Author's Note

Take note that the word "as" or something similar might be missing in a sentence that needs it. If you find that sentence, notify me.

Act II, Chapter 5: What Happens When You Decide to Play God?

Back in the town of Norgray, a wandering villager slamming their face into a wall over and over again was searching for some way into the wall’s house. However, with every attempt he tried at finding an entrance, it resulted in another simple head slam into the wall. What was he doing wrong? Was it the wrong wall? Was he not fast enough? Was a god somewhere doing this just to spite him? No one, not even he, knew.

The villager stumbled back into another wall once Gingerbread popped out of the air like a spawning pig. The villager tried to enter the house from the angle that Gingerbread forced upon him. To his luck, slamming into a wooden door worked.

Gingerbread gave a sigh as his head swiveled from a darkened house to a full farm. “Ty, can you teleport me back? I really don’t want to waste time walking around.”

Now hold on a second. This is one of the few times we’ll ever get to talk for more than three minutes. Why waste it on a teleport?

Gingerbread began walking on the clay roads to the direction of Millstown. “Really? So soon?”

What other time will we have to do this? Might as well use what we’re given instead of throwing it out.

Gingerbread shuffled his arms and contorted his face into a squiggly line. “Fine. I have something I want to talk about anyway.”

And what would that be?

“The fact that you almost killed Fluttershy,” blurted Gingerbread with a louder voice than usual. “What were you thinking back there? You left her at so little health that you must’ve purposefully done that just to please your murderous side.”

I did that to add a real sense of danger. I let you get killed a lot by my creations, so what makes it different that one of them gets beaten up and almost dies as well?

“They’re actual living things, and I’m a player. No one in their right mind would let themself be in a game if they know that they’ll get punched, stabbed, shot, and poisoned, especially if they die in the process.”

True. But they’re in my world, and I bet with how Pinkie and Twilight are fighting, they’ve already done something like this before. They should be fine.

“What happens when one of them really dies? Do you really want to risk that and commit homicide?”

I really doubt that'll ever happen. I bet you fifteen bucks that they never die.

Gingerbread donned a set of lowered eyelids and a straight mouth. “Really. You’re betting on their lives?”

I don’t get why you’re so determined to go against me in the first place. You don’t usually care about stuff like this.

“Yes, but these three are different.” Gingerbread smacked a medium red slime into a stone wall and walked through the entrance to the Great Forest. “They’re close enough to me that I can call them my friends. They’re also not people that make me want to punch them in the face every time they do something or speak. Also, didn’t you say earlier about not wanting to kill them? What changed your mind?”

I noticed that they needed some seriousness and not constant protection from me. Yeah, I still don’t want to hurt them or turn off the console, but I know that hurting them like this is the only way to make them know that they’re in a dangerous situation. I also like to think that I’m improving their fighting skills. Isn’t this adventure world improving yours?

“Yeah, actually. Do you know how much I suck at fighting mobs?”

Eh, you weren’t that bad. Just stop running up to every single one of them and use a bow.

“From how the shops are, I’m going to have to get one from a skeleton.”

Well, you can buy them from the shop, but they’re a little pricey.

“How pricey?” Gingerbread smacked a wild zombie into experience and rotten flesh.

Twenty dollars. If you don’t want to waste your money, you’re right. A skeleton is the best choice.

Gingerbread hacked down a pair of wild zombies and waltzed into Jungle Pass. Shortly after that, he punched a tiny slime into a slimeball.

Oh, I have something to add. Just so you know for the future, I have no real control on some of those monsters.

“What do you mean by that?” Gingerbread questioned with a swivel. “It’s obvious that you can’t directly control monsters.”

No, I don’t mean it like that. You know how I can spawn a monster, gear them up if they have the ability to do that, buff them with potions, or kill them with my insanely powerful sword?

Gingerbread nodded his head.

Well, those monsters in blue outfits aren’t mine. I never spawned them, I never equipped them, and I don’t voice them. They pretty much have minds of their own.

Gingerbread’s steady walking slowed down by three-quarters. “You can’t control them? Then how did you control Fluttershy staying alive?”

