//------------------------------// // Prologue: Meet and Greet // Story: Beyond the Barrier // by SirDeeviant //------------------------------// It was a while before Rarity came to. And when she awoke she nearly fainted again once she found out that she had not been dreaming. Could anypony blame her? It’s not often that monsters come to Ponyville. Well actually it’s quite ordinary, but this time was quite different! For once the monsters had the decency to politely walk into town and say hello, rather than storm in roaring and smashing everything around them. They also had the ability to speak fluently and for some, quite eloquently (though others were not so proper). Perhaps it was the shock of seeing actually civil monsters this time that caused her to faint, but the truth still stands strong as a stone minotaur: six monsters and a hairless monkey were now standing before Rarity and her five friends in Golden Oaks Library. Once she returned to her senses, Rarity was able to give these new visitors a proper inspection. She had already been briefly introduced before her trip to her subconscious she merely struggled with a few of their names. First, there was Toriel: Large, cream colored, goat-like in appearance but with small fangs and short horns. A large violet robe draped over her body, with a mysterious crest bearing a circle with two wings hovering above three triangles. The robe seemed to be very old, perhaps it was significant in some way to her? Hopefully it wasn’t the only thing she had to wear; Nopony should have to suffer such torture. Maybe she could make her a new one, adorned with some complimentary topaz to and finer stitching to really draw the eye. Secondly, there was Sans: second smallest of the bunch, one who could meet most ponies eye to eye without having to kneel or bend down. A skeleton like his brother but with much more girth, or was he just big boned? He sported an atrocious combo of a baby blue hoodie, a white undershirt stained beyond measure, black gym shorts, and morning slippers of all things. It was like he didn’t even try! There was little hope for this one. Third was his brother, Papyrus: Sporting a tangerine cape over his silver armor (which seemed to be of the same quality as a Nightmare Night costume) orange gloves and blue tights. The complementary color scheme suited him well. He was tall, slender and seemed to carry something resembling prim and posture, but it lacked any sign of formal training. While he constantly called himself great, Rarity knew that he could be even greater. He oozed potential, there were so many possibilities for him; all he needed was the right polish. There was Undyne, an athlete by the way she looked. Her designs could be similar to Rainbow Dash’s, anything to get her out of that black tang top; Alphys, a lizard creature, wore a pair of spectacles and a lab coat, possibly somelizard for Twilight to get acquainted with, she clung to Undyne like she was her lifeline, possible lovers perhaps? Asgore was similar to Toriel, though he was more male in appearance (siblings?) and was decorated with a more royal attire: A violet cloak draped over golden armor. A few gems here and there and he’d be worthy of a dance with the nobles. Last of all was Frisk, who was… different. For one he/she (nopony knew for sure) was not a monster like all the rest of his/her companions. For one, his/her appearance was actually quite suiting, a striped shirt was an abomination amongst fashion normally, but somehow it fit him/her perfectly. Another thing was that Frisk was something called a “human” this nearly gave Twilight her own fainting spell, apparently humans were some sort of mythological cryptid. As soon as she said this the human seemed distraught. Most striking of all were the human’s eyes. They were paper thin; one could even say they weren’t even open; they however didn’t need to be to convey their messages. The human’s eyes spoke of one who had gone to Tartarus and back, yet still retained that childlike innocence and an air of warmness. Frisk was the smallest and the youngest of the group, but the human was likely much wiser than his/her age would suggest. This being emanated an aura unlike anything she had ever seen. It was as if he/she had stared death in the face, gave it a hug, and managed to walk away. Rarity managed to return her thoughts to reality, and focused on a conversation between a short skeleton and a pink pony. “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! I’m