The power of SOULby Garnet NatureaChaptersPrologueArrival of a Strong SOULMeeting Some New SOULsPrologueChecking his watch for the fifth time in five minutes, Nathan looks around the lot by his dorm for his friend. He was starting to get impatient. Checking over himself again, his bright, fire red hair is set in its natural messed style. He traces his deep green eyes over his clothes. His outfit of a pair a black cargo pants, white t-shirt and dark blue hoodie is freshly washed and clean. He is wearing a pair of black fingerless gloves with a white heart outline on each and a pair of black combat boots. Most would see him as either a goth or something like that, but in reality he just liked black. Most would also think that Nathan would be one of those loners that doesn’t talk to anyone, but really, he was rather popular in his college. He was taking psychology and medical science classes with his hopes of being a health care aid. He is also a pretty good athlete, having won a hometown martial arts tournament when he was younger. But aside form all this he was one thing above all else. A fan of Undertale. And by a fan, we mean an super fan. He has played through the game itself nearly a hundred times, gotten plenty of merchandise like shirts, figurines, and fan made comics. Also he was an avid reader and watcher of online Undertale AUs comics and shows, like Glitchtale and Ask Frisk and Co. He looks away from his outfit as he hears a car entering the lot. Looking around he finds his friend Sam come driving in with his pickup. Nathan crosses his arms as Sam drives up to him. “Your late.” Nathan says annoyed. Sam raises his arms in defence as his friend gets in. “Dude, chill. I was five minutes late. Remember the con doesn’t open its doors for another hour or so.” Sam says back, driving out of the lot with his new passenger. Nathen sighs. “Yeah, I know. Sorry. I am just super excited to go. This is my first gaming convention and I really wanna meet Toby Fox.” Nathan says with excited. Sam just laughs as they get close to the convention hall nearby. “Yeah. I know how crazy you are about Undertale related stuff. But you should try to reign it in otherwise you might embarrass yourself.” Sam says, looking for a good parking spot. Once the duo finds a good spot, they walk out to the entrace hall and wait, a few gamers already there. “So why couldn’t your brother come again?” Nathan asks his friend. Sam shrugs. “Jason got sick with something. We think the flu, but considering all the bugs going around, he may have gotten something worse. For now he is staying home and mum and dad are taking care of him.” Sam says, and after a few minutes the doors to the building opens. Going in, Sam and Nathan join a crowd going to the main floor where some new games are being unveiled. They spend about an hour there before moving on and finding the next area which had a large amount of merchant booths with at least one booth for every major gaming series each. CoD, Battlefield, Halo, Fallout, XCom, Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. Even some for some older games like Left 4 Dead and Warframe. Going past the major company area, Nathan finds himself in the area sectioned off for Indie and Fan made games. FNAF and its spin-offs, Shovel Knight, LISA, Pokemon Uranium, Pixelmon and TABS just to name a few. But Nathan was looking for one booth for its specific items. After wandering the sea of gaming booth he finds what he is looking for. He finds what looks like a guard station from Undertale, but it is full of things from the fandom. Looking around the booth he finds plenty of things he would love to get for his collections, but the only problem is there was no one there. Checking in front of the booth there was a sign that said ‘be back in five’. Nathan sighs and takes out his phone to watch some videos to pass the time. After a few minutes he feels a tapping on his shoulder from behind. Turning, he sees some guy with white hair and blue eyes, a blue winter jacket overtop a white t-shirt and black shorts with a white line down the sides, pink slippers and dog tags. All in all, he looked like a human version of Sans the skeleton. Odd, Nathan didn’t see anyone walking up. “Hey there bud, don’t ya know how to greet someone?” He says raising his hand. Nathan can see where this is going and smirks. Shaking his hand, he get rewarded by the sound of a fart. They both laugh a little at the gag. “Hehe, the old whoopie cushion in the hand trick. Never gets old.” Nathan says to him with a smile. “You said it bud. So what are you buying from my humble shop?” The human Sans asks, leaning onto the counter. Nathan then trails his eyes over the booth and finds several pieces that would do well in his collection. “I’ll take the Delta!Sans Tough Gloves, the Xtale Sans scarf, the mini Gaster Blasters, Betty’s Kumu hair clip, the Chaos Sabres and the book on monster/soul magic and heart locket please.” he says, pointing to each item in turn. Sans nods and grabs the items and brings them to the front of the booth for Nathan. “Is that all?” Nathan searches the shelves of the guard post and his eyes settled on one item he looked over. On one of the shelves are what look like a bunch of hearts in their own separate jars. There are ten in total, each being their own color. Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, white and black. The last one however, was different. It was changing between the colours of the others at steady intervals, like the color was changing with a heartbeat. Nathan points to it. “How about the SOUL?” Sans looks to it then gets a slightly worried expression. “Look bud, that thing is pretty expensive, so I’ll make you a deal. If you can answer three of my questions about the Undertale multiverse, I’ll let you have it for half off. You will still be paying for the other things in full though.” He says, grabbing the soul in a jar and placing it on the counter. Nathan smirks at the man. “Bring it on.” he says, as said song was beginning to play through his headphones. Sans gives a very good impression of the skeletons smile. “Ok, first question. In Glitchtale, how was the Bête Noire or Betty created?” He questions. “Many centuries ago, the wielders of the Determination and Bravery were having an argument on if they should release the monsters still trapped under Mount Ebbot. Determination wanted to release them while Bravery wanted to reinforce the barrier. Their fight eventually lead to a dual between the siblings and Determination won. Bravery was scared after that, losing her trait and running away for a time. While she was away she found a spell that inverted her very trait, turning from using a soul of Bravery to one of Fear. She returned, Determination welcoming her back. Some time later, Bravery and Determination got into another argument and Bravery attacked him. Determination was forced to fight back against his mad sibling. While they fought, their younger sibling was forced to run, but Bravery wouldn’t have it and attacked her. After temporarily knocking Determination down, she turned her attention on their sibling and killed her. Determination lost his trait in the shock of seeing their little sibling dead and Bravery struck him down. Bravery was soon beset by the side effect of inverting her soul and used her magic to turn the corpse of their younger sibling into something else. The Bête Noire. The SOUL of Fear.” Sans looks to him and smile at the story answer. “Correct, but you could have just said that she was made from a foolish wizards spite.” He says with a smirk. “Where is the fun in that?” Nathan says back with his own smirk. “Fair enough bud, next question. In Underverse, why is Cross stealing things from other universes?” “Cross came from a Genocide timeline without reset possibility. During his final battle with Chara, their souls merged and Chara became trapped in Cross’s head. Cross goes to other universes and steals certain aspects to rebuild his world after being told by Ink that he could not bring his universe back.” He answers without problem. Sans nods after checking his phone for a second. “Correct again. Now for your last question.” Sans suddenly loses his smile and looks to Nathan with a serious expression not unlike the skeletons eyeless glare. “Who is W.D Gaster?” That caught Nathan off guard and he had to think and remove fan theories from canon material. “Well, canonically he is the royal scientist before Alphys. He was the one in charge of the creation of the Core which provides the Underground with magical power. While working on it one day he ‘fell’ into his own creation and was shattered across time and space. You can only find him in there game behind the grey door in Waterfall.” Nathan pauses and thinks again, Sans not reacting. “There are a lot of theories about who Gaster was and is right now. Most say he is in some way connected to the skeleton brothers Sans and Papyrus. Some say he is their father, some their other brother, others their creator. After his incident, most agree he gained the ability to look into the other timelines and that he was trapped as a type of ghost in between the timelines.” Sans closes his eyes for a moment, seemingly thinking before his goofy smile breaks his face again. “Nice job Bud.” He says before going to the register on the left of the booth and ringing up the items. “Ok, all together that is about $650 dollars.” He says, and Nathan has to do a double take before remembering that the soul itself was apparently very expensive. Good thing he just got paid from work and that his parents send some money for his birthday last week. Taking out a few hundreds and a fifty and hands it to Sans before putting the gloves, scarf, locket and clip on before putting the book and soul in my pockets in my coat and holding the sabres in hand. “Well, nice meeting you bud! Enjoy your trip and good luck!” Sans says as Nathan begins to walk away. Nathan turns back and finds Sans no longer at the booth. Suddenly, Nathan get a pain in his chest. He lets go of the sabres only for them to disappear and then for the him to hear the sound of entering a fight from the game. His vision begins to blur and then feels like he is falling, losing his consciousness with the sound of a soul breaking. Arrival of a Strong SOULDeep in a cave within a dark forest a large crystalline tree pulses with strong dormant magic, lighting the cave. As the tree lights up once more a different flash goes off as a certain red haired human falls next tree and tree reacts and begins to pulse in time with his own heart. As Nathan begins to come back to the waking world the tree begins to glow brighter, seemingly happy for a new soul of harmony. Coming back to, Nathan opens his eyes, seeing darkness in front of him, and to see a light coming from behind him. Beginning to rub his head, Nathan looks over himself, seeing his new additions to his outfit and feels the book in his coat, but he is missing his swords and new rainbow heart. Getting to his feet, Nathan begins to check himself over again and then looks around for his missing items. Looking behind him, he sees the source of the light. He just stares at the large tree, seemingly in awe by its light and energy. Something seems to resonate within him as he looks at the tree and he walks forward, takes his glove off and places his hand on the front of the tree. In that instant a rainbow aura begins to covers his arm and then go to his chest. After that happens it leaves his chest and a familiar looking heart is left floating in front of him. He puts his hand out and the heart goes and hovers over his hand, the color changing with his heartbeat. He looks at the heart for a second, shocked by this new power he knows before closing his hand, the rainbow of energy returning to his chest. “SOUL