Since I can only control them through killing, I kept them alive until Vincent came back and hacked off some heads. Another thing you should know: those gigantic zombies are not my creations. I don’t think they’re supposed to be possible without mods, which we both know can’t be installed.

“Well,” Gingerbread started, sickened from his own worry, “that’s just terrific to know.” A nearby wild skeleton rattled a little too close. Before it could ready its bow, a sword sliced through its chest twice. “But how do they even exist if they aren’t supposed to?”

Remember when we obtained a few messages notifying us about a new pony coming to our world?

Gingerbread released another nod.

One of those messages was ‘Rainbow Dash has joined the game.’. Sometime after that message, those guys started appearing all over the place. At first, it was one or three in random places in Sparker Plains and the southernmost section of the Great Forest. Then they started traveling to other places and began killing or converting every Mobtrocity soldier they came across. Now they’re everywhere like a disease.

“So you suspect that this Rainbow Dash did something to cause these new monsters to exist?” Gingerbread opened the door to the bed guy’s hut to check for anything of interest.

Yeah. Who knows what she did, or at least I think they’ll be a girl, but I am sure that it corrupted a batch of monsters even more than needed. At least this game now has a real edge to it, right?

Gingerbread glanced up to a random patch of air blocks to hopefully stare into Ty’s eyes. Suffice to say, he failed. “You’re only doing all of this because you think you’re untouchable. There will be a day where this’ll bite you back really, really hard.”

There isn’t a problem with me. I’m just doing what I think makes an adventure exhilarating and daring.

“Whatever you say, Ty. Just hope that karma isn’t real.”

Gingerbread encountered two more zombies, hacking them to rotten flesh without losing a single heart of health. He stepped forward a dozen more paces until he encountered Millstown’s iron door and slightly crumbling cobblestone wall. His mere presence granted the jagged cracks the instability needed to rip apart more of the wall. Once he touched the door, the doorway collapsed into pixelated chunks of cobble, only two floating blocks remaining in the new gap. He waddled through the mess and into the small town.

The first thing he noticed was Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy laying next to the well. Pinkie, enraptured by the speckled night, did not notice Gingerbread; however, Fluttershy disconnected her eyes from the sights around her and clamped them onto him right when he stepped on a stray patch of grass. She handed a small smile to him and shuffled her body to where her belly rested on the clay road.

“Nice to see you again.” Fluttershy kept her eyes Gingerbread’s tattered armor. “My, your armor looks really bad. Do you mind if I help you with that?”

“None needed,” Gingerbread replied as he waved a chainmail chestplate in his hand. “I already have a set for myself.”

“Aren’t you going to put it on?”

“Of course. I’m just waiting for this armor to break first.”

Pinkie broke her attention away from the flowing sky lights and faced Gingerbread with a smile and a hop. He braced for the hug that Pinkie ensnared him in only a half second later. “You’re back! Did you see any of those mean monsters?”

“You mean just monsters or the actually intelligent ones?”

Pinkie took some time to answer that question. “I mean the ones with blue clothes on them.”

Gingerbread shook his head. “Didn’t see any. Why do you ask?”

“There’s supposed to be a lot of them coming here very soon. That’s why Vincent’s checking the outside for them.”

A chunk of the mangled wall behind Gingerbread crumbled onto a patch of tall grass, stealing the attention of the trio. His eyes rummaged through the sight and forced him to take a small step forward. “If we’re expecting an army, we should fix that wall as soon as possible.”

“Where can we get stones for it, though?” Fluttershy asked as she turned her head to random places.

If there’s a salesman nearby that has cobblestone, you might be able to buy it from him. Or, you could talk to King Appleton about a builder who could fix the wall.

“I’ll go talk to King Appleton. You two can look for some salesman.” Gingerbread broke from the trio and walked his way to the nearby castle. Pinkie and Fluttershy aimlessly glanced at trees and buildings, spotting not a single villager or person that would resemble a merchant.

