Chapter 4: Prelude

I turned and saw the ponies who owned the house; they both wore expressions of shock

"Who… are you?" the stallion asked

His coat was a white; his mane was styled and a darker shade of blue; he wore an evening suit and his eyes were a light blue

"I'm Skarfly and this is Cheerful." I introduced us

Cheerful waved

"What are you doing in here?" the mare asked

Her coat was a very light shade of purple; her mane was a red bun and her eyes were a darker shade of purple

"Well we needed to get away from the mobs outside." Cheerful answered

"So what is out there exactly?" the stallion asked

"Creepers skeletons zombies and giant spiders." I answered; taking a look at what we looked like

I had an arrow sticking out of my flank; a gash was in my front hoof and my head was a bit fuzzy; no doubt from an explosion

Cheerful was in a bit better condition; her hoof had an arrow and what looked like a bite mark from a spider

"Why did you come in here? You look armed." The mare noted

"There's plenty of them out there; we fought for a good half hour straight." Cheerful smiled

"And you're not part of the royal guard?" the stallion questioned

"Nope" I sighed, "Two ponies beating the mobs better than the royal guard; don't try that at home kids."

Cheerful and I had a laugh; then we got a hold of ourselves

"Even after nearly getting killed you still have your spirit" the stallion smiled, "My name is Fancypants."

"And I'm Graceful Prancer." The mare introduced herself

"We may have to wait here until the sun comes up; we'll leave then." Cheerful sounded sheepish

"Not a problem; after you fought for Canterlot it's the least we can do." Graceful smiled

I sighed, "Just another day in the chaotic life of me."

Location: Ponyville

Twilight was in the library; trying to replicate some of the items that Skarfly made; if she was correct she could make some of the things he did; she just needed the right things

She didn't have any spare steel so Rarity let her use some diamonds; Twilight went over to the crafting table that Skarfly left behind

She put the stick in the bottom slot; then she put two diamonds in the two slots above it

The next thing she knew she had a sword; it looked just like the sword that Skarfly made; it seemed to be stronger based on the things it was made of

"Spike! Take a letter." Twilight called

"Got it!" Spike held the parchment and quill

"Send it to Skarfly; tell him I replicated a sword." Twilight felt a rush of excitement

Then she tried to replicate the helmet; she put the diamonds into the same configuration that the iron was put into when Skarfly made the helmet

She felt a similar rush of excitement; then she saw that the helmet had a hole for her horn; specially for unicorns

Twilight put on the helmet; she took a look at herself in the mirror; she looked like she could fight more zombies than she did at the hospital

Then she heard a loud banging on her door; she opened the door and a zombie lunged inside; Twilight swung the sword on instinct; a sixth sense saved her life

Twilight closed the door; she needed something to help protect Ponyville; she dug through the basement and found plenty of iron blocks

She grabbed a pumpkin from the kitchen

Then she picked up something Skarfly didn't notice himself dropping when he was last here; his crafting book

Twilight put the iron into a big T; then she plunked the pumpkin on top

It was instant; they formed into a giant thing that had two arms and two legs

Twilight looked at it in shock for a moment; it walked past her and opened the door; walking into the town of Ponyville

Twilight grabbed a quill and some parchment; she didn't notice when she also grabbed her sword

The golem- as Twilight didn't know what else to call it- went through the small town; pummeling any mobs it found

'Skarfly did say it defended townsfolk in his notes.' Twilight noted

She took another look at the small booklet; then she found something new

Journal

Skarfly wasn't very forthcoming with his information; maybe this would shed some light on things involving him

Location: Canterlot

I looked around; the sun was set and the moon was high in the sky

"Remember when the mobs weren't around?" Fancypants asked

"No; I arrived three weeks after they did." I answered

Cheerful and Graceful were asleep; I was out on the balcony

"You seem to be after something; I just can't tell what it is." Fancypants noted

"I just want this to be over" I felt my heart lurch, "I want the mobs to be gone and Equestria safe; and I want to go home."

Home

The word sounded strange on my tongue; as if it wasn't used often

Fancypants smiled kindly, "You'll figure it out; you have a very loyal friend by your side."

I looked to the moon, "Yeah; I do."

"You should get some sleep; you may have to fight some more tomorrow." He suggested

I nodded, "That would be a good idea."

Time: Morning

I opened my eyes; the light was streaming in through the windows

The smell of pancakes wafted in through the kitchen; I tried to sit up but my aching muscles protested against movement; I just needed something to pick me up

"Come on sleeping beauty" Cheerful called, "We have to leave soon."

I got up and went through my stuff; I had my sword; my helmet; my pick; and most importantly my…

Oh no

I searched frantically for the book; but it wasn't anywhere to be found

"Cheerful!" I called, "We need to go; now!"

I used magic to grab her tail as we left

"Thank you for letting us stay the night but something important has come up" I apologized, "I hope to see you again."

Fancypants waved goodbye as we left

Once we were outside Cheerful hit me

"Hey; what was that for?" I asked; rubbing my left leg

"We were going to be fed; we need that to recover!"

"This is worse than eating Cheerful." I asserted, "I misplaced my Crafting Book."

"So?"

