Twilight could hear almost nothing. It was quiet except for slow breathing. She opened her eyes and could see a bright blue sky. Strange looking clouds were traveling in a straight line. She could see a square sun creeping up the sky. 'The sun is SQUARE?' She stood up and saw her friends scattered on the grass. All five of them slowly opened their eyes and stood up.
"Where are we?" Applejack asked. "Ah don't recognize this place."
Pinkie started jumping up and down very fast and said "Maybe we discovered somewhere new! I can't wait to throw a party for all the new ponies here!"
"Umm... Pinkie? I don't think there are going to be any new ponies." Fluttershy quietly responded to her. "If there were ponies here, wouldn't there be homes or travelers here?"
"Fluttershy has a point; I'm going to fly around and try to see if there is anything interesting." Rainbow took off, leaving a rainbow trail behind her.
"Well, while she is looking for something, we should put down our stuff and set up camp." Twilight reached for her saddlebags, only to find them not there. She gasped and the other ponies looked for their saddlebags too, and once again, they weren't there.
"I think someone robbed us!" Rarity yelled "I can't find my saddlebags! So that means, all my clothing supplies are gone!" Rarity started pacing and muttering to herself.
Twilight started to look around. She also noticed the strange landscape around her. It was all square and cube shaped. She noticed some trees, and while Pinkie and Fluttershy were calming Rarity down, she called Applejack over. "I think I'm going to check those weird trees. Do you want to come?" Applejack nodded quickly and they started walking to the forest to their left.
Twilight looked at the ground while she was walking, and realized the grass was a different color from where they started. 'Huh... grass doesn't usually change color unless the seasons are changing.' Twilight thought to herself. Applejack though, was starting to get worried. The trees she saw ahead had no apples on them. It was close to apple bucking season, so she wondered why there wasn't a single apple in sight. 'Maybe it's just the wrong tree.' She thought. After all, not all trees carried apples.
When they finally reached the trees, Twilight noticed something. It was on the ground and sitting next to a square tree. She walked over to it and picked it up, and found that it was her saddlebags. She quickly opened them and started rummaging through them. All her books and supplies were on one side, which was odd. She was certain that she organized her materials and put them in each bag. So Twilight opened the second one, and what she saw surprised her. "Applejack! Find the girls; I need to talk to everypony!"
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Rainbow was flying above and below the square clouds and doing tricks to pass the time. She already looked around and couldn't find anything but a couple of mountains, trees, fields, and rivers. Nothing interesting for as far as she traveled. She did notice some things though, like how everything was a square and that she couldn't push around clouds. She didn't care too much about the landscape, but the cloud thing upset her. If she couldn't do weather duty or sleep on the clouds, then she would be stuck on the ground.
Rainbow stopped flying and gently touched the ground. She could hear Pinkie yelling something, so she decided to check it out. When she got to where Pinkie was though, she saw the rest of her friends with her.
"Hey Rainbow! Come over here. I need to talk to all of you." Twilight called out. When Rainbow got over there, she could see that her friends were starting to get nervous. She figured that Twilight found something horrible, and listened in.
"I found my saddlebags, but they were unorganized and one side was filled with all of my stuff. But when I opened the other side, I found Spike sleeping around this strange book." Twilight levitated Spike away from the book and released Spike on the ground. She levitated the book and read the cover. "Minecraft. Huh, what a weird name for a book. Anyway, did one of you guys put this book in my saddlebags?" Her friends shook their heads. "Well, wherever this book came from, I am going to read it. I want a bit of peace around here so I can get something out of this book. It might help us find out where we are." Twilight walked over to a small clump of square dirt and square grass and started reading.
Chapter One - Minecraft
Minecraft is the world where everything is a block. Any resource you find can be used in some way to help you survive. During the daytime, everything is safe (just as long as you don't go into a cave), and at night you might want to hide. Monsters such as Spiders, Skeletons, Creepers, Endermen, and Spider Jockeys come out of the shadows to hunt. The daytime lasts only a few minutes, and the night is just as long. You have to have a safe place with lots of light in order to survive your first day here. Everything you need is around you, but it's best to not die. You lose everything you were carrying if you die, and go back to spawn (or where you last slept). The following chapters will guide you on how to live here, starting with your inventory.
Twilight finished the first chapter, and was stunned. She has never heard of such scary things coming out at night. By the time she calmed down and got settled in, she heard her name being called. Twilight hurried over to where her friends were and saw Spike standing up.
"Look Twilight! Spike is awake now!" Pinkie was excitedly jumping up and down and yelling.
"Uhh, where am I?" Spike groaned as he started to wake up. Suddenly, he started making a face, and a loud burp came out and a letter dropped on the ground. Twilight levitated it over and started to read.
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My Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle
Reports tell me that you disappeared after you went to take care of the dragon. It has been a few days, and I never heard from you. I also looked for Spike, and I am guessing that he is with you. You must write back to me quickly, so this can be settled. The dragon is gone, but so are you and your frinds. One thing is, you went with the Elements of Harmony, but now they are back in Canterlot. I hope you and your friends are safe.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia
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"So now I have to write to the princess, but Spike, why did you come with us? Where did you get that book?" Twilight started asking questions to Spike while the others were wandering around waiting for some answers from Spike.
"Well Twilight, after I got hit with the book I heard you saying you were going to leave me back at the library. I kept my eyes closed and pretended to be hurt, and when you started packing I climbed in. I was being tossed and turned on the journey, and I woke up with a book next to me. I couldn't get out of your saddlebags, so I went back to sleep. Then I woke up here." Spike said.
"Well, at least we can now contact Celestia." Twilight replied to Spike with a sigh. "I am just glad and upset at you. You were hurt but you came anyway, which was bad. But you never got hurt, which was good." Twilight hovered Spike on to her back. "We just need to keep reading that book and try to live here until we can get help."