magic?” He questions. After a second he gets an idea and thinks of the weapons he bought and opens his hands. He hears what sounds like shimmering as closes his hands around the handles of two Chaos Sabres. He looks at the two weapons in his hands, seeing them being exactly the same as the game, but real and sharp. He smile and dismisses the weapons into his ‘inventory’. As he is about to leave, he feels something moving on his head. Confused, he reaches up and feels something. Something....squishy? Pulling his arm back, the feeling leaves and he gets a surprise. Floating next to him looks like hand sized pink blob with a cartoony spiky smile and eyes. “Kumu?” He asks, the blob nodding with a smile. Even though Kumu was a very dangerous creature in Glitchtale, Nathan felt oddly relaxed around the pink blob. Reaching up, Nathan begins to gently scratch Kumu under where his chin would be, earning a purr and a nuzzle in response. He laughs a little as the blob take position on top of his head. He looks up at Kumu with a good natured eye role and smile before looking back to the odd tree and smiles before leaving the cave. Going out the cave he finds himself in some kind of gorge in a forest. Looking around, he does a double take at seeing a large flight of stairs off to the side. Scratching his head he walk forward and up out of the gorge. Looking around from the top of the stairs, he sees forest all around and then the ruins of an old castle behind him, past the gorge. Something about this seemed very familiar to him, but he couldn’t place it. Looking to the sky, he sees it is still early morning, around eight. As he looks to the sky two questions pop into his head. “What the hell happened? And why aren’t I freaking out?” Kumu comes down from his ‘perch’ and looks at Nathan with a curious stare. He idley scratch’s his head with his clawed gloves, not really finding a good reason for his calmness until he pulls his hand back and looks to the glove. They are bright orange with a black heart on the back of both, the gloves reach down to his mid forearm. “Bravery.” He remembers that his soul changes from the seven main colours of the game as well as black and white representing Hatred and Love. The only color and trait he was missing was pink for Fear yet he still has Kumu with him. He smiles and looks to his new companion. “Hey Kumu? Wanna go exploring?” He asks, the blob smiling and morphing into a small pink flower and attaching to Nathans coat. He looks to the forest and walks in, his eyes bright orange and filled with Bravery. He walks for a few minutes before pulling out the book he bought and begins to read through it. The book explains the concept of SOUL alongside LV and EXP in terms of the Undertale universe. SOUL like many thing is an acronym. It stands for Source Of Undying Love. The more powerful a persons SOUL, the more they can use magically and each trait for a SOUL directly impacts the wielders personality, strengths, weaknesses, and virtues. Aside from that, he read that every trait allows for diffrent uses in combat. A soul of Patience uses things like magical ropes and traps to ensnare and trip up opponents to drag on fights, making their opponents tired and give up. Integrity uses attacks that have specific rhythm and beats, like attacking in time with a certain beat to a song. Justice seems to focus on ranged attacks, ranging to long range sniping to rapid fire blasts. Bravery increases physical traits like strength, speed and stamina allowing for strong close range combat as well as having a natural connection to fire. Perseverance seems to specialize in creating heavy weaponry manifestations like large battle axes, broadswords and shields, making the user forgo things like speed. Kindness focuses on defence and healing over offence, making them essentially a white mage. Some Kindness users can apparently make animal manifestations if they have a strong connection with nature. Whatever that means. Determination. The most powerful in terms of raw energy and strength, it is also the most versatile, making things like weapons out of magic as well as being able to launch ranged attacks. Unlike the other traits, those with enough determination, like Frisk and Chara, can pull enough strength of will to survive even some of the most fatal of wounds. And they can even alter the very fabric of reality itself. IE Reset, Save and Load. Hatred. A deadly and dangerous trait to earn. If filled with enough Hatred, they can overpower even Determination users, however it acts like a parasite, making the soul itself all the weaker the more Hatred they use. If not stopped quickly, the Hatred can completely consume the soul, leaving behind an empty shell of a wizard, devoid of magic and in most cases, life. Love.The powers of a Love user is completely unique to each individual. There is no clear connection or similarity from one Love user to the next. What is consistent, is its ability to easily push back those using Hatred or Fear. Reading through he reachs Fear, but the page is messed up, the words being illegable and the images of the heart being completely absent. Kumu looks at the page too and gains a confused expression at the lack of Fear material. He floats down and looks at the page close, but gets no info. “Any ideas what happened to all this info Kumu?” Nathan asks, the blob shaking his head and adorning a disappointed look on his face. Nathan just reaches up and pets the little blob with a smile. “Well, we will just have to learn on our own time huh.” Kumu smiles at the reassurance and returns to his flower form. After reading that, Nathan goes through and begin to read about how to use one trait. Reading, it seemed that Justice is the easiest to control in terms of magic, while Perseverance is the hardest. All of them is different in styles of how to use them, yet Nathan understands it all. By the time Nathan managed to use one attempt of each trait he sees that he had managed to walk to the other side of the forest and reachs the outside. Looking around he sees that there is some kind large apple orchard. Looking up, it looked like it was around eleven. “Wow. I guess I was really lost in thought trying my new magic. What do you think this place is Kumu?” he asks, the blob looking around and noticing a figure walking in the orchard. Kumu goes up and pokes at him and nods to the person. “Nice. Someone to meet.” He pulls up his hood and scarf, covering his face. Kumu turns to his flower form again and taking his place on his shirt. Oddly, Nathan was not very hot with all of his layers. Nathan looks to the orchard and walks in, his eyes green and full of Kindness. Walking to the orchard, Nathan barely walk for a few minutes before hearing a women call out loudly. “Soups on everypony!” Following what sounds like a stampede, Nathan passes a small hill and sees a large gathering of....something? They appear to be some sort of mix between horses and humans. They all have human-like bodies with arms ending in hands and legs ending in hooves and pony muzzles. Almost all of them are wearing farmer style outfits, jeans, plaid shirts, overalls. Although the duo do notice one of them, a lavender one, is wearing a white dress shirt and purple vest with a black skirt and looks a little uncomfortable. She also has a horn on her head. “What the? Are they some kind of monsters?” Nathan asks aloud, Kumu looking equally confused by the creatures. As the duo continue to look over the gathered beings, one of them, a large red one with a red plaid shirt and dirty jeans, notices them and tenses up. The others notice him and follows his gaze, all of them soon staring at Nathan and Kumu. Nathan notices this and chooses to be careful. He walks down from the hill slowly, hand in his pockets, eyes locked on the big red one. They get within about half a dozen feet before another one, a orange female with blond hair and green eyes walks up with caution. She is wearing a tied green and white plaid shirt and short jean shorts with a lasso attached and a brown Stetson on her head. “That’s close enough there partner. Who are you and what are ya’ll doin here?” She asks with her arms crossed and narrowed eyes. “Sorry, we didn’t mean to intrude on anything. We were just-” Nathan gets interrupted by the red one. “We?” He asks in a deep baritone voice. In response Kumu flies up and hovers next to Nathans head with a smile. The gathered creatures look to Kumu in confusion. “Yes, we. This is my familiar/friend Kumu. My name is Nathan Blake. Pleasure to meet you.” He says with a slight bow and Kumu nods. The group looks to one another in worry while the purple one is looking at them with curious eyes. “Why are you wearing so many clothes? Aren’t ya hot?” Another one from within the crowd asks. “To answer your second question, not really. I am not rally sure why though. But for the first one, I don’t know where I am and I find a large group of creatures I have never seen before. I think it would be best to aire on the side of caution until I am sure I am in no danger.” The gathered group look to one another, more than a few nodding at his logic. “Well, ya’ll don’t need to worry there sonny. We won’t hurt ya.” An elderly looking green creature says from her seat. Nathan nods to her and removes his hood and lowers his scarf. Most of the creatures go wide eyed at Nathans appearance, his red hair seeming to glow in the sunlight and his green eyes full of kindness and safety. The elderly one whistles at Nathans reveal. “My word. Ya’ll are quite the strapping young stallion.” She says, most of the females giggling with her. Nathan just smirks with a small laugh. “Yeah, I get that a lot.” He says good naturedly, a few of the ‘stallions’ chuckling at his response. Nathan then gets an idea and takes out his book and flips through looking for something. “What are ya lookin for?” A young one with a pink bow in her red mane asks. Nathan smiles as he finds what he was looking for. “Oh, just a certain spell I wanted to test out. Do you think you can help me out?” He asks, crouching a bit to the girl. She smile and goes to walk up, before being held by the red one. “Hold on there partner. My little sis won’t be in danger with this spell of yours, will she?” He asks. Nathan just smiles calmly to him. “Of course not. I am not a monster. All I need her to do is just stand still and nothing will happen to her.” Nathan says. Though the red one is still cautious, he lets his little sister go. “Ok, just stand riiiight..here.” He says pointing to a spot a few feet away from himself. Once she is in position, Nathan focuses on his magic and thinks in his mind Act<Check and his eyes light up, seeming to have rainbow coloured flames coming out of them. The creatures all tense and get ready to act till, after a few second pass, the flames go out and Nathan smiles. “Got it. So your name is Applebloom huh?” He says, all the others looking to him in shock. “H-how do ya know that?” The little filly asks. Unbeknownst to them, Nathan had just used a spell any SOUL user can do: Judgment. By focusing his SOUL outwards and to a certain target, he gets a simple rundown of information about the individual. For Nathan, it showed up like the stats menu in his sight and even came with a short description like in the game. Applebloom Species: Earth Pony LV: 1 EXP: 0 HP: 15 ATK: 3 DEF: 2 The youngest apple sibling in Ponyville. Desires her Cutie Mark very badly. “You see, the spell I used gives me a short rundown on who someone is, like their name, species, if they are potentially dangerous and also a short description of who they are.” He reaches forward and boops her nose. “For example, I just learned you are the youngest of the Apple family here in Ponyville.” Applebloom just looks to him in awe. “Wow, that is a really useful spell!” The purple