Cube Land

Chapter 10

Edited by: Me

Cover art by: Sharpieboss. Check out his deviantART here!

Twilight Sparkle was awoken from her sleep by a sweet and delicious smell. Smells like...frosting?!

Quietly descending from the couch, Twilight looked around, her sleepy gaze trying to find the source of the smell. A quick glance of the living room told Twilight that all her friends were still sleeping. All except for...

"Pinkie!" said Twilight under her breath. She tip-hoofed out of the living room and peeked around the corner into what she assumed was the kitchen, as that was where the food that the biped had produced had come from.

Twilight's eyes widened as she saw Pinkie Pie standing vertically, balanced on her back hooves, viciously stirring something in a large bowl. "Pinkie!" Twilight harshly whispered. "What are you doing?!"

The pink party pony stopped her vigorous mixing and turned to look at Twilight, a large smile on her face. "What does it look like I'm doing, silly-filly? I'm making a cake for our new friend!" Before Twilight could respond, Pinkie's pet spider crawled out of her curly mane and made a short, sharp hiss. The lavender mare could've sworn that it sounded irritable.

Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes and continued mixing whatever was in the bowl with a large, wooden spoon. "Of course you can have some too, Jumpy McJumperson. Everypony, everyspider, and every-tall-friendly-quiet-biped can have some!" said Pinkie happily as she set the bowl aside and jumped up to grab another one from a tall cupboard.

Twilight was speechless, something that didn't happen very often. After she finally found her voice, she exclaimed, "Do you have any idea what the biped is going to when he finds that your using his ingredients to make a cake?! How do you think he's going to react when he sees the mess everywhere?!"

Pinkie stopped what she was doing, which happened to be cracking eggs into the new bowl, and looked at Twilight seriously. "Everybody loves cake, Twilight! It's a universal exclamation of thanks when somepony bakes a cake for somepony else! Besides, I was going to clean up the mess myself!"

Twilight was going to ask about the validity of the ingredients, but thought better of it. If anypony knew which ingredients from another world would be good in a cake, it had to be Pinkie Pie. Sighing, Twilight said, "Alright Pinkie. I hope your right." Pinkie nodded enthusiastically and returned to her ingredient-mixing. Now completely awake and having nothing to do, Twilight asked sheepishly, "Err, Pinkie? Can I help in any way?"

Pinkie Pie beamed at Twilight. "Of course you can help! The more, the merrier!"

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Day 96, Early Morning

I have awoken to many strange things during the time I've lived in the house that I built with my own two hands. I've woken up to spiders clonking around on my roof, zombies banging on my door, and creepers staring at me through my bedroom window. I have never, never woken up to the smell of something delicious, aside from that one time where lightning happened to strike close enough to a chicken to set the poor thing on fire. I didn't know that chickens were edible until then.

Imagine my surprise when I awoke to a sweet and delicious smell of something being baked. Confused, I got out of my bed and threw a new shirt on, as I had worn my previous one for quite some time, and it was starting to smell. I slept with my pants on, as experience has taught me that I need to be ready to leave at a moment's notice.

I cautiously opened my bedroom door. When I did, the smell increased tenfold. I was struck by how good it smelled. Nothing that I have ever cooked smelled quite as delicious as what was cooking. I followed the scent to the kitchen, being careful to remain silent as I did so. I glanced over at the living room and noticed that all of the ponies were suspiciously absent. Turning to look into the kitchen, I was surprised to find that it was dark. I had built the kitchen in a way that would make sure that it was never completely dark. There were skylights, windows, and one side that was more glass than wood. Even if the Sun was completely down, the Moon gave off enough light that I could see perfectly fine, even in the middle of the Night.

I was understandably reluctant to enter my strangely unlit kitchen, even though that was where the intoxicating smell was coming from. I decided to grab a torch from the hallway to illuminate the kitchen, however faint the light was. For some reason that I haven't been able to discern, when torches are placed against a solid object, their light level increase exponentially. Compared to carrying one, placed torches give off roughly four times the amount of light.

