Fish
I didn’t think that nature could get any weirder than it already had since trees could defy gravity, Creeper told me that most things can do that except anything that moves as well as sand and gravel, but once more this world has screwed with my head.
When I woke up the next morning I went to go outside and saw a giant tree around where I placed those trees the night before. Confused as to how it got there I went to investigate it. Lo and behold, about five of the saplings were gone and in their places were tree trunks that, as they went up, conjoined into said giant tree. Now I know the trees in the Everfree were really weird but I think this one just topped anything they could do. At this point my weird-o-meter had already gone past the ‘Chrysalis and the Princesses having a civilized meal together discussing which stallion they liked’ theorized limit so I just shrugged it off and chopped it down, climbing it higher and higher so I could reach the top since my wings still didn’t work.
When I finished I went back to the cave and waited for Creeper to get ready for my lessons. After about an hour of just sitting there he finally showed up and we began on the basics of what it meant to be a Player. He told me of how they went around, killing animals for food and other needs, using materials gathered from the blocks to build homes, and that they made tools.
My ears perked up at the mention of tools and I spoke up, “What do you mean tools? Don’t they just beat the blocks until they break and move on?”
“Not always, my friend, sometimes they use different tools to perform different tasks and these tools make them much easier.” Creeper moved over to the wall, “Come and try to break this wall.”
I walked over to the wall of stone and tried beating it with my hoof. Somehow I felt that my efforts weren’t doing anything, but I kept at it.When it finally broke I wanted to tell him that I didn’t see how a tool would’ve done anything for me, but then I saw that I got nothing for my work. I had to have a pretty dumbstruck look on my face or something because Creeper chuckled at me. I went back and took my seat from before.
“As you have now experienced, not all of your actions will end the way you want. If you lack the proper tool then your efforts will be fruitless. You see, they make their tools and they use them to obtain materials from the world that would otherwise provide them with nothing, as you have just experienced.”
“I get it, but how am I supposed to make tools? I mean, how do they do it?” I asked as so far all I’ve done was beat up trees and hadn’t seen anything close to anything that I could use to make tools.
“The answer to that is that they craft them.”
The remainder of the day was spent on learning how to craft stuff. The Creeper didn’t have any real experience with doing it so it was up to me to figure it out. This was fine with me; back at the hive I had spent a lot of my childhood making toys for the younger changelings. You can imagine the amount of beatings I got from the bullies for doing something as ponylike as being productive instead of being destructive.
By nightfall, I had learned to make planks and use them to make a table, which somehow came with any and all tools I’d ever need apparently. After that I made a sword, a pickaxe, and a hatchet. I was pretty sure I could make more but they didn’t seem like they’d be all that important right now so I settled with these.
As agreed to beforehand, the night was spent training with the Skeleton and the Zombie. Crafting had been my task during the day, but the night was spent learning how to navigate the area and identifying different materials that I came across. I really wanted to learn to fight so I could get some payback against that golem from before, but I figured knowing this stuff would help me in the long run so I went with it.
*Rumble*The noise coming from me made the trio halt. “What is that noise?” the Skeleton asked, pretty startled, as though it never heard a stomach before.
“What, you’ve never heard a stomach before?” I asked sarcastically, the hunger finally getting to me. Surprising really, I’ve gone more than a month without love before after taking in less love than I did during the invasion. I should still be fine but I guess this weird world was warping how much love I used to sustain myself. Either that or physical hunger meant more to a changeling here.
“No, I haven’t. I’m a skeleton and he’s a zombie. We don’t generally use stomachs- let alone hear them- on a regular basis. In fact, I don’t have one.”
Right, skeleton. I still hadn’t gotten used to that. Of course it wouldn’t have a stomach. Come to think of it, these monsters didn’t seem like they’d really need food. The zombie was the only one that seemed like it even wanted to eat, always moaning “brains” and whatnot, although it hadn’t eaten anything yet.
“Well, I haven’t eaten since before I woke up here, so I’m guessing my love reserves are getting low. Oh right, you all don’t know what I am. I’m a kind of creature that lives off of love. I can eat food but I can’t live off food alone. It’d be like everypony else drinking only water and not eating food.” The entire time they stood there baffled at my explanation. I guess since nothing needed water here, my explanation was just pointless. I just sighed and said “Look, the point is that I need sustenance. If I’m anything like the Players then they must need something too. Maybe in this world I need what they need.”
The Skeleton looked as though it was deep in thought, “Hmm, you may be right. I am sure, during my time, that I’ve seen them consume meats and fish, both raw and cooked. Are these what you speak of?”
