Original cover art done by Sharpieboss before I absolutely wrecked it. Check out his art here!

From The Ground Up

Chapter (0): Exordium

Princess Luna walked amongst the empty halls of the castle that she shared with her sister, her hooves gently clopping against the polished marble floor with every step that she took. It was late at night; everypony that wasn't the Moon Princess should've been quietly sleeping, snoring, and dreaming, save for the few Royal Guards that were still doing their duties. Luna had once despised walking alone in the grand and empty hallways during the times that she co-reigned, but now she found it to be relaxing, almost peaceful.

The midnight blue alicorn continued to walk, slowly and ponderously, while she thought about the recent and mysterious event that befell her sister's most faithful student and the other Bearers of Harmony. What could possibly have opened up a gateway between two different dimensions? questioned the Princess of the Night. And for what purpose?

Luna stopped her musings when she walked by her sister's room. She noticed that there was light shining through the bottom of the door, indicating that Celestia was still up. There was also a notable absence of Royal Guards outside her bedroom. Concerned, Luna knocked on the door and asked, "Sister? Is everything alright?"

The Princess of the Stars heard a grumble and some shuffling of pages through the door. "You might as well come in, Luna. Maybe both of our minds put together can make sense of this."

Princess Luna cautiously opened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind her. Celestia was lying on her bed with paper strewn everywhere: there were pages of text strewn this way and that. One piece of paper was even resting gently atop her head.

"Tia? What's going on? Why are you up at this hour?" asked Luna as she slowly trotted closer to her sister.

Celestia yawned, weakly raising a hoof to cover her mouth. "The Royal Translator, Cipher, finished transcribing the journal that Twilight Sparkle brought back with her. I've been reading through ever since."

"Celestia," began Luna cautiously. "How long ago did you receive the translated version?"

"Eighteen hours ago," was the tired reply.

"Sister! You must go to bed this instant! Our royal duties cannot be neglected, no matter how interesting this creature's notes may be!" exclaimed Princess Luna.

"I know, Lulu," responded Celestia, using her childhood nickname for her sister, "but I've felt guilty ever since Twilight told me her tale of how much the creature did for her and the other Bearers of Harmony. He--"

"He?" questioned Luna.

Celestia nodded. "Yes, 'He'. Twilight's assumption along with how the notes are written indicate that the creature was indeed male. Anyway, it seemed that whatever goals he had before Twilight and her friends entered his world were put aside and replaced with a single mission: 'to get the ponies home'."

Sighing, the Princess of the Sun continued. "The biped, creature, whatever his name actually was...his life was incredibly difficult compared to ours, yet he still helped the six out of the kindness of his heart. He even gave them names based upon their personality and traits."

Luna glanced over at one of the pages on her sister's bed. She saw the words 'Daybreak', 'Benevolence', 'Spectrum', 'Joy', 'Apple', and 'Charity' capitalized.

"How strange it must feel," muttered the Moon Princess, realizing just how apt the names were, "to be christened by a creature that does not speak and yet seems to know you inside and out." Adjusting her wings, Luna asked, "Have you spoken to the Elements regarding the creature's journal, sister?"

Celestia shook her head, her normally brilliantly flowing mane limp and lustreless. "Not yet," she sighed. "I sent them all back to Ponyville after I realized that it would be too much of a temptation for them to remain near the portal, and I haven't called them back yet."

"But the portal isn't operational," Luna argued.

"I don't know how long it will remain that way, sister of mine."

After a brief silence, Celestia added, "I promised Twilight that I would alert her as soon as the journal was finished being transcribed, but now I'm not sure if I should allow her to read it."

Luna blinked, surprised at her sister. "Why not?"

With a sigh, Celestia asked, "You and I both know that the Elements will go straight back to the portal to try to find the creature again, right?"

The Lunar Princess nodded. "With their luck, the portal will reactivate the second they return," said Luna wryly.

