesitation was somewhat earned. There are so many separate parts of the encyclopedia, but not only that, there are subsections, sub-subsections, and even sub-sub-sections and sub-sub-sub-sections! Not to mention that some of these subsections can tally up to 100 pages alone. I know I'm in over my head with this book. But I guess I don't really need to read and memorize every part on my first read-through. I'll be sure to jot down and mark anything that will definitely help in the near future.

Some of the more useful parts of the tome are titled:

The World,

Crafting,

and Survival.

There are a few other sections, like "Redstone circuits," and the like, but those don't seem necessary at this point and time. I see no need to bother with them.

"The World"

This world is definitely not on the same page as Equestria. While it has several biomes, ecosystems, and creatures, there are no mentions of leylines, thaumatic fields, or anything related to magic that works in the same way as it would back home. The only thing that seems to be remotely similar is some form of potion brewing. Even then, it's a very loose similarity.

Also, this world seems to be lacking diversity. I didn't quite notice it at first, but there is a striking lack of different elements available (at least, that are known,) in this world. If we were to talk about sub-surface materials, then there are very few things that can be found. I can list every element/stone/material that can be found under the ground easily. There is dirt, stone, gravel, coal, iron, lapiz lazuli, redstone, emeralds, obsidian, and diamond. That's every solid element found underground. Not once is quartz, marble, basalt, limestone, or any kind of rock mentioned. It's as if the world just decided that one of every basic type was necessary. Seems rather lazy to me.

The creatures that inhabit this world are a different matter. The world has several similar creatures, most of them sharing common traits with Equestria. However, once again, this world seems to lack a substantial number of species. I don't think there's even a single kind of bird mentioned in this book.

It may just be that this book is lacking, but it claims to be the "Complete Encyclopedia." Perhaps its' focus is much more narrow than I presume, but that still doesn't quite make sense to me.

Anyway, returning to the topic of creatures, the main passive creatures that seem to inhabit my local region are cows, chickens, pigs, and sheep. They are all docile, and simple creatures. The book mentions using them for livestock, and even has methods for breeding, slaughtering, and skinning them all. It also mentions the various uses the byproducts of these animals have. I find it oddly humorous that this was designed for a being that actually ate the animals themselves, and never considered that someone would feed off the breeding alone.

That does lead me to wonder though, what am I do do with the animals that will no doubt spawn as I use the breeding for sustenance? I see overpopulation becoming a potential issue. I think I'll just wait that question out. I've got enough on my plate as it is, and I think it will take some time before it becomes an actual problem.

There are also the neutral creatures. These are creatures that will leave you be, unless you provoke them. This is where we start to find creatures not from Equestria. We have two standard species, Wolves and (Very VERY Big) spiders. Wolves won't attack unless directly attacked. Spiders seem to become feral during the night, so I will make efforts to avoid going out during that time. The last neutral creature has no similarities from any living equestrian creatures that I know of. A creature that only appears during the night, comprised of a mottled black color, with glowing purple eyes called an "Enderman." This creature is completely docile unless actively attacked, or (for reasons not understood,) eye contact is made. I'm not sure what to make of this creature.

Lastly come the aggressive ones. The beings that wish nothing more than to rip your flesh from your bones. I've decided to simply memorize their appearances for the sole purpose of avoiding them. The majority of these creatures seem to be undead, and that is cause for great concern. Not to mention the green monsters referred to as "Creepers." I'm quite sure I won't be going outside during the night.

"Crafting"

Crafting looks like a very simple matter at first glance. Simply make a table, and gather the materials necessary, and viola, you have some (crudely made,) tools. The tools also have different tiers of strength and durability. This makes sense, but I'm not entirely sure how useful gold would be in most of these situations. Last I'd checked, gold is extremely pliable, and not worth the effort to use, given it's rarity. Given how numerous diamonds in Equestria, I expect I'll have a full set of diamond tools and armor in minutes. One can easily find diamonds in ample supply by digging merely around ten meters underground. I don't think it will be that big of an issue.

It also goes into detail on different building materials you can use, such as wood for walls, fences, doors, steps, etc. That will definitely come in handy when I decide to build some form of fortification. These building blocks will be vital in the future. There is also the option for various aesthetic and decorative pieces. That would help make things more appealing to the eye, though we changelings are not usually one for such things. We'll see about that.

