Cube Land

Chapter 5

Twilight had seen the remorse and confusion in the creature's eyes when she looked at him. For all Twilight knew, the creature didn't know why the 'hay' acted the way it did. Her friends hadn't quite forgiven the creature, Rainbow Dash going as far as calling him a 'Spy'. Whatever that meant.

Twilight was still convinced that both species had just had some trouble in communicating. The creature surprised everypony in the room when he brought a basket of apples, offering one to Applejack after pointing at her cutie mark. Applejack had, by far, been the most shocked out of the offering, but even she could tell that the creature meant to make up for his previous mistake.

When Applejack took the apple from the creature's hand, he looked very surprised.

Maybe he didn't expect to be forgiven so easily.

Twilight cleared her throat and began to speak to the creature. "Hello there. Can you by any chance understand us?"

The creature gave no indication that he heard her. He continued to look at each of the ponies in the room, seemingly out of curiosity.

Clearing her throat again, Twilight began anew. "Hell-o there. Can you un-der-stand me?" said Twilight slowly and deliberately. By this time, Twilight had the creature's complete attention. After she finished her question, the creature raised one of his blocky digits and pointed at his ear while shaking his head. That was more than enough of an answer for Twilight.

Twilight was absolutely giddy with joy. She pranced around like a filly, uncaring about what her friends thought. She was the one that fully understood the creature's intelligence, not her friends.

I'm the first pony to communicate with an intelligent creature from another world!

She stopped her bouncing abruptly, realizing that the creature was looking at her wide-eyed. "I'm sorry about that," she said to nopony in particular. "I haven't done that since I earned my cutie mark."

The creature raised an eyebrow at her. Breaking the awkward silence that followed, Rarity said anxiously, "Twilight, if he is as smart as you think he is, surely he can help us get home. Right?"

"It isn't that simple, Rarity," responded Twilight. "Two completely different species can't communicate perfectly at the first meeting. We have to establish some way to get our thoughts across."

Fluttershy peeked her head out from behind her hair and said quietly, "Wasn't he writing last night? Maybe we can exchange words..."

"That's a great idea, Fluttershy!" exclaimed Twilight. She turned back to the creature who had been eerily silent the entire time. Twilight made the motions of writing with her hooves. The creature seemed surprised, but he nodded and returned to what Twilight presumed as his bedroom. He emerged a couple of seconds later with two pieces of paper, a quill, and some ink.

Twilight reached out with her telekinesis and grabbed the writing ingredients. When she did, the creature startled and stepped several steps back into the hallway. Pleading her case, Twilight tried to say soothingly, "Sorry! I'm sure you haven't seen any magic here."

Twilight was unable to coax the creature back into the living room. Twilight was thinking of how she could get the creature back when Fluttershy approached the creature slowly making calming sounds as she did so. Twilight had no idea how, but it seemed Fluttershy was able to convince even creatures from another world. Sufficiently calmed down but farther away than he was before, the creature offered her a blank piece of paper.

Twilight grabbed the quill and ink and wrote a short message in Equestrian to the creature. It read:

Hello there, creature of another world. We are called 'Ponies' and we are from a land called 'Equestria'. We came here through a strange portal device near where you found us. We are now trapped and we need your help.

After finishing the letter, Twilight levitated the piece of parchment over to the creature. He didn't retreat this time, but he was still wary when the letter floated over to him. Tentatively, he grabbed it and eyed it carefully, his brow furrowed.

The creature shook his head, sadness showing in his eyes. He kept the letter that Twilight had written him, but gave her one of his own, probably the one that he wrote last night. Twilight had no idea what it said. It was all gibberish to her:

నేను క్రింద ఈ పదాలను వ్రాయండి వంటి, ఊదా రంగు ఒక ఆసక్తికరంగా నాకు చూస్తున్నారు. బహుశా వారు పెంపుడు జంతువులు లేదా లావా ఉంచింది జీవులన్నీ సహచర అంశాలు? నేను ఇప్పుడు కాదు తెలుసు.
ఇప్పుడు నేను అలసిన, నేను నా బెడ్ అధిపతి.

Sighing to herself, Twilight realized that they could not communicate via words. She tried to think of any translating spells, but none came to her mind. Twilight hoped that actions and motions would be enough for now.

Twilight looked up and saw the creature watching her reaction. She knew that he knew that she couldn't read his writing either. Giving a sigh of disappointment, the creature gathered up his writing supplies and paper, returning them to his bedroom. He disappeared into the kitchen briefly and returned with a large loaf of bread, heading to the front door as he ate.

The creature was about to touch the buttons on the wall beside the door, but paused before he did. He stopped and seemed to think for a moment before looking at Twilight and beckoning her over. Curious, Twilight cantered over to the metal door.

The creature twisted the handle on the door and pushed. The door didn't budge. Twilight looked up at the creature, wondering what he was trying to show her. The creature, seeing her confusion, proceeded to press the buttons in a specific order. After he did, Twilight heard a whir of machinery and an audible *click*.

The creature reached for the handle once more, twisting it and revealing the door to be unlocked. Twilight nodded, seeing what the creature had done. As Twilight pondered how the creature had made a locking door, he closed the door and pushed a button separate from the rest. Another clink was heard. The creature then pointed at her, then at the buttons. Twilight felt a rush of excitement as she realized what the creature wanted.

He wants me to unlock the door! He's practically giving me the key to his house!

Twilight eagerly stepped forward and, remembering the combination, pushed the 6 digit code in with her hoof, eliciting a *click* from the door once again. Twilight looked up at the creature with a grin on her face. She saw him nod in approval.

