Protocol
Magic could be described in more ways than one. Energy, a force, power, talent, but Twilight had only really one word to use for it: a tool. The inert talent Twilight had constantly tried to master was nothing but a tool to be used and perfected in the use of its craft. Never before had she used it with outright lethal intent, and the result would have frightened her, if she hadn't been so very angry.
All Herobrine could do against Twilight was to dodge her flurry of focused beams, destroying anything they touched.
"I thought he couldn't deal with light!" said Spike, looking up towards the sun shining down on them through the massive opening.
"Another lie. Typical," said Minny. "Keep it up, Twilight!"
"I intend to!" yelled Twilight, never taking her eyes of the monster. Herobrine ran as quickly as he could around them. While his speed was considerable, the only reason Twilight hadn't hit him was that she was rusty.
"I'm only running because I hate the pain. You can't hurt me with just some magic," said Herobrine. "I'll come back, again and again!" He jumped behind a few blocks of sand, that Twilight swiftly incinerated.
Herobrine had vanished behind the dune.
"Minny Miner, what happened?!" asked Twilight.
"Oh, he's teleported somewhere!" Minny answered.
"Keep your eyes open, he might be close, waiting to stab someone in the back!" said Twilight. "Minny, how does his teleportation powers actually work? I need to know to better fight him!"
"Right! He can teleport wherever anyone who isn't you and me are looking. I'm sure he can't literally appear right in front of anyone, maybe if they blink," said Minny.
"Watch out!" yelled Spike, pointing behind her. Herobrine had appeared running up the stairs, his sword ready to kill Minny. Twilight was already expecting it, hitting him right in his chest before he could even touch the mare. Herobrine fell backwards, clutching his chest as he hit the ground with a loud thud.
"And there's the pain," he said, gasping and grunting through the agony.
"Quick reflexes," said Spike.
"Sweet! Now, with the formula I put it in your brain while I gave you the magic, we just have to use the..." That was the moment she realized the beacon had disappeared. Simply looking at Minny's face made Twilight feel her incredible sense of loss.
"What happened to the... Spike, did you do that?" asked Twilight.
"I, at first I thought that thing didn't want us to. He tricked me! Why is it even important?" asked Spike.
. "Because that's how we were supposed to defeat this monster, Herobrine, and get back home. Minny, there's another way, right?" asked Twilight.
"No, I don't think there is. I can't, I can't even think of anything," said Minny. "I... I think we lost."
A clank was heard, and Twilight turned to see Spike barely able to stand up. His sword lied on the ground, and his knees hit the stone beneath him as he almost collapsed.
"I did it. I screwed everyone over. We're going to be here forever," said Spike, having difficulty breathing properly.
Herobrine, on the other hoof, was just giving out horrible shrieks for laughter. "Until you die of old age, at which point you'll be forced to fight your offspring, who will eventually die and fight their offspring. If everypony knew what I could do, then within two generations, if you're lucky, those under my command will be able to crush your side with numbers alone," said Herobrine. "I won. I finally won."
Suddenly, Fluttershy, as a full Enderpony, appeared right above Herobrine and stomped on his face, crushing it like a watermelon. He flashed red, and the vanished.
"He'll be back, right? Keep your eyes open for him," said Twilight.
"A few seconds at best," said Minny.
"What the hell?! Why is that thing here?!" asked Spike, pointing at the Enderpony.
"Right, introductions. Spike, this is Fluttershy, also known as Ender. She's part Enderpony now," said Pinkie Pie, gesturing towards Fluttershy who walked towards Spike. "Personally, I think she's a bit odd," Pinkie whispered to him.
"Time changes us all," said Twilight, right before Fluttershy leaned down and gently hugged Spike in a surprisingly emotional embrace from an Enderpony.
"Not as much as you'd think," said Pinkie Pie.