“Maybe they’re in a house?” Pinkie suggested. She trotted over to the same road that Bill’s Library sat by. Fluttershy followed her and checked the houses for any signs indicating a residing merchant. Once the duo reached the end of the road, they concluded that the store did not exist on that road.

Pinkie and Fluttershy turned to their right, turned right again after ten or so blocks, and turned right a third time to reach the entrance of a brick structure. Inside it was nothing but a red carpet floor and one piece of glowstone that illuminated the five by five by three blocks room.

This wandering continued for another minute until the ponies reached a large oak wood building just south of the Joe House. Fluttershy peered through the house’s left window in search of a merchant. Inside the house lay two tables, four chairs per table, two three block plants with one oak log and two leaf blocks each, and a small window with a wizened villager with tufts of gray hair and only two teeth left. He waited patiently for anyone to approach him and interact.

“I think that’s the salesman,” Fluttershy assumed from the gold coins the villager counted. She turned her head to Pinkie. “Want to talk to him?”

Pinkie eyed the villager and nodded. “Sure! He looks important after all.”

The duo opened and walked through the oak door and in front of the villager. He redirected his attention from the coins to the ponies, somewhat unfazed and a little annoyed. “Eh, customers. Why don’t they always wait until daytime?”

“Excuse me, sir,” Fluttershy started as she reached only two blocks away from the villager, “do you happen to be selling any stones? We need some to repair the town’s wall.”

“Of course, what’d you think I use to craft stone swords and picks?” The villager bent to a chest on his left and flicked it open. He retrieved twenty blocks of cobblestone from it and smacked them on the table. “A dollar a block. I have twenty here for you, so either fork over some money or leave.”

Pinkie checked her inventory and coat pockets for any money. To her surprise, she was as poor as roadside cardboard. “Hmm, I don’t have any, but I do have a bunch of stuff from some monsters.”

“Then let me see it.” Pinkie spat her mob loot into the villager’s open hand. He eyed the loot and set it all in a chest on his right. He picked up three gold coins and one silver coin and handed them to Pinkie. “That’s sixteen dollars total. Do you want sixteen blocks or the money?”

“Blocks, please,” Fluttershy answered. Pinkie agreed with a silent smile and took the blocks from the villager. She gestured Fluttershy and aimed for the door.

“Come back when you’re not poor,” snapped the villager. He gave a small sneer after hearing Pinkie make the tiniest grumble physically possible.

The duo turned to their left twice, searching for the broken wall. Even though Fluttershy kept herself on the road to the wall, Pinkie steered away from it and almost made a complete U-turn. It did not take long for Fluttershy to notice this. “Where are you going?”

“I need to do something real quick,” Pinkie responded. She threw the cobblestone to Fluttershy and moved back a little more. “Take that to the wall. I won’t be gone for too long.”

Pinkie wandered for about ten seconds until she reached Millstown’s pumpkin farm. She twisted her head dead into Ty’s eyes. Normally, this would have forced a few shivers and nothing else at this point. However, the face that Pinkie wore—despite only using a small frown as a replacement for a smile—contained a definite ball of curiosity, confusion, and anger. This was enough to trigger his fight-or-flight response and be ready for, well, anything that his mind believed could happen.

“Ty, why did you let Fluttershy get hurt?” Pinkie asked with a tone wearing a shroud of curiosity.

Eh heh, what exactly do you mean by that?

“Why did you not help her when she was almost dead?”

I, I knew that she would, um, power through it. Second, I knew that Vincent would pop up at the right moment.

Pinkie took a step closer to Ty’s invisible form. “But why would you let those monsters hurt her so badly? Why did you sit in your chair and watch them do that to her?”

I didn’t want to interfere with that fight. Whatever those monsters did was not of my own doing. They did what they wanted, not me.

She took a second step. “You still could’ve fought them with whatever you have. Is there a certain reason why you didn’t want to at least lend a hoof?”

Ehmm, yeah, there is. I, I wouldn’t have done anything for no reason.

“Then what is it?”

It’s, It’s, It’s because I thought that it was necessary that you three needed something to, ehm, tell you how serious you need to take the world and how you need to treat your lives here. Basically, that showed you, um, how dangerous this world could be.

