//------------------------------// // Answers and Allies // Story: In a Far Away Land // by TheReaderAndWriter //------------------------------// Of course, having spent more than a decade in a world of things you could recognize at a glance, Twilight Sparkle was quite surprised by the chilly corridors of the underground fortress. Stone blocks, with cracks as well as what could only be described as moss covering them, were visible everywhere. Every single path Pinkie Pie led them through was lit by a path of torches, though Twilight took note that some halls were completely covered in the threatening darkness. "What is this place? Did you make this? How?" asked Twilight to Pinkie Pie, who seemed quite unconcerned with the risk of monsters appearing. "Oh, I didn't make anything like this. I think it has always been here. Finding it sure was a surprise!" said Pinkie Pie. Twilight wasn't sure how to respond. Another mystery. Of course. "Oh, we go in here," said Pinkie Pie, turning left, right into yet another tunnel. Before long they both went down another set of stairs, leading them further down in the dark depths. "Just up ahead, Twilight," said Pinkie Pie. "What is there?" asked Twilight, glancing behind them. "I don't know, so let's find out together," said Pinkie Pie. Within a few moments, the two ponies entered a small room that seemed to present a type of altar. It was brightly lit with torches. A few stairs led them up to the small altar, and Twilight saw yet another odd phenomenon. At first she had thought it was a painting of a dark starry sky, but coming closer she realized it was more like an illusion. Several blocks, flat as carpets, gave a very strong impression of depth. Looking at it felt strange, like everything drew her into it, her eyes, body, mind, everything was being tugged. "No point in standing around, come on!" said Pinkie Pie. Holding her breath, she leaped right down into the blackness like it was a pool. The mare disappeared into nothingness. Had it been any other pony doing something so rash about such a strange thing in such a ominous place, Twilight would have panicked and shrieked in worry, but this was Pinkie Pie. Strange and reckless was her strenght. "Screw it. I've gotten this far," said Twilight rolling her eyes. She walked up to the very edge of what she hoped was a harmless portal, closed her eyes, and took the first step. Twilight wouldn't have described it as traumatic, but the experience was horrible if short-lived. For a short moment she had felt nothing, been no one, just being a bunch of facts that comprised her. She was a pony, an Alicorn, a princess, from Equestria, she was intelligent, but all these facts had meant nothing. Through less than nothing, she had been stretched out, thinner than a string of silk, suddenly becoming aware again of complete darkness surrounding her. Suddenly, something appeared right in front of her: a creature with terrifying white eyes. The beast reached for her, but not before something else grabbed hold from the side and pulled harder than ever. Then, she felt the need to breathe return, and then her sense of touch. With a sudden jerk, she felt herself becoming whole again and landing on something hard. It had reminded her, very much, of the first time the ponies of Ponyville had entered their new home. While the place Twilight was in certainly wasn't Ponyville, the differences between what she saw and the darkness she had been in moments prior weren't significant. Her eyes had some issues adjusting to the strangeness of everything around her. Stretching out before her and a dazed Pinkie Pie, a large amount of white cubes, feeling like stone to the touch, seemed to create some sort of plateau, in a sea of nothingness. Large pillars, almost too hard to make out against the dark sky, or rather the lack thereof, rose up high; Twilight recognized them as being made from obsidian. "Where... where are we?" asked Twilight. "This is The End, Twilight Sparkle. We are lucky you managed to get here. The monster almost, almost got you," said a voice. Twilight and Pinkie Pie looked around themselves, but there was nothing except that familiar voice, sounding clearer and more natural than it ever had before. "Ender? Is that you? Where are you?" asked Twilight. "Close your eyes, both of you," said the voice. They did, and once they opened them, Twilight saw hundreds of Enderponies around them, everyone staring intently at the two ponies, however none attacked. A few teleported away, opening up the hoard of creatures to allow a single one to enter, the one with the green eyes: Ender. Ender, turning his head to the other Enderponies, made a strange gurgling sound, which promptly teleported the others away. "What... what did you do?" asked Twilight Sparkle. "I just said it was alright, and that they could leave us alone to talk," said Ender, walking past Twilight and Pinkie Pie. While a bit hesitant, Twilight eventually followed the Enderpony, seeing one walk for such a long stretch was a rare thing to see. "Are we safe here?" asked Twilight. "I would think so. It's possible this place is the only one that is safe at all, at least for you, with me here to protect you. We don't have much time to talk, I fear Herobrine has finally decided to make the last strike. I need to take you to see someone else, I need you to see her," said