//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Preparation // Story: A Tale of Crafters and Ponies // by Dolphy Blue Drake //------------------------------// Chapter 11: Preparation ------Ponies------ Fluttershy and Rarity were in Dolphy’s room, looking through his lesson plans. They covered an entire month from the current day, and a lot of the lessons were either different, or were additions to previous lessons in the plans. The ponies had discussed who would stay to look after the children, and who would go with Dolphy to rescue his wife and friends. Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy would stay; while Twilight, Applejack and Dash would go with the Crafter on his journey. “Here’s an interesting one,” Rarity said as she separated one lesson from the others. “It’s about making a home both practical and appealing! I didn’t think these Crafters had any sense of style.” Rarity took a closer look at the lesson plan and noticed there was a note jotted down in the margin of the first page: “Need to check library for information on ancient Crafter culture. May give some insights into better design planning and aesthetic appeal.” It was obvious that Dolphy must’ve added the note after Twilight showed him the book about the downfall of the ancient Crafters. It would make no sense otherwise. After noting that the lesson was to be taught in two days, Rarity put the lesson back with the others and continued looking through them. After a few minutes, Fluttershy pulled out one of the lessons to get a better look at it: it was about proper care and treatment for pets. It had details on taming and caring for wolves and ocelots, and an extremely detailed look into how to tame, care for, ride and breed horses. There was a note added to the margin in the horse section: “Must emphasize the difference between horses and our guests. The two are far from the same: horses are blindly loyal once tamed, while our guests are sapient and are just as intelligent as we are.” Another note was added after that one: “Must also emphasize that horses are to be treated with respect. Though they are blind in their loyalty, taking advantage of that makes one no better than the monsters.” Fluttershy set down the lesson and picked up another one: this one was about breeding and farming “livestock”. Against her better judgment, she read it anyway. “Cows, chickens and pigs are a vital source of many essentials in this world. They may not be smart, and we may need to eat them in order to survive, but that doesn’t mean we have to be brutal. There are quick and nearly painless ways to kill animals for food and other materials. (Note: emphasize that livestock should feel the least amount of pain possible while dying. We kill them for resources, not pleasure). Explain the use of splash potions of harming to make the death quick. Two level 2 potions thrown in quick succession should make the death nearly instantaneous, so the suffering will be brief. All life is precious, and if ending it is necessary to survival, measures should be taken to minimize the pain of death, if at all possible. If potions are unavailable, then using a diamond sword is preferable, since it will kill in one strike. However, the pain is greater with this method, so potions should be used if possible…” The lesson plan went on to explain breeding and care for the three aforementioned animals, as well as for sheep, but Fluttershy barely paid attention to the rest. This was surprising. Though the Crafters ate meat, they tried to respect the animals they had to kill in order to survive. They gave them comfortable living conditions, kept them fed, and when it became time to kill, they made it swift. A note near the end stood out to her: “Remember to mention ancient Crafters I recently read about. Some were quite brutal, so those ones should be used as examples of what not to do. Especially the one who killed cows for pleasure all because he hated the sounds they made, and the raving madman who thought squids were evil and thought gold was edible. Use the second’s insanity as proof that brutality is wrong.” Fluttershy returned the lesson plan to the stack of plans and continued looking through the lessons with Rarity. ------Dolphy------ Once I finished teaching the children about food preparation, I let them disperse to wherever they wanted to go (as long as they didn’t leave town, of course). I went to the storage room and started packing supplies. Somehow, I knew it was almost time to set out to rescue my dear wife and my friends. I opened the backpack chest and pulled out a few different kinds of woven backpacks: a Trackman’s, a Hunter’s, a Builder’s and an Adventurer’s. There were four other kinds of woven backpacks, but I left them in the chest, since I probably wouldn’t need them. I then opened another chest, pulled out several stacks of electric track, and then changed the page to display all of my trains. I pulled out an Electric Locomotive and stuffed it in the Trackman’s backpack along with the electric track. That electric train was the fastest I had. It could travel a whopping 237,000 blocks in an hour, which I could barely believe when I first got it out of the tier III train crafting bench. I changed the page again to display