Chapter 1

Pain, nothing but pain blossoming in my head. Where am I? Why am I here? Oh right, the tower… Cheerful and Crystal. Wait, what's with the strange lights? We don't have electricity. Maybe Twilight did something? No, something was definitely wrong here

I willed my eyes to open, and they grudgingly complied

The bright lights above me made me squint, I slowly sat up and the throbbing in my skull dulled a bit

I looked around the room, it was stark white and the walls had several mirrors

'Someone was egotistic…' I thought

I looked down to avoid burning my eyes out because of the lights, the memories of what had happened flashing back through my head

The tower, the scream, Crystal and I rushing outside, the strange lights, the pain, the endless pain

I'd sort out that mess of a memory later, I had surroundings to observe

It took me a moment to figure out that not only was I stuck in a room, but I also had hooves again

"Every time I get used to the swap…" I trailed off

There was a mare, about as tall as King Valosag was, meaning that she towered over me. A radiant white coat and a ghostly mane that seemed to reflect the stars, and something else I couldn't place

I instantly knew who this was without the introduction

"The Queen of Equestria" I said simply

She nodded at me, "Pleasant to see you haven't dulled, pleased to meet you all."

"I am Queen Dolus" she introduced herself, "I hope you will have as wonderful of a time in the trials as I will."

Queen Dolus, the opposite of the King Valosag, what was the opposite or reality? It couldn't be anything like time or something crazy like that, or could it be?

"So what are you after?" I asked, "Dominion over Equestria or just crazed revenge?"

"I wouldn't say crazed revenge, but I'm proud of my daughters for taking charge the way they did." She frowned slightly, "Although my husband wasn't so eager to accept my point of view."

"We got acquainted." I said simply

"Of course you were, after you dethroned and killed him." The Queen shot me a glare

"You don't have to pretend to be friendly towards me" I shot, "I'm not dead, and there's a reason for that. What is it?"

The Queen chose to take a moment for that

"You're not… solely responsible."

My blood ran cold, she better not have-

"Don't fret, your friend and girlfriend are fine. For now."

I bit back a sarcastic comment about her calling Cheerful my 'girlfriend' and focused on the important bit

"For now?"

"As long as you behave" Dolus smiled, not a drip of kindness in it, "You're friends will be fine."

I had a thought, "How do I know you even have them?"

There was a slight glint of respect, but that quickly washed out from her eyes

"You're just going to have to trust me won't you?"

Then she turned tail and left the room

And there she left me to contemplate my fate

[…]

Of course I've always had a problem with keeping still, so I quickly set about looking around the room. It was no surprise on how quickly I got reacquainted with my new form, and my motions were now fluid and clean-cut

The air in the room tasted old yet not dusty, as if it was recycled or filtered. The walls were a strong material I didn't recognize. Not a single window, the bright lights above only served to help the feeling of the crushing earth around me

I felt panic fighting to take me, but cool logic said that this wasn't the time, and no matter what I did I had to find my friends, then I could have a heart attack

"One step at a time, eh?" I said aloud

I needed materials, I couldn't just punch my way out of here. But this queen had been smart, not a single thing in the lines of sticks or sand

I'd have to wait for the best opportunity to escape

[…]

Cheerful didn't miss my disappearance however, and the first pony she went to speak with was Princess Celestia

Of course Crystal was there to back her up, not wanting to miss out on another potential adventure

"The whole of Equestria is in a state of panic" Celestia said, "Several great heroes have been stolen in the dead of night."

"Several?" Cheerful asked, "Which ones?"

"A great mechanic named Star, from Trottingham." Celestia began, "A wonderbolt named Crisp Fire, of Cloudsdale. Even the captain of the royal guard Shining Armor has been taken from us."

"This is going to get interesting" Crystal cracked his knuckles

"Any idea why any of this is happening?" Cheerful pressed

"Sister, what of the Trials?" Luna asked

Celestia stiffened

"I think we're onto something here" Crystal said, "What are the trials again?"

"The King of Reality was our father yes" Luna said

"But we also had a mother" Celestia finished, "One who was quite obsessed with science, as such she started into genetic engineering before we had to stop them."

"It is likely that she has returned to continue her tests on our subjects" Luna shivered, "The trials could threaten all we hold dear."

[…]

It wasn't long before the doors opened again, this time with two really tough looking guards on the other side

"You will come with us to the Central Room" one said

I followed, not wanting to cause trouble before I knew what was going on

The Central Room that they spoke of was rather large, with a kitchen and several chairs sitting around the room. The roof was glass and showed nothing but endless night sky, not even a sunrise was visible

Several ponies were milling about, doing things and not interacting with any of the others in the room

I was ushered forward and the guards vanished out of sight

Chapter 2

"Well, look what we got here." A pony who was tinkering with a few metal bits looked up at me, "A new guy."

His coat was a darker blue than mine, his mane was black and messy, and his green eyes were behind a pair of coke bottle glasses

Aside from making me thankful for my decent vision, the stallion was the definition of 'grease monkey', looking like he cared more for his work than himself

"The name's Star" he held out his hoof, "What's yours?"

