Equestria; Ponyville, Ponyville Train Station; Late Afternoon
The group returned from Canterlot after meeting the princesses and sight-seeing the city, everyone headed back to their respective homes with Steve going back to the library with Twilight and Spike. Once entering inside, Steve headed to the basement and decided to make a chest to keep some of his belongings in; Steve planned to head to the Everfree Forest to check and find more items that were unique to this world.
Steve’s goal was to experiment and see how would the items in this world would interact with him – both physically and with his abilities – and he also wanted to see how far has his abilities changed and evolved. To better test his abilities, he thought of exploring the forest now, leaving behind everything in his inventory he only brought along all four of his tools, every available torch he made so far, his crafting table, his two remaining potions of healing, and the recent gift from the princesses – the amulet that allowed him to “speak” to anyone.
As he was just heading out, Twilight spots him leaving as she was in the middle of organizing some of the shelves within the library. “Oh hey Steve, are you going somewhere?” asked Twilight.
“I’m going to the Everfree Forest to explore and collect some stuff, I’ll be back later,” said Steve, reaching for the door.
Twilight quickly stop what she was doing and tugged on Steve’s outstretched blocky limb with her magic. “H-Hold on there, you shouldn’t be going there, its dangerous!”
Steve raises a brow and asks Twilight why is everyone so afraid of that place, having seen the threats within weren’t that much of a threat compared to the mobs he dealt with back in his world. Twilight sighs, after letting go of his limb, she explains why the Everfree isn’t a place to be taken lightly by anyone.
Thinking she’s managed to convinced him, this only peaked Steve’s curiosity even further, but before he could attempt to leave again, Twilight comes up with a compromise. “Wait! How about you go tomorrow in the morning, its almost dark and the creatures of the Everfree are most active around that time of day.”
Well… I don’t have natural night-vision or ingredients to make a night-vision potion, and making equipment for armor isn’t possible right now. I do want to check that forest, but maybe doing it when its daytime is better…
“Alright, but you promise alright, I’ll wait for now.”
After Twilight was certain Steve won’t go, she sighed in relief, afterwards, Steve headed back downstairs and decided to get some early sleep. He found out he can sleep anytime, and it didn’t require a bed, he still wasn’t sure if by sleeping on his bed resets his spawn or not… but he wasn’t brave enough to test that theory as it required him to die.
Closing his eyes, he went to sleep, at first nothing happened but after what felt like some time went by, his eyes opened and he found himself in an unfamiliar place. At first Steve wasn’t certain where he was, it was absolute white vast flat space, nothing as far he could see. For a moment that nothingness slowly changed with a flash of light, and when he opened his eyes, he was once again in a very familiar space.
The place was a sight he’d never forget, he’d seen this place countless times – just after he’d died from varying things, starvation, falling from a long drop, burning alive, stabbed, shot, beaten, drowned, suffocated, blown up, withered, poisoned, and his least favorite, falling into the eternal darkness called the Void. It was the first thing he saw when he first “awoken” in the Overworld as well as the recurring sight he see whenever his bed was destroyed… his birthplace or loving called – the Spawning Point.
It was somewhat flat grassy plains, some hills interspersed, with the nearest tree being an oak tree just some blocks away. South by a hundred blocks was a decently large forest, near the edge of that forest was his first constructed home – a simple dirt shack… which was later upgraded to a wooden shack.
To his north by a three thousand blocks was a jungle, to his east by two thousand blocks, was a mountainous biome while to his west by just five hundred blocks is ocean, beyond that ocean is a desert. His current home is similar albeit different from the Spawning Point, he couldn’t remember which direction his current home is from the Spawning Point, but whenever a creeper would blow up his current bed or he break and suddenly killed, he always start from scratch… and then wander off a random direction and began the endless cycle that was his life – break a tree, get wood, dig down, get stone and explore.
There was a few odd things, firstly the sun up above didn’t move an inch, as it was stiffly up in the sky that signaled noon. Being deeply ingrained to the time whenever he’s on the surface, he knew when it was to the second… this felt wrong.
The other odd thing… was Luna standing some distance away from him with an amazed look in her eye, gazing at the surrounding landscape before he gaze met Steve’s.
“So this is your world? I can see what you meant earlier about it being very… different, much more cuboid than I thought… much like yourself, Steve.”
Steve knew he couldn’t speak much as he hasn’t spoken to another living being that he could understand ever… so when he opened his mouth, it surprised him what happened. “Yep, to me your world looked like everything was bonkers.”
