> The Dreamer and the Moon
>  by Starkeeper_Ponyfic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1 The Dreamwalker
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The alicorn’s navy blue horn blazed white as she blasted the hideous creature she faced into oblivion. Her night sky of a mane flowed gently as she walked over to the pegasus filly hiding in the nearby bush. The alicorn gently reassured the filly that she was alright before casting a gentle spell that bathed them in a soft golden glow. This filly would sleep free of nightmares until she woke. 
Princess Luna disappeared into the hall of dreams and gazed down at the dreams she’d already checked, ensuring no disturbance had arisen in the time she’d taken fighting the filly’s nightmare. The dreams of the ponies had been unusually calm and peaceful that night. The nightmare she’d just faced was only the fifth of the night, and she’d passed the doors of nearly every pony in Equestria. She checked the time- just now midnight, and no nightmares alerted her to their presence. She carefully walked through the rest of the hall to ensure that none of the doors looked disturbed- a typical sign of nightmares beginning. Nothing. The ponies of Equestria slept soundly and peacefully that night. Luna was, impossibly, done. She had nothing left to do as far as battling nightmares went. She momentarily revelled in her freedom before realizing that there wasn’t much she could do aside from fueling the fantasies of the ponies unless she was willing to abuse her power to prank them. The idea genuinely tempted her for a moment, but she decided not to. 
A golden glimmer caught her eye and Luna, intrigued, turned her head to behold a new door forming in the hall. She trotted over to investigate, as she didn’t see this kind of thing happening often, and she’d never seen this door. Whatever her flaws and failings might be, she had an impeccable memory, particularly in relation to the dream realm. Besides, this new door was far too distinct to forget. The door itself was solid gold, with a symbol Luna had certainly never seen before, a circle flanked by wings with three triangles underneath it- one in the middle pointing downward and the ones on the left and the right pointing up. The frame, however, was rough, scarred wood decorated with golden and crimson flowers. Luna was genuinely interested now, and decided to visit this sleeper’s dream. 
When the light cleared, she found herself in a monochrome hall facing a tidy house that was equally as monochrome. Yet... the princess didn’t find the monochrome oppressive or forced, just... clean and calming and gentle, like the moonlight she brought to the world every night. She didn’t see anyone outside and the hallway led to shadow shortly behind her, so she assumed that the dreamer was inside. She knocked on the door. 
"Oh, come in!" a voice called, and Luna accepted the invitation. The inside was much like the outside in its monochromaticity, but there were potted golden flowers scattered around the house. To her right was a hallway with bedrooms and to her left a living room, dining room, and a hallway to what she assumed to be a kitchen based off the metal noises coming from the room. "I’m making some tea. Would you like a cup?" the voice asked again. 
"Certainly," Luna replied, "so long as it’s not lily and salt rock." 
The voice laughed kindly. "This is golden flower tea, so I don’t believe you need to worry about that." 
Luna giggled softly in response and walked into the living room, amusing herself by reading the titles of the books on the bookshelf. Most were gardening books and recipe books, but there were a few history books about humans, which Luna remembered as the species from Twilight’s tales about the world through the mirror, and one or two about monsters. 
Soft steps interrupted her thoughts and she looked to her left to see a creature wholly unfamiliar to her carrying a tray with two cups and a teapot coming out of the kitchen. Luna adjusted her regalia but hid her crown as she studied this creature- a creature that was a fusion between a goat and a bear, with the muzzle and horns of the former and the paws of the latter, but it also bore a golden beard and hair and fuzzy white fur. The creature wore a knit pink sweater reading "Mr. Dad Guy," as well as purple... sweatpants, Twilight had called them. 
"Oh!" the creature spoke after glancing up once he put the tray down. "I’ve never seen anyone like you before. What kind of monster might you be?" 
"I... am not a monster. I am a pony, an alicorn to be specific," Luna cocked her head slightly. 
"Hm, an alicorn, you say? I’ve not heard of that race. What might your name be?" he asked while offering her a cup of tea. 
"Oh, where are my manners? My name is Luna," she said while inwardly facehoofing. "And you?" she asked after taking a sip. 
"Asgore. I presume since you’re not a monster, you’re not from the Underground?" he asked. 
"That would be correct. I’ve not heard of such a place, but the land I hail from and rule is called Equestria." 
"Oh, are you a queen, then?" Asgore asked, intrigued. 
"No, I am a princess, and I rule alongside my sister, Celestia, who is also a princess." 
"I see," Asgore nodded with interest as he sipped some tea. "I... well, I rule alone, at least since my wife left... That was also the day I lost my children." A look of great sadness filled his eyes, and the dreamscape shifted to a throne room, filled with flowers. Asgore looked around, confused, until he saw a shape carrying a body and a gasp flew from his throat. Luna watched, understanding that this was instigated by a memory, though apparently the king was unaware he was dreaming. She watched in respectful silence as the memory played out. The shape, which was a creature who looked vaguely similar to Asgore- perhaps a relative?- stumbled to its knees and a human body wearing a green and yellow striped shirt tumbled from its arms. Gasps from the other end of the room alerted Luna, and Asgore and another smaller goat creature ran over, the smaller one beginning to cry. 
"Asriel!" the memory-Asgore called, gripping the kneeling one’s body. 
"Oh... Dad... Mom... It’s... alright, I’m... fine," the creature said with a weak smile before turning to dust. 
The smaller creature gripped the human and wept as she repeated, "Asriel, Chara, my children..." 
The present Asgore shut his eyes and began to cry. This memory grew too painful for him, so Luna used a spell, her horn flashing white, and the scene shifted back to the house, and Luna wrapped a comforting wing around the sobbing king. "I... What was that? I just... I just..." 
"It is a common phenomenon I have seen in dreams," Luna explained. "Your subconscious reacted to your emotion by manifesting the memories you were experiencing in a visual manner." 
He sat up and cocked his head. "How would you... know that?" 
Luna took a breath. Might as well tell him the truth. "As Princess of the Night, it is my duty to guard and protect my subjects from nightmares. You... well, you’re the first dreamer I’ve seen who isn’t a citizen of Equestria and one of very few non-ponies I’ve encountered." A small chuckle escaped Asgore. "May I ask what you find humorous?" 
"Oh, it’s nothing," he smiled. "Just... My last name is Dreemurr, though spelled differently than the regular word, and Toriel... my wife, she... she enjoyed puns like that. I doubt a pun was intended, but I can’t help finding it funny." 
Luna smiled and nodded. The two continued to chat about their kingdoms, and Luna was quite interested in the history of the monsters and Asgore in the modern times in Equestria, particularly the Element bearers. Eventually, she was alerted to a nightmare, and sadly bid her new friend farewell.
"Perhaps you might be able to visit tomorrow night?" Asgore asked hopefully.
"Perhaps," Luna giggled. "But nightmares wait for no one." He nodded, and Luna drifted out of Asgore’s dream, and into the hall. She rather liked this king.
> 2 A World Underground
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luna woke from her night of dreamwalking feeling far more refreshed than normal. She stretched and lowered the moon, managing to time it perfectly with Celestia’s raising of the sun, before trotting lightly to the dining hall.
"Good morning, Tia," she greeted her sister, who was setting out pancakes.
"You’re rather awake this morning," the sun princess noted.
Luna laughed softly. "Not many nightmares last night," she half-shrugged. "Those pancakes look delicious. Are there enough for me?"
Celestia laughed. "Who are you and what have you done with my sister," she teased. "But yes, there are plenty. Twilight and her friends will be joining us for breakfast. In fact, I believe I hear them now."
Twilight walked in, rubbing her eyes. "Good morning, Princesses."
Luna stretched a wing. "Good morning, Twilight. Starlight, Spike, Fluttershy, welcome. Rainbow Dash, you may need to visit a therapist based on your dream last night."
The blue pegasus’s magenta eyes darted around. "I... I’ve never had that dream before... Are you sure?"
Fluttershy caught Luna’s smirk and giggled. "Rainbow, I think she was joking."
"Yup, totally!" Pinkie Pie said, somehow darting from under Luna’s wing. She decided not to question it... it was Pinkie Pie, after all. The pony could give Discord a run for his title of Chaos Incarnate. The idea of Pinkie Pie being Discord sent a shiver down Luna’s spine. She greeted Applejack and Rarity as the two came in the door before they all sat down to eat. Light small talk arose among the group.
"I don’t mean to be rude," Fluttershy said during a lull in the conversation, "but, um, why did you call us here, Princess?"
"Well... I suppose Discord could explain better than I," Celestia sighed.
"Why, hello, my little ponies!" Discord exclaimed, walking in from his odd chaos realm while tossing a small, tender smile in the direction of Fluttershy, who saw and blushed. "Yes, well, you all know of my ability to sense magic power surges and imbalances, correct?" The ponies and Spike nodded. "Well, I felt a tingle very similar to that last night, small, but determined to stay. Of course, I had to investigate, and when I traced it to its source I found a glowing symbol etched on the side of Mt. Lunaria in the Unicorn Mountain Range." He snapped his claws and a symbol appeared- a circle flanked by wings with three triangles underneath it. "Now, I don’t know what-"
He was interrupted by a gasp from Luna when she realized what that symbol was. "Are you alright, Princess?" Starlight asked.
Luna cleared her throat. "Yes, I am fine. I know this symbol. It is called the Delta Rune."
"Delta Rune?" Twilight asked. A puzzled expression spread across her muzzle. "I’ve never read about that in any of the symbol encyclopedias I’ve used."
"You wouldn’t have," Luna explained. "From what I understand, it is from another world."
"That raises the question of how you know about it," Starlight pointed out.
Pinkie gasped. "IS PRINCESS LUNA AN INTERDIMENSIONAL TRAVELER?"
"Not in the waking world, at least."
