EquestriaCraft, Part 4

>The sudden explosion caused you to flinch so hard that it sent you face-first into the rocky cavern wall directly in front of you.
>Huddled against the wall, you look out, scanning the open cave that you had been exploring with Rainbow Dash and Anonymous.
>The explosion echoes away, through the various caverns exiting this opening, eventually fading in the distance.
>Eyes wide, body still shaking from the unexpected blast, you scan the area some more, looking for your two companions.
>"Twilight!" Rainbow shouts as you spot her zooming in toward you, "You okay?"
>She sounds just as frightened as you are, frantically looking around the cavern as well as she hovers above you.
"Y-yeah, I think so. What was that? Where's Anonymous?"
>"I don't see hi- wait..."
>Having spotted something, Rainbow Dash carefully flies down to an area that's grabbed her attention. You cautiously follow her, constantly checking your sides out of paranoia.
>"What the-"
>Shifting your attention back to what Rainbow was looking at, you notice a small crater in the floor of the cave, right near where you last saw Anonymous.
>Scattered around the ground in and around the hole were all of his tools, weapons, and even various piles of dirt, rock, even coal and iron ore.
>"It's all of his stuff," Rainbow states in a light, worried tone, "What the heck happened?"
>It certainly did look like every single item in his little bag was sitting here on the ground, tossed aside as if he had just vanished from the world.
>And that's not an easy thought, because there was absolutely no sign of Anonymous around.
>It's at this time that you hear something whizz past you, right beside your head, allowing your ears to pick it up very well.
>An instant later, you hear whatever that thing was hit the ground.
>Turning your head to look, you notice an arrow sticking into the ground.
>An arrow? That's probably not good.
>"Twi, look out!"

>Your attention snaps to Rainbow, who's staring down a dark corridor nearby, one you haven't explored yet.
>Within the darkness, you spot the silhouette of a bipedal figure, similar to Anonymous, but much skinnier.
>In fact, it's almost like you can see its skeletal structure.
>Wait a minute...
>Before you can take a decent enough look at it, you spot a projectile launch from it, heading straight for you.
>You're lucky that Rainbow Dash noticed it and was able to warn you so you could dodge to the side, allowing the arrow to pass by.
"What is that thing!?" you ask after the little scream you made when the arrow came flying at you.
>"I don't know, but it doesn't want us here, we gotta leave!"
"But what about Anonymous?"
>"I don't know, I can't see him anywhere. But what I do know is that this is probably a monster from Anon's world, so we need to leave, right now!"
>Before you have any chance to protest, Rainbow grabs you and begins to head back up the lit path where you came from.
>Not that you would really protest it anyway, but if Anon is still down here, you don't want to just leave him behind.
>On the other hand, you don't really want to go face-to-face with a foe you've never encountered before, and that you can hardly see at that.
>Honestly, you could just cast a magelight spell and pummel it with magic, but there's no telling if that would be effective or not.
>If you find Anonymous-
>No, when you find him. There is no if, he can't be dead! There's not a single trace of him left behind, so he's got to be around somewhere!
>So once you do find him again, you'll have to ask him about the monsters he knows about, and if this might be one of them.
>After all, if you're going to be running into them like this, you're going to want to know how they work and how to deal with them.

-=- PoV Anonymous -=-

>Daylight.
>It's the first thing you're greeted with once your eyes open up.
>Surrounding you is nothing but grasslands, small hills and various trees scattered around, mountains and rivers in the distance.
>It looks familiar. After all, it's the same spot you appeared in when you first got here.
>Scanning around, you spot the same hill you traversed before, which led you to the pony village.
>There was something else you noticed though, something that gave you a rather uneasy feeling.
>Standing still under a nearby tree was a skeleton archer.
>It was exactly like the ones from your worlds, but thankfully it was too far away to shoot at you.
>And since you don't have any gear, it's probably not a good idea to go and attack it.
>Speaking of gear, the only thing you need to do right now is head back into that cave and collect your stuff.
>Oh, and to make sure those two ponies are okay. Yeah, that's probably pretty important too.
>You may be able to take one for the team without much loss, but who knows about them. It's likely that if they die, they're done for, and that's not something you want to risk.
>Without wasting more time, you sprint toward your little house, avoiding the village as best you can.
>The moment you enter your home, you grab a stick and a couple blocks of cobblestone from your chest.
>Placing them onto your crafting table, you produce a stone sword.
>Considering the fact that skeletons and creepers are in this world now, you might just need this to get to your pile of items down below.
>With your new sword in-hand and at the ready, you turn around to begin your next trip under ground.
>Before you even take a step however, Twilight and Rainbow Dash emerge from your makeshift passage.
>They're both panicked, out of breath, and they don't seem to notice you yet.