Both the lunar princess and Minecraftian were shocked and wide-eyed, Steve spoke and his voice was what Luna expected for him to speak. It sounded like a minotaur between their mid-twenties to mid-thirties, with a slight dept tone that spoke somebody who’s much older than they looked – a being experienced in a rough and lonely life.
“My voice… this is my voice…” Steve eyes were wide and looked somewhat glassy, the beginning tears could be seen ready to happen. Steve seen, done, and felt wondrous things… but to hear and feel his own voice and words, could be the greatest gift in his long life… he would give anything just to hear himself speak… it was a bit vain of himself, but to a being who’s been silent for eons, you be ecstatic to hear yourself speak when mute for too long.
“It appears in your dream-state, you can now hear your real voice, I am happy that you get to hear and be a part of a wondrous moment,” said Luna, smiling.
For a short while, Steve froze and looked at Luna, realization beginning to form in his eyes and mind. “I’m dreaming… So… I won’t be able to hear myself speak when awake.”
Luna knew that wasn’t a question but a fact… a statement that what was happening was nothing more but a fantastical moment that could never happen in the waking world. At first she worried she upset Steve, but he sighed before giving a small smile back at Luna.
“No matter, I’m glad I could had this gift, to be honest I never dreamed before… this is a first for me and its a wonderful gift.”
Luna was surprised Steve never dreamed before, but she suppose in a world which the day-and-night cycle could be changed in a moment by Steve taking a nap wouldn’t be enough time for someone to dream.
So Steve decided to explore his surroundings… well mostly he said words he never had the chance to hear himself say. Watching he say things that Luna knew and never heard before was a happy sight, but soon said spectacle ended when he turned to face Luna.
“So Luna… you here for a visit or needed something?”
When she saw a new dream bubble near Twilight and Spike’s dream bubbles, she knew it was Steve’s, it was quite a shock to hear him speak, so Luna explained her responsibilities with ponies dreams in Equestria. The two talked a little – Steve though never had conversation with another being with his own voice, so it got a little awkward a few times.
They talked a little about what they did after their last discussion, but soon the conversation changed to Luna asking about Steve’s world and other things.
Steve talked about his first discovery of cocoa beans, how he made cookies with those beans, discovering an enderman, how pumpkins allowed him to look at one without worry of attack, and how water makes a perfect deterrent against them. He mentioned the various redstone mechanisms – the friendlier ones – he created, his first encounter with villagers, discovering the End portal, fought the End Dragon, and found bountiful treasures in the End cities.
Luna listened to his many discoveries and adventures, his travels through the desert, discovering an underwater temple, his treacherous tales within abandoned mines. It was all amazing… but Luna felt something was missing in what he said, there were pieces of evidence something off… as if he wasn’t saying the full story.
Steve neglected to mention the dozens upon dozens of deaths that occurred with said adventures, but he feared he might spook Luna with mentioning his unique ability to deny death… he learned that he was the only being in his world that’s unable to die permanently.
He later discovered he could make some of the items he mentioned through his thoughts, starting off by making a bucket of milk and cookies appear, one for him and for Luna. She raised her brow at the bucket of milk, but Steve explained that cups weren’t a thing in his world, so the only thing to drink out of was buckets and potion bottles.
Steve didn’t need to drink water, but it gave a soothing feeling whenever he drank after an intense hot day.
“These cookies indeed go well with this milk, though the taste is based off your own taste-buds, so it is hard to say how they’d actually taste,” said Luna.
“Maybe I could make one for you if I get the right ingredients,” said Steve, munching on a cookie. “Oh, I’m also going to that forest near town with the girls, I was originally planning to go alone, but Twilight insisted she and the others come.”
“The Everfree? Well if you are going there, I suggest you try checking the castle within that forest, it was originally the old home of my sister and I.”
“Really? That’s good to know… by the way, is it possible I will be able to dream every night… I want to see how far I get bring things from my past memories into here.”
“Well, seeing that you were this lucid, you may be able to be this way for all your dreams… strange though for someone who has never dreamed before.”
With that said, Steve felt he sensation similar to whenever the night changed to day, seeing he was about to awaken, he said his farewells to Luna as she too said farewell. Soon, Steve found himself awake again, getting out of bed in the basement, he prepped himself by grabbing his belongings for the travel to the Everfree Forest.
He grabbed a stack of those Everfree planks, a stack of cobblestone, his leftover healing potions, all his tools, stack of torches, his journal, and he made another crafting table, leaving behind the one he made before in the basement. He also grabbed the amulet given to him by Celestia and Luna, putting it on and feeling the enchantment activating.
