Toriel and Asgore couldn’t believe what they were watching. But as Error Sans displayed the horror for them all, they couldn’t deny it. Frisk and his friends were...EATEN. Eaten by Tiamat! And now...now…
“W-Wait. Frisk can just RESET!” Asgore said quickly, gripping Toriel’s hand as they looked at each other, Cadence, Celestia and Shining Armor watching from a magic mirror at the Crystal Empire. They’d been stationed there because of odd movement on the edge of the empire, suspecting Error had been up to something, and now...now they were too far away to help. But still...yes. The RESET. Surely that would fix things...right?
“That’s IF he can RESET.” Error Sans chuckled softly. “After all, remember when your little prince had all of us wrapped up like Gryftmas presents? He couldn’t reset then.”
Toriel gave Error Sans a furious, cold look as he calmly put away the magic mirror HE had with him, pocketing it...putting it with a very specific lich heart deep inside his jacket as Sans and Papyrus and Undyne looked at each other, Undyne raising a spear up as Error Sanks winked cheekily.
“If you hurry, MAYBE you could get him outta there.” He said, looking over at Sans. “My ol’ smiley counterpart could getcha there in time, if you hurry. Course, it’s a big “if”, but...ah, but hope springs eternal, as the saying goes.” He said with a nonchalant shrug, vanishing a moment later, his laughter echoing through the air as Toriel turned to Asgore.
“Get your armor ready. Sans? Papyrus? Undyne? We leave in five minutes!” She insisted.
Meanwhile, Twilight was covering her face, quivering as Celestia gently patted her back, Shining Armor and Cadence trying to comfort their child flurry as Celestia nervously looked out from the magic mirror, seeing Sans’s quiet fury as he pulled his hood up, to cover his head. She’d never seen him so mad like this.
“Spike…” Twilight murmured. “What will that monster do to those I love?”
“It’s not too late. Rarity might be able to break them out of it, and she’s at Ponyville with the others.” Celestia reasoned. “I’ll go find Luna and head to Ponyville, and we can-”
Then something made the entire empire shudder and shake, and a horrific laugh rang through the air. SOMBRA’S laugh. Their eyes widened as they raced outside, seeing a large explosion had ripped open the ground from near the Crystal Heart. Sombra had climbed up from the tunnelways! The same tunnels that they’d used to flush out the Caribou were under the Crystal Empire too? And now-
Now Sombra had the Crystal Heart, the gigantic gem being enveloped in powerful black tendrils as he cringed slightly, then grinned. “At long last.” He whispered, pressing it squarely into his chest as they gazed in shock along with the Crystal Ponies, the barrier that surrounded the empire shuddering and shaking more and more…
Shattering into pieces as he laughed sadistically, Twilight gasping as Celestia dove out the window with Twilight, her eyes still filled with tears as she furiously glared at him. “I am SO not in the mood for you right now!” She roared out.
“You know, people always say I’m heartless. Suppose that’s not true anymore.” He remarked with a chuckle, patting his chest as his eyes glistened brightly...and Celestia looked up behind him, the Crystal Ponies eyes wide with shock...as ice began to creep its way into the capital. Oh no. The WENDIGOS.
“Oh no.” She murmured. “Twilight, get people out of the city, now!” She yelled out, Twilight gritting her teeth and nodding, she and her brother racing off together as Cadence took their child, bolting away with the royal guard by her side as Celestia focused her horn. “I’ll just make you spit that heart up! I don’t fear you nor the Wendigos!”
“Oh, but you WILL.” Sombra proclaimed. “See, I don’t have to fight you. I just need to distract you.” He informed her with a smug grin. “Error Sans and I worked out quite the plan. You’re just a tiny part of it. And you shall perish without even knowing how little you could do to stop us!” He added with a sadistic laugh, spreading an arm wide as the cry of the Wendigos went wild through the sky. The horse-like specters of hatred and fear and cruelty and prejudice roared through the air, shooting towards Celestia and the fleeing Crystal Ponies, Sombra cackling madly as she tried to erect a shield. She cringed, trying to force them back, the wendigos pushing and pressing against the barrier as she grinned a bit.