“I’m guessing that if they can survive off the stuff then I should be able to, too.Or, at least I hope so, because otherwise, I’m more than likely to starve to death. By the way, how do they catch fish? I’ve looked at the waters plenty of times and they look pretty empty to me.”
“From what I gather, they use some sort of rod made from sticks and the webs dropped by our spider brethren.” Wow, he actually sounded almost sad saying that. I guess these monsters really care for each other. If they were really this caring about each other then what are the Players like? From what the trio told me so far they seem to be selfish and dangerous. If I’m like them then how will I end up? Will I give in to whatever makes them so selfish and slaughter the monsters too, or will I help them reclaim their land by being the very thing they hate?
This was getting really heavy and my head started hurting from thinking too much so I just shrugged it off and called it a night and we went back to the cave.
When the sun rose again, we began my crafting training again, and I made some more things.After awhile, though, I was let free to wander. I walked along the shores of nearby bodies of water and looked in them; I still didn’t have any kind of reflection. “I wonder why this world doesn’t reflect anything in the water…” I splashed in the water but nothing happened, not even ripples. This water couldn’t possibly hold life, it didn’t even seem alive. The stupid stuff wouldn’t even budge with me swimming like a fish, not that I could become a fish in this world. I wonder what fish even look like in this world. I got out and shook the water off and looked at the sky, “I wanna catch a fish.” Back at the hive I actually was a pretty good fisher, I’d often go into pony towns and sell fish I got from the nearby lakes to the markets when I wasn’t training to take them over. Of course I was in disguise but it always felt good to be able to interact with somepony nice for a change. If I ever got back to my world I think I’d like to stay in one of their towns, maybe even drop the whole disguise thing and try to gain their trust. “Nah, they’d never let one of us in their towns, especially after what we did to them. I can’t blame them either.” I sighed to myself, thinking of all the ponies whose faces I filled with joy when I sold them fish. It was something I would likely never get to do as I am. They would hate me just for being what I am, and who can blame them, I’m just a monster.
“Excuse me, Craft Hammer, I would like to speak with you.” The Creeper made me jump from surprise; I guess he had his name for a reason.
“Ah, um…yeah sure, what’s up?” I asked, trying to get myself back to normal.
“After talking about it with the other two, we have decided that you are most likely beyond our ability to teach crafting, however we have collected a supply of material that you may use for your time spent here. There are even materials that you would only get from slaying our kinds. It was not an easy decision but we know you are better than the Players and deserve them more than we do.”
Wait, what? I’ve spent a whole one day training with them and I’m done? Well that didn’t take as long as I thought it would but whatever, I guess it’s time to learn what I can on my own. The fact that they were willing to supply me with things that their own kind gave up only on death was very touching, more touching than anypony back at the hive would ever be willing to be, well except…no, I can’t think of her. It hurts too much. I was pretty stunned at the gesture and I wanted to thank them all but I couldn’t help but wonder how they got the stuff in the first place, they already said they couldn’t wield the blocks like a Player so how did they even get a collection in the first place?
When I asked them, all I got was “We may not have the ability to collect them and hold them the way you do but we have connections, and these connections collected them for us.” I wasn’t sure what that meant but I decided not to ask any further since they were willing to give me the stuff.
Out of all of the items I got, I recognized only a few: the weird meat, bones, and arrows. Other than that, I got some string, some stuff that looked like eyes, ew, and this powdery stuff. Wasn’t really sure what the eyes and powders were for, but that would probably come to me later. As usual the stuff disappeared into what seemed like nothing but I knew I still had them, if I closed my eyes and thought about them I could see them all in my mind. It was actually pretty cool.
I promised I would stay nearby and keep an eye out for any of those Players, but I didn’t tell them that I also planned on keeping an eye on that village. That golem had hurt me before, and if there was one thing about being a changeling I respected, it was that any pain unrightfully dealt to us would be dealt back tenfold.Since that thing practically almost managed to break something, I’d have to guess that tenfold of that was death. As far as I was concerned the golem had earned it and I would be the one to do it, but that would have to wait until I was ready to retaliate.So for now, I went and searched for a spot to build a house.