Going upstairs, he found Twilight ready, he heard her talking to Spike about what supplies they brought along, she turned around and spotted Steve. “I called the girls to meet us by Fluttershy’s place since she lives near the Everfree, that and there’s a path that can take us to the abandoned castle.”
“Well that’s good, Luna visited me in my sleep, she told about the Everfree and that castle, apparently it used to be her and Celestia’s old home.”
“She did, well that helps to not explain about the history behind that castle, anyway, let’s get going, we have a long way to get there.”
Steve left with the two, but quickly looked at both Twilight and Spike, specifically the outfits they wore – it looked like some sort of explorer outfits, which he was later told by Twilight what she and Spike wore.
They soon reached Flutershy’s place, and saw the others with saddlebags on, Steve saw Rarity also wore her own explorer outfit, which looked a little more frilly than Twilight’s. Everypony else only had saddlebags on, with Applejack wearing her stetson.
“Okay, even though we’re going to the Everfree to help Steve, I also want to check around, I never got the chance to carefully see the local fauna and environment that’s unique here in the Everfree. We’ll stay by the path that lead to the Castle of Two Sisters, while gathering anything of interest on the way, but be careful, Poison Joke isn’t the only thing we need to be wary of, so if you find something let met know if its safe to touch or not.”
Everyone gave their own affirmatives then heading off, once heading inside, Steve picked up anything that caught his interest… which was almost everything in sight. He picked up various flowers – nothing rare, just some wild roses, daisies, and so on – he even found some variation of mushrooms similar to red and brown mushrooms from his world.
At some point, the girls – mostly Twilight – panicked when Steve wandered off and touched some Poison Joke, but a new discovery was made about him when this incident happened.
The group was halfway to the castle, they just passed Zecora’s hut at some point, Steve was happy to meet somepony who could make potions. The two discussed potion-making and Steve wished to visit Zecora sometime later to see if she could help him make some specific potions.
“It was nice of Zecora to help you with making your potions, could I come along when you visit her, I want to see what kind of potions from your world exist?” asked Twilight.
“Sure, I’m also curious how this world’s potions differ from my own.”
As the group traveled down the path, they came upon a familiar patch of flowers that the girls and Spike, felt uneasy about as they circled around them. “Careful everypony, Poison Joke,” said Applejack.
“Ueh, if there’s one flower I wished never exist, it would be these,” said Rarity, staying as far from the foul things.
Everyone was too busy from staying away from the flowers, that Steve found the strange blue flowers intriguing, reaching down, he picked up one. Fluttershy noticed Steve was missing, but turning to see where he was, she gasped loudly for everyone to hear and see what was wrong.
“Hey girls, what’s these cool looking flowers? Um, girls?”
“STEVE DROP THE POISON JOKE! ITS DANGEROUS!” shouted Twilight.
Hearing Twilight shout was enough for Steve to drop the Poison Joke, immediately they grabbed Steve away from the flowers and quickly checked him over. Twilight used a spell to check for any form of enchantments, poisons, or magical interference on anyone, for awhile Twilight awaited the results but realized that Steve was clean – the Poison Joke didn’t affect him at the slightest.
“What? The Poison Joke… it didn’t effect him the slightest,” said Twilight. Everyone was shocked, Steve went back to pick up the Poison Joke he dropped earlier and put in his inventory, Twilight cast the same spell and also got the same results. For awhile Twilight contemplated this, until she asked Steve to step on some nearby poison ivy real quick, the girls and Spike were worried and asked what Twilight was planning, but she eased their worried to check her suspicions.
Soon, Steve stepped on the ivy for a few seconds and stepped off, moments later, Steve began itching like crazy everywhere, Rarity gave him some itching cream, then after awhile the itching stopped and Steve was back to normal.
Apparently from Twilight’s own theory, Steve isn’t effected by anything if he touches said object with his own hands, only by walking on, near it, and being touched in turn does it effect him. This made sense, as Steve mentioned collecting cactus with his bare hands, it raised the question how he never got injured, it may had to do with his natural magic being used as a shield to protect him against anything that doesn’t go through a certain impact – a drop by four to five meters is enough to hurt him, less however won’t do anything is good enough example that Steve gave.
Later on, they found more items that intrigued Steve, some glowing moss, poisonous mushrooms, some blackberries, and more. Further on, they encountered another problem, in the form of a pack of timberwolves, but that problem was fixed when Steve pulled out his axe and a torch in his other hand.