"Exactly. There are things that go bump in the night, sister, that I'd prefer to shed my own blood to destroy rather than instil fear in my little ponies. Likewise, I'd rather lose sleep over a creature not of our world's journal before I let my student and her friends read something that might possibly send them off to their deaths."

Luna opened her mouth to counter, but slowly closed it when she realized that her solar sister was right. The Bearers of Harmony were the epitome of some of the greatest traits of ponykind, but even they weren't prepared for whatever the cube world threw at them; the fact that a native of the land was their only salvation only further proved that point.

"I...understand your hesitation, sister," said Luna quietly. After a brief pause in their conversation, Luna asked a question that had gone unspoken between them ever since Twilight and company had returned.

"What if something from the other world comes here?"

Celestia turned to face her sister. "If that happens, I can only hope that it is peaceful."

"And if it isn't?" questioned the dark blue alicorn.

Celestia's horn hit up in a soft, golden glow, the telltale sign that she was using magic. From the lockbox that the Sun Princess kept at her bedside at all times, a beautiful, silver sword emerged. The golden pommel was emblazoned with rubies and topaz in the shape of Celestia's cutie mark. Luna had only been on the receiving end of that sword once; she had never forgotten how truly terrifying her sister could be when she wielded Aubade.

"If it isn't..." said Celestia while examining her tired reflection in the polished surface.

"...Then we'll be ready."

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A once majestic castle, now fallen into disrepair. A triumphant arch and magnificent towers; ruined now by the vines that grow between the blocks. Magical, glowing stones that once provided illumination against the onslaught of the Night now only give the hallowed ground a back-lit ambiance in which monsters scurry and scuttle.

My backyard certainly has changed since I left.

It seems like only yesterday I waved goodbye to my parents with my friend and companion Porkchop at my side, intent on exploring the world and all that it held. I didn't feel guilty about leaving my parent's by themselves; they could take care of themselves better than I ever could.

What I do feel guilty about, however, is not having been there when everything went to Hell. It certainly seems fatalistic when I think about it like that, but they're the only family I had, Porkchop excluded.

Bah. I've been staring at the beautiful architecture from the outskirts, and I've come to the realization that Mother was, and always will be, a greater builder than I. The lines intersect perfectly, the colours aren't obtuse or poorly-fitting, the spacing is precise... I could never create something this beautiful. Even now, after months, if not years of decay, the castle is a truly perfect hybrid of functionality and artistry.

I wonder if my tomb will be this nice.

...

I know that I probably shouldn't be that pessimistic, but I foresee no other conclusions based upon the overwhelming evidence: my parents are dead.

Still, that doesn't mean that I can't pay my respects to my sires. And if I slay every single monster in my way while I do so, then my vengeance shall be all the sweeter.

I pulled out my current sword, a rusty iron one. My diamond sword was lost after I fell into a sinkhole several weeks ago, and my replacement has not held up to the plethora of environments that I've travelled through in recent days.

With the twisted reflection of a smile grimly plastered upon my face, I began my slow, ponderous march towards the front gates.

I know you're out there somewhere, Uncle. Watching. Always watching. Even before you fell to darker powers, all you ever did was watch and observe. Maybe you always were destined to fall...or maybe you were always a monster, deep inside.

My name is Steve. And you, Herobrine, will not be able to escape my wrath. You will pay for everything you've done to the ponies and I.

Believe me when I say this, Uncle Herobrine: there will be no safe place for you in the entirety of this cube world that we call home.

I will find you.

And I will kill you.

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Talus the Skeleton was not having a very good day.

First, he had been forced to work with a group of the lesser species, namely a Zombie named Mort and a Spider named Rach.

Second, he had lost his bow in a pit of lava in the cavern that they were sent to retrieve one of the final ingredients for the master's plan. Talus had received that bow from the hands of the Old One himself, and he had lost it in a scuffle with a couple of rogue Creepers.

Third, he was being forced to be the one who presented the master with his prize.