horned one says. Before she can react, Nathan lights up his eyes again and ‘Judges’ her. Twilight Sparkle Species: Unicorn LV: 1 EXP: 0 HP: 45 ATK: 8 DEF: 7 Personal protege of Princess Celestia. Loves books and learning a little too much. Needs to get some friends. Nathan chuckles a little at the last part. “You said it Twilight. This spell is very useful.” He says, smirking at Twilights shocked expression. “Wow. You just got out-magicked by someone. Did not see that coming.” Looking next to Twilight, Nathan sees a small bipedal purple lizard like person with green shorts and a black vest over a purple t-shirt. Spike the Dragon/ Spike Sparkle Species: Dragon LV: 1 EXP: 0 HP: 20 ATK: 3 DEF: 5 Twilight’s number 1 assistant and adopted little brother. Loves himself a gem and tomato sandwich. “Is she really good with magic Spike?” Nathan asks, enjoying Twilights expression. “Of course! Aside from the princess, I have never met anyone as good with magic as her.” He says, Nathan and Kumu nodding. “Yes, I suppose being the Princess personal student, one would have to very gifted in magic.” Nathan says in thought. At this point the purple mare looks like she is going to blow a gasket. “Well enough of that ya’ll! Let’s eat!” Appleblooms sister says, the ponies all going to the table to eat. She looks and sees Nathan just standing to the side. “What are ya doin Nathan? Aren’t ya hungry?” She asks. “Is it ok for me to just come in and eat? I mean, I assume you made all this for some kind of reunion or something.” He says quickly checking Appleblooms siblings stats. AppleJack Earth Pony LV: 1 EXP: 0 HP: 50 ATK: 15 DEF: 10 Macintosh Apple/ Big Mac Earth Pony LV: 1 EXP: 0 HP: 55 ATK: 14 DEF: 12 “Don’t worry about it sonny! We made more than enough for ya’ll and yer familiar to join in.” The older mare, Granny, says with a smile. Nathan smile back at her and takes a seat next to the recovering Twilight. Nathan and Kumu begin to pick some of the food out, like a casserole, some salad and a few bits of other things before eating, Kumu picking some pieces off of Nathans plate. All the while Twilight is looking at him from the corner of her eye, seeing as his book becomes visible for a second as he stretches to get some items. While they eat, Nathan uses Judgement on all present, finding all but Twilight and Spike are from the Apple family, if the apple related names are any indication. Kumu is going around the table, passing some of the food that is out of reach for some of the members, acting like a waiter of sorts. He even morphed himself a little bow tie, causing most present to laugh a little. After a good and filling hour long meal, Nathan and Kumu help in getting the dishes inside for the family. “Thank ya kindly for the help here Nathan.” Granny says as he come out of the house, without any dishes in hand. “Think nothing of it Granny. Thank you so much for the food. I never would have thought there were so many recepies for apples before!” Nathan says with a slight bow, Kumu agreeing with a nod. “Well, we better get going. I wanna see if I can get to town and maybe get some info at the local library or something.” Nathan and Kumu walk down the dirt road for barely a minute before a voice shouts out. “Hey Nathan and Kumu! Wait up!” Turning around, they see Spike running up with Twilight slowly coming up behind him while holding her stomach and groaning. “Hey you two. What’s up?” “Well, we wanted to know if you wanted to tag along with us as we finish up seeing to the preparations for the Summer Sunset Festival.” Spike says, before motioning them to lean closer. “Twilight is going nuts about your spell and wants to ask you about it.” Spike whispers into Nathans ear. He looks to Kumu, who smiles at the two and nods. Nathan smiles himself. “Alright, might as well. We have nothing better to do.” Nathan says with a smile. Spike smile wide and walks ahead, Nathan and Kumu close behind, Twilight trailing behind them. Though she was sore in the stomach, she was set and wanted to learn this new magic she has yet to see before. Twilight was filled with Determination. Meeting Some New SOULsWalking down the path away from Sweet Apple Acres, Spike pulls out a list of things they need to check, Twilight having stopped groaning for a bit. “Ok, the weather is supposed to be taken care of by a pegasus pony named Rainbow Dash and should involve clearing the clouds.” he says, looking at the sky. Twilight, Kumu, and Nathan follow suit, seeing a lot of cloud dotting the sky. “Maybe she is on break?” Nathan suggests, Kumu looking around for anyone who could be Rainbow Dash, and sees a rainbow streak coming towards them, or more accurately Twilight at high speeds. “Well, she doesn’t seem to be doing a very good job.” Twilight says, before Kumu pulls on her leg, tripping her up and barely avoiding the speeding object. He floats up to Twilights face and makes a worried noise. “I’m fine Kumu, thanks for the save though.” She says petting the blob. The group looks to a mud puddle where a blue furred, rainbow haired pegasus crashed. Covered in mud, she is wearing a pair of black sports shorts and a blue tank top over her black sports bra. She gets up and begins to shake the mud off like a dog. It would have gotten the others, if Nathan hadn’t risen a green shield. Twilight looks to him in shock, seeing his eyes glowing green. Once the pegasus is done shaking she sees the shield as it is lowered and the raised brow of Nathan. She chuckles nervously. “Uh, hehe, sorry about that. Didn’t see ya there.” She then does a double take, seeing Nathan and Kumu. She hovers up and looks them over. “What are you two? Your definitely not a Minotaur, or some Diamond Dog. And I can’t even think of a comparison to the little blob there.” She says, Kumu looking to her with narrowed eyes. “Let me guess. Your Rainbow Dash.” Twilight says with annoyance. Rainbow turns to her and gains a cocky expression. “The one and only. Why? You heard of me?” She asks Twilight. “I heard you were supposed to be keeping the sky clear.” She sighs and gets a businesslike tone and expression. “I am Twilight Sparkle and the princess sent me to check on the weather.” As this is going on Nathan looks to the pegasus mare and quickly Judges her. Rainbow Danger Dash Pegasus LV: 1 EXP: 0 HP: 50 ATK: 15 DEF: 8 The weather manager of Ponyville. Has a lifelong dream of joining the Wonderbolts. Once created a Sonic Rainboom as a filly. As Nathan and Kumu are going over everything they have learned, Rainbow suddenly launches into the air and begins destroying the clouds, before returning to her position in front of Twilight. “Like I said, ten seconds flat. I’d never leave Ponyville hanging.” She says, Spike and Twilight looking at her in shock. Nathan begins to clap for her and Kumu whistles. “Impressive! And here I thought Sans was fast.” Nathan says, Rainbow looking to the duo and smiling a bit. “You know? You guys are alright. Can’t wait to hang out some more!” She says before flying up and away. He smiles and walks back to the others, closing Twilights mouth for her. She frowns and begins to walk away. Kumu looks to her then to Spike in confusion. “She is really introverted. Before coming here I was her only real friend. Plus she thinks that some legend is going to be coming true tonight and is freaking out about getting everything done so she can go research.” He explains, Kumu looking a little worried for the purple mare. “Well, considering what I learned about her when using Judgment, she really needs to make some friends.” Nathan says. Spike pulls out another letter and hands it to Nathan. “You’re not the only one. The princess specifically told her to make some friends while she is here, but she won’t listen.” Spike says as Nathan and Kumu read the letter from the princess to her. ‘Where have I seen this before? No matter what I try I can’t remember. This Deja Vu will be bugging me all day.’ The group continues to walk on and eventually reaches a large building near the center of town. “Now decorations.” Spike says as they all walk in and see the hall is covered in beautiful banners and decorations. “Beautiful..” Spike says in awe. “Yes, the decor seems to be coming along nicely. This ought to be quick. I’ll be in the library in no time.” Twilight says, looking around, earning a slight frown from Kumu “Not the decor. Her!” Spike says, pointing to a white coated unicorn mare with curly purple mane and tail. She is wearing a sky blue tank top beneath a royal blue overcoat and a violet skirt with some gems sewn in. She was looking through a few peices of fabric. “How are my spines? Are they straight?” Twilight just rolls her eyes and walks up to the mare, Nathan using Judgment again. Rarity Belle Unicorn LV: 1 EXP: 0 HP: 40 ATK: 6 DEF: 5 The fashionista of Ponyville. Wants to be part of the Canterlot elites. Proud owner of her own clothing boutique. As he looks around he hears a loud gasp and suddenly the white coated mare is checking him over. “Oh my! These designs! The color contrast! It is absolutely fabulous! Though this pink flower throws it off.” She says reaching for it, only for Kumu to reveal himself and scare her. “Kumu!” Nathan says with a frown, the pink blob looking sad and goes up and nuzzles the mare. Rarity tenses for a second before relaxing and petting the little blob. “Sorry about that. Kumu can be a little trickster at times.” Nathan says, carefully helping Rarity up. She dusts herself off and looks to them again with a sheepish expression. “Yes well, I suppose it was rather rude of me to just look you over like that. But like I said these designs are truly magnificent! The whites and blacks contrast so beautifully with your hair and gloves.” She says again, Kumu hovering next to her and looking Nathan over and nodding. He just smiles and laughs a little. “Thank you, Lady Rarity. That means a lot coming from the owner of their own boutique.” He says with a bow, Rarity double takes and smiles. “Oh my. A true gentlecolt? Truly my namesake.” She says with a giggle. Spike glares at Nathan, only for Kumu to poke him and shake his head. After talking for a few more minutes and promising to help with some new designs, the group leaves and goes to a cottage on the outside of town. Walking in silence they arrive and sees a ton of animals around the cottage and hears some birds singing in the back. Going around the house, our group finds a choir of birds being conducted by a butter yellow pegasus with a long flowing mane, wearing a long green jumper and long pink skirt. Fluttershy Pegasus LV: 1 EXP: 0 HP: 20 ATK: 1 DEF: 1 The animal caretaker of Ponyville. Almost Frisk levels in terms of pacifism. Really needs to take some self-confidence classes. She was conducting the birds till stopping as one of them was off key. She asks quietly if they can do a diffrent note and was going back to conducting when Twilight walks up and scares her and her birds. As Twilight is trying to talk to Fluttershy, Nathan walks up to the tree where some of the birds are hiding. He just stands there below the tree, one of his eyes deep green, the other bright cyan filled with both Kindness and Patience. One of the birds, a young robin, sees him standing calmly and come out from his spot to look at the human. Nathan smiles and slowly holds out his hand. The robin hesitates, before flying down and landing on Nathans outstretched hand. The robin looks a little unsure, so Nathan brings up his other hand and gently pets the bird. The robin enjoys the treatment and calls to his friends that Nathan is safe. After he calls out a few of the other birds fly down and Nathan laughs a little and he and Kumu directs them back to their spots for choir practice. Fluttershy, Twilight and Spike had noticed what Nathan was doing after the robin had called for his friends, but were no less surprised by the feat. Fluttershy was the most surprised as a few of her bird friends are almost as shy as she is. Twilight goes to talk, only for Kumu to appear in front of her and cover her mouth. Nathan nods to Fluttershy and directs to the birds to continue practice. Fluttershy nods and goes to continue. After a few minutes and an adjustment here and there, the birds song is perfect. Birds nod to one another before flying off to relax before the celebration. “Um, thank you for helping me with the birds.” Fluttershy quietly says to Nathan and Kumu. The duo smile at the shy pegasus. “No problem. I have had to deal with quite a few skittish animals back home when my mom brought me with her to work at the vets.” Nathan says to her. She smiles and looks over the duo closer. “Excuse me for asking, but what are you two? I have never seen creatures like you two.” She asks and begin to flutter behind them as the group walks to the library. Spike and Twilight are listening, but Twilight looks annoyed and is slouching. “Well, I am a human being, scientific name Homo Sapien. I am essentially a highly evolved ape, but our earliest ancestor between humans and apes were from millions of years ago. Kumu is....I don’t really know.” Nathan says, with slight realization. Kumu quickly goes and pulls on the book from within Nathans coat. Quickly taking the book out, Kumu turns the pages till he reaches one near the center and points with a tendril. “SOUL companion? ‘A being that is created from the users SOUL similar to an imaginary friend that can interact with the real world and is dependant on the SOUL users personality and traits for what they can do. But with enough energy they can gain their own personality and even SOUL.’ Huh. How about that. Is that what you are Kumu?” The blob nods with a smile and takes his spot on Nathans head. “Oh, that is adorable.” Fluttershy says, looking at the little blob that was set to take a nap. Nathan laughs a little and reads through the section on the companion, finding they can come in almost any shape, but their size is dependant on the SOUL users wants. If they want a small companion, that is what they will get. Fluttershy and Nathan go back and forth for a bit, with Spike adding in here and there, before the group arrives at the library. Twilight goes to excuse herself and Spike, but Nathan and Kumu go to the door and opens it for the mares. Twilight rolls her eyes and goes into the tree. “Spike? Where are the lights again?” She asks in the darkness. “Here!” Spike says, flipping the switch. “SURPRISE!!!” All of them jump as the lights come on and a large group of ponies shout out. Kumu reacts by hiding in Nathan coat, before peeking out. A pink earth pony quickly hops up to Twilight. She is wearing a blue t-shirt with ‘SMILE’ in big yellow letter and a pair of blue jeans. “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie, and I threw this party just for you!” She says to Twilight before noticing Nathan and Kumu. She lets out a loud gasp. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I was right! There was something new in Ponyville!” She says quickly. Kumu can’t help but laugh at the mare antics. Nathan goes to Judge her, but what he gets is confusing. Pinkamena Diane Pie/ Pinkie Pie Earth Pony? LV: 1 EXP: 0? HP: ?? ATK: I never want to hurt anyone DEF: More than enough Don’t you think it is rude to check someone’s stats when they are not looking? I love parties and seeing ponies smile! Also hi! Nathan blinks a few times and rechecks her and gets the same response. Kumu looks to her in befuddlement, being able to see her stats too. They exchange a look and think of one thing. ‘Sans and fourth wall awareness.’ She looks to the duo, her big eyes filled with innocence and excitement. The duo just look back in silence as the ponies nearby begin to party. This goes on for a minute before Kumu sighs, shakes his head and goes over to Fluttershy to rest in her mane, the pegasus giggling at this turn of events. “Ooookkkayyy.” Nathan says, rubbing his head and getting a drink, almost grabbing some hot sauce by mistake. Pinkie goes back to rambling to Twilight about the party and Twilight goes to get a drink as well. Nathan notices too late she grabbed the wrong bottle. She drinks her cup of hot sauce and her face begins to get red and for tears to come out of her eyes. Nathan snaps his fingers and summons a water bottle from his inventory that AppleJack gave him after brunch and hands it to Twilight, the mare chugging it all down and sighing in relief. She thanks him and hands it back, the bottle disappearing into his inventory again. The others look to him in surprise for the fact he can do that. “Woah! What kind of spell was that?” Rainbow asks, hovering by Nathan. “It is not really a spell. I just have access to a personal pocket dimension that I can store thing in. Like the water bottle or my Chaos Sabres.” He answers, Twilight sighing and going up the stairs to her room. “Chaos Sabres?” The group of mares and Spike asks. Nathan smirks and summons his swords in his hands and twills them a bit before stabbing them into the floor. The gathered ponies look at the weapons in awe, just feeling the energy they give off. AppleJack come up and pull one of them free and looks it over. “My word. These are some mighty fancy lookin swords. I wonder, can you use them though?” She asks with a quirked brow. Nathan just laughs and dismisses them. After that, the party continues for a few hours before most everypony leaves to get ready for the celebration. As Nathan is walking to the town hall, he looks to the moon and sees the outline of a mare with wings and a horn. ‘The Mare in the Moon.’ Nathan suddenly goes wide eyed and grabs his head. ‘How do I know that?!?’ He tries to think, to remember what is going on here, but nothing comes to him. What he does know, is the legend is real. ‘Tonight, the mare that was banished for a thousand years will return, her soul still tainted and in need of saving. Only the powers of Harmony can free her from her dark prison.’ He and Kumu look to the moon again and then to each other. They both nod and Nathan runs to town hall, his eyes burning red and filled with Determination. The duo are some of the first to arrive at the town hall and they are keeping a close eye on the moon, and see the group of stars that will be aiding in her escape. Soon most of the town arrives, but a few notice Nathans red eyes and are sensing something is amiss. “Nathan?” Turnings, he and Kumu are greeted by the sight of the six mares from the day, most of them being worried about his eyes. “Are you ok darling? Your eyes are red.” Rarity says. She looks closer and sees that his eyes are actually coloured red as opposed to being red from crying or something like that. “I’m fine. It’s just a side effect of my magic. Whichever trait I am the most filled with at the moment, my eyes change to match.” He explains and looks back to the window then to the stage. They don’t get a chance to respond as Mayor Mare walks up and signal to begin. “Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration.” As the crowd cheers and Mayor Mare continues, Twilight, Nathan and Kumu all look to the window and see that the image of the mare in to moon has disappeared. “Oh no..” Twilight and Nathan say together. They look back as the mayor is about to finish and introduce the princess. “...the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria...” pause for effect. “Princess Celestia!” Rarity opens the curtains and everyone looks to see...an empty balcony. There is immediate confusion and worry as there is nopony there. There are several gasps as a blue and purple mist begins to form on the balcony, beginning to take shape. Not long after, a large black mare with wings and a horn, adorned in battle armor stand and laughs maniacally. Nightmare Moon is back. Nightmare Moon Alicorn LV: 15 EXP: 7000 HP: 3500 ATK: 40min-80max DEF: 40min-80max The corrupted form of the princess of the night. Filled with anger, jealousy, spite and Hatred. Intent on bringing everlasting night. “Oh my beloved subject. It has been so long since I have seen your precious, sun loving faces.” She says mockingly. “What did you do to our princess?!” Rainbow yells, and is about to launch herself before being grabbed by the tail by AppleJack. Nightmare begins to laugh again. “What? Am I not royal enough for you? Don’t you know who I am?” Pinkie goes to guess but gets cut off by Kumu covering her muzzle with a deadpan stare. “Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years?” She asks going to Fluttershy and then to Rarity. “Did you not know the legend? Did you not see the signs?” “I did. And I know who you are.” Twilight and Nathan say together. “You’re the mare in the moon-“ Twilight begins. “Nightmare Moon!” And Nathan finishes. There was a round of gasps from the crowd at this information. “Well, well, well, it seems two little beings remember me. Then you also know why I am here.” She says. Twilight pauses to think but Nathan walks forward with his scarf covering the bottom of his face. “Your here to continue your idiotic battle against princess Celestia and try to bring about everlasting night!” Nathan shouts and Nightmare does a double take and growls. “What was that first part?” She says angrily. Nathan closes his eyes, then opens them back up, the rainbow coloured flames burning in them. Nightmare actually flinches at this and stares wide eyed at him. “You heard me. This is idiotic. Instead of doing something sensible like talking to the princess about your problems, you allowed yourself to be consumed by your own Hatred and jealousy, becoming corrupted.” Nathan face softens a little at her. “Luna. You don’t need to do this.” “Never say that name in my presence!” Nightmare yells in rage and launches a blast at Nathan. Kumu quickly detaches from Pinkie and covers Nathan. The blast hits and causes some dirt to kick up. Nightmare sends a gust of wind and clears the air, showing a pink dome that retracts into the form of Kumu, Nathan being completely unharmed from the blast. “Thanks for the save Kumu, but I could have handled it.” The blob rolls his eyes and takes place next to Nathan, just hovering above his shoulder. The duo stare down Nightmare, the Alicorn staring right back. Before any could react, Nathan and Kumu disappear and reappear atop what looks like a large dragons skull hovering above the crowd, and eye level with Nightmare Moon. Nightmare launches another magical blast, only for the Gaster Blaster to open its jaws and launch its own blast, easily overpowering Nightmares, forcing the mare to take to the air to dodge. “Impossible! How was I overpowered?!?” She asks and turns to Nathan with rage and sees his smirk. She goes to fly in and strike, before noticing the lack of a certain pink blob. “Where..?” She looks back to Nathan and sees he actually had pink eyes without the fire. ‘Nathans’ smile turns jagged and pink. She realizes what happened. Turning, Nightmare finds Nathan right behind her, fist cocked back and glowing orange just before landing a hard overhand punch in the chest, sending her straight into the ground. He summons another Gaster Blaster and gives a high five to his double as it turns back into the pink blob of Kumu. “Take that! Now let the princesses go you corrupted nightmare!” He calls out, before having to ride his blaster like a skateboard to dodge another couple of blasts. “Silence! Thou shalt not defeat me!” Nightmare roars out. Nathan jumps to the ground and summons his Chaos Sabres and Kumu morphs himself to have a large scythe. Nightmare looks between the two and growls, seeing she may be outmatched. She quickly turns to mist and escapes out the window. Nathan and Kumu dismissed their weapons. They look to one another and nod. Nathan is filled with Determination and Justice.