"DIE!" yelled a voice. Twilight, already ready, focused her magic upwards and managed to hold Herobrine still in the middle of the air. His blade was just a few inches away from Minny's forehead.
"You might as well stop trying," said Twilight.
"Keep doing this all you want, Twilight Sparkle. Eventually, you will have to rest. I'll pick you off one by one. I have nothing but time, and you have so little," said Herobrine, giving her a twisted smirk. "Tick tock goes the clock."
"I'll clean yours if you don't shut up!" threatened Spike, picking up the sword.
"We'll sleep in shifts. So, Herobrine, you're going to tell us everything we want to know," said Twilight.
"Or what else? You're going to torture me? Is that really what an esteemed leader would do?" he asked in a mocking tone.
"A good leader would do anything to save her followers. Besides, at this point, causing you pain isn't that far from justice," said Twilight.
"Ask Minny Miner if you want information. You better hurry up, before I cut out her tongue," said Herobrine.
"Yes, we get it, you're evil! Seriously, you don't have to hammer home the point anymore," said Spike.
"Why can't he see things from my perspective, if that's true?" asked Twilight.
"Well, because since you're an Alicorn princess. Basically, the Alicorn-thing isn't even that important when I think about it. As long as you're royalty, you're sort of automatically grouped in the same sort of class as me and the rest of my group. We are simply allowed to do that little extra bit more. Nothing but our group can learn magic, for instance. It also makes it impossible for him to spy using the two of us. We can only do it with each other, and I don't really like doing it," said Minny.
"Even I have limitations. I can't spy through my own minions," said Herobrine.
"Why did you tell us that?" asked Spike.
"Because I needed to stall just that little extra bit," said Herobrine.
Suddenly, several ponies with dark eyes sprung from the water around them. Spike slashed the closest one reflexively.
"His minions can teleport too!?" yelled Spike.
"No, I think these are survivors from the Punishment ship!" yelled Twilight. She lost her focus on Herobrine as she had to blast the attackers, at least half a dozen, with magical beams, but something hit her head and she fell. Lying for just a second, she managed to regain composure, but a large pony was already holding her down. It had suddenly begun to rain, forcing Fluttershy to get away from them or die. Minny Miner was had managed to avoid capture.
"Use your magic and they all die," said Herobrine to Twilight, holding Pinkie Pie with a steady grip, his blade close to her neck.
"What's the point of you holding us hostage? What good would that do for you?" asked Pinkie Pie. "I mean, you've acted really odd, you know that?" she said.
"I have things I want to achieve, shut up, fool," said Herobrine to Pinkie Pie before turning his attention to his minions. "Kill Minny Miner, quickly!" said Herobrine. Minny had jumped into the water and was swimming away from her pursuers.
"Get your hooves off our friends!" yelled two other voices at the same time. Twilight turned her head slightly, and saw two silhouettes further away, up on the giant cavern wall, looking down on them. One of the ponies placed a torch, illuminating them.
It was Scootaloo and Trickery.
"You're alive!?" yelled Herobrine in what Twilight realized was his first time sounding surprised.
"You bet we are, you freak!" yelled Scootaloo.
"Damn, I suppose at least a few of you could have managed to survive. Typical that there would be a few stragglers," said Herobrine, keeping both them and Twilight in his sight.
"Who are you calling a few?" asked Trickery. At that moment, at least three dozen blocks in the stone wall, all around them, started to break down. Within seconds Twilight, with relief and joy, looked upon so many shimmering cool blue eyes the the darkness. "We left with 51 changelings, and you managed to kill 19. Now it's our turn," said Trickery. A wonderful sound of proud and aggressive buzzing filled the cave.
Herobrine was clearly overwhelmed the way he gawked and scowled in disappointment, which was the perfect opportunity for Twilight to use something she hadn't used in a long time.
With immense concentration, having to do math she hadn't touched in years, she calculated exactly where one, two, three, four different creatures would appear. A quick burst of energy, and she, Spike, Pinkie Pie and Minny Miner were all standing by the cavern wall, close to Trickery and Scootaloo.