“I...do not fear you. I...will not yield!” She roared.
Unfortunately Sombra was not going to simply stand and laugh. He nonchalantly held out a hoof, clenching it tightly as a powerful bolt of pure blackish/green energy shot forth, slamming into the shield, cracking it slightly as she cringed. She couldn’t hold them back AND deal with him! Especially when so much of her own powers were tied into her ability to focus, her DETERMINATION…
...and after all that had happened in just a mere 24 hours, she was losing it. Losing hope. Losing focus.
Of course, as the Crystal Empire’s residents tried to evacuate, Ponyville had it’s own problems to contend with. For now Error Sans was on its outskirts, in the graveyard and smirking...pacing back and forth as he held up the ugly, foul heart of a lich. “I imagine you wanna know why you’re out of jail, and with yours truly.”
“You want something from us. What is it?” Bloodstripes demanded to know, the lion growling darkly, Razorback “harrumphing” and Ahuizotl tilting his head a bit. Error Sans grinned...and then slammed the heart into the ground, stepping back as he looked up at them with a smirk.
“Might wanna step back.” He sneered.
They immediately reeled back, as a foul, ugly and decayed hoof shot up, Cariboujangles letting out a roar as he rose up, panting and heaving, his form shifting and shuddering as he reformed, cringing as he looked down at himself. “Ah! Good. I can work off the dead.”
“Gotta tell you. You give new meaning to the phrase “who are you wearing”.” Error Sans said with a chuckle. “You three got one little job while I handle the biggest part of all...getting rid of the Mane Six here in town.”
He calmly clapped his hands, and several bones formed, which he held up. “See, a bunch of bones together is like a bunch of arrows. Takes a LOT of effort to break them.” He said, trying to break them over his knee, cringing and growling before FINALLY snapping them. “But...one on one? On their own?”
He held up a single bone, easily crushing it in two with a powerful KRA-THUK, grinning sadistically. “Now imagine those little ponies...are those bones. They’re fractured. Easy pickings.”
Their smiles were the work of demons.
…
…
…
… “Thank goodness you talked to us, it’s true. What can we do that could now aid you?” Zecora inquired as she stood alongside Queen Chrystalis, Shinedown pacing back and forth in front of her hut, Discord nonchalantly hovering in midair whilst a very special doctor stood nearby...a human unseen by almost all others standing close by as well.
“I got reports of Sombra heading off for the Crystal Empire. Chrysalis, I KNOW you’ve got a bunch of platoons hiding out near the empire. You have your guys sneaking in every once in a while to give Flurry Heart hugs.” Shinedown remarked with a sigh as Chrysalis deeply blushed. “It was funny at first, but it’s also getting creepy.”
“Well, they need to up security anyway!” Chrysalis said defensively.
“You also need to stop sneaking into Shining Armor’s room.”
“HEY!” She screeched out. “How did you find out about that?!”
Shinedown grinned and tapped the side of his head, in a “I know everything” way as Discord began sniggering. In truth, Carter and Discord had been helping the Changeling out quite a bit. It helped to have a wide network of contacts all around Equestria. “Also, I saw Error Sans sneaking around Ponyville earlier today, and I saw he had the lich’s heart.”
“The Caribou we watch quite well, I’ll tell you all I have to tell.” Zecora confessed. Indeed, the Caribou had been flushed aaaall the way to the coast, and the zebras had been keeping an eye on them. “Back towards Ponyville they go, what else do you need to know?”
“We’re gonna need to do a pincer movement. We head to Ponyville from the east, the Zebras come in from the west, and we’ll catch them before they can fully reach the town. Chrysalis, get your changelings to the Empire fast as you can, and I’ve got to try and find Error Sans. It’s time I...did what had to be done.” He said quietly.
“You mean kill him.” Chrysalis said calmly.
Shinedown reached down into one of his many pocket pouches, pulling out his long bladed chain, spinning it around. “Been a while since I DUSTED this off…” He whispered.
