Chapter 1: Back to work

I managed to sit up, my skull pounding as if I had smashed it into a wall forty times. I wondered if I had a concussion or something, but the sheer act of thinking was painful, I eased back onto my back.

What happened? Where was I? What happened to Cheerful? All of this was unclear as the room I was in was padded and grey.

I coughed, my throat dry. Perhaps my wind getting knocked out of me had something to do with it. The King of Reality packed a mean punch, and what was with the strange static? What was this?

"Someone chose to wake up." a voice said from the other side of the room

"Who are you?" I asked

"The name's Crystal" the voice answered

"Where are we?" I felt the plush material under my hands

Wait…. Hands?

I sat up suddenly, looking at my gloved hands

I did a quick once over of myself, I was wearing a dark brown vest over a grey shirt. My pants were a dark grey and my fingerless gloves were the same hue, with bits of metal on the knuckles.

I put my hand to my head, I was wearing flying goggles

I was my Minecraft skin, something I hadn't seen for a long time

"So yeah, we're back to our original forms." Crystal said

"Where are we?" I asked, sitting back down

"We're in New Baltimare" Crystal said, "After you blew it up."

"I don't think it'll be that easy this time" I rubbed the back of my head

"You won't find much, not even a stick."

My mind was racing, what could I do to escape this trial? Maybe there was a trick to it.

"Where's the bathroom?" I asked

"Behind you" Crystal said uninterested

I turned around and saw the toilet, I smiled and lifted the top off

I tore out a few of the components, one was a fantastic stick substitute, the other was a round bit of stone

Crystal remained in the shadow, I couldn't see him very well

"I think a lever is in order." I pressed the two items together, there was a flash and a lever was in my hand

"How did you think of that?" Crystal stood into the light, "That shouldn't have worked."

Crystal here was wearing a generic skin, his hair was black. He had headphones hanging over the back of his neck, a black plaid hoodie, a grey T-shirt, and black jeans.

"Well what are we waiting for?" Crystal asked

I held up a finger, then reached back into the pile of components, and chucked one piece into the camera that was watching us

It shattered

I threw the lever onto the wall, pulled it and opened the door

There was a guard on the other side, looking surprised to see me

I threw out my fist, knocking the stunned guard off her feet

'Hooves' I corrected myself

I motioned Crystal to follow me; if this was a secure place then I'd have to be careful. No screwing up this time.

And so it was no surprise when I got caught almost instantly

I fought through the basics of the prison with my fists, until I thought to take a weapon from a guard

A nightstick, wasn't a sword by any means but it was better than beating unarmored guards with my fists

I held the nightstick, it wasn't going to be easy breaking out of this place on my own

Then it occurred to me, where was Crystal?

It was easy to figure out once the stream of prisoners came flooding out of the hallways and cells

They were all Minecraft characters and skins, but if this got too out of hand Equestria wouldn't make it out of this

I made my way to the warden's office, but this proved to be a bad idea, the warden was heavily armored and armed

Luckily I knew how to use my limbs and was able to avoid the stream of arrows that were shot my way, I narrowly dodged the fire charge thrown at my face

"You monsters shall not harm this land!" the warden shouted

"I wasn't planning on it." I said, jumping up and landing on the warden's back

I held on for dear life, thank Notch for fingers! I was bucked back and forth as the warden attempted to fling me off of his back

I grabbed the horn of the armor, trying to hang on a bit better. The helmet had latches on the neck

What happened next was combat instinct, I unlatched the helmet right before I was thrown. It came off in my hand, revealing the unicorn horn underneath.

I was shocked to see who was under that helmet

"Shining Armor?"

The captain stopped, looked at me

"How do you know who I am?" he demanded

"My name's Skarfly" I said, "And I just want to know the situation out in Equestria."

"You can't be Skarfly" Shining Armor asserted, "He died a year ago."

"Do I look dead?" I asked, "I know a way to prove it too."

I reached into my vest pocket, pulling out a ratty journal

"The crafting journal…" Shining Armor instantly knew what it was

"I need to escape." I said, "But why are all these players here?"

"The crack in the sky" Shining Armor said, "They fell in through there."

"Reality is collapsing" I said, "We need to fix this, and the stakes are high. I don't know how long it'll hold."

"The only way out is through the door in my office, I can't go." Shining Armor said, "I hope you can handle it this time."

I went through the doors, I saw a sword and helmet in the chest, they were a stone sword and a leather cap

I threw on the cap and slung the sword over my back, then I snuck out the back doors

As soon as I was a safe distance I started to sprint away from the prison, it was called New Baltimare, that didn't mean we were in Equestria

I needed a ride to Ponyville

I looked to the side and smiled, "This will do nicely."