//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: The Hitchhiker // Story: My Little Minecraft: At the End // by Journeyman //------------------------------// Chapter 7: The Hitchhiker Princess Celestia, in a desire to walk around Ponyville some more, declined using her chariot to expedite her journey. This stemmed from wanting to meet and reassure more of Ponyville’s residents, but most had started fleeing to their homes or to relatives if their roof was too damaged by the gateway. Their flight was more than justified; the skies could not decide if they were going to rain or not. That’s not to say nopony was still outside waiting for the impending malestrom. All dressed in raincoats, Cherilee was herding the Cutie Mark Crusaders to their respective caretakers: Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack. “Aw, come on! Why not?” Scootaloo complained. Rainbow Dash ruffled the filly’s hair affectionately. “Sorry, kiddo; leave the storm chasing to the experts.” “But this could be it!” The Crusaders gasped in unison. “Cutie Mark Crusaders: Storm Chasers!” “Now, now children.” Cherilee interjected. “It’s time to crusade your way back home before the weather becomes too bad. Now shoo; I’m sure you all have chores at home.” “Awww...” Sweetie Belle whined. She looked up at the storm clouds in her melancholic air, but upon gazing on the gateway’s empty black border, she smiled in wonder. “Girls! I have an idea:--” She brandished her hooves wide, building up the suspense of sudden revelation. Applebloom and Scootaloo leaned in close because neither of them wanted to go home and were under the influence of Sweetie Belle’s infectious enthusiasm. “Cutie Mark Crusaders: Monster Hunters!” Both Scootaloo and Applebloom smiled in excitement, eyes shining in wonder. “Yeah!” The elated pair shouted. Rarity, however, swiftly diffused the trio’s adventurous and likely dangerous antics before their sparks could be stoked into flames. “Well, Sweetie Belle, if you start hunting monsters, there won’t be a crusader available to hunt the ice cream I have stashed in the back of the freezer.”          That alone was enough to distract her, “Ice cream!” And she cantered after her sister.          Scootaloo, disappointed at losing an adventure more than anything, shouted after Sweetie Belle. “Oh, come on! It was your idea!” Sweetie Bell turned around to give a quick apology, “I’m sorry girls! I’ll see you later! Maybe next time!” And she resumed bouncing in excitement at the coming treat. As the remaining two Crusaders grumbled and joined their caretakers, Celestia and Twilight couldn’t help but giggle. Silly fillies. Nevertheless, Princess Celestia still had work to do and calmly followed Corporal Winds’ lead to the Council of Magic and their makeshift headquarters. The Council had established themselves in a large tent outside of Ponyville below one of the corners of the Portal. Several magi and Royal Guards walked every which way in what Twilight thought Rarity called “ordered chaos.” There were nearly a hundred ponies milling about, each and everyone one bumping into each other, excusing themselves, and continuing on their way. Guards set up perimeters and lines of communication, while magi carried scrolls, wrote down notes, or tampered with equipment unfamiliar to Twilight.          A lone unicorn with glasses and a dressed in a simple gray cloak looked up when the trio approached. He put down his notes, stepped toward Celestia, bowed, opened his mouth to introduce himself-- “Professor Incantus!” Twilight’s forelegs were instantly around the middle-aged stallion’s neck. Celestia couldn’t help but be surprised herself. It was a well known fact that Celestia took on Twilight Sparkle as her personal protege. While the majority of Twilight’s training and lessons took place under her tutelage, her royal duties consumed much of her time and made it made it necessary for her to hire tutors. Countess Incantus’ husband, Hexxus Incantus, had retired from teaching roles to work his wife’s personal estate. At the personal request of the Princess, Hexxus had agreed to teach Twilight. Twilight never had any friends in Canterlot, but her thirst for knowledge gave her a certain bond with her teachers. Twilight continued to squeal in glee before reluctantly letting go of her teacher. Hexxus contented himself with idly stroking Twilight’s hair. “Look at you, Twilight! The last time I saw you, you told me you were moving to Ponyville on order of the Princess. And now you’ve become an Element of Harmony, saved Equestria three times, and from what I’ve heard, managed to have time to make friends. You’ve done well, Twilight. You’ve done very well; you’ve made more than Celestia proud.” Celestia and Twilight both understood which highlight more than any other he was referring to. “We’ll have to talk later, Twilight; right now, I mustn’t keep the Princess waiting.” Leaving Twilight, he bowed to the Princess. “I have been placed in command of my wife’s resources until the remainder of the Council arrives. Until that time, how may I be of service?” “For starters,” Celestia asked, “what can you tell me of this gateway?” The magus pushed his glasses to the bridge