PrologueChecking his watch for the fifth time in five minutes, Nathan looks around the lot by his dorm for his friend. He was starting to get impatient. Checking over himself again, his bright, fire red hair is set in its natural messed style. He traces his deep green eyes over his clothes. His outfit of a pair a black cargo pants, white t-shirt and dark blue hoodie is freshly washed and clean. He is wearing a pair of black fingerless gloves with a white heart outline on each and a pair of black combat boots. Most would see him as either a goth or something like that, but in reality he just liked black. Most would also think that Nathan would be one of those loners that doesn’t talk to anyone, but really, he was rather popular in his college. He was taking psychology and medical science classes with his hopes of being a health care aid. He is also a pretty good athlete, having won a hometown martial arts tournament when he was younger. But aside form all this he was one thing above all else. A fan of Undertale. And by a fan, we mean an super fan. He has played through the game itself nearly a hundred times, gotten plenty of merchandise like shirts, figurines, and fan made comics. Also he was an avid reader and watcher of online Undertale AUs comics and shows, like Glitchtale and Ask Frisk and Co. He looks away from his outfit as he hears a car entering the lot. Looking around he finds his friend Sam come driving in with his pickup. Nathan crosses his arms as Sam drives up to him. “Your late.” Nathan says annoyed. Sam raises his arms in defence as his friend gets in. “Dude, chill. I was five minutes late. Remember the con doesn’t open its doors for another hour or so.” Sam says back, driving out of the lot with his new passenger. Nathen sighs. “Yeah, I know. Sorry. I am just super excited to go. This is my first gaming convention and I really wanna meet Toby Fox.” Nathan says with excited. Sam just laughs as they get close to the convention hall nearby. “Yeah. I know how crazy you are about Undertale related stuff. But you should try to reign it in otherwise you might embarrass yourself.” Sam says, looking for a good parking spot. Once the duo finds a good spot, they walk out to the entrace hall and wait, a few gamers already there. “So why couldn’t your brother come again?” Nathan asks his friend. Sam shrugs. “Jason got sick with something. We think the flu, but considering all the bugs going around, he may have gotten something worse. For now he is staying home and mum and dad are taking care of him.” Sam says, and after a few minutes the doors to the building opens. Going in, Sam and Nathan join a crowd going to the main floor where some new games are being unveiled. They spend about an hour there before moving on and finding the next area which had a large amount of merchant booths with at least one booth for every major gaming series each. CoD, Battlefield, Halo, Fallout, XCom, Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. Even some for some older games like Left 4 Dead and Warframe. Going past the major company area, Nathan finds himself in the area sectioned off for Indie and Fan made games. FNAF and its spin-offs, Shovel Knight, LISA, Pokemon Uranium, Pixelmon and TABS just to name a few. But Nathan was looking for one booth for its specific items. After wandering the sea of gaming booth he finds what he is looking for. He finds what looks like a guard station from Undertale, but it is full of things from the fandom. Looking around the booth he finds plenty of things he would love to get for his collections, but the only problem is there was no one there. Checking in front of the booth there was a sign that said ‘be back in five’. Nathan sighs and takes out his phone to watch some videos to pass the time. After a few minutes he feels a tapping on his shoulder from behind. Turning, he sees some guy with white hair and blue eyes, a blue winter jacket overtop a white t-shirt and black shorts with a white line down the sides, pink slippers and dog tags. All in all, he looked like a human version of Sans the skeleton. Odd, Nathan didn’t see anyone walking up. “Hey there bud, don’t ya know how to greet someone?” He says raising his hand. Nathan can see where this is going and smirks. Shaking his hand, he get rewarded by the sound of a fart. They both laugh a little at the gag. “Hehe, the old whoopie cushion in the hand trick. Never gets old.” Nathan says to him with a smile. “You said it bud. So what are you buying from my humble shop?” The human Sans asks, leaning onto the counter. Nathan then trails his eyes over the booth and finds several pieces that would do well in his collection. “I’ll take the Delta!Sans Tough Gloves, the Xtale Sans scarf, the mini Gaster Blasters, Betty’s Kumu hair clip, the Chaos Sabres and the book on monster/soul magic and heart locket please.” he says, pointing to each item in turn. Sans nods and grabs the items and brings them to the front of the booth for Nathan. “Is that all?” Nathan searches the shelves of the guard post and his eyes settled on one item he looked over. On one of the shelves are what look like a bunch of hearts in their own separate jars. There are ten in total, each being their own color. Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, white and black. The last one however, was different. It was changing between the colours of the others at steady intervals, like the color was changing with a heartbeat. Nathan points to it. “How about the SOUL?” Sans looks to it then gets a slightly worried expression. “Look bud, that thing is pretty expensive, so I’ll make you a deal. If you can answer three of my questions about the Undertale multiverse, I’ll let you have it for half off. You will still be paying for the other things in full though.” He says, grabbing the soul in a jar and placing it on the counter. Nathan smirks at the man. “Bring it on.” he says, as said song was beginning to play through his headphones. Sans gives a very good impression of the skeletons smile. “Ok, first question. In Glitchtale, how was the Bête Noire or Betty created?” He questions. “Many centuries ago, the wielders of the Determination and Bravery were having an argument on if they should release the monsters still trapped under Mount Ebbot. Determination wanted to release them while Bravery wanted to reinforce the barrier. Their fight eventually lead to a dual between the siblings and Determination won. Bravery was scared after that, losing her trait and running away for a time. While she was away she found a spell that inverted her very trait, turning from using a soul of Bravery to one of Fear. She returned, Determination welcoming her back. Some time later, Bravery and Determination got into another argument and Bravery attacked him. Determination was forced to fight back against his mad sibling. While they fought, their younger sibling was forced to run, but Bravery wouldn’t have it and attacked her. After temporarily knocking Determination down, she turned her attention on their sibling and killed her. Determination lost his trait in the shock of seeing their little sibling dead and Bravery struck him down. Bravery was soon beset by the side effect of inverting her soul and used her magic to turn the corpse of their younger sibling into something else. The Bête Noire. The SOUL of Fear.” Sans looks to him and smile at the story answer. “Correct, but you could have just said that she was made from a foolish wizards spite.” He says with a smirk. “Where is the fun in that?” Nathan says back with his own smirk. “Fair enough bud, next question. In Underverse, why is Cross stealing things from other universes?” “Cross came from a Genocide timeline without reset possibility. During his final battle with Chara, their souls merged and Chara became trapped in Cross’s head. Cross goes to other universes and steals certain aspects to rebuild his world after being told by Ink that he could not bring his universe back.” He answers without problem. Sans nods after checking his phone for a second. “Correct again. Now for your last question.” Sans suddenly loses his smile and looks to Nathan with a serious expression not unlike the skeletons eyeless glare. “Who is W.D Gaster?” That caught Nathan off guard and he had to think and remove fan theories from canon material. “Well, canonically he is the royal scientist before Alphys. He was the one in charge of the creation of the Core which provides the Underground with magical power. While working on it one day he ‘fell’ into his own creation and was shattered across time and space. You can only find him in there game behind the grey door in Waterfall.” Nathan pauses and thinks again, Sans not reacting. “There are a lot of theories about who Gaster was and is right now. Most say he is in some way connected to the skeleton brothers Sans and Papyrus. Some say he is their father, some their other brother, others their creator. After his incident, most agree he gained the ability to look into the other timelines and that he was trapped as a type of ghost in between the timelines.” Sans closes his eyes for a moment, seemingly thinking before his goofy smile breaks his face again. “Nice job Bud.” He says before going to the register on the left of the booth and ringing up the items. “Ok, all together that is about $650 dollars.” He says, and Nathan has to do a double take before remembering that the soul itself was apparently very expensive. Good thing he just got paid from work and that his parents send some money for his birthday last week. Taking out a few hundreds and a fifty and hands it to Sans before putting the gloves, scarf, locket and clip on before putting the book and soul in my pockets in my coat and holding the sabres in hand. “Well, nice meeting you bud! Enjoy your trip and good luck!” Sans says as Nathan begins to walk away. Nathan turns back and finds Sans no longer at the booth. Suddenly, Nathan get a pain in his chest. He lets go of the sabres only for them to disappear and then for the him to hear the sound of entering a fight from the game. His vision begins to blur and then feels like he is falling, losing his consciousness with the sound of a soul breaking.