"Survival"

Here, the book goes into many subjects that I already know most about. There are sections on finding food, building shelters, signs of poor health, and so on. This entire section will probably be the least useful for me, seeing as my physiology and biology is clearly different from the figures described in the book. However, perhaps there will at some point in time be use for me to use it on the locals, if only to improve my standing in their community.

That is all I'll look into for now. I think I've gotten a decent enough grasp on some of the basic going-ons of this world. Even though I've only gone through such a little portion of this encyclopedia, I've gathered a large amount of knowledge. I've only scratched the surface, and I've learned so much. I'm know for a fact I'll be referring to this book over and over again during my stay and travels in this world.

Next, I'll study the "HAYO's guide to Crafting a new Industrial Revolution." This book is nearly as big as what I just looked through, and I don't even know how long I'll end up puzzling and pondering the book itself, let alone the contents. What does it mean, "industrial revolution?" What is this alloy the book is made of? Why is the paper so uniform and perfect? What is HAYO? Hopefully, I'll receive some answers soon.

Author's Note

Wow, almost a year.....

I'm really really sorry, I don't really know what to say. It was hard for me to put into words an abridged version of the entire Minecraft Wiki. Hopefully, the next one will be out much sooner. That's my new years resolution.

At least It ended up the longest chapter yet! (by 3 words...)

Anyways, enjoy, and leave comments! They fuel me and give me creative juice.

Journal Entry Twelve - HAYO's guide to Crafting a new Industrial Revolution.

Entry Twelve

I must admit, this is the one I've probably been the most exited to look into. Of all the books, this one in particular puzzles me the most. So much of it is foreign to me, and that is only a first impression made by looking at the cover. It's cover making the odd choice of having a metal exterior, the unknown element it's made of, and the title. HAYO sounds like it would be one of the puns the ponies would make in order to mind irony in their town names, personal names, or any kind of title that could be made into some form of equine pun. I will never understand that fascination.

This book seems to have a few more specific topics included in the book, and some additional ways of coping with and changing the world. Not only that, but it also has more information on new elements, plants, minerals, and resources. This makes me a bit more skeptical on the author/authors of the earlier encyclopedia. It's possible that it may also just be a bit old and outdated.

This book doesn't seem to have the broad, general topics that the Mining/Crafting encyclopedia did. Instead, it has more specific topics, going into great details on the subject matter at hand. These topics can be divided into:

Resources

Agriculture

Tools/Armor

Machines

Energy/Wiring

Neuclear Reactor Components

Going in order, my first impressions are as such:

Resources: This section fills in some of the holes that were left out of the Encyclopedia. Many new elements, ores, and metals are mentioned in here, and it also gives instruction on how to find the ores, and combine them to make new ones, like for example, combining three parts copper, one part tin, and making Bronze. There are also processes to refine iron, and make silver, though no way on how to find it is currently given.

Next in this sections are the natural things found, usually on the surface, Like rubber, rubber trees (why that's not in the Agriculture, I don't know yet,) resin, and other things you can find that I feel would be useful for whatever activities one would partake in described in this book.

Last in the resource section, is the advanced section. I'm not going to give this a thorough look through, because I'm sure most of them would be over my head. These are all quite far into the process of advancement, so I'm certain I won't be using any of them anytime soon. The various things it go into details are: Advanced alloys, Carbon plating, Carbon meshes, Coal chunks/clusters/balls, Industrial diamonds, Storage/Energy crystals, "U-U Matter," and"Iridium." Those last few look interesting, but well over my head.

Agriculture: I see now that this goes more into crops, crop breeding, and maintenance of crops. There are a few new plants mentioned, (Some I've never heard of,) but nothing extremely useful for me to use.

Tools/Armor: Let's start with armor, as this is the simplest section.

The armor layout is very simple and similar to the standard armors that were mentioned in the previous book, with the exception of a few items. For example, the "Nano" set of armor has a type of headgear called "Nightvision Goggles," and the purpose of that is quite obvious. Also, the set titled the "Hazmat Suit" I find puzzling. I'm not sure how protective it can be, seeing as it's made from almost nothing but rubber. It looks like it would only be useful for handling hazardous mate-...