Swinging the torch around, the timberwolves recognized him and skedaddled, wondering what that was all about, Steve explained he encountered those same creatures before and fought them off, now they knew not to mess with him.
Afterwards they came upon a familiar river, this time however their other friend Steve Magnet wasn’t around to help. Trying to find a more shallow part of the river to cross, Steve made a different solution; with his ask, he began chopping down one of the Everfree trees, the group watched him cut down a tree for the first time, they saw how parts of the tree – even the leaves – were left floating in the air as he continued to cut the tree from top to bottom.
Everfree trees were pretty thick albeit short, but Steve managed to cut down a single tree in seconds, using the gathered logs, he made some of them to planks and made a three meter wide impromptu bridge made of Everfree planks.
The girls watched in awe – and confusion – to see Steve’s bridge still stand with no supports whatsoever, internally Twilight was conflicted to see the impossible happen in front of her.
Calm down Twilight, this is just like Pinkie – its just Steve being Steve – nothing out of the ordinary here. Heh heehe heheh ehhe.
Spike could see the crazed look in her eyes and sighed worriedly.
Once the bridge was done, Steve led the group across the bridge, Twilight later further asked about Steve abilities, which involve his natural regeneration when eating, his personal inventory, he can craft certain items by a two-by-two grid rather than his crafting table’s three-by-three grid, and more.
However, Steve says that back in his world his abilities were more, limited, while here in Equestria he’s discovering things that he never realized he could do, that and the numerous new things he could find here too. She was amazed the things he was capable of doing and this is what he can do without the help of tools and such.
Steve also mentions that when he was given this amulet from the princesses and new pop-up appeared in his inventory which allowed him to equipment. Twilight says that his abilities may be adapting to his new environment to better suit him, rather than given him claws, flight, or natural magic, he was given something that is adaptive based off the situation – the ultimate form of survival ability, to create a solution from one’s surroundings.
After this talk, Steve began to think what else he might unlock in this new world, the group soon arrived at the castle, which requires them to cross the suspension bridge – which Steve states he could make a way better bridge.
While the group talked about going in pairs to explore the castle, Steve examines the state of the castle… and an idea forming in his head. I might actually rebuild this castle, would be a nice pet project to do.
Soon groups were made, with Applejack with Rainbow, Fluttershy with Pinkie Pie, Rarity with Spike, and Twilight with Steve. Once everyone split apart, Twilight and Steve headed to the castle library, while Twilight simply wanted to see if she can recover any of the books back to the library, with Steve interested in this world’s literature – the only literature he had was any enchanted books or his own written books.
“Sorry we couldn’t explore the rest of the castle Steve, I planned to come here to gather any books that could be recoverable, I never understood why Celestia left these books here, I would assume after Luna came back she regather anything worth saving.”
“No need to worry, I planned to actually come here first, knowledge is an important thing for my world, considering anything I discovered wrote down in case for reference.”
Twilight smiled and happy to know Steve interests for books were similar to hers, soon the two went their separate ways with Twilight checking each book, those readable she put away, those damaged but that could be repaired she cast a preservation spell to bring back to the library, while those that could be fix, she wrote that any parts of the book that could be read for later deciphering.
Steve wandered a little until he came upon a book that glowed similar to the enchanted books from his world. Pulling the book out, he looked at the cover which the title said, “Magical Elements”, interested, he placed the book into his inventory. That wasn’t the only book that caught his interest, he found books on maps, history, the three pony races, cooking, and even a book on myths and fairy tales.
At some point, Steve told Twilight he wanted to explore the rest of the castle by himself, Twilight nods and tells him to come back to lobby once it reached mid-day, Steve nods and leaves the library.
Steve examined the walls, tapestries, and faded paintings of various individuals and settings of unknown lands. At some point, Steve found some stairs that led to some sort of open room, there were holes, shattered windows, and some sort of platform. There were also some scorch marks oddly enough, they looked recent, but at least a year old.
Something must had happened here recently, hmmm, what’s that?
Steve spotted something glinting under the light of the sun, at a glance it looked like a piece of ebony metal of sort, it looked like a piece of helmet or something, but it was warped so badly it was hard to imagine its original shape.
The reason Steve took an interest was because whenever he looked at it, he felt the same feeling he had when he gazed down at the Void whenever he was in the End. Picking up the piece of metal, all he got was a weird ominous title… which really did answer what he was holding.
???Unknown???
“The heck?”
