L.O.V.E.

by VeryEpic

Rating: teen
Tags: Main 6, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Death, Rainbow Dash, Other, Thriller, Undertale, Comedy, Violence, Pinkie Pie, Crossover
Length: 20168

Countless numbers of genocide runs have been committed, each of them no different from the last. Until suddenly, Sans remembers, and the timeline begins to deteriorate...

Countless numbers of genocide runs have been committed, each of them no different from the last. Until suddenly, Sans remembers. He remembers it all. Every single timeline and every single genocide was clear as day in his head, and he was determined to put an end to it. But even then, he couldn't defeat the human. Even with the knowledge of every reset, Chara once again defeated him and successfully completed another genocide run, but something was different this time...

Instead of waking up in his bed at the beginning of another reset, he opened his eyes to a place he didn't recognise. A place that, sooner or later, would be under the same exact threat as his home world.

This time, Sans was ready for anything. This time, he'd be fighting until his last breath.

Custom Tags: Sans, Chara, Papyrus

- All music used belongs to their original creators.

- Undertale belongs to Toby Fox.

Published 2021-05-11 21:10:00 UTC
Last updated 2022-01-09 23:57:34 UTC

1 - Last Judgement

Author's Note

Note: This story is on hiatus until further notice. It already has been for over a year now, but I never put a notice here and I figured it was kinda overdue. The reason behind it is that the original reason I got into the MLP community was because of the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. When that ended, I gradually began to leave the community as life returned to normal. Now, I’m heading off to college in a few months time and that’s going to be a massive change for me. If I somehow find the time to get back into the community and continue this there, then I will be extremely surprised. I’ll still drop by from time to time though, make no mistake.

Important: Just so you're aware, a lot of music is used in this story. All of it is entirely optional if you'd prefer to read in silence, but, much like Undertale, the music plays a big part in making the story whole. The music should be played until there is either another video to play or you see a - sign between paragraphs. This also means that music should be stopped:

Also, if you're reading on a PC, you can make the music automatically loop if you're a slow reader. You just have to right click the video and the option will be shown. You hopefully shouldn't need to use this, though, since I try to line up the music with the story so that it ends at the right moment (or at least close to it). This isn't always possible however, since most people read at different speeds, and I doubt I read at exactly the same pace as you. Usually though, the music should end where it's supposed to, or you should stop the music yourself.
Anyway, looping is there if you need it, but hopefully you shouldn't :twilightsmile:

None of the music used is mine, so if you like what you hear, feel free to go check out the rest of the creator's music!

This chapter was mostly written as a prologue to the events of the rest of the story, but I didn't want to just copy and paste the original Sans fight. I tried to make it as original as I could while also trying to make it feel like it fit into the original game.
You also might notice a significant lacking of MLP in this chapter. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten what website I'm writing this on.
There won't be a strict upload schedule for this story, since that's partly what caused me to get burnt out of my previous story. I eventually finished it, but it took a while and I don't want the same thing to happen with this story.

Anyway, things are gonna be getting a lot more intense later down the road, while also having a few 'Sans in Equestria' slice of life style chapters. If that's what you're looking for, I hope I don't disappoint :)

Credits

Harderlovania V2 by BatCheevs

Harderlovania Insane Mode by TheOmegaLink

1 - Last Judgement

Sans trudged through the snow, the bitter cold bouncing off him without effect. Even though he couldn't feel the cold, he could still sense the chill in the air.

It seemed quieter than normal. Usually, Sans would see other monsters strolling through the forests whilst on his sentry duty, but today... nothing. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen anyone other than his brother since he had met the human.

The human. What was their name?

Chara. Sans could swear he had never been told the human's name, but for some reason, that name seemed to stick out in his mind.

Continuing to walk through the snow, Sans was still yet to see another monster, until eventually he reached Snowdin.

Empty. Not a single soul in sight. Even the shop and inn seemed desolate compared to how they usually were. Sans looked around at the empty town, and was suddenly struck by panic.

Papyrus.

With a click of his fingers, Sans quickly teleported to the front of his house and swung open the door. Just like the rest of the town, empty. Papyrus was nowhere to be found.

It's ok, Sans told himself, He's probably just gone to see Undyne.

Sans left his house and began moving in the direction of waterfall, walking along the edge of the icy river. The blocks of ice that usually flowed along the gentle stream were nowhere to be found. Slowly, Sans was beginning to piece together what was happening, and his desperation to find his brother rose.

Nearing Waterfall, he spotted something laying in the snow. Something red, contrasting with the bleak white of the ground. He knew what it was, but he didn't want to believe it. Not yet.

Reaching down, he picked up the red scarf. Papyrus' red scarf.