of his nose. “Honestly, Princess, this gateway is the most absurd thing I have ever studied. Now take everything I am about to tell you with a grain of salt; we haven’t had too much time to study this thing yet. “It is suspended in the skies above Ponyville, but for the life of me and everyone here, we can’t figure out why. There is no magic that we understand holding this up. No spells of preservation, suspension, levitation, holding, nothing. This is an entirely new incantation that hasn’t even been theorized yet.” Hexxus Incantus picked up a notebook and fiddled with his glasses again. “The composition is even stranger, believe it or not. It threw us for a loop for a while, too. The gateway is almost indestructible, impervious to almost any blow, physical or magical, that we have used to gather samples for analysis. A rainbow pegasus residing in a cloud home nearby suggested we should “just start bashing it with diamonds” to loosen it up. After we ran out of ideas, we tried that out of sheer irritation and, believe it or not, it worked. We knocked off a corner chunk and studied it. Now here’s a mystery to ponder: it’s obsidian. It’s a doorway one kilometer by two kilometers long, composed of cubes of obsidian one meter in size each.” “What!?” Twilight exclaimed. “That’s impossible!” “Indeed it is. A stone nearly as brittle as glass reinforced to such a degree that it took the hardest known substance to even make a dent in it. We only recently discovered this fact, so I can’t comment on the matter much more than that.” “Is there any other information available?” Celestia asked. “Just one, Princess, and this is the strangest discovery yet.” He smiled at the stunned look on Twilight’s face. “Twilight!” The unicorn snapped out of her stupor. “Yes, Professor?” Hexxus smiled, “For old time’s sake, how do leylines and pony genetics relate?” “Leylines do not affect pony magic in general, but how ponies use it. Earth ponies are stronger and more hardy while unicorns can use magic.” “Full marks, Twilight.” Twilight beamed in pleasure. “Now as you know, each type of magic is different. Earth pony magic is low frequency, affecting them on the physical level and nothing else. Unicorns are on the opposite end of the spectrum with pegasi in the middle. Now our first order of business was to examine the trace frequencies left behind in creating this thing.” He pointed a hoof up at the gateway. “Magic doesn’t tend to leave a trail, but the larger and more complex the spell, the greater the possibility that can occur. When the results came back, that’s when we started scratching our collective heads in confusion. “We did indeed catch trace amounts of magic in the obsidian shards. While they didn’t leave too much of a trail to follow,” Hexxus seemed more disgruntled at that than anything else so far. “we got a firm grasp on the frequencies. They were off the scale! Far higher than even the strongest magical containers in the known world, higher than even yours, Your Majesty. It’s utterly impossible.” “Hold on a second,” Twilight interrupted before Hexxus could go any further. “You said they. Plural.” Hexxus nodded. “Indeed. We expected the ambient magic expected in the air, especially being right above a populace. There was plenty of that, but those frequencies were not what we found at ground zero.” He pointed a hoof at Golden Harvest’s garden. That got Celestia’s attention. “Another type of magic?” Hexxus shook his head. “Not one; two. There was ambient magic, and two others. Two separate frequencies too high to belong to any known magic.” For the first time since her arrival, concern broke through the cracks of her regal exterior. Her eyes widened at the horror of the situation, “By the Powers...”          Celestia mentally shook off the shock of Hexxus’ words. Despite the unprecedented situation, she needed to remain strong; if not for her vassals, than her subjects. Her eyes hardened in determination. The outward sign of strength appeared to work; Hexxus had taken a nervous step back. “I want First Lieutenant Chaser’s battleground scanned with equal scrutiny. Leave no stone unturned.” “It has been done,” Corporal Winds interjected. “As soon as Princess Luna discovered this herself, she ordered the first magus she set her eyes on to do so. Shall I put in the order that you are to be informed as well?” “Please, Corporal.” Corporal Winds nodded and cantered to the Royal Guards stationed to protect the Council and their work. One of the pegasi nodded and, after a brief run to gain speed, took off for the castle of the Royal Pony sisters. “I leave you to your work, magi,” Celestia called to the present members of the Council. Save for Hexxus, there did not appear to be any high ranking members there quite yet. No matter; they would be arriving shortly. Since Celestia was still in the mood to walk, Corporal Winds led the way to Celestia’s final destination for the morning: the medical barracks. That would be, of course, if a certain pink pony had not interrupted their journey halfway through. Pinkie Pie had somehow managed to commandeer Ponyville Town Hall and staged another one of her grand parties. Several dozen ponies, including a few off-duty Royal Guards, were meandering around the various games that had been set up outside. There was the standard pin the tail on the pony and horseshoes, but what caught Twilight’s eye was Berry Punch in a clown suit suspended above a vat of water.          