"Attack, my children!" ordered Twilight, gesturing towards the measly few attackers below. Her conviction really got the swarm going, and without missing a beat all of them swooped down towards Herobrine and his group.
***
"So everyone but him has to appear back at the Temple of Return?" asked Twilight to Minny Miner. Herobrine was surrounded.
"Yeah, that's right," said Minny.
"This is nothing but a minor setback, Twilight Sparkle. Your little cavalry only succeeded in saving you because I decided to not kill you right away. I'm still going to come out on top of this. I will still win," said Herobrine.
Pinkie Pie bounced "There you go again, acting all weird. First you said you won, then you say you still had to win."
"That's not what I meant," said Herobrine, sounding annoyed, and Twilight had to admit she enjoyed that monster being humbled.
"Then why did you try to attack Minny?" asked Pinkie Pie.
Herobrine looked up at her. "What does that have to do with anything, fool?"
"Yeah, I mean, you knew the beacon was destroyed, and you were fighting Twilight, who I think is the most powerful thing in the entire world right now... Why did you suddenly just attack Minny? I mean, nopony was looking up. You could have dropped down right on top of Twilight. Swing, and then Twilight is yours to control, right? But when you had the chance, you just went straight for Minny... and then you specifically wanted your henchguys to kill her."
"I fail to see your point, fool," said Herobrine.
"Wait, Pinkie, you're right. Why would he try to get Minny Miner first?" asked Twilight.
"I don't know. At this point you would be the only thing that could threaten him. Why did he?" asked Minny.
"Because... because you probably know another way to get the formula to work. Doesn't she?" asked Twilight, directly to Herobrine. There was a slight pause.
"No, but I'm aware that you're going to think so whether I deny or support that foolish idea."
"What is it? Tell us!" said Twilight.
Herobrine started to laugh in that sickening piercing way again, and he looked up at Twilight. "I said before, you only won because of your little cavalry. I was basically all alone out here. I think I'm going to go back to Haven, and start... recruiting. Let's see how well your filthy little... spawn, do against an army of over a thousand ponies," said Herobrine. "When I said they would be lucky if they survived two generations, I did mention that would be if they knew from the start. They don't know anything right now, and you don't have a ship to take you home. I have plenty of time, I can go door to door, and nopony would suspect a thing."
"We won't take our eyes of you, you won't even be able to teleport away from here. You'll stay put while we figure out how to use the formula," said Twilight with great ferocity.
Herobrine smirked. "Princess Twilight Sparkle, you have learned so much during your time here, but here's a lesson you should always keep in mind:"
Suddenly, another pony with black eyes fell down from above, driving a sword right between Herobrine's eyes. On the very verge of dying, they still managed to focus on her as his dying words managed to escape his mouth through blood, spit and chocking. "Always have an ace up your sleeve." The final, but definitely not lasting, state his body was in as he vanished was horrible to see.
His minion had not managed to outlast him, thanks to Spike.
For at least ten seconds there was a stunned silence, but eventually Twilight managed to get her thoughts together.
"Come on, everypony. We need to regroup. Pinkie, lead us to your town," said Twilight.
***
Keeping their eyes open as they journey through the thick forest, ready for another strike by their enemy, Spike turned to Twilight.
"Twilight... I'm sorry, I didn't mean... I'm just so sorry," said Spike.
"Spike, there has to be a way back. This was just a setback. We will win this. Please, just keep going forward. It was a mistake, that's it," said Twilight.
"Are we safe from him, Twilight?" asked Scootaloo.
Minny Miner looked up towards the sky, where several changelings were flying around keeping watch. "With so many eyes, I don't think Herobrine will manage to surprise us out here anymore," said Minny and looked around. "He can still come up from behind a tree if he's lucky, but overall I think we're safe. He's not more than decent in a fight. It's how he can keep coming that's the problem. Nothing keeps him from popping up out of nowhere behind a single pony. We are stronger together."