Pinkie took two more steps forward with the same face. “But was it really necessary for you to almost kill somepony I’ve known and loved for a long time? Did you want to punish me for not taking your game seriously, even though I actually do?”

Well, I know at this point that letting that happen may have been a little excessive, and I was never punishing you in any way.

“Then why did you describe your reason as to have us take the world seriously? And how do you find nearly committing murder only a little excessive?”

It’s just–

“Just what, an option?” Pinkie stepped forward again. At this point, she was close enough to touch Ty with a hoof. “Is keeping me and my friends alive an option to you because we’re your toys? Do you not care whether we die or not?”

N-no, not at all! I do care!

“Then why do your actions tell me that you don’t?”

I wouldn’t have ever let you or your friends die. That was a situation where I knew that she would be safe.

Pinkie sprung onto Ty’s form and held onto the front of him. She kept all of her face in his field of view and made sure that he paid full attention to her.

Well, who wouldn’t pay attention to a face talking to you and covering almost all your television screen?

“I don’t think so, Ty,” Pinkie deadpanned with her small frown and a concerned and saddened tone. “Even though I enjoy this world you made and the adventure we’re all having, I’m not enjoying you right now. You almost killed one of my best friends and show no true remorse for it. That’s very unhealthy.”

Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you like that. I didn’t know that you’d feel so deeply about this.

“You should have. How would you feel if I beat Gingerbread to near death and did nothing to help you? What would you think if I responded with, ‘I didn’t think that you’d care about him like that’?”

I’d be very angry at you and tell you why you’d do that.

“Exactly. I’m feeling very angry at you for letting Fluttershy get hurt, but I don’t want to hurt you. That’d just make me and you feel worse.”

Well, how could you even hurt me? You’re in my adventure world. As far as I know, you’re stuck there.

Ty jumped out of his chair and screamed like a confused coward once a pink hoof ripped through the television screen. It clamped onto the front edge of his entertainment center and pulled. Another hoof joined with the first one and pulled even harder, forcing Pinkie’s entire head, neck, and part of her chest through the screen. Ty hid behind his chair and struggled to even move another finger. His legs felt weighted and unstable, and his mind raced like a jet speeding through open airspace.

“I’m not actually stuck in there,” Pinkie added with simple hindsight. “My friends are, but I’m not.”

This, this shouldn’t be possible! How in the heck can you even do this?

“It’s like going through an open window. Anyway, I’m not asking for you to provide complete protection for us. I’m asking for you to not attempt to kill me or my friends. I don’t care if you send a few monsters after us, but don’t force a situation like what happened with Fluttershy ever again. Or else–” Pinkie crept a little closer to Ty, both frightening him to near death and gripping a controller cord to a console “–I’ll have to deal with your unhealthy desires myself.”

W-what do you mean by that? Are you going to eat me or tear my flesh apart like some creepypasta monster or something?

Pinkie plastered a puzzled look on her face and almost spilled a giggle. “Not at all! I mean that I’ll take this” –Pinkie tugged the cord a little– “away from you. If you’re going to kill for enjoyment, you don’t deserve the control you have. Watching and challenging us is fine, just no direct attacks, okay?”

Other than the fact that what you’re doing is heart attack levels of scary, I’m fine with just that.

Pinkie’s frown shifted to a tiny smile. “It’s good that you’re scared of me. That means you’re not going to do this again.”

I also have something else that I need to tell you.

“Go on, what is it?”

Those monsters in blue are not in my control. I can summon the others, like the Mobtrocity, anytime I want, but those ones appear whenever they want, go wherever they want, and use whatever they want. I can’t regulate their armies or change their targets, so that’s one reason why they kept attacking Fluttershy.

“Huh, that’s kinda odd. Don’t act like it excuses what you did, though. You still could’ve fought those monsters for her.”

I know. I won’t try to get any of you killed ever again.

“Do you Pinkie Promise?”

Sure, though it’d probably be a good idea to not have me make a promise.

Pinkie gave her head a slight tilt towards an inactive controller. “Why?”

