Pinkie and Octavia soon discovered that the path of the dragon's destruction scorched the entire area, turning lush land into a barren wasteland and trees into pillars of ash, though Alex walked ahead of them and kept an eye out for danger, as she didn't want the dragon to find them again. Pinkie let Octavia lean on her as they carefully walked through the ruined area, as she was still getting used to her new legs and body, all while glancing around to see what had happened, as it looked like the beast had scorched the land and left a scar behind, to assert its dominance over the entire area. Both of them knew that this was bad, as a large number of resources had been destroyed thanks to the black dragon, a massive beast that was unlike anything they had seen in the past, and Alex's expression only confirmed their suspicions on the matter. Of course they had no idea what set off the beast and caused all of this to happen, but given what was going on neither of them said anything as Alex carefully lead them out of the area so they could find Steve, whoever that was, and tell him what was going on, and likely move somewhere that wasn't near a dragon.
Of course no one said anything as they made their way out of the charred area, simply out of fear since they had no idea if the beast was still in the nearby area, despite hearing no wings flapping in the distance, and it wasn't long before they were able to leave the charred area, exchanging it for a part of the forest that wasn't burnt yet. Alex didn't stop there, rather she kept going and made sure Pinkie and Octavia were following her, where they did so without delay, as neither of them wanted to be the cause of the dragon finding them and scorching the pristine area that they were walking through. She also seemed concerned that they might run into more enemies, like that green one she had killed to save Octavia, but based on what they were seeing there was nothing near the dragon's domain, either because it kept killing everything or the beasts of this world knew not to get close to such a powerful monster. While they walked Pinkie found that she was able to collect a few things from the ground, some sticks, an apple, and some leaves, before discovering something interesting, she could hold the items like Alex, as in blocks, like stone or leaves, were small until placed and others, like the apple, maintained their size.
After some time Alex came to a stop and glanced around, where they found that she had decided to stop in what looked like the middle of the forest, which had a stone hill interestingly enough, before moving over to the hill and opened a door for a second, a wooden door that, when Pinkie and Octavia walked over to where she was standing, was built into the side of the hill. On the other side of it they discovered a small room of sorts, which seemed to be about two blocks high and was roughly three wide, both to their right and in front of them, before they found another figure that was just like them, only instead of being slim this one seemed more muscular. The figure had short cropped dark brown hair, while wearing a light blue shirt, a blue pair of pants, and gray shoes, where Pinkie and Octavia were able to confirm that he was male, due to the lack of mounds on his chest and the fact that his body didn't look like theirs or Alex's. Based on what they could see it looked like he and Alex must have been exploring, looking for a suitable place to live in, when she went out looking for whatever it was that she was interested in, leaving Steve to either gather more materials or just rest until she came back, or at least they were assuming this was Steve.
Alex glanced at them and beckoned for them to join her, to which they did so and she closed the door behind them, which caused the other figure to turn around, as it appeared that he was checking out his tools for damage, before he smiled as he and Alex embraced each other, meaning they were either close friends and had been worried about each other or there was more going on between them.
"Alex... thank the Builders that you're alright." Steve said, showing that he was definitely concerned for her safety, likely due to the dragon roar he had heard earlier and probably worried she might have been caught in the path of destruction, while she had likely been concerned for him after leaving him in this barely lit area, as he, too, had a torch lighting the cave they called home.
"I mean, we had to dive into a small cave to escape a dragon, but my new friends and I survived." Alex replied, where she pulled back for a moment and beckoned to both Pinkie and Octavia, who Steve was only now seeing for the first time, as he had been too focused on his own companion, before she turned to face them as well, "Pinkie, Octavia, this is Steve, my lifelong friend and companion. Steve, meet Pinkie Pie and Octavia, who I happened to save from a Creeper before a black dragon decided to torch the forest."
"It is a pleasure to meet you." Octavia said, which was the truth after Alex came in and saved her, from something called a 'Creeper', while Pinkie nodded her head and said that it was nice to meet them, though at the same time Steve looked at their odd legs, meaning that this wasn't common in this world, but didn't ask about it.
"As much as I want to stay here, and set up a base of operations, we had better get moving, especially with a dragon living in the nearby area." Steve stated, showing them that he knew the danger they were in and got to clearing up the cave they had started to make earlier, where Pinkie and Octavia found that he used an axe to collect some sort of wooden chest and a square table of some kind, which had nine slots on top of it.