so super happy to meet you Mr. Sans!” Pinkie chirped. “Really? I was worried you weren’t happy to see me, what with the long face.” Sans said. He bopped her on the nose for emphasis. She chuckled. Rarity groaned on the inside. “You’re funny! Are you really a skeleton? Do skeletons like to eat cake? I hope they like cake and cookies and muffins and donuts and pie! I could bake you and your friends a whole mountain of yummy treats!” She stopped to gasp for a comically long period of time. If Sans had eyebrows, he would have raised one at that moment, “You okay? That gasp lasted a comically long period of time.” “I still haven’t finished preparing your ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party yet! Maybe it should be a ‘Congratulations on getting out of underground AND Welcome to Ponyville’ party? Eh, I’ll figure it out.” Sans seemed to be unfazed by Pinkie’s antics, which was… odd. She continued, “What kind of games do you like to play? Do you like pin-the-tail-on-the-pony? What about horseshoes? Do you guys like jokes?” “Jokes?” “Yeah! I have tons of jokes! I’ve got knock-knock jokes and practical jokes and punny jokes, I’ve got so many jokes it’ll…” Rarity hoped that this wasn’t going where she thought “Rattle your funny bone!” That gave Sans a chuckle, as well as Rarity’s hoof a chance to become close friends with her face. Sans had his own comedic retort prepared, “I can tell I’ll like you already; you’re quite the humerus gal.” That gave Pinkie her own chuckle, and both of Rarity’s hooves entered a competition to be her face’s best friend. “Welcome to my life sister.” A stark voice announced. Rarity looked up to see a much taller skeleton. “Imagine having to live with him.” Rarity regained her composure, “Oh please darling, I can survive a few puns here and there. That’s nothing compared to what Pinkie does on a daily basis.” Rarity took a moment to check if anypony was listening in on her. She whispered, “You have no idea how unpredictable she can be, the first time I saw her pull out a trombone from her mane I thought I had lost my sanity.” Papyrus whispered back, “I know that feeling. Sans though… he likes to just pop in and out wherever he pleases, he manages to find his way into the most peculiar of places. Tracking him down when he needs to recalibrate puzzles can be more of chore than it needs to be.” “I understand completely, in fact…” Something clicked in Rarity’s mind. “Wait a moment…your brother can do that too?” “Too? What do you mean ‘too’?!” “Does he also like to play practical jokes on others?” “The worst ones are when he pranks me across the time-space continuum, I really hate it when he…” Rarity turned Papyrus’s head towards their targets of gossip. Pinkie and Sans had found trombones somewhere and were currently having a duet. It then clicked in Papyrus’s head, “Oh god! THEY’RE MULTIPLYING!” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight was completely absorbed by this new piece of technology called a ‘cell phone’. It worked similarly to dragonfire: one could send messages to another no matter how far the distance, however it was also capable of taking and sending pictures, playing music, one could even have a complete conversation in real time! And all WITHOUT magic?! This must be the work of a genius! “And with this button you can take videos, and this one you can access the Undernet, which is this…” Alphys paused for a moment “Uhh… would we actually have any Undernet connection up here? There was always a connection in the underground but uh…I-I don’t know if it’ll work here.” Twilight pressed the icon labeled ‘Undernet’ with her nose, after a short period a white box popped up with the words ‘No connection’ inside. “Oh darn it.” While her experience of this ‘Undernet’ was rather disappointing Twilight continued to fiddle with this new contraption endlessly. She wanted to know what every button did and how it did it and why it did. She wanted to find out how this was created and how it worked without magic and… “NOWAITDON’TPRESSTHAT!!” Alphys screamed, but it was too late. Twilight couldn’t make heads or tails of what she was looking at, was it some kind of monster from their underground? It looked similar to a human like Frisk but it had…really big eyes and cat-like ears. It was happily playing volleyball at the beach. How did they have beaches if they were underground? Or sunlight that intense? Why was it wearing clothes that didn’t even look like they fit? Alphys’s face