//------------------------------// // Prologue: Fiery Tempers // Story: Beyond the Barrier // by SirDeeviant //------------------------------// It was a typical, normal, and completely average morning in Ponyville. The sun was shining, and the birds were singing; it was perfect weather for a game of catch. Ponies of different shapes, sizes, colors, ages and genders went about their days shopping, working, playing, or relaxing in the blissful spring breeze. It couldn’t have been a more perfect day. And it was so boring! What was a poor, inactive and completely bored Rainbow Dash to do on such a day as this? She had already spent plenty of hours practicing tricks and napping, she had no weather responsibilities today, and Daring Do’s next book doesn’t come out until next month! What else was there to do? All of friends were busy with work, Applejack was running her stand in the market all day, Rarity had dress orders up to her neck, Twilight was caught in a mixture of princess paperwork and how-to-be-a-princess homework (the latter she assigned herself), even Pinkie Pie was away on her day off no less; something about her Pinkie Sense warning her of a huge amount of visitors in need of a welcoming party. Whatever, it still meant that there was nopony to spend time with. Well there was Fluttershy, but the only thing that Dash could think they’d do together was drink tea; no thanks! The cyan pegasus looked towards her friend’s cottage over by the Everfree forest. Was she that desperate? She didn’t dislike spending time with her; it’s just that hardly anything interesting happens to her on days like these. She lazily gazed towards her friend’s home, watching the pillar of smoke rise into the air without a care in the… wait, smoke?! Rainbow Dash immediately rose to her hooves atop her cloudy perch fully awakened, Fluttershy’s house was on fire! “Oh my gosh! Hang on Fluttershy, I’m coming!” She yelled. A Rainbow trail followed behind her as she sped to her friend’s rescue. Only two questions on her mind as she flew: Was Fluttershy okay? And who could have caused this? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Earlier… “Oh no, I couldn’t just have you make everything; you’re my guests, and–” “Which is precisely why I will be happy to prepare brunch! Everyone is still hungry from breakfast and you have yet to experience the full culinary experience of Master Chef Papyrus's cooking!” There was a slight impasse over what would be served to everyone this time. Papyrus continued to insist on cooking meals for everypony, and while Fluttershy would hate to argue; she just couldn’t allow him to cook anything, both out of courtesy of being a good host, and mercy from repeating the events of breakfast. Papyrus was sweet, but his cooking wasn’t even eaten by any of her animals. She only knew this because she found the remains of his spaghetti outside on the ground not too long after breakfast. She cleaned up the mess quickly soon after the discovery to prevent Papyrus from baring witness to such a crime against cuisine. “I understand that, and I really appreciate the help, I just… um, don’t think it would be fair if I didn’t get to show you some of my own…um, exotic dishes.” She smiled meekly. His expression was blank. “I-I mean if that’s okay with you.” “Hmm…” Papyrus pondered, “You make a fair point, I actually am curious to try more surface food.” Fluttershy sighed in relief which was unsurprisingly short lived when he exclaimed, “However! I will make sure that lunchtime is prepared by none other than I, and it will be an even more delectable dish than before. I guarantee it! Nyeh heh heh heh heh!” Papyrus ran right out of the kitchen, heading straight outdoors to meet with his friends, cackling the whole way. In his haste, he nearly slammed into the walking, talking, navy blue colored salmon creature as she was entering the house. “Whoa! Watch out!” Undyne yelled, narrowly dodging the sprinting skeleton. She chuckled, and headed for the kitchen. Fluttershy noticed that the small ‘human’ as they were called entered behind her. “Oh, hello Undyne, hello Frisk! I was just getting ready to make us something.” “Hey!” Undyne greeted, “I need another glass of water; it’s so hot on the surface!” The human behind her waved and took a seat a on a nearby chair. Angel poked his head from behind that chair looking right at the human, he seemed unpleased. “So you actually convinced Papyrus not to cook this time?” Fluttershy nodded “Wow I’m impressed, ever since I started giving him cooking lessons nothing’s been able to tear him from the kitchen! Well almost nothing.” She glanced towards Frisk. “You were giving him cooking lessons?” Fluttershy asked. “Still am, and boy has he improved! Feels like just yesterday when he burned his first spaghetti. Good times. I even once gave a special lesson to Frisk here.” Fluttershy looked to see the scene of an upset Angel bunny trying to pick a fight with Frisk. The human was seated in Angel’s