Oh... Well now I feel like an idiot. Should have seen that one.

There are also several different utility items found in the armor section, ranging from energy packs for powering tools, to "Static Boots." I'm not too sure what one would use that for.

This brings us to the Tools section. There is a set of mundane bronze tools in this section, but there isn't that big a difference between these tools and the tools found in the previous book as well. Once we pass those, however, we reach a new form of power tools that have a staggering amount of use and variety. We have several different types of mining drills, chainsaws, tools, and a few weapons, if I'm not mistaken. (I will say, however, that the last time I checked, laser weapons were solely something of science fiction.) There are also a few other tools of note, though most of them also seem relatively mundane. Wrenches, treetaps, hammers, trowels, etc, etc.

Machines: By the queen's tattered wings, the machines. There are SO MANY MACHINES! This section is by far the largest in this entire book. The sheer number of subsections is staggering enough, but there are so many things in each subsection that each one could be an entire topic! There is no conceivable way I could write enough about this down in this journal. While the previous encyclopedia had some information on the workings of the entire world, there were few details and little complexity. The basic workings of the world are easy to understand for the most part.

This book, however, is a MUCH more specific, advanced, and complex system and guide. The machines and their components are so complex, it will be a miracle if I can understand half of them. There are machines that generate electricity for use with other machines, (including the "Nuclear Reactor." I will stay away from that for now, if the several warning stickers, disclaimers, and ominous looking icons painted on the sides of the reactor are any indication.) There are machines that process materials, for all different kinds of uses. There are utility machines, terraforming machines, heat generating machines, gathering machines, and Mass Fabricators!

I will definitely have to return to this section repeatedly.

Energy and Wiring: This section is much simpler, but has a few complex machines of its' own. The focus here is on transferring and storing power to the machines. There are several wire types, ranging from copper, to diamond/glass fiber cables. Various types of insulation are available as well, though they mostly seem to be for the more high voltage cables. After energy transfer, we have energy storage. There is information on both stationary, and portable forms of power storage. Other than that, there is also a section on transformers, which ensure that your machines to not overload through too much power. It mentions possible catastrophic failures. That does not sound like a pleasant experience...

Lastly, we have the final subject in this matter.

Nuclear Reactor Components: This section is focused on the different items used to make a nuclear reactor function. I'm heavily glossing over this section, mostly since I already have learned enough for the moment. I've already established that I won't be using a nuclear reactor anytime soon, so I won't worry too much about what goes inside it.

That said, the prime focus on this section is about the different radioactive material, and keeping it at a low temperature. I don't see much difference with the types of fuel, but the cooling elements are relatively diverse. This allows for many different types of cooling methods. Makes sense, given how dangerous a catastrophic nuclear failure could be. The book stresses this highly. There's also a diagram of an above ground nuclear failure, and (if the scale is correct,) the damage radius is both frightening, and astounding.

This entire book is mind boggling. The sheer volume of actual specific knowledge, as well as the number of independent items and machines, promises a new form of living standards, and ease of use. I actually believe, should I ever return home, the knowledge found inside could be used to benefit the whole of changeling kind! And once we've built and expanded our empire, and either conquered or made peace with the rest of the world, we could sell or rent other items to others races all across Equs!

My next look will be at "A Beginners Guide to Building Machines." This book is considerably smaller, though the cover does intrigue me somewhat. We'll see what this book has to offer. Until then, I'll have a rest. Reading these two books combined have exhausted me. I'm not sure what I'll do for now, but I'm sure I'll think of something soon.

Author's Note

Well, at least it wasn't a year!

That said, I'm not sure how I want to continue.

What I mean by that is, I don't know if I want to hold on Iota reading the other two books, or if I want to get back to him using what he's learned so far. I think I'll leave it up to you.

In the comments, I'll leave two individual comments stating the two directions I might go. Vote the option you want up.

Journal Entry 13

Entry 13:

Today, I decided to put the books down in order to help establish my new life here in this village.

First. I would need to establish some form of trade with the local inhabitants to maintain a normal appearance. I'm certain that someone living in the town with no income, no trade, or no apparent purpose would quickly arouse suspicion. After a significant amount of thought, the best option would be something that could also support my needs as well. I haven't felt the same kind of emotions in this town, so the local "escort" solution wouldn't work very well. Since I'm easily fed by the breeding of local animals, the best option would appear to be a livestock farmer.

