Chapter 5 - Miner's Delight
Equestria; Ponyville, Town Hall; Late Afternoon
Twilight who was followed by Applejack and Rainbow headed to town hall, at some point the others managed to catch up with the trio and they all went together. Approaching the build located center of town, they entered inside, only to find a kerfuffle happening.
Mayor Mare was in the middle of talking to her assistant, an annoyed look on her face, she faced away from her assistant when she spotted Twilight and company. Approaching Celestia’s student, she sighed and smoothed her mane and coat, smiling back toward Twilight.
“Hello Miss Sparkle, is there something I can help you?” asked Mare.
“Oh, well, what was that all about with your assistant mayor?”
“Ah yes… that, you see a certain pony just came back to town and is back to causing a ruckus as usual. When I just got wind he was just here while I was in the middle of a meeting, I was of course upset that I couldn’t stop his antics once more.”
This surprised Twilight, apparently the mayor knew who this stallion in question was, deciding to get the point, Twilight spoke up.
“Mayor, we here because this pony was seen gathering a mob to negatively impact our newest resident Steve. What exactly was he planning to do by getting the townsfolk to dislike Steve?”
“Well… its not Steve he wants out.” Now this peaked the girls curiosity, deciding to explain things, Mare coughed, straightening her tie.
You see, back when I was the secretary of the previous mayor, that same stallion has always come to town to cause a ruckus, no matter how minor it is. My predecessor made it clear to make sure this stallion leaves the premises or at the very least watch his movements, this pony belongs to a lineage of nobles who have some sort of vendetta against the town of Ponyville and its inhabitants.
For as long as I can remember his family has been trying to buy the land which Ponyville stands on, to what reason I and my predecessor have no clue. I would do something, but because he’s nobility and his deep connections, any attempts to arrest or charge him will result a lawsuit the size of a mansion – it would be both a waste of money and time to get him through the law system.
Other than that, he and his family has been trying to find ways to get the townsfolk to leave the town, turning this place into a ghost town… sadly, there are some individuals who will not budge regardless. Other than the Apple family considering Ponyville as their family’s birthplace, the Rich Family share the same thoughts as the Apples, that and their own connections allow them to keep a strong grasp on the town. There’s also the fact Ponyville is home to several heroines… would be difficult to buy or evict an entire town’s citizens when one of said citizens is the princess’s student.
Twilight was shocked, she’s been living in town for a good while and this has been happening behind her back, heck she could see the absolute shock on Applejack’s face, meaning even she didn’t knew about this.
“Mayor Mare, is it possible that we can look through the town archives, maybe there’s something we can find to give us clues to what exactly this noble family is trying to gain from buying Ponyville and what caused this vendetta in the first place?”
“Go ahead, I been trying to sift through those archives, but with trying to manage town finances and day-to-day problems, I never got the chance to. While you’re there, could maybe organize the archives, your organizational skills would be a blessing,” said Mare, pleadingly.
Smiling giddily, Twilight nodded. “I’d be honored!”
Soon the girls headed off to the archives, hoping to search for some evidence or something about this noble family in question. Approaching the doors to archives the group began to think what exactly they’ll find in the archives.
“Great, we’re going to sift through piles of papers, this is going to be boooring!”
“Oh come now Rainbow dear, how bad can it be?” Opening the doors, an avalanche of papers nearly drowned Rarity as she quickly took a step back.
Twilight’s eye twitched at seeing the sheer disorder and chaos of the documents in piles and splayed out on each other. Quiet mumbling could be heard from the bookish mare, feeling another migraine coming up from the number of absurd and crazy events that happened in the past few days.
“As I said before, boring,” said Rainbow, grumbling.
Equestria; Ponyville, Golden Oaks Library; Late Afternoon
Before Steve headed off to go mining he spent a good hour, reading the books he gathered, specifically he was looking through the book on maps to see if he can find anything that might help. However just as he guessed, the maps didn’t show anything remotely recent or familiar; one page of the book showed an area of the Everfree and blank piece of land where Ponyville would be now.
Well this is troubling, how am I to know where I can find a rich area to mine some iron and other metals?
Thinking to himself, Steve put the book away into his chest, contemplating his next move. Usually he wander some random direction dig down or into a mountain and hollow the thing of all its available, coal, iron, gold, and other stuff.
Steve couldn’t do that with him being in familiar territory and he didn’t want to dig a hole in the middle of town. I can imagine me digging up and appear in somebody’s home or worse.
Deciding this situation required additional help, since he had no idea where Twilight is, he decided to go to the next closest person, Spike.
Heading upstairs to the upper room, Steve realized he’s never been up here before and if he should be allowed up here. Thinking for a bit Steve decided that he didn’t worry, as he just need to ask for some help, he won’t touch anything in Twilight’s room.
