The Hero of Tested Metal
A rust colored earth pony stallion woke up to an impenetrable darkness. It was hard for
him to know if he was still asleep or truly awake, but the smell of old stone, the faint sound of
dripping water, and the feeling of being watched assured him of the latter. He took a step
forward, but quickly stepped back when he felt something scurry away from under his hoof.
Looking around, the pony tried to find any source of light, and was delighted to see a faint
glow not too far off from where he was. Slowly, he shuffled his hooves forward still feeling
things scurry away from him as he progressed. He finally made it to the light. The light itself
came from a ghostly flame hovering some distance above him with many more scattered
throughout a cavernous room. The room itself was incredibly huge and the walls of the room
were too far away to see. After taking in the enormity of the room, the stallion noticed
something strange. The middle of the room was filled with almost perfect square blocks of the
same stone that the room was made of. He shuffled closer, curious as to what these features
were. The first wall he came to was bare, nothing on it except moisture that dripped on it from
the ceiling. On the other side was a strange marking, it didn't seem like something that he had
ever seen before, so he disregarded it. The third side held something much more interesting.
Behind strange metal bars with runes etched into them, was a large lizard. It stared at him with
unblinking eyes, but it looked like it could care less about his presence. The stallion smiled
and waved at it, but the only response he got was another intense stare.
“I would step back from the cage if I were you.” The stallion bolted around to see a
unicorn standing there. Before he had a chance to greet the newcomer, something slimy and
stretchy grasped his throat. He was thrown against the bars of the cage with tremendous force
and he could feel his life slowly being squeezed out of him. Out of the corner of his eye, he
could see the lizard with its mouth wide open, and its tongue stretching through the bars. The
other pony wasted no time. He leaped forward getting a grip on the tongue with his teeth. As
he pulled, the captive pony could feel the air reenter his lungs. The unicorn then bit through
the tongue and threw it over his shoulder. Blood spewed from the tongue, coating the ground
and both the ponies. The unicorn licked the blood trickling from his mouth, and spoke to the
other pony who was trying hard to catch his breath, “What are you doing here? This isn't the
cell block for ponies. I don't know how you got out, but I'm going to have to take you back to
your cell. But not before properly punishing you of course.”
The stallion was confused by the unicorn's words, and he looked up in surprise. What
he saw came as a shock to him. The first thing that he noticed was the other ones imposing
size. He was easily double the height of a full grown stallion, and probably also twice as
strong. The next thing he noticed also happened to be the strangest. It looked like the ponies
body was crisscrossed with veins of silver.It pulsated and flowed. It was both beautiful and
grotesque, and they all emanated from his cutie mark: a silver star. After the initial shock, the
earth pony answered his question, “I don't know where I am, sir. I just... woke up here.”
The larger pony frowned, “Just woke up here? Tell me your name.”
“Copper Head.”
“Copper Head, huh?” The monstrous pony used his magic to conjure a large piece of
paper. After thoroughly examining the list, the unicorn dismissed it in a puff of smoke, “It
seems like you aren't on the list, which means you aren't dead. But that makes no sense. No
pony in their right mind would willingly enter Tartaros.”
Copper Head's eyes widened and his voice became uneasy, “T-T-Tartaros?”
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The unicorn, who called himself High Noon, led Copper Head to his room within the
prison. It looked simple enough from the outside. Another one of those cubes but with a
wooden door instead of bars, and a different looking symbol on the side of it. High Noon
opened the door revealing a much bigger and more complex room than could be physically
possible.
High Noon noticed his expression and smiled, “Don't you just love magic?”
Copper Head nodded and followed him into the room. It looked sort of like a library, but
with noticeable hints of a rancher's life such as cowboy hats, lassos, saddles, etc. High Noon
led him to a simple wooden table and pulled up a chair. Copper Head sat down while High
Noon pulled out a book from one of the shelves and started flipping through it. The unicorn put
the book down after he seemed satisfied with what he had found. “It looks like you are an
astral projection. Meaning, your physical body is probably sleeping in bed, and you spirit is
what is here before me. Which also explains why that ghost eater attacked you. Nasty things.
