Luna woke from her night of dreamwalking feeling far more refreshed than normal. She stretched and lowered the moon, managing to time it perfectly with Celestia’s raising of the sun, before trotting lightly to the dining hall.
"Good morning, Tia," she greeted her sister, who was setting out pancakes.
"You’re rather awake this morning," the sun princess noted.
Luna laughed softly. "Not many nightmares last night," she half-shrugged. "Those pancakes look delicious. Are there enough for me?"
Celestia laughed. "Who are you and what have you done with my sister," she teased. "But yes, there are plenty. Twilight and her friends will be joining us for breakfast. In fact, I believe I hear them now."
Twilight walked in, rubbing her eyes. "Good morning, Princesses."
Luna stretched a wing. "Good morning, Twilight. Starlight, Spike, Fluttershy, welcome. Rainbow Dash, you may need to visit a therapist based on your dream last night."
The blue pegasus’s magenta eyes darted around. "I... I’ve never had that dream before... Are you sure?"
Fluttershy caught Luna’s smirk and giggled. "Rainbow, I think she was joking."
"Yup, totally!" Pinkie Pie said, somehow darting from under Luna’s wing. She decided not to question it... it was Pinkie Pie, after all. The pony could give Discord a run for his title of Chaos Incarnate. The idea of Pinkie Pie being Discord sent a shiver down Luna’s spine. She greeted Applejack and Rarity as the two came in the door before they all sat down to eat. Light small talk arose among the group.
"I don’t mean to be rude," Fluttershy said during a lull in the conversation, "but, um, why did you call us here, Princess?"
"Well... I suppose Discord could explain better than I," Celestia sighed.
"Why, hello, my little ponies!" Discord exclaimed, walking in from his odd chaos realm while tossing a small, tender smile in the direction of Fluttershy, who saw and blushed. "Yes, well, you all know of my ability to sense magic power surges and imbalances, correct?" The ponies and Spike nodded. "Well, I felt a tingle very similar to that last night, small, but determined to stay. Of course, I had to investigate, and when I traced it to its source I found a glowing symbol etched on the side of Mt. Lunaria in the Unicorn Mountain Range." He snapped his claws and a symbol appeared- a circle flanked by wings with three triangles underneath it. "Now, I don’t know what-"
He was interrupted by a gasp from Luna when she realized what that symbol was. "Are you alright, Princess?" Starlight asked.
Luna cleared her throat. "Yes, I am fine. I know this symbol. It is called the Delta Rune."
"Delta Rune?" Twilight asked. A puzzled expression spread across her muzzle. "I’ve never read about that in any of the symbol encyclopedias I’ve used."
"You wouldn’t have," Luna explained. "From what I understand, it is from another world."
"That raises the question of how you know about it," Starlight pointed out.
Pinkie gasped. "IS PRINCESS LUNA AN INTERDIMENSIONAL TRAVELER?"
"Not in the waking world, at least."
Celestia was intrigued now. "Are you saying that you learned of this Delta Rune during a dream? Or maybe while dreamwalking?"
"Indeed, just last night. I met a king named Asgore in his dreams. He leads the kingdom this Delta Rune is the symbol of."
"Oh, and what was he like?" Twilight asked, obviously eager to learn about a new civilization.
"Well... he was... very kind, to be sure, but, the only problem I could foresee with his kingdom interacting with Equestria beyond it being in another dimension is that his kingdom is the Kingdom of Monsters."
"Beggin’ your pardon, Princess, but did ya say monsters? As in, the Bugbear and the Chimera?" Applejack frowned.
"Well, I don’t actually know. They seem a different sort. Intelligent, certainly, and masters of combat magic, so I’d hesitate to say they’re anything like the monsters we know beyond name. And... I trust Asgore. I saw the depths of his memory... he’s experienced immeasurable heartache without being embittered by it. He lost his children to humans, as one gave their life so that the monsters could be free of their underground prison, and the other was killed trying to take his sibling’s body to a suitable resting place in their village. And yet he was cordial, even warm when meeting me, even after I explained my role as a dreamwalker and he understood he was dreaming."
"I’d like to meet him," Fluttershy mumbled. "He sounds very nice."
"Discord, you said this symbol was near Mt. Lunaria?" Starlight clarified.
He nodded. "The south slope, to be precise."
"I believe I will investigate it if that’s alright with you, Tia," Luna met her sister’s eyes.