With the torch held in front of me, I made my way into the black-as-Night kitchen. I used my memory of the layout of the kitchen along with the faint illumination of the torch to guide my way towards the smell.

...

I'm still not sure what happened next.

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"Are ya sure this is when he gets up, Twilight?" asked Applejack quietly.

We've been over this already! thought Twilight, but she didn't voice her thought. "I'm pretty sure Applejack. He seems to be a creature of routine. In fact, if we weren't here, I'd be pretty confident in assuming that his schedule would be extremely crisp, possibly even more so than mine."

"Shh!" whispered Pinkie Pie. "I think he's coming!" The six mares fell silent. The only sound in the pitch-black room that Twilight could hear was the nervous thumping of her heart.

After waiting for what seemed to be an eternity, Twilight saw a faint illumination come from the entrance of the kitchen. Pinkie Pie also saw, as she said, "Okay. On my mark. Three..."

Twilight held her breath, unsure of what the biped's reaction was going to be.

"Two..."

She glanced nervously at Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack. They smiled confident smiles in return.

"One..."

Twilight took a deep breath...

"SURPRISE!" shouted the six friends simultaneously, while Pinkie Pie pulled the blankets down from the windows, flooding the kitchen with morning sunlight.

The creature stood there like a statue, his eyes the only part of his body that moved. He looks...confused, thought Twilight.

After what felt like an eternity of waiting, the creature slowly made his way forward to the table where everypony was gathered. He stood in front of the cake and stared at it intently, his brows furrowed in concentration.

Does he...does he not know what cake is?

The biped slowly reached a hand towards the cake, using one of his fingers to scoop a bit of the icing off. He brought it to his face, continuing to stare at it intently. He shrugged and stuck the frosting-covered finger into his mouth.

Everypony in the room held their breath, wondering how the creature would react to the cake.

When he smiled and licked his lips, the suspense that had filled the room disappeared immediately, as everypony cheered when the creature that had let them stay in his house enjoyed the cake that they had all helped to make.

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Out of nowhere, I heard the ponies yell something in synchronization while the darkness was washed away by the morning Sun. I blinked several times from the sudden onslaught of light, my gaze quickly going over the assembled ponies in my kitchen. They were all looking at me strangely, as if waiting for my reaction. It was then that I saw what had awoken me from my slumber.

On my dining table, there lay a large, white, bread-like food. I could smell the sweetness arising from it, and I was drawn to it like I have been to no other food. I ended up trying a bit of the top layer, which I found to be some type of frosting. It was extremely sweet, as if the pony who made it used almost all of my sugarcane reserves. But that didn't mean that it tasted bad. Far from it. I felt a smile creep onto my face as I licked my lips in anticipation. What happened next is still fuzzy.

The ponies let out yet another chorus of exclamation, with the pink pony that I had not yet named going as far as bouncing up and down in excitement. I remember Daybreak trying to tell me something as the pink pony managed to divide the baked good for everyone to eat. Daybreak managed to covey the motions of making and preparing the cake, which she then associated with the energetic pink pony.

I was astounded at this revelation. I figured that either Daybreak or Charity was responsible for creating the delectable baked...whatever it was, since I have noticed that Daybreak's horn lights up whenever she uses her abilities. I have not seen Charity use this ability myself, but I have to assume that the horn is what gives them their powers, as there is no feasible way that she could've dug out all those diamonds without it. Being given the knowledge that a pony without any special abilities was still able to somehow make something of this complexity was...unsettling, to say the least.

I thanked Daybreak and went over to the pink pony. She looked so...so happy! It was incredible, the feeling of euphoria I received just from being in close proximity to her. From the happy expressions of all the ponies in the room magnified by her, I could sense that all of the ponies felt the same as I did. There is only one name that I think adequately describes her.

Joy.

They all have names now. Daybreak, Apple, Benevolence, Spectrum, Charity, and now, Joy. I wonder what they call each other, what their actual names are. Maybe it has something to do with the markings on their flanks, like some sort of name-marking? I don't know as of yet, but if I find out, you can be sure that I will write it down.

