This was not good, those horses led by Rosemary had not only forced their way into the old castle but seemed to be hell bent on capturing him... or worse... He did however have one advantage over them, he knew this castle. He may not have been in this new world for very long and he may have spent even less of his time here in this castle but he had explored it thoroughly when he first found it. Luke knew where each hallway led, where shortcuts we're, good points to defend from, how he could surprise attack those horses and then suddenly disappear back into the shadows, yes he would make those horses pay for chasing him for the better part of today.
He ran back inside the castle's main hall just in time to see the group of horses rushing up a staircase towards the second level of the castle which he was on. But they had already made a mistake, they had gone up the far staircase closer to the thrones while he had one closer to him which not only led down to the main floor but also the dungeon. He took advantage of this of course and while the horses went up he went down. Staying as quiet as possible on the cold stone floor he ran down the stairs and into the dungeon where he would plan his next move.
Rosemary could not believe it, twice now that strange creature had eluded her. On top of that he had nearly killed her and had injured Sword, her Sword, he had come into the guard around the same time as her and they had a long history together, one which she deeply treasured and kept close to her heart. Not much got in the way of her work as a sergeant in the Equestrian Royal Guard (Not Army) but Sword had always been one of the few exceptions. He had always been there for her through basic training, and on those long nights while on duty guarding their beloved 'Princess Of The Sun' which was one of her many titles. Whenever Rosemary seemed to need him he was always there for here, and she as his commanding officer just couldn't do her fucking job and keep him safe. He had been injured following her orders.
When she saw the glare come from this castle's gantry she knew that it must have been associated with this creature and the strange weapon he possessed, and out of instinct she ducked. However that left whatever projectile that weapon fires to go right over her head and straight into Sword's leg. When she heard him scream and fall to the ground it had made time seem to stop all around her, and when she saw him on the ground in pain something seemed to go off in her... and she swore she was going to make this creature pay for that.
Except she hadn't, she had ordered Flash to take Sword back to where she had left two other guards and princess to keep him safe. He had protested of course but she had long since grown accustomed to this, he always seemed to be calm and collected, and wanted too always do his duty, he could seemingly talk himself out of any situation where she would probably have to fight her way out. Those where some of the reasons why she admired him so much.
But when she got to the castle's gantry she didn't see the creature. She looked everywhere and nearly went mad trying to find it, however Sharp was able to somewhat calm her down and show her another staircase that the creature had likely used to evade them. Needless to say she was now extremely pissed off.
"Okay where going after him then" she said in a cold but determined manner.
"Sharp take Stormfast and Lance and search the upper floors of the castle, ill take the dungeon with Red Storm and Iron Buck" she added.
"Understood" Sharp replied. With that the ponies split up, with half of them going up to the upper floors and the other half going down to the dungeon.
As Luke walked through the dark hallways that made up the dungeon he began to really think for the first time since he was here. Before he was always in danger or had more encompassing problems before. Hell he was still in danger currently... but he had at least for now lost his pursuers, and so that gave him some down time.
He began to think back to the party with that mysterious man, and how he seemingly transported him here. It was an unsettling experience. He then realized something else, how the fuck did that Rosemary manage to block a sniper rifle's bullet with a fucking bubble. It looked like the same one that man from the party had, however that support beam had fallen through it. Actually now that I think about it how the fuck are those bubbles even made, it's almost like magic exists...
"No,no,no,no, magic does not exist here, magic does not exist at all. Magic is just a fictional concept created by medieval storytellers, The Catholic Church, and kings because they needed an explanation as to why certain things occurred the way they did. Magic DOES NOT exist... period".
However recent events contradicted that completely.
"Those weird bubbles, the man from the party hitting him with a green ball of flame that came from his hands, Rosemary being able to shoot a laser beam out of her horn... Wait she's a unicorn, and aren't unicorns associated with magic, that's like their thing".
Confused, tired, and now beginning to get a headache Luke sat down on the cold stone floor. He couldn't believe what was happening... No, he'd wake up soon at the party, back on Earth, where Elizabeth was still alive, the man was nowhere to be seen, and he would find out that he had slipped and fallen on the floor and gone unconscious. This was all just a weird and fucked up dream. One which would soon fade from existence and into memory, except it didn't.
No matter how hard he tried he just couldn't wake up. He tried forcing himself to wake up, pinching himself, and even pouring water from his canteen over his face to try and wake himself up, although sadly nothing he did worked.
"Ahh what the fuck!" he yelled out in frustration. This was now getting on his nerves, and his situation was about to get a lot worse.
"He's over there come on!" he heard Rosemary shout.
"Fuck" Luke thought, he'd punish himself for allowing him to be found so easily later when he was safe, with that he took off deeper into the dungeon.
What followed was effectively two and a half hours of a game of cat and mouse, only the loser here would be awarded death. Luke had managed to disappear back into the dark depths of the dungeon again after stupidly revealing his position to those horses, using his night vision scope he eventually was able to sneak past them and out of the dungeon. Only to meet another group of horses on the other side of the fucking door like this was a goddamn Tom And Jerry scene from Cartoon Network.
After a 5 second stare down of shock and surprise from both sides Luke bolted away from them, but not back down the stairs as he knew that he could be intercepted by Rosemary's group as apparently they had split up. He fired his machine gun at the following horses as they chased after him through hallways, rooms, and even through the library from the other night. Eventually he lost them by diving through a hidden trapdoor which led to him being deposited outside of the castle. He then re-entered the castle determined to end this little game once and for all. after ten minutes of searching he finally managed to locate all six horses in the main hall while they seemed to be trying to figure out what to do, along with Rosemary seemingly losing her mind.
"Sharp you don't get it do you, I have not failed the princess once, you hear me, once, and I am certainly not starting today!" Rosemary yelled out.
"Rosemary please calm down" the older horse said.
"You'll do no good to anypony if you go insane over this creature" Sharp added.
"Anypony? Creature? Is that what they call themselves, ponies?" Luke thought.
"I'm sure that we'll find him again, and when we do we'll capture him" Sharp said.
"But what if we don't" Rosemary said.
"I don't know but something tells me he is closer than we think" Sharp said.
By now growing tired of this and wanting this to be over in general Luke decided to make himself known to the horses or ponies, whatever they called themselves.
"Look Rosemary we're two ponies down and this creature has proved to be very elusive and dangerous" Sharp stated.
"Okay so they do call themselves ponies then, what a strange name for horses" Luke thought.
"So what are you suggesting we do?" Rosemary said.
"Head back, assess the situation, and go from there" he replied. Luke even mentally agreed that with Sharp that under these circumstances that would be a good decision, however Rosemary didn't.
"And report to Princess Celestia that we failed to capture the target, I don't think so" she replied.
"Oh come on Rosemary we've been at this all day. Let's just head back to Ponyville, stay the night, and come back in the morning" he said.
"If you think that I'm just going to-" Rosemary began but Luke had had enough of hearing her speak and wanted to get this over with already. These horses we're so busy talking that they didn't even notice him walking up on their flank.
"-and that is why we are staying here until we find this creature, got it!" Rosemary stated.
"Fine" Sharp replied grudgingly.
"Good now where is he" she added. However she nor any of the other ponies noticed the human walking up behind them.