"Certainly, that’s fine," Celestia nodded. "I’m intrigued as to what this is myself."
"I suppose I could find the time to bring you there," Discord sighed dramatically after looking at a watch he’d summoned. Luna rolled her eyes. "But only if Fluttershy gets to come."
Luna grinned. "I have no qualms, but you wouldn’t mind bringing Starlight, would you? If this is dangerous I’d prefer to have somepony else skilled in combat magic just to be safe."
"Hey, I’m game if you are, Discord," Starlight shrugged.
"Sure, sure, but let’s get over there quickly." He snapped his fingers and the four of them were suddenly a great deal colder and they faced a mountain. True to Discord’s word, the Delta Rune stood etched into the mountainside, glowing with a rainbow light. Luna approached it and fired a thin, short blast at the symbol. A tiny piece of the rock broke off, and light spilled from the crack.
"I believe this is a portal," Luna finally decided.
"Should we... open it?" Fluttershy asked, her eyes wide.
"Starlight, your opinion? Discord?"
"I’ve not had the best experience with portals... but, Twilight would kill me if I didn’t bring back some information, so as long as this doesn’t summon another shadow demon, I’m willing."
"Oh, what’s the fun in being scared?" Discord chuckled. "Let’s see what awaits us!" He collected power and started blasting the rock. Luna and Starlight joined while Fluttershy wisely flew a short distance away. The rock hummed, and the magic users cut off the flow of power. A swirling glow came from the rock. Fluttershy rejoined the group as Luna ran a diagnostic spell.
"This is indeed a portal. It leads to somewhere that isn’t limbo, but nowhere in this dimension." she eventually said after it had completed.
"Alright, well... I guess we... go through?" Fluttershy took a deep breath.
"Let’s do it." Starlight’s face showed a look of commitment and determination. Luna shared her look. The four strode forth, the glow embracing them softly.
-Snowdin Town, five minutes earlier-
"SANS, GET UP, YOU LAZYBONES! A HUMAN COULD BE COMING TODAY AND WE NEED TO BE THERE TO CATCH IT!"
"sorry, paps. tibia honest, i’m not feelin’ it today. might just take a day off," Sans muttered, mashing his face into his pillow.
Papyrus sighed. "Sans, are you alright? It wasn’t my spaghetti last night, was it? I didn’t think it was that bad... I can call Undyne and tell her I need to take care of you!" he said as he finally got the door open, immediately frowning at the trash tornado upon entrance.
"nah, bro, i’m fine... just need a few more minutes. it’s only 7:00."
"Sans... you’re not fine. And I don’t know what you’re keeping from me, but... I promise I won’t be mad. I just want you to stop with the secrets. Please..."
"ya wouldn’t understand, bro. and even if you did, you’d forget eventually. i just... want it to be over... just want the world to matter again." He started crying. Papyrus went and sat on his bed, offering a comforting arm. Sans threw his arms around his brother and started sobbing.
"Sans... this... may have been a dream... but... now that I think about it, I feel like you mentioned feeling like you... were reliving the same few weeks over and over."
Only a whisper escaped between the sobs. "you remember..."
Papyrus was about to reply when an explosion shook the room. "Nyeh?" Papyrus looked around for the source. "Sans, why don’t we go check this out?"
Papyrus’s brother wiped his tears and nodded with a small smile. "yeah. let’s go." The brothers hurried down the stairs and out of the house. "there’s some kinda glow comin’ from the forest between here ‘n’ waterfall. maybe that’s where the explosion came from?"
"Good thinking, brother!" Papyrus gave his trademark smile. "Let us investigate! This might even be more exciting than a human!"
-Meanwhile, in a forest-
Luna walked out of the portal to find herself in a snowy forest. Starlight began shivering and breathed on a hoof to warm it slightly. Discord helpfully snapped in some winter gear.
"Thanks, Discord," Fluttershy smiled earnestly.
Starlight looked around. "Let’s see if we can get out of this infernal forest," she muttered.
"Looks like there’s a clearing over there," Discord pointed. The four walked over to find a path. They faced a river, to their right a marshland, and to their left a small town with warmly lit houses and shops lining the road. Fluttershy yelped.
"What... are those?" she asked, pointing toward two figures coming toward them.
Luna looked over to see two skeletons, one tall and one short, gazing at the ponies and Discord curiously. The tall one wore some sort of armor piece with a bright red scarf, gloves, and boots, while the shorter one wore a blue jacket and pink slippers. She cleared her throat. "Hello, I am Princess Luna of Equestria. May I ask where we are?"
