Chapters (I Was) Stronger Than You
As Fluttershy was making her way back from Zecora's hut in the Everfree Forrest she was humming happily as she was not alone this time, due to the increase in Timberwolf attacks, one of her friends decided to escort her both ways, how thoughtful.
"Thanks so much Berry, I really needed to get this ointment for poor lil' Angel Bunny's rash, who knew poison joke could cause super chicken pox?" She asked rhetorically as the bear just chuckled at the fact that the overbearing rabbit was finally in no position to stop him from eating all he wanted at dinner. He was happily daydreaming about all the fish he was going to chow down on at dinner when he heard Fluttershy cry out. He looked immediately to his left and she was fine, he looked around and there was not a single Timberwolf in sight, so what made her scream? Upon further inspection, he saw a crimson and blue shoe sticking out from a bush. Being the bear he was he gathered up his courage and "bravely" stalked up to the bush, expecting to find something attacking somepony, but what he saw just confused him. He looked back at Fluttershy with a puzzled look on his face and motioned her over. When she looked she was just as confused as he was, a bit disturbed, but just as confused. Some animal's skeleton was bloodied and clean to the bone but for some reason was wearing a blue hoodie, shorts, and blue untied sneakers? Upon further inspection she noticed there was still blood trickling out of the ribs of the skeleton, her motherly instincts kicked in.
"Berry, I don't know what this is, but we have to help it! The poor thing is hurt, or dead? Either way, we have to take it home, maybe we can treat it? M-Maybe it is similar to Timberwolves!" She just kept telling herself that in her head as she commanded the bear to carry the remains to her house, after all, it was not like she could just ignore an...animal? Yes, an animal in need! With one swift motion, Berry gently put the body over his back as they made their way back home, but unbeknownst to them something fell from its pocket and clinked on the ground.
Author's Note
I made her think Sans is maybe a similar animal to Timberwolves lie maybe there's a new animal made my excess magic that causes bones to reanimate? It is what she was hoping for rather than the alternative, which you will see really soon!
(I Was) Stronger Than You
As Sans hastily staggered through the forest from where he landed, hoping to find some way to get back and at least die in a world he knew, a world he remembered, a world where his friends...
Mid-thought as Sans hobbled down the path various animal looked on, some had eyes the size of dinner plates yet they did nothing but watch.
maybe even the dark fears skeletons?
Sans let the thought pass as he had more important things to do than make jokes about his surroundings,
Maybe I send a chill up their spine? Hehehe
Okay, maybe he did have some time for that, but regardless of the comedic factor he had no idea and his situation was only getting worse as his wound opened again and was leaving a sanguine trail straight to him, worse of all it was ruining the jacket his brothers had given him... Pushing through the pain he kept running until he heard a loud sound of something phasing into existence, he couldn't describe it better than that. As he ran he slowed down and stopped after a few moments,
Thats the same sound Gaster's machine made before the accident!
Sans bolted left towards the source of the disturbance, abandoning the trail hoping for the best, best case scenario: someone else made it out and was here to help, worst case scenario: she somehow made it here. He could only hope it was the former or some other option as even though he knew nothing of this world, no one deserved what happened to his world. When he reached the source of the noise he found a crater with a tall ragged cloaked figure standing in the middle of it, Sans withheld his voice until he saw the person reach up to rub their chin in thought as they appeared to be talking to themselves.
"Now what plane did I end up in now?" He said in a voice that could only be described as heavily distorted while he gargled gravel.
All joking aside Sans was watching intently for one thing, his hand, when his hand reached his chin he saw what he had dared to hope for, a skeletal hand. Sans almost couldn't contain his excitement for a moment, but when he realized the chances of that actually happening were near impossible considering the explosion in the lab. If it couldn't be his lost brother, who was this man?
(I Was) Stronger Than You
As the man stood there talking to himself he began to look around as if trying to figure out his location, but this was no ordinary forest, from what he could tell it was the Everfree.