Ender. "Herobrine... so that's its name. Her? Wait... do you mean... you can't mean... Fluttershy?" asked Twilight. Having met Pinkie Pie had been more than she could have hoped for, but still, if Pinkie Pie was alive... "No, I'm talking about someone much more important in all of this," said Ender, right as Twilight noticed they were walking towards something odd, like a fountain, or monument comprised of the only stone no pony had ever managed to break: bedrock. The Enderpony sat down next to the fountain, on what could have been described as a simple throne built in the same white stone they walked upon. Twilight had never seen an Enderpony sit down, and certainly not trying to look relaxed. "You're really chatty, Ender. Way more than usual," said Pinkie Pie. "It is easier in this realm, here in The End," said Ender. "Why am I here?" asked Twilight. "I don't really, truly, know. I've only heard a few details been whispered to me, from her," said Ender, turning his head to the right to look upon a strange artifact, like the closest their odd universe would get to a sphere. "I just know it is very important that you are here," said Ender. "Who... what?" asked Twilight. "Give her a moment, and she will be ready to talk to you. For now, we have a few minutes to talk, just, just give me a moment. This will not be pleasant," said Ender. Seeing an Enderpony take a deep breath, or just a breath, was strange, the maw opening up too much, the breathing sounding more like a hiss. Bracing himself, Ender closed his eyes, and then started to shake violently. The darkness receded away from the center of the chest, allowing color to return, and the form shrank. After ten seconds, a part of the dark nature of the Enderpony had vanished to be replaced with something more familiar. With bright fur being visible from the center of the chest, fading to the purple black of the still long legs, the creature sat upon the throne looking at Twilight with familiar blue eyes. A long flowing mane had grown, ranging from pink at the base and fading to black at the tips. Twilight wasn't sure what to think, but while worried, she couldn't deny that a part of herself felt pure relief seeing another old friend. It wasn't Ender. It was Fluttershy. With dark and yellow fur, looking leaner than usual, Fluttershy looked at Twilight and Pinkie Pie. "I've waited a long time to say hello here, my friends," she said. Her voice was still so strange and threatening, but Twilight heard just a hint of Fluttershy in it. "Hello, Fluttershy," said Twilight. Having cried enough already, she managed to keep herself from shedding a single tear. All she could do was giving a warm smile. Sure, the circumstances were odd, worrying, unfathomable, but at least her friend was here with them. "What happened to you?" asked Twilight. "I landed upon an island, smaller than this throne and even more empty. The ocean stretched out far and wide, and I was all alone, my wings didn't work. I waited, cried, starved. A rainfall saved me from dying of thirst, but I had no hope of surviving. The sun was scorching, the water too deep. Then, one night, when I was sure I was going to die, an Enderpony appeared. I gave it a look, and it wanted to harm me. They despise to be seen, as you know. But, even when it tried to kill me, I never stopped trying to be nice. I backed away, into the ocean, and the creature followed. Water burns more than the sun, and I managed to help it out. It became interested in me, and took me with it... somehow, all the way here," said Fluttershy, looking around them. "Wish I had popcorn for this. I love backstories," said Pinkie Pie. "Then what happened?" asked Twilight. "They didn't really know me, or what I was, or how to care for me. But, they did like me, and they kept me here for years, at times getting me food and water. And this place... it does things to you. I... I started to change. At times I jumped to places in the blink of an eye, then I grew, and thinking became hard. For a while, I was just one of them, but then I got back my focus. I learned how to talk to the others here, and I made myself the leader of them. Then, thanks to something I found, I learned how to enter your... realm. What I found was her, my friend, who has tried to talk to me," said Fluttershy, looking up at the strange object on the monument next to her. "She is ready now, I wish we could just talk, Twilight, but this is important. She needs you, a princess, an Alicorn. Touch it, Twilight, and you will learn everything." "Are you alright, Fluttershy?" asked Twilight. "Yes, and no. I wish I was still a real pony, but that doesn't matter anymore. I've kept an eye on you, trying to keep you safe. I get it now that in the end I didn't accomplish as much as I wanted to," said Fluttershy, a hint of regret could be heard. "I'm so sorry, if I had known, it was you, it was you all along. I would have felt more grateful, not so suspicious of you, I'm just so sorry. I just yelled at you to leave me alone, and you just wanted to help and protect me. I'm so sorr-" "Twilight, we don't have time to wait. Please, you have to touch it," said Fluttershy. "Alright. I will, for you," said Twilight as she walked closer to the strange object. "You've been with me so long, helping me, and if it had been any other pony, I wouldn't have done this. Heck, for all I know, it could just be