favorite chair and they didn’t even know it. “Now that kid,” Undyne said, briefly stealing the pegasus’s attention, “that kid had a spark like no other!” Even this child had cooking lessons with Undyne? She was unsure how to feel about that. Fluttershy moved to intervene before Angel got too upset, but in the brief moment where she looked away not only had the child calmed him down, but had even somehow managed to get the bunny to lay in their lap, smiling blissfully as he was pet by the humans hand. Oh, goodness it was just too cute! Fluttershy could hardly hide her smile behind her hooves. The fish patted the back of the pegasus quite roughly, causing her to squeak like a little yellow chew toy, “If you want I can even give you your own lesson!” She grinned widely showing her incredibly sharp teeth, Fluttershy shook slightly. While she was friendly, Undyne had a certain… assertiveness that was intimidating for more than one reason. That and she had been able to fight off a manticore all alone, somehow suplexing the beast supposedly, the poor thing. She didn’t know what to respond with. On one hoof, she was afraid of what might happen should Undyne get her hands on the stove, on the other she was more afraid of making Undyne upset. “Um… well you don’t have to but… I g-guess you could at least help me in the kitchen a little… if you want to.” “Awesome! C’mon I’ll show you Undyne’s way of making the meanest brunch you’ll ever taste!” Said the fish as she leaped into the kitchen. Frisk’s face turned to worry, as if to say ‘You shouldn’t have done that’. “R-Right so I was thinking we could make a… um sweet potato soufflé with a salad… and–” “Sweet popatoes?! No thank you, I hate those things!” “Um, ok if you don’t want any sweet… p-popatoes…? Th-Then we could still make the salad.” Undyne wore a slight scowl of displeasure, “Flutter, I said that I was going to show you Undyne’s way of cooking. You know what that means?” Fluttershy’s heartbeat picked up, she didn’t like where this was going and could only form the answer in a few nervous mumbles. Her anxiety soared to new heights at the sight of Undyne’s enormous grin and the swords in her mouth one mistakenly would call teeth. “That means we’re going to make the biggest, juiciest, spiciest, most amazing thing that anyone will ever taste.” The puny pegasus found herself suddenly caught in the shark’s grasp. “And we’re going to make it TOGETHER!” Undyne bellowed the last word with such a force it likely shook the entire world; the slightest peep could have shattered the ground beneath them. One would have to be mad to utter another word after such a display of force, unfortunately for all of existence, Undyne was mad enough to speak those next earth-shattering words, “So let’s get started!” She chirped with innocence and childish glee. Fluttershy’s heart rate returned to healthy levels; Undyne’s vicious gaze had suddenly vanished and in its place was a warm smile. She was practically glowing with optimism; her smile could have even made Pinkie just a tad jealous. Yet for some reason, Frisk was shaking their head rapidly, a look of absolute terror ever present. But who could distrust a sincere smile like that? Fluttershy perked up at Undyne’s sudden spark of warmness, “Ok, let’s do this, together.” She smiled back to her new cooking buddy, “So what’s first?” “How about some tea?” Undyne somehow managed to find the teapot and eagerly awaited her buddy’s response. “Tea sounds perfect! You go boil the water and I’ll get started on preparing the food.” Fluttershy decided to forgo the sweet potatoes in favor of a nice soup, maybe even something spicy just for Undyne. She diced the vegetables slowly and carefully, taking extra care to ensure that they were just the right size. Undyne joined in, attempting to match Fluttershy’s speed yet still outpacing her by a large margin smiling all the while. One by one the ingredients went into the pot: onions, carrots, celery, cilantro, and peppers. The concoction was covered in sauces, spices, and oils of many exotic types, and filled with water. “Now we just have to stir it, I just have to find us a spoon somewhere…” “I GOT IT!” Undyne suddenly yelled as she raised an arm in the air. Out of nowhere a large spear materialized into her grasp pointed directly at the soup, ready to strike at any moment. Fluttershy gasped, where did she get that spear from?! The shark’s face was contorted into a large vicious grin yet again as she was poised to smite down her nutritious adversary. However before she could move, she must have realized what she was doing, as her grin suddenly dissipated. As quickly as it appeared the spear faded out of existence, “Uh…I mean…” Undyne quickly grabbed the nearest object, which just so happened to be a spatula. “I got it, Flutterbuddy! No problem… Whoops silly me, that’s a spatula! Ha ha... ha.” The spatula was thrown over her shoulder, Celestia know where it went. She attempted to return to her warm smile, it