"Huh, guess I ended up in the wrong one again... Shit. Well, might as well see what's going on here while I wait." He said nonchalantly as he began to walk through the woods uncaring of what lay within, all the while he could feel something watching him, something that actually seemed to register on his radar, off to his left a bit.
"I know you're there, just come out and introduce yourself, I don't have time for hide'n'seek here... Well, actually I do, but I don't want to spend it playing in the Everfree." As he said this he heard the rustling of bushes in the direction he spoke to, and what came out was something a bit unexpected, it was a small skeleton in a hoodie, sweatpants, and shoes.
"Who are ya, pal?" It asked curiously, left hand in one of his jacket pockets, the other at his side as if ready to react.
"Probably not the one you had hoped for Sans..." This struck him, Sans' eyes widened,
he probably has a lot of question, might as well answer them
(I Was) Stronger Than You
Sans now cautiously approached the hooded figure who had taken a seat on a log with numerous layers of moss and fungi growing upon it and was patting the spot next to him.
"How do you know who I am?" Sans asked as he hopped on the log.
"Too long to explain fully, but the short version is I met someone looking for you, he might be pleased to meet you." The man said with a chuckle.
"You know it isn't nice to tease pe-"
"Why would I lie about the man who speaks in hands?" This stopped Sans' dead.
"G-Gaster?!"
"Indeed, as I traveled the void looking for a friend I ran into a masked man who looked like he had been through hell and was on the lookout for someone who matched your description to a T."
"How'd he get there?"
"Probably same way I did, we were both mistakes."
"Mistakes?"
"Things never meant to be, but for some reason were."
"Never meant to be? Whaddya mean?"
"Something he did or was going to do caused him to be thrown into the void, and unlike me he traveled on his own will, even with my granted abilities he rivals me, if I run into him again I will try to send him here."
"S-Seriously?" Sans was now speechless at the news he was hearing.
"Don't be too happy, the void is out of time, one second there could be a minute or a decade here, I can only be the messenger and hope he gets here before somethi8ng happens." At this, he slumped a bit, as the man peered down Sans looked back up with a toothy grin.
"Thanks, pal, so in the meantime, I should just hideout?"
"No, they will think you are hiding something, better to just do a show and tell, but knowing Bookhorse she might think you are related to necromancy, I think while I'm here I will monitor this and make sure you are okay. He would kill me if I found you only to let you die."
"Whaddya mean?"
"They think you're a zombie summoned by an evil pony here, you have to convince them you aren't, even if it is the truth it won't seem like it to them and- Shit, here she comes. Get up Sans, it's showtime!"
"Wait, now?!"
"Hey, I thought you liked the spotlight mister comedian?" The man said as he faded into the brush of the forest, Sans losing all trace of him while hearing the approach of hoofsteps in rapid succession.
(I Was) Stronger Than You
When the flash cleared Twilight opened her eyes to see a tall hooded figure between her and the skeletal summon.
"So you're the summoner! What do you want with Equestria!"
"First off, yes I can summon the dead, but this isn't one of mine, nor a summon at all Twilight."
"How do you know my name?!" She demanded.
"I am from another Equestria, long story short I died in a teleportation accident and this is the result." The man said as he pulled down his hood revealing a severely mutilated and charred face with only bits of skin and muscle here and there and only one functioning eye.
"Don't lie to me I-"
"If you don't believe me get the Element of Honesty, AppleJack, you know she can discern a lie from the truth better than you, or you could just take my word for it. No matter the choice I have all day to wait here and nothing you can do can stop me."
"And why is that?"
"I just took one of your blasts meant to disassemble a fully grown Timberwolf and my cloak isn't even singed, if you can't even damage my clothes how can you hope to do anything to me? And last time I checked I was being quite civil here while you attacked us with the intent to destroy. Would it be so unreasonable to wait for your friends?" The man reasoned.