“I consider you to be a friend. Don’t take comfort in his end.” Zecora reasoned as Shinedown hesitated.
“If you find joy in hurting a sadist, is that sadism itself? Or is the joy from knowing they won’t hurt anyone else?” He murmured. “...I don’t really know for sure. All I know is he had his chance. He blew it. And he’s trying to hurt my friends. Trying to kill my family. He…” He quivered with fury, his blue eyes turning cold and icy and foul. “I...want to HURT him so badly!” He roared out. “If it wasn’t for him, Squirt wouldn’t be-”
“Vengeance isn’t justice.” Gaster’s voice drifted softly through the air as Shinedown flinched...lowering the chain and sighing.
“You always cut right to the point, doctor. But...yeah, you’re right.” He admitted quietly. “Thanks, I’ll...TRY...to give him one more chance when I face him and...and I’ll TRY not to hate him.”
Gaster smiled.
“Well, I’m always happy to help. It’s no skin off my back.”
…
…
…
...Frisk moaned as he slowly came back into consciousness. His head was fuzzy...whatever had happened had taken a lot out of him, and he was still unable to move his one leg. Oddly, he felt all around him was soft and squishy, like the inside of a balloon or waterbed. The air was hot and smelled a little acrid, And the sounds being made were deafening and all around him. He was lost in a place he had never been before, and he had no idea why he was even here.
"Frisk! FRISK!"
A familiar voice. Asriel. He looked over and saw the goatbro, and was stunned to see his sweater, normally neat and tidy despite all they have been through, was torn in several places. behind him, Apple Bloom was crying and hugging Scootaloo, while Sweetie Belle was in a fetal position, whimpering. Chara was banging on a nearby wall, which seemed to ripple and Squirt was slightly curled up in a fetal position, looking close to a mental breakdown.
And seeing that made it all come back. Everything that had brought them here. Tiamat's return..... the betrayal by Spike, even unwittingly.... Mardek looking up at his mother, Tiamat, with pride.... and then....
Oh no.
"Frisk.... are you alright?" Asriel asked. Frisk, considering, was anything but.
"I... can't move my leg at all.... I could hobble before but now..."
"Yeah.... I know." Asriel sighed, looking away. "It's broken pretty bad. It took all my magic just to stop the bleeding, but.... the bone is crushed. I don't think you will walk again. But, at least you're not dead."
Frisk looked about. Something was very odd. "Why.... why aren't we... you know...."
"We would have reformed if we did. And I think Tiamat knows that. So she is keeping us prisoner so we do not interfere." Asriel sighed. "Not that it helps much. We failed to stop her. Now she is going to destroy all of Ponyville, and beyond."
"No..... No she isn't." Frisk said. Chara stopped and looked at him.
"Huh? Frisk, need I remind you she’s gathered every last dragon in the kingdom of the dragons to her! Thanks to her gaining her full body back AND her heart, she has an army now! She will devour everyone and destroy everything!"
Frisk laid back. "But... then Error has no fun."
Everyone looked his way. Frisk continued, wincing as he felt the leg... or rather the fleshy tube of meat and broken bone attached to his thigh.
"He LET Mardek find what he needed to get us out of the way and he let us get “taken care of”. But something isn’t adding up from what I saw of her and what I think I KNOW of her. You think Tiamat is a being of ultimate power and destruction. But...thing is, if she wanted to destroy us... she would have. But we’re not dead, we’re prisoners instead. She doesn't want to destroy...she’s lonely. And those dragons are all she has left. She will fight to keep them close to her.. .they are her family. That’s why she talked about making Spike a son. She wants a family to replace what she lost."
Chara sighed. "Well... it's all academic now. We are stuck here.. .and the damn dragon crushed my true knife. Even if I had it I cannot cut loose-Huey?! What are you doing?"
Everyone turned, and stared as Monster Kid, still blissfully innocent, bounced about in the belly, Squirt doing the same as he laughed. Chara just.... stared.
"I was feeling INCREDIBLY horrified until I realized...TRAMPOLINE! This is so fun! Come on guys, you gotta try this!" Squirt said. Chara facepalmed.
