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?"