I’m not good at keeping them. Though I may say I won’t do this again, I could if the current events at that time lead me to it.

“Then I’ll make sure it never happens again.” Pinkie slid back into the television by an inch and a half. “I’m going to go to the wall, now. I’m not comfortable with calling you my friend right now, but I think that’ll change when you do.”

She let go of the entertainment center and pushed herself back into the screen. She hopped off Ty’s form and landed on a nearby pumpkin. She turned to the road she traveled and made her way back to the wall. Once she reached King Appleton’s castle, Gingerbread punched open the castle door and joined Pinkie.

“So, I was hearing a bit of talking from Ty not so long ago,” Gingerbread started with a hint of insight. “Did you confront him about Fluttershy?”

“Of course I did,” Pinkie answered with a slightly bigger smile than before. “What he did was wrong, so I gave him a warning for next time he decides to do that again.”

Gingerbread let out a small chuckle to himself. “Sounds like he got what he deserved for that.”

Oh, nice, you eavesdropped on my interrogation. Could’ve warned me before you did that.

“If you didn’t want me to hear it, you could have muted your mic, like what you usually do every time you go do something.”

Right, the mic. I’ll just keep note of that whenever my mind is too scared to think about turning off a trivial device.

“Hey, I’m just giving advice for when she does that again.”

“Hopefully, I don’t,” noted Pinkie. “I will if he tries that again, though.”

“It’ll happen if you don’t keep an eye on him. Even with a promise, he’ll still do whatever he promised not to do. Trust me, he did this quite a few times in the past.”

“Like what?”

They’re mostly little things like hanging out with him at a certain time or the more common case that I say that I’ll be back and never come back. Gingerbread, did King Appleton give you a builder?

Gingerbread shook his head. “He told me that they are all asleep right now, but that’s not an issue. I can rebuild the wall faster than they could.” He turned to Pinkie and examined the sword she held. “Did you find a salesman?”

“Yup, and I got some cobblestone from them.” Pinkie’s smile was now half its usual size. “I gave it to Fluttershy, and she went over to the wall, so you have to go there for the blocks.”

“Alright. Let’s go.”

The duo and their invisible spectator traversed through the few roads of the city and reached the wall. Fluttershy stood there, fiddling with her cobblestone blocks and eyeing the cracked and jagged chunks and particles of the once stable wall. After hearing a few footsteps, she turned to the duo and bent a smile into life. “Do you two know what I need to do? I’m not sure how building this wall works.”

“It’s easy,” Pinkie started with a hop over to Fluttershy and held out a hoof. “Let me show you.”

Fluttershy handed the blocks to Pinkie and watched her smack block after block on the ground. In less than twenty seconds, Pinkie rebuilt the entire wall with a single block to spare. The only hole that remained was a one by two block space for an iron door.

“Well, does that salesman have an iron door and a lever on him?” Gingerbread proposed.

“I’ll go check,” Fluttershy replied, “but I don’t have any money for him.”

Gingerbread threw a sack of mob loot at her and two dollars. “Here. You should have enough, now.”

“Thank you.” As Fluttershy walked back to the salesman, Twilight left the library and joined Gingerbread and Pinkie.

“What are you two doing?” Twilight asked as she surveyed the area.

“We’re waiting for Fluttershy to get an iron door for this wall,” Gingerbread explained. He presented the door sized hole to Twilight; she nodded and thought about it for a second. “Where were you the entire time?”

“I was reading more about this world in Bill’s Library. One thing I learned is that this world has many more monster groups. One of them is called the Illager Confederation. Apparently, they’re at war with the Mobtrocity, but I doubt we’ll ever meet them. They’re supposed to live in another continent far away from us. Another thing is that there’s also another dimension in this world. It’s called the Nether, a land composed of red rock, lava, souls, and creatures more horrifying than what we faced here.”

“Alright, I’ve heard of the Nether before, but this Illager Confederation is new. If the Mobtrocity is fighting them, then they must be important in some way. Do you know anything else about them or their war?”