"All the crafting in Minecraft; not to mention several mods; in the hooves of somepony who doesn't know how to use it." I clarified

"oh"

"I must have left it in Ponyville; let's go." I motioned for her to follow me

Some ponies looked at us with shock; others with mild disgust; most ignored us; it was normal for me so I ignored them and kept up my pace

"You seem more troubled about this book than with just crafting; what else could it be?" Cheerful asked

At that moment a scroll appeared in front of me, 'Oh god…'

I opened it; inside I found a message

Skarfly

You forgot to take your crafting book with you so I decided to read it; I've made an 'iron golem' to defend Ponyville; I wonder what I can make next!

Twilight

"We need to get there; as soon as we can." I increased my pace

Location: Canterlot-Ponyville transit train

The conversation of bit-to-gold wasn't as fun as I expected it to be; since I was a miner and didn't carry bits I needed to make an exchange; which just took up more of my time; I needed to find Twilight before she read my journal!

I settled in; the train wouldn't move faster if I worried about it; so if I waited it would come eventually

I dozed off for a while

Location: Canterlot-Ponyville Train

Cheerful got up from the booth; Skarfly had dozed off and she decided to go talk to some other ponies

"Hello" Cheerful said to a stallion who was in Lunar Guard armor

He grunted; not looking her in the eye

Cheerful shook it off and went to the food cart; deciding that she could just go and get something to eat; neither of them had gotten anything to eat

'I like anything except fish; I'm okay with anything else.' She remembered Skarfly telling her

Once on the cart Cheerful saw that most of the passengers were guards

She shook it off and went to go talk to the chef; he was also a guard

"How may I help you miss?" he asked

"Two pieces of black forest cake please." Cheerful said

"On its way; a great choice if I say so myself." The chef smiled

He was dressed in the Solar Guard armor

POV: Skarfly

I opened my eyes; something was bugging me so I decided to go check it out

I saw instantly that Cheerful had gotten up and I also noticed that the other passengers were all guards; it made me feel uncomfortable

I walked up to a lunar guard, "Hey; why are all these guards going to Ponyville?"

He looked at me, "The princess told us to show up there; some sort of speech."

"Hmm." I nodded, "I assume you do your job well?"

He smiled, "One of the best"

"So what are you planning on doing once we get there?" I asked

"I'm probably going to get something from Sugarcube Corner."

I walked around to go find somepony else to talk to; I found a Solar Guard who looked rather bored

"Hello" I walked up, "How are you?"

"I'm feeling a bit confused to be honest" he said, "We were suddenly reassigned to Ponyville for some random speech."

"I heard" I nodded, "I wonder why the princesses would just go and do that."

He shrugged, "As a princess she can do that; I'm wondering if the Lunar guards feel the same way."

"I think they are; both princesses are going down to Ponyville." Cheerful said as she trotted up

"It's a bit of a bad time for speeches" I noted, "With the mobs and all."

Cheerful and I went back to the booth; she passed me a piece of cake

"I haven't tried this kind yet" I said; floating over a fork

"What did you find out?" Cheerful asked after a few minutes

"Well the princesses are going to give some speeches in Ponyville; then they decided to bring their guards with them." I answered

"I think something's up; a speech with the mobs running around?" Cheerful agreed

"I know; let's talk to Twilight when we get there." I said; finishing my cake

Location: Ponyville

I stepped off the train; looking around

All of the ponies looked shocked at how many guards got off the train; Twilight trotted up to me

"Why are all these guards in Ponyville?"

"The princesses are giving some surprise speeches; and they brought their guards with them." Cheerful answered

"Excuse me" Twilight said, "Who are you?"

"This is Cheerful" I introduced her; "We're both from the same place."

"You mean Minecraftia." Twilight corrected

"What?" we said at the same time

Twilight floated my Crafting Book/Journal over to me

"You read my journal?" I asked; annoyed

"I only looked at the map; I didn't expect the place to be that different from Equestria." Twilight marveled

"Yeah; so we're both from Minecraftia." Cheerful said

I looked to the air; two chariots flew into the center of town

I motioned for the two mares to follow me, "Let's go check it out."

Location: Ponyville Square

Celestia and Luna both made stages; I noticed they had flags and were handing them out

"Welcome my little ponies" Celestia greeted as the crowd gathered, "This is something that I feel we need to address."

"Princess; what's going on?" Twilight asked

"This is talk of war I see" Zecora said, "Those who can't handle it should flee."

There was a murmur of shock that spread through the crowd

I sat back over nearby Cheerful; we both wore expressions of shock

'War!? At this time of all!?' I thought to myself

I stood up; walked right between the princesses and went down into my old mine; I needed just the right items and I needed them soon

POV: Cheerful

Cheerful watched as Skarfly left; she didn't know what he planned on doing but she figured it was important

"This doesn't seem good" Twilight said, "We can't afford a war at this time."

"Right" Cheerful agreed, "We need to go talk to the princesses."

Time: Dusk (In other words later)

I climbed out of the mine; I had grabbed the things I needed

"Cheerful? Twilight?" I called

I couldn't see anypony nearby; or in town for that matter

'Where did everyone go?' I thought to myself

I went over to my crafting table that I left outside; I crafted another instant structure box and put it in the ground

I hit it and a tower appeared right in front of me; it was perfect

I walked inside; I closed the iron door behind me; then I went to bed so I could get some shuteye