managed to change colors from yellow to tomato red; she was trying to hide her face behind her claws; her nervous mumbling was completely incomprehensible. “I never did get a chance to watch those cartoons with you Alphys.” Asgore came up behind Alphys and startled her, returning her color back to its proper yellow. “Say if you ever figure out how to get that fancy technology working you think you could show me and the ponies this ‘anime’ you keep going on about?” “Anime? What’s that?” Twilight asked. Alphys turned red again. “Oh it’s this wonderful sounding show with swords, and kissing robots and battles against evil. I’ve yet to see it but boy it sounds neato!” Asgore said. “Uh…huh… It does sound… interesting. Once Princess Celestia sends me a response letter I’ll see what I can schedule.” Twilight said. Alphys perked up, “R-Really? You actually w-want to? Thank you! I-I mean, sure, I m-mean, I’m sure you’ll love it! It’s way more than kissing robots though! There’s friendships and history and mythology AND ROMANCE AND¬–! ” Her claws covered her mouth in an attempt to keep her dignity alive. Twilight’s smirk was evidence enough to know that she failed. A nearby Fluttershy appeared; she didn’t overhear much of the outburst, but managed to get the gist of it. “That um… that doesn’t actually sound so bad, but how will we watch it?” “Oh! Well then it’s a good thing I carry with me some of my favorite DVD’s!” Alphys said. She pulled out a few small cases; they had pictures of the same cat-human creature in various outfits, and a few visible claw marks. “Once I put this in the DVD player we can watch three whole seasons, it’s the best way to spend an afternoon.” She turned her head, looking for something, “Where’s your TV?” Two ponies stood dumbfounded at the lizard, wearing only blank stares on their faces. “What’s a TV?” asked the pegasus. “And what are DVD’s?” asked the alicorn. The lizard’s claw met her face. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “You two ‘r just gonna keep this up ain’t ya?” Applejack asked. “Yup” was the simultaneous response from Undyne and Rainbow Dash, both in each other’s face locked in a stare down. “Yer not gonna at least look at me when I’m tryin’ to talk to ya?” She asked. “Nope” They responded; and they called Applejack stubborn. The two had been staring each other down ever since they stepped into Twilight’s home. They didn’t move, but they looked madder than bull with a red sheet stuck on its head. One might think they were just about to tear each other apart, but that would mean that one of them would have to lose the stare down. Toriel looked worried as she watched them, “They’ve been eyeing each other like that this whole time. I understand the tensions were high but, there is no need to have that much anger for a misunderstanding.” Applejack tried to reassure her, “Don’t you worry ‘bout a thing, Rainbow won’t try nothin’–” but was cut off by Rainbow Dash when she exclaimed, “I’m just waiting for barnacle breath here to try something, so then I have an alibi once I pound her!” Undyne barked back, “That’s not what an alibi is airhead! And why do you need one? Why don’t you just fight me right now?! Unless of course… you’re scared?” “ME?! Scared of YOU?! That’s a joke right? I’ve fought things twice the monster you are!” Rainbow yelled. “I could take down anything you fought with both hands tied behind my back WHILE blindfolded!” Undyne yelled back. “I bet you could, couldn’t you?!” “Yeah I could!” “OH YEAH?!” “YEAH!!!!” Their faces were pressed into each other, snout to…face. How did Undyne smell without a nose? Toriel massaged her temples, “I am sorry, young pony.” Applejack reassured her, “Naw, don’t worry ‘bout it much. ‘s just Rainbow being Rainbow, and I’m guessin’ that you’re friend‘s all the same.” Toriel nodded. Applejack looked at the two. “To be honest, I think they should just kiss already.” Both Undyne and Rainbow recoiled from that statement, blinking in shock. “HEY!” They shouted at Applejack, she merely chuckled. The two enemies glared back at each other one last time, before turning away and pouting. “Just so you know, I’m spoken for.” Undyne grumbled. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “ ‘Though she was defeated, the evil Mane-iac managed to escaped, and she swore she would have her revenge.’ ” Spike read aloud, “See, I told you these were cool!” Frisk nodded in agreement. The two were digging through Spike’s comics, going through each and every page with childish fascination. “Do you have anything like this were you guys are from?” Frisk told him about the various comics they knew of, as well as the only one they knew were in the underground. “Man-ga? Is that like, a code for something?” Spike suddenly felt a pressure build in his gut. With a loud belch, emerald dragonfire erupted from his mouth, and a scroll materialized from the embers. From the other side of the room, Papyrus yelled, “Gesundheit!” “Oh, she wrote back already!” Twilight said. Using her magic she opened the scroll; everypony, monster and human turned to face her as she read aloud. My fellow princess Twilight, Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I believe you are correct, the massive surge of unknown magical energy you detected is most likely linked your new visitors. My sister and I sensed it as well and were on our way to investigate, thankfully though we know that there is likely no danger. I’ll be glad to meet these mysterious new visitors myself, as well as speak to this ‘King Asgore’. We should arrive into Ponyville within the next couple of days. I still believe it is best if you head towards the source of this surge, and gather more information. We still do not know the nature of this magic or if it is dangerous, but I have a good feeling we are safe for now. Report your findings whenever you can, and tell our guests I said ‘hello’. Best regards, Princess Celestia P.S. I’ll see what I can do to help your friend Fluttershy. There was a brief moment before a voice broke the silence. “So she is on her way.” Asgore announced. “Yes, and by the looks of it she was already heading in this direction to assess the surge of magic from that night” Twilight said. “Whoa there sugarcube, what’s this about a surge ‘a magic?” Applejack asked. “Oh that’s right, I haven’t told you girls yet.” Twilight responded, smiling sheepishly. “A couple nights ago right before sunrise, there was a massive surge of magical energy coming from the Everfree Forest, it wasn’t like any other magic source I had ever felt before.” Rainbow interrupted, “Whoa whoa whoa, backup! You’re saying there was a giant magic explosion in the Everfree forest? Then how was it that nopony saw it themselves, or even heard it?” “And how is it that only you felt it darling?” Rarity added. “I had slept just fine the entire night and hadn’t felt any magical surge.” “Which is why it took me a while to tell you all,” Twilight added, “when I went to ask other ponies about it nopony said they felt anything. Plus, even though I felt it, I didn’t see or even hear anything. I thought it must have been my imagination at first but…I could still feel the energy around me.” “What does this have to do with us?” Undyne asked. “I’m not too sure, but not too long after the surge you all suddenly appeared. It’s just a hunch, but I think there’s a connection between that surge and why you’re all here.” “Do you think that it might have just been the barrier shattering?” Alphys said. “That’s what I want to know, and I also need to know more about this ‘barrier’ you keep mentioning.” Twilight said “I’m going try to find the source of this, but I can’t go in the forest alone. Rainbow Dash, I need you to accompany me.” “No problem!” Rainbow saluted. “If we run into anything out there, I’ll knock ‘em into next week!” Alphys stepped forward, “Can I come too? I-I think I remember the way there and I’d like to gather my own data too.” She pulled out a strange device, it was shaped like her cell phone, but it had a small cone on it and made small beeps every now and then. Twilight nodded, “Whatever help you can offer will be great.” Alphys smiled. “Spike, I need you to watch the library while I’m gone.” Spike gave his own salute, “You can count on me boss!” He was secretly thinking of how much ice cream he could eat before she got back. Twilight began packing her usual supply of travelling parchment, traveling quills, traveling ink, and books about various known and mythological creatures, magical essences and (of course) traveling. Meanwhile the others were making their own preparations. Pinkie was bouncing her way out of the Library as she sang, “Well, while you two are out doing your adventuring, I’ve got a party to plan. Come on Sansy!” “Sans? Where are you going?” Papyrus asked. “Over to her place, she’s got a whole bunch of stuff to do and I’m gonna help.” Sans responded. “YOU’RE actually going to HELP her DO something?” “Yeah, she’ll need the moral support. And me eating