"HEY! GUESS WHAT?!" Pinkie yelled at the top of her lungs. "I FOUND MY SADDLEBAGS!"
"Hey! I did too!" Rainbow responded to her.
"I just found mine here!" Rarity called out.
"I um... found mine here." Fluttershy quietly said, not wanting to yell at anyone.
"Ah found mine over here next to this here tree!" Applejack happily yelled to the others.
"Why don't you all come over here?!" Twilight shouted. "That way we don't have to scream at each other!" Eventually, all of the girls go together with their stuff. "I am going to read more of that book. You guys check your saddlebags for anything interesting." Twilight instructed them. "Once you have finished, try to get my attention so I can help."
'Now to keep reading this weird book.' Twilight thought to herself. 'It seems to hold information about this place.' Twilight sat down and opened the mysterious book and started reading the next chapter.
Chapter Two - Inventory
Your inventory in the most important thing here other than staying alive. Your inventory can be anywhere, such as a pocket, shoe, sock, pants, bag, or anything that can hold stuff. Your inventory is almost always with you and holds tons of resources and materials. Once you open it up, you can hold almost anything. You will need more space though, if you craft a chest it can hold more. The downside is that you can't carry a full chest with you. If you break a chest with anything in it, the materials will spill out on the floor. You can craft an Ender chest to hold things forever. If you break an Ender chest, the materials will not spill out. They will stay in the Ender chest and connect to any others, even across dimensions. The next chapter will be about Achievements, a strange function that works in this world and records your progress.
Twilight was curious. She never heard of Achievements that record progress in a world. She decided to keep reading until her friends needed her help.
Chapter Three - Achievements
Probably the strangest things about Minecraft are Achievements. Even when you accomplish the simplest of tasks you get an Achievement. When you open your Inventory for the first time, you get an Achievement. Things like that get recorded and you know how much you have done here. Once you get an Achievement, you hear a 'ding' sound. It is very hard to get all Achievements, because some can put you in danger. Ones like DIAMONDS! and When Pigs Fly can hurt you, even make you die, if you aren't careful. There are twenty-seven known Achievements, and only one person got all of them. The next chapter will be about Gathering Resources.
Twilight was confused. She didn't understand why you would hear a noise from doing a random task. Same for how you could figure out all of them. She was about to read the next chapter when she heard the others calling he over. She levitated the book into her 'Inventory' and heard a ding. She jumped a bit in the air and yelped. She never expected the noise to be that loud! She decided to quickly hurry over to her friends so she could calm down.
"Twilight! We need your help!" Rarity called out to her. "Maybe the answer to this strange thing is in your book!" Twilight rushed over and saw Applejack looking at a tree. Rarity explained that they all looked in their bags and heard a ding, and Applejack got so surprised she bucked a tree.
"But the tree never shook or fell down." Rarity said. "The only thing that happened was this." Rarity pointed to the tree and Twilight walked over to it. She looked down and saw a chunk of the tree trunk missing, so it looked like the tree was floating. She looked past the floating part of the tree and saw a small, hovering piece of wood on the ground. She walked over to it and it floated into her saddlebags. The six ponies heard a loud ding when the wood floated into her 'Inventory'.
Twilight started explaining to the girls that the ding meant they got an Achievement. She decided to pass around the wood until everyone got the Achievement as well. She decided to read one more chapter before trying to get other Achievements.
Chapter Four - Gathering Resources
There are many materials and resources around Minecraft. All of them are useful in some way. Wood should be one of the first materials you collect because it is needed for just about everything. If you walk up to a tree and attack it, it will drop a block of wood. the tree will continue floating until it is chopped down. The wood block will stay wherever you left it until you pick it up or wait about a minute. If you wait, the block will disappear and you won't get it back. Wood can be used to make a Crafting Table which lets you create larger things such as tools, redstone contraptions, Ore blocks, and more. To make a crafting table, break down the wood into four wooden planks. Then place them in a square in you Inventory's crafting area (which is smaller than a Crafting Table). Then you have to place down the Crafting Table and you can use it to create more things. The next chapter will be about some Crafting Recipes and how to make basic tools.
Twilight finished that chapter and closed her book. She decided to break down the wood she picked up and make a Crafting Table. It took a little while, but she found the Inventory Crafting Area and succeeded in making her first crafting table. She placed it down and heard a loud ding noise before realizing that she got an Achievement.
Twilight ran over to her friends to tell them about her new discovery when she saw Pinkie and Applejack hitting trees with their back hooves. They were basically collecting wood. Rarity was levitating leaf blocks and arranging them on the ground. Rainbow was flying in the air, probably looking around for something useful. Fluttershy was on the ground and trying to make friends with a chicken. She called them over and explained crafting to them. She showed them her Crafting Table and asked them about their discoveries.
"Applejack and I learned we Earth ponies can easily destroy blocks by bucking them like this." Pinkie started bucking a tree quickly with each of her back hooves in a left-right pattern until the wood broke.
"I discovered that we Unicorns can levitate these blocks into a shape we want." Rarity said. "I created a leaf statue over there." Rarity pointed her hoof over to where you could see a statue-like leaf pile.
"Well I learned that Pegasi can't make weather here." Rainbow told Twilight. "But we can fly around and place blocks higher up."
Fluttershy spoke up last and said "I um.. I learned that there are only a few animals here, and I can't really understand them. Only guide them to someplace."
"Well, I think that that's a lot of information right there. We could use those techniques to survive here until we can get out." Twilight told them. "If I can find paper, we can use Spike to talk to Celestia in order to get out of here. She might be able to make a spell to teleport us, but it might be difficult because of us being in a different world. We are just going to have to use this book to survive here until we are back home."