Celestia was intrigued now. "Are you saying that you learned of this Delta Rune during a dream? Or maybe while dreamwalking?"
"Indeed, just last night. I met a king named Asgore in his dreams. He leads the kingdom this Delta Rune is the symbol of."
"Oh, and what was he like?" Twilight asked, obviously eager to learn about a new civilization.
"Well... he was... very kind, to be sure, but, the only problem I could foresee with his kingdom interacting with Equestria beyond it being in another dimension is that his kingdom is the Kingdom of Monsters."
"Beggin’ your pardon, Princess, but did ya say monsters? As in, the Bugbear and the Chimera?" Applejack frowned.
"Well, I don’t actually know. They seem a different sort. Intelligent, certainly, and masters of combat magic, so I’d hesitate to say they’re anything like the monsters we know beyond name. And... I trust Asgore. I saw the depths of his memory... he’s experienced immeasurable heartache without being embittered by it. He lost his children to humans, as one gave their life so that the monsters could be free of their underground prison, and the other was killed trying to take his sibling’s body to a suitable resting place in their village. And yet he was cordial, even warm when meeting me, even after I explained my role as a dreamwalker and he understood he was dreaming."
"I’d like to meet him," Fluttershy mumbled. "He sounds very nice."
"Discord, you said this symbol was near Mt. Lunaria?" Starlight clarified.
He nodded. "The south slope, to be precise."
"I believe I will investigate it if that’s alright with you, Tia," Luna met her sister’s eyes.
"Certainly, that’s fine," Celestia nodded. "I’m intrigued as to what this is myself."
"I suppose I could find the time to bring you there," Discord sighed dramatically after looking at a watch he’d summoned. Luna rolled her eyes. "But only if Fluttershy gets to come."
Luna grinned. "I have no qualms, but you wouldn’t mind bringing Starlight, would you? If this is dangerous I’d prefer to have somepony else skilled in combat magic just to be safe."
"Hey, I’m game if you are, Discord," Starlight shrugged.
"Sure, sure, but let’s get over there quickly." He snapped his fingers and the four of them were suddenly a great deal colder and they faced a mountain. True to Discord’s word, the Delta Rune stood etched into the mountainside, glowing with a rainbow light. Luna approached it and fired a thin, short blast at the symbol. A tiny piece of the rock broke off, and light spilled from the crack.
"I believe this is a portal," Luna finally decided.
"Should we... open it?" Fluttershy asked, her eyes wide.
"Starlight, your opinion? Discord?"
"I’ve not had the best experience with portals... but, Twilight would kill me if I didn’t bring back some information, so as long as this doesn’t summon another shadow demon, I’m willing."
"Oh, what’s the fun in being scared?" Discord chuckled. "Let’s see what awaits us!" He collected power and started blasting the rock. Luna and Starlight joined while Fluttershy wisely flew a short distance away. The rock hummed, and the magic users cut off the flow of power. A swirling glow came from the rock. Fluttershy rejoined the group as Luna ran a diagnostic spell.
"This is indeed a portal. It leads to somewhere that isn’t limbo, but nowhere in this dimension." she eventually said after it had completed.
"Alright, well... I guess we... go through?" Fluttershy took a deep breath.
"Let’s do it." Starlight’s face showed a look of commitment and determination. Luna shared her look. The four strode forth, the glow embracing them softly.

-Snowdin Town, five minutes earlier-
"SANS, GET UP, YOU LAZYBONES! A HUMAN COULD BE COMING TODAY AND WE NEED TO BE THERE TO CATCH IT!"
"sorry, paps. tibia honest, i’m not feelin’ it today. might just take a day off," Sans muttered, mashing his face into his pillow.
Papyrus sighed. "Sans, are you alright? It wasn’t my spaghetti last night, was it? I didn’t think it was that bad... I can call Undyne and tell her I need to take care of you!" he said as he finally got the door open, immediately frowning at the trash tornado upon entrance.
"nah, bro, i’m fine... just need a few more minutes. it’s only 7:00."
"Sans... you’re not fine. And I don’t know what you’re keeping from me, but... I promise I won’t be mad. I just want you to stop with the secrets. Please..."
"ya wouldn’t understand, bro. and even if you did, you’d forget eventually. i just... want it to be over... just want the world to matter again." He started crying. Papyrus went and sat on his bed, offering a comforting arm. Sans threw his arms around his brother and started sobbing.
"Sans... this... may have been a dream... but... now that I think about it, I feel like you mentioned feeling like you... were reliving the same few weeks over and over."
Only a whisper escaped between the sobs. "you remember..."
Papyrus was about to reply when an explosion shook the room. "Nyeh?" Papyrus looked around for the source. "Sans, why don’t we go check this out?"
Papyrus’s brother wiped his tears and nodded with a small smile. "yeah. let’s go." The brothers hurried down the stairs and out of the house. "there’s some kinda glow comin’ from the forest between here ‘n’ waterfall. maybe that’s where the explosion came from?"
"Good thinking, brother!" Papyrus gave his trademark smile. "Let us investigate! This might even be more exciting than a human!"

-Meanwhile, in a forest-
Luna walked out of the portal to find herself in a snowy forest. Starlight began shivering and breathed on a hoof to warm it slightly. Discord helpfully snapped in some winter gear.
"Thanks, Discord," Fluttershy smiled earnestly.
Starlight looked around. "Let’s see if we can get out of this infernal forest," she muttered.
"Looks like there’s a clearing over there," Discord pointed. The four walked over to find a path. They faced a river, to their right a marshland, and to their left a small town with warmly lit houses and shops lining the road. Fluttershy yelped.
"What... are those?" she asked, pointing toward two figures coming toward them.
Luna looked over to see two skeletons, one tall and one short, gazing at the ponies and Discord curiously. The tall one wore some sort of armor piece with a bright red scarf, gloves, and boots, while the shorter one wore a blue jacket and pink slippers. She cleared her throat. "Hello, I am Princess Luna of Equestria. May I ask where we are?"
"uh, well, the town back there’s snowdin, and you’re in the underground, kingdom of monsters," the shorter skeleton said with an expression of pure confused interest on its face.
A small refrain sounded in Luna’s heart- we’re here, we’re here- but she managed to keep her expression neutral. "What is your king’s name?"
"OH, THAT WOULD BE KING ASGORE DREEMURR!" the taller skeleton replied with a grin.
"Can ya take us to him?" Starlight asked with a friendly wave.
"soon as ya tell us your names," the shorter skeleton replied.
"Oh, certainly, Princess Luna already told you her name, but I’m Fluttershy, this is Starlight, and that’s Discord!" the pegasus told them with a gentle laugh.
"NICE TO MEET YOU! I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS AND THIS IS MY BROTHER SANS!" 'The Great Papyrus' declared proudly. "COME, THE KING IS THIS WAY!"
Sans shrugged. "what he said." The troupe walked off into the marshland, which was apparently called Waterfall.
"I’m guessing there’s a waterfall here?" Starlight asked half-jokingly as she folded her winter gear into her saddlebags.
"a couple," Sans nodded.
"Uh-huh."
Fluttershy enjoyed the calm quiet of the area, even walking around to investigate all the little crevices. She saw a soft blue flower and asked, "Ooh, what kind of flower is that?"
"Oh, that’s an Echo Flower!" Papyrus grinned. "They’re unique to Waterfall, and they’ll repeat anything you say to them until someone else says something."
"That sounds so very lovely," Fluttershy sighed happily, flying above the rest of the group a bit to investigate a few hanging vines and humming softly to herself.
Nothing of particular interest happened through their journey until they reached an open area where a large castle stood across an enormous lake.
"that’d be the capital," Sans nodded to Luna. "asgore lives there."
"Naturally," Luna laughed.
They continued walking in companionable silence until they approached a large boulder framing the entrance to somewhere else. A shadowed figure stood atop, looking out into the city Luna could make out beyond the boulder.
"That’s Undyne," Papyrus whispered. "This is her anime posing rock!" Luna didn’t have time to question what ‘anime’ was before he shouted "UNDYNE! I HAVE SOMEONE FOR YOU TO MEET!"
The figure turned her head, a golden spark flashing about where an eye should be. She leapt, twirling in the air, and a brilliant cyan spear formed, the light revealing a sharp-toothed grin and... gills?
"NGAHHH!" she cried, plunging into the ground with a grunt. She pulled the spear out and twirled it, resting it against her shoulder with a satisfied sigh. She looked kind of like a fish with legs and arms, and she was geared in full battle armor except for a helmet. Her right eye was a brilliant gold cover and her left covered by an eyepatch.
"Wowie, Undyne! You got your dramatic entrance right!" Papyrus chuckled lightheartedly. "And just in time to meet Princess Luna and Starlight and Fluttershy and Discord!"
"Nice to... uh. What the hell are you?" she asked with a pointed glance at Discord.
"Why I’m a draconequus!" he huffed indignantly. "You know, I have a mind to leave right now for this treatment," and he poofed away. 
Luna rolled her eyes. "Don’t worry, the diagnostic I ran also copied the spell to create the portal. We can get back home," she reassured Starlight and Fluttershy. "Do not mind him. He’s... chaotic. Quite literally, he has chaos powers."
"Huh. Anyway, haven’t seen your kind ‘round here before. What brings ya to the Underground?" Undyne asked, somewhat more relaxed but still on her guard.
"I have come to meet your king... Asgore, yes?"
The fish lady nodded. "That’s him. I’m Undyne, Captain of the Royal Guard. I see you’ve already met my trainee Papyrus and his brother Sans."
"Not to be rude, but what’s that city behind the rock?" Starlight pointed with a hoof.
"Huh? Oh! That’d be Hotland and the CORE. Our technology centers. Well, Papyrus said you were a princess?" she clarified with Luna.