"You... you.... WE ARE IN TIAMAT'S STOMACH! Don't you worry even a bit about THAT?!"
Monster Kid shrugged. "Why? When Frisk or you were in situations like this before we just RESET back to your last SAVE."
Chara blinked. "RESET...... Oh am I an IDIOT!"
Asriel chuckled. "I called you both that one before..."
"Not now! They are right! We can RESET to our last save point! Remember? Our determination makes them! We can RESET to back before we fought Tiamat, and next time get it right!"
Frisk nodded, and focused. Slowly, ever so subtly, the RESET button appeared before him... .then vanished.
"Oh no, you don't!" A familiar female voice echoed around them. "I'm not having you hurt my babies again! You stay in there and behave!"
Frisk tried again, and again, but each time Tiamat was too strong. He could not call on the RESET.
He tried again to open his SAVE FILE.
Failed.
Seemed like LOADING was not an option.
At least......... not alone.
Frisk looked to Chara, and said former Genocide runner was wide eyed. "Wait a minute. You have that look in your eyes Frisk. What are you doing? What are you thinking of?"
Frisk chuckled. "Chara... I cannot do this alone. I need you and Asriel."
Asriel blinked. "Wha!? Nonononononononononono! Sorry Frisk, but I want NO memories of when I was Flowey thank you."
Chara nodded. "And unless you forgot I haven't LOADed in a long time. We may wind up RESETing back before I ever went to the village with Asriel!"
Frisk was silent, then he spoke simply. "Good always finds a way to do it right. Whatever happens... I am with you if you are with me."
Asriel sighed. "If I turn into a flower again, just promise me you will at least get me a SOUL so I can remember."
Chara sighed. "Well if I go back to earlier.... I'll give you mine. No tricks this time."
The three smiled, as Squirt and Huey came over with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, all of them smiling warmly. With combined effort, they focused their DETERMINATION on the ability.
And this time, with three attempting.... it was accessed!
*Would you like to LOAD your SAVE FILE?
YES NO*
>>>>>>YES!
*********RESET!************
Frisk opened his eyes and found he was back in the field outside of the bramble where Tiamat was gathering the dragons. He looked and saw Huey and Squirt, the CMC, as well as Asriel and Chara. It had worked!
"How.... How did it work?!" Chara asked, but Frisk smiled.
"The thought of our friend in danger.... filled us with DETERMINATION."
Asriel sighed. "Ok... so we are no longer lunch, but what now? We cannot fight her again, we will get trounced again by her servants and then devoured!"
Frisk smiled. "If I am right.... we won't have to. Think about it... why do something like this to lure the KIDS away? Yeah we have pretty amazing powers, but I am crippled, Huey has no arms, and Squirt... well I DOUBT Sombra would really risk hurting his kin. No, this is a decoy. A distraction. She’s not the real threat and Error knows it."
Asriel blinked. "But... what about Spike?! We got to get him back!"
Frisk smiled even more and sighed deeply. "If I am right we don't need to worry there."
Chara blinked and chuckled. "Leave it to the family Snuggler to find the way to MERCY a friggin dragon god. Okay, what's the plan?"
Frisk winced as he limped. "Well first of all... I stay out of it beyond talking to Tiamat. You'll have to keep me safe."
Chara nodded, as did Asriel.
"If I am right..... we won't have to fight, and we may be able to get back home without anyone knowing we were gone."
*************************
A few minutes later they were back in the ruined clearing outside of the dragon lands. This time however, Frisk and the others waited and observed the dragons around Tiamat, waiting for her to be at full power and soon enough, after about half an hour?
"I knew it!" Frisk said, giggling. Tiamat smiled as she was mixing up a brew for the dragons, all of which acting like little baby dragons fresh from the eggs. The exception was Mardek, who she tossed about like a favorite ball, the half dragon making a delighted sound as he was tossed about. For what she was before this seemed very.... odd.
"Ok... I can now confirm it... she is nuttier than squirrel poo." Chara said. But Frisk shook his head.