Arrival of a Strong SOULDeep in a cave within a dark forest a large crystalline tree pulses with strong dormant magic, lighting the cave. As the tree lights up once more a different flash goes off as a certain red haired human falls next tree and tree reacts and begins to pulse in time with his own heart. As Nathan begins to come back to the waking world the tree begins to glow brighter, seemingly happy for a new soul of harmony. Coming back to, Nathan opens his eyes, seeing darkness in front of him, and to see a light coming from behind him. Beginning to rub his head, Nathan looks over himself, seeing his new additions to his outfit and feels the book in his coat, but he is missing his swords and new rainbow heart. Getting to his feet, Nathan begins to check himself over again and then looks around for his missing items. Looking behind him, he sees the source of the light. He just stares at the large tree, seemingly in awe by its light and energy. Something seems to resonate within him as he looks at the tree and he walks forward, takes his glove off and places his hand on the front of the tree. In that instant a rainbow aura begins to covers his arm and then go to his chest. After that happens it leaves his chest and a familiar looking heart is left floating in front of him. He puts his hand out and the heart goes and hovers over his hand, the color changing with his heartbeat. He looks at the heart for a second, shocked by this new power he knows before closing his hand, the rainbow of energy returning to his chest. “SOUL magic?” He questions. After a second he gets an idea and thinks of the weapons he bought and opens his hands. He hears what sounds like shimmering as closes his hands around the handles of two Chaos Sabres. He looks at the two weapons in his hands, seeing them being exactly the same as the game, but real and sharp. He smile and dismisses the weapons into his ‘inventory’. As he is about to leave, he feels something moving on his head. Confused, he reaches up and feels something. Something....squishy? Pulling his arm back, the feeling leaves and he gets a surprise. Floating next to him looks like hand sized pink blob with a cartoony spiky smile and eyes. “Kumu?” He asks, the blob nodding with a smile. Even though Kumu was a very dangerous creature in Glitchtale, Nathan felt oddly relaxed around the pink blob. Reaching up, Nathan begins to gently scratch Kumu under where his chin would be, earning a purr and a nuzzle in response. He laughs a little as the blob take position on top of his head. He looks up at Kumu with a good natured eye role and smile before looking back to the odd tree and smiles before leaving the cave. Going out the cave he finds himself in some kind of gorge in a forest. Looking around, he does a double take at seeing a large flight of stairs off to the side. Scratching his head he walk forward and up out of the gorge. Looking around from the top of the stairs, he sees forest all around and then the ruins of an old castle behind him, past the gorge. Something about this seemed very familiar to him, but he couldn’t place it. Looking to the sky, he sees it is still early morning, around eight. As he looks to the sky two questions pop into his head. “What the hell happened? And why aren’t I freaking out?” Kumu comes down from his ‘perch’ and looks at Nathan with a curious stare. He idley scratch’s his head with his clawed gloves, not really finding a good reason for his calmness until he pulls his hand back and looks to the glove. They are bright orange with a black heart on the back of both, the gloves reach down to his mid forearm. “Bravery.” He remembers that his soul changes from the seven main colours of the game as well as black and white representing Hatred and Love. The only color and trait he was missing was pink for Fear yet he still has Kumu with him. He smiles and looks to his new companion. “Hey Kumu? Wanna go exploring?” He asks, the blob smiling and morphing into a small pink flower and attaching to Nathans coat. He looks to the forest and walks in, his eyes bright orange and filled with Bravery. He walks for a few minutes before pulling out the book he bought and begins to read through it. The book explains the concept of SOUL alongside LV and EXP in terms of the Undertale universe. SOUL like many thing is an acronym. It stands for Source Of Undying Love. The more powerful a persons SOUL, the more they can use magically and each trait for a SOUL directly impacts the wielders personality, strengths, weaknesses, and virtues. Aside from that, he read that every trait allows for diffrent uses in combat. A soul of Patience uses things like magical ropes and traps to ensnare and trip up opponents to drag on fights, making their opponents tired and give up. Integrity uses attacks that have specific rhythm and beats, like attacking in time with a certain beat to a song. Justice seems to focus on ranged attacks, ranging to long range sniping to rapid fire blasts. Bravery increases physical traits like strength, speed and stamina allowing for strong close range combat as well as having a natural connection to fire. Perseverance seems to specialize in creating heavy weaponry manifestations like large battle axes, broadswords and shields, making the user forgo things like speed. Kindness focuses on defence and healing over offence, making them essentially a white mage. Some Kindness users can apparently make animal manifestations if they have a strong connection with nature. Whatever that means. Determination. The most powerful in terms of raw energy and strength, it is also the most versatile, making things like weapons out of magic as well as being able to launch ranged attacks. Unlike the other traits, those with enough determination, like Frisk and Chara, can pull enough strength of will to survive even some of the most fatal of wounds. And they can even alter the very fabric of reality itself. IE Reset, Save and Load. Hatred. A deadly and dangerous trait to earn. If filled with enough Hatred, they can overpower even Determination users, however it acts like a parasite, making the soul itself all the weaker the more Hatred they use. If not stopped quickly, the Hatred can completely consume the soul, leaving behind an empty shell of a wizard, devoid of magic and in most cases, life. Love.The powers of a Love user is completely unique to each individual. There is no clear connection or similarity from one Love user to the next. What is consistent, is its ability to easily push back those using Hatred or Fear. Reading through he reachs Fear, but the page is messed up, the words being illegable and the images of the heart being completely absent. Kumu looks at the page too and gains a confused expression at the lack of Fear material. He floats down and looks at the page close, but gets no info. “Any ideas what happened to all this info Kumu?” Nathan asks, the blob shaking his head and adorning a disappointed look on his face. Nathan just reaches up and pets the little blob with a smile. “Well, we will just have to learn on our own time huh.” Kumu smiles at the reassurance and returns to his flower form. After reading that, Nathan goes through and begin to read about how to use one trait. Reading, it seemed that Justice is the easiest to control in terms of magic, while Perseverance is the hardest. All of them is different in styles of how to use them, yet Nathan understands it all. By the time Nathan managed to use one attempt of each trait he sees that he had managed to walk to the other side of the forest and reachs the outside. Looking around he sees that there is some kind large apple orchard. Looking up, it looked like it was around eleven. “Wow. I guess I was really lost in thought trying my new magic. What do you think this place is Kumu?” he asks, the blob looking around and noticing a figure walking in the orchard. Kumu goes up and pokes at him and nods to the person. “Nice. Someone to meet.” He pulls up his hood and scarf, covering his face. Kumu turns to his flower form again and taking his place on his shirt. Oddly, Nathan was not very hot with all of his layers. Nathan looks to the orchard and walks in, his eyes green and full of Kindness. Walking to the orchard, Nathan barely walk for a few minutes before hearing a women call out loudly. “Soups on everypony!” Following what sounds like a stampede, Nathan passes a small hill and sees a large gathering of....something? They appear to be some sort of mix between horses and humans. They all have human-like bodies with arms ending in hands and legs ending in hooves and pony muzzles. Almost all of them are wearing farmer style outfits, jeans, plaid shirts, overalls. Although the duo do notice one of them, a lavender one, is wearing a white dress shirt and purple vest with a black skirt and looks a little uncomfortable. She also has a horn on her head. “What the? Are they some kind of monsters?” Nathan asks aloud, Kumu looking equally confused by the creatures. As the duo continue to look over the gathered beings, one of them, a large red one with a red plaid shirt and dirty jeans, notices them and tenses up. The others notice him and follows his gaze, all of them soon staring at Nathan and Kumu. Nathan notices this and chooses to be careful. He walks down from the hill slowly, hand in his pockets, eyes locked on the big red one. They get within about half a dozen feet before another one, a orange female with blond hair and green eyes walks up with caution. She is wearing a tied green and white plaid shirt and short jean shorts with a lasso attached and a brown Stetson on her head. “That’s close enough there partner. Who are you and what are ya’ll doin here?” She asks with her arms crossed and narrowed eyes. “Sorry, we didn’t mean to intrude on anything. We were just-” Nathan gets interrupted by the red one. “We?” He asks in a deep baritone voice. In response Kumu flies up and hovers next to Nathans head with a smile. The gathered creatures look to Kumu in confusion. “Yes, we. This is my familiar/friend Kumu. My name is Nathan Blake. Pleasure to meet you.” He says with a slight bow and Kumu nods. The group looks to one another in worry while the purple one is looking at them with curious eyes. “Why are you wearing so many clothes? Aren’t ya hot?” Another one from within the crowd asks. “To answer your second question, not really. I am not rally sure why though. But for the first one, I don’t know where I am and I find a large group of creatures I have never seen before. I think it would be best to aire on the side of caution until I am sure I am in no danger.” The gathered group look to one another, more than a few nodding at his logic. “Well, ya’ll don’t need to worry there sonny. We won’t hurt ya.” An elderly looking green creature says from her seat. Nathan nods to her and removes his hood and lowers his scarf. Most of the creatures go wide eyed at Nathans appearance, his red hair seeming to glow in the sunlight and his green eyes full of kindness and safety. The elderly one whistles at Nathans reveal. “My word. Ya’ll are quite the strapping young stallion.” She says, most of the females giggling with her. Nathan just smirks with a small laugh. “Yeah, I get that a lot.” He says good naturedly, a few of the ‘stallions’ chuckling at his response. Nathan then gets an idea and takes out his book and flips through looking for something. “What are ya lookin for?” A young one with a pink bow in her red mane asks. Nathan smiles as he finds what he was looking for. “Oh, just a certain spell I wanted to test out. Do you think you can help me out?” He asks, crouching a bit to the girl. She smile and goes to walk up, before being held by the red one. “Hold on there partner. My little sis won’t be in danger with this spell of yours, will she?” He asks. Nathan just smiles calmly to him. “Of course not. I am not a monster. All I need her to do is just stand still and nothing will happen to her.” Nathan says. Though the red one is still cautious, he lets his little sister go. “Ok, just stand riiiight..here.” He says pointing to a spot a few feet away from himself. Once she is in position, Nathan focuses on his magic and thinks in his mind Act<Check and his eyes light up, seeming to have rainbow coloured flames coming out of them. The creatures all tense and get ready to act till, after a few second pass, the flames go out and Nathan smiles. “Got it. So your name is Applebloom huh?” He says, all the others looking to him in shock. “H-how do ya know that?” The little filly asks. Unbeknownst to them, Nathan had just used a spell any SOUL user can do: Judgment. By focusing his SOUL outwards and to a certain target, he gets a simple rundown of information about the individual. For Nathan, it showed up like the stats menu in his sight and even came with a short description like in the game. Applebloom Species: Earth Pony LV: 1 EXP: 0 HP: 15 ATK: 3 DEF: 2 The youngest apple sibling in Ponyville. Desires her Cutie Mark very badly. “You see, the spell I used gives me a short rundown on who someone is, like their name, species, if they are potentially dangerous and also a short description of who they are.” He reaches forward and boops her nose. “For example, I just learned you are the youngest of the Apple family here in Ponyville.” Applebloom just looks to him in awe. “Wow, that is a really useful spell!” The purple horned one says. Before she can react, Nathan