Hmm. Strange. I feel that I am no longer writing for my own sake, but for the sake of others. It is a curious feeling, to create something that I think other people will want to read. Who would even care about the musings of a mute builder such as myself? I only started this log to detail anything out of the ordinary...

...Which I now realize is pretty much everything that has happened these last two days. So many pages for such a short time period...I will set my contemplation aside, for now. I still have some things to recount before we depart.

...

We each had a piece of the delectable...cake? Just like the word 'pony', 'cake' popped into my head as the correct term. Cake. Yes, that seems correct. Every one of us, including Joy's pet spider, had some of the cake. When we were all finished, I motioned for them to stay there, as I had something to show them. I returned to my workshop and gathered up all the things that I had stayed up so late to make. I ended up using an old and neglected mine cart as the method of transporting the equipment, as I can't seem to exert my power of making objects shrink after they've been exposed to the...enchanting stone.

I managed to drag the cart out of my workshop and into the living room. I went back to the entrance of the kitchen and waved the ponies over, excited to see how they would react to what I had wrought.

It turns out, where they came from, making someone armour doesn't mean the same thing I thought it did. If I was given a full set of diamond armour, I certainly wouldn't complain. But I digress.

I had made the armour using Daybreak's measurements and adjusting for the differing physical attributes of each and every one of them. After the ponies had stared at the six sets of armour that I spread out on the carpet, Daybreak was the first to make any sort of reaction. She looked up at me with fear and confusion in her eyes. I didn't know how to respond, so I stood there, unmoving.

After briefly conversing with one another and seemingly reaching an agreement, Daybreak closed her eyes, the purple light coming from her horn once again. I knew that this meant she was using her ability, but I didn't know which aspect of it.

...

I am never going to underestimate Daybreak again.

...

A faint purple mist coalesced from her horn and proceeded to swirl around her head, obscuring her facial features from the rest of us. Several seconds later, the mist stopped swirling and appeared to solidify, forming a transparent sphere around her head. I didn't know what that was supposed to accomplish...until she spoke.

"Can you understand me?"

I was in shock. Daybreak had spoken to me in my own language, albeit one that I cannot actually speak. I nodded quickly, my eyes wide at the fact that the language barrier between us had been broken.

"Who are you?"

I didn't have an answer for her. I am a survivor, a builder, a miner, a crafter. I have knowledge that I shouldn't know, memories that I shouldn't remember. I don't even have a name. How was I supposed to answer that question without words? I answered the only way I could: by shrugging.

"Can you talk?"

I shook my head.

Daybreak seemed saddened by my response, not that I blamed her. One-way questions with yes or no answers wouldn't be the most effective means of communication.

"We're just trying to get home. Are you going to help us?"

I smiled and nodded, then pointed at the armour and made the motions of putting it on. The faster we were prepared, the faster we could return to the Pit and find the secrets that were held within.

"Why do we need to wear this...armour? How dangerous is it down there?"

I looked over at Spectrum and Apple, who shared a glance when they noticed me looking at them. I figured that they hadn't told the other ponies about the monsters that we had fought yesterday. Daybreak noticed me staring at them, which prompted her to ask, "Girls...what exactly happened down there? I remember you saying that there were a bunch of creatures..."

I couldn't understand Spectrum's nor Apple's responses, but I could tell that they were reluctant to share, possibly out of maternal instincts towards Benevolence, Joy, and Charity, as they seem to be more...innocent than the others. Based on Benevolence's reaction in particular, I believe that I was right.

"Will going down there help us get back home?" asked Daybreak after thinking for almost a minute.

I nodded. I know it's a lie. It's a gamble, one that I'm willing to take to return the ponies to their own world.

Daybreak reluctantly agreed to wear the armour. I directed each of the ponies to their specific set, then left them to put it on themselves. I'm sure they wouldn't have wanted me to help, anyway.

So here I am. Fully encased in a set of glowing, diamond armour as I write these words. I can only hope that my gamble pays off.

...

It's time for us to leave. I have a feeling that the next time I write will be the last.

Next Chapter: Chapter Eleven Estimated time remaining: 20 Minutes