"Indeed, I am Luna, princess of the night and diarch of the nation of Equestria," she confirmed.
"Diarch? Well, I’ll lead you to the king, as soon as you tell me how ya got here," Undyne said as she put away her spear.
"We found a portal on the side of a mountain in Equestria that brought us here."
Undyne raised an eyebrow but shrugged it off. "C’mon, the capital’s this way."
"we’ll leave ya in undyne’s hands. or whatever she’s got," Sans winked.
"Indeed!" Papyrus grinned. "It was nice meeting you all! Nyeh heh heh!"
"Nice to meet you too, Sans and Papyrus!" Fluttershy waved goodbye before flying on to catch up.
"You can fly?" Undyne asked with interest as they continued through the path.
"Well, yes, I’m a pegasus, and barring an injury of some kind all pegasi can fly," Fluttershy clarified.
"Thats AWESOME!" Undyne grinned. The four emerged into some kind of lava chamber. In the bright light of the magma below it was obvious they were underground and had been the whole time. Fluttershy fanned herself with a wing as they crossed a bridge over more magma. Undyne stopped at a water cooler and the ponies helped themselves to a cup. "I’m, uh, gonna stop in the lab a minute to change out of this armor. You three be alright?" They nodded and Undyne hurried inside, coming out in much cooler attire and nodding them to the path to the left of the lab. "Shortcut," she explained. She led them to an elevator and selected "L3" to move it. A jazzy tune played as they stood inside. Starlight came up with lyrics almost instantly.
This is the place where the fame is everything, everyone wants to touch, everyone wants to see, she mused over them. Fluttershy noticed.
"Those lyrics are nice, Starlight," she giggled.
"What lyrics?" Undyne asked.
Starlight waited for the measure to repeat, then sang the lyrics she'd come up with already, then adding onto it, "We live in a world where celebrities are kings, where the more we all want, the more given-out things."
Luna clapped. "You could get a career as a songwriter." The elevator stopped and the doors opened.
"Alright, now through the CORE, then we're on to New Home, where the king lives. He'll either be there or in the throne room but we'll have to pass through either way."
Luna nodded and they upped their pace now that it was cooler. They came to a room full of vents and Undyne launched herself over. Luna and Fluttershy used their wings while Starlight just teleported over. Undyne waved them through a door and they passed a bake sale table with a spider monster behind it. Fluttershy paused to look at the donuts but found that she both had the wrong currency and not enough. She gave a sigh of disappointment and apologized to the monster. "Oh, it’s alright, dearie," she winked with one of her five eyes. "I take you for someone who’d support a spider if he or she needed it."
Fluttershy nodded, thinking of Fuzzy Legs, before realizing the group had walked ahead of her and galloping over to catch up.
Eventually they came to a large building labeled "MTT," and Starlight gave a curious glance at Undyne, who frowned.
"This is the MTT Hotel, built by Mettaton. He’s a celebrity but he’s annoying as hell. It’s probably best that we hurry through before you three end up on one of his news shows."
Luna nodded and they kept a brisk pace through the lobby and into the CORE. Undyne led them into another elevator, taking them to a very futuristic-looking hallway where they immediately turned into a stage area and walked through to a monochrome hallway. Luna smiled. They were almost there.
The four walked through stretches of hallway, passing city areas and eventually coming upon a house. "This is New Home," Undyne said, knocking on the door. No reply. "Must be in the throne room," she decided. The four walked in and went down the stairs that led to a long hallway, and following it led to a castle-esque area. Undyne led the ponies in to find the king watering some flowers. The floor was covered in them, mostly yellow and bright red colors.
"Why, these flowers are lovely," Fluttershy exhaled happily, fluttering her wings lightly.
"Why, thank you! I do work quite hard on them," the king said, turning around with a smile. "What might your..." he trailed off as he noticed Luna. "Princess Luna?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "This isn’t another dream, is it?"
Luna laughed at his question. "No, I’m quite certain we’re in the waking world!"
"You know her?" Undyne blurted out? "But how? She’s... well... she- I’m extremely confused."
"Well, I did not see a reason to tell you since the subject was never close to any of our conversations," Luna admitted, "but... as Princess of the Night, one of my duties is to watch over the dreams of sleepers. Last night I happened to stumble across King Asgore’s dream and befriended him. It’s entirely coincidence that the portal here opened up from Equestria, but otherwise I do know him. King Asgore, this is Starlight Glimmer, Princess Twilight’s student, and Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness."
The king invited them to New Home for tea, which Fluttershy was the first to accept. Starlight laughed. "She’s usually a lot more... well, shy! This is the most outgoing she’s been!"
"Oh, is that a problem?" Fluttershy asked. "I can be shy if you’d like," she teased with a wink.
"Not at all," Starlight smiled back. The four, now five, went to have tea. Fluttershy wouldn’t mind living here. This new world was so wonderful!
> 3 Ponies, Puns, and Portals
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ponies enjoyed their tea with the king and Undyne. Fluttershy discussed various gardening techniques with the king before Luna began a conversation about history and the topics he seemed interested in when they met. Starlight sat with Undyne kind of awkwardly until she brought up Undyne’s spear which led into a frenzied discussion on the differences in combat magic and magic in general. Starlight for one was pretty surprised at how differently combat magic worked in this world, and how complicated it was. She was, however, glad to illustrate telekinesis for Undyne who predictably banged the table in excitement. Starlight wasn’t great at a lot when it came to social interaction but reading personalities was definitely a strong suit she was proud of. Undyne, for her part, was attempting to ensure these ponies posed no threat to her king but after observing Luna she was satisfied that they were friendly. Eventually Undyne had to leave for patrol duty and the ponies decided to head back home. 
After bidding farewell to the king and promising to return soon, Starlight teleported herself, Luna, and Fluttershy to the edge of Snowdin, figuring the best place to open the portal home would be where it had already been. Luna agreed and began the spell. Fluttershy and Starlight redonned Discord’s winter gear when Luna informed them that it would take a while to stabilize and execute such a powerful spell. Starlight began writing down all she’d learned from her conversation with Undyne and from hearing Luna and Asgore’s conversation. Fluttershy flew around to admire the snowy landscape and marvel at how it could snow underground when she saw something. A white fluffy face... a dog monster?
She approached it cautiously. Definitely a dog monster, probably in the Royal Guard due to the similarities to Undyne’s armor, and extremely pettable. The dog cocked its head as Fluttershy approached, looking around before spotting her. She waved with a bright smile. It walked over, drawing a sword, and began to sniff. Sniffing... sniffing... sniffing... its tail wagged more with every sniff. Fluttershy giggled and reached up a friendly hoof. An excited look filled its eyes and it straightened up. She touched its fur and gave a stroke. The neck lengthened. Fluttershy was bewildered but the dog didn’t seem to mind. Another pet. Stretch. Fluttershy couldn’t resist. She started petting furiously, the dog’s neck reaching high up. Eventually it got so high she had to fly to reach its happy panting head. Then it came down... down... Fluttershy’s hooves rested against solid ground. Perhaps ponykind was not meant to pet this much. When the dog’s head reached the ground again she finally forced herself to stop. "I’m so very sorry but I don’t want to hurt you or cause you to get hurt," she explained to the sad dog monster. Its head snapped back and it gave her a reassuring lick before scampering off.
"that dog’s pretty pawsome, eh?" Sans chuckled as he walked up. "he’s pretty furrtunate to be so pettable."
She coughed out a suppressed laugh at the puns.
"ice to see someone as pawsionnate about puns as i am," Sans winked.
"Those puns are really quite humerus," Fluttershy agreed.
Starlight called her. "Luna's done with the portal, Fluttershy!"
"Do we have to go?" Fluttershy sighed. "Alright then."
Starlight laughed. "We promised to come back soon, right? You'll be able to pun off again soon."
Fluttershy nodded, waving goodbye to Sans, and trotted with Starlight and Luna into the portal, which opened into the throne room where Celestia and Twilight were waiting. The Princess of Friendship immediately teleported to Starlight in a burst of magenta light and started asking questions.
"Where’s Discord?"
"Wherever he goes when he poofs away."
"Where’d you go? Did you find the kingdom?"
"Yep, and it was... big? The interesting thing was that there were very distinct regions right next to each other. Snowdin, a snowy forest town- don’t ask how that’d work underground because I don’t know- Waterfall, a marshland filled with, well, waterfalls, Hotland, a really big underground magma chamber, the CORE, the technological heart of the kingdom, and the capital, New Home."
"Okay, so what’s their magic like?" Twilight asked as she led Starlight away while furiously taking notes, much to the amusement of Fluttershy and the Royal Sisters.
"Well, they’re masters of combat magic, like Luna said earlier. It’s a lot different from pony magic. They don’t really have any sort of spells, and while a few can do elemental magic it’s rare, and usually their magic is expressed in bullets of some form. A couple can also summon some sort of physical weapon. Uh…Let me think... Undyne, the captain of the guard, can summon bright cyan spears and the king can summon a trident to fight... I didn’t ask much else. What they don’t have in magic compared to ponies they make up for in leaps and bounds in their technology. Seriously, the CORE alone surpasses every one of Equestria’s technological advancements combined and pretty much anything we have, they have as good or better."
"Okay, okay, ‘really... good... technology...’ So, what are they like?"
"They seem friendly enough," Starlight shrugged. "Only actually met four of them so it wouldn’t be fair to form an actual opinion based on that first impression. I mean Fluttershy loves it there, but there are dog monsters so her opinion is biased."
Twilight laughed and teleported the two of them off to her castle so she could get it written down better.
A similar conversation had sparked in the throne room. Fluttershy bubbled with excitement over how nice Asgore was and the dog monster and the tea conversation and the dog monster and did she mention the dog monster?