looked like it caused physical pain to hold, a few nervous sweats were visible on her brow. As strange as her actions were, it was clear Undyne still wanted to sincerely help, and she was doing such a fine job, so her small outburst was met with a supportive smile and a supportive wooden spoon. Undyne let out a relieved breath. Fluttershy took the steaming teapot off of the stove and finished making the tea; Undyne frantically stirred the soup, smiling the whole time. “Okay, that’s good enough. Now you just need to boil it. You might want to make the flames a teensy bit hotter. I’ll go serve the tea.” The pegasus fluttered towards Frisk, who had found a carrot somewhere and was feeding it to Angel. “You two are just the most adorable things!” Angel tried to counter with an angry pout, but it only served to make him look silly. “Don’t worry Angel, I won’t interrupt you for too long, I’m just here to give you both some nice herbal tea, the food is almost ready so–” BANG! “HUNK OF JUNK!!” Fluttershy jumped at the sudden burst of anger that erupted from her kitchen; she would have dropped her teapot, were it not for a fast acting Frisk who caught it before it struck the ground. Fluttershy went to the kitchen to check on Undyne. “Is everything alright?” She peeped. Undyne was so wrapped up in her battle against the kitchen stove she almost failed to notice the yellow presence entering the kitchen. “Everything’s alright!” she said sheepishly. “It just that this stove is kind of uh… different from what I’m used to. I can’t…quite…make it…hot enough!” Undyne's true battle against the stove began. The inevitable ensued, just as Frisk predicted. “Oh um… that’s perfectly fine where it is.” Fluttershy said. “But the flame is so tiny! It’ll be ages before this is done! Don’t worry about me I’ve got this!” Undyne responded while lodging a spear in the stove. “No, No it’s quite alright! You don’t need to do that!” Frisk merely sipped a cup of tea, knowing all too well there was nothing that could be done. “I’ve got everything under control!” Undyne said as she wrestled with the hissing stove. “I’m just worried you might do something that could hurt you!” Said the mare in response to the escalating madness. “Relax! I won’t make the same mistake twice I swear–” A piece of the stove suddenly came loose, launching into the air like a rocket. Sounds a stove should never make rumbled through the kitchen. The flame heating the soup increased in size; it became bigger and bigger with each passing second. Before Fluttershy could react, an arm reached out, grabbed her, and pulled her out of the kitchen with lightning speed. Another arm shot out and grabbed Frisk, who was holding a panicking Angel bunny. The four of them just managed to make it outside before Fluttershy’s cottage erupted in fire. The inside was engulfed with flames, smoke and embers poured out of the windows and door. The heat of the flames was intense enough to be felt from where the four were thrown. Fluttershy could only gawk at the disaster unfolding before her. Her house just, exploded! And she was almost roasted alive! Undyne rose slightly from her laid down position, “You okay?” She asked. Fluttershy’s mouth was stuck open, unable to respond. Undyne looked at the new record for world’s largest torch, then back to the world’s most stunned pegasus and smiled sheepishly. “Heh…My bad!” Was all she could think to say. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rainbow Dash didn’t even bother to look back at the two peeved pegasi behind her. They can find another storm cloud somewhere else, this was an emergency! Fluttershy’s house was quickly coming into focus. Holy hay! Those flames were huge! There was no sight of Fluttershy anywhere which wasn't a good sign, so she picked up the speed. Using the secret fire-dousing-cloudy-niner technique (patent pending), Rainbow Dash made the cloud unleash its rain, split the pouring cloud in half, took one of the two halves in her hooves, and dived into the burning house leaving the other half to put out the outer flames. She circled the inside of the house with blinding speeds, creating a miniature cyclone that simultaneously robbed the flames of their precious oxygen and flung rainwater in all directions. To the inexperienced, the maneuver was incredibly dangerous, but the rainbow blur executed it flawlessly and within a few minutes the flames were snuffed out. With the inferno extinguished, Rainbow began the search for her missing friend, hopefully still breathing. She searched every nook and cranny, every singed room and closet, but there was no sign of her. That either meant that she was able to get outside of the house just in time, or… Rainbow Dash’s heartbeat raced at the thought; she yelled out her name in desperation trying to find a trace of her, anything! Hopefully not… A soft yell echoed through the building, “Rainbow Dash, I’m outside!” That was Fluttershy’s voice! She was alright! Rainbow dashed out of a nearby