"Oh hey-" you start, only to be answered by them both screaming as they swiftly turn their attention to you, "Uh, sorry- Glad you were both able to make it out of there okay though!"
>"Y-you're alive!?" Twilight stutters.
>"What happened Anon?" Rainbow asks, "We thought you might have been killed or something! What was that blast?"
"That was a creeper, pretty much the worst thing to ever exist. And I was killed, but there's no time for this right now, I need to go get my stuff."
>"You can't go back down there, it's dangerous!" Twilight shouts, "We were attacked on our way back up too!"
>"What do you mean you were killed!?" Rainbow adds.
"I'll explain later- wait, you were attacked? By what?"
>"I- I don't know, we didn't get a good look at it. But it stood on two legs, like you, and I think I could see its skeletal structure. And it was shooting arrows at us!"
"Hmm, yeah that's a skeleton archer. They can be a bit annoying. Why don't you two stay here for now, I need to go back down and get my stuff, then I'll be right back up."
>"But Anon-" Twilight begins before you cut her off.
"No buts! Fighting these things is like second-nature to me, don't worry. Just don't follow me."
>Before you give them any more chances to say anything, you begin hopping down the diagonal tunnel you made and eventually into the cave system.
>Of course you were relieved that those two were unharmed, but you had to make haste back into the cave before your items vanish into the void. Or whatever the hell actually happens to them.
>You encounter no resistance as you progress through the well-lit caves and into the opening where you recently met your demise.
>Taking a careful look around, you don't see any monsters anywhere, so you continue on into the open cavern toward your destination.
>Going around a corner and down a few steps, you see the blocky crater in the place you were mining, and within it, all of your items and tools.

>You decide to take another full-circle look around, just to make sure another creeper doesn't decide to come say hi.
>With an apparent all-clear, you gather all of your scattered goods and begin your short journey back up and out of this place.
>Once you come back into your home, you check your bag to make sure everything is there, and do a little re-organizing while you're at it.
>"So did you get it all?" Twilight asks.
"Looks like it," you respond, still making sure everything is accounted for.
>Thankfully, you don't find anything missing.
>Once you're done re-sorting your inventory, you notice Twilight writing on another scroll.
"So uh, what are ya writin' there Twilight?"
>"A letter to Princess Celestia," she starts, without turning her attention from her writing, "I was going to hold off until I knew more about you, but now that monsters from your world are showing up, we may have a bit of a problem."
>Did she say Princess? They have a Princess? That's... interesting. Hopefully she's nice.
"Princess huh?"
>"Yeah, Princess Celestia rules over all of Equestria!" Rainbow happily exclaims, "She's pretty cool."
"Pretty cool?"
>"Well, okay, more than pretty cool, second only to me!" she boasts proudly, "And maybe Spitfire," she adds, followed by a short pause, "Aaand maybe the rest of the Wonderbolts," she continues, looking away at nothing in-particular, probably trying to think of who else she can add to the list.
>Twilight pauses her writing and stares at Rainbow with a lifted eye-brow, and a 'you can't be serious' look on her face.
>Rainbow eventually shifts her wandering gaze to Twilight and notices that.
>"I'm gonna tell Celestia you said that," Twilight says in a slightly mocking manner to Rainbow, causing her to panic.
>"Wha- N-no, don't! Okay, she's cooler than everypony, even both me and Spitfire!"
>Twilight continues to stare at Rainbow, retaining the same expression.

>"And the Wonderbolts!" Rainbow adds, still panicked.
>"That's better," Twilight responds, smiling and resuming her writing.
>Rainbow Dash breathes a sigh of relief. You can't help but chuckle a little over their exchange. Maybe this Princess of theirs doesn't like it when her subjects think so highly of themselves.
>Anyway, it's time to think of what you're next move is going to be.
>Let's see, you have a sufficient amount of stone, coal, iron... You did just die though, and having to start over from the fields outside of town isn't exactly what you'd call convenient.
>So that settles it. You need a bed!
"So hey, do either of you know where I could get a bed? Or maybe just some wool so I can make one?"
>Both Twilight and Rainbow give you a really confused look.
>"Anonymous, please don't tell me you can actually make an entire bed out of that- that... box thing." Twilight asks, seemingly afraid of your answer.
"You mean the crafting table? Yeah, I can make a bed." Twilight smashes a hoof into her face. "I just need some wood and wool, and I already have the wood. If you have any sheep around, I can easily sheer a couple of them, no harm done."
>"Sheep?" Rainbow asks, placing a hoof under her chin in thought for a moment, "You might have to go out the other side of Ponyville, but there's a sheep herder out there that might let ya do it."
>"I don't know Rainbow, I'm not sure I want all of Ponyville to suddenly see Anonymous walking around, especially if he's going to be asking ponies for things like that, they might get a little freaked out."
>"Twilight, I bet every pony in Ponyville is wondering what's going on here, I mean do you really think nopony has seen this blocky house, or us going in and out of it? Ponies are gonna start asking questions and spreading rumors, let's just get it over with."