The whole idea of building a house was pretty exciting to me. Like I said before, I had made bird houses before, but that was small stuff.Those were for little birds; this would be a full sized house for me. I looked for a nice, flat area for me to build on and couldn’t find one that was empty, so I cleared out the grass in a nearby area until it was cleared out. I also got some seeds and these colorful flowers, but they wouldn’t help me make my house, so I just ignored them. I placed my table and made some wood into planks,then set up a decent perimeter that seemed like it’d be a nice area to live in. After I set that up, I worked on the walls,which was actually a painful task since I had to climb them as I set them up to make sure I could set my ceiling where I wanted it.Also because I fell off a couple times, and I’m pretty sure I bruised my butt or something.
In the end I made my house about fifteen blocks by another fifteen blocks, and about ten tall with a slanted roof. That definitely seemed like it was a bit much, but I figured maybe I could invite the trio over some time so they didn’t always have to stay in that cave. It was the least I could do for them since they actually tried to help me. I mean, yes they also expected me to be able to help rid them of the Players, which I still haven’t seen any yet, but they honestly seem to care for me, which is more than Chrysalis ever did for me. You know, other than invading a nation to feed the hive, that was a pretty grand gesture but I think she did it more for our overall survival since she hadn’t produced any real results for quite awhile. At least the trio gave me something with heartfelt sentiments. At least, I think they did. I couldn’t actually sense any emotions from them, which was just another way this world was screwing with my changeling ways.
The house looked pretty good, considering it was all wood and only had one door, although I managed to figure out stairs and made a second floor. What I really wanted from this table was a way to store the stuff I’ve gotten up until now so I could actually get an idea of what I had with my own eyes, rather than my mind. I was getting tired of focusing on what I had; I just wanted to look so I could actually know. Plus I was sure there was a limit to what I could hold, and I didn’t want to accidentally reach that limit and not be able to retain anymore stuff like a sponge full of water.
It was getting pretty close to nightfall, so I made a bed from the materials I had so far and almost cried when I saw it was a rectangle. I just sighed and slept on it.
I had another dream that night; I beat that golem up and it begged for mercy, something I considered giving it. I finished it off anyway; it was something that was drilled into me since I was young. ‘A debt must always be paid.’It was a saying they made sure we knew back at the Royal Academy; Chrysalis’ personal training school for her army. The cruelness they instilled into us was almost frightening, but I managed somehow. I guess it was my changeling blood not wanting to give up, doing what had to be done to ensure I made it through, though it sickened me at times. The satisfaction I got from slaying the golem was nothing compared to the serene atmosphere of fishing, which was the next part of my dream. Or was it another dream? I’m not going to pretend I understand dreams; that’s Luna’s kind of stuff. After all, she is the Princess of the Night.
When I awoke, I had this sudden urge to go fishing. I had no idea how to make a rod, though, so I had to spend a few painfully slow hours figuring it out. Finally I noticed that I needed string for one, and when I figured it out, I made twenty fishing poles and ran to the water. I set the pole in my hoof and cast the lure into the water, not really sure where it even came from since I didn’t use anything for it, but as I’ve learned in this world ‘if you question it, you most likely won’t get an answer that makes sense.’ Kind of like how trees floated for no reason when they should’ve clearly fallen, or how wolves could kill stuff and none of the animals cared at all. I spent an entire week just fishing, literally doing nothing else until my rods broke and I had to go back to the house. When I got back I noticed something odd, my door was open and I was pretty sure I closed it when I left. When I approached it I could hear some voices.
“Dude, this house is freaking big! Why would someone make a wooden house this big and put almost nothing in here.” “How should I know? I didn’t even know it was here. Hey,wanna make this our new mining house?” “Holy crap; that would be awesome! Let’s deck this place out!” These weren’t voices I knew, they didn’t sound at all like the monster trio, which meant they could only be one thing. Players.
I ran around the house and got to the cave, by now it was night and some of the monsters were showing up out of nowhere, as usual, but these weren’t the ones I knew, these were their minions…their copies so to speak. They all looked alike but I could somehow tell them apart from the trio I first met. Maybe it was some kind of bond we had, I couldn’t really say.
When I got to the cave, I found them just standing there talking amongst themselves again. “Hey guys, I think there are Players here.” This effectively got their collective attention.
“What?” the Creeper said, a tone of anger I hadn’t heard yet from him. “They’ve found us?”
“I don’t think so; they’re over at my house I built right now. They said they were going to use it as a base. A, uh, a mining house or something.”
“This is bad, ours is the only cave around for over one hundred blocks in any direction, if they come looking for us they will surely overtake us.”
The Skeleton spoke up, “Did you get a look at them? Did you see what they were wearing?”
“What? No, I only heard them. I didn’t want to go in my house while they were in there. I thought they might decide to attack me and I don’t think I’d fare well against multiple foes without my powers.”