"No! At least... not totally. Yeah she probably still wants revenge on Equestria.... but she has been trapped and away from her family for years."
"But...don't dragons hate her? I mean, the wall showed a very unflattering picture of her." Asriel asked.
"Not all. Look at Mardek." Frisk pointed, and unlike the others, he showed no signs of being under a spell, even as he hugged around one of Tiamat's heads. The head smiled even as the others began to feed the brew to the dragons.
"She is evil... but she is still a mom, and she wants her family back." Frisk said. "I'm going down there."
"Frisk, you can't dodge her! You'll be crushed!" Asriel said, the others in the group agreeing.
"Not if I am right." He began to limp down. "Don't come after me no matter what. I am certain this is a decoy and that she’s not truly a threat. Just in case...keep your eyes open."
The others nodded as the limping ambassador for monsters approached a HUGE dragoness with multiple heads. Now the heads turned his way, and he swallowed as they drew close.
"WHO DARES TO ENTER MY DOMAIN?!" She boomed out, Mardek blinking. Where were the others? “Who comes into my house of pain?”
"My name is Frisk.... and I wanted to talk... just talk is all. I promise I am unarmed and mean no harm."
Tiamat tilted a head, sniffing the boy. Perhaps he was a peace offering by the ponies? He didn’t look familiar. "Very well. SPEAK." She intoned.
"I just want to ask.... you're not going to hurt the dragons right?"
Tiamat blinked. "What?" She deadpanned, all of her faces giving him a “Are you for real” look.
"Well... it's just... that Spike over there is a good friend for me and my family... and I don't want him or any dragon hurt." Frisk said quietly, nervously gulping as he looked over at Spike, who looked back at him.
Tiamat blinked. Ok, this kid was an idiot. She toned down her voice and leaned her heads close. "Soooooooo.... let me get this straight. You came out here. Alone. I have over three dozen or so dragons under my control, not to mention my son who brought me back."
"You tell him!" Mardek said. Tiamat chuckled a little.
"I love that boy." She coughed. "As I was saying, I could easily just lunge and chew you to pieces, and you come here, alone, crippled, and weak, to ask if I am going to HURT MY BABIES?!"
Frisk was silent for a moment, then smiled and nodded. "Yeah, basically."
Tiamat chuckled. Then she snickered, then she flat out laughed, sounding like a mix of music and the world's ending. Finally she wiped tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry... .excuse my humor, but you must admit this is a rather silly situation. I mean I am one of the most feared and hated dragons in all of Equestrian history, and you stroll right up to me and ask if I am going to hurt my own kids? Are you brain dead or something?"
Frisk shrugged. "Nah. Just can tell a good mother when I see one. You just want to keep your kids safe and, while it is a little crazy, I imagine part of it is being locked in another dimension for so long."
Tiamat kept her smiles, Mardek also chuckling. "Well, NO I do not intend to hurt them."
Frisk nodded. "I figured. Ok, bye."
Tiamat blinked. "Wait, WHAT?!?"
"Well, you're not going to hurt them, and fighting you is clearly a distraction set by Error, so why fight? It is a waste of both of our times. The only dragon I was worried about was Spike because he loves ponies so much, but the others are kind of mean, if you will forgive me."
Tiamat chuckled, nuzzling her son some. "No argument. They DID rise up against me to seal me aw-"
Tiamat didn't finish as a Gaster Blaster suddenly erupted, Frisk screaming in pain as it sent him flying, his already crippled legs now damaged even further. From the rocks, Error Sans shook his head, Chara gasping in surprise as he watched from afar. But something was off. Why was...wait…
An idea came to Chara. He looked around...then looked up...his eyes widening with horror as he heard Error’s sickening voice ring out through the air.
"Heya, kid. That look on your face....... it is the face of a kid who was dragon chow.... but you broke the rules kid. Ya RESET."
Error slid down the rocks, the others watching from where they were in sheer horror.
"Kiddo, that's cheating. besides, you swore you never would reset again. The Frisk i know wouldn't have. so.... you're not the real Frisk."
Frisk blinked. "What?"