As Steve did that Alex used her pickaxe to open the ceiling, along with a shovel to remove some grass, where she told the pair that both she and Steve liked to leave markers to indicate that they had been to an area, so this little cave was being turned into a pit, a marker for later, though it wasn't long before she removed the door and they exited the area. Based on what the pair found neither of their new companions had left anything behind, in fact it looked like neither of them had all that much to start with, though there was a bit of good news, Steve was sure there was a village to the north of where the cave had been set up, as they had come from the south with Alex. If they found it they would be able to get some beds, to get a good nights sleep when the time came, a number of materials that neither of them could find on their way to where the cave was set up, and who knew what else, which was why he and Alex were so interested in finding it. Of course that was before meeting Pinkie and Octavia, something that meant they would have to make a chance to their plans, or at least that was what Octavia thought and found that she was wrong, as the pair were more than willing to add them to whatever they had been planning.
"Not to sound ungrateful, but why are you two willing to help us so much?" Octavia asked, though she was pleased that she no longer had to rely on leaning on Pinkie to walk, allowing them to follow behind Steve and Alex as they headed to the north, finding some small white furred creatures that lived in packs, wolves she guessed.
"You guys are like us... you're Crafters." Alex replied, where she glanced back for a moment and found that Octavia had raised her eyebrow for a moment, which meant she had no idea what she was talking about, while Pinkie was either lost in her own mind or was interested in the area around them, something that caused her to think about what she could show them, before lightly tapping the air in front of her, calling a screen of some kind out, "Crafters have access to an Inventory system, allowing us to carry far more than a normal person could and even stack most items, so we can carry a lot of, say, stone, instead of a single piece. In addition to that we also found some sort of empowerment system, where we can use Experience to improve ourselves and gain new skills or boosts to existing ones, which wasn't part of the world that we had been living in."
"That's so interesting." Pinkie said, where she tapped the air and, sure enough, summoned the same thing in no time, not that Octavia was surprised by this turn of events, in fact she was positive that Pinkie would have tried it after learning that it existed, even though Octavia was sure that she already had some sort of storage space that would be integrated into this at some point in time.
"Basically, we can do things that only the Builders, the people who built a lot of the ancient structures of the land, could do with the materials of this world," Steve continued, knowing that Octavia wanted a real answer and there was more that he and Alex had to say before they reached their destination, though as he walked up a hill he found that Pinkie seemed to be collecting whatever was around her and Octavia was testing the Inventory out, "opening the Inventory is a sign that you are a Crafter, though not everyone has that power, as while there are Villagers in this world, who live and use places that the Builders created, none of them can actually use the system. Our world is much like this one, as we found a portal and decided to investigate, only when we woke up we discovered that things were different than what we were used to, most of our gear and tools had disappeared, and there are creatures we have chosen to stay away from... that's why Alex and I are doing this, you guys are just like us, and, unless we wrong, you're also from another world and got lost."
Octavia agreed with him, though she was surprised by his statement, and inquired if he knew a way to get home, since he and Alex seemed to have more experience with this sort of thing, though all they could figure out was that there were all sorts of portals in this world and that one of them had to connect to their home world. Alex went on to explain that the Builders, or First Ones as some in their world preferred to call them, constructed all sorts of things, towers that reached into the sky, structures that existed below the water, strongholds below the ground, and all sorts of other things, and that was only the start. Apparently the Builders created more than that, as there were other dimensions that Steve and Alex had only heard about from some of the Villagers, such as the Nether, the End, a place known as the Lost Cities, and who knew what else, so part of their plan was to explore the known dimensions and figure out what the Builders knew. It was easy for Octavia to understand their reasoning, because if they discovered more about what this ancient race knew there was a chance that they could utilize the portals and go home, or at least make a new living in this world, even though she was hoping for the former.
While she was learning all of that Pinkie was just wandering around the area, collecting rocks, sticks, and whatever else was on the ground, which Alex said was fine since they needed everything right now and this was a good way for her to get some resources. Due to that Octavia glanced around part of the area they were in as Steve told her that they used to be able to simply punch down trees with their bare hands to get wood, something that shocked her a little since she was used to ponies like Applejack doing stuff like that, but in this world that was impossible without an axe. She spotted what looked like a pillar of stone that had some ore inside it, which her experienced companions told her was a good thing, as it might give them a bit of resources when they were able to mine it, causing her to ask why they couldn't do so now, only to find that the only pickaxe they possessed had broken earlier. She guessed that it had happened when they cleared out the cave that Alex and Steve had created as their temporary base, no doubt to get more supplies before heading for the area Steve was sure existed to the north of where they decided to stop, but neither of their new companions were worried, as it seemed easy to replace.