“Um, the Illagers are very territorial. They consider continent they live on as theirs only, which is why they don’t like the invading Mobtrocity. Since they are very, very powerful, and I mean powerful enough to create magical barriers and nearly impenetrable mansions, they’re holding back the Mobtrocity really well. But, I also know that the Mobtrocity are much stronger than what they sent against us so far. They have flying ships and weapons beyond my current comprehension, both of which we never encountered yet.”

Gingerbread’s enthusiasm dropped by a few notches. “So, this group we’re fighting has spaceships and other advanced junk. Just great.”

“Oi! A lot of those blokes are heading for the wall!” Vincent hopped down to the trio and prepared himself for battle. “I suggest you three get out there and fight them before they reach it.”

“What about Fluttershy?” Pinkie blurted with some haste.

“Well, what is she doing?”

“She’s buying a door,” answered Gingerbread.

Vincent took a few steps to the vacant doorway and tightened the grip on his sword. “No worries about her. She can just come outside whenever she wants.”

“Argh!” growled a nearby Loyal zombie. “I’m gonna eat all your shoes when I’m done with you!”

“I believe that’s our signal to fight,” Twilight guessed as she equipped her Magical Bow.

The rest of the quartet agreed and funneled through the doorway and back into Jungle Pass. Two Loyal zombies smacked their wooden swords on the wall, channeling fury through every strike. Vincent decapitated one, and Pinkie spun a sword into the other’s shoulders and chest. She scooped up both the zombies’ experience and loot and scanned the trees for more monsters.

Not only did the group find a cluster of monsters to fight, but they also noticed the abundance of floating or destroyed trees and a shortage of living trees. Some of the zombies equipped with stone axes chopped down every tree in their way, and a giant zombie with dual iron axes sliced the trees like bamboo. Five skeletons primed their bows and aimed for Twilight and Gingerbread. Two pigmen—both arguing about who was truly in charge—attempted to manage a few monsters here and there.

“Look, more equine creatures,” mused an enderman that teleported in front of Twilight. He used the same iron sword and armor setup as the last enderman. “It seems that they’re the new trend in this world. Well, I’m afraid to say that our Empress does not condone your interference, meaning that your lives will be cut short. You can just give up and keep this easy for us, or you ca–augh!”

Pinkie stabbed her sword through the enderman’s torso, destroying his train of thought. He teleported ten blocks away and held his side for a few short moments. “That little devil, kill her!”

The skeletons shifted their attention to Pinkie and opened fire. She twisted around them and smashed right into two axe zombies. She smashed both their faces with her hooves and finished them with two sword swipes. Twilight, using the newborn ruckus for her success, fired six arrows into the skeletons. She killed two and switched to a magic blast that distracted two more skeletons. They both stabbed their arrows into Twilight’s chest, drawing two small lines of blood down her body. Two more axe zombies heard her small yelp of pain and shimmied to her. She switched to her Little Burner and smacked both of them in the faces, setting them alight like walking candles wearing the aroma of zombie meat.

Gingerbread kept an eye on every direction of his body. Unfortunately, this did not prevent five zombies—one of them being an axe zombie—from surrounding him. To avoid dying again, he slammed his stone blade into the axe zombie, munched a steak into crumbs, and drank a regeneration potion for good measure. He struck the same zombie twice and took two wooden smacks from two other zombies, those two smacks breaking both his boots and his helmet. After killing and looting the axe zombie, he rushed forward and sliced two zombies back into the small crowd. With a hop and a strike, he slew the closest zombie with a critical smash. He sliced two more and jabbed into the last one. With only four more swings, he felled all three of the remaining zombies.

Pinkie, paired with her skeletal accomplice, leapt into the air and onto an axe zombie. She stabbed them twice with her sword and decapitated them with a slice. Vincent skewered and kicked various zombies with or without axes from every direction, stopping for a small window of time to crack three of a skeleton’s ribs. With one horizontal slash, the skeleton’s skull fractured into two pieces and fell with the rest of its body.

“There’s the one responsible for the enderman’s wound!” grunted a pigman next to his fellow officer. They both unsheathed their golden swords and readied themselves for all attacks. “Prepare to meet fine metal, freak!”