"You're just a facsimile, like everything here. But no worries. With the help of the caribou and the wendigos, soon everyone in this timeline will be defeated, and your little attempt to avoid your fate won't help you much in the end."
Tiamat blinked. "Wait.... you mean... you're helping me was so you could kill everyone?!"
"Yep. ponies, changelings, monsters, humans, everyone and everything must be destroyed. Then this will be the pure timeline." Error said with a calm, pitiless smile.
Frisk went wide eyed. So THAT was it! Error was never interested in helping Sombra at all, or making one core timeline! He wanted to just kill everyone in whatever timeline he was in! A true errored form of the Sans he knew and loved, who could not kill anyone. Even some of the other alternate universe Sans he heard of, cruel though they may be, would never go genocide for no reason!
But Error was unique. Cold, empty, flawed.
...EVIL.
"Now then Frisk.... i have tried killing you for some time now to stop your little resets. but seeing as this time you can't dodge... i think this time i got y-AARRRGGGHHH!"
Error was cut short as his body flashed 404 signs, behind him Chara holding his true knife. He turned to Tiamat. "Please Tiamat! Eat Frisk and get him and the others out of here! I have to stop him!"
Tiamat blinked. "Well eating your friends is no trouble, I think human would be DELICIOUS..... but why?"
"Error has tied up the Equestrian moon. He's gonna try and destroy the planet!"
ERROR chuckled and took a very Sans like pose. "Very clever Chara. what tipped you off?"
"Your blue strands. By now you would use them to hurt Frisk or someone else. But this time..... you left Frisk on the ground. So you had to have them all SOMEWHERE. I just looked about to find them, and then I looked UP...and saw you’ve begun connecting them to the moon!”
It was true. Far above there was the unmistakable sign that the blue strands of Error had begun to get woven around the moon, and Chara growled furiously. “And I won't let you use them!"
Error chuckled. "Heh. But you cannot cut them either kid. Only powerful magic can do that, and frankly the only one who really could, a wielder of shadow magic, works for me. Soon he won't even be an issue. Once he’s finished with the Crystal Empire, I’m gonna have Caribojangles and the others kill him after they have their fun in Ponyville. Then... there will be no one who can stop me." He chuckled, pulling out a magic mirror, showing off the unmistakable sight of the foul Caribou leader, and the fetid heart that beat wildly in front of his decaying chest, Mardek gasping as he felt over his body.
“HEY! You stole it!”
“I stole it first, and I stole it best, kid. Try to imagine a whole army at my command, a heartless killing force who rapes and murders and devourers all about it. The stuff of nightmares bowing to me. it makes my bones rattle in delight!" Error Sans chuckled. “They’re making their move on Ponyville even now. Oh, what fun we’re gonna have. I’m gonna really enjoy that stupid half-breed dying, truthfully. Haven’t quite forgiven him for tricking me with Pap’s voice. I’ll use his skull as a decorative birdhouse.”
“You are one SICK FUCK.” Chara snarled as he focused his gaze and readied to fight. Error shrugged.
"Kiss Toriel with that mouth? You know...heh-heh-heh.... funny it being like this kid. You the good guy, me the bad. YOU fighting to spare everyone... me to genocide and purify a fractured timeline... so to speak." he chuckled menacingly. "Eh, maybe it is fate, huh chara? Our mutual LOVE for each other?"
"LOVE has nothing to do with it Error." Chara said, placing a hand on the locket around his neck. "I fight for the SOUL."
Frisk's form shone in the true knife, and the sky turned dark as a storm brewed. Around them, a twisted form of Megalovania began to play. Chara spoke, the others already taking off to try and put an end to Error’s monstrous plan as Chara readied himself.
"Quite the day, Error. the world in danger. My friends in peril. Days like this signal justice needs served." Chara raised his knife, his eyes now shining, for the first time in his life, a brilliant blue like a certain skeleton, the TRUE color of his eyes. "LET THE JUDGES BE JUDGED!"
Lightning struck the ground, and the two charged, the battle for Equestria's fate beginning.
TO BE CONTINUED...