As they did that Octavia found some dark gray crystals growing from a stone and discovered that she could pull them out with her hands, not needing any tools to do so, allowing her to add five crystals to her Inventory before following after the others, though she decided to think about the tingling sensation she got when they were someplace safe.
It took them some time to reach what had to be their destination, a somewhat flat area in the middle of the forest that had a number of houses scattered all over the place, a village like Steve was looking for, and while there were some single story buildings, like a greenhouse, and some two story buildings, a library and a windmill, at least according to Alex, even if the windmill didn't seem to move at all. Pinkie and Octavia discovered that the residents of this village, who stood as tall as their new companions, wore either brown robes or clothing that reflected their profession, as they learned that Villagers could be smiths, farmers, fishermen, and all sorts of other jobs. In addition to them there were a number of floating shield beings that seemed to be defenders of some kind, who ignored the group as they entered the village, and there were two tall metallic figures walking through the village, silent defenders who protected the Villagers based on what was going on right now. There were a few other structures they didn't recognize, save for a few houses that were made of wood, and a stone structure with an odd stony pillar that seemed to be dormant right now, likely another thing that the Builders left behind when they departed for whatever plane they went to.
Sure enough some of the Villagers noticed their arrival and walked over to the southern edge that they were coming from, most of them looking surprised to find visitors coming to their peaceful home, but none of them had weapons and that was good in Octavia's eyes.
"Welcome, travelers, to our fine village." one of the Villagers said, who was either the leader or one of the most respected out of all of them, it was hard to tell since he wore normal clothing and nothing special, while the others simply stared at them, where Pinkie noticed there was no smith, oddly enough, "Tell me, are you...?"
"Crafters? Yes, we are." Steve replied, showing Octavia that there must have been some clue that she and Pinkie didn't know about, which allowed others to figure out who in the world they were, though she said nothing as the Villagers took a moment to cheer for their arrival, something that surprised them, or at least her and her companion.
The Village Elder, as that was who he introduced himself as, took them on a brief tour of the village, as he knew that they must have come seeking shelter and knew that there were some empty houses, as they lost their smith not even a week ago, so his place was open for someone to take, along with a plot of land nearby, which no one was planning on using right now. He also showed them to a house that had room for two people to sleep and work in, with space for additional storage, while pointing out a tower on the outskirts of the village, a decent sized structure that he and the other Villagers were confused about, as they had no idea what to do with it. There was even a river dividing the village in half, or at least it would if more had been built on the other side, but the Village Elder had no idea why the Builders did it this way, leaving the tower on one side and the rest of the village on this side, so if someone wanted to connect the two places they would have to build a bridge. The Elder also told them that each of the empty structures had a bed in them, so no one needed to worry about such a thing, though most of their sheep had gone missing recently, so making new beds was impossible for the time being, causing Steve and Alex to think about it for a time.
When they returned to the main part of the village, and they knew which houses were not available to them, Pinkie walked over to where the smithy was located as Octavia stayed with their new companions, no doubt to find a bed to rest since it was getting dark out. She found that it was rather small and that there wasn't much room inside it, hence why she was glad that there was more room available, though there was a bed and a chest, so she closed the door and looked inside the chest, finding a few bits of iron, some brown material she didn't recognize, and a book. She found that the tome was called Materials and You and that it was Volume One out of who knew how many, though when she opened it she found that it talked about the various tools that one used in making everything from tools to weapons, possibly armor if her thoughts were right, and all of it interested her. She was sure that Octavia would figure out how to help Steve and Alex in their quest, but she had to admit that making the smithy detailed in this Volume, and likely the other books that were in the set, would allow her to better improve herself and boost their ability to face whatever this world threw at them.
Pinkie smiled for a moment as she climbed onto the bed and continued her research, thankful that there was a light in the small house, as she had a feeling that she would be at this for a while before getting some well deserved sleep so she could face whatever tomorrow held for all of them.