>"Hmm, you're probably right. But I'm still not sure anypony will just let some strange new creature sheer their sheep, or anything like that, even with our support."
>"It's worth a shot isn't it? Oh wait, Applejack has a full spare bedroom in her house, I bet we could easily convincer her to let Anon sleep there if he needs to!"
>Sleep in another house? That's not really what you had in mind.
"Uh, thanks but no thanks, I'd rather just sleep here. But if she's not using that bed, maybe she'll let me barrow it for a night or two?"
>"Barrow a bed?" Rainbow asks, trying not to laugh, "Are you serious Anon?"
"Um... yes? It's pretty easy for me to move things around if you haven't noticed. Do you remember how I took apart those trees and just put the wood into this little bag here?"
>Twilight stares blankly at you.
>"So you can just take an entire bed and confine it to that little bag?"
"Wouldn't be the first time."
>Twilight rolls her eyes and shakes her head in disbelief.
>"I'm gonna have a stroke before I'm done with you," she jokes. "Alright then, let's go pay Applejack a visit."
>And so began the walk through this town they called Ponyville. It was nice finally getting a decent look at everything.
>Naturally, the resident ponies were going out of their way to get a good look at you. Not many of them seemed really frightened, but that may be due to the fact that you have two other ponies walking along with you.
>As friendly and welcoming as these two ponies have been, you're honestly a little surprised no others have come up and said anything.
>There is one such pony that is about to make up for all of them though.
>"Oh boy-" you hear Rainbow Dash say under her breath.
>Before you get any chance to react, you spot a pink pony in front of her, joyfully bouncing up and down like a jack russell fucking terrier.
>She has a light pink coat, and slightly more saturated pink, yet really poofy mane and tail.

>"Hiya Dashie!" she happily greets Rainbow Dash. Dashie must be a nickname for her. Cute.
>Before 'Dashie' has a chance to respond, the pink pony turns her head and looks at you. Her giant blue eyes widen, taking in the sight of something she had likely never seen before.
>She didn't seem frightened though, oh no. She was still bouncing, following along with your walking pace.
>"Ooooh, who are you? What are you? You don't look like a pony to me, are you Twilight and Dashie's new friend?" she's apparently begun a round of twenty questions, and you can barely keep up.
>"Pinky!" Twilight interrupts, noticeably annoyed, "Yes, this is our new friend-"
>"New friend!? And when were you planning on introducing me!?" the pink pony shouts in protest.
>"Uh- Right now, of course!" Rainbow jumps in for the save. Their friend shoots a weak glare at them for a moment before shrugging.
>"Alright then!" she says, now looking at you with a huge smile, "I'm Pinky Pie, what's your name?"
>Really? Pinkie Pie? This creature is already beyond any amount of ridiculous you've ever known.
"Anonymous," you casually respond.
>"Anonymous? That's a pretty boring name if ya ask me," she jokes. Or does she? You honestly can't tell if she's serious or not.
"You would know wouldn't you?"
>"Pffft-" Pinky giggles, "You're funny Anonymous! And any friend of Twilight and Dashie is a friend of mine!"
"Glad to hear it."
>"So whatchya'll doin' anyway?" she playfully asks.
>Twilight proceeds to tell Pinkie where you're all going, but refuses to answer any questions about who you are, where you came from, or what you're capable of doing.
>She goes on to say that she will gather Pinky and the others later so everyone can meet you.
>Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun... But hey, you've never had friends before coming to this world, or really even anybody you could hold a conversation with. Honestly, you can't complain, even if they are talking ponies.

>"Ooh, that reminds me, I have to send this letter to the Princess," Twilight begins, "Rainbow, can you take Anonymous to Sweet Apple Acres? I'll catch up."
>Rainbow agrees, and you two continue on. Pinkie Pie went with Twilight, thankfully. You're not sure how much of her you'll be able to handle.
>On your way to this Sweet Apple Acres, you had been greeted by a few other ponies, but at least they all seemed fairly normal, and mostly just curious as to what you were. Others simply looked on as you strolled through town with Rainbow Dash.
>Eventually, you emerged on the other side of town, where you noticed you had been approaching a large farm with masses of apple orchards all around it. You figure it's safe to assume that is the Sweet Apple Acres which Twilight mentioned.
>