It was an ordinary day in the land of Minecraftia. The blocky white sun floated lazily above the horizon, signaling afternoon for the world. Clouds hovered above the land, slowly drifting along the sky. Cows grazed in fields across the peaceful land, with the occasional moo. Pigs wandered in search of tasty foods to munch on. Sheep cluttered together in their herds, while chickens were roosting after having called out to the recently-risen sun. And in the village of Blockfield was a boy in light green and light grey clothes named David, who had gotten up and was headed to the local barn to play with the horses. It is with this young boy that our story begins.

David's POV

Once I reached the stables, I quietly opened the doors and snuck in, then quietly shut the doors behind me. The inside smelled of musty hay bales and horse body odor, but I soon got used to it. I could hear many grunts of horses as they spoke to each other in their horsey language. I crept my way through until I reached one particular stall and saw my dad's big adult horse inside. He had a reddish-brown body with large splotches of white in a few places. I opened the fence gate and quickly stepped inside. He grunted at the sight of me, and I pulled an apple out of my inventory.

"Hi, Starbringer." I said to the horse as I went over to him and held the apple in front of his face. His eyes focused on the apple and he lurched forward to grab it with his teeth. Letting him take ahold of the tasty snack, I went to his side and began patting him, feeling his short fuzzy-feeling hide on my arms. I felt a smile spread across my face while I waited for a moment for the horse to be distracted, and then grabbed onto his back and tried to lift myself up. The moment my feet left the ground, Starbringer began to whine and shake, and I quickly dropped back down onto the ground to calm him. I shushed him and began petting his body again and he soon settled down as he munched on his apple.

A moment later, I heard the door open up, with the sound of whistling as the ranch hand entered the building. With not even a moment of time, I quickly rushed to the wall right next to the fence gate and hid, hoping that I would be out of sight. He then began to speak.

"Alright guys, you know what time it is. Time to let you graze." the man said casually as he began to open the fence gates of various stalls before guiding the horses out. I began to sweat, knowing that I'd have to be lucky for him to not spot me. I heard him continue to whistle as the next stall over opened up. A moment passed before the ranch hand stepped over to our stable.

"What's this? Did someone leave you a treat?" the ranch hand remarked, having noticed the apple that Starbringer was finishing off. He opened up the gate and entered, somehow missing me as he went in to guide the horse. Seeing this as my chance, I stealthily crept to the gate and snuck out, turning my back to the ranch hand.

"David?" I heard from behind me and I froze, then slowly turned around to see Mr. Woolleg staring back at me. My face grew a fake smile.

"Hi..." I said sheepishly.

"You know you're not supposed to be here, kid. Not without an adult." the ranch hand said. I put my head down guiltily.

"I know... But I just really like horses." I told him, "And Mom doesn't want to go anywhere near them, and Dad's always too busy."

"I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm not your parents. If something bad were to happen to you, then we wouldn't hear the end of it. Don't pull something like this again." he directed. I nodded in understanding and left the stable.

Leaving the ranch, I ended up back on the road and looked around, pondering what I could do today while the sun was up.

After a moment of thinking, I was greeted by the sight of a boy in a white shirt with green pants emerging from his house. It was my best friend, Andrew. He noticed me and approached.

"Hey David. What do you wanna do?" he asked. I shrugged.

"I dunno. I wanted to ride the horses, but Mr. Woolleg sent me out." I told him.

"That's a shame..." He paused for a moment before leaning in close, "Do you still want to ride the horses?" I felt a smile crawl up my face.

"Yeah." I said, feeling a hint of eagerness rise up in my chest.

"Then, follow my lead." He began to crouch and walk over towards the fence that was containing the grazing horses. I followed close behind, and we both jumped over the fence. He hugged the wall of the building and looked out for any adults. I looked up at the sun to see it was a little ways off from directly above us. We wouldn't have a lot of time for fun if we were too slow.

After a moment passed, he nudged me and we both began to run for a nearby horse, trying to contain our laughter. The spotty gray horse had its head against the ground as it chewed on grass, and we took the opportunity to jump up onto it. Immediately, the horse noticed and began to whine, but Andrew and I held on. He climbed up its back and lifted me up as well. Before long, the horse started to run, and we could hear yelling as I noticed one of the ranch hands chasing. It started to get rough, and I clung onto the horse's back the best I could. It ran towards the fence with surprising speed, and just before it could crash into the barrier the horse leapt up, clearing the fence with ease.