Celestia had to hold Fluttershy’s mouth together with magic to calm her down, though Celestia was laughing herself. Luna smiled. "She is not wrong, King Asgore is a very lovely monster. The Underground itself might be a fantastic trade partner with their frankly astounding technological advances."
Fluttershy noted the position of the sun and said her goodbyes to the princesses so she could go feed her animals. Luna continued to speak with Celestia about the Underground’s history and such.

-Ponyville, an hour later-

"I wanna meet that Sands guy!" Pinkie giggled, bouncing.
"It’s Sans," Fluttershy gently corrected.
"Aweeeeeesommmmmmmmmme!" Rainbow squealed at hearing about Undyne.
"She was really cool," Starlight agreed.
"Marshland, huh? Might be a good place ta start an apple orchard- nice and fertile, and plenty of water," Applejack pondered.
"Only you’d think about apple orchards when learning about something like this," Twilight chuckled, rolling her eyes.
"When are you going back? I’d like to join you, perhaps?" Rarity gazed at Fluttershy, who thought for a moment.
"Well, we only said ‘soon,’ which could honestly be any time in the next week or two. Maybe the day after tomorrow? I’m not sure, I’ll have to talk to Luna about it."
"The day after tomorrow sounds wonderful," the blue alicorn said with a smile as she landed in.
Fluttershy squeaked. "Where’d you come from? How long have you been listening?"
"Behind Twilight’s castle," Luna giggled. "Since you started talking about Sans and Papyrus."
"Well, in two days... That’s a Sunday, so I don’t have anything planned then," Rarity confirmed after checking a small book.
"Ah’m sure Big Mac an’ Apple Bloom can handle the farm for a few hours," Applejack nodded.
"That would normally be my recipe-creation day but I kinda feel like this is more important," Pinkie shrugged.
"I’ll have to check with Spitfire but I’m pretty sure we don’t have practice Sunday," Rainbow said after a minute.
"Screw book organization! This is ten times more interesting!" Twilight exclaimed with a nerdy look on her face.
"I probably won’t be able to make it," Starlight admitted. "I had plans with Trixie then, but, well, I’m sure you’ll be more than capable of handling it!"
Luna nodded. "Twilight’s got enough nerd for the both of you," she joked.
"I DO NOT!" Twilight protested.
"Twilight, darling, you reorganize your whole library every time you get a new book for fun. I don’t believe you can argue against this," Rarity said.
Twilight muttered something and her muzzle scrunched up.



-Canterlot, two days later-



Twilight paced at the train station, waiting for her friends to arrive from Ponyville so they could join her and Luna to go to the Underground. "What time is it?" she asked the ticket pony.
"11:58, Princess. Only a minute later than the last time you asked."
"Sorry," she apologized, blushing. She heard the "puff, puff" of the train and teleported to the edge of the platform to greet her friends. The doors open and Pinkie bounced off, confetti fluttering out of her saddlebags. Rarity walked out as she put the last touches on some piece of pretty embroidery, quickly sticking it into her bag of sewing supplies. Rainbow made sure her Wonderbolt outfit was safe as she flew out, while Fluttershy gently closed the flap over some sticks and other dog toys. Applejack had some of the harvest’s best apples to share with the monsters.
"Everypony ready?" Twilight asked her friends. A noise of agreement arose and she teleported them to the Canterlot caves, where Luna was waiting for them.
"Ain’t these the caves ya found Cadence in before the Changeling invasion?" Applejack asked.
Twilight nodded. "Luna and I thought it’d be a good place to keep the portal since it’s both private and relatively unknown. We’re gonna make the portal more permanent so it doesn’t drain so much power every use. Keeping it here serves a dual purpose- we can go through at any time, and it’s not a major security risk since almost nobody knows it’s here assuming Pinkie doesn’t blab."
Pinkie looked hurt. "Twilight, I know this is a special secret. I’m not telling anypony, I promise."
Twilight winced. "That was mean of me. I’m sorry, Pinkie."
The earth pony smiled. "It’s alright, Twilight. I forgive you."
"Thanks, Pinkie. Anyway, the portal will be one-way, so we’ll have to reactivate it to get back, but if we need to we can duplicate this on the other side later."
"Let’s go!" Fluttershy exclaimed with a twirl.
"Well, you heard her, Luna!" Twilight laughed. "Let’s fire it up!"
The horns of the alicorns blazed with light, forming an opening in the crystal. The Delta Rune shone briefly before the portal spell completed. The ponies trotted through, entering the golden hall before the throne room. Fluttershy flew over to the throne room to check for the king while the others recovered from the trip. The king wasn’t in there, but one flower stuck out to her as odd. She walked over for a better look. She heard... a voice? Was the flower talking?
"H... hello? Is anyone in here?" she asked.
The flower turned around with a start. "Don’t SCARE me like that!"
"A... talking flower? Were you always here?" Fluttershy asked.
"What’s it to you? What even are you?" it asked rudely.
She took it in stride. "I’m a pegasus pony and my name’s Fluttershy. What’s yours?"
The flower, thrown off by her unfazed nature, shook its... bud? petals? whatever counted as its head and gave her a childlike grin. "Sorry about being so rude, you just startled me." He- Fluttershy decided the flower’s voice was male- cleared his throat and said "Anyway, I’m Flowey! Flowey the Flower! Nice to meet ya, Fluttershy!"
"Nice to meet you too," Fluttershy giggled. "Um, you don’t happen to know where King Asgore is, do you?"
"Oh! He went to Waterfall to do something for the school over there, I think."
"Thank you, Mr. Flowey. See you around?" Fluttershy asked with a smile.
"Sure! See ya!" the flower replied with a chuckle. After Fluttershy disappeared around a corner and a pattering of hoofsteps faded, Flowey began chuckling, which grew into real laughter.
"Well, this timeline just got interesting. You know, I think I can give that smiley trashbag a li’l peace of mind for a while. No sense in wasting this!" Flowey decided before ducking into the ground, heading to Waterfall to watch these ponies.
> 4 Chance for Freedom
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight gasped as the ponies entered the CORE, casting a few diagnostic spells to learn about this wondrous new place. "I could spend hours here just learning about everything," she squealed.
"Yeah, but isn’t all the cool stuff further away?" Rainbow rolled her eyes. Twilight frowned.
Applejack rolled her eyes. "Rainbow, y'all will get your chance to fangirl later. Let Twilight have hers." Twilight flew around with the others in tow until they came to Mettaton’s hotel. Luna held the door open with her magic as the six walked through. Some sort of metal contraption was signing autographs for a long line of monsters. It was essentially a metal box with arms supported by only a single wheel.
Rarity’s face took on a look of confusion. "How is a metal rectangle that... absolutely fabulous?"
"OH, IT’S QUITE SIMPLE, DARLING!" an oddly seductive voice replied from the robot. "I’M METTATON!" he twirled around and posed. Applejack could practically see the gears turning in Rarity’s mind for clothing ideas. The front of the robot was a series of yellow and red squares above a series of dials. Rarity found herself blushing. "OH, MY..." the robot said with his squares shifting to become a raised eyebrow. "THIS IS QUITE INTERESTING. WHAT SORT OF MONSTERS ARE YOU? I WASN’T AWARE OF ANY FOUR-LEGGED MONSTER TYPES!"
Fluttershy took the lead in explanations, startling Twilight. 
Holy mother of Celestia! Is this a changeling or is Fluttershy actually being... not shy!?
"Well, the simplest explanation is we’re not actually monsters. We’re, um, ponies! And I guess technically from another world..."
"OH, MY, THIS IS A DEVELOPMENT! WHAT, THEN, BRINGS YOU TO OUR WORLD?"
"We’re here to visit yer king, uh... Asgore? Fluttershy and Princess Luna here’ve already met ‘im on a previous visit," Applejack explained.
"OH! WELL, THEN, I CERTAINLY WON’T KEEP YOU! THOUGH... YOU WOULDN’T OBJECT TO A FEW PICTURES, WOULD YOU? THIS IS MOST CERTAINLY NEWSWORTHY!"
"Well, I guess not," Twilight shrugged, looking at the others for any uncomfortable or otherwise dissenting looks. "Yeah, we’d be fine with a couple."
Ten minutes later, they were done, and the ponies went on their way, waving goodbye to the celebrity.
"You know, the way Undyne made him out to be, I thought Mettaton would be a great deal more unpleasant," Luna remarked.
"Maybe she just dislikes him?" Fluttershy suggested.
"Must be," Rarity decided. "I thought he was simply lovely!" she squealed with stars in her eyes.
Applejack rolled her eyes. "Eh, I get why she wouldn’t like ‘im. Bit of a pretentious layer underneath the glitz ‘n’ glam in mah opinion."
"You’ve been awfully quiet, Pinkie," Rainbow remarked.
"Eh, I’m just saving my energy for the pun-off I’m so going to have with Sans!" Pinkie explained with a giggle.
"I have to witness this," Fluttershy said with a cheerful laugh.
"AGREED," Rainbow chuckled with an incredulous look. The group kept a brisk pace through Hotland and soon reached the lab. The door was open a crack and a few flashes of something yellow crossed it. Twilight attempted to rein in her curiosity, but it refused. She knocked lightly before heading in. A yellow lizard monster in a lab coat was messing with a large tech piece with some kind of large screen. Their head swiveled as Twilight entered and a gasp came from their throat. Twilight waved.
"Hey there!" She greeted the monster with friendliness. "I’m Twilight Sparkle! You look like a scientist?"
"O-oh!" the lizard monster exclaimed. "Y-yes, I’m Dr. Alphys, the R-Royal S-Scient-tist of th-the Underground. Um... What... What are you?" she blurted.
Crap crap crap you blew it Alphys c’mon why are you so bad you stupid-
"I’m a pony, an alicorn to be specific. I’m teeechnically from another world. If that’s something you’re interested in..."