all my cars. I grabbed two passenger cars, and then added them to the backpack, too. The engine and cars wouldn’t help much on the way to our destination, but I planned to continuously lay tracks on the way so we could book it back to Shimmering Hope when the rescue was completed. I turned the page back to the track, and then pulled out several more stacks of electric track, which I also added to the backpack. I continued doing this until the Trackman’s pack had only one slot left, and then I turned the page to the chest’s fourth page, which contained all of my train equipment, including a reinforced crowbar. In a real pinch, it could serve as an emergency weapon (only as strong as a stone sword, but it’s better than bare hands), but its main purpose was to link and detach cars from the train. I grabbed the crowbar and added it to the backpack, and then closed the chest. I then opened another chest and pulled out several stacks of redstone torches. I added them to the Builder’s backpack, and then I also added a few stacks of redstone dust, just in case (redstone dust can be used as an emergency fuel for electric trains). Next, I added a stack of TNT blocks (you never know when blowing stuff up could save your life), a few stacks of cobblestone, four beds, a few stacks of obsidian, and a few stacks of torches. I added several weapons, tools, and types of food to the two remaining backpacks, and then I opened the chest labeled “FOR EMERGENCY USE ONLY”. In the chest were my most prized tools: a complete set of ultimate equipment. All of the equipment in there was named, and each was made out of the strongest materials possible. Every named piece of equipment had Level 3 Unbreaking, and was nearly optimized. The only things missing from the armor was AntiVenom and Thorns, but everything else had all the enchantments I wanted. I pulled out the amethyst armor first. I equipped the Glory Halo, the Angelic Plate, the Sacred Legs and the Paladin Greaves; and then inspected each piece of heavily enchanted armor for any flaws or damage. Finding none, I reached into the chest and pulled out the Executor (my axe), the Stone Crusher (my pickaxe), and the Tunneler (my shovel) next. I inspected each amethyst tool just like I had done for the armor, and found that none of them were damaged either. Next, I pulled out my steel shears: the Severer. It only had Unbreaking, but that’s all it really needed. It was also free from damage, so I pulled out my bow next. The Failnaught was a bow I’d crafted from bloodwood a few years ago. Bloodwood is the strongest wood to be found in the Nether. It’s entirely fireproof, and a bow made out of it could last even longer than a diamond sword. This bow had been repaired several times, and it was currently as good as new. I pocketed it, and then reached in to grab my most prized weapon of all. The Liberator was a sword I’d intended for exactly this mission. The amethyst blade had never been used, and it shone brightly because of that. Even the iron hilt looked untarnished. I took a deep breath and sheathed the sword on my back, right next to my fin. I added three boats to my inventory, as well as a pair of flippers for myself, and then thought for a second before pulling out three sets of diamond horse armor. I didn’t know if they would fit the three ponies who would come with me, but if it was necessary, I’d give it a shot. After all, after some tweaking, I’d managed to get the armor to reshape itself automatically to fit horse foals (I still couldn’t ride them, but it was worth knowing that it could work). I wasn’t sure if our blocky armor could reshape itself to fit curved life forms, but if I had to, I’d try. I heard the sound of hooves approaching, so I added the horse armor to my inventory, closed the chest I currently had open, and then turned to face the three ponies who had come to talk to me: Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “We were about to tell you that we were ready to leave,” Twilight told me as she looked me up and down, “but it seems that you already had the same idea.” “It’s been more than ten months,” I said solemnly, “my dearest is waiting for me. She deserves to see how much our daughter has grown in that time.” “Ah’m sure she’s waiting for ya,” Applejack replied. “Ya may be different from any father Ah’ve met before, but if she’s anything like ya, Ah know she’ll be happy to see yer face. And yer daughter’s, too.” The others nodded in agreement, and I opened one more chest to pull out a few potions and four enchanted golden apples. After I added them to my inventory, I closed the chest and turned to the three who’d accompany me on my journey. “Well, I think we should get going soon,” I said. “I’ll get the children together so I can say goodbye.” With that, I unequipped the Paladin Greave because the Level 4 Swiftness enchantment would make moving short distances difficult. With that done, I went to each child’s bedroom and asked each of them to all meet me in the entrance hall. I found the other three ponies and gave them the same message, as well. And now, I’m waiting here in the entrance hall with my three new companions, writing this entry. This is going to be one tough journey. I’m coming, my love. I’ll be there to rescue you soon.