“Curses, we were fools to think they’d just leave us alone.”
To everyone’s surprise the Zombie spoke this time “We…must…fight…back…Survive.”
I won’t lie, this surprised the crap out of me.Up until now, the Zombie barely managed two words without saying brains at least once.This time it managed a full sentence, and I suddenly felt proud for it. “Zombie’s right, how can we fight them? I’ve seen the many monsters hanging around during the night and even the other creepers during the day. Can’t you gather them up and launch an attack or something?”
“What about your house Craft Hammer? If we attack it may get damaged.”
“I appreciate the thought Creeper, but this is a more pressing matter than a stupid house.” On a side note though, it really was a touching thought. Creeper was legitimately looking out for me. “Besides, I can always make another.”
“In that case, we will gather the monsters and launch an attack on them at once,” the Creeper said in a commanding voice and it was settled. We moved out of the cave and called out to the monsters, who responded by listening to our commands, and we headed back to my house.
I ran ahead of the group, and I could swear I saw some weird thing in the distance looking at me. When I tried to get a good look at it, it disappeared and there was a faint purple speck trail where it had been. I knew that specific shade of purple; it was the same shade as the portal that sent me here. It took all I had not to go after it, and the sounds from the inside of my house snapped me back to reality, this reality anyway. Whatever that thing was, I’d have to find it again later and find out why it left a trail like that portal.
“Don’t you think we should set up some torches around this place? I don’t want to wake up with a bunch of creepers chillaxing outside.” “Good point,Iron Maxx, go set up some torches” “What the hell? Why me?” “Because you didn’t do anything yet, you just came with us.” “Fine, whatever.”
I moved back from the house and stood behind a tree a good distance from my house. The door opened up and I saw a dark figure…ow…ok nevermind. It put up some torches on the ground and they hurt my eyes for a moment. When I was able to see again, I saw a bipedal creature much like those villagers, but it had one arm to the side and another facing forward. It looked like it was wearing some kind of metal armor, and it had a tannish skin where I could see it. After it set up about twenty torches around the area it went back into my house and I moved back to it as well. I peaked in the window on the door and saw them standing there setting stuff up. Something that looked like a furnace as well as a chest, now the chest was bigger. They set up a few more chests and went back upstairs.
“Dude, why did you cover the walls in posters?” “Why not?” “Because they look stupid!” “Don’t make me kill you, we haven’t slept here yet you know.” “Wow, you don’t have to be a jerk you know.” “You started it.” “Whatever, I’m gonna just go kill stuff.” That sounded like the one who came out before. This time I stayed next to my house. I put my sword on and watched him come out.
To my left I saw the trio and I nodded at them, they left. I really hoped they were getting the mob ready. Not even ten seconds later I saw a huge army of monsters come out of the woods and the Player shrieked and ran back inside.
“OH MY GOD! GUYS YOU GOTTA SEE THIS!” “Woah, what happened?” “THE MONSTERS ARE ALL OUTSIDE!” “Well no duh stupid, of course they are.” “Yeah, where’d you think they were, in the water?” “NO I MEAN THERE ARE LIKE FIFTY OF THEM RIGHT OUTSIDE THE HOUSE!” “What?” “Are you kidding me?” “NO DUDE LOOK OUTSIDE” A loud thunk came from the second floor, they broke my wall…now they really were going to pay. “Holy crap, you weren’t kidding. Looks like this is gonna be a good night for killing some stupid monsters.”
I couldn’t take it anymore and I burst in the house, sword at the ready and fangs ready to strike, “Hey you jerks, get out of my house before I make you!” I didn’t care about the plan anymore, they wanted to kill all the monsters as though they didn’t have any other purpose than to be killed. Their tones were just like the ponies used back in Equestria when a changeling was discovered; a monster that only deserved to die, never to be heard from until its dying breath. This was the final straw. “I won’t ask you nicely since you invaded my home, now get out!”
The Players came down the stairs and shut the door, “Dude, chill. We’re just using the house to go mining, we didn’t know it was yours.” “Yeah, and by the way where did you get that skin? It looks awesome!”
“I got this ‘skin’ as you call it when I was born. I’m not from around here and neither are you. What gives you the right to barge into people’s homes and claim it as yours?”
“We just said we didn’t know it belonged to anyone. Why are you getting so upset anyway? Wanna come with us and kill some stuff?” This Player was wearing some of the white metal and a few brown pieces, his sword looked like it was stone. All of them looked exactly alike except the armor they wore.