"I-I guess not, but don't try anything funny!" Twilight warned.
"Sans, up for some go fish?" The man asked pulling up his hood.
"I would but I seemed to have misplaced my deck." Sans joked.
"I didn't." He said as he reached into his robe to pull out a fresh deck of cards which he used the point of one of his bony fingers to cut the seal.
"You're quite sharp ain't ya?" Sans joked.
"And you're a real rib tickler." At this, they both laughed seemingly ignoring Twilight's presence as she attempted to be intimidating as possible. As they played cards on the moss ridden log Twilight's friends galloped towards them in a hurry not knowing what to expect.
"Got any 8's?"
"Go fish pal."
"Dammit Sans..."
Within the hour her friends arrived to see a very imposing Twilight and the man and Sans playing cards peacefully on an impromptu bench.
"Twa'light, whatcha need us...for...What the hay are those two doing."
"Playing go fish dear AJ, Pinkie Pie, would you like to join us?" The man asked casually as he held out a hand of card face down."
"Absolutely!" Pinkie answered as she began hopping towards them without a care only to be stopped by Twilight's magical grasp.
"Don't do it Pinkie, he took a strong blast and it didn't even faze him."
"Whoa, he's a tough cookie huh?" Pinkie asked.
"His cloak seems to be well made, the fade from Midnight black to Persian blue is flawless and seems to be made of strong material from what I can see from here."
"Figures another Rarity would recognize her own work."
"Say what?" She asked in confusion.
"As I told Bookhorse over there before she began her bluff I'm from another Equestria, ended up here by mistake on my own fault. I'm sure she knows of the multi-verse theory, and AppleJack the living lie detector should be able to vouch for what I am saying, if not feel free to surmise why I would lie." He said before going back his card game.
Twilight just looked over at AppleJack to confirm what he said.
"I reckon it's true, he doesn't sound like he's lyin' but I can't wrap my head around what the hay is goin' on here." The mare said in confusion, trying to comprehend what had been said in the past ten minutes.
"I don't know, he doesn't look so tough to me-" Knowing Rainbow would do this or something to this degree the man and Sans slowly got off the log and neatly packed up their card game for later, and what happened next dropped the pegasus' jaw. The man one handedly extracted the large log from its resting place within the clearing above his head and threw it over his left shoulder through the air into the trees behind him shattering the log they had just been sitting on.
"Rainbow, please don't insult people, you must always assume an opponent is stronger than you or you may fall to your own negligence."
"But I am strong!" She challenged.
"Yes, probably from all those pasta and potato on sourdough sandwiches, you really carbo-loaded." He chuckled.
"H-How do you know about those!" Her friends looked at her with an expression on their faces that just said "Really?"
"You told me this when I was regrowing limbs, constantly forgetting I can't eat and that I regrew them magically."
"That does sound like her." Pinkie chimed in.
"See? I'm not here to wreak havoc, I ended up in the wrong plane by accident and I'm leaving as soon as possible, Sans here
"Why can't he leave, where'd he come from, how'd he get here?"
"He came here because something wanted him to, his own world, refer to answer one. Look, if we were evil or schemeing would we openly say who we were or infact talk this out, I just want to stop this before we mess this place up further, the more I interact with you the further off the rails this world goes."
"You mean like when you go on a roller coaster and then there's a screw loose on a loop and after so many times it breaks and the car goes whoosh off the rails and we're all like AHHHHHHHHHHH and then boom?" Pinkie said in one breath a bit too accurately.
"Yup, the longer I stay and talk to you, the looser the screw gets, I'd rather not doom another world than my own, now take care of Sans, treat him nicely and I'll be off."
"Even if what you and Pinkie said is true why should we?" Twilight asked.
"B-Because he's hurt?" Fluttershy chimed in from the back.
"No, because someone with a shorter temper than me is looking for him, and if he's not in one piece it won't bode well for you." He said seriously.