Looking inside, Twilight could see the were walls lined with tables filled with several of Pinkie’s and the Cake’s usual sweet culinary delights along with pies and barrels of apples bought from the Apple family. Even Celestia seemed impressed by the vast spread, “Oh dear; Pinkie Pie seems to have set up quite the party. I didn’t know she had a party scheduled for today.” Neither did Twilight. “S-s-she didn’t.” But that was just Pinkie Pie; no one in Ponyville really needed a reason for her behavior other than that.          “Silly filly. That was easy!” “Gah!” Somehow had snuck up behind Celestia, Twilight, and Winds. The Honor Guard, in all of their training and expertise, a combined total of thousands of hours of active duty, all dropped their jaws at the sudden and unexpected appearance of their newest guest. No one, not even Celestia, had detected the absurd pony’s approach. The Royal Guard began to surround Pinkie and attempt to draw her back away from Celestia, but Pinkie, however pudgy she had become from gorging on sweets, still managed to squeeze her way through a sea of Guards and return to Twilight. “I know that everyone would be upset that somepony got Ponyville all dirty.” A Guard attempted to tackle Pinkie from the side, but she nimbly ducked under the leap. “And many ponies were mad that Lyra was attacked. Especially Bon Bon. Did you see her this morning? She was furious when the Night Guard told her they lost whoever did this! I’ve never seen her so mad!” Another Guard grabbed at her hind legs to perform a takedown maneuver, but as casual shifting of her feet caused his to lose his grip and fall on his face. Pinkie stepped back, likely oblivious that she was stepping on somepony’s head. “So I thought of the perfect way to cheer everyone up!” She reared up on her hind legs, causing two guards attempting to tackle her to crash into each other. “A party! I even got Berry Punch for one of my new games!” One stallion lined up his shot and threw a stone at Berry Punch's dunk tank. Thunk! Gooosh! “And it works! But I’ve got some work to do, so I’ll talk to you later! Bye Twilight! Bye Princess!” Pinkie cantered off, singing to herself a merry tune. “A-la-la-la-la!” The Honor Guard just stared at Pinkie’s retreating form, completely baffled at what to do. Their commander looked to Celestia for guidance, but she shook her head. Very soon, Celestia’s smirk turned to an open grin, than laughter. The melody sounded like the peel of a bell, brightening the gloomy atmosphere. Many recent events, the doorway, the ruination of her library, and the attack on Ponyville’s citizens, had been a constant, irritating itch in the ach of her mind that refused to abate. The sound of her teachers laugh brought a smile to her own face and, before long, she was joining Celestia in mirth. After her lack of proper sleep, it was a much needed respite to clear away the gloom slowly creeping up on her mind. The medical barracks was a smaller sky blue tent erected near the back of the sleeping quarters. Most of the furnishings expected for such a center had not yet arrived, so medical supplies were still stacked in boxes on tables. Lying on one of the five beds in back was a disgruntled Night Guard stripped of her armor doing her best to sit still as the doctors examined her. “Are you done yet?” She complained. “Stop whining, you big baby.” The unicorn doctor ordered and forced her back down on the bed. First Lieutenant Chaser grunted in frustration, forcing herself to not pick at the bandages surrounding her temple. A name tag was clipped onto his pristine lab coat identifying him as “Dr. Hemos.” “Still enjoying the doctor’s hospitality, Chaser?” Corporal Winds joked. Lightning moved to stand at attention in the presence of the Princess, but the doctor once again forced her back down on the bed. “Stay still!” and started examining her eyes. “What is her condition, Doctor?” Celestia asked. The doctor looked up and bowed respectively. Lightning seized the opportunity to try to get out of bed, but the doctor casually thrust out a back hoof to shove her back into bed. She seethed with aggravation, glaring daggers at the doctor. The doctor removed the clipboard at the foot of Lightning’s bed and began looking through the pages. “The patient was ordered to wait for us by Captain Hawk and undergo a thorough examination; apparently she had a tussle with a creature of the forest or something related to that gateway; nopony tells me nothing.” Dr. Hemos flipped a page and it was punctuated by a thunderclap from outside. “Most of her wounds are minor contusions and lacerations. She’s got a particularly nasty bruise on her chest and two hairline fractures on her ribs, but they will heal in full within a week if I get the rest of my supplies and perform the proper spells. My real concern is the concussion she suffered gallivanting about the forest. I’m in the process of measuring the damage, but my initial