a lie to manipulate me... but you mean so much to me. This is another risk I'm going to have to take, but for you I will gladly do it," said Twilight, spreading her wings before she flew up to the small tower, to reach the black block on the top. There was no hesitation as she reached out to touch the object, and as she felt the rough texture a blinding light started to shine in the darkness. Forced to close her eyes, Twilight could hear faint cracks, each louder than the last, until everything went silent again. The light vanished. Before Twilight's eyes had a chance to recover fully, she saw the blurred shape of a pony jumping down from the pedestal and onto the stone ground. "Hi, Twilight Sparkle," said a calm female voice. Blinking a few times, Twilight was able to focus on the pony in front of her. The stranger was shorter than herself, with a purple body and a slightly darker shade in her mane. Her smile was comforting, and filled with a sense of relief. "Who are you?" asked Twilight. "My name is Minny Miner, and I'm going to tell you the whole story," said the unicorn mare. *** Spike finally got the strength to rise up from his bed, and did so with a pained grunt. Nopony was awake to notice him leaving, not that he would have noticed as his eyes were focused exclusively on the shining pillar visible through the window. He took the first few steps. *** "Minny Miner? But, I thought you were dead, for a long time," said Twilight. "Stuck here for a long time is more like it. Oh, and please, call me Minny," said Minny. "How, how do you know my name? Where are we? What's going on?" "Easy, Princess Twilight," said Minny. "I'll tell you everything. To answer your first question, I've actually been able to see and hear everything through your eyes and ears." Twilight was dumbstruck. "What?! You've been spying on me?" "Sorry, I didn't really have a choice. I was in, like, a trance or something, like a sleep, and kept seeing things through you since you came here, because you're an Alicorn. It's nice to be up and run around again. I haven't used my legs in literally over ten thousand years. Without you I couldn't have gotten free." "What?" "Okay, I guess I... hm, how should I tell this? I'll start from the very beginning, how I got here. We can wait with the questions until I'm done, right?" "I, I suppose, but, why am I here?" asked Twilight. "I'm supposed to give you something, but I'll get to that part later. For now I'll just tell you why we're here, or where here is, to be exact," said Minny. She gestured with her horn, and to Twilight shock it was surrounded by a magical aura. Two soft woolen blocks appeared next to Twilight and Pinkie Pie, makeshift chairs. "Please, sit down," said Minny, but Twilight was to awestruck by the sight. "Magic, actual magic. I've waited so long to see it again... Finally," said Twilight, shedding a tear of nostalgia and melancholy. "How did you do that? Please, teach me!" "Hang on, story first, getting your magic back second, for now you should sit and listen, because of important stuff, and stuff," said Minny. Basically nothing could have made Twilight sit down in her current situation, except for the prospect of reclaiming her ability to do magic. "Okay, it begins in, well, I guess this have to be in a land way before Equestria, because I've never heard of it since before you got here, but whatever. A long time ago, really long, the entirety of your world was in one of the biggest troubles ever. I've heard of this Discord fellow, but this must have been so much worse, because everypony and everything were sure we were going to just die, right? So, a really powerful Alicorn, the mother of your Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, I think, or maybe those two are way older than you thought, I'm not sure, as I've never seen them, realizes that it might not end well for everyone, right? So, she gets basically every single thing that can do powerful magic and gets them to create a made up nothingness of a universe. This universe is all empty and dark and stuff, but she thinks, 'Hey, let's make a new home there'. If they can just do the right stuff, then they can make a new planet to live on if things go really sour, but she can only send a few. That's where me and my friend come in." "Wait, that doesn't make sense. You're thousands of years old? You seem to be just a normal pony, like us," said Twilight. "Ssh, I'm trying to listen," said Pinkie Pie. "I'll get to that. So, anyway, we weren't really special, but some of us were pretty creative, or at least patient. I'm not sure why we were picked, to be honest, but we were. Now, she basically tells us that time works differently between the universes. A few hundred years here is a really short time back in your world. We are sort of given absolute and total control of this realm, almost like gods, and has to make something that can last and is nice to live in, and we have a really long time to do so. But... there is a problem. Creating an entire world is really, really hard work. We might have the power of a god, but have you tried creating a universe from scratch? Physics, math, chemistry, gravity, life, light, it's really hard work. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get an atom right? We didn't even know this stuff from the beginning. We spent at least five hundred years in total nothingness before we managed to figure out how to actually think enough to exist again! Wow, that was hard. So, anyway, because the job is important we, with a bit of advice from back home, at least figure out how to make ourselves immortal and stop aging until the job is done. Now, we need to actually make the universe, or at least a planet, from scratch, so we can make it whole and put it back in your real universe. However, once we get to basic matter, we realize that creating something that looks natural, and works, quickly enough isn't going to work, so we decide to get clever. We create a mathematical formula, making math like that when we didn't know any from the beginning was tricky, but we had an eternity to work on it, so we did. Anyway, this mathematical formula isn't really perfect yet, but we make a simpler version, and use that to create a beginner world, the same world you built Haven in. Now we at least have good-enough place to work further in... but then, things start to go really wrong..." *** I'm going to beat that freak, I'm going to destroy that thing. It can't be much further, just keep going, Spike, the young dragon thought as he hurried through the forest. *** "What do you mean with 'wrong'?" asked Twilight. "Well, because we didn't realize how dangerous it was to actually create a physical space where things could be formed where we couldn't see it. We could create and destroy thing by just thinking about them, but we didn't take into account our subconscious," said Minny. "Explain, please, Minny," said Twilight. "Our anger, and fear, and how we missed our family and friends, every dark feeling we all bottled up... creating things from nothing in this place usually takes a lot of tries, millions and millions of wrong ways to make something and a right way to, and our subconscious, making random tiny changes and errors, eventually just started to accidentally shape something on its own. At first, it was things like our nightmares coming true, a few spiders, skeletons, zombies, and then our fear if we failed turned into what you called Enderponies, they don't like how you look at them, because that's what we thought everypony would be like if we returned and did a poor job... But, these things were just aggressive, not really evil... but Herobrine was. He was everything bad in us taking a form. We managed to figure out how to keep ourselves from creating more monsters, and we were in the middle of making sure nothing new would appear in the darkness, but then he came in out of nowhere. He tried to steal our ability to shape the world as we saw fit, and he almost did it, but we all managed to make those abilities stop working, including the ones he had taken, mostly. The thing was that we only had two more things to do left when he attacked. We had to finish the new mathematical formula. We were so close to perfecting and then making it finish the job for us," said Minny. "So what happened?" asked Twilight. "Well, we did manage to perfect it while we were on the run from him, but we had no way to really use it. All we could do was to, over a thousand years, create as many copies of it as we could and hide it in coded books and teach it to the villagers we had made beforehand. Herobrine either tried to find the books and destroy them, or exterminate the villagers completely," said Minny. "Why?" asked Twilight. "Because Herobrine isn't supposed to exist. This world isn't really whole, Twilight, once the mathematical formula defines it fully, it won't be that much different from your own Equestria. This world isn't perfect. Every odd thing in it, from weird physics, to how you can't truly die, is just an error we forgot to fix on our own or that we didn't have time to figure out in a good way. Herobrine is an error, and the formula will make this world perfect, a world where errors can't exist, just like the real one. He will vanish and become nothing again. He won't sit by and let that happen, and he will kill everyone and everything to get his way." "I, I think I understand. The codexes are just a bunch of random bits of your formula, but what are those tomes?" "Well, that was in hindsight a mistake, I guess," said Minny. "Since we were, at our core, just a bunch of normal ponies, and a few griffins, that were sort of locked into eternal youth and life until we decided the job was done, but our memory wasn't perfect. We decided to create a library of quick and easy ways to affect the world, basically shortcuts to our own abilities, to make it a little easier to see what worked and what didn't. Once Herobrine showed up, and we had to make the powers stop working because he would have used them to kill us with a few thoughts, we destroyed as many books as we could. We had to keep a few, those that were the most useful if used right and helped us in our fight against him, or made the formula work, but we were forced to leave some behind as we kept running from him. We hid them whenever possible, destroyed those too powerful, and hoped they could become useful some day in the future. We should never have made them. Basically, I've told you everything about how this all started," said Minny. Feeling a bit light-headed, Twilight was glad she sat down. "Wow, this is all, this is all a little much to take in." "Do you have any questions?" asked Minny. "Why were you in that