Once he reach the door to upstairs, he opened it to find Spike awake reading a comic book, which he swiftly put down to see who opened the door.
“Oh hey Steve, need something?”
“Yeah, but weren’t you resting earlier?”
“I was, but I didn’t get as tired as I thought, anyway what you’re here for?”
Steve explained to Spike he needed help to find somewhere he could mine for materials, Twilight mentioned he went with Rarity to somewhere to look for gems and thought he would show him where it is. Spike looked thoughtful for moment then nodded, quickly getting up and putting his comic away.
“Sure, I was actually thinking of getting some more gems for myself, and maybe get some for Rarity,” said Spike, getting a dreamy-look near the end of his sentence.
After quickly gathering a bag and what appeared to be a miner’s helmet, Spike headed off with Steve following behind him. The two left the library, passed town hall, crossed a bridge heading west, then followed path until they reached a flat area devoid of grass and dirt, just bare stone. During their walk they talked about each other, interests, and some other things, until finally arriving at their destination.
Looking up at the sky, the sun was still up but was nearing sundown any second, Steve looked to Spike, then the sky once more.
“Thanks for bringing me here, but looks like its getting dark. You should head back, I remember the path now so you don’t need to come with me.”
“Nah, I think I’ll join you, don’t know how long Twilight will take to investigate that pony, but if its Twilight it’ll be awhile, that and I got some extra sleep when Twilight told me we were going to the Everfree. Let’s go!”
Nodding Steve pulled out his pickaxe and began to mine downwards, creating a three-by-one space. As Spike followed he remembered something he should mention to Steve before they continue any further.
“Oh I almost forgot, there’s a local pack of Diamond Dogs, you should be careful around this area, we dealt with that, but I don’t want to get in any trouble or walk into their territory, okay,” said Spike.
“Gotcha! Also, while I’m mining, could you place these torches as we go down, no need to worry about spacing, just do it when it gets too dark.”
Spike nodded, while he could see perfectly in the dark, Spike knew Steve would have trouble seeing, handing Spike his torches, something interesting happened. While Steve can stack items in his inventory – in-hand and off-hand – he wonder what would happen to giving a stack of items to somebody who doesn’t have his abilities… well the result was not good.
The moment Steve handed what appeared to be one torch, suddenly dozens of torches sprung up, nearly flooring Spike back. Quickly gathering his torches with one wave of hand, Steve rethought his decision.
“I think you should hold onto sixteen for now, keep the rest in your backpack, luckily they don’t appear to be lit until you hold them firmly and place them on a surface. Welp, let’s get back to digging,” said Steve, returning to mining.
Spike nodded, placing the remaining torches and holding the one, which lit up with a blaze, following Steve, placing a torch on the wall to his left every several meters down. The two followed this pattern for awhile until Spike needed more torches, heading deeper and deeper into the ground.
Equestria; Ponyville, Town Hall; Evening
For the last six hours, they spent six hours sifting through document after document, first it was document from the a few years back, then a decade, then two decades, then nearly two centuries. Even though their main goal was to find any clues about this noble family, Twilight was too frustrated about how unorganized the town archives to focus on that one thing.
“WHY IS SOMETHING FROM TWO DECADES AGO IS IN THE CABINET FROM FIVE DECADES AGO!? HOW COME BOTH THESE DOCUMENTS HAVE NO DATE, DOESN’T ANYPONY DATE THEIR DOCUMENTS!?” screamed Twilight, pulling her mane.
“Twilight, calm down, we can worry about all that later, right now we need to figure out which noble is trying to buy Ponyville. I ain’t letting some no good varmint take away my home,” said Applejack, ruffling through more papers.
Continuing their search, they steadily began making a dent, until they found something. Fluttershy began to sift through some papers, when she came upon an interesting folder going back nearly five years after Ponyville was founded.
“Um girls… I think I found something,” said Fluttershy, meekly.
Even though her voice was quiet, Fluttershy managed to get their attention – well she prodded Rainbow, who got everypony to listen. “HEY FLUTTERS FOUND SOMETHING!”
Thanking her friend, Fluttershy handed the folder to Twilight, who opened it, looking inside, she gasped at the contents inside.
“What what, did you find something Twi?” asked Pinkie, hopping.
“Oh I found something indeed, apparently, this document states that Ponyville was never meant for the Apple family.”
“What hogwash are you saying Twi, my family was personally hoofed that land by Celestia herself to my great-grandpappy and great-grandma?”
Twilight placed the documents within the folder on a thankfully cleared table, showing everypony what she read.