"uh, well, the town back there’s snowdin, and you’re in the underground, kingdom of monsters," the shorter skeleton said with an expression of pure confused interest on its face.
A small refrain sounded in Luna’s heart- we’re here, we’re here- but she managed to keep her expression neutral. "What is your king’s name?"
"OH, THAT WOULD BE KING ASGORE DREEMURR!" the taller skeleton replied with a grin.
"Can ya take us to him?" Starlight asked with a friendly wave.
"soon as ya tell us your names," the shorter skeleton replied.
"Oh, certainly, Princess Luna already told you her name, but I’m Fluttershy, this is Starlight, and that’s Discord!" the pegasus told them with a gentle laugh.
"NICE TO MEET YOU! I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS AND THIS IS MY BROTHER SANS!" 'The Great Papyrus' declared proudly. "COME, THE KING IS THIS WAY!"
Sans shrugged. "what he said." The troupe walked off into the marshland, which was apparently called Waterfall.
"I’m guessing there’s a waterfall here?" Starlight asked half-jokingly as she folded her winter gear into her saddlebags.
"a couple," Sans nodded.
"Uh-huh."
Fluttershy enjoyed the calm quiet of the area, even walking around to investigate all the little crevices. She saw a soft blue flower and asked, "Ooh, what kind of flower is that?"
"Oh, that’s an Echo Flower!" Papyrus grinned. "They’re unique to Waterfall, and they’ll repeat anything you say to them until someone else says something."
"That sounds so very lovely," Fluttershy sighed happily, flying above the rest of the group a bit to investigate a few hanging vines and humming softly to herself.
Nothing of particular interest happened through their journey until they reached an open area where a large castle stood across an enormous lake.
"that’d be the capital," Sans nodded to Luna. "asgore lives there."
"Naturally," Luna laughed.
They continued walking in companionable silence until they approached a large boulder framing the entrance to somewhere else. A shadowed figure stood atop, looking out into the city Luna could make out beyond the boulder.
"That’s Undyne," Papyrus whispered. "This is her anime posing rock!" Luna didn’t have time to question what ‘anime’ was before he shouted "UNDYNE! I HAVE SOMEONE FOR YOU TO MEET!"
The figure turned her head, a golden spark flashing about where an eye should be. She leapt, twirling in the air, and a brilliant cyan spear formed, the light revealing a sharp-toothed grin and... gills?
"NGAHHH!" she cried, plunging into the ground with a grunt. She pulled the spear out and twirled it, resting it against her shoulder with a satisfied sigh. She looked kind of like a fish with legs and arms, and she was geared in full battle armor except for a helmet. Her right eye was a brilliant gold cover and her left covered by an eyepatch.
"Wowie, Undyne! You got your dramatic entrance right!" Papyrus chuckled lightheartedly. "And just in time to meet Princess Luna and Starlight and Fluttershy and Discord!"
"Nice to... uh. What the hell are you?" she asked with a pointed glance at Discord.
"Why I’m a draconequus!" he huffed indignantly. "You know, I have a mind to leave right now for this treatment," and he poofed away.
Luna rolled her eyes. "Don’t worry, the diagnostic I ran also copied the spell to create the portal. We can get back home," she reassured Starlight and Fluttershy. "Do not mind him. He’s... chaotic. Quite literally, he has chaos powers."
"Huh. Anyway, haven’t seen your kind ‘round here before. What brings ya to the Underground?" Undyne asked, somewhat more relaxed but still on her guard.
"I have come to meet your king... Asgore, yes?"
The fish lady nodded. "That’s him. I’m Undyne, Captain of the Royal Guard. I see you’ve already met my trainee Papyrus and his brother Sans."
"Not to be rude, but what’s that city behind the rock?" Starlight pointed with a hoof.
"Huh? Oh! That’d be Hotland and the CORE. Our technology centers. Well, Papyrus said you were a princess?" she clarified with Luna.
"Indeed, I am Luna, princess of the night and diarch of the nation of Equestria," she confirmed.
"Diarch? Well, I’ll lead you to the king, as soon as you tell me how ya got here," Undyne said as she put away her spear.
"We found a portal on the side of a mountain in Equestria that brought us here."
Undyne raised an eyebrow but shrugged it off. "C’mon, the capital’s this way."
"we’ll leave ya in undyne’s hands. or whatever she’s got," Sans winked.
