Chapter Eight:
Back in Equestria

"Aaaaaaaand that's pretty much the long and short of it." Starlight finished explaining to Golden Rise. "What do you think?" Golden was lost in thought. The Elements of Harmony trapped in a world full of Celestia-knows-what creatures. It was... scary to think about to say the least.

"Equestria to Golden!" Cloudy Arrow yelled. Golden Rise shook himself out of his trance.

"Urm... It's a lot to take in. Do you know where the BARRIER is?"

"Yes... why would-" Starlight began.

"We need to know what we're up against." He continued. "C'mon... I'll-" *CRASH* The sound of a pan fell from inside his house. "Um... I have very, very loose shelves." He said with a sheepish smile. Starlight and Cloudy walked up to the house.

"Okay Starlight... there could be a dangerous creature in there." He began. "So as a member of the royal guard... I should watch our backs. Good? Good!" Starlight rolled her eyes. They both walked into the house. Starlight had a stun spell ready for fire and Cloudy held his spear ready for attack. The went into the kitchen and found a pile of pots and pans on the floor. On the stove, was what appeared to be a sunny-side-up egg with bacon and... Spaghetti for some reason. There was a scurrying coming from another hallway and a shadow disappeared. "Golden? Was that you?" Silence.

"Mr. Rise! This is not funny!" Starlight said as she and Cloudy walked down the hallway to, what they recognized as a basement door. They opened the door and saw a couple of shadows. Voices could be heard from down there. One deep, one nasally, one very loud, and one that was very hard to describe. It was loud, but it was male.

"I'll go first this time." Cloudy said. Starlight nodded and backed up to let him through. He walked downstairs slowly only to find... nothing. He was about to turn back when something swung from the ceiling screaming: "NGHAAAAAA!" He fell onto a mattress being pinned down by a small yellow creature in a lab coat. "STARLIGHT RUN!!!" Cloudy yelled but she was grabbed from behind by two long and bony arms. The four creatures came into view now. There were two skeletons. One tall, one short. There was also a tall blue creature that resembled a fish. The last was the creature pinning Cloudy down. It was a yellow dragon in a lab coat.

"BROTHER!" The tall skeleton yelled, "WOULD YOU STOP LOUNGING AROUND AND HELP US WITH THESE INTRUDERS?!"

"eh... i would... but I'm practicing for my jobs"

"What jobs?!" The fish creature yelled. "You aren't even allowed to leave this basement!"

"true..." The smaller skeleton said, "but when i do I'm gonna have like... twenty breaks? i'm only on my third at the moment."

"YOU IMBECILE!" The taller skeleton yelled. "TAKE A BREAK FROM YOUR BREAK AND CAPTIVATE THESE PONIES!"

"Um... you guys?" The yellow dragon asked, "Can we try and keep it down? I think Frisk is trying to sleep." It was only then that a fifth creature came into view. I had long brown hair, blue and purple striped shirt, and a blank expression on its face. It slowly walked over to Starlight who was struggling in the taller skeleton's arms. It looked at her, then looked up at the taller skeleton for what seemed like forever.

"Are you sure human?" The skeleton asked. "Frisk" stared at the skeleton more. "That makes sense I suppose." The skeleton let Starlight go and the dragon let Cloudy go. They backed into the corner.

"You..." Starlight said shakily.

"You're all..." Cloudy said.

"MONSTERS?!" They both yelled.

"GUYS! STOP!" Golden said running in.

"Golden? Do you know them?" The fish asked.

"Yes Undyne. They're friends."

"Wh- Gh- Damn it! I was hoping I could beat their faces in!" The dragon-like creature held her appendages(?) to calm her down. "*Sigh* Thanks Alphys."

"J-just calm down okay?" "Alphys" said shakily.

"G-golden?" Cloudy said shakily. Golden Rise cringed at this. "You've been... harboring fugitives?! Monsters no less!"

"You don't understand! These are good monsters!"

"How can you trust them?!" Starlight asked angrily, "That 'Undyne' thing wanted to bash our faces in!"

"I'm still warmed up pony girl." Starlight shrank back as Undyne cracked her knuckles.

"They were helpless. On the run. I almost turned them in when I found them but... It was winter. They were freezing, starving, and dying. They were low on HP when I found them. Besides... one of them isn't a monster. He looked over to Frisk who only stared back, slightly tilting their head. Starlight and Cloudy were both squeeing in their minds: "SO CUUUUTE!"

"Any who... I think proper introductions are in order." Golden Rise said. He pointed to the small skeleton, "This is Sans. He is the older brother to the other skeleton, Papyrus. He likes making jokes, pulling pranks, and is very laid back. Emphasis on VERY."