"There's more of you?"
"No, thankfully there's only one me that messed up this badly to my knowledge, no, the one looking for him is his brother and he sees things more in black and white than I do. Take care of yourselves and him for your own sakes." The man said as he began to enter the deeper depths of the Everfree forest to not interact with anything of significant importance further to hopefully be less likely to be the reason this world went "off the rails" so to speak.
After he walked off they all looked at each other in silence for a moment contemplating the man's warning.
"So... Who's up for some fries?" Sans asked casually breaking the silence only to get a resounding response from Pinkie, the two walked off with the other 5 wondering what in Equestria was going on.
Author's Note
Now is the end of the mini-chapters! Sorry all who hate short chapters they will stop now, only chapters 2k or longer will be posted
(I Was) Stronger Than You
1. Welp. I'm Going To Grillby's
“Even though I have done it hundreds of times…” Sans thinks as he feels a sharp pain in his ribs.
“She…” He clutches the wound, blood pouring out.
“Just…” He looks down, his hand is stained red.
“Keeps…” He looks up to see that, thing staring at him, a twisted grin on her face.
“Coming…” She takes a step forward.
“Back…” She continues towards Sans until she is once next to him.
“And this time, she won… “ Just as she passes by Sans he utters his final words to her even though they fall on deaf ears.
“Welp. I’m going to Grillby’s…” Sans says as he stumbles away holding his wound, his normal dark blue jacket, now torn and ensanguined from her blade. As he limps away, thinking of what he will have for lunch all that floods his mind are images of his friends brought to an end by that child , but the saddest one to come to mind is that of his brother and his fate at her hands…
“Papyrus, do you want anything?” He collapses in the entrance to the hall of judgment where he stoically defended the king from her hundreds of times, but hey, he knew it would happen eventually,
"I knew you would beat me, I felt...it….in...my...bones…." His final thoughts.
The world around him goes black and he swears he can see those who have fallen welcoming him with open arms and reaching out to him welcoming him. As he ascends something grabs his foot before he can reach out to them and pass on, he’s thrown down and begins falling endlessly into a void. He can’t see anything, he can’t tell what is up or what is down, all he can tell is that this isn’t over, if the kid was any indication, nothing is ever truly over.
(I Was) Stronger Than You
Sans began to stir, pain wracked throughout his body, he could feel something heavy on his chest, something restraining him? He cracked open an eye and looked down, it wasn't what he was expecting at all.
"A pink frilly blanket, where am I? Am I at Toriel's?" He questioned silently as he looked around hoping for a moment only to see none of the familiarity of his friend's abode, only to see pictures of the same yellow winged....horse? He tried to get up to get a better look but in his weakened state from fighting Chara....or was it Frisk? That kid had too many names for themselves, anyway, the point being he was too weak to even lift off the heavy blanket. He continued to struggle but felt something restrict his movements further, he lifted what he could of the heavy covering and saw his ribs had been bandaged, they were stained with dried blood, how long had he been out? Where was he? And why did this person have a room dedicated to a butter-yellow horse? He wasn't one to judge but it wasn't making his stay very comforting. He sighed and his left eye began to glow, he really hated using this, sure it made things easier, but he wasn't one to show off, he preferred people, or monsters, to think of him just as a simple pun-loving skeleton who never took anything seriously. The last part rang through his mind...
Seriously...
The last thing that he did take seriously was that kid, and thanks to them everyone he ever knew, heck, everyone in the underground was gone, it just made him that much more upset, not angry, just upset. Nothing really made him angry anymore, but that kid struck a cord. He levitated the blanket off him and tossed it into the corner where he found a pile of half-eaten carrots tossed about, heh, reminded him and his socks, but no time for memories, he had to get out of here, the last thing he needed was to run into another human. He shakily made his way to the nearby window sill, whatever inhabited this house was roughly his height or shorter as the window was just low enough for him to sit on and the hop off to escape his captor. He closed the window as quietly as he could but it still made an audible click as it shut, he looked through the window and saw the door remain shut for a few seconds meaning they knew nothing. He sighed and turned around only to see a bear, easily as tall as his brother staring him down.