"Hold on, you’re from another world?" Alphys asked, suddenly alert. "What’s it like? What kinds of sentient creatures live there? Are there humans?"
Twilight had found her brain’s soulmate. "Hey, guys, I’m gonna be here a while with Dr. Alphys, you all go on ahead!" she called to her friends. She turned to Alphys, who’d produced a pink, heavily-stickered clipboard, and began telling her about Equestria and the various races in the lands beyond- the somber, dignified kirin, the proud griffons, the determined, hardy yaks, the changelings, the hippogriffs and seaponies, the dragons, and the various types of ponies in Equestria. Alphys ran out of paper as Twilight began talking about the history of Equestria. Noticing, Twilight levitated a few sheets from her saddlebags, prompting Alphys to ask about the magic. The two eventually spiraled into the kind of discussion only complete, shameless nerds could have technology, magic, history, and Alphys was stunned to hear how many of the enemies of Twilight’s friends had been won over by friendship and the role emotion played in Equestrian magic, noting the similarities to a lot of anime. Twilight’s questions about anime made Alphys drag her to watch Mew Mew Kissy Cutie with her.
In Waterfall, the rest of the ponies were introducing themselves to Asgore and Undyne. Undyne, defying Fluttershy’s expectations at least, quickly began bonding with Applejack over a love of cooking. The two even baked an apple pie together, Pinkie somehow supplying whipped cream. Undyne certainly didn’t fail to be both amused at and impressed by Rainbow’s ego. She joked that Papyrus would bond well with Miss "I'm So Awesome" and Fluttershy, overhearing, agreed wholeheartedly. She also pointed out that Pinkie had wanted to meet Sans. Asgore, hearing that Pinkie intended a pun-off, invited Luna to New Home for tea and discussions about creating some form of political tie between Equestria and the Underground. Luna agreed. She enjoyed puns, but she found herself enjoying Asgore’s company more with every word they exchanged.
Undyne led the ponies through the marsh to Snowdin Town. They found Papyrus hugging a crying Sans. Undyne hurried over. "Woah, you okay, Sans? What happened?"
"It’s... private, Undyne. Let’s just say Sans has had something on his mind for a very long time and he only just now felt comfortable telling me. I don’t blame him for hiding it, either, Undyne," Papyrus explained. The captain looked uncomfortable.
"Well, I... I trust you, Papyrus. Um, Sans?"
"huh? oh, yeah, undyne?" he said, hardly looking up.
"Well, this might be a bad time, but... Um, ya know Fluttershy?"
"yeah? what about her?"
"She, uh, well, she came back and she brought a friend who wanted a pun-off with you. And another who thinks she’s more awesome than you, Pap."
"IMPOSSIBLE!" the taller skeleton cried. "WHO IS THIS PONY?" he asked.
"Right here, Mr. Scarf Man," Rainbow said nonchalantly, flying over. "The name’s Rainbow Dash. Emphasis on the Dash," she grinned smugly, flexing her wings and tossing her mane. Sans wiped his eyes.
"well, i don’t guess ya really wanna be present for the legendary pun battle that’ll be takin’ place with flutt’s friend, do ya, bro?"
"Oh, definitely not. Come, pony! We will settle who is most cool in a battle of style, strength, and cookery!"
"I’ll go watch them," Undyne said, chuckling with an eye roll. "Make sure they don’t burn down the house."
"I’ll help ya. Rainbow don’t exactly know the meanin’ of restraint or moderation," Applejack lamented with a sigh.
"So, skeleton," Pinkie strode up with a challenging grin, "I pink you’re the one I’m challenging?" Rarity and Fluttershy seated themselves on the porch of the house to watch. Rarity pulled out a sketchpad to begin drawing out ideas for a new line inspired by the Underground.
Sans grinned. "hold your horses, now. i don’t even know your name!"
"Oh, Pinkie Pie!"
"sans. ice to meet ya."
"I had snow way to know I’d meet such a punny guy today!"
"right back at ya, except i pink you’re female?"
"Yes, but I already used that one."
"hey, ya never said originality was neighcessary," Sans pointed out.
"Eh, fair," Pinkie decided. "Mare I ask where you’re from?"
"this place, snowdin," Sans shrugged, gesturing to the town behind him.
"Mother of Celestia the name of this place is a pun," Pinkie exclaimed with a gasp.
"yup," Sans said with a grin. "hey, i like ya, pinkie pie. wanna head to grillby’s for a bite to eat?"
"Sure! What’ve they got there?"
"burgers, fries, soda... just generally unhealthy stuff. it’s great."
"Lead the way!" Pinkie giggled, bouncing after him.
"i totally won, by the way."
"Yeah, especially with neighcessary. That was really clever!" Pinkie exclaimed.
Fluttershy laughed and went in with Rarity to watch Rainbow and Papyrus with their competition.
Applejack waved as they came in. "Who won the pun-off?"
"Sans won," Rarity said with a soft laugh. "Once it started I wasn’t very surprised."
"Neither was I," Fluttershy agreed. "So, what’s our awesomeness duo doing?"
"Cookoff!" Rainbow exclaimed from the kitchen. "I’m totally winning our competition, by the way!"
"They’re actually tied," Applejack sighed. "Rainbow won the arm-wing wrestle and Papyrus won the pose-off."
Fluttershy laughed. Rarity worked herself into an artistic groove and Fluttershy relaxed on the couch. Undyne shrugged and flicked on the TV, where Mettaton was in the middle of a news segment on the ponies. He was showing the pictures he’d taken earlier and Fluttershy didn’t pay too much attention until she heard him say something about Equestria. Her ears pricked up and she watched.
"AND, THE MOST DELIGHTFUL PART IS YET TO COME, DARLINGS! EQUESTRIA IS NOT ONLY A LAND OF FRIENDSHIP AND HARMONY, BUT THE INHABITANTS ARE BLESSED WITH SUNLIGHT AND MOONLIGHT! I HAVE IT ON GOOD AUTHORITY THAT ONE OF THE LEADERS OF EQUESTRIA AS WELL AS ONE OF THEIR HEROINES HAS BEFRIENDED OUR KING! PERHAPS FREEDOM FROM THIS UNDERGROUND PRISON IS CLOSER THAN WE THINK. BUT THAT’S NOT MY PLACE TO SAY. I’LL BE POSTING A POLL ON THE UNDERNET FOR ALL OF YOU TO VOICE YOUR THOUGHTS! WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THESE PONIES? ARE THEY THE KEY TO OUR FREEDOM? THIS IS METTATON, AND I WILL BE SEEING YOU TONIGHT FOR THE PREMIERE OF ACT 2 OF MTT: THE MUSICAL, WITH MUSIC PROVIDED BY MY TALENTED COUSIN NAPSTABLOOK!"
"oh... i’m not that good..." a ghost said as he? they? materialized on the screen.
"OH, NONSENSE, BLOOKY! MY SHOWS WOULDN’T BE NEARLY AS WONDERFUL AS THEY ARE WITHOUT YOUR MUSIC BACKING THEM! *ahem* ANYWAY, METTATON AND NAPSTABLOOK, SIGNING OFF!" The screen went black as Undyne turned it off.
Fluttershy knit her eyebrows. "Huh. I hadn’t thought about... about being able to free you all... But..." she pondered the thought. "Honestly, it wouldn’t be right to leave you all down here when we’ve got so much to share."
"Hey, don’t worry yourself about it. There’s several thousand monsters down here. I know you want to help, but that’s a lot of monsters to bring so soon. Heck, how many ponies even know about our existence?" Undyne asked.
"Nine," Fluttershy admitted. "Me, Rainbow, Pinkie, Rarity, Twilight, Applejack, Starlight, Princess Luna, and Princess Celestia. And I guess Spike but he's not a pony."
"Yeah, I know your whole thing is friendship and acceptance but c’mon, we are monsters and I’m sure the word has a fairly negative stigma in Equestria."
"You’re not wrong," Applejack admitted. "But, at the same time, y’all are a different kind o’ monster from the ones we know as monsters."
"Yeah, but..."
"Hey, we’re done, guys!" Rainbow called, holding a pan of muffins with potholders covering her hooves.
"INDEED! YOU ALL MUST TRY MY FAMOUS SPAGHETTI!" Papyrus called.
Rainbow laid out the muffins and handed one out to everyone. Fluttershy nibbled with a smile. Undyne chomped the whole thing in a single bite after unwrapping the baked treat. "Mmm... this is great!"
Papyrus set out a few plates of the noodly concoction with a couple forks. Undyne chowed down. Fluttershy used her wing to grab a forkful of spaghetti and immediately choked once she took a bite. She forced herself to swallow it and smiled weakly. Rarity was not so polite.
"This... this is not very good, Papyrus. I will be frank."
"Aw, I thought you were Rarity!" Pinkie’s voice announced her presence from the stairway. Sans was beside her, grinning.
"SANS."
"yeah, pap?"
"Sans why can’t you use the front door?"
"too lazy for that, i guess."
Papyrus rolled his nonexistent eyes. "Sans, you’re practically too lazy to breathe."
"eh."
Magenta light shimmered in the room for a moment. Twilight leaped toward the nearest pony- Applejack- and tackled her. "GUYS THIS WORLD IS AMAZING! ANIME IS SO COOL AND ALPHYS IS THE BEST AND I LIVE HERE NOW."
Rainbow Dash burst into laughter, falling to the floor in her fit of hilarity.
"Miss Rainbow Pony, are you alright?" Papyrus asked with concern.
Rainbow took a few breaths to steady herself. "Yeah. I'm fine. Don't worry," she managed to sigh, wiping a tear from her face. "Twilight's a dork and the world is in balance."
Sans let out a snicker. "you plan those one-liners, or do you just wing 'em?"