window, there she was! “Fluttershy! You’re okay!” Rainbow said while racing to her friend. “I mean, I knew you were okay the whole time.” “Of course.” The yellow one assured. “I’m glad you came by to check on me though.” “Yeah, you sure you’re not too hurt though?” The cyan one asked, lifting her friend in the air to observe her closely. “Oh yes, I’m just fine.” “No burns on your wings?” Fluttershy shook her head. “No scratches on your legs?” Another shake. “Not even a bruise?” It was unbelievable, but Fluttershy somehow was completely unharmed! Once she made sure her friend was okay, Rainbow Dash decided to find out how this happened, “Alright then, who’s the no-good, house burning, jerk face that did this to you?” “Uh…you see.” An unfamiliar voice said. Rainbow turned her head and came face to face with some kind of freaky fish monster thing. How'd she miss that? It was tall, had sharp teeth, and an admittedly cool eye-patch. It also wore a sheepish smile on its face, “That was… kind of my bad.” Freaky fish monster, sharp teeth, really big, said it caused the fire, almost hurt friend, close to friend. Defensive maneuvers engaged. Rainbow flew right up to the fish’s face. “You did this?! You almost hurt my friend you overgrown tuna!” That made it mad. “Hey! It was an accident!” It retorted “I still saved her life! If it wasn’t for me your friend would be fried chicken!” “If it wasn’t for you my friend’s house wouldn’t have turned into the largest bonfire in Equestria!” “Well I'm sorry! I was just trying to make a good impression!” “You sure made a good impression ON HER HOUSE!” “I’LL MAKE A GOOD IMPRESSION ON YOUR FACE YOU FLYING LOLLIPOP!” “I’D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY BARNACLE BREATH!” There was nothing Fluttershy could do to ease the situation. Her soft voice was lost in the ever rising voices and heated anger. Her voice was so lost that not even the narration could hear what it was she was trying to say. Fortunately for everyone, a stronger, more firm voice announced from behind the pair, “That’s enough you two!” Another unfamiliar voice… Rainbow turned to look towards it. Some kind of two legged goat thing was there, arms crossed and foot tapping. It looked like a she, she also looked peeved. Mrs. Goat walked over to the two pointing a scolding finger at both of them, “This petty fighting isn’t going to solve anything! Undyne, you said you were going try to make a better impression instead of being so aggressive.” The fish hung its head. “And you, I don’t know who you are but there’s no reason to go picking fights over an accident.” “But…I…” Rainbow choked out, she hovered a bit lower. “I saw what you did, both of you. Without you two this situation could have been much worse.” The goat’s face turned to one of visible worry, it doubled Rainbow’s shame. “So I'll ask you two to please stop fighting over it." The two combatants heads hung in shame (instead of on each other's walls thankfully). "Now if you’ll excuse me.” The goat then rushed to Fluttershy kneeling to meet her face. “Are you alright dear? Anything burned or broken?” This goat thing knew Fluttershy? Was it some kind of animal Rainbow didn’t know about? And hold the phone, what the hay was that fish with legs?! “OHMYGOD!!! Undyne!!! Are you alright?!?!” Another new voice shrieked, this one sounded rather squirrelly. Some two legged lizard was hugging the fish and crying. First a walking fish, then a walking goat, now a walking lizard? What's next the walking dead? “Hey, how’s the weather up there?” Said yet another voice. Rainbow Dash looked down to see a short skeleton smiling at her. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” she said, “I am.” said the skeleton. Another much taller skeleton came up behind the first one. “You have the worst timing for jokes Sans.” The tall one said. Another goat, this one with a beard, ran up and asked, “Is everyone alright? We heard the explosion all the way from the Zecora’s hut!” Even Zecora knew them? What was going on?! “Okay hold on a second.” Every...thing turned to the cyan pegasus. Rainbow pointed a hoof at the strangers, “You all know Fluttershy, AND Zecora?” They nodded simultaneously. “Who and what in Equestria are you anyways? After a brief pause, the bearded goat spoke up first. “We are…hmm how can I put this?” “We're monsters from underground!” said the tall skeleton. The fish facepalmed. Monsters?! Friends with Fluttershy?! Rainbow Dash’s jaw hit the ground; she couldn’t believe her eyes or her ears. She was having trouble staying afloat. Fluttershy finally managed to get up and speak, “I think now would be a good time for you all to meet my friends. And Rainbow, can you tell the girls that I’d like them to meet some...um…new friends?” Rainbow's mind was still processing information when she felt a light tug on her hind leg. She looked down from her floating position to see a small hairless monkey with a brown mane looking up at her. It smiled and waved hello.