They only eat spirits and butterflies.”
“Why butterflies?” Copper Head inquired.
High Noon shrugged, “I don't know. Maybe because they're unnatural. I mean have
you seen them up close? They're beautiful from far away, but look into their face and you'll
know the true face of evil.”
“Uh... Yeah... sure.” Copper Head scratched his head, “But how do I get back to my
body?”
“Simple. Just wake up. You know how to wake up, right?”
“Uh...” Copper Head punched himself, but with no results. “I guess not.”
“Well, you had the right idea. With enough shock, one can wake themselves; but you
might not want to leave just yet. Let me tell you a bit about this place first.” High Noon then
began his long story about how he became trapped in Tartaros. High Noon called himself one
of the Doomed, ponies who were servants of a dragon he named only as Doom. Learning his
true name would automatically make you a target, and he would certainly find and retrieve you
no matter where you hid. The Doomed were forced to make sure that none of the monsters
left their cages, and in total there were two other Doomed that High Noon knew of, even
though they almost never saw each other. One pony was unknown to him. He saw him before,
but was unable to learn anything about him. The other pony was practically a legend.
Somepony that most ponies would die to meet: Wonderbolt.
Copper Head was amazed, “Wonderbolt? THE Wonderbolt? HERE?”
High Noon nodded, “Yup. Back in my day, the called him 'The greatest thing that
happened to flying since wings.' He practically invented aerial acrobatics, and I even hear they
named some group after him.”
Copper Head nodded, “Yeah, the Wonderbolts! But why is he here? Why are you
here?”
The unicorn shook his head, “I'm afraid I don't want to tell you that. It's personal. You
understand right? I... wait... are you?” The unicorn looked at the earth pony's side, which
Copper Head quickly hid. High Noon used his magic to move away Copper Head's tail,
revealing a blank flank. “Ha! I knew it!”
Copper Head hid his flank again, his cheeks turning a brighter shade of red, “It's not
my fault I don't have a cutie mark! I just haven't found my special talent yet!”
High Noon smiled, “Don't be embarrassed! This fact actually brings everything to light.
The reason you're here is that you're the same as me! That's why you can use an astral
projection without being a unicorn, and why it brought you here to me! This is exciting! I
thought the order died shortly after I became Doomed.” He paced the room excitedly as he
spoke, finally turning to Copper Head to say, “I know exactly how to get you cutie mark!”
Copper Head jumped out of his chair, sharing the same excitement as the unicorn,
“Really? How?”
High Noon hopped onto the table which groaned under his weight, “All you have to do
is....” He was cut short by a low growl, and the unicorn's excitement turned into pure terror,
“No... it can't be.” He ran over to the door and looked out. There was nothing out of the
ordinary, but another growl shook the ground and some books rattled off of the bookshelves.
High Noon slammed the door shut, ran over to Copper Head and started shaking him, “You
need to wake up! Now!”
Copper Head started to get really scared, “What is it? What's coming?”
High Noon kept shaking him, “That's not important! Wake up before he gets here!” The
growl started to get louder, and footsteps started to disturb the furniture in the house.
Everything was shaking and falling off shelves. Potted plants were thrown to the floor and
books became scattered all over the place. Copper Head felt something hit his head. He
looked up to see that the roof was collapsing. No. The roof was being pulled off. Large talons
pierced through the walls, causing large cracks to run throughout the stone and more
chunks of the ceiling come falling down. With a great rumble, the roof was
finally pried off the rest of the house and a gargantuan monstrosity
loomed into view. Looking down at the two was a dragon tall enough to reach the
ceiling of the dungeon and horrid enough to make Cerberus run away like
a scared puppy. “Wake up, Copper Head!” High Noon continued to shake
him with renewed fervor. The dragon looked down at them with piercing red eyes as he
reached with his other clawed hand into the house, grabbing at the two ponies. “Wake up!”