She clutched her chest, the wounds deep in her melting body. The demon child stood across from her, blowing the dust off its ballet shoes.
“No... s-somehow, with just one hit... I'm already... Already... D... damn it.... Papyrus... Alphys... ASGORE... Just like that, I... I've failed you. No... My body... It feels like it's splitting apart. Like any instant... I'll scatter into a million pieces. But... Deep, deep in my soul. There's a burning feeling I can't describe,” she managed. An upside down heart flickered at her chest, shining crimson. “I couldn’t stop you from killing Papyrus or the Snowdin monsters. Or any of the monsters in Waterfall. Not with the kid around. It’d traumatize them. Not that that really matters anymore... but I can keep everybody else safe. I’m DETERMINED to make sure you never hurt anybody again,” she declared with a grin full of spite. “See you in hell, punk.”
Misty Spear shot out of her bed, wings spread and teeth bared. Sweat dripped down her face as she caught herself up with reality. She walked to her kitchen and started up a pot of tea to calm herself. No demons, no melting, she wasn’t some weird two-legged fish monster lady, just a regular pegasus minus one functioning eye. She brushed one of her wings across the eyepatch covering the old wound, wincing very slightly. The tea finished and she poured herself a nice large mug, walking over to her couch and drinking as she gazed out on her home, Delta City. The sun peeked out over the Canterlot mountains, warming her face. Judging by the lights on in her home, Misty’s girlfriend Dr. Magic Mew was awake, probably fine-tuning the prosthetic wings, leg, and eye for Shining Star, and Misty’s trainee Valiant Soul was already patrolling. Misty chuckled. He really was a dedicated soldier. She decided to visit Dr. Mew once she finished her tea and trotted outside, nodding hello to Valiant as she passed.
He grinned gleefully. “How am I doing, Lieutenant Spear?” he asked.
“Doing great, soldier,” she said with a nod before trotting on. She gave Dr. Mew’s door a firm knock before letting herself in.
“Hey, Misty!” Mew said with a somewhat weary smile.
Misty narrowed her eyes. “How much sleep did you get last night?” she deadpanned.
“Enough!” her girlfriend protested. “Mo– Ponies can survive on two hours for one night!”
“I don’t care what the science says. You. Need. Sleep,” Misty said, hefting Mew away from her worktable.
“Wait, I’m almost done! Just give me... half an hour!” Magic Mew pleaded.
“Fine. But I’m going to sit here and watch you and make sure that half hour is IT! AND THEN YOU’RE GONNA SLEEP!” Misty demanded, pulling a chair over and sitting in it.
Half an hour passed and Magic Mew sighed, carefully setting everything into a saddlebag. “Okay, I’m done. Let me just get it over to Shining–”
Misty Spear shook her head. “No. Our agreement was you’d work for half an hour, then you’d sleep! I’ll take it over to him. You go to your room and SLEEP, or so help me–”
“Okay, okay! Celestia’s horseshoes, you sound like an angry mom,” Mew chuckled, taking off her glasses with a sigh and walking over to her room. Misty followed and tucked her in, planting a small kiss on the unicorn mare’s forehead.
Misty carefully grabbed the saddlebag and walked over to Shining Star’s house. She knocked on the door and Dr. Caring Heart opened.
“Hey, Dr. Magic Mew just finished the prosthetics. She wanted to deliver them herself but she got two hours of sleep last night so I made her go back to bed when she finished,” Misty said, gesturing to the saddlebags.
“Ah, thank you, Lieutenant Spear. For both the prosthetics and keeping your girlfriend’s health in mind. I was her college roommate... she spent a positively unhealthy amount of time on her projects, especially at night,” the doctor said with a knowing look.
Misty nodded and decided to chill at Flame Master’s restaurant in the Winter Block of the city for breakfast. Unsurprisingly, Valiant’s brother Funny Bone was already there, drinking a bottle of maple syrup. Misty rolled her eyes, ordered pancakes, and sat across from Funny Bone.
“heya, ‘dyne,” he said without looking up.
“‘Dyne?” Misty echoed.
“sorry, hey, misty. how’s my bro doin’?” he asked.
“Patrolling, why? You worried about him or something?” Misty asked as Flame Master brought her plate. She dug into the delicious buttery breakfast cakes.
“nah, just makin’ sure. you and i both know he tends to overdo,” Funny Bone pointed out with a slight tilt of his head. “hey, ya want any syrup?”
“Not after you’ve been drinking from the bottle,” Misty glared. “Why does Flame even let you do that anyway?”
“i bring my own bottles,” Funny Bone protested casually. “mostly just come in here to get outta the cold.”
“But you wear that blue jacket literally everywhere,” Misty pointed out.
“so?” Funny Bone asked, raising an eyebrow.
“You’re infuriating,” she decided.
“nah, i’m sa– funny bone,” he said with a wink.
Misty suddenly recalled Magic Mew’s similar slip from earlier. “What were you about to call yourself?” she asked.
“uh, why do you ask?” Funny Bone replied.
“You were about to say something other than Funny Bone,” she whispered, “Something that started with ‘S’?”
“you... you noticed?” he asked, wide-eyed. “that ain’t the first time i’ve slipped up. nopony else has noticed... i just... i get these little flashes. where i‘m not... where...”
“Where you’re not a pony?” Undyne offered.
Funny Bone nodded. “i’m some kinda skeleton creature, and... most often it’s watchin’ another skeleton... die to some kinda demon. and he always sounds like my bro... and then there’s the ones where i’m fightin’ a golden flower or seein’ people die to it.”
“I keep having this recurring dream, too. I’m on some kind of bridge, and I give this heroic dying speech to a demon of some kind, and then it just fades to white. And I’m some sort of two-legged fish monster creature in armor,” Misty Spear shared.
“y’know, i’ve heard princess luna just opened up night court. maybe she’d have some answers,” Funny Bone suggested.
Misty only nodded, finishing off her pancakes and looking out the drawing-covered window. “You never answered my question, by the way,” she remembered.
“hm?” Funny Bone asked.
“What were you gonna call yourself?” she repeated.
He thought a moment. “sans, i think. sans the... skeleton, apparently.”
The name sounded so familiar. “Nice to meet ya, Sans,” she joked.
“nice to meet you, undyne,” he winked. “pretty sure that’s the name of the fish monster i see in the flashes.”
“Undyne, huh?” she murmured as the two parted ways and went to pack for a trip to Canterlot.