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//NOTE://The previous four paragraphs are smudged and faded. I was only able to salvage the writer's copied script, and the paragraphs following//ENDNOTE://

Hello there, creature of another world. We are called 'Ponies' and we are from a land called 'Equestria'. We came here through a strange portal device near where you found us. We are now trapped and we need your help.

This is the script in which Daybreak wrote to me. I copied it down as best I could, but was unable to copy every blocky edge and straight line. My writing is much more cursive.

Day 95

I was glad that Daybreak was able to remember the code after the first try. She has shown nothing but enthusiasm at my attempts at communication. In fact, she is beside me on the couch as I write, possibly trying to compare her own blocky language to my flowing one. It gives me a spark of hope in my chest from her companionship.

But I digress.

After successfully getting Daybreak to remember the door code, I conveyed the motions of me going outside. Daybreak had nodded quickly, running back to the living room to tell her friends. At the time, I thought it was strange that Daybreak accepted so readily.

I was intent on going back into the mine to continue the exploration of the Pit and the secrets that it held by myself. I grabbed my diamond pickaxe, my iron shovel and sword, and a stack of torches. I still had my bread from earlier.

Little did I realize at the time, they had all the intentions of coming outside with me. I tried to tell them that it was dangerous outside, but either my hand signals were unable to convey the appropriate signs or they just didn't want to be without me. Sighing, I relented.

It was twenty meters from my house that I was given the next surprise. I casually glanced back behind me, fully expecting a train of six creatures to be following. Instead, they were all still near the entrance of my house. I headed back to see why they weren't following me. It turned out that Daybreak, Apple, and the others wanted ME to follow THEM. I had no idea where they wanted to take me, but I nodded and followed out of sheer curiosity. As soon as we set off, the blue flying creature took to the air, possibly to scout ahead.

We traversed across the muddy ground for about eighty meters when I heard the tell-tale rustling of a creeper. They were the only monsters that could traverse outside during the Day, aside from spiders. Spiders, at least, had the courtesy to only be aggressive during Night. I quickly drew my sword and growled in my throat, causing the creatures to stop in their tracks. I quickly scanned the area, looking for the green abomination.

I heard a slightly distant hiss from behind me, which scared me more than I'd like to admit. I quickly ran past the ponies towards the source. I had expected to find one of the creatures fleeing from the explosive monsters, but instead...

I have already discussed the fact that Daybreak has some sort of ability to levitate objects off of the ground.

//NOTE://The previous sentence relates to information that does not exist. I can only assume that the missing paragraphs relate to this//ENDNOTE://

I have no idea why or how she can do such a thing. The fact that whatever is in her abilities grasp is outlined in purple only makes it more curious. The endermen leave behind a similar coloured purple when they teleport away. Is Daybreak related to the endermen? I doubt it, but their abilities are similar.

...I am going on a tangent again. Back to the retelling.

I saw the creeper in question being held in Daybreak's ability far above my head, possibly as high as eight meters. Daybreak had an angry stare written on her face. I was glad that I was not the recipient of the glare. The creeper was struggling to break free of her ability, but it was unable to. It was hissing in frustration. Daybreak finally noticed me as I positioned myself underneath the creeper.

My sword at the ready, I motioned for Daybreak to drop the creeper. I intended to cut the creeper clean in half, using its mass and gravity to my advantage. Unfortunately, my plan did not go as...well, planned.

Daybreak's eyes grew at the sight of me preparing to cut the creeper into ribbons. She shook her head violently as I tried again to get her to drop the creeper. After trying and failing to convince her again, she took it upon herself to deal with the creeper herself. She made it fall asleep.

I have never seen a creeper asleep. In fact, I have never seen any monsters asleep. The cows, sheep, and pigs slept standing up with their eyes closed. I couldn't imagine how any monster looked while sleeping. It looked...peaceful.

No, that's the wrong word. It looked...docile. That works better. With the creeper unconscious, Daybreak lowered it the ground. The creeper looked rather humorous, laying on its side with its feet in the air. I had briefly entertained the thought of the creeper struggling in vain to stand back up.

After staring at the sleeping creeper for perhaps a minute, I raised my sword above the creeper's neck, intending to decapitate the foul monster. Sleeping or not, it would be a threat eventually. I did not leave threats alive.

Just before I was about to cleave the despicable monster's head clean off of its torso, one of the creatures that had gathered around chirped out rather loudly at me. I stopped my swing in midair upon hearing the urgency in the tone. The yellow, winged creature had walked over to me. I was surprised at her assertive attitude: on multiple occasions, she had hid behind the other creatures in either fear or shyness.

She prompted to look at me with her large, emotional, tear-filled eyes. I'm not sure why, but I she wanted me to spare the creeper's life. I struggled with the decision for several seconds. From one perspective, I wanted as many threats gone from my domain. From the other, I didn't want the creatures to think of me as a killer. I didn't want to lose their trust.

I made my decision. I am still not sure if it was the correct decision, but I can't take it back now. I lowered my sword and put it back in its sheath. A collective sigh was heard from the assembled creatures.

I took one last look at the disdainful creeper sprawled on the ground and walked away, continuing in the direction that the creatures were originally travelling. I remember my exact thoughts as I did so.

This land doesn't have kindness. I remember looking back at the now-timid creature and smiling as I did so. Perhaps these creatures have brought it with them from wherever they came.

From the yellow creature's kindness, I have decided to call her Benevolence.

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