Gripping the scarf tightly, a gust of wind blew along the snow, scattering speckles of dust into the air. Sans' eyes went blank, staring down at the red cloth in his hand as the remainder of the world vanished around him.

"Heh," Sans chuckled to himself. A few more seconds passed, and he released his grip on the scarf, letting it float gently to the ground. He let out another faint laugh as he watched it land, the snow cushioning its landing as it moulded around it. By now, the air had grown even colder around him.

His fingers clicked once again, and he teleported away to the furthest reach of the kingdom.

The Judgement Hall.

A place built for good, to reward those monsters that performed acts of kindness and repent their sins. Yet here he was, waiting to be the judge, jury and executioner of the real monster.

Finally, they would arrive, nearly having completed their slaughter.

"You've been busy, huh?" Sans would say, only to be met with silence.

He would continue talking to them, judging them for their actions, and all the while they would remain silent. Were they ever really human?

"If you take another step forward, you are really not gonna like what happens next," he'd threaten, but even then Chara would stay silent, taking one last step forward, "Welp. Sorry, old lady. This is why I never make promises."

Sans' eyes would close, recalling everything that the human had done. They deserved this.

"It's a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming. On days like these, kids like you... Should be burning in hell."

And with that, the skeleton's last stand would ensue.

He knew he couldn't kill them, not directly. Every time he did, they'd come back newer and stronger, knowing all of his movements and attacks. He needed them to reset. Every attack he performed, he'd stall them for longer and longer, getting more and more tired. Sans would give it his all, but eventually the human would prevail, resetting the endless loop of slaughter once more.

This was how every reset would play out, unchanging. Reset after reset would occur, and Sans would never remember how many times he had watched his brother die.

Until, something changed.

Something within him snapped, like a lock keeping him confined to reality had popped open. Sans could remember every timeline that had occurred, even after they had been erased.

Sans knew everything, and now he was more determined than ever to stop it.

The forests of Snowdin were just as quite as they had been in previous timelines, only this time, Sans knew exactly what he had to do. He had told Papyrus to stay at home, and to not come looking for him no matter what happened.
He could only hope he did what he was told. Sans didn't want his brother seeing what was about to happen.

Crunch.

The sound of a branch snapping interrupted the silence, and it was finally time for Sans to make his entrance.

"Heya," Sans said as he appeared from the treeline, "Bet ya weren't expecting to see another monster so soon, huh?"

Chara gave an expression of confusion, which amused Sans somewhat. Messing with their head was a good start in getting them to reset. He needed to show them the consequences of their actions.

"I heard that a human had left the Ruins, and I kinda had to come check it out seeing as I'm a sentry and all, but you don't need me to tell you that, do you?" Sans explained, attempting to be as passive aggressive as he possibly could, "Heh, been a while since anyone's been in there, or been out of there. Thanks to you, it seems like no one's gonna be coming out of there for a long time, huh?"

For a second, he thought he saw a glimpse of panic on the human's face, before it was once again consumed by the cold, demonic grin he had grown so used to.

"Now that I think about it, it's probably gettin' pretty dusty in there. Don't suppose you have anything to do with that, would you?" he asked, only to once again be met with silence. He expected nothing else, "It's a shame Toriel ain't around to take care of the place anymore."

Chara, now wielding the toy knife that they had found in the Ruins, stared straight into the skeleton's eyes, seeing through their smile. By now, they had caught on to what was happening, even if they didn't understand how it was possible for him to remember.

"Look, you know what's going on here, and I sure as hell do too. I don't know how, but I remember everything that you did. I'm not expecting an explanation from you, you're not exactly the talkative kind, but I'm warning you kid..."

Chara continued staring into Sans' hollowed eyes, expectantly.

"One more step, and I'll see to it that this is the last timeline you live to see," Sans threatened.

He didn't expect the human to comply. In fact, he was already prepared for the fight that was to come, having brought a bottle of ketchup with him in case of an emergency. Much like he expected, Chara took another step through the snow.

"Heh, alright. Let's see how determined you really are, dirty brother killer," a loud gust of wind broke the silence, and Sans closed his eyes. He would end this now, or die trying.

The two stood surrounded by nothing but snow and ice, snowflakes falling from the trees as wind shook their branches, "It's a pretty cold day out here. Snow is falling, the wind is howling. On days like these, monsters like me..."

Sans reopened his eyes, the white pupils that usually glowed brightly absent from the sockets. Both of his hands remained in his pockets, but he was ready to fight until the end.

"Can't afford to not care anymore."

Without a single movement, a pair of gaster blasters formed behind the skeleton. The two blasters fired, locked on the seemingly defenceless human. Having fought Sans many times by now, Chara effortlessly dived out of the way of the attack, before quickly dashing forward and swinging their knife.