Coming to this conclusion, I began work on a suitable house. I managed to get a pickax and a wood ax from the local blacksmith, and began my work. My house is a cozy one room house, slightly larger than some of the nearby cottages, with a stone floor. I also created the wooden fencing for the animal pens. The pens are currently housed by a few cows. I gave two of them some wheat, and startlingly (but not surprisingly,) they began to mate. I left them to it, and came back to see two full grown cows an a baby calf. I'm not entirely certain how the reproductive cycle works in this world, but it clearly isn't what I would consider natural...

Then again, I don't think ponies would consider how changelings grow to be natural either...

I digress. I think it's safe to say at this point that I have a somewhat stable source of income, as well as a supply of food, both natural and love.

I decided to spend the rest of the day digging a mine. While it was a slim circular staircase shaft leading straight down, I'm mildly surprised that I didn't see even the smallest hint of a gemstone. Perhaps since I'm digging almost completely vertically, I have just encountered some odd luck. I managed to dig somewhere around 50 meters below to what I decided to be a decent stopping point.

After returning to the surface, I saw the sun beginning to set. I immediately began to record today's events and set off to bed, ensuring my new home was locked and secured to stop any aggressive beings in the night.

Tomorrow, I plan to continue mining, and see what I may be able to create that I've seen from the books I've read recently. The sun has almost crossed the horizon, and I can just barely see the moon beginning to rise. For now, I wish you well book. You're my only source of companionship. Rest well.

Author's Note

Well, this is my shortest one yet... I know I've kept you waiting, and this was probably a somewhat lackluster chapter, but not much really happened. This was one of the things that needed to happen, and I couldn't think of any kind of way to spice it up. Hopefully his future will be somewhat exiting.

Journal Entry 14

Entry 14

It has been several days since my last entry. Much of my time with these past days has been repeatedly mining, and mining, in an attempt to find some diamonds or other valuable resources to use. A great deal of the items mentioned in the industrial craft and build craft encyclopedias seems to be quite useful, and I am sure that they will prove their worth.

However...

A great deal of these items requires a lot of diamonds for manufacture. This should not normally be too hard. Or at least, in Equestria. However, I am not in Equestria. I am in this backward world that has so few commonalities with Equestria, that it is easier to find the differences, and harder to find the similarities.

In Equestria, you can simply dig down a few meters, depending on your location, and you will find a menagerie of various precious gems, metals, or other minerals. And anywhere in the prime lens of Equestria, you Will certainly find some kind of precious stone with less than a few hours worth of concentrated digging (at least for a changeling)

In this world, however, I have been taking four days, in days… And days. I have yet to find a single diamond, Emerald, Ruby, or other precious gemstones of the like.

NOT

SINGLE

ONE!

If I have been keeping correct track of the days, I have been here for two weeks, of digging in what I can only describe as being the most efficient resource finding pattern. When you reach the bedrock, (where you are most likely to find The rarer forms of materials you need,) you start to spread out in various different directions, digging tunnels 1 m wide, 2 m tall, and however many meters long as you feel fit. You space them out between 2 m intervals. This creates the most efficient finding method.

I have been using this system for two weeks now. And I still have yet to find a single diamond, Topaz, Emerald, Ruby, amethyst, Jade spec, or any kind of gemstone of the sort!

That said, however not all has been lost. I have managed to find a substantial amount of other resources, enough to get me started on creating various basic machines recommended by the HAYO industrial encyclopedia. My first creation was a generator, which uses the energy from burning items to convert them into something known as "electric units" and uses that to power various other machines. The resources required to make it were quite cheap actually I have found quite a fair amount of iron in my time of mining, small surprise, and contrast from Equestria. Various other ores have been found as well, so they have been quite useful in creating other machines.

I also built a few "bat boxes," which are units that store energy for later use. This seems to be a good idea and seems rather efficient. Looking into the future of the machines and tools that I could possibly use with this is rather exciting.

My next immediate machine that I felt was something called a "Macerator," her unit that can crush or's, and help her find them and receive more from what you have mined. I have used this on what little gold I have found already, and I already have enough gold to build at least one Builder referenced in the "building craft encyclopedia."