"nice to meetcha!" Sans reached out a hand. Starlight was reluctant to do so. "c'mon! don'tcha know how to greet a new pal?" Starlight put her hoof into his hand and...

"hehehehe! the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick! it's always funny!" Starlight rolled her eyes while Cloudy chuckled at the joke. "see? that pony gets it!"

"The other skeleton, as I mentioned before, is Papyrus. He's very loud, ambitious, smart(ish), and believes that all of his friends can accomplish any task."

"Pleasure to meet you ponies!" He said in a cheery attitude.

"Um... nice to meet you too." Starlight said shaking his gloved hand. "Pardon me if I'm being sort of straightforward but... what are you wearing?"

"oh boy now you've done it." Sans said bluntly.

"THIS IS MY BATTLE BODY! CRAFTED AT THE PAWS OF THE GREAT TEMMI, THIS COSTUME PREPARED ME TO GO INTO BATTLE TO FACE MY WORST FEAR!"

"Really?" Starlight said, impressed and amused at the same time.

"NEEDLESS TO SAY... SOCIAL ANXIETY HAD NEVER BEEN WEAKER THAT DAY!" Obviously, he had been exaggerating. Starlight turned to Sans for an explanation.

"it was tailored by a dog that's been ruined by the internet and he went to a costume party. he vowed never to take it off." The three ponies scrunched up the muzzles in disgust. "he washes it..." They all sighed in relief. "but by that i mean he wears it in the shower." They all shuddered again.

"Wait... what's the internet?" Starlight asked. Alphys gasped and ran over to her.

"PLEASE TELL ME YOU'VE HEARD OF ANIME!!!" She yelled.

"I've read manga but that's it?" Starlight said sheepishly.

"Eh..." Alphys said bluntly, "Close enough."

"This is Alphys." Golden explained. "She's an anime fanmare but she was the royal scientist. She was studying how to take down the BARRIER." Golden leaned in closer. "Also... she has a thing for Undyne." Starlight was going to talk to Alphys but she had sat down on the mattress looking at what appeared to be a glowing tablet.

"And this is-" Golden started.

"Hi. I'm Undyne. End of story."

"Um... okay, she's not in the mood to talk. Anyway, this little angel is Frisk! Frisk is not a monster, but a human."

"Why not refer to him as a he?" Cloudy asked.

"Or her as a she?" Starlight added.

"Well... Frisk is... agendered."

"Frisk doesn't have one?" Cloudy asked.

"Nope. It's okay if you make the mistake of saying he or she though." Golden continued. "Frisk doesn't care at all."

"Nice to meet you Frisk!" Starlight said smiling. Frisk looked from her face to her hoof, walked up, and shook it. Keeping the same expression the whole time.

"Does um... Does Frisk talk?" Cloudy asked.

"Telepathically." Golden answered

"Really?" Cloudy asked. Just then, he felt something enter his mind and whisper,

"Yes." Cloudy shuddered.

"Well I'm convinced." He said. "I'll be right back" He proceeded to run upstairs and scream.

"Let's go Starlight." Golden said. "You can fill me in more on the way."

"Sure!" She said smiling. "It was nice meeting you all." Sans lifted a hand up lazily, Sans and Alphys waved happily, Undyne grunted and turned away, and Frisk gave a thumbs up, still with a blank expression. Something was off about them.

THE BARRIER

Demonic Wing was busy with the vortex in the center of the BARRIER. It was swirling clockwise which meant it went into the future. It was swirling very quickly which meant time sped up compared to here. Nothing hinted at what was through it though. There was also no telling if there was another side for reentry. He scribbled down some possibilities based on what he learned. So far, all he had was: FUTURE???

All of his learnings just led to dead ends. He was sick of it all. He had always thought to himself: 'If I know so much about alternate Universes, why not move to another?' It was because there was no Universe where he fit in. Each one just led to the Mane 6 going on adventures with odd creatures and things that never happened in the original Equestria. He knew that there was not one yet where he fit in. He only hoped that this one would accept him when his work was done. He pulled out the book that his master had found all those years back. A tiny journal labeled: Luna in blue writing. It showed what happened during the Monster War all those years back. He wished he could ask Luna for the details but he knew that if he got close she would surely notice-

"Hello Wingy!" Nightmare said as she appeared from the shadows. Demonic Wing didn't even flinch. "That should've scared you..."

"You've done it too many times for me to be afraid." He said bluntly.

"What? When have I- DON'T YOU DARE FLASHBACK!" She shouted as he started to go into a daze and ripples appeared in midair.

"Then you know the answer to the question you were just going to ask?" He asked smirking.

"Ugh, you're no fun." Nightmare said pouting.

"Love ya too Nightmare..."