a couple of cupcakes or will really give her the drive she needs.” “Oh. Wait! How is eating sweet treats supposed to give moral support?” “I’ll be telling her how delicious they are the whole time. She’ll feel so appreciated that she’ll work twice as fast.” Sans walked after Pinkie out of the library. “What?! That doesn’t even make sense! You’re just using that as an excuse to boondoggle again aren’t you?” Papyrus yelled. Pinkie stuck her head back into the library and said, “Don’t you mean he’s trying to bonedoggle?” The door shut, laughter could be heard behind it. Papyrus tried to hold in his internal meltdown… he failed. Rarity intervened before he could get too angry. “Now now Papyrus darling, there’s no need to be so livid. Let the two of them have their fun.” She began to walk to the door herself, but used her magic to tug at Papyrus’s cape to pull him with her. “After all we have our own work to do.” “We do?” Papyrus asked. “Why yes, we do darling. I have many designs planned for you all and I must get to work post haste. I’ll need you to come with me so I can get you measurements.” “What about everyone else?” “I’ll take care of them later; you however are in dire need of a fashion intervention immediately. I simply cannot allow you to walk about with such a battered outfit. Come along now!” “Wowie! Am I getting some kind of special new battle body deal? I mean, yes of course! Why wouldn’t I get such a deal? I deserve it most of all.” “Quite right, now if you would please follow me.” The two them made their way out of the library, Rarity tugging at Papyrus’s cape all the while. Papyrus shouted back at the remaining few, “Bye bye everyone! I’ll be back after I do whatever it is I am about to do. Undyne you’re in charge of watching my collection of–” The door shut behind him before he could finish his sentence. Spike felt a small pang of jealousy. “You didn’t bring your collection with you!” Undyne yelled back. “He’s doomed.” She chuckled to herself, and made for the exit herself, “Welp, I’m not just going to sit here and collect dust, I’m heading out too!” “Right behind ya!” Applejack barked; she gave a quick look back to Asgore, Toriel and Fluttershy, “Ya’ll comin’ too?” “It’s probably best if I get ready for the meeting with the princess,” Asgore said “Tori would you like to–” Toriel cut him off with a ‘humph’, she turned away and pouted. “Right.” Asgore croaked out, his voice contained a hint of sadness in it. He left with naught but a somber “farewell”. Suddenly, Fluttershy’s eyes went wide, as if she just realized something. “Oh no!” She gasped “I forgot to check on the animals back home! I’m sorry I have to go too, I hope they’re all okay.” She trotted out the door in a panic, heading straight for the charred remains of her own home. Only Toriel, Frisk and Spike remained in the library; Frisk was still absorbed in Spike’s comic books. “Now that that’s over, I’m going to go get a snack.” Spike said. He ran into the kitchen and swiped a large tub of vanilla ice cream. He pulled out a spoon and dug in, savoring in the sweet taste. Frisk was looking up from the comic, eyeing the ice cream. “Want some?” Spike offered with his mouth still full. Frisk dropped the book they were holding and grabbed the first spoon they could find. At the first bite the human gave a satisfied “mmm”. Suddenly, the tub of deliciousness was ripped from their grasp by an unknown force. “Oh no you don’t”, Toriel said. She lifted the ice cream high to where the two couldn’t reach it. “This isn’t very good for you now is it? I can’t just let you eat the whole tub!” Spike looked up at the stolen snack desperately. “But… Yes you can! You can just give it back and I’ll…I mean we’ll enjoy the whole thing no problem!” Toriel merely shook her head, “I don’t think so, little one. Your Twilight would probably not want to walk in and see you with a bellyache,” she cast a glance on Frisk “and I wouldn’t want to see you get one either, my child.” Both Frisk and Spike pouted, cheeks puffed up in annoyance. Toriel put the ice cream back into the fridge and said, “Now let me see what I can whip up for you.” Spike moved to protest, but Toriel cut him off. “Do not worry little one, I am quite experienced with cooking, I will not burn down your home.” Frisk nodded in agreement and ran into the kitchen. Spike merely shrugged and assumed nothing would go wrong. Whatever Toriel made, he hoped that it could make up for the lost frozen treat. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Are we close?” Twilight asked. “Y-Yeah, almost there, j-just a bit further.” Alphys responded, clearly nervous. “Well we better get there soon, I’m getting bored.” Rainbow pouted. The three of them were fortunate enough to have virtually no run-ins with dangerous creatures in the Everfree, save for a close call with a wandering cockatrice. Alphys’s machine made more and more strange beeps as they walked. Twilight was scanning the air for, something. Rainbow just didn’t know what. They approached a small cavern. “There, that’s the cave we came out of.” Alphys said. It was likely one of the smallest caves Rainbow had ever seen; how any kind of ‘underground’ existed here was beyond her. “Now the opening should be around here somewhere…” They walked on and on but found nothing, Alphys’s machine made stranger and stranger noises as they went deeper. There were no twists, turns, or forks; it was just a straight path. Rainbow didn’t know how she felt about that. Eventually they came to a dead end. “W-W-What?!” Alphys shrieked, she ran to the wall and looked at in in disbelief. “That doesn’t make any sense! We… we came out form here I know it! I recognize this cave for sure, there was a HUGE opening here a-and the entire underground…” Rainbow flew up into Alphys’s and glared at her. “Okay, what gives? First you said there was this underground and now there isn’t? Are you playing some kind of game here? Where are you REALLY from?!” “Rainbow Dash!” Twilight scolded. Alphys could barely choke out her next words, “I-I-I…N-No, there is an u-underground, there w-was an entrance here! I-I’m not lying this time I swear!” “THIS TIME?! What do you mean THIS TIME?!” Rainbow yelled. “N-No I mean, It was, I wasn’t, I was just–” Alphys was cut off by her machine beeping loudly. “What the?” The screen flashed and showed at ton of symbols that didn’t make any sense to Rainbow Dash. “This thing is going crazy! There’s some kind of strange energy here!” Twilight spoke up, “I know, I can feel it.” She cast a quick glare at Rainbow before looking back at Alphys apologetically. “I’m sorry, she can be a bit… aggressive at times. I believe you though.” Rainbow thought she heard that wrong, why would Twilight believe anything that these weird monsters said? She continued, “I can feel two types of magic in this area, both of which are completely foreign to me. The first one feels just like the type of the large surge, but it looks like the residue is dissipating, it’s not as strong as yesterday’s. The other is a totally new type magic.” She put of hoof to her chin “Hmmm, I wonder…” She looked directly at Alphys. “Hold still for a moment.” Twilight’s horn glowed with a magenta aura, and Alphys’s body was surrounded in the same aura. “W-What are you doing?” She asked nervously. The aura seemed to focus in on every detail of her body one by one, meticulously observing her essence. She suddenly glowed a faint white from within Twilight’s magic, she looked like she was about to panic. “Just as I thought” Twilight announced as the aura faded, “There’s residual magic on you that’s the same type as the second, newer magic. If I were to guess, it might be on your friends too. It’s just a hypothesis, but with enough tests I think I can confirm this.” Twilight rescanned the area, but her expression changed to one of confusion, “That’s odd…” “What is it?” Alphys asked “The second magic’s residue is quite strong here, like it was recently cast…” Twilight said. “So what?” Rainbow interrupted “These guys showed up yesterday, that magic’s probably just from them.” “No Rainbow, that’s what I mean. If the last time that the second unknown spell was cast was when Alphys and her friends arrived, the residue here would be just as strong as the one on her, but it’s much stronger here.” She looked towards the cave wall. “There are two possible explanations for this. One: the magical residue is dissipating much more slowly in here, which is highly unlikely. Or two…” She turned to face Alphys and Rainbow, a look of worry present on her face, “something else has just arrived in Ponyville!” <<<<<<===================================================================================>>>>>> > message received opening… > translating please wait… > message 76.92% translated THE PRINCESS OF THE SUN IS  DO NOT ALERT HER OR ANYONE  THE FATE OF  DEPENDS ON THIS THEY CANNOT . > end message <<<<<<===================================================================================>>>>>>