This is why my frustration level with my inability to find even a single diamond at this point is so high.

Something else to note is my relationship with the local village. Having transformed and spoken with them a few times, I have found that they have somewhat of a barter-like system of social interaction. I've been doing odd jobs and selling various resources I can spare to the local populace in order to gain favor, and receive items.

One particularly beneficial relationship has been the one I have entered with the local blacksmith. I will do various smoothing jobs for him, and he allows me to use his tools. Thankfully, this meant I did not have to create my own tools to work on the various components required to build the machines that I have at this point.

With everything they're going on, I had a little time to write, and still little to report. I hope things will change soon.

The sun is going down now. I'm about to rest and go to bed. Everything in this world feels bleak, and it is a struggle just to survive.

Even more so, however, I miss my home, my true home....

Author's Note

So, I've found it much better for me to use Text to Speech on my Phone or Tablet than it is to type. (Aside from real life shitting on me,)My largest delay factor is actually the writing itself. About 80% of the time I spend writing is just me staring at my keyboard trying to find what words I want to use, how I want to use them, etc.

It's much easier to just spout stuff at my phone, then cut out what I don't want. I hope this brings more to you, faster....

Journal Entry 15

SUCCESS!

I have finally found diamonds! I was using the same routine mining method, and I finally came across a small spot where I found two diamonds in as many square meters. After that, it was as if a curse for broken. I easily found another two entire sections that seemed to be rich with diamonds within the next two days. I had found enough to create my first mining machine as per the "building crafts encyclopedia."

Watching the machine do its work has been a fascinating experience. I built some Standard pistons that work as Stirling engines using the litany of other materials that I had acquired while searching for diamonds. Another thought had occurred to me as I was starting to watch it dig further. I remember reading that pockets of Lava randomly seen throughout the world underground can lead to complications with the machine. The lava interferes with the mining paths and makes it unable to dig down in any area covered by it. However, the miner is not affected by water. So I decided to fill the top layer with water, which would continuously leave a layer of water just above wherever the miner was going. This would instantly quell and quench any molten flow. It seems to be working at this point, so th~

Well, that was a bit of a surprise...

As I was sitting next to the machine, a sudden blast of stone, dirt, and other materials started to violently shoot out the top of the quarry machine. I had to place something on top of it to at least direct it. In what absolutely wasn't any kind of panic, I threw a chest on top of it, and that seemed to help.

Didn't stop me from getting hit in the head a few times by a few chunks of Cobblestone though...

Anywho, I decided to start looking into more books. Reading through the library, I found a tome that may prove to be useful to me as well, called Materials and You.

After a brief look through, the book talks mostly about a more refined way of making tools, and about alternate ways to cook, smelt, and store items, ores, and liquids. This definitely seems intriguing. Perhaps I could try~

Well, the chest I had placed on top of the quarry seems to have filled up and burst itself open and is now spewing items and materials everywhere. I'll have to look into making something bigger, like a crate or something. I'm probably gonna be all day with this...

Author's Note

Sooooo this took longer than it should have.
I'm sorry....

But I think I now have a reliable solution.

I'll admit, I've been pretty out of the loop with the modding community, but I've only just discovered that apps like Twitch have an automatic installation function for mods... So that should really help! A constant issue I would always have was a regular problem with crashes and corruption with the game. I'm not sure what would happen, but I got tired of it. Then I find the Twitch/Curseforge mod installers, and that's made it so much easier...

So, a few new mods are coming around, some may have books of their own, some may just pop up, but see if you can spot them! A few may already be here!

Journal Entry 16

Journal Entry 16.

By the QUEENS did that take longer than I thought!

So, I've been scrambling pretty much all day to actually get myself properly situated with this mining thing. I was not prepared for just the level of materials this could spit out when I attached four separate engines to it. I would say that I was Fairly composed through the entire ordeal...

It was supposed to be simple! Get trees, Get seeds, Put seeds in ground, Done! But then there were the skeletons, the arrows, the "suddenly tree!" tree-oh, yes, we'll get to that.