lights up his eyes again and ‘Judges’ her. Twilight Sparkle Species: Unicorn LV: 1 EXP: 0 HP: 45 ATK: 8 DEF: 7 Personal protege of Princess Celestia. Loves books and learning a little too much. Needs to get some friends. Nathan chuckles a little at the last part. “You said it Twilight. This spell is very useful.” He says, smirking at Twilights shocked expression. “Wow. You just got out-magicked by someone. Did not see that coming.” Looking next to Twilight, Nathan sees a small bipedal purple lizard like person with green shorts and a black vest over a purple t-shirt. Spike the Dragon/ Spike Sparkle Species: Dragon LV: 1 EXP: 0 HP: 20 ATK: 3 DEF: 5 Twilight’s number 1 assistant and adopted little brother. Loves himself a gem and tomato sandwich. “Is she really good with magic Spike?” Nathan asks, enjoying Twilights expression. “Of course! Aside from the princess, I have never met anyone as good with magic as her.” He says, Nathan and Kumu nodding. “Yes, I suppose being the Princess personal student, one would have to very gifted in magic.” Nathan says in thought. At this point the purple mare looks like she is going to blow a gasket. “Well enough of that ya’ll! Let’s eat!” Appleblooms sister says, the ponies all going to the table to eat. She looks and sees Nathan just standing to the side. “What are ya doin Nathan? Aren’t ya hungry?” She asks. “Is it ok for me to just come in and eat? I mean, I assume you made all this for some kind of reunion or something.” He says quickly checking Appleblooms siblings stats. AppleJack Earth Pony LV: 1 EXP: 0 HP: 50 ATK: 15 DEF: 10 Macintosh Apple/ Big Mac Earth Pony LV: 1 EXP: 0 HP: 55 ATK: 14 DEF: 12 “Don’t worry about it sonny! We made more than enough for ya’ll and yer familiar to join in.” The older mare, Granny, says with a smile. Nathan smile back at her and takes a seat next to the recovering Twilight. Nathan and Kumu begin to pick some of the food out, like a casserole, some salad and a few bits of other things before eating, Kumu picking some pieces off of Nathans plate. All the while Twilight is looking at him from the corner of her eye, seeing as his book becomes visible for a second as he stretches to get some items. While they eat, Nathan uses Judgement on all present, finding all but Twilight and Spike are from the Apple family, if the apple related names are any indication. Kumu is going around the table, passing some of the food that is out of reach for some of the members, acting like a waiter of sorts. He even morphed himself a little bow tie, causing most present to laugh a little. After a good and filling hour long meal, Nathan and Kumu help in getting the dishes inside for the family. “Thank ya kindly for the help here Nathan.” Granny says as he come out of the house, without any dishes in hand. “Think nothing of it Granny. Thank you so much for the food. I never would have thought there were so many recepies for apples before!” Nathan says with a slight bow, Kumu agreeing with a nod. “Well, we better get going. I wanna see if I can get to town and maybe get some info at the local library or something.” Nathan and Kumu walk down the dirt road for barely a minute before a voice shouts out. “Hey Nathan and Kumu! Wait up!” Turning around, they see Spike running up with Twilight slowly coming up behind him while holding her stomach and groaning. “Hey you two. What’s up?” “Well, we wanted to know if you wanted to tag along with us as we finish up seeing to the preparations for the Summer Sunset Festival.” Spike says, before motioning them to lean closer. “Twilight is going nuts about your spell and wants to ask you about it.” Spike whispers into Nathans ear. He looks to Kumu, who smiles at the two and nods. Nathan smiles himself. “Alright, might as well. We have nothing better to do.” Nathan says with a smile. Spike smile wide and walks ahead, Nathan and Kumu close behind, Twilight trailing behind them. Though she was sore in the stomach, she was set and wanted to learn this new magic she has yet to see before. Twilight was filled with Determination.
Meeting Some New SOULsWalking down the path away from Sweet Apple Acres, Spike pulls out a list of things they need to check, Twilight having stopped groaning for a bit. “Ok, the weather is supposed to be taken care of by a pegasus pony named Rainbow Dash and should involve clearing the clouds.” he says, looking at the sky. Twilight, Kumu, and Nathan follow suit, seeing a lot of cloud dotting the sky. “Maybe she is on break?” Nathan suggests, Kumu looking around for anyone who could be Rainbow Dash, and sees a rainbow streak coming towards them, or more accurately Twilight at high speeds. “Well, she doesn’t seem to be doing a very good job.” Twilight says, before Kumu pulls on her leg, tripping her up and barely avoiding the speeding object. He floats up to Twilights face and makes a worried noise. “I’m fine Kumu, thanks for the save though.” She says petting the blob. The group looks to a mud puddle where a blue furred, rainbow haired pegasus crashed. Covered in mud, she is wearing a pair of black sports shorts and a blue tank top over her black sports bra. She gets up and begins to shake the mud off like a dog. It would have gotten the others, if Nathan hadn’t risen a green shield. Twilight looks to him in shock, seeing his eyes glowing green. Once the pegasus is done shaking she sees the shield as it is lowered and the raised brow of Nathan. She chuckles nervously. “Uh, hehe, sorry about that. Didn’t see ya there.” She then does a double take, seeing Nathan and Kumu. She hovers up and looks them over. “What are you two? Your definitely not a Minotaur, or some Diamond Dog. And I can’t even think of a comparison to the little blob there.” She says, Kumu looking to her with narrowed eyes. “Let me guess. Your Rainbow Dash.” Twilight says with annoyance. Rainbow turns to her and gains a cocky expression. “The one and only. Why? You heard of me?” She asks Twilight. “I heard you were supposed to be keeping the sky clear.” She sighs and gets a businesslike tone and expression. “I am Twilight Sparkle and the princess sent me to check on the weather.” As this is going on Nathan looks to the pegasus mare and quickly Judges her. Rainbow Danger Dash Pegasus LV: 1 EXP: 0 HP: 50 ATK: 15 DEF: 8 The weather manager of Ponyville. Has a lifelong dream of joining the Wonderbolts. Once created a Sonic Rainboom as a filly. As Nathan and Kumu are going over everything they have learned, Rainbow suddenly launches into the air and begins destroying the clouds, before returning to her position in front of Twilight. “Like I said, ten seconds flat. I’d never leave Ponyville hanging.” She says, Spike and Twilight looking at her in shock. Nathan begins to clap for her and Kumu whistles. “Impressive! And here I thought Sans was fast.” Nathan says, Rainbow looking to the duo and smiling a bit. “You know? You guys are alright. Can’t wait to hang out some more!” She says before flying up and away. He smiles and walks back to the others, closing Twilights mouth for her. She frowns and begins to walk away. Kumu looks to her then to Spike in confusion. “She is really introverted. Before coming here I was her only real friend. Plus she thinks that some legend is going to be coming true tonight and is freaking out about getting everything done so she can go research.” He explains, Kumu looking a little worried for the purple mare. “Well, considering what I learned about her when using Judgment, she really needs to make some friends.” Nathan says. Spike pulls out another letter and hands it to Nathan. “You’re not the only one. The princess specifically told her to make some friends while she is here, but she won’t listen.” Spike says as Nathan and Kumu read the letter from the princess to her. ‘Where have I seen this before? No matter what I try I can’t remember. This Deja Vu will be bugging me all day.’ The group continues to walk on and eventually reaches a large building near the center of town. “Now decorations.” Spike says as they all walk in and see the hall is covered in beautiful banners and decorations. “Beautiful..” Spike says in awe. “Yes, the decor seems to be coming along nicely. This ought to be quick. I’ll be in the library in no time.” Twilight says, looking around, earning a slight frown from Kumu “Not the decor. Her!” Spike says, pointing to a white coated unicorn mare with curly purple mane and tail. She is wearing a sky blue tank top beneath a royal blue overcoat and a violet skirt with some gems sewn in. She was looking through a few peices of fabric. “How are my spines? Are they straight?” Twilight just rolls her eyes and walks up to the mare, Nathan using Judgment again. Rarity Belle Unicorn LV: 1 EXP: 0 HP: 40 ATK: 6 DEF: 5 The fashionista of Ponyville. Wants to be part of the Canterlot elites. Proud owner of her own clothing boutique. As he looks around he hears a loud gasp and suddenly the white coated mare is checking him over. “Oh my! These designs! The color contrast! It is absolutely fabulous! Though this pink flower throws it off.” She says reaching for it, only for Kumu to reveal himself and scare her. “Kumu!” Nathan says with a frown, the pink blob looking sad and goes up and nuzzles the mare. Rarity tenses for a second before relaxing and petting the little blob. “Sorry about that. Kumu can be a little trickster at times.” Nathan says, carefully helping Rarity up. She dusts herself off and looks to them again with a sheepish expression. “Yes well, I suppose it was rather rude of me to just look you over like that. But like I said these designs are truly magnificent! The whites and blacks contrast so beautifully with your hair and gloves.” She says again, Kumu hovering next to her and looking Nathan over and nodding. He just smiles and laughs a little. “Thank you, Lady Rarity. That means a lot coming from the owner of their own boutique.” He says with a bow, Rarity double takes and smiles. “Oh my. A true gentlecolt? Truly my namesake.” She says with a giggle. Spike glares at Nathan, only for Kumu to poke him and shake his head. After talking for a few more minutes and promising to help with some new designs, the group leaves and goes to a cottage on the outside of town. Walking in silence they arrive and sees a ton of animals around the cottage and hears some birds singing in the back. Going around the house, our group finds a choir of birds being conducted by a butter yellow pegasus with a long flowing mane, wearing a long green jumper and long pink skirt. Fluttershy Pegasus LV: 1 EXP: 0 HP: 20 ATK: 1 DEF: 1 The animal caretaker of Ponyville. Almost Frisk levels in terms of pacifism. Really needs to take some self-confidence classes. She was conducting the birds till stopping as one of them was off key. She asks quietly if they can do a diffrent note and was going back to conducting when Twilight walks up and scares her and her birds. As Twilight is trying to talk to Fluttershy, Nathan walks up to the tree where some of the birds are hiding. He just stands there below the tree, one of his eyes deep green, the other bright cyan filled with both Kindness and Patience. One of the birds, a young robin, sees him standing calmly and come out from his spot to look at the human. Nathan smiles and slowly holds out his hand. The robin hesitates, before flying down and landing on Nathans outstretched hand. The robin looks a little unsure, so Nathan brings up his other hand and gently pets the bird. The robin enjoys the treatment and calls to his friends that Nathan is safe. After he calls out a few of the other birds fly down and Nathan laughs a little and he and Kumu directs them back to their spots for choir practice. Fluttershy, Twilight and Spike had noticed what Nathan was doing after the robin had called for his friends, but were no less surprised by the feat. Fluttershy was the most surprised as a few of her bird friends are almost as shy as she is. Twilight goes to talk, only for Kumu to appear in front of her and cover her mouth. Nathan nods to Fluttershy and directs to the birds to continue practice. Fluttershy nods and goes to continue. After a few minutes and an adjustment here and there, the birds song is perfect. Birds nod to one another before flying off to relax before the celebration. “Um, thank you for helping me with the birds.” Fluttershy quietly says to Nathan and Kumu. The duo smile at the shy pegasus. “No problem. I have had to deal with quite a few skittish animals back home when my mom brought me with her to work at the vets.” Nathan says to her. She smiles and looks over the duo closer. “Excuse me for asking, but what are you two? I have never seen creatures like you two.” She asks and begin to flutter behind them as the group walks to the library. Spike and Twilight are listening, but Twilight looks annoyed and is slouching. “Well, I am a human being, scientific name Homo Sapien. I am essentially a highly evolved ape, but our earliest ancestor between humans and apes were from millions of years ago. Kumu is....I don’t really know.” Nathan says, with slight realization. Kumu quickly goes and pulls on the book from within Nathans coat. Quickly taking the book out, Kumu turns the pages till he reaches one near the center and points with a tendril. “SOUL companion? ‘A being that is created from the users SOUL similar to an imaginary friend that can interact with the real world and is dependant on the SOUL users personality and traits for what they can do. But with enough energy they can gain their own personality and even SOUL.’ Huh. How about that. Is that what you are Kumu?” The blob nods with a smile and takes his spot on Nathans head. “Oh, that is adorable.” Fluttershy says, looking at the little blob that was set to take a nap. Nathan laughs a little and reads through the section on the companion, finding they can come in almost any shape, but their size is dependant on the SOUL users wants. If they want a small companion, that is what they will get. Fluttershy and Nathan go back and forth for a bit, with Spike adding in here and there, before the group arrives at the library. Twilight goes to excuse herself and Spike, but Nathan and Kumu go to the door and opens it for the mares. Twilight rolls her eyes and goes into the tree. “Spike? Where are the lights again?” She asks in the darkness. “Here!” Spike says, flipping the switch. “SURPRISE!!!” All of them jump as the lights come on and a large group of ponies shout out. Kumu reacts by hiding in Nathan coat, before peeking out. A pink earth pony quickly hops up to Twilight. She is wearing a blue t-shirt with ‘SMILE’ in big yellow letter and a pair of blue jeans. “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie, and I threw this party just for you!” She says to Twilight before noticing Nathan and Kumu. She lets out a loud gasp. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I was right! There was something new in Ponyville!” She says quickly. Kumu can’t help but laugh at the mare antics. Nathan goes to Judge her, but what he gets is confusing. Pinkamena Diane Pie/ Pinkie Pie Earth Pony? LV: 1 EXP: 0? HP: ?? ATK: I never want to hurt anyone DEF: More than enough Don’t you think it is rude to check someone’s stats when they are not looking? I love parties and seeing ponies smile! Also hi! Nathan blinks a few times and rechecks her and gets the same response. Kumu looks to her in befuddlement, being able to see her stats too. They exchange a look and think of one thing. ‘Sans and fourth wall awareness.’ She looks to the duo, her big eyes filled with innocence and excitement. The duo just look back in silence as the ponies nearby begin to party. This goes on for a minute before Kumu sighs, shakes his head and goes over to Fluttershy to rest in her mane, the pegasus giggling at this turn of events. “Ooookkkayyy.” Nathan says, rubbing his head and getting a drink, almost grabbing some hot sauce by mistake. Pinkie goes back to rambling to Twilight about the party and Twilight goes to get a drink as well. Nathan notices too late she grabbed the wrong bottle. She drinks her cup of hot sauce and her face begins to get red and for tears to come out of her eyes. Nathan snaps his fingers and summons a water bottle from his inventory that AppleJack gave him after brunch and hands it to Twilight, the mare chugging it all down and sighing in relief. She thanks him and hands it back, the bottle disappearing into his inventory again. The others look to him in surprise for the fact he can do that. “Woah! What kind of spell was that?” Rainbow asks, hovering by Nathan. “It is not really a spell. I just have access to a personal pocket dimension that I can store thing in. Like the water bottle or my Chaos Sabres.” He answers, Twilight sighing and going up the stairs to her room. “Chaos Sabres?” The group of mares and Spike asks. Nathan smirks and summons his swords in his hands and twills them a bit before stabbing them into the floor. The gathered ponies look at the weapons in awe, just feeling the energy they give off. AppleJack come up and pull one of them free and looks it over. “My word. These are some mighty fancy lookin swords. I wonder, can you use them though?” She asks with a quirked brow. Nathan just laughs and dismisses them. After that, the party continues for a few hours before most everypony leaves to get ready for the celebration. As Nathan is walking to the town hall, he looks to the moon and sees the outline of a mare with wings and a horn. ‘The Mare in the Moon.’ Nathan suddenly goes wide eyed and grabs his head. ‘How do I know that?!?’ He tries to think, to remember what is going on here, but nothing comes to him. What he does know, is the legend is real. ‘Tonight, the mare that was banished for a thousand years will return, her soul still tainted and in need of saving. Only the powers of Harmony can free her from her dark prison.’ He and Kumu look to the moon again and then to each other. They both nod and Nathan runs to town hall, his eyes burning red and filled with Determination. The duo are some of the first to arrive at the town hall and they are keeping a close eye on the moon, and see the group of stars that will be aiding in her escape. Soon most of the town arrives, but a few notice Nathans red eyes and are sensing something is amiss. “Nathan?” Turnings, he and Kumu are greeted by the sight of the six mares from the day, most of them being worried about his eyes. “Are you ok darling? Your eyes are red.” Rarity says. She looks closer and sees that his eyes are actually coloured red as opposed to being red from crying or something like that. “I’m fine. It’s just a side effect of my magic. Whichever trait I am the most filled with at the moment, my eyes change to match.” He explains and looks back to the window then to the stage. They don’t get a chance to respond as Mayor Mare walks up and signal to begin. “Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration.” As the crowd cheers and Mayor Mare continues, Twilight, Nathan and Kumu all look to the window and see that the image of the mare in to moon has disappeared. “Oh no..” Twilight and Nathan say together. They look back as the mayor is about to finish and introduce the princess. “...the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria...” pause for effect. “Princess Celestia!” Rarity opens the curtains and everyone looks to see...an empty balcony. There is immediate confusion and worry as there is nopony there. There are several gasps as a blue and purple mist begins to form on the balcony, beginning to take shape. Not long after, a large black mare with wings and a horn, adorned in battle armor stand and laughs maniacally. Nightmare Moon is back. Nightmare Moon Alicorn LV: 15 EXP: 7000 HP: 3500 ATK: 40min-80max DEF: 40min-80max The corrupted form of the princess of the night. Filled with anger, jealousy, spite and Hatred. Intent on bringing everlasting night. “Oh my beloved subject. It has been so long since I have seen your precious, sun loving faces.” She says mockingly. “What did you do to our princess?!” Rainbow yells, and is about to launch herself before being grabbed by the tail by AppleJack. Nightmare begins to laugh again. “What? Am I not royal enough for you? Don’t you know who I am?” Pinkie goes to guess but gets cut off by Kumu covering her muzzle with a deadpan stare. “Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years?” She asks going to Fluttershy and then to Rarity. “Did you not know the legend? Did you not see the signs?” “I did. And I know who you are.” Twilight and Nathan say together. “You’re the mare in the moon-“ Twilight begins. “Nightmare Moon!” And Nathan finishes. There was a round of gasps from the crowd at this information. “Well, well, well, it seems two little beings remember me. Then you also know why I am here.” She says. Twilight pauses to think but Nathan walks forward with his scarf covering the bottom of his face. “Your here to continue your idiotic battle against princess Celestia and try to bring about everlasting night!” Nathan shouts and Nightmare does a double take and growls. “What was that first part?” She says angrily. Nathan closes his eyes, then opens them back up, the rainbow coloured flames burning in them. Nightmare actually flinches at this and stares wide eyed at him. “You heard me. This is idiotic. Instead of doing something sensible like talking to the princess about your problems, you allowed yourself to be consumed by your own Hatred and jealousy, becoming corrupted.” Nathan face softens a little at her. “Luna. You don’t need to do this.” “Never say that name in my presence!” Nightmare yells in rage and launches a blast at Nathan. Kumu quickly detaches from Pinkie and covers Nathan. The blast hits and causes some dirt to kick up. Nightmare sends a gust of wind and clears the air, showing a pink dome that retracts into the form of Kumu, Nathan being completely unharmed from the blast. “Thanks for the save Kumu, but I could have handled it.” The blob rolls his eyes and takes place next to Nathan, just hovering above his shoulder. The duo stare down Nightmare, the Alicorn staring right back. Before any could react, Nathan and Kumu disappear and reappear atop what looks like a large dragons skull hovering above the crowd, and eye level with Nightmare Moon. Nightmare launches another magical blast, only for the Gaster Blaster to open its jaws and launch its own blast, easily overpowering Nightmares, forcing the mare to take to the air to dodge. “Impossible! How was I overpowered?!?” She asks and turns to Nathan with rage and sees his smirk. She goes to fly in and strike, before noticing the lack of a certain pink blob. “Where..?” She looks back to Nathan and sees he actually had pink eyes without the fire. ‘Nathans’ smile turns jagged and pink. She realizes what happened. Turning, Nightmare finds Nathan right behind her, fist cocked back and glowing orange just before landing a hard overhand punch in the chest, sending her straight into the ground. He summons another Gaster Blaster and gives a high five to his double as it turns back into the pink blob of Kumu. “Take that! Now let the princesses go you corrupted nightmare!” He calls out, before having to ride his blaster like a skateboard to dodge another couple of blasts. “Silence! Thou shalt not defeat me!” Nightmare roars out. Nathan jumps to the ground and summons his Chaos Sabres and Kumu morphs himself to have a large scythe. Nightmare looks between the two and growls, seeing she may be outmatched. She quickly turns to mist and escapes out the window. Nathan and Kumu dismissed their weapons. They look to one another and nod. Nathan is filled with Determination and Justice.