So to summarize, the land was meant to be given as a reward to a lord for his deeds at the time, apparently he stopped an incursion of beasts that came from Everfree from spreading too far. Its unclear what happened, but in short, the land couldn’t be given due to some complications, it was only two months later that the lord had enough resources to fully accept the land… however it was too late.
Seeing how the land that was meant to be given to him wasn’t being immediately accepted, Celestia decided to give the land to those who need it immediately. In that moment, Applejack’s great-grandfather, arrived to Canterlot with his family when they met Princess Celestia. Seeing their current situation, Celestia gave them the land which would later become Ponyville.
When the lord found out, well he was obviously furious, at the time the southern parts of Equestria weren’t fully explored so Appleloosa, Dodge Junction, and Las Pegasus weren’t a thing yet. There’s also evidence that the land around and below Ponyville is rich in gems, rich soil, plenty of forests, and plenty of land, perfect to create a settlement.
Another interesting thing is that this lord and his family are known to collect artifacts way back when Celestia and Luna ruled together. My guess is that he wanted that land so desperately because its the closest location to the Castle of Two Sisters.
There’s been rumors that this particular noble family has been summoning creatures from other worlds… though the evidence is very slim. It says here they tried to steal or ruin Granny Smith’s Zap Apple Jam, but they failed.
“How come this hasn’t went straight to the princesses yet?” asked Rarity. “To think a noble from Canterlot would go so low to do this.”
“Well there’s many variables, but at the time Ponyville has become what it is now yet, imagine trying to bring this kind of evidence a lord who has resources, connections, and the might to back it up. I don’t think Granny Smith or her family would have a chance against that kind of power.”
Applejack frowned but nodded in agreement, even today her family still has financial issues and gathering enough apples. Going against a lord who can swiftly end her family was not a good image to think of.
“I need to bring this forth to the princesses, they need to know something this serious is happening behind their backs, within one of their older noble families no less,” said Twilight.
“Hey, Twi… does it mention which noble family is responsible for this?” asked Applejack, curious.
Looking through the documents, Twilight found the name of the lord who was to receive this land originally.
“Somepony by the name of Lord Crimson Blade from the Nebula noble-line, they’re a unicorn noble family dating way back from pre-Equestria, back when the three tribes split apart. Their known for creating military tactics and spells for the unicorn tribe, until all three tribes united, they went into obscurity. They’re the few families that have connections from pre-Equestria to become nobles, but out of all these families they been the most seclusive… Maybe the princesses might know something about them and help with this situation.”
The girls nod, seeing how late it is they decide to call it a day and head back home. While Twilight is heading back home, she has a bad feeling about what she’s learned today, especially that a very ancient noble-line is doing something as shady as just for some land.
Unless… its not the land their after… then what are they after then?
Equestria; Outskirts of Ponyville; Evening
Spike wasn’t certain how long they were underground, at some point Steve found a natural cave system, which the two began exploring, with Spike holding a torch while Steve mined… if there was anything he could mine.
Steve found some small clusters of coal veins, but no iron whatsoever, the two did encounter a ton of gems of various color and size, but none of them peaked Steve’s attention. While searching, they found something that deeply interested but annoyed Steve.
Staring at the massive clusters of gold, emeralds, lapis lazuli, and diamonds is a dream come true… if it weren’t for the fact, there was not a single inkling of iron to be seen for him to use and mine all these glorious goodies.
Steve sat down in defeat staring at the glorious jewels of the underground, sighing to himself. Spike on the other hand, grabbed and dug whatever jewels he could with ease, until seeing how dejected he is.
“Hey Steve, what’s wrong?” asked Spike.
“Well you see, I’m able to make certain tools based off what material I used, my stone pickaxe can easily dig through stone and gather coal and iron, but metals like gold, diamond, and emeralds… require an iron pickaxe… Now imagine I find a whole cluster of these rare materials… but not a lick of iron anywhere for me to use and smelt!”
Spike could somewhat understand what Steve was talking about, the closest analogy he could think of for himself is if a comic book store had all the known comics in the world, but not the one he needs the most… or something like that.
Seeing how upset Steve is, Spike decides to help him out, without Steve noticing, Spike approaches the cluster of diamonds, chipping away the stone until he grabs a handful of the shiny blue rocks. Turning to face Steve, he hands them to Steve outstretched hand, for a short time nothing happens, but realization comes to his eyes as he stares at the diamonds now in his hands.
“How…”
“We dragons can dig through anything and eat gems like candy, digging out a few diamonds isn’t much a problem for me, how about I’ll handle the digging and you mine us a way through, deal.”
Spike smiled, but noticed Steve was silent, too silent, looking up at Steve, his focus was only on the diamonds – the three pieces of diamond that Spike just gave him. “Um, Steve, you alright?”