Okay, so basically, I almost immediately knew I'd need some kind of organizational system. So I first added a few more chests. They were able to at least contain the amount of just stuff flying from that machine that I could at least use it as a temporary solution. After sitting around and thinking for a few minutes, I thought about how I could best organize things.

Drawers that use chests and cubby systems seemed like the best option for this. However, after merely watching how fast the machine was working and how much was being thrown from it, I knew that this would require a lot of drawers and space if I wanted this to continue, particularly given the scarcity of resources in this world. So I knew I'd need trees. lots and lots of trees within easy, accessible range of my den.

I decided to start a tree farm, particularly using these large trees I saw in a more tropical section of the area, not too far from here. I spent most of the day taking the journey there to grab a supply of seeds and/or saplings to use for myself. When I returned, I just haphazardly threw a few of the saplings into the field next to the entrance. I'd failed to realize just how much time had passed.

So, needless to say, I was scared out of my carapace when an arrow whizzed past my head.

I hadn't noticed an apparent pack of these infernal undead skeletons just moseying about that had appeared and emerged from nowhere.

... Something of a chase ensued.

I spent the next several minutes running in the field around where I'd just planted the trees in my attempts to avoid these Celestia-blasted skeletons. I would dodge the arrows, duck behind whatever rocks or kind of assorted cover I could find, dip down into a ditch, though that didn't last long, dove into a bush to try and get some form of concealment, only to have to dodge the arrows they shot back into the bush.

The cycle continued until I was able to at least get enough attacks of any manner against them, but more always appeared. More running, more arrows, plenty of screaming, and I'm pretty sure I heard a saxophone playing somewhere... At this point, I decided my best option was to just try and hole up in my cave. I was on my way back into my little lair when something quite odd happened.

I'd ducked as another arrow hissed past my head, right as I was about to run over one of the saplings I'd planted, when boom! Suddenly Tree! Out of nowhere TREE! Intsa-Tree! The tree that sprouted from the void! Planticus Sporadicus! I COULD GO ON!

The sapling I'd planted had become now a fully grown jungle tree. It was so fast that my face may well have been inside the thing as I was running. That lead to a very painful bump on my snout, and an even more painful arrow in my rump.

That tree is evil, I'm sure of it. It was conspiring with the skeletons! That's the only thing that makes any kind of sense!

I sadly didn't have enough time to figure out what the buck had just happened though. Y'know... Because skeletons... and arrows... So, Yeah.

Luckily, through the course of the day, I had managed to find enough wood to at least begin my organizational and storage efforts. I'll need more wood to use as fuel to continue to power the engines, but it should be enough for now, at least until the day comes and I can start working outside again.

I shall exact my revenge on tree in due time.... when there are fewer skeletons outside to aide him...

Author's Note

By the QUEENS did that take longer than I thought!

So, Yeah, what he said...

Again, I'm sorry y'all. My muse for this is just too damn unpredictable to give you accurate or regular updates. I hope y'all can bear with it though, and at least enjoy. ^^

Let me know if you spot any new mods here! Minecraft version is 1.7.10 currently

Journal Entry Three & Four

Entry Three

It's been two days since my last entry.

Nothing has happened since.

No new finds.

No source of food.

No sign of the hive.

No food.

No hope.

I don't think I'm in Equestria anymore.

Entry Four

It's been a week since I've received proper nourishment.

I've lost all hope in salvation. I'm not in Equestria, or anywhere on Equis for that matter. I should have felt something, either love, or the hive, or anything familiar. I have only felt nothing.

There is nothing in this world. No sentient life, no feelings, no emotion. During the small amount of time I've occupied this world, my life has become nothing but routine. Wake up after Noon, search for love or the hive, dig burrow before sunset, rinse, repeat. Yet, for nearly a full week, I haven't found a scrap of affection, love, or kindness. Nothing to live off of. I never expected it to take so long to find food.

If this were Equestria, I should have been able to feel something. Had I not encountered that odd cow, I would not come to this conclusion. However, due to the odd sights, and the lack of emotions, I can come to no other conclusion.

Does it matter? I'm dying anyway. I can feel the weakness, draining my strength and life force from my very being. I write this journal right now as I watch what I believe to be my final sunset. At least my last sight will be something of beauty.

Oh, hey the sun looks weird too.