Pinkie sprung from the smoke and circled her sword into a pigman’s leg. The pigman squealed and swiped a miss at Pinkie. She swung again, hitting the other’s sword instead. Vincent stabbed through the pigman’s chest and punched him in the back of the head. The pigman retaliated with a kick into Vincent’s ribs and a blade scratch on the radius. Pinkie aimed for that pigman but missed with another blocked blow. She fell onto the ground from a leg sweep and rolled to the side to avoid an incoming ground stab. She jumped back onto her hooves and performed a leg sweep on the first pigman, downing him and crushing half a heart. She then cracked his ribs and spine into pieces with her powerful legs and caved in his skull with a final blow from her sword. Vincent elbowed his adversary’s muzzle to release an agitated squeal and sliced the golden sword out of their hands. He paused a half a second before ripping through the pigman’s neck with his blade, ending the fight with two dead pigs.

The giant zombie, along with three regular zombies and two axe zombies, lumbered his way to Twilight. He smashed an axe into the ground next to her and swung the other into her right side. She spiraled back into the cobblestone wall and crawled away from the next axe slash. She picked herself back up and conjured a magic blast that enveloped one axe zombie. She fired four arrows as well to ensure its death and two more zombies’ injuries. She hopped away from the giant zombie’s right foot and munched an apple away. One axe zombie’s cockiness steered him into Twilight’s blade and onto the lush grass. Another axe zombie dodged an incoming arrow aiming for his head and swung at Twilight. He succeeded, breaking some chainmail and opening a small flesh wound near her shoulder. She cried in pain and sliced his face with her Little Burner. To her surprise, it snapped in half from the strike and disintegrated into pixels that faded from existence. The axe zombie, despite burning to death, let out a small chuckle and swung a miss at Twilight.

“Not so tough without your burn stick, huh?” the zombie mocked to antagonize Twilight. To his misfortune, this worked, resulting in him involuntarily hugging a Jungle tree after the smack from the Defense Sword.

Another gigantic axe hurled down to the left of Twilight. She jumped onto the axe and raced over to the giant zombie’s shoulder. She struck the zombie’s face with her Defense Sword once, sending him into the same jungle tree the axe zombie tasted. While he struggled to get back up, the wounded enderman took this moment to vent some of his acquired rage on Twilight. He teleported next to her and struck his sword into her side, drawing even more blood and causing a developing bruise. She winced and swiped a miss at the teleporting enderman. He reappeared behind her and stabbed into her left flank, triggering a buck into his legs. The enderman stumbled back and regained his balance at the same time Gingerbread smacked him twice. The enderman teleported to the left side of Gingerbread and swung into his head. He strafed to the right and struck the enderman again. He ended the enderman’s life with one final critical strike into its chest.

The giant zombie returned to his feet and scanned the area for any enemies. He found a harmful Pinkie on his left arm and failed to scrape her off with an axe. She climbed up the arm and around his neck, placing her sword in front of his neck and pulling backward. The giant zombie swung at her up to five times and only scraped her mane or tail every time. With one forceful pull, his head toppled to the ground and buried itself under his smoky corpse.

“Well, that was quite a fight,” Twilight verbally thought between her munches of another apple. “That wasn’t a lot compared to the monsters we fought earlier, though.”

“That’s because that wasn’t all of them,” Vincent responded while he pulled his sword out of a zombie. “There’s still a good batch of them left roaming about.”

“Where are they, then?” Pinkie swept the area like a security drone in search of hostiles.

“By now, twenty blocks from here. Considering that they’re clearing the area of trees, thus destroying their own cover, we should fight them from the inside rather than out here.” Vincent walked over to a skeleton’s dissipating remains and took its two arrows and worn bow. “If there are any bows or arrows lying around, be sure to take them as yours. You’ll need them very soon.”

“Alright, everypony, let’s return to Millstown.” Twilight waved a hoof to the doorway and trotted over to it. The rest of her fellow fighters walked through the doorway as well, ready for anything else that might pose themselves as a threat to them.