"SANS, I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL KICK YOU OUT," Papyrus huffed, stomping his foot.
"Why am I a dork?" Twilight asked with a whimper.
"Because we love you, darling, and you should know it's a term of endearment by now," Rarity commented.
Fluttershy chuckled lovingly and wandered out to find her pettable pup pal while a fountain of words that managed to come together to form semi-coherent thoughts on anime spewed from Twilight's mouth. The dog noticed Fluttershy before she noticed it, and yipped in excitement to get her attention. She grinned and flew over to pet it, but before she reached the dog it yapped out a series of barks. A massive, hulking figure stumbled out of the building labeled "Grillby’s." Fluttershy pinned her ears back as it stomped closer and closer, the lack of light in the Underground obscuring its face. She backed into a lantern pole and whimpered in fear, shutting her eyes. The creature came into the light, the smell of grease and dog treats heavy on its breath.
Fluttershy risked a peek to find that the huge creature was just a fluffy white dog in an oversized suit of armor. She laughed in relief, reaching up to pet the pup. It shied away from her touch somewhat nervously. She smiled and slipped a shiny yellow ball out of her saddlebags. It perked up, ears pricked and tail wagging. Fluttershy bucked the ball out into the snow.
Both dogs tore after it, the larger one leaping out of its armor and thus becoming smaller. Fluttershy giggled, beginning a full game of fetch with the two. Eventually two other dog monsters in black robes walked outside Grillby’s and took note of the situation. They wandered over to Fluttershy, chuckling.
"Oh, hello!" Fluttershy said with a smile.
"Good afternoon, Ms.?" one of them raised an eyebrow.
"My name’s Fluttershy. You two?" she asked.
"I’m Dogamy, and this is my mate Dogaressa," Dogamy’s husky voice said as he nuzzled Dogaressa. "I see you’ve already met Lesser Dog and Greater Dog," he added with a snicker.
"I take it Lesser Dog is the one with the neck that turns into a long furry balloon when pet?" Fluttershy quipped as she tossed the ball back out.
"Indeed!" Dogaressa exclaimed with a laugh.
"We saw those pictures of you on Mettaton’s news segment a little while ago," Dogamy said. "Is... well, is it true? Do you... have..."
Fluttershy knit her eyebrows and simply nodded. "It’s true," she murmured quietly.
Dogamy and Dogaressa exchanged a look. "What’s it like there?" Dogamy asked. "Like... what are the ponies like? How different is it from the Underground?"
Fluttershy thought for a moment, waving to Lesser Dog and Greater Dog as they went into Grillby’s to take a break from fetch. "Well, there’s the obvious difference of being able to see the sky," she chuckled.
"Obviously," Dogaressa giggled.
"Um, your first question is kinda easier to answer. There’s three types of ponies– unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies– but then there are all the other races. The dragons to the south, led by Dragon Lord Ember, the yaks to the north with Prince Rutherford, the hippogriffs and seaponies led by Queen Novo in the southeast, the griffons to the east, and the changelings led by King Thorax in the southwest. Then there’s the kirin and zebras beyond the Everfree Forest."
"Wow, it sounds pretty diverse," Dogaressa commented.
"It’s a little sectional, since you’re not going to find too much interspecies interaction in a typical Equestrian city or town," Fluttershy admitted, "but most ponies welcome any visitors."
"So... would they welcome us?" Dogamy asked.
"I don’t know," Fluttershy said honestly. "The term ‘monster’ has had a very... negative past with many ponies, especially in the Fillydelphia region and outside the Everfree Forest. Some ponies have lost family members to some of the... well, monsters, that inhabit our world. Applejack, one of my friends, lost her parents to a chimera– that’s a beast that combines a snake, a goat, and a tiger– and Ponyville’s been attacked numerous times."
"I see," Dogamy remarked sadly.
"It’s just that... well, very few of the creatures we call monsters have any ability to speak or any notable intelligence at all, so it really is a complicated situation. And I feel obligated to help, because I can, but I know Undyne said there’s several thousand monsters underground, and that’s just a lot, but I’m the Element of Kindness, so it really hurts to not, and–" Fluttershy forced herself to stop talking and breathe.
"Hey, don’t worry yourself, okay?" Dogaressa said comfortingly.
A shout from the house of the skeletons interrupted their conversation. "COME BACK HERE WITH MY SPECIAL ATTACK, YOU DASTARDLY SCAMP!" Papyrus screamed. A little white dog rushed out into the snow, a gleaming bone in its mouth. The dog scampered to the safety of Fluttershy’s hooves and she chuckled.
"You’re such a cute little rascal," she muttered. "Give him back his special attack, okay?"
The dog gave a single wag and traipsed over to Papyrus, dropping the bone at his feet before dashing off into the snow.
"Hm. He never listens like that to me! How did you do it?" Papyrus asked in fascination.
"I didn’t yell at him," Fluttershy said with a shrug before sneezing. "Faust’s horseshoes, it’s cold out here. It was nice to meet you two, but I’m gonna head back inside to warm up."
"Sounds good," Dogaressa said with a smile. "It was nice meeting you, Fluttershy!"
"Come, pony!" Papyrus said with a grin. "You haven’t tried my ravioli yet!"
Fluttershy giggled as the two ambled into Papyrus’s house.
> 5 End's Beginning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next few weeks were filled with constant visits from Equestria. After a talk from Undyne and Fluttershy, the monsters understood the logistics of moving an entire nation to another world and the associated difficulties, but both the monsters and the ponies who knew of the Underground had no doubt: this budding friendship was going to lead to something big. The anticipation was tangible, the monsters filled with true hope for the first time in years. Luna found herself going for reasons not political, and Asgore found himself looking forward to seeing Luna specifically. Neither really understood their feelings– Luna had spent a thousand years devoid of knowing how to love and Asgore had forgotten what it was like to be loved. So the two walked parallel paths, unsure how to cross to the other side.





Thunder rolled in Tartarus. Cozy Glow sighed in annoyance.
"Does it EVER do anything other than storm here?" she asked in exasperation, pacing her cage.
"Oh, well, not since you got here," Tirek muttered. "Must be your kind punishing you," he mocked.
"Aaaaauugggghhh!" Cozy yelled. "STUPID TREE OF HARMONY! I’D HAVE WON IF NOT FOR--" she cut off as her body turned black and scattered in the wind.
"What the-" was all Tirek could say before he shared a similar fate.





Far away, a being cast a powerful work of magic, and the King of Shadows was reborn. And the Master of Evil smiled, a cruel, dark smile, and Harmony shivered. The Master of Evil called, to those full of hate and of fear. To the Queen of Changelings, and the Siren Sisters.
To the Soulless Prince of the Delta Rune.
The first step was done.





Flowey cringed and cried in pain as he was dragged away from his spot in Snowdin. His eyes blinked open. He was in a small patch of dirt surrounded by stone. A table sat in front of him. He tasted magic in the air and bright light gleamed from above. Sunlight.
"What the... hell are you?" he asked in disgust as he noticed the creature who had just appeared.
"I am a CHANGELING, insolent--!" she spat before noticing Flowey. "I’m sorry, are you a flower?"
"Yeah? What of it?" Flowey mocked.
"THAT... Uh... Tirek? Where am-" a new voice was cut off by a grunt. "Oh, there you are."
"Damn it. I was hoping I’d get away from you," Tirek, presumably, moaned. "Queen Chrysalis? Are you responsible for bringing us?"
"I wish I had that kind of power," Chrysalis muttered. "I thought you were in Tartarus?"
"Wow, Tartarus? Well... that’s certainly a lesser punishment than we were cursed with," a now fourth voice scoffed. "Aria? Sonata? You’re not injured, are you?" the golden-skinned human asked.
"Nope!" a blue-skinned human declared proudly, standing up.
"I’m fine," a purple-skinned human mumbled.
"Great, so I’m naturally the only one who had to SUFFER getting here!" Flowey yelled in exasperation.
"You’re a flower," the pegasus commented.
"YES, and I was dragged by my FREAKING ROOTS! Whoever got me here better have a REAL GOOD explanation," Flowey muttered.
"Well, I don’t have that explanation," a haughty voice boomed.
"Oh, I bet you’re a real funny guy," Flowey snarked.
"You’ve got a lot of nerve, you know, talking back to the King of Shadows," the voice huffed as an ash-gray unicorn with a crimson horn appeared.
"And you know you can’t hurt me," Flowey smirked. "Obviously we were all brought here for a reason, by someone really powerful, and I doubt they’d want to have any of that effort wasted."
"And your observation is correct, Prince Dreemurr," an eighth voice said as a blue ram strode into the room.
"I’d be surprised that you knew my last name and former title but... well, can’t really feel emotions other than a permanent sarcasm and joy in depravity," Flowey quipped.
"I am aware," the ram nodded. "Welcome, all. I am Grogar... and I require your aid."
"Master," the golden-skinned human gasped, kneeling. The other two followed suit.
"Rise, my beautiful Sirens. My apologies for not aiding you against... Princess Twilight," Grogar sighed, placing a great hoof on the stone table.
"I know who she is, she’s the purple horse who visits the Underground," Flowey commented dryly.
"And also their greatest enemy," Grogar said, motioning toward everyone else who’d gathered.
"What does the King of Monsters need our help for?" Tirek asked.
"Hold up--" Flowey interjected.
"He means King of Equestrian Monsters," Grogar explained. "I need all of you to help me take down Twilight Sparkle and her friends. They are only strong because they work together, and we must do the same if we are to defeat them!"
"How will that work?" Chrysalis asked snidely. "Ever since my children betrayed me, I’m hardly keen on working with others."
"I second her opinion," the unicorn scoffed. "I work alone or above. Not beside. And I bow to none."
"How did that work out for you last time, Sombra?" Tirek quipped. "I heard you were destroyed by the Crystal Heart."
