A Fatal Error Has Occurred

by Orderly Disassembly

Ch - 11 - Ghosts

We walked. Sometimes, a fallen tree would obstruct us, a beast would scuttle across the path, and we even had to turn aside a small landslide. Yet we never truly stopped. Some things could slow us, others could not, but Nightmare of Moon was too strong to be bested by the forest.

All the while, I felt something wriggling in the back of my skull. At first, I suspected the Nightmare, but quickly discounted her once I took a closer look.

No, it wasn’t something from without, it was part of me. Something in me simply couldn’t settle into this new routine. It felt familiar to follow her as if I’d been led by a strong personality before.

I hated the feeling, it made things from the depths crawl towards the surface. Images of a life I’d long left behind would flash through my eyes.

Images of a guard post in a thick snowy wood. Pictures of a skeleton, tall and cheerful but with scratched-out eyes. Sometimes, I could even hear his scratchy voice call out from between passing gusts. However, when I snap my gaze on where the sound came from, nothing would be there.

I wanted to ask ‘Who was he?’ But I fear dredging up things I should leave well enough alone.

“Speed up, subject, I do not have time for your weakness.”

The Nightmare’s voice cut through my thoughts like a knife through paper. I looked up to find that I’d stopped entirely and that the Nightmare was glaring at me.

“Apologies.”

My voice felt alien to me as if it wasn’t me speaking. Yet I formed those words, I’d commanded them from my mouth, but it wasn’t me who said them.

The Nightmare nodded before continuing. I followed shortly after.

‘I am me.’

Is that a lie? If I look into a mirror, will I recognize the one staring back?

Who am I?

I stared blankly ahead as we walked. The trees were beginning to thin, and the tracks were getting more numerous. I think we’d passed a crossroads earlier as well.

We were getting closer to wherever the Nightmare was leading us.

But who is ‘we’? Who is ‘us’?

It is the Nightmare of Moon, and I. That is we, that is us.

But who is ‘I’ who is ‘me’?

My name is…

What is it? What is it? I should know this, we can’t not know!

My name is…

I may have died, they may have tried to take my mind, but I lived, I didn’t let them have it!

My name is…

Did I?

My name is…

My name is…

Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error…

I kept asking the question, but my answer never came. The word ‘error’ echoed through my head, followed occasionally by ‘404 not found.’

What does 404 mean? Why was it not found? Should I be able to find it?

These questions plagued me for hours on end as a grating static began to build in my head, pushing against the insides of my skull, demanding to be let out. Functions and subroutines looped over onto themselves in an infinite circle of feedback that fed into itself.

It was like I was forbidden to think—that such simple ideas like ‘my name’ were beyond me.

I struggled to smile, but I barely managed to keep my mask up. The nightmare’s voice spared me from the suffocating static.

“I am curious, from where do you hail, subject? You are the first of your kind that I’ve seen.”
I stumbled but managed to catch myself. I looked up to find that she hadn’t even glanced in my direction.

Had she noticed? Did she see my weakness? No, she couldn’t have, I hope.

I cleared my nonexistent throat before answering, “I thought you weren’t interested in my tale, Nightmare of Moon.”

She smiled slightly without turning to face me, “I find this traveling to be boring, so even fanciful lies would be better than nothing.”

That, and I suspect she likes the title I use for her.

I nod, “Very well then, where would you like me to begin?”

“At the beginning, I’d presume.”

I ignored her snort of amusement at the jab as I continued.

“Very well. Around, I want to say fifty years ago? I existed in a void between places. An area that was not defined by anything yet was connected to everything.”

Nightmare cut in, “and why did you exist there and then? Where did you come from?”

I grit my teeth as I bit back the urge to lash out at her interruption. This was my story, couldn’t she just shut up for a few minutes more?

“I do not know, if you’d let me get all the way through, you will find out why.”

She cast me a flat look but let me continue silently. I took a deep breath, pausing a moment longer to avoid tripping over an upturned roadstone.

“I lived in that void for a long, long while. But one day, another being came. He was a different version of me, wielding strings like I did before Tartarus bound me. He was pitch black in color and wore a similarly shaded coat with blue tinges at the edges.”

The Nightmare had an ear turned towards me but didn’t interrupt, so I continued.

“We talked for a short time, then he attacked me. The fight was blisteringly fast, with magic thundering through the air and conjured bones raining like arrows.”

The Nightmare rolled her eyes but made no comment.

“However, I was no match for him. So he had me strung up in a jungle of wire, and he killed me.”

She turned a glare on me with a raised eyebrow, “Really, and does that mean I speak with a ghost telling tales then?”

I chuckled at the remark, “Close, but not quite. You can see that my magic yet functions despite Tartarus’ influence, if only barely, correct?”

She nodded, so I went on.

“Well, there’s a reason for that. You see, I was murdered in a place where one cannot die by a being who reduced entire worlds to nothing. As a result, my soul was shattered, yet it did not quite break.”

Her expression kept that same skepticism, but it bled into horrified shock when I pulled back my tattered jacket. A series of red strings connected my bones, creating an intricate spider web of glowing wire that pulled and constricted to move my limbs. In that web lay the dusty fragments of a white upside-down heart. It seemed to pulse yet did not move, and each shard kept to a different rhythm.

“You see, Nightmare of Moon, I am not really alive, yet I’m not actually dead. I am a lump of consciousness puppetting my own decrepit corpse.”

I could see her shoulders shudder as a seed of fear wormed its way into her soul. My blue eye spotted the code in her shift and contort, seeming to darken then brighten before settling on a gray paler than the pitch darkness it was before.