Who am I kidding? The sun probably looks normal. I'm just losing my eyesight as well probably.

Dammit, I missed the setting because I too busy writing!

~~Fu~~ The end of my life sucks.

Oh look, there's the moon.

Several minutes have passed since the sun set... Why haven't I died yet? Is my body and the world trying to screw me over one last time by delaying my death as long as possible? What did I do to deserve this? Why is there no form of emotion?! Is there not a single being anywhere? Why i-

---*Inkblot on page*---

Entry 4.5

Me and my Celestia Damned mouth.

Good news! I'm not stranded and alone! I can feed!

Bad news. The beings I found all seem to want me dead. This is both a good thing and a bad thing.

Good? I don't have to starve after all. Bad? I'm feeding off the negative emotions being thrown at me. While they will keep me from dying, feeding on these emotions have negative repercussions. The main one being, I can't fly, use magic, or shift to any other form. This goes against my very being. Negative emotions have a toxic or poisonous effect upon us. The strength of the poison is dependent upon the saturation of the hate, and direction towards me. The stronger the hate, closer the proximity, and more directed towards us, the more potent the poison. Too strong and too direct, and I'll die.

Now in order for that to happen, the hate has to be personal. I won't die if someone with the strongest hate for all changelings in the world in near, or even looking right at me. The level of hate needed needs to be on some form of personal pain and anguish. While this has never happened with a pony, it has upon occasion happened a few times with a couple griffins and one Minotaur. Ponies are incapable of such levels of hate, but the few instances it has happened in our recorded history, it involved some cause of revenge from the "Hater."

One example where a changeling took the place of a wealthy Minotaur, stealing his identity, spending his money, and leeching love from his...."Friends." The Minotaur found the changeling (An easy feat, since the changeling was all over the media at the time, still living the Minotaur's life as a multi-millionare) and interrupted him in the middle of a fancy party of some sort. The changeling tried to run, but was immediately hit by the effects of the "love poisoning." Poor guy was dead before the Minotaur even reached him.

That's one of the reasons we like to keep it to ponies, and keep it on the down low.

Why did I just write this entire section on something I already know, and in all likelihood, is known by the changeling that I hope finds this? Simple. I'm scared and bored out of my mind right now. Perhaps I should start from the beginning?

After the moon set, I just sat there for a moment thinking of the cruelty of life. As a result, life decided to show me just how cruel it can get. In the middle of my personal reflection, I was startled by an arrow landing directly next to me. At this point, I was still delirious, so the danger I was in didn't quite register at the time. It wasn't until the second arrow grazed my face that my mind kicked in and said "run you idiot." And run I did. Or at least, as good a run as I could manage at the time. Due to my hunger, all I could manage was a pitiful hobbling trot. My coordination and balance were being thrown off due to the negative emotions I was receiving from whatever it was shooting at me.

I didn't get a good look at my assailant, but since I don't have any (extra) holes in me, I think it's safe to say that it was a pony. Probably a civilian, since the guards have some training with crossbows. Judging by the number of arrows that were shot at me, and the speed they came at me, it couldn't have been a crossbow. More than likely, it was a nearby resident with their own bow. Probably the first time it was used. Thankfully, the bad vibes I got from my pursuer was enough to keep me from dying of starvation. That's another reason I think it was a pony. Not a very strong hate, just a general hate. In the week I've been searching word has no doubt gotten around of the changeling presence. After an exhilarating chase, I found my little hidey hole again. I didn't do much travel today. I was too busy being depressed and delirious.

In any case, it means that I have a chance of survival. I would go out right now to find a suitable, were it not for three little problems. One, I'm sure by now there is a search party out for me. Going out now would be near suicidal. Two, I'm still under the effects of the poison. I can't shift or fly just yet. Reason number three, however, is much more foreboding. I keep hearing feral growls, and moans of pain. I don't know what it is that I'm hearing, but I certainly don't want to go out and see it. At least not now. I keep hearing some kind of hollow clank, like hollow wood being smacked and rubbed together. I don't even have a clue what it could be. These noises are driving me insane with fear. Ok, perhaps not truly, but I can't sleep because of them.

Though I can't sleep, I know I have to save as much space in this journal as I can. I don't know how long I'll be here. I'll wait till morning, and record my findings then.