block?" asked Twilight. "Well, basically, I tried to enter this place because I thought that, since it's sort of close to the void, I could help my trapped friends from here, but there was this monster, another from our nightmares, that I had to fight. Well, I won, but I had almost died, and I needed to find a way to heal. I got really desperate, and had to use the last of my magic to seal myself. It was a good plan... except that there wasn't really any other way for the magic to be stopped except by an Alicorn. Either that or losing to Herobrine. Anything else?" asked Minny. "What's your favorite color?" asked Pinkie Pie. "Orange," said Minny. "How... how did we get here?" asked Twilight. "That was Herobrine's fault. He created the object that brought you into this world." "Why?" asked Twilight. "Honestly? I don't know. Maybe he got bored and needed some victims? I wouldn't put it past that monster," said Minny, looking off to the side with a disgusted look. "Wait, how? How did he make it, or even send it to us?" "Well, I did say how we took away his and our power, but that wasn't the whole truth. You see, we did this little oversight, not thinking about the void. You see, it's basically like a heap of trash, a separate dimension we created here where we tossed all our failed attempts in case we needed to take another look at them. When we decided to remove all abilities, we forgot about the void, but he didn't. The moment the powers were gone, he took his own life. When you 'die' in this place, because of yet another error, you pass through the void before coming back. He took that fraction of a second and suddenly made the void his home. His powers there were absolute, and he made it impossible for us to use them there. In the void Herobrine is nothing short of a god, his thought become reality there. If someone dies, he can keep them there for as long as he wants, changing them however he wishes, both their body and the mind. He can leave, but isn't that powerful outside of it," said Minny. "Body and mind? Oh- oh Celestia, that means..." "Sorry, but everyone you have ever known that has died is under his control. If we can make the formula happen, they will be set free." "This means Rainbow Dash, and Applejack has... Oh Celestia! Are you saying that Rainbow Dash has been brainwashed by the enemy for years and nopony ever even noticed?!" asked Twilight, wishing for it all to be a bad joke. "Totally. I'm sorry, but there's hope. There's always hope," said Minny. "But she had a foal with Soarin, was that just an act she was forced to put on? What if they are aware of it, and have to see everything and can't do anything about it! Oh Celestia, this is bad, this is really, really bad. This is seriously dangerous. How can he even do impossible things here? He cut a block, he appeared in the middle of the ocean! We're not in the void," said Twilight. "He got the ability to cut a block from a tome, probably. I'm afraid he might have found a way to teleport as well. That's quite a scary thought, because Herobrine is like the opposite of the rest of us. I can see and hear through your eyes because you are of royal blood, like the one who gave us these powers, but he can see and hear through the eyes of everyone else except you. Basically, he could appear anywhere there is someone else. At least his body is pretty weak in a real fight," said Minny. "He can appear here?" asked Twilight. "Not on the island. When I was left alone, the rest of my friends trapped in the void, I ran to this island. You see, at a certain point when we had to deal with random monsters appearing, there was another error, and they appeared in the hundreds every minute. We found an island and created that beacon, that powerful object. Even when it isn't lit, it destroys anything made from our subconscious that is close to the island, including Herobrine. He won't really die, but he will be forced back into the void and appear somewhere else. As long as the beacon is up, we're safe here." *** Just a little further, just a little further, Spike thought, his feet aching. *** "What do we do now? Why am I here?" asked Twilight. "Basically, the formula has been perfected, and now we just need something powerful and intelligent to make it work," said Minny. "I will transfer it from my memory and into you, so you can then stand on the beacon and unleash it." "And... then what?" "Then... well, we'll come to that when we come to it. Let's just say that you and your friends will get to go back home," said Minny. "Home... I've almost forgotten what that's like," said Fluttershy. For the first time in forever, Twilight felt a real sense of progress. Her goal, her dream of returning everyone back home, to make amends over her action with the cube that brought them all to their new world... it was finally within reach. Against all the confusion and surprises, she was able to give a little smile "But, wait, I don't get something. What about Swift Digger?" asked Twilight. "He is another victim of Herobrine, obviously. He did tell you the made up rule of dying multiple times. You can't die here, no matter how many times it happens. He could have gotten control over everypony by just never telling you that fake rule, claiming that dying wouldn't do anything bad to you, but I think he just really likes toying with you," said Minny. "Yeah, but, something