“Y’all sure we went the right way?” Applejack nudged their bodyguard slightly.

“Yes. The map clearly stated to turn right at the red mountain.” The white stallion pointed at the map, clearly frustrated by their current whereabouts.

“That map is over two centuries old. Maybe it’s a little too faded?” The newly appointed Princess of Friendship suggested to her escort, who just groaned. When Sheathed Blade had been told he would be the bodyguard the Twilight Sparkle and her friends on a mission to a faraway land, he expected a little more excitement. Not getting lost in the wilderness while odd blobs of jelly bounced around.

“Or it could have been where that big ol’ hole was ‘bout two hours south of here.” The orange earth pony reached over the stallion’s shoulder and tapped the map with her hoof.

“Didn’t they teach you about personal space back in the country, Dorothy?”  The pegasus guardspony pushed Applejack’s hoof out of his sight, ignoring the confused look the southern belle gave him. He didn’t enjoy being lost in the wilderness, and he definitely didn’t enjoy having a group of mares giving him advice on how to read a map.

“Who’s this Dorothy? Not a special mare back home now, is she?” a white unicorn appeared next to the stallion, coquettishly wrapping a hoof around his own. The guard blushed furiously.

“Does it really matter?”  a cyan mare yawned, slightly hovering above her friends. “All I care about is the fact that this bozo can’t read a map to save his life!”

“Gah!” he finally roared. “I’ve been stuck in the middle of nowhere with you for four hours, now please give me some peace and quiet while I figure out where in the world we are!”

“Hey, chill out buddy,” Sheathed’s brother in arms Low Rider nudged him. “Do you really think Celestia will be happy to hear that you snapped at her protege and her friends?” The other pony silently agreed, taking in a deep breath to calm himself down. “Exactly.”

“Um... I would like it if we didn’t stay here much longer. I think we’re in a place where I take the critters when they... get a little too old.” A yellow pegasus spoke softly without a whisper, barely heard among the commotion of her friends.

The group entered the musty graveyard an hour ago, believing civilization wouldn’t be too far ahead, but they had no such luck yet. All they saw were massive trees, rusty fences, and grave markers of various shapes and sizes dotting the rolling hills. While the guards should have been thankful that those dangerous jellies weren’t attacking them any more, they honestly wished for a little more action.

“I know! This graveyard is totally creepy! Like, something you’d find in the poetry section of Twilight’s library!” A pink earth pony chirped, bouncing next to her friends. “Ooooh!” She continued as they walked along the path. “What if there are zombies in here? Or skeletons? Or skeleton zombies? Or a big stone monster with a top hat like the one behind Fluttershy!” She pointed at a top hat lying next to a grave simply marked The Groom.

Twilight rolled her eyes as they passed by a massive black obelisk. “Pinkie, I really doubt that any stone monsters would have a top hat. Why would they even wear a top hat?”

Pinkie shrugged nonchalantly. “I dunno, ask that one!” she pointed behind Fluttershy.

Fluttershy squeaked and jumped into the air upon noticing the looming statue of a figure wearing a black cloak with a pickaxe in his hand. Characteristically, the Pegasus forgot she owned a pair of wings, and began a quick descent back to earth. She instead fell into the hooves of an attentive low rider.

“Whoa there, Miss. Can’t be jumping at shadows now, can we?” The pegasus shield brother pointed an outstretched wing to the statue. “Though, I honestly can’t complain if that means I can catch you each time.” Low Rider flashed a smile at the yellow pegasus, who tried her best to hide behind a mane of pink hair. He gently set her where she immediately ran to the side of Rainbow Dash, who was ‘busy’ laying on top of a statue of a pillar.

The blue pegasus with a prismatic mane giggled at the sight, much to the further embarrassment of the yellow pegasus. “Looks like sompony has a crush.” The mirth was short lived for Rainbow as her stomach began to growl. “Ugh... I’m starving. When are those two pilots going to get back with something to eat?”

“Well I’m just suggesting we send a letter to the princess asking directions.” Twilight raised her hoof in the air, ignoring the pegasus and causing Rainbow Dash to groan even more.

Before she began to give her snarky reply, she bumped headfirst into a statue of a skeleton. She hit the ground lightly, rubbing her head. As Fluttershy trotted over to pick her up, the ground rumbled.

Bony fingers reached from the ground, grasping at the dirt. Arms soon rose after, and vaguely humanoid skeletons pulled themselves out of the ground with a groan, dirt and loose flesh raining off their forms like a dry rain.

“Uh, Twilight?” Rarity tapped her friend’s shoulder, who was currently surveying the graveyard.

“Not now, Rarity,” Twilight offhandedly responded, still engrossed in finding a landmark of some sort.

“Twilight!” Rarity slapped her friend upside the head, who quickly turned around and saw the skeletons scrambling out of the grave, arms outstretched for an unaware Fluttershy who was tending to Rainbow’s head wound. Dash was staring right at the skeletons, but appeared to be too paralyzed by fear to move.

“Oooh!” Twilight seemed engrossed in the beasts for a second. “Those appear to be skeletal remains of the genus homosapien! Is it possible that Equestria has some humans too? Oh! What kind of magic do you think they have that causes them to walk even in death? Is--” She was interrupted by Rarity slapping her a second time across the muzzle.

Twilight took the hint and shot a beam of magic at one of the skeletons who was reaching or Rainbow’s leg. The bony creature’s head burst into skull fragments, alerting the others of their presence. The group all turned to the monsters, now aware of the four other skeletons bursting from the ground.

“AHHHHHH!” Dash finally screamed, backpedaling into the statue again. There was another rumble and five more skeletons suddenly burst from the ground.