Sans slid through the snow, easily dodging the blade, "Our reports show a massive anomaly in the time space continuum. Timelines jumping left and right, stopping and starting. Heh, most of that's your fault isn't it?"

A barrage of bones appeared in the sky, positioned down towards the ground, before plummeting into the snow. Chara weaved between the projectiles, barely breaking a sweat. Sans wasn't bothered by their lack of effort, however, as this time, he hadn't used his strongest attack first.

Chara swung their knife yet again, but Sans dodged it just as easily.

"Part of me wants to believe that something else is going on here, what with my memories returning and all, but all of these issues stem from you, kid," Sans explained, before the ground began to rumble and shake.

Chara looked at the floor, grinning, before the bones that had previously plunged into the snow shot out of the ground. The human leapt into the air, before the bones descended into the ground again. Immediately after landing, the bones shot out from the ground for a second time. Chara jumped into the air each time the bones re-emerged, until eventually they stopped, allowing them to swing their knife.

Sans slid out of the way of the attack, the blade almost grazing him. He let out a sigh, "Look, kid. You don't have any idea what you're doing. All this messing around with the timeline, it needs to stop."

This time, a barrage of bones appeared behind him, before flying towards the human at a speed that would pierce the flesh. Chara dodged most of them, slicing her way through the occasional bone, but a few seemed to graze past her, cutting their arm.
The last bone whizzed by, and Chara launched forward to deliver another attack.

Sans dodged once again, giving the human an amused shrug, "If you keep going on the way you're going, the timeline will break. There will be consequences that not even you can fix."

Just like he expected, the human showed no signs of remorse or regret.

Sans raised his hand, and multiple gaster blasters formed in the sky, each taking their turn to fire. Chara weaved in and out of their blasts, never making a single mistake. Each and every blue beam fired left a charred black mark in the snow.

"Heh, like you'd care. That's your end goal isn't it? To have that much power that the damage you cause is irreversible," Sans explained, feeling anger building up within him.

Several bones raised from the ground and began mowing their way through the snow. Chara leapt over each of them as they passed by, almost elegantly, before a gaster blaster formed in the sky. Seeming to catch them off guard, the human's smile vanished from their face as they were engulfed in the blue beam.

Sans let out a sigh as the beam subsided, leaving the human visible once again. They had dropped to their knees, greatly injured from the blast, whilst still clutching their knife in one hand.

His heavy breathing began to return to normal as the fight began to wind down, but he could never be too sure. He had seen their tricks in the previous timelines, and ultimately, that was what always caused his death. He really couldn't afford to let his guard down and he knew it.

"Kid," Sans began, looking down at the unmoving human, "I know you didn't answer me in the other timelines, but I know that somewhere deep inside you, there's a good person waiting to be released."

Much to Sans' dismay, the human remained immobile in the snow.

"Through all the timelines that I can now see, there's one where I might've even called you... A friend?" Sans asked. He knew that this had never worked before, but hopefully this time it might have more of an effect, "C'mon, buddy. Do you remember me?"

Chara's breathing began to accelerate, and for a moment, Sans thought that he had gotten through to them. Finally, the genocide would come to an end.

The human got up to their feet, but continued to hold their knife at their side. Sans stood, waiting for their next move patiently. Even if they decided to spare them, he'd still have to end up killing them. If they really wanted to change their ways, they'd reset.

Slice.

Sans slid out of the way of the blade with a disappointed sigh, "Welp, guess you like doing things the hard way, h-"

Slice.

Following their second attack, Sans dodged with a shrug. He had grown to expect a second attack by now, seeing as how he had died to it so many times, "Heh, did you really think you could-"

Slice.

The white pupils of Sans' eyes grew smaller with fear as the blade tore through his shirt. He slowly turned his head to look down at his chest, and a red fluid had begun leaking out onto the rest of his shirt. This couldn't be happening. Not again. There's no way.

"Heh... Heh heh..." Sans chuckled to himself as he raised a hand to his wound.

Chara smiled proudly as they raised their knife, blood coating the tip of the blade.

"Three attacks... In one turn..." Sans said between breaths. He didn't understand how it was possible, but at this point he was willing to believe anything was possible, "Heh. Shoulda known... A kid like you wouldn't... Play by the rules..."

Sans suddenly began laughing. He didn't seem to be laughing to hide the pain, but rather he seemed to genuinely find something funny. The hand that had previously been held over his wound reached into his blood soaked shirt and pulled out a bottle of ketchup, a vicious slice stretching across its middle.

He took a few sips from the broken bottle, before returning it to his pocket.