"Speaking of popping up out of nowhere. Scootaloo, how in the world did you survive the storm?" asked Spike.
"That was because of Twilight's established protocol," said Trickery.
Spike turned to Twilight. "What was it, exactly?"
"Basically," said Twilight. "Changelings are terrible swimmers, but they can hold their breath very well, longer than a pony can. In the event of falling overboard without a chance of being saved, every changeling was asked to simply sink as quickly as they could until they hit the bottom of the ocean and-"
"I can't even dive that deep," said Spike.
Twilight didn't let the interruption hold her for long. "When they hit the ocean floor, they would dig down and try to find a cave. Afterwards, they will either have to wait for assistance, or keep mining in the direction of the beacon."
Trickery nodded. "Fortunately, there was some blocks of air trapped in the pieces we sank down with, so we had time to find a cave."
"It took a while, but we managed to get here," said Scootaloo. "Now the question is... how do we get back and warn the others?"
"We will discuss that once we're all gathered. I hope Shining Armor and the others are alright," said Twilight, spotting Pinkie Pie's town in the distance between the trees.
***
Having gathered everypony in the largest most spacious building on the island, a large circus tent made out of red and yellow woolen blocks. While about ten changelings were keeping watch outside, the rest of every single ally on the island had gathered inside. Shining Armor had recovered, as well as the little changeling. Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Applebloom had given each other a big hug. Rarity had looked absolutely relieved, as well as having terrible bed hair.
Twilight had gotten up on a podium to speak, and had made sure to update everyone on what had happened. After everything that had happened, it was time for ideas and thoughts. "Everyone, before we think of a way to get home, I think it's important that I share some theories about this Herobrine we are going to be facing."
"Princess! Our brothers, sisters and friends could all be on their way to the void as we speak! We need to hurry home!" said a random changeling.
"I know, but if we rush into this fight without thinking, then everything could be catastrophic. Firstly, I need to share what Herobrine can do. He can bring back and control the dead, without us even knowing. Seemingly at will, he can change the weather to whatever he wants. He can make his sword cut anything. He is probably able to see and hear everything we are doing right now, therefore we will have to find a creative way to discuss strategies. I noticed something interesting during our latest encounter, however. Remember how he was outright surprised to have seen you all? This points to him not being omniscient, it seems he have to actually know where somepony is to look through them," said Twilight.
"Why does this matter?" asked Applebloom.
"Because this means he has flaws we can use against him," said Spike. "Imagine that there are two ponies, pony A and pony B. Herobrine sees pony A and can look through her. If pony A sees pony B, then Herobrine can look through pony B. If we can hide pony B, he doesn't know where that pony is," said Spike.
"Oh, oh! Oh!" shouted Minny Miner with sudden enthusiasm, pointing towards Spike. "I just think I realized why Herobrine pretended he was weak against light, and why he didn't see that cool pony and these 'changelings' coming!"
Twilight had noticed that as well. "I admit I've had to think about that for the past hour. Why did he act like light hurt him? Unless... of course! Because if ponies literally can't see anything at all..."
"Then Herobrine loses track of them!" said Spike.
***
Herobrine was... "Shit! I hate her so much!" ...less than amused.
***
"But, what about blinking?" asked Pinkie Pie.
Spike seemed contemplative before he spoke. "Well, at least a little light comes through, and maybe you need to be in the dark for a while before he loses you?"
"Well, at least we know a potential weakness. We can act in secrecy again! Now we need to test it out in a safe and controlled environment, at one time or another," said Twilight.
"I noticed how Herobrine was surprised that some hadn't died. Isn't he in charge of the void? Wouldn't he be able to tell?" asked Spike.