Fluttershy was equally spooked, and fell off of her hooves against the statue again. There was yet another rumble, and even more human skeletons arose. Dash and Fluttershy finally got to their hooves, with Rainbow’s raised. Prepared for combat. Before she could throw a punch, Twilight telekinetically jerked the two pegasi back while Sheathed Sword jumped between the skeletons and the two mares.

The nine skeletons were all unique looking, each of them fearsome in their own way. One of them appeared to have a rusty sword stuck through his head, but it still managed to walk around. Another was in a position Dash could identify as a karate stance, with a black bandana wrapped around his head. However, the scariest of them  all had a giant blue set of armor draped on his back, with a massive iron mace in his hand.

“What in Celestia’s sun-drenched mane do you think you’re doing!?” He roared as the group began to back away. “Run!”

They didn’t need to be told twice.

They galloped as fast as they could away from the skeletal monsters who fiercely gave chase. Just as they thought that as long as they could run they would be safe, an arrow trailing crimson fire stuck itself in the soft dirt where Fluttershy’s hoof was just moments before.

“They got archers!” Low Rider screamed, curling in the air as more hellfire flew past him. The young pegasus flew low, grasping an unarmed skeleton by the arm before raising it high into the air. A single dive bomb brought the skeleton crashing into an archer after Low Rider let go.

“No duh!” Rainbow Dash retorted, rolling away from an arrow poised for her head. However, the moment she realized it was a trap, it was too late. She had rolled directly in the way of a tree. With a crash, she fell to the ground and another arrow flew at her chest. She closed her eyes and waited for the weapon to pierce her chest.

The pain never came.

The arrow was held in the air in an aura of blue magic, before being telekinetically snapped in half. Dash scrambled back to her hooves and took flight again as Rarity let the arrow halves drop. “Thanks, Rare! I owe ya!”

“Don’t mention it, Darling!” She responded before continuing to flee from the monsters. A bony hand erupted from the ground ahead of the unicorn, grasping at her hoof and pulling her down, face chewing the dirt. A stark yellow came from the ground, a helmet with a broken light on the front adorned by a skull with piercing red glowing eyes.

Before it could take a massive bite out of the fashionista’s flank, a powerful orange hoof stomped on the skeletal miner, The metal helmet cracked in half, and the skull inside collapsed. Applejack took another moment to snap the lifeless limb gripping Rarity in half before pushing the unicorn ahead of her. “Git goin’!” shouted the earth pony after her, bringing up the rear of the group.

“You aren’t half bad, Dorothy!” Sheathed Sword commented as he ran alongside her charge.

“Hey! What about the coach?” shouted Twilight from the skies, pointing behind them at the general location of a half gilded coach which was lost behind a mass of grey stones and statues. Her pilots had been told to stay behind in case of an emergency evacuation, but it ironically appeared that they would no longer be available to provide the service.

“No time!” Low Rider barked, flying next to the Princess. He had given a vow to serve the royalty of Equestria, and he wasn’t going to be the first one in centuries to return home with the blood of a monarch on his hooves. Twilight screamed as a deafening bang erupted behind them, a red line appeared across the alicorn’s back and blood began to stream from the wound.

“DOWN!” Rainbow Dash yelled, tackling Twilight to the ground as a second bang erupted. Low Rider spun around to face the foe, who seemed to be wearing a baggy camouflage outfit. Before he could charge the skeleton, his comrade telekinetically yanked him to the ground. The third shot missed by a wide margin, and Low Rider silently thanked his partner.

Blood was freely trickling down Twilight’s left hind leg and a good section of her flank, making it painful to run. Dash tossed her at Applejack, who slung her over her back. Nopony had any idea what that skeleton was holding, but they knew it was bad news.

They continued to gallop like the very bowels of Tartarus were at their heels, but the situation just seemed to get bleaker and bleaker. While they did leave the gates of the graveyard, the deep forest ahead only made escape more difficult. It wasn’t long until the skeletal sniper aimed his sights on Fluttershy, hovering his bony finger over the trigger.

Bouncy mane.

Itchy knee.

Aching right nostril.

Pinkie Pie knew what that meant. Fluttershy was about to get hurt.

“Fluttershy!” The party pony screamed, diving at her friend. Another shot rang out, this time barely hitting the tip of Pinkie’s right ear. She wordlessly picked Fluttershy back up to her legs and continued the sprint.

The group made a sharp right turn at a massive tree, and came face to face with…

A sheer cliff.

“No!” Sheathed Sword screamed, leading the group into a small cavern before turning around to make a stand. “Dead end!” He motioned for the council of Friendship  to take cover behind their guards.

“You stay back… We’ll deal with them!” Low Rider’s voice slightly quivered. While the majority of the council complied, Applejack and Rainbow Dash nervously joined the guards on their grand last stand. They jumped momentarily when Twilight nudged herself in between the two friends, firmly planting her hooves in the ground. Soon after, the entire group took their positions in the front lines.

“Your majesty, you can’t-” Sheathed Sword started

“Shut up,” She replied, horn glowing an angry violet as she brought her magic to bear.

As the seven skeletons turned the corner, another gunshot rang out. Twilight flinched and Fluttershy hid her head under the hooves of Pinkie Pie. However, nopony was harmed by the result. Instead, a skeleton’s ribcage exploded into dust. Then another shot. And another. Before the ranged skeletons could attack, they all lay dead. The skeleton’s focus shifted up to the top of the cliff, before a cavalcade of shots.

The remaining skeletons tried to run away, but a small silver object bounced up to their feet and promptly exploded, sending bone fragments and dirt everywhere. When the ponies were sure that the skeletons were no longer a threat, they stepped out of the tiny indentation, and saw a strange looking human in a duster holding a green object in his hands.

“Hello,” He smiled, lowering his weapon. “Welcome to our fair land of Terraria.”