Sombra glared. "I know what to expect now! I cannot be surprised!"
"You will work with me!" Grogar demanded, slamming his hoof. The pegasus and Tirek nodded quickly. The "Sirens" bowed their heads in reverence and finally Chrysalis and Sombra gave in. Only Flowey held out.
"I dunno. What’s in it for me?" he asked. "I mean I get that they’ve got revenge but I don’t have a quarrel with Twilight and her friends. They actually finally did something interesting, which is a worthy accomplishment in my book."
"What if I were to... reward your cooperation? Perhaps with a soul and a real body?"
"...I'm interested. How powerful of a soul?" Flowey asked.
"Equal to a human soul. Do we have an agreement?" Grogar asked with a smirk.
"I believe we do," Flowey cackled. "Do I get one first and the other when we're done or both right now or both when we're done?"
Grogar confirmed, "You will get both when Twilight Sparkle and her friends are defeated. But as a token of goodwill...” he tapped his necklace and it glowed, sending light toward Flowey, Tirek, and the Sirens. Tirek grew in size, his brown areas turning red, the Sirens received ruby necklaces, and while Flowey didn’t get any new physical features, he felt stronger, and he figured out that Grogar had boosted their magic in some way. "First,” Grogar said after they all had a chance to adjust, “introductions, since you all have new faces." He pointed at each member as he spoke. “Sombra, King of Shadows. Chrysalis, exiled queen of the Changelings. Lord Tirek. Cozy Glow. Sonata Dusk, Aria Blaze, and Adagio Dazzle. Flowey, reborn husk of Asriel Dreemurr, Prince of the Underground.”
“Lord, might I ask something?” Aria asked when Grogar finished speaking.
“Of course, Aria.”
“Why is Cozy Glow here beyond having history with Twilight Sparkle? She’s only a pegasus, and a kid at that.”
“Excellent question. The ponies would say that ‘one good turn deserves another.’ Her plan to drain Equestria of magic is what freed me from my prison in the stars, so I felt it was only fair to free her from Tartarus. Now, any more questions?”
“What’s your plan, Grogar?” Chrysalis demanded. “I honestly can’t see how you’d need all of us, especially the flower. Didn’t he say he’d never had quarrel with Twilight Sparkle?”
“Hey, don’t judge me. I’m bored with the monsters in the Underground. I mean, there’s only so many times you can rewind time before you learn everything,” he chuckled slightly and maliciously.
Everyone except Grogar reacted with pure terror. Chrysalis and Sombra flared their horns in instinct and Tirek summoned a ball of fire. Flowey simply ducked into the dirt and popped up on the top of the stone overhang above.
“Missed me,” he said with a wink.
“Stand down, you three,” Grogar muttered. “Try not to kill each other, I have a few things to do.”





Twilight cringed briefly and staggered in front of Undyne and the skeletons shortly after greeting them on a visit.
“Ya alright, Twi?” Applejack asked before her front legs buckled. “Ah... Ah feel it now.”
Fluttershy shuddered and collapsed. Undyne ran to her side while Pinkie experienced similar effects. Rarity and Rainbow followed soon after.
Whatever had happened passed quickly and Twilight ran a quick diagnostic spell to confirm nobody was harmed or changed in any way.
“What was that?” Pinkie asked. “That definitely wasn’t Pinkie Sense... It felt like... something really bad is about to happen,” she whimpered, pinning her ears back.
“We need to get to Equestria,” Twilight decided. “Sorry we had to leave so soon, but...”
“It’s alright, guys,” Undyne grinned. “If you find any, go beat up some bad guys for us.”
Twilight replied with a nod before teleporting herself and the ponies to the golden hall where the portal lay. Luna galloped in immediately after.
“You felt it too?” Fluttershy asked.
“Indeed, We– I did. I would be surprised if Tia did not as well,” Luna confirmed. They opened the portal and galloped through, Twilight immediately teleporting everyone sans Luna to the Tree of Harmony. An unexpected sight awaited them.
An alicorn faced them, standing at the base of the tree. Her coat was Celestia’s brilliant white and her eyes Luna’s deep cyan. Her mane held six colors, one for each Element- orange for Honesty, pink for Kindness, light blue for Laughter, purple for Generosity, red for Loyalty, and magenta for Magic. Her cutie mark was the Elements arranged around a symbol of the moon within the sun and she glowed with golden light. The ponies instinctively bowed and a soft laugh came from the alicorn.
“Do not bow, heroines. I am no royalty or deity. No, among you, I am merely Harmony. A manifestation of these Elements you bear, and of the spirit of this land.” she said, her voice resonating. Even Pinkie remained silent, in awe of her majesty and grace. “It is good to know that you heard my cry. Equestria... nay, perhaps the whole universe, is in very grave danger. An evil old as time has resurfaced. Twilight Sparkle, you may know his name. The rest of you may not. He is called Grogar. The Master of Evil, and the creator of the darkness that plagues Equestria.”
Twilight shivered. “Wasn’t he defeated by Gusty the Great thousands of years ago?”
“In a sense, yes,” Harmony nodded. “But her methods were less than permanent, it seems. Gusty banished Grogar to the stars– you have seen the constellation known as the Ram, correct?”
The ponies nodded in affirmation.
“That constellation was his prison. It has been so for many ages, but... a recent event caused the magic binding him to weaken, and he escaped,” Harmony explained.
“Cozy Glow,” Rainbow muttered.
Harmony nodded. “Just minutes ago, he opened rifts into Tartarus, into the human world, to the world you just exited, one elsewhere in Equestria, and one beyond the grave.”
“Tartarus?” Rarity gasped.
“The human world?” Twilight asked.
“The world of the monsters?” Fluttershy squeaked with knit eyebrows.
“B-beyond the grave?” Pinkie stammered.
“Where in tarnation in Equestria?” Applejack wondered.
“Even I do not know. His magic... It blocks even my own, and I do not know why he would have opened the rifts. It is disturbing,” Harmony admitted.
A fluttering of wings took their attention. Celestia and Luna landed at the entrance of the cave and beheld the scene before them.
“Celestia Iliosa, Luna Fengaria, welcome,” Harmony greeted them. “I am Harmony, manifestation of the Elements. You heard my cry because you once wielded them, though my apologies for causing you any pain.”
“It is an honor to meet you,” Celestia said with a slight dip of her head.
“Indeed,” Luna added, mesmerized by Harmony’s existence.
“Now that you are here, we must prepare for Grogar’s inevitable return,” Harmony declared, turning to the tree. “His position in the stars, unfortunately, allowed him to observe all that has gone on in the millenia since his imprisonment, including Luna’s... transformation and all of Twilight’s adventures. He knows how to counter every move you might repeat from past quests, and he’s learned who you are, and he knows your fears and weaknesses.”
“Then... how are we supposed to defeat him?” Rainbow asked. “Ooh, what about those rainbow forms we used to defeat Tirek? Even we don’t know everything they can do!”
“Not a terrible concept, but... I’ve got a different idea,” Harmony said with a mysterious smile. She walked over to the Tree and touched her horn to its trunk. The Elements of Harmony exited and returned to their bearers. Twilight grinned at the familiar weight of the crown on her head. Sudden beams of light struck the other princesses, and Celestia gained a silver crown with a sun-shaped topaz. Luna was gifted a steel blue tiara with a moon-shaped opal. The two took a moment to admire their new regalia.
And then the Tree shattered.
> 6 Master of Evil
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harmony cried in searing pain and fell to the floor. Twilight galloped forward to examine the remains with a whimper. She held up the pieces that once held her friends’ Elements and blinked the salt of her tears out. Her friends stood without knowing what to say, except for Fluttershy and the princesses, who’d run to check on Harmony. A thundering voice cackled as a bluish teal ram stalked from the shadows. His presence radiated pure malice and the ghosts of the screams of his victims’ terror. None had any doubt: Grogar, Master of Evil, had arrived. He examined the ponies before him and snarled.
“It seems I was just too slow,” he contemplated. “Ah, but I do know your flaw, Harmony,” he chuckled. “Certainly, these Elements are powerful... but if one were to be... separated from the others... well, that wouldn’t be very harmonious, would it?”
Harmony struggled up with flaming defiance in her expression. “You would not dare.”
Grogar’s lips parted into a wicked smile. “Ah, but I would.” His horns crackled and dragged a trembling Twilight Sparkle toward him. She tried to blast him down but a wall of darkness blocked the beam. “Yes, you will do nicely,” Grogar murmured. A portal crackled to life and he dragged a struggling Twilight through. Rainbow and Luna tried to pursue them but were just too slow to reach it. Rainbow let out a violent description of what she wanted to do to Grogar complete with various profanities to Fluttershy’s whimpers and Applejack’s consternation. Rainbow tore out of the cave, determined to search every pebble and grain of sand in Equestria to find her friend. Celestia halted Rainbow’s motion with her magic and dragged the pegasus back to the cave.
“WHAT WAS THAT FOR?” Rainbow demanded. “We’ve gotta save Twilight!”
“You don’t even know where she is,” Celestia pointed out. “And even if you did... if Grogar did what I think he did, and called our enemies to his side... One pegasus isn’t going to be enough to stop Grogar alone, much less with at least Tirek at his side.”
“We do know that he plans an attack and seeks to undermine our defenses, at least,” Luna pointed out. “We should send messages out to the other kingdoms and notify them of what we know so they may fortify or send soldiers if they desire.”
Celestia nodded. “Good thinking, Lu. Harmony... are you...”
The spirit merely nodded. “So long as Grogar is not fully victorious, I shall persist. I cannot die until the Elements have none to embody them, no matter how weak I may be.”
“Let us hurry to Canterlot. I only... I only pray that Twilight is safe,” Celestia murmured.