"Well," said Minny. "I think he knows what is going on in the void when he focuses on it, and I know for a fact that he has changed the void to keep anyone that enters from exiting. Whenever somepony has come back, that's just him faking how it's supposed to go."
"But, what about ponies that died in Promise Peak? I heard their bodies didn't vanish and were mummified," said Spike.
"Oh, that was definitely a trick to make you unsure, to mess with your heads," said Minny. "As I've said, it's impossible to truly die here until the job is done. I didn't say it wasn't possible to, well, rot. I'm pretty sure they will vanish soon enough, when Herobrine needs some extra hooves"
"Onto the next point, right?" asked Spike, seemingly a little uncomfortable. "How do we get back to Haven?"
"Before that I would like to ask Minny something," said Twilight.
Minny turned to her. "Aha?"
"Are you sure there is absolutely no other way to get the formula working?"
"If there is, I don't know about it. We would need something really powerful to get it to work. At least something like the beacon," said Minny.
"Can't we just use Twilight's magic? She can do incredible things," said Spike.
"From what I've heard, she doesn't even have a tenth of what would be needed," said Minny contemplatively. "Don't get me wrong, it's really impressive, but we would need a lot, a lot more than that."
"Wait, we could use the-" but before Rarity could finish her sentence, Spike had covered her mouth.
"Rarity, he's still listening in, remember?" asked Spike.
"Hm, we'll have to try to sever the connection, and even then I think anyone with ideas will have to tell me, and Minny, while we try to cover your ears," said Twilight.
***
Diligent work to ensure Herobrine would lose track of everyone in their group began almost immediately. While the theory had been, at most, a guess, Twilight got the distinct impression that it would work when she tried the same idea with Minny.
"So, how did it go?" Twilight asked as she had stepped out of a dark room.
"After about half a minute, my picture of you got really blurry. A few seconds later I just lost track of you completely! This seems to work great!" said Minny.
"Wait, if this applies to you too, then why didn't you or your old friends ever figure this out yourself?" asked Scootaloo.
"We never really used it much, it invaded everypony's privacy," said Minny.
"Well, I don't get the impression Herobrine cares much for the privacy of other ponies," said Rarity.
Minny gave Rarity a serious look. "He's not a pony, Rarity," she said. "Ponies don't hurt and lie to everyone around them."
Twilight felt a sting of guilt, but she had to focus on their mission. "Alright, everyone, we'll begin with organizing this effort to blind Herobrine right away! Time is of the essence!"
***
As just a single glance from someone who had not managed to avoid Herobrine's glance could ruin everything, Twilight made sure to build a simple but safe system to make sure everypony would be kept in the literal dark long enough without accidentally see someone they weren't supposed to afterwards. They repeated the simple process a few extra times just to be sure, and once everything had fallen into place the sun had already set.
On their way deeper into Pinkie Pie's town, Twilight approached Rarity as the large group walked on the empty streets.
"Rarity, you had an idea earlier. What was it?" asked Twilight, weary after the most stressful day in years.
"I just thought, that if we needed a lot of power for this strange formula you mentioned, couldn't we use the lightning rod back in Haven?"
"That was just Herobrine tricking us into thinking we are safe. It doesn't actually work," said Twilight.
"Or he was just screwing with you," said Spike. "He tends to do that."
"Oh dear. To think we've lived with that maniac in our midst for over a decade, thinking we would be safe from the storms. I shudder to think what he could be doing to everypony back in Haven, and everywhere else for that matter," said Rarity.
"We'll stop him. There has to be a way," said Scootaloo.
"I hope so. If there is, we'll find it. We've come too far to just quit," said Twilight.
"Speaking of far, Princess, have you thought about a way to get back to the mainland?" asked Trickery.
"I've thought about it, and for a while I was terrified we would just have to dig our way back-"
"That would take weeks!" said Spike.
"Maybe even months, depending on how we can handle supplies. It would also be incredibly dangerous," said Shining Armor.
