Steve looked at the town in horror. Nothing extremely bad happened...yet. He was heading home after scouting the town and getting to know the people. He hadn’t done anything bad, other than steal a couple of books from the local library that would explain the history, geography, and culture of this Notchforsaken world. His invisibility would be enough to get him home. As he was leaving, however, he overheard a conversation.
“Miss Sparkle!” A stallion shouted to get try and get her attention. “Miss Sparkle!”
“Yes?” She turned around. It was one of the royal guards. He was mocha brown with a dark brown mane. His backside was flanked with a boulder on each side. He wore a golden chestplate and a helmet, as well.
“Sargent Stone Hoof.” He said giving her a salute. “I was here to inform you that we received your message about the strange creature and are setting up camp right outside Everfree forest as we speak.”
“Ok.” She responded. “Good luck.”
“Fuck.” Steve whispered under his breath.
Twilight then turned to head home. Steve decided that he should follow the sargent back to the barracks. He walked for a couple of minutes before coming upon, what appeared to be a small military base. It was much smaller than the ones he served at back home, but it was big enough to house a lot of guards. There were two barracks, a training ground, a briefing room, and a mess hall. Steve could tell they were coming with the intent to get in and out, as quickly as possible. He wasn’t sure how good they actually were at their job so he didn’t want to say if they were underestimating him or not.
Then again I sent Nightmare Moon, a literal goddess, packing. He reminded himself. How much worse could the guards be? Steve decided to advance into the base just a little bit. Pressing his ear against the wall of the briefing room, he could hear the conversation happening.
“I want the scouts to look here, here, here, and here.” The leader said. It was the sargent from earlier.
“Yes sir. We will sweep these areas first.” One of them replied. The meeting room cleared after that.
“Squads one and two, on me!” Sargent Stone barked at a couple of men. “Squads three and four, with Corporal Eagle.” He said, pointing at the mare next to him.
The soldiers did as he ordered. Steve watched as two squads of twenty each marched off into the forest. Wouldn’t want to mess with them...yet. He knew he could probably beat 1 to 5 of them, but he wasn’t ready for a whole squad, for now. He’d have to test his luck later. Now, it was time to head home.
As Steve was heading home, he heard something that sounded like hoofsteps. Ducking behind a nearby rock, he saw where they were coming from: one of those damn squads was here.
“Let’s head that way.” The leader said, pointing in the one direction Steve didn’t want them to go: his home. “Hopefully he’s this way.” She continued.
Steve was fucked. If he didn’t distract them, they’d find his home, but if he did distract them, he’d have to go against at least ten ponies by himself. Steve sighed, then stepped out of hiding.
“Or I could be right here.” He said.
“Get him!” The corporal ordered.
Steve got his shield up and blocked the first it. Then he used his other hand to punch a guard square in the face. Two more charged, but Steve jumped over them. He landed and deflected a beam of magic with his sword.
That’s cool. He told himself looking at the beam he deflected. He deflected another one. This time, though, he deflected it towards one of the earth ponies. It hit him straight in the face. He performed a roundhouse kick and knocked another one out. The corporal slashed at him with her sword only for it to be pushed aside by his own. This time Steve charged at them. Jumping up he hit one in the face before coming down on another and ground slamming it. Steve turned back to the hunters but held his attack. They, however, looked like they were about to charge.
“Wait.” Steve said.
“What?” The corporal asked, sending him a harsh glare.
“Listen, I knocked five of you unconscious,” he said pointing to the unmoving ponies, “and I’m not afraid to do it again. And before you say anything, even if you do win, I doubt you’ll have enough ponies to get them all back.” Steve pointed out. “So you can simply walk away, keeping all of your comrades safe, or we can fight it out, and put them at risk.”
The corporal simply laughed in return. “So you think this is a 5 on 1?”
Steve expression morphed to confusion, then to realization. Suddenly, 10 more ponies emerged from the brush. So these are squadrons 3 and 4.
“Now we have a proposal for you.” The corporal started. “Either you lay down your weapon and face the crimes you committed, or we bring you in by force.”
Steve laughed this time. “Do you really think I’ll just lay down my weapon and surrender?” He said smiling with no joy behind it. “Where I’m from, we have a saying. ‘As long as I can stand, I’ll fight.’ So if you think I’m just gonna sit down and take it, you’re dead wrong.” He stood up. Pulling out his sword in and raising his shield, he got in his battle stance.
“Very well.” The corporal said. “Attack!”
Steve blocked a charging earth pony, and deflected a magic beam at a pegasus. Using the bottom of his sword he hit another one on the head. He then jumped up, deflected a shot in midair at a pegasus, and threw an ended pearl. He landed not that far away from them but enough to confuse them.
“Where’d it go?” One of the guards asked. Steve figured now was his chance to escape. He began his sprint through the foliage.
“There it is!” One of them shouted upon hearing him. Steve was just running now. He wasn’t headed anywhere in particular. After a couple minutes of running, he came upon what appeared to be a giant ravine. Turning back around, he saw his pursuers right behind.
“Notch, I hope this works.” He whispered right before jumping into the ravine. He pulled out his water bucket and quickly placed, right before he hit the ground.
“What the buck?!?!” The corporal yelled, in confusion. Steve gave them a two finger salute, and began running away. “Iron Wings, Hawk Eye, after him!”
“Yes ma’am!” They said. The only two pegasi left in the squad began their pursuit. They made quick ground and caught up to the sprinting crafter. Iron Wings flew in to attack but was caught off guard by Steve’s punch as he turned around.
“Maybe you guys would have had me if you flew quieter.” Steve said. Iron’s comrade flew head on at Steve. Steve blocked the pegasus with his shield and then uppercut him. His body flew back and landed, motionless. Iron Wings quickly flew over. Pressing her ear up against his chest, she heard a heartbeat. Looking back at Steve, her face wore a mighty rage. Just before she could act, Steve put a hand up.
“Wait.” He started. “Go take care of your comrade.” Iron stared back at him, with a confused expression. “Listen, if I beat you, then there’s no way you will get the medical attention.” She opened her mouth to argue, but Steve quickly cut her off. “And before you say you can beat me, consider this: is his life worth it? Is it really worth putting his life at stake?”
She closed her mouth and looked down. “No.” She said walking over to her comrade.
“Exactly.” Steve said.
“Just know, that this isn’t over, yet.” The mare said. Steve finally got a good look. She had a white coat, a yellow mane, and emerald green eyes. Her flanks had wings that appeared to be made of iron on it.
“Hey, what’s your name?” Steve asked, quickly.
“Why do you care?”
“I don’t really, just a little curious.”
“Iron Wings.” Now Steve understood why everyone had such weird names compared to the ones back in Minecraftia. It had something to do with the tattoo on their back.
“I’m Steve.” He said in response.
“Well guess what? I don’t care, creature.” She said adding emphasis to the last part. Iron wasn’t usually this angry, however, this time was different because she and Hawk Eye had been friends since childhood. But she always wanted to be something more. She hasn’t tried, yet, due to a lack of courage, but she will someday. As she flew out, with her friend in her hooves, she took one last looked back at Steve, who was trying to find a way out of the ravine.
“Alright, so if I place the water there I could swim up, pick it up, place it, and keep going.” Steve told himself. He began his ascent up. After a long minute of that, he reached the top. “Finally I can head home, in peace.”