"Skarfly" I said

"Well, big stallion on campus" a mare sitting on a couch said, wearing a wonderbolt outfit, "I'm Crisp, thanks for asking."

This particular mare bore a striking resemblance to Spitfire, with the fire look about her. Red coat, yellow mane with red streaks through it that she kept in a ponytail. Something about the way she acted put me off, I wasn't sure why

"Skarfly!" a stallion I recognized trotted up

The captain of the royal guard himself, Shining Armor

"Good to see you safe and sound" I said, "So does anybody have any idea where we are?"

"No" Star was tinkering away again, "I'm working on finding that out."

"How many are here?" I asked

Shining Armor gestured at the room, "As many as you see here, we're all that's left."

"Some of us tried to…escape." Crisp grimaced, "Never made it back to us."

"Who were they?" I couldn't help but ask

"We hadn't had the chance to introduce ourselves" Star didn't look up, "At first they panicked, then attempted to take down the guards. Taken away after that."

"Forget about where we are" Shining said, "Let's focus on why we're here."

"I can explain that to you" the Queen's voice floated in from a platform

She was in royal garments that, to me, seemed extremely egotistic; the whole platform she stood on was floating behind some sort of protective field

"You each were chosen for a specific purpose in the Trials" she explained, "You will find that without those you started with by your side this will be no easier than your past endeavors."

I thought back to what I had accomplished before, each feat more insane than the last, what would I be pit against this time?

"What are the Trials?" Shining Armor demanded

"Each one of you are considered a 'hero'." The Queen spit the word like venom, "The trials you shall face will likely drive most of you to death, but these Trials do have a purpose."

"And what's that?" I quirked an eyebrow

[…]

Cheerful hacked through the forest trees, Crystal not far behind

Celestia and Luna promised to reveal more once they reached the ancient castle, there was much more left there that would answer their questions

Once the pair reached the large doors it was evident that there was plenty to do, Crystal cracked his knuckles and slammed his fist into the rubble of the doors

Cheerful held a torch, the darkness had to retreat from the flame

"What are we looking for here?" Crystal asked

"They never told us" Cheerful answered, "Look for super old ruins or markings."

"We're standing in them" Crystal quipped, "Finding something old in here would be impossible."

"Maybe we go down?" Cheerful reasoned, "Old stuff tends to get buried."

Crystal produced a diamond pickaxe, Cheerful took it from him and prepared to dig

A panel opened in the floor not five feet from where they stood, dust cascading into the depths

"Now we're talking" Crystal grinned widely, "We didn't even have to waste durability."

He took a pebbled and kicked it into the depths, it was a full ten seconds before it hit the bottom

Cheerful took the lead, holding the torch and forcing the shadows to retract from their feeble shelter of light, deeper and deeper into the resounding expanse beneath the Everfree Forest

Wooden struts began to appear, holding up the rock above, "looks like a mineshaft."

"What could they have been mining down here?" Crystal looked around, "Looks like nothing bu-"

His eyes laid upon stone brick lining, along with some mossy stone and cracked stone bricks, the pair knew what this had meant, the ponies had dug deep alright; they dug too deep

[…]

The group was soon led to a room where their supposed 'test' would begin, I was told specifically that I would be very valuable to the group during the test, and to keep myself alive

I took this with a grain of salt, as if anyone would need to trust the second greatest enemy I've ever had

The room was some shiny chrome, blackened with dark smears on the walls and ceiling. I could smell a faint scent that smelled like fire, a never ending blaze that caused me to remember a forest I used to live in, a long time ago

"What do you think we're up against?" Shining asked me

"I have no idea" I answered, "But if I'm your best bet out of there then we've got an issue."

I looked over to the far wall, a large black outline that I recognized as obsidian forming a large gateway, a small fire erupted into a full-fledged nether portal

"What in Equestria is that?" Star looked fascinated, "The power that must generate!"

They couldn't be serious, a portal to Hell? What were they thinking, were they high or something?

My first instinct was to draw my sword, unfortunately for me I had no sword to draw

"Step through the Gates, then your trials will begin."

I took a deep breath, "This isn't going to be fun."

"What choice do we have?" Shining Armor said, "We're going in."

I smirked, "I never said we weren't, let's take this head on."

I walked up first, looked back and gave an excited smile, finally some adventure again! I turned and entered the black gateway to god-knows-what

[…]

The purple mists cleared as I stepped onto grass, looking around I could clearly see rising hills and blocky forests, to my left the ocean spread as far as the eye could see. A calm breeze swept through the air as the others stepped into the land I had once called home

"Why are we so…Blocky?" Star asked, before examining his own hoof

"Fellas" I turned around, "Welcome to Minecraftia, the origin of Herobrine and myself."

Crisp looked unimpressed, Star looked fascinated and Shining Armor looked around

"So what are we doing here?" he asked

I pointed to a large amount of wooden and cobblestone structures off in the distance, in an area with no trees

"I think they'll have an idea of what's going on" I turned before taking a step towards the village

The group followed, the sun at our backs, and adventure ahead, I could trust Shining Armor, but the other two made me feel off, it was probably because I didn't know them very well

Shrugging off my unease, we reach the village

"Sweet lord" I said; shocked, "What happened here?"