The impact of the horse landing back on the ground was strong enough that Andrew and I both lost our grips on the horse and fell off its back onto the grassy block ground. I felt pain fill my body from the rough fall, but Andrew was quick on his feet. Even though the horse stood right by us without any anger, the same couldn't be said for the ranch hands, who were both coming right for us with curse words too vicious for our innocent heads.

"We need to go now!" Andrew said as he grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet. As we ran off, I spat out the dirt particles that had landed in my mouth during the fall.

A few moments later, we were on the other side of the village and confident that the ranch hands wouldn't catch us. Both of us were out of breath, but Andrew looked thrilled.

"That was crazy! We should mess with those guys again. They got so angry!" he said with a chuckle.

"We should get a horse of our own, that way we don't need an adult to play with it." I said.

"Yeah. But then we'd have to go out there..." he said with unease, looking out at the field beyond our village.

I heard my mom calling to me from our house. Looking at the sun, I realized that it was beginning to set.

"Oh, hey. My mom's calling." I told him. He nodded in understanding.

"I'll see you later, dude." he said. I nodded back and rushed to go back home, passing by many others that were getting their last plans for the day outside out of the way. I soon reached my house and went inside, closing the door behind me.

Right past the living room was the kitchen, which was where my mother was finishing making our dinner. My dad was sitting at the table in the dining room, talking about his day with her.

"Hi Mom." I said to her. She looked back at me.

"You made it just in time for dinner. Go ahead and take your seat." she directed, and I quickly sat down on a chair block right in front of Dad.

"How was your day, bud?" Dad asked. I shrunk down in my seat, trying to think of a way to tell my story without bringing up the bad parts of it.

"Well, uh... I watched the horses... and that was cool." I tried not to pause too much, but Dad caught on.

"You seem a little hesitant, David. Are you telling the truth?" he asked. Knowing that I was caught in a lie, I decided to confess.

"Well, I may have pet them a few times as well..." I admitted. As Mom was bringing the food in, she heard this and began to speak up.

"David, you know you need one of us to be there with you. What if a horse gets scared and ends up hurting you?" she said as she laid down steaks and baked potatoes in front of each of us.

"I know, I just... Horses are so cool." I said as I grabbed the steak and began to bite into it.

"I don't get the appeal." Mom said. "They're dangerous creatures. I'd rather leave them be." Hearing this, Dad spoke up.

"Horses are awesome. Taking care of one is like having a good friend. And sometimes bonds with an animal can be even stronger than bonds with a person." he told her, taking a bite of potato after every pause.

"For the so-called knight, you sure eat like an animal." Mom said to him, noting his habit of eating while talking. At this, Dad let out a chuckle.

"Sorry dear." he said, swallowing his food before continuing. "I think it's good that David likes to be around animals so much, but maybe next time try asking one of us to go with you." he suggested to me.

"Yes, Dad." I said after having finished the steak. Now, I moved onto the potato as the two spoke.

"So, I hear that they managed to get a special teacher, one straight from Diamond City itself, to come teach combat at the school." Mom told Dad. "The new time for school to open is now in five days." He continued to nod as she talked, and I wasn't sure if he was really listening. "They managed to build the school itself in under three days, but it seems that getting the teachers and staff was a lot more difficult."

"Well, I'll be sure to see if this so-called special teacher is as good as expected from a place as well-established as Diamond City." Dad promised. I wasn't very interested in the discussion they were having, so I quickly finished off my potato and spoke up.

"Can I go to bed?" I asked Mom. She noticed I had finished my meal and nodded, but gestured for me to wait.

"Remember, tomorrow we're going out to collect berries. Be ready for that." she reminded. I nodded in understanding. "Good night!" she said as I went into my room.

Outside was dark as nighttime set in, but my room was lit up by a single torch, which would keep any bad creatures away. I jumped onto my lime green bed and let out a yawn. The action today had gotten me tired out, and I wanted to quickly move onto the next day, so I rolled onto my side and felt myself slowly drift off to sleep.