"Indeed!" Papyrus grinned. "It was nice meeting you all! Nyeh heh heh!"
"Nice to meet you too, Sans and Papyrus!" Fluttershy waved goodbye before flying on to catch up.
"You can fly?" Undyne asked with interest as they continued through the path.
"Well, yes, I’m a pegasus, and barring an injury of some kind all pegasi can fly," Fluttershy clarified.
"Thats AWESOME!" Undyne grinned. The four emerged into some kind of lava chamber. In the bright light of the magma below it was obvious they were underground and had been the whole time. Fluttershy fanned herself with a wing as they crossed a bridge over more magma. Undyne stopped at a water cooler and the ponies helped themselves to a cup. "I’m, uh, gonna stop in the lab a minute to change out of this armor. You three be alright?" They nodded and Undyne hurried inside, coming out in much cooler attire and nodding them to the path to the left of the lab. "Shortcut," she explained. She led them to an elevator and selected "L3" to move it. A jazzy tune played as they stood inside. Starlight came up with lyrics almost instantly.
This is the place where the fame is everything, everyone wants to touch, everyone wants to see, she mused over them. Fluttershy noticed.
"Those lyrics are nice, Starlight," she giggled.
"What lyrics?" Undyne asked.
Starlight waited for the measure to repeat, then sang the lyrics she'd come up with already, then adding onto it, "We live in a world where celebrities are kings, where the more we all want, the more given-out things."
Luna clapped. "You could get a career as a songwriter." The elevator stopped and the doors opened.
"Alright, now through the CORE, then we're on to New Home, where the king lives. He'll either be there or in the throne room but we'll have to pass through either way."
Luna nodded and they upped their pace now that it was cooler. They came to a room full of vents and Undyne launched herself over. Luna and Fluttershy used their wings while Starlight just teleported over. Undyne waved them through a door and they passed a bake sale table with a spider monster behind it. Fluttershy paused to look at the donuts but found that she both had the wrong currency and not enough. She gave a sigh of disappointment and apologized to the monster. "Oh, it’s alright, dearie," she winked with one of her five eyes. "I take you for someone who’d support a spider if he or she needed it."
Fluttershy nodded, thinking of Fuzzy Legs, before realizing the group had walked ahead of her and galloping over to catch up.
Eventually they came to a large building labeled "MTT," and Starlight gave a curious glance at Undyne, who frowned.
"This is the MTT Hotel, built by Mettaton. He’s a celebrity but he’s annoying as hell. It’s probably best that we hurry through before you three end up on one of his news shows."
Luna nodded and they kept a brisk pace through the lobby and into the CORE. Undyne led them into another elevator, taking them to a very futuristic-looking hallway where they immediately turned into a stage area and walked through to a monochrome hallway. Luna smiled. They were almost there.
The four walked through stretches of hallway, passing city areas and eventually coming upon a house. "This is New Home," Undyne said, knocking on the door. No reply. "Must be in the throne room," she decided. The four walked in and went down the stairs that led to a long hallway, and following it led to a castle-esque area. Undyne led the ponies in to find the king watering some flowers. The floor was covered in them, mostly yellow and bright red colors.
"Why, these flowers are lovely," Fluttershy exhaled happily, fluttering her wings lightly.
"Why, thank you! I do work quite hard on them," the king said, turning around with a smile. "What might your..." he trailed off as he noticed Luna. "Princess Luna?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "This isn’t another dream, is it?"
Luna laughed at his question. "No, I’m quite certain we’re in the waking world!"
"You know her?" Undyne blurted out? "But how? She’s... well... she- I’m extremely confused."
"Well, I did not see a reason to tell you since the subject was never close to any of our conversations," Luna admitted, "but... as Princess of the Night, one of my duties is to watch over the dreams of sleepers. Last night I happened to stumble across King Asgore’s dream and befriended him. It’s entirely coincidence that the portal here opened up from Equestria, but otherwise I do know him. King Asgore, this is Starlight Glimmer, Princess Twilight’s student, and Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness."
The king invited them to New Home for tea, which Fluttershy was the first to accept. Starlight laughed. "She’s usually a lot more... well, shy! This is the most outgoing she’s been!"
"Oh, is that a problem?" Fluttershy asked. "I can be shy if you’d like," she teased with a wink.
"Not at all," Starlight smiled back. The four, now five, went to have tea. Fluttershy wouldn’t mind living here. This new world was so wonderful!