doesn't make any sense. I mean, Swift Digger has been with me plenty of times, helped me. If he's under Herobrine's spell, then why has he been so nice?" asked Twilight. "It makes a lot of sense to me. Herobrine has used my old friend to fool you into helping him. I mean, how many of our formula's copies have you gathered in one place for him to burn? With every tome that is found and deciphered, Herobrine gets another skill. While I don't have any doubts that you can beat him, especially once I've given you your magic, he has still become pretty dangerous. For every pony he has gotten control over, he will be harder to fight." "But... I don't get it. Why would Herobrine first try to kill me, then use ponies to help me with the travel here, then use other ponies to attack me? Only to then make Swift Digger die again to encourage me to keep going?" "I honestly don't know. That note that you found that had my name on it? I didn't write that. Herobrine did. In fact, I got the idea of making your friend Fluttershy try to make Pinkie Pie find it and light it because of that note." "Wait, what?" "Oh, yeah, sorry, I'm actually really, really bad at plans and strategies... Like, seriously bad. I can do a bit of magic and builds some pretty neat stuff, but that's it. To be fair, I was in a sort of trance and it was hard to come up with ideas, but still. I'm not exactly a great strategist. Though, I still can't figure out why he would do any of that. I mean, he can't come near this place while the beacon is here, neither can any of his ponies," said Minny. Twilight couldn't understand it, but whatever it was had to be vitally important. Looking at the bright stone ground, she pondered and muttered to herself. What was the reason? "He can't come here... he can't come here and neither can his ponies... but my ponies can." With wide eyes, she looked up at Minny. "How do we get out of here? I think the beacon is in danger!" "What?! Are you- Quick, remember these words I'm about to say," said Minny. "Why?" "Because it will give you your magic back." *** Spike, still dripping with cold water, had brought out a simple wooden pickaxe that he had used on the strange crystal-like block. Without so much as a sound the block had shrunk down like any other, and the light had vanished. He had looked at the little block, but refused to even touch it. Like any other item it slowly began to degrade, until it finally faded into nothingness. "Finally," said Spike. "Couldn't have said it better myself," said a horrifying voice right next to the dragon's ear. Spike had reacted immediately, brought out a simple stone sword, turned around and blocked the incoming shimmering diamond blade. Pushing back the creature with great force before leaping backwards, away from the threat, Spike looked at his enemy, first noticing his bright empty eyes. It didn't take long for Spike to realize he had made a terrible mistake, especially with that grin. "You tricked me! This is exactly what you wanted!" "Twilight Sparkle might have been a serious threat, but let's face it, you're still as predictable and easy to guide as a baby," said the voice while overflowing with a disgusting mocking tone. "I'll get you for this," said Spike, holding his blade with an utmost steady claw. "I'll start with those ugly eyes," he growled. "I'm going to cut you into pieces," said the monster. "I'll begin with your tail, then I'll rip your legs off. I'm going to make you eat your own claws, and when you're weeping through the pain and blood and realization that I destroyed you, then I'll cut your head off... Afterwards, I'm going to stitch you back together in the void and do it all over again," said the monster. Spike tried to shake off the nagging voice in the back of his head that told him that the freak in front of him was telling the absolute truth. "Spike!" Twilight's voice yelled out. Spike turned his head to the right, where he spotted Twilight, Pinkie Pie and a stranger run up from beneath the ground. "Twilight! Don't worry, I've got this!" said Spike, refocusing on his opponent. "No, Spike," said Twilight, giving the monster some very mean looks. "I've got this," she said, as a magical aura enveloped her horn. "Hey, Twilight," said Herobrine. "Did you know that the heavy thunderstorms are things I made happen? Imagine, the mayor, Big Macintosh, and many more would still be alive if it wasn't for me." "I know they are actually alive, Herobrine," said Twilight. "I know everything." "I know that," said the monster, giving another grin. "But here's something I bet you didn't actually know. I haven't been behind the scenes, I've been right up in your face. My name is Herobrine, but you've called me something else for a long time now. It probably won't come as a big surprise, but..." his appearance changed to something a bit more familiar, without the glowing eyes. He had turned into something a bit more normal, if just for a moment. Twilight didn't let her focus drop as Herobrine spoke the truth: "I have controlled him more than you think. I've outright possessed him from the start. Are you really going to try to hurt me, Twilight? Me, Swift Digger? Aren't we pals?" "No," said Twilight, keeping her anger bottled up, until she unleashed it in a storm of harmful magic directed towards the beast. She wouldn't sit by and let him get away with anything.