While the third thing may not seem that bad, Talus knew that only four of the fifty-seven other Skeletons that entered the master's quarters had lived to tell the tale of strange experiments and the tortured screams of other Night Dwellers. Well, not really lived per se, as all Skeletons were more or less dead, but they escaped from the master unscathed.

Talus really didn't like the thirteen and three quarters to one odds on whether he would step back out of the obsidian doors after he stepped in. Shaking in fear, the Skeleton looked behind him to see the reanimated corpse that was called Mort give him a nod while moaning something that could be roughly translated into encouragement.

Taking a deep breath that did absolutely nothing, Talus pushed open the heavy obsidian doors with rattling bones and stepped within the master's quarters.

The Skeleton took a quick look around. It was dark; very dark. The only light came from five blue-flamed torches placed into the ground in a rough pentagram. There was a pedestal in the center of the five-sided shape with an unknown purpose. The walls seemed to be made out of a strange, yellowish-white stone that Talus had never seen before. The pattern was similar to cobblestone, but that was where any semblance of familiarity ended.

Talus' black, eyeball-less sockets were blinded by a sudden flash of red, blinding light that originated somewhere in front of him. The bone creature tried to blink in an attempt to speed up his eyesight's recovery, but not having eyelids made that task quite difficult.

"Ah," said the voice that would give Talus nightmares if he was capable of sleeping. "The last piece of the puzzle has arrived."

The object that the Skeleton was holding was holding onto as if his life depended on it (which it was) was wrenched out of his grasp. As Talus' eyesight slowly recovered, the Night Dweller saw his master standing a metre away, it's hand grasped onto the gem tight enough to crack the nigh-indestructible green stone.

Fearing for his life, Talus fell to his knees, bones rattling away as he did so.

"Oh, stand back up, you insufferable pile of bones," barked the master. Talus quickly complied, struggling to his blocky-boned feet.

"I have fetched the gem as you requested, master," clicked Talus in Skeletonian.

The master stopped looking at the green stone and turned its attention to Talus. "I don't 'request', Skeleton. I order," clarified the master.

If Talus had an esophagus , he would've gulped.

"Y-Yes master," Talus chittered. "Do you require anything else, master?"

The master paused for a second before answering. "I do require one last ingredient, Talus of the Skeletons. Follow me." With that, the broad-shouldered master winked out of existence, only to appear in the middle of the torch pentagram.

Reluctantly, Talus followed.

When the Skeleton arrived at the edge of the blood red line that surrounded the pentagram, the master called him over.

"Step within the circle, Talus. Oh, and if you smudge one of the lines, I will grind you into bone meal and feed you to my Nether Wart garden."

The Skeleton carefully stepped over the line, forcing his bones to stop rattling in their sockets. He slowly approached the master, who was standing in front of the pedestal while holding a vial of black liquid in one hand and the green gem in the other.

"Finally...after nearly an entire month of setbacks, my grand scheme has almost come to fruition."

Talus watched as the master crushed the gem in his fist and placed the grains within the vial of black liquid, somehow without missing a single particle. The liquid began to bubble and froth almost immediately, almost as if it was alive.

"Only one more ingredient remains," began Herobrine, the one who had discovered the intelligence that resided within the monsters of the Night and brought it forth, only asking eternal servitude in exchange for sapience.

"The spark of life."

If Talus had skin, he would've paled. The Skeleton knew that he had been called here for a reason.

He just wished that it wasn't this reason.

Talus sighed. He knew that his re-death wouldn't hurt; he didn't have any nerve endings. Perhaps he would come back as something else. Maybe a chicken. Yeah, being a chicken would be nice. Talus had always wanted to fly. Chickens could fly, right?

"Goodbye, master. Have a pleasant trip," rattled the Skeleton.

"Oh, I will."

The last thing Talus saw through his eye sockets before his existence faded away was the liquid from the vial emerging from its glass container and floating surreally in the air, stretching out to form some sort of rectangle.

Herobrine's normally pure white eyes were flecked with tinges of red as he smiled at the fallen Skeleton.

"I will indeed."