“I see…”

She slowly turned her head forward once more, putting conscious effort into not looking at my exposed chest. I felt my grin widen as I covered up before asking, “Should I continue, Nightmare of Moon?”

“No, my curiosity is satisfied, subject.”

Her too-quick answer warmed the shards of my soul, and I got ready to weather another long silence.

I may not have gotten back any actual power, but I did get something. Fear is a power in itself, not one I thought I’d get when dealing with the Nightmare, at least not so soon.

So I smiled, and so I smile.

---

The thinning trees gave way to a series of rolling hills. I walked a few paces to the side and behind the Nightmare. However, she tried to keep me in her periphery at all times. I could tell by the way her head was angled up and slightly to the side.

Once prey, always prey.

I maintained my neutral smile as we crested a slope. I spotted a small town in the distance. I estimated an hour’s walk to arrive. Smoke trailed upward from a pair of buildings, far too much smoke. It was starting to billow from a few windows and out the door.

I stayed silent, but the Nightmare seemed to notice on her own.

“Is that… a fire?”

“Perhaps. That or someone doesn’t know how to cook.”

Catastrophes happen. Why, one time _____ dropped a pot of spaghetti on the floor, and somehow, a stray sock caught fire. I tried spraying water on it and—

My smile dropped as the memory suddenly cut short. I was happy. I…

“Run to the town as fast as you can, subject. Aid the populace however you can.”

The Nightmare’s voice yanked me from my stupor as she disappeared in a flash of light. It took a moment for her orders to register, but I set off at a run once my mind started functioning again.
About fifteen minutes passed before I got to the town. A few of the burning buildings still had smoke trailing upwards, but it seemed far more reasonable now. Perhaps a few corners were still smoldering, but the fires were gone.

I took a moment to think. What should I be doing? How could I help? Where—FUCK.

A realization struck me like a brick to the temple. I could’ve left. I just needed to drop the Nightmare’s soul and sprint for the forest. I could’ve been free. I could’ve been. Could've been…

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Only idiots let opportunities go to waste!

I grit my teeth as I began strolling through the town. I could probably find something to do, maybe earn a few scraps of appreciation from the Nightmare. Something, anything to offset the opening I just let pass me by.

Why did I just act? Why couldn’t I stop for a damned moment to think?

I raged at myself while keeping a calm, smiling exterior. The town seemed barren of ponies though. I walked the Main Street, peeked down alleys, and even peered into a few buildings through open windows.

I found furniture, roads, and the occasional vendor cart. Today must be a market day given the abundance of the latter. Come to think of it, they are lining the whole main road, there are even a few burned-out husks in the alleys near the fires.

Perhaps a caravan was passing through? Another few minutes of searching passed before I heard a small crowd at the edge of town. Nightmare of Moon was speaking to the ponies of the town from atop a stage made of large crates. I couldn’t quite hear what she was saying but the crowd went wild when she made a sweeping gesture with a wing.

I thought about getting closer but decided against it. Best to let her finish and stand by her. Should be less of an issue being introduced with a royal to vouch for me.

I watched her speak, slowly beginning to pick out words here and there. However, I could never hear enough to quite understand what she was saying. I let my gaze drift around the crowd.

The majority were bare ponies, nothing much about them. It did make for a small sea of color though. However, a section of the crowd has several members wearing strange hats and robes. I picked out the faint outlines of daggers in a few tighter folds of cloth.

Perhaps they were travelers, maybe even the caravaneers I suspected earlier. I continued scanning the crowd, not expecting anything in particular, but gathering information was always useful.

I felt a prickle on the side of my neck, and when I turned towards the feeling I spotted a pony staring at me with a slack jaw. I very slowly moved a finger to my face in a shushing motion before crouching down.

It might sound demeaning, and it is, but these ponies are like prey animals. If you bother one, they’ll kick and scream bloody murder. However, if you just remain calm and slowly put distance between you two, things should work out peacefully.

Unfortunately, the world upended leaving me on my back when I tripped over something small and warm.

The wide eyes of a child stared down at me.

Then the screaming started.

Author's Note:

Decided to move up timetables a bit. Gonna do Sunday postings instead, with Saturday or thursday for chapters that I deem to be "bonus."

Anywho, I suspect this story to run for another 6 or so chapters before the narrative runs its course and I wrap this thing up. Maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less, I'm not quite sure yet. However, I do have an inkling of where I wanna go with it.

as always, leave your thoughts and criticisms down below, they push me onward with writing more than anything else. See ya next week.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

What is this a crossover of?

[RandomCommentor]

11684939
One of Undertales seemingly infinite Alternate Universes.

[Orderly Disassembly]

11684925
sadly, this is before the time of the show, this is Nightmare Moon's first go around. sorry if I hadn't adequately telegraphed that.

11684939
Undertale. The Mc is based off of Fatal Error AU

[Syroc]

11684976
11685007

... I had just managed to put 2 and 2 together to get "Error Sans", and when I was going to post about it down here I spotted these comments.

Sometimes the comment section is useful, and I keep forgetting that.

[Nez12213]

I figured out the crossover from the source link on the cover image. Not familiar with Undertale fanon so I'm liking how this story is going regardless.

Nightmare of Moon is now put in an interesting position.
#1 She can kill Fatal here and now to be seen as even more of a hero then she probably does right now.
#2 She can "Banish" him to a lesser benefit to the former while still getting to keep a "loyal" follower.
#3 Maybe she decided to care and deescalates the situation.
the first two are more likely, but the third leads down a weird path where friendship is possible. It also leads to a more devastating betrayal on Nightmare of Moon's end of things.