After looking around for more of the strange object, he found nothing else and soon returned to the lobby, where he soon met up with the others. They all headed back to town, each of them talking about what they found while in the castle, Steve mentioning he found some books and some strange metal.
Twilight was curious and asked what he found, which he showed her, she said she wasn’t certain what that was either and soon they returned back to town in just a few hours.
When they came back to town they came upon an interesting sight, when they neared town, they saw a crowd of ponies holding up picket signs with various phrases on the signs. The phrases said many things, but were all related to one thing, the phrases all being directed at their newest resident, Steve.
None of them were positive and the group could easily tell that this wasn’t good, but it was strange that ponies were this mean to Steve even though he hasn’t be around that long, not only that he hasn’t been publicly introduced to Twilight’s knowledge, the only ones to know his existence is the princesses, the girls, Spike and maybe some of the townsfolk of Ponyville.
Soon the crowd spotted Steve and began to approach the group, aggressively waving their signs at them. Pinkie noticed an unfamiliar stallion leading the group, who she never met before and knew he wasn’t a resident of Ponyville – current or before.
“That pony there isn’t a local in town and he’s the one leading everypony else! That meanie needs to leave Steve alone!” said Pinkie, her cheeks puffed up.
“Yeah, who is this dude!”
“Let’s find out,” said Twilight, with the others approach the crowd. Steve on the other hand was just confused, having not encountering others, his social interactions were limited so he had no idea what was going on, he recognized the signs but didn’t understand the purpose the crowd were using the signs for – he understood the words were meant for him, but the fact they were negative response flew over his head.
“We will not let accept this strange creature to stay, if he won’t leave, we’ll make him leave!”
The crowd yelled in agreement, but after hearing his words, Applejack felt a tingling feeling in her fur – this pony was lying through his teeth, he could care less about Steve, yet he wanted him to leave. Storming up to the stallion, Applejack gritted her teeth in anger.
“WHAT’S THE MEANING OF ALL THIS!? WHY ARE ALL OF YOU PONIES WANT STEVE TO LEAVE, HE HADN’T DONE NOTHIN TO ANY OF YOU!”
“He’s a monster, all he wants to do is bring mayhem and destruction to our homes and lively-hoods!” Applejack could see it was one of the flower girls, but couldn’t see where the other two were which was strange.
Soon Applejack and the others heard even more wild and exaggerated rumors about Steve, one involving him summoning Discord, another of him being the one responsible for turning Luna evil, and even one which he hates puppies.
“Are you ponies crazy! Steve has only been here for two days and he’s been in Canterlot yesterday and the Everfree today, how the heck could he done any of those things when we been him most of the time!” shouted Rainbow.
Soon the crowd began to realize that all the things they said and heard were pretty crazy and soon the crowd dispersed, but a few still kept a frown directed at Steve. The stallion who led the crowd, trotted off with a scowl, turning around to face the girls.
“He’ll bring nothing but trouble, you’ll regret trying to help that foul creature!” Soon the stallion vanished around the corner of a building, which Rainbow tried to follow only to find him vanished.
“The heck? Where he go!?”
“Don’t worry about him Rainbow, I should report this to Celestia, I think somepony might be against the idea of Steve being here. Sorry about all that Steve, Steve?”
Steve gave a confused look, which he explained he had no idea what that entire thing was all about, soon Twilight explained those ponies were against him staying in town, which further made him confused.
Sighing in turn, Twilight explained it best he go back to the library, while Steve went back, the girls decided to discuss about what recently happen and find out who that stallion was. Heading back to the library with Spike, the two entered the library, with Spike yawning, feeling tired from mostly walking for the day, heading back upstairs.
Heading back to the basement, Steve put back some of the items he found and popped open his journal to write down the latest journal entry for today.
Day 2 – Yesterday, I went to a city called Canterlot with Twilight Sparkle and her friends, the city has buildings made of marble, similar to nether quartz when shaped into blocks. We met two princesses, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, they asked me some questions and gave me something to speak with, I can’t fully understand how it works, but it uses my thoughts so others can hear me. Today I decided explore the forest nearby called the Everfree Forest, I found various things that caught my interest and then, we explored an abandoned castle that once belonged to Luna and her sister; there was some interesting books and I find some strange metallic shard, I might ask Luna about what it is.
Once done writing Steve sighed and put away his journal, after awhile he went deep into his thoughts until he planned what to do next, checking his inventory and the contents in his chest, his next plan of action was one of the few activities that he practiced from the very beginning of his existence.
Time to get mining.