"Look, fella, I don't want any trouble, just let me be on m-" Was all he could negotiate before the bear turned and ran for its life, wherever Sans was his kind must not be commonplace. As he Shrugged off the encounter without conflict he made his way into the forest to rest, recuperate, and figure out where and when he was.
(I Was) Stronger Than You
As Fluttershy welcomed her favorite librarian into her abode, the alicorn hastily wandered in.
"So you think it could be a new species of Timberwolf? But instead of being bipedal instead of canine bone structure?"
"Yes, it even had clothes!" Fluttershy exclaimed.
"Clothes?" Twilight pondered aloud.
"Yeah, a blue jacket, shorts, and some shoes, when I found it the poor thing was hurt so I tucked it in and wrapped its wound," Fluttershy said full of hope for her new friend.
"Its wound?"
"Yes, the poor thing had a nasty gash in its rib so I bandaged the dear right up!" Fluttershy explained cheerfully.
"But when Timberwolves get hurt they shatter and later reform....that means....."Twilight said aloud as she thought of what the new inhabitant could be.
"Here it is!" Fluttershy happily announced as she opened the door only to find the bed made, window open, and...
"Why is Berry crying outside the window? Berry, are you and our new guest playing?" She playfully asks the crying bear who just points repeatedly towards the Everfree forest in a panic.
"Oh no!" The two mares cry in a fit, on one hand, Fluttershy was worried the poor thing was scared and trying to get back home, on the other hand, Twilight was piecing together it wasn't what Fluttershy thought it was and feared the worst.
"Fluttershy you get the girls, I'll go after it!" Twilight shouted as she ran out of the room.
"But what if it's injured?"
"Then I can teleport back here with it faster than you can carry it for treatment!" She called already down the hall near the living room.
"Oh, good idea."
And with that Fluttershy left in a hurry to get the aid Twilight requested meanwhile Twilight prepared to fight what she now thought was the spawn of a necromancer and began to wonder what poor creature could have been corrupted to make her friend think it was a new species?
(I Was) Stronger Than You
8. I'm Not A Zombie, I Got Too Much Spine
Twilight galloped down the trail, horn aglow for any sign of necrotic magic when suddenly she got a terrifyingly strong pulse of it to the SouthEast, she froze on the spot, she had never felt something that strong since Nightmare Moon. Twilight shook her head and continued forward, whatever awaited her she would overcome with her friends, just like they always did.
"Hey, I thought you liked the spotlight mister comedian?" A deep distorted voice said as it seemed to fade out as Twilight neared a clearing.
"Stop, halt, cease and desist!" She shouted as she ran through the foliage towards the clearing ahead and when she made it through she found what Fluttershy had described to her, it wasn't as evil or threatening as expected but never underestimate a necromancer.
"Where's the one who summoned you?!" Twilight demanded, her horn charged and aimed at the creature.
"I wasn't summoned BookHorse, I was born ."
"Bookhorse? Why the ha-Nevermind, don't lie to me! I sensed something dark and extremely powerful over here and it isn't you, now where are they?"
"I told you, I was born BookHorse, I'm just a bit bonier than you, why ya gotta discriminate?" It said as it crossed its arms trying to look disappointed in her.
"Stop beating around the bush and tell me where the one who summoned you is before I banish you to Tartarus monster!" Twilight threatened she had no time to deal with a summon while a dark unicorn was on the loose near Ponyville.
"Hehehe, is that a threat sweetie?" At this Twilight had had enough of this summon's sass, she let loose a bolt of raw energy hoping it would disassemble it like the blast did to the local Timberwolves. She felt bad she had to do this, but she had to find the necromancer, she aimed her shot and fired, creating a bright light.