report leads me to suspect it is minor.” “Very well, doctor. I wish to speak with the First Lieutenant. After which, you may continue with your examination.” Behind Hemos, Lightning facehoofed. The sound made the doctor smile. “As you wish, Princess. I will leave you alone with the patient.” He replaced the clipboard and exited through the tent flap. Lightning stuck out her tongue as the tent flaps fluttered. “Insufferable stallion. I wish he would take one of those syringes and stick it right up his—” She stopped her cuss mid thought, remembering who she was accompanying. She brought a hoof to her temple and saluted. “Princess! I apologize for my misconduct in your presence. I—” “That is quite alright, First Lieutenant,” Celestia chuckled. “I have been informed that you fought a creature who may have had a hoof in recent events.” The First Lieutenant gave a dry laugh, “Not hoofs, hands. He’s got fingers like gryphons, only without the claws.” Corporal Winds gasped, “Gryphons!? But—” “I said like gryphons. Clean the wax out of your ears. Now will you let me finish, Corporal?” Lightning huffed and addressed Celestia directly. “I don’t know what it was I fought. My best guess would be some kind of ape like those native to Zebrica, but even that doesn’t fit. He wears clothes, has hair only on the top of his head, and only walks on his hind legs. His front legs weren’t built for walking on. They are more for dexterous movements and wielding objects.” “You keep referring to it as a he. If you don’t know what it is, how are you sure?” Twilight asked. Lightning blinked and her eyes darted to Twilight as if realizing she was there for the first time. Celestia introduced Twilight to the soldier. “First Lieutenant, this is my student, Twilight Sparkle.” Her eyes lit up in recognition, her auburn hair bouncing as she shook her head enthusiastically. “It’s a pleasure, Twilight. You’ve got quite the reputation among the guard.” Twilight flushed at the compliment. “As to your question, I don’t know for certain, but I can make a reasonable guess. Tall stature, very heavily muscled, lean build; that doesn’t strike me as a female. I suppose I could have seen his reaction if I gave him a swift buck to the b—” She winced as she cut off her train of thought again. “Strike two?” she asked timidly. Celestia nodded and kept her smile, which seem to intimidate the First Lieutenant more. “There will be no strike three.” It wasn’t a question and Lightning nodded emphatically. “A-a-anyway,” she stuttered before picking up her confidence again. “Whatever he is, he’s a bit of a coward. He’ll fight if he’s backed into a corner or if he believes he can win strongly enough, but he’ll run if he’s not sure of his situation. But if he’s forced to fight, he’ll fight as hard as he can. He put a number on me before our fight got interrupted. “But the strangest part about him is his powers...” Lightning rubbed her chin in thought, finding the best way to say what needed to be said. “I... hmmm... have you ever heard of the Incantation of Holding?” Twilight, ever the scholar, spoke up first. “It’s a theoretical spell that can be cast on containers, like bags or boxes, to increase the amount that they can hold without changing the container’s actual shape. But to this date, there have been no successful castings of the spell on record.” “That’s right,” Lightning agreed. “But maybe not anymore. I’ve seen this creature, with my very own eyes, pull out multiple objects out of nothing and use them.  It’s not just small trinkets either; he can store hundreds of pounds of whatever he wants at will. It works both ways, too; he absorbed my helmet and gave me a concussion in thanks.” She picked at the bandages wrapped around her head before shuttering and dropping her hoof; she did not want to receive any more ire from the doctor than she had to. “Corporal Winds mentioned mentioned this creature was practiced in alchemy. Is this true?” “Judging from the effects of the civilian in the hospital and what I saw in the forest, I believe so. From what I’ve managed to learn from hearsay, the potion used on the civilian slowed her metabolism and mental faculties to a crawl, but what I saw was vastly different. The creature had a device that could teleport him anywhere he threw it at the cost of harming him in the process. I interrupted him leaving our fight and he got hurt, but after he drank a potion, his wound was healed.” If this news troubled the Princess, it did not show on her face. “One last question, First Lieutenant. What is the current catalog of what this creature can summon?” She responded in a beat. “The teleportation stones, the two alchemic potions, sticks, cobblestone, torches, a bow and arrow, and a pickaxe. But if I were to theorize, he cannot conjure any item at will, only store and extract what he has physical access to.” “Explain, First Lieutenant,” Celestia ordered. Lightning scratched her chin in thought. “It doesn’t make sense otherwise. There was one other item recovered from the creature: a single iron sword. Since I’m assuming he carried it when he got here, it’s likely his primary weapon. If he could conjure that in our fight, why didn’t he? He might have won