“I’m here to kill something and it isn’t those monsters. In fact…” I opened the door and yelled “ATTACK!” The effect was astounding as zombies started pouring in and they latched on to the closest Player and suddenly they were all jumping like that cow from before, the Players were screaming like they were in pain, and the zombies mimicked it but with moans. I could see that the Players weren’t falling as fast as I had hoped they would and instead the zombies were being overwhelmed. Zombies were falling left and right but suddenly one of the Players fell too and a shower of materials and items covered the room and I snapped out of my daze. I couldn’t let them die in vain, I had to do something.
I slipped past some of the zombies and heard one of the Players yelling something about hacking, didn’t really get what he meant but I guess it was a part of this world. I delivered the killing blow to one of the Players and absorbed most of the items it dropped, he was still on the ground for a moment before disappearing like everything else that died here. The last Player had retreated upstairs and blocked the path with wood. “What the hell man!? How in the world did you do that?”
I stood at the top of the stairs, “Do what? Not get slaughtered like the monsters you have all been killing since you came here? Have you even thought of what they wanted once? Maybe they didn’t want this. Maybe they just wanted to be left alone!”
“What are you talking about? They are just monsters! They’ll just respawn anyway. We all do here.”
“What do you mean ‘respawn’? Is that like reincarnation or something?”
I heard movement behind me and the Skeleton appeared, “Why do you delay? He must pay for what they’ve done.”
“Who is that? I’ve never heard a voice like that before.”
“He’s a skeleton, like the ones you’ve slaughtered and were going to slaughter tonight. You may think that all monsters just exist to kill and be killed but from what I’ve seen it’s you Players who are the monsters.”
“Us Players? Aren’t you a Player too? In fact, why the hell aren’t they killing you?”
“Because we are the same. Always being called monsters without proper reason. No one gives us a chance, and instead they just choose to take us out because we don’t belong. It’s because of beings like you that they can’t coexist with the villagers anymore. I may be able to exist in this world the way you do but I feel more like they do. We are the same and I will stick up for them since nopony else will.” I broke down the wall the Player had built and stared at him. His helmet was a light blue, the rest was white and his sword was the same white metal too. “Tonight will be your last night.”
I lunged at him but he dodged out of the way and swung at me with his sword. It hit but unlike the others I didn’t bounce and glow red for a moment, it actually hurt and I felt the pain as I slid across the floor. I got back up and smacked him with the flat of the blade which seemed to daze him for a moment. I followed it up by pinning him to the ground and slamming on his arm until the sword came loose. I felt him look at me and he asked in a plain, fearful voice “What are you?”
I felt a pang of guilt as I remembered the same question coming from the foals in Canterlot when we invaded. I never wanted to hurt them because they were innocent. This one wasn’t and my guilt washed away in an instant “I’m not from this world, and you need to leave my friends alone.” With this I bit his neck and heard it crack. He poofed out of existence and his stuff floated nearby.
Within a few minutes the adrenaline wore off and I was shaking. I had killed. Even in Chrysalis’ training I had never killed anything, not even the fish I sold at the pony markets. The thought of having to do it again was painful. Yes, they needed to leave the monsters alone, but why did we have to kill them? Couldn’t they coexist ever? I didn’t want to see another world like mine where there were those who lived together, fearing monsters, and those who were labeled as monsters, fearing the day they would be hunted for being different. Outside, the day was approaching I could tell because of the hole they made in my wall. I also heard the sound of rain. I felt that maybe the world was crying over the fighting that couldn’t seem to be avoided. If only there was a way to get them to stop fighting.
Even though day had come, I went to bed anyway. It didn’t take long since I hadn’t slept in a week, and after the night I’d been through, I was feeling pretty terrible. Hopefully I’d have another good dream but sometimes you don’t always get what you want.
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nice! that was awesome! will we meet any other mobs?
2800323 yeah, i'm not really sure when but there will be more.
2800561 perhaps the changeling is looking for materials and finds a abandoned mineshaft
also have we seen enderman?
2758040 I say we should have the fans vote for who they think should be the ruler of the server
look up minecraft on youtube for ideas
2800566 I do plan on him getting in the mines soon and that was an enderman he saw so yes we have seen one. Also, I have no idea what a "ruler of the server" means, could you explain that one for me?
2800598 basically the server owner
2800614 Ah, if you guys want to vote over the name of the ruler I say go for it. I just don't want to use anyone's name without asking first.
2800695 i mean by that like famous youtube minecrafters
Moar
2889117 Oh, I promise more is coming, even if I have been distracted lately.