Like wind, Steve stood up and immediately ran to the crafting table he made earlier while he was back at the library. Grabbing some left over wood to make some sticks, Steve began to create one of the greatest tools to use when mining or collecting obsidian.
Spike watched in awe as Steve raised his newest tool – a diamond pickaxe. Turning around with a grin, he faced the once impossible to collect cluster of rare materials with a feral smile.
“Oh thank you Spike, now then… LET’S GET MINING!”
Steve raised his pickaxe, then lowering it down once more.
Several intense mining moments later…
Steve had dug so much that he had to make a second diamond pickaxe, but it was all worth it.
Twelve stacks of gold ore, six stacks of diamonds, eight stacks of lapis lazuli, and three stacks of emeralds. There’s also the stack and half of coal I got and some of these other gems I found, don’t know what use they’ll have though.
Both Steve and Spike returned to the hole that’ll lead up, Steve blocked the cave system with some cobblestone, until he placed down the crating table he made before and two chests to store all the things he mined.
Since Steve couldn’t carry everything with him, he only took two stacks of gold ore, three stacks of diamonds, two stacks of lapis lazuli, one stack of emeralds, all the coal he dug, and the various gems he also dug alongside the other things he was digging.
“There, hopefully this stuff will still be here once I come back here a later date. Thanks for helping me Spike,” said Steve.
“I really did nothing, all I did was show where to go, no biggie,” said Spike.
“Oh come now, if it weren’t for you I’d be unable to dig all that stuff. How about you take some of things I dug, what you want?”
Spike was going to say no but he been staring at those emeralds, as emerald were his favorite to eat out all the gems. Seeing this too, Steve reached down and counted how much to give Spike, he decided on sixteen as Steve was feeling generous. Handing the gems to a surprised Spike, he looked up at the Crafter who only smiled in turn.
“Th-Thanks Steve!”
“No problem, now let’s head back before Twilight worries about your whereabouts.”
With that said and done, the two began to climb out, once they reached the top, Steve covered the entrance to his mining tunnel with some cobblestone. It was dark now with the moon high above, luckily the moon was at its peak so the light of the moon was enough for both dragon and Crafter to see perfectly.
Heading back to town, the two soon approached the library, seeing the lights on inside. “Uh oh, Twilight’s home, she’s not going to be happy you let me go with you this late at night.”
“I’ll take the blame, no need for her to get upset at you when I asked for your help.”
Steve is the first to enter, followed by Spike, a worried Twilight sees the two and quickly rushes up to Spike with a hug. “SPIKE! Where we you, do you have any idea how late it is!? When I came back, I didn’t find you or Steve inside?”
“I can explain…”
Steve explained how he asked Spike where he could find some metal to mine and showed him the place he and Rarity go to find gems. Spike helped him get some gems and other things, as the two quickly lost track of time, that it isn’t Spike’s fault and should had waited later to go mining rather than do it when it was getting dark, especially someone as young as Spike coming along with him.
“While I’m glad nothing happened, please don’t do that again, at the very least you should had left a note,” said Twilight, calming down.
Spike chuckled regretting not doing that earlier, after that, Twilight tells the two what she’s been doing and sent a scroll to Princesses Celestia and Luna. At that moment, Spike belches out a scroll which Twilight quickly catches and reads, the scroll says that both princesses will come visit tomorrow to speak in further detail about the incident that happened this afternoon.
With all the things the trio did today, they all decided to head to bed, all of them saying a good night, with Spike and Twilight heading upstairs while Steve went downstairs.
After making another chest to increase his chest’s storage capacity, he put away his new items, until he examined the gems he’s unfamiliar with – the rubies, amethysts, sapphires, and pearls. After some carefully thought, he puts those items away and began to make two additional furnaces alongside the one he built already.
No rest for me I suppose, going spend my night smelting this gold for future use.
Steve watched as the furnaces chugged away smelting the gold ore with the coal he mined, pulling out some apples he got from the kitchen, he bit into the sweet juicy apples.
This is going to be a long night.
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Hey just got done reading the chapters so far keep it up ain't that many minecraft stories so it's good to see one I like what your doing with the story
gg no re
I’ll be waiting
MOAR
10839015
This relates to a hidden aspect about Steve before he came to Equestria, which will be explained later further in the story.
10839233
Please continue the story.
nice story, cant wait to read more. :D
11162205
I really like that idea
It’s been 2 years what’s the word?
where he get the pearls?
11772357
He mined them with the other gems and ores, they’re normal pearls not ender pearls
Aww shucks i was starting to like this story
BTW a stone pickaxe can mine lapis interestingly enough, find that out one day