if he did.” “So,” Celestia started to outline. “We have an unknown creature from unknown origins with unknown powers.” “Well, we don’t want this to be too easy now, do we?” Twilight snarked. Celestia chuckled again. “I suppose I can’t have everything go the way I want it to.” Celestia nodded her thanks to the First Lieutenant and exited the tent. Celestia nodded to Dr. Hemos and he trotted back inside. The skies were still darkening and in moments the sky was wetting the ground with a soft drizzle. With a quick flash of her horn, Celestia created a dome to shield her small entourage from the rain. At that moment, the street was flush with the sound of flapping wings. The group quieted themselves as a chariot flew across the roof of the adjacent building; the magus had returned from his trace in the forest. His pegasus escorts waited for the streets to clear before gently landing in front of the Princess. The magus stepped off the chariot in one smooth motion and gave delivered a practiced bow to Celestia. The guards, being leashed to the chariot, only nodded their heads. The magus was a sandy brown unicorn with acid-green eyes and the black cloak given to one of the Council of Magic with two silver pips on his collar. He lifted his head and introduced himself in a cultured accent native to Canterlot, “Good morning and salutations, Princess Celestia. I am Diamond Solitaire, Magus of the Council of Magic, Second Class.” “Good morning, Mr. Solitaire. What have you to report?” Celestia extended her bubble to envelop him and the pair of guards, who all nodded thankfully. Diamond Solitaire laid eyes on Twilight and his image faltered ever so slightly before returning to Celestia. “Ahhhhh, forgive me, Your Highness, but perhaps we should remove this discussion away from prying eyes?” Celestia’s lips curled slightly, the only external sign of her mirth. “Twilight is my personal protégé and trusted confidant. Anything that may be spoken in my presence will not be hidden from her.” Diamond nodded. “Very well then, Princess. But perhaps can we speak inside? I’m afraid my report may stretch to lengths unsuited to our current setting. Plus, the other magi are quite adamant in their opinion that I ramble ad nauseum.” Corporal Winds led the group inside the barracks and into one of the back rooms. After kicking out the staff and posting a guard, the unusual group of ponies had some peace. Diamond Solitaire surveyed the room and, after finding it to his satisfaction, started his report. “Have you been informed of the preliminary findings pertaining to the gateway, Highness?” “The magi suspect that something other than traditional magic was involved,” Celestia stated. “Correct. As absurd as the facts may be, that appears to be the case. Now, as I touched down in First Lieutenant Chaser’s battleground, I performed the usual spell checks first. Spell and trap detection, tracer spells to hopefully identify any unicorns,--” Diamond Solitaire stopped his train of thought. After a second of holding his chin in thought, he continued. “The abridged version is that I detected the same two additional magic types near the duel. I believe it is safe to assume that the intruder who battled the Night Guard came through the gateway.” “Hold on, you said near?” Twilight questioned. “Ah, allow me to rephrase, Ms. Sparkle. While one of the magics was focused on the riverbank where First Lieutenant Chaser staged her duel, the other was focused directly around it, but not on the riverbank itself.” “For the most prudent question, Mr. Solitaire,” Celestia asked, “what is the likelihood of a creature possessing multiple types of magic?” Celestia asked. “Well, the chances of that occurring are very difficult to predict; nothing of the sort has been officially recorded. It is theoretically possible that a creature such as the one described to me by the Royal Guard could possess such a trait, but the tale of Ms. Chaser makes that possibility quite slim. An entity may very well be able to control, or at least contain, multiple magics. Such a feat would be exponentially more difficult for every separate type of magic, but, as I said, it is only theoretical. Unless I am mistaken and--” “Mr. Solitaire?” Celestia interrupted. Diamond Solitaire blinked in surprise. “Oh, do forgive me, I appear to have gone off on quite the tangent. Now, can a creature have multiple types of magic? Possible, but improbable. I might be able to believe a creature could have two under the given circumstances, but my professional opinion is that three is not within the realm of possibility. This is supported by finding disproportion quantities of the both ambient magic and the two foreign magics at the waterfall.” “What does this mean, then?” Twilight questioned. “It means, Ms. Sparkle, that there was somepony, or more likely, something, watching First Lieutenant Chaser’s duel. It means that, despite our search, he, she, or it has remained completely undetected until now.” “It means that we have more than one uninvited guest.” Minecraft/MLP:FIM crossover. Chapter Commentary: LINK For updates and my ramblings, visit my page on Fimfiction HERE. Edited by: Cor Thunder, Material Defender, Wolfmaster1337