“We should get Spike,” Fluttershy pointed out. “He needs to know what happened.”
Rarity nodded. “Certainly. I can’t imagine how I’d feel if Sweetie Belle...”
“Luna, I will teleport everypony else to Canterlot. You stop and pick up Spike first,” Celestia directed before spreading a golden aura to the others and vanishing. Luna took one last, longing look at the remains of the Tree of Harmony and disappeared in a flash of silver light.





Far to the southeast, on the eastern edge of the Badlands, cries of pain and anger pierced the air. Within the lair of Grogar a lavender alicorn mare lashed out against her captors, casting spell after spell in an attempt to break free.
“ENOUGH,” Grogar eventually demanded, having grown bored. “I will not allow myself to be distracted by your games, Sparkle.” Vines sprouted from the earth and grabbed Twilight, binding her wings to her body and her body to the floor. She struggled fiercely to no avail.
“Why haven’t we destroyed her yet?” Tirek demanded. “She’s completely at our mercy.”
“Fool, do you not understand the consequences of such a drastic action?” Grogar retorted. “We would have the full might of several enraged alicorns upon us, and the power of her Element would be useless. We need to wait until we can harness the energy within the Element of Magic before we find... a more permanent solution.”
“Perhaps we should use some good, old-fashioned torture to make her give up the crown,” Chrysalis suggested. “Alicorn she may be, but invulnerable she is not.”
Twilight whimpered, silently begging every deity she could remember from every mythology she’d studied for a way out of this situation. Her magic was drained, and her mind was so cluttered she couldn’t keep enough focus to teleport. She watched as Grogar considered Chrysalis’s proposal.
“Well, it’s certainly a more reasonable idea, all things considered,” he eventually decided. “Cozy Glow, what is your opinion?”
“Eh, I’m 50/50,” the filly’s bored voice commented. “I’m not really desperate enough for revenge to face Celestia’s wrath, but man would it feel good to wipe Twilight’s annoying voice off the planet.”
“I concur,” Sombra nodded.
Twilight tried to focus, but with several wounds it was taking some magic to just stay awake and alert. To teleport anywhere would probably burn her out, assuming she could even pull it off. She was so scared, so confused, so...
Spike. The name cut through her confusion, a shining light that eradicated the fog. I have to stay safe. For him. For my little brother. She narrowed her eyes and poured her soul into the teleport spell. She knew the one place she could go where Grogar wouldn’t be able to reach her.
Her horn blazed and she let out an insult at an enraged Grogar as she vanished, her former bonds smoking. The blue crystal of the Crystal Empire’s throne room greeted her, as did her brother’s gasp. “Hey, Shining,” Twilight murmured as she let herself close her eyes.





“Twily!” Shining Armor cried, racing to his sister’s side. He registered her wounds– magic burns around her body and a few cuts on her legs and midsection– and her labored breathing. “Guards! Get a healer here immediately!” he ordered, administering his limited healing repertoire to keep his sister alive. “When I get my hooves on whoever hurt my sister...” he muttered, hate choking his voice.
Cadance quickly penned a letter to Celestia and teleported the paper to her aunt before hurrying to check on Twilight. “Is she gonna be okay?” she mumbled, joining her husband in casting healing spells.
“She’s at least stable,” Shining Armor decided. “She’ll live, and probably recover just fine, but... even I can tell, that teleport burned her out hard. She’ll have to rest for at least a week before she can even levitate anything larger than a pencil and rest for a month after, maybe two, before she’s back to full strength. Maybe I’m wrong though...”
An orange stallion dressed in medical gear hurried in. “You needed me, Your Highnesses?”
“Yes, it’s Twily,” Shining Armor breathed. “She teleported in and burned her magic out pretty bad.”
“Okay, let’s get her somewhere better than the floor,” the doctor said. “Preferably a bed,” he added.
Together, Cadance and Shining Armor safely got Twilight to a bed and the doctor began his examination. After a few minutes of running diagnostic spells and applying ointment and dressings to the physical wounds, the doctor turned to the royal couple.
“I heard your estimates on how long it would take for her to get her strength back,” he said, addressing Shining Armor, “and they were pretty accurate, considering. If she doesn’t use any magic for the next week and doesn’t exert herself otherwise she should be back to full strength within six weeks. I trust you will make sure that remains the case. Anyway, the best we can do for her right now is let her rest,” the doctor nodded before leaving.
Cadance sighed in relief and Shining Armor almost let himself do the same. “You head back to the throne room so one of us can be there if Celestia or Luna arrives. I... I need to be here for Twily.”
“I understand, Shiny,” Cadance replied with a small kiss. “Just make sure you get some sleep at some point. Want me to post a guard here?”
“That’d be nice,” Shining nodded. “I... I know what the doctor said, and I trust him, but... do you think she’ll be okay?” he pleaded, needing her reassurance.
“If anypony can recover, it’s Twilight,” Cadance promised. “If you need a hug or anything at all, I’ll be in the throne room.”
Shining Armor nodded and turned back to Twilight. He started subconsciously humming their mom’s lullaby, and when Twilight relaxed at the sound, Shining Armor continued, slightly louder, and actively humming now.
Eventually Twilight’s eyes forced themselves open. She moaned in pain as she looked around to figure out where she was.
“Shining? Is that you?” she murmured groggily.
“Twily, you’re awake,” Shining Armor breathed. “What happened?”
Twilight coughed. Shining Armor offered her a glass of water and she smiled weakly as he helped her drink. “It’s all blurry...  Did Celestia tell you anything?”
Shining Armor shook his head. “You just kind of appeared in the throne room burned out and wounded,” he explained.
Twilight breathed and began explaining to the best of her knowledge. “You’ve heard the legends of Grogar, right?”
“He was Equestria’s emperor until Gusty the Great defeated him,” Shining Armor recalled.
“She banished him to the stars,” Twilight continued, “but when Cozy Glow started draining the magic from Equestria, the spell holding him broke and he was freed. He tried to destroy the Tree of Harmony and the Elements with it, but the Tree’s spirit called us and transferred the Elements before he could break them. Then he decided to capture me and... he wasn’t working alone. He’s got Chrysalis, Cozy Glow, Tirek, and Sombra at least on his side from what I heard and saw.”
Shining Armor swallowed at the mention of Sombra. “I thought the Crystal Heart destroyed Sombra,” he murmured.
“So did I,” Twilight nodded weakly. “But... well, necromancy is probably foal’s play to someone as powerful as Grogar,” she mused before groaning.
“Okay, I’m gonna go tell Cadance. Don’t use any magic and I’ll be right back,” Shining Armor promised. Twilight turned over and let herself go back to sleep as she listened to her brother’s hooves click against the crystal.





“Thank Faust,” Celestia muttered. “Twilight is okay.”
Spike collapsed in relief and Luna fluttered over to Celestia to read the newly received letter from Cadance. It described how Twilight had teleported in, covered in burns and cuts, but was otherwise only drained of magic. Another letter arrived shortly after that explained Twilight would be out of commission for a few weeks at the least. Celestia quickly shot a letter back telling Cadance what they knew about what had just happened, only to receive another letter from Cadance explaining what Twilight told Shining Armor about her brief captivity. Spike’s face flickered between rage and fear as Luna read out the letter. Rainbow Dash and Applejack paced while Pinkie and Fluttershy struggled to not have panic attacks, and Rarity was coping with the news by sewing aggressively. Celestia quickly finished the letters to the other kingdoms before calling for the captain. She gazed worriedly at Luna.
“What do we do, Luna? Even in the best case scenario, where all the other kingdoms offer support, I’m still not sure... how can we stand against Grogar?” she asked. “We both heard Harmony. He knows any move we could make, and with Twilight out of commission, the Elements of Harmony aren’t going to work as well, if at all... Oh, Faust,” Celestia suddenly exclaimed. “The Tree... Now that it’s gone, the Everfree Forest...” she darted to a window and gazed out at Ponyville. The forest was unchanged, surprisingly, and Celestia was just about to question it when Discord materialized behind her.
“Fluttershy, are you alright?” he asked, flying to her side. “I felt his magic...”
“I’m fine, Discord. Twilight was injured, but otherwise nopony was hurt,” Fluttershy reassured him.
“Discord, ah, since you’re here, do you know why the Everfree Forest has not invaded Equestria with the Tree of Harmony gone?” Celestia asked.
“Ah... I removed the plunderseeds after... I want to say after my little escapade with Starlight, Trixie, and... the other one?” he said, stroking his beard. “Yes, about then. But what’s this about the Tree being gone?” Discord asked.
“Grogar destroyed it,” Fluttershy explained. “Thankfully we managed to get the Elements off before it happened. But don’t you dare do what I think you’re thinking,” she warned. “Or I will revoke my friendship like I threatened before Twilight became a princess.”
Discord summoned a tiny halo and gave a sheepish look. Fluttershy glared and he floated back to his realm in shame.
Luna chuckled slightly once the portal closed before studying her hoof in thought. Then her eyes widened as she put her hoof back down but kept looking. “Asgore... Asgore and the monsters might be willing to help!” she realized.
Celestia nodded slowly. “Yes... that might be a good idea. Grogar knows our strengths and weaknesses, but how much of theirs does he know?”
“Precisely,” Luna nodded. “I will go and seek his aid. Fluttershy, will you accompany me?”
Fluttershy nodded quickly and Luna teleported the two of them to the portal cave. The ponies went through without a second of hesitation to be greeted by the warm gold of the hall beyond. They heard Asgore humming in the throne room and hurried in.
“Ah, Luna, Fluttershy, you came back rather quickly. Did you leave something here?” Asgore asked.
“No, we didn’t,” Luna said. “Asgore, we... we returned because we need your help.”
“Anything for you, Luna. What do you need?"