"awww ain't that sweet?" They both turned to see a certain skeleton drinking from a ketchup bottle.

"Wingy?"

"Yeah?"

"Is that a monster drinking ketchup?"

"It would appear so..."

"well i was gonna pull a prank and offer it to some ponies eatin hot dogs... but then i... thought why waste a perfectly good ketchup bottle on somethin i could easily do over and over? right?"

"Wait... that sounds like something G- No. It can't be... you... you died..."

"welp... i'm outta here.' Sans said, 'see ya later...' The skeleton left.

"You knew him?" Nightmare asked.

"Yeah... but that was only half of him..." Demonic Wing said in shock.

"Well I'm glad some things still surprise you." Nightmare Moon said smirking, then disappearing into a shadow. Demonic Wing stood there, glaring at the spot she disappeared from.

"Why do I even bother?" He asked getting back to work. He then heard voices coming closer to the BARRIER.

"It's over here Golden!" Starlight said, "We just wanted to prove to you that this happened."

"I really hope Celestia mentioned me to her..." Demonic murmured to himself, "Whenever I'm in the presence of a pony-"

"DEMON!" Starlight yelled.

"That... that's what happens." Demonic could hear Starlight charging up her horn. Obviously to stun him... "Typical." He said bluntly so they could hear him. As Starlight fired, he took flight, evading her spell. But Starlight wasn't done. She fired again, and again, and again, until her horn was burning red. Magic wasn't meant to be used that rapidly, she should've known. But Demonic Wing dodged her attacks as if he were playing a game of dodgeball with a filly. It was only when she hit the BARRIER that he got serious. "HEY!" He was struck with her spell and was sent tumbling to the ground. Much to his dismay, him being attacked had angered Nightmare. She appeared out of the shadows and using her Royal Canterlot Voice:

"YOU DARE ATTACK THE DEMON ATTEMPTING TO FIND YOUR FRIENDS?!" The three ponies stepped back in fear.

"I-is that..." Golden Rise started.

"Nightmare..." Cloudy continued.

"Moon." Starlight said glaring at her, coming out of the fear that she still felt.

"Greetings Starlight Glimmer," Nightmare Moon said, her voice dripping with venom, "I wish I could say it is a pleasure seeing you again."

"Starlight... You know her?!" Golden Rise yelled.

"I met her in a nightmare I had a few months back." She answered, still glaring at her previous foe.

"NIGHTMARE DON'T!" Demonic yelled, "Everypony just calm down and stand down okay?!"

"Why should we?! You should know what she is! You demons gave Luna the spell to transform into her!" Golden yelled. "Who are you anyways?!"

"That's Demonic Wing!" Cloudy yelled. Starlight turned toward him.

"You know him?"

"He's working for the Princesses! Now Starlight... if you don't want to get hurt... stand. Down." She hesitated for a little while, but she finally gave in and powered down her horn. Nightmare Moon in return did the same.

"Don't hurt Wingy again you foolish little foal." She said angrily. She backed into a shadow and disappeared.

"Sorry about her." Demonic Wing said. "She gets a little upset when I'm attacked. I don't know why she cares so much about me but... who am I to complain?"

"What do you mean? She was... protecting you?" Starlight asked.

"Yes. Exactly. Now keep your mouth shut about this and there won't be trouble." He said in a very threatening manner.

"You don't scare me demon." She said through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry?" He said in a sarcastic manner, "I'm pretty sure I have an -ic wing after the demon part?" Starlight growled in response.

"Why are you here Mr. Wing?" Golden Rise asked.

"First of all, call me Demonic Wing. I've never been into formalities." He said bluntly, "Second, what I;m doing here is none of your business."

"That's where you're wrong Demonic Wing." Cloudy said.

"Who're you?" Demonic asked.

"I'm Sir Cloudy Arrow of the royal guard. We've been recruiting ponies to help us find our friends."

"That's what I was doing. And I don't need help."

"Sorry... but we're here on Celestia's orders." Cloudy said. Demonic lowered his head in defeat. There was no arguing with royalty.

"Here." He said throwing them a crumpled piece of paper.

"What's this?" Starlight asked.

"Helpers." Demonic said returning to work. "I was going to ditch the paper so I could get this done by myself, but seeing as Celestia wants a team..." He gestured to the list. They all looked at it. Some weren't even ponies.

"There are multiple creatures on that list from Ponies to Thestrals." Demonic Wing said. "Better get to it..."

"Um quick question..." Cloudy said. Demonic just grunted. "What's a Thestral?"

Author's Note

Sorry it took so long to get out. Thanks for Cuddlebug (cloudy arrow), Golden Rise and Little Wingy (Demonic wing) for agreeing to be in the story!