"Yes, but, there is one possibility. We make another ship," said Twilight.
"But I thought we couldn't-"
"I know we can't build a ship the way we did the Eternal Crimson, but I think I might be able to make one with my real magic instead."
"Do you think that would work?" asked Rarity.
"It's worth a try. You should all rest, and I'll stay up to see what I can come up with," said Twilight.
"Do you need any help?" asked Spike.
"You've all helped me so much already, but I honestly think this is something I'll should do myself. I can't risk getting distracted when I experiment with my magic. Sometimes I just work better on my own, and this is just one of those times. All of you, get some rest. It's been a very long day and you've all earned a bit of sleep."
***
With her powers returned to her, Twilight couldn't help but to feel the entire world around her, while still dangerous, had been transformed into a sandbox, or playpen. Touching every block was as easy as a thought, and she felt a great sense of ease and accomplishment being able to move blocks directly from their rigid positions and snapping them into place somewhere else. There had been plenty she had been terrible at in the world of cubes. Making food, clothes, farming, building, creating, and at times leading, but magic, this, was something she could do.
Dozens of large blocks flew around all at once, often being taken directly from nearby trees to aid in the construction. Using Intent through her magic was just as natural as through her own body. She was still in town, among hundreds of torches lighting up what could only have been an area specifically made to cut down trees. If Pinkie Pie had made it, or one of the strange villagers, Twilight could not say.
"Hi, Twilight Sparkle, do you mind if I stick around a bit?" asked Minny Miner.
Twilight turned around and gave her a quick glance, seeing Spike had come with her, before returning to her little experiments. "Sure."
"Twilight, I'm sorry for what I did," said Spike.
"It's alright, Spike. We all make mistakes," said Twilight.
"Hey, Twilight, if... if you didn't believe we could still win, would you be... mad at me?" asked Spike.
"Spike... I don't know. I don't think so. I'm still just happy you're alright," said Twilight.
"How is it going with the ship?" asked Minny.
"I think it might work, and I'm pretty sure I can make it stick the right way. I should be able to make the basics of how to make a ship with my magic by morning, but it's going to take a lot of effort to make a real, actual ship. Hey, Pinkie Pie, do you have any wool in stock?" asked Twilight.
Minny looked around. "But, Pinkie isn't-"
"Give it a second," said Spike.
"But-"
"No no, hang on," said Spike.
Suddenly, Pinkie Pie jumped down from a tree and landed right in front of Twilight. "I don't have a lot of wool, but I suppose I can maybe, maybe, just maybe use the wool from my circus tent. It better be an emergency," said Pinkie Pie. "Is it an emergency?"
"Pretty much. I hope that tent has enough wool, I think it does," said Twilight.
"Okey dokey. Oh, and if you run out of wool, I have about 12,000 sheep that hasn't been shorn-"
"Sheared," said Twilight.
"Sheared in years!"
Twilight took a deep breath. Today had been so very tiring, so very long, but she feared it was only the beginning, she assumed as much. "Alright. First thing in the morning we're going to start to gather enough supplies as we also start to build our new ship. Food for the trip, armor, swords, bows and arrows. Golden apples. Every little bit will help. All we want to do is to warn everypony of Herobrine... but there is a real chance we could be too late. We might have to go on the offensive. We aren't just preparing for the journey back home. We are preparing for war."
End of Part Three
To be concluded in Part Four
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Whoa. Just... Whoa.
Yay update
Shit gets real
Shit Just Got Real
i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/552/697/c70.jpg
Looks like the next storm is going to be a shitstorm.
... But I guess shit doesn't exist in the world of Minecraft.
Shit's about to hit the fan.
And not just one of those little tiny fans, but like, a huge tank of shit hitting an industiral sized jet fan from one of those wind tunnels.
can't they just put the beacon back?
*Looks at the criminals and pony villains*
Uh. Yeahjustgonnaleavethishere.