"Always knew ketchup would save me one say," Sans joked with a wink, "Now let's get serious."

A single one of Sans' hands raised, and with a click of his fingers, dozens of gaster blasters appeared behind him at will. At least a hundred or so bones coated the ground around them, even occasionally jutting out from the trees that surrounded them.

"I gave you a chance, kid," Sans said, a faint blue ember beginning to form in his left eye, "But if you aren't gonna play by the rules, then neither will I."

The blasters each fired, one by one, chasing Chara as they ran through the snow. By now, the snow around the area that they had been fighting was almost completely charred black. Seeing that the blasters alone were not doing enough damage, Sans raised his hand and launched several bones at the human in combination with the blasters. Chara leapt into the air, gripping one of the bones as it flew through the air, before swinging over one of the blaster's beams.

The human came falling downwards directly on top of Sans, slashing their knife through the air. Moments before the ketchup stained blade made contact with him, he removed his hand from his pocket and froze the human in mid-air.

Sans pushed his hand forward, sending Chara flying backwards into the door of the Ruins. Rubble and a few loose bricks came falling from the wall as Sans held her in place, frozen and unable to move. The purple wall began to rumble, but before the bones could emerge and deliver the final strike, Chara broke free from his grasp and charged towards him.

A bead of sweat formed on the skeleton's forehead as he raised his hand as high as he could, forming a towering wall of bones between him and the human. Chara froze in place as she looked up at the wall of bones before her.

The sound of a charging blaster caught Chara's attention, and they quickly spun around to look behind them. Sure enough, a gaster blaster had appeared directly behind them, and was only able to dive out of the way moments before it fired.

Not allowing the human any time to recover, Sans lifted his hand and flung them into a tree, knocking the loose snow that rested on the branches down onto their head. Moving his hand in the opposite direction, he flung them into yet another tree, and then another, and another, before finally sending them flying back in the direction of the Ruins door.

The door was now covered in bones, and Chara could see them coming closer and closer with no sign of stopping. They raised their knife into the air as they came ever closer to the protruding bones, before plunging it deep into the snow. The sharp blade dug into the icey ground, quickly stopping them in their tracks.

"Heh..." Sans chuckled, panting, "I'm not finished with you yet, kid."

Chara sprinted towards the skeleton, knife in front of them, but just like every time before it, Sans casually slid out of the way. In fact, this time Sans raised his hand and forcefully threw the human in his direction, sending them falling into the snow behind him.

Holding their soul down with one hand, Sans began to raise a sheet of bones from the snow with the other. Several bones shot up from the ground, slicing through Chara's flesh in several places.

The human got back up to their feet smiling, unfazed by the injuries caused by the bones. Were they truly that messed up?

"Kid..." Sans asked, disturbed, "What are you?"

Chara raised their knife over their shoulder, before releasing their grasp and throwing it in the skeleton's direction. The red blade came flying towards Sans, slicing through the air as it went.

Sans gasped.

-

His head lowered to see the knife plunged deep into his chest, a deep crimson leaking out onto his already red stained shirt. The blue flame in his left eye flickered out, before returning back to his usual white pupils, shrunken with fear.

"H-Huh... Wh..." Sans attempted to say as a drop of blood trickled from his mouth.

Chara approached them slowly, grabbing their knife with a single hand before forcefully pulling it out of the skeleton's chest.

Sans couldn't see clearly. All he could think about was the pain. Not the pain of the hole in his chest, but the pain of the fact that even with what he knew now, he had still failed.
The genocide would continue, and he would still be unable to do anything about it.

He would still have to watch his friends die, over and over again.

"Heh... Just like that, huh?" Sans asked, stumbling over to the nearest tree before slumping against it. He slid down the trunk of the tree, settling down in the snow with one hand in his pocket and the other on his wound.

Blood dripped down onto the fresh white snow as he let out a pained cough.

"Don't say I didn't warn you..." Sans threatened, giving the human an almost apologetic stare, "See you soon, kid."

Sans closed his eyes one final time as he felt his arm beginning to wither away. Slowly but surely, his entire body turned into nothing more than a pile of dust and a blue hoodie.

Sans had failed.

2 - The World Beyond

"Sans, wake up! We're going to Grillby's like I promised!"

The voice of Papyrus called out to him, however it seemed distant this time. Sans could recall hearing this line each time he had been killed in the previous timelines, but now it was much quieter.

The sensation of something cold falling down on him was all that he could feel as he stared into the void, expectantly waiting for the moment he'd wake up in his bed at the beginning of the next reset. Strange. Sans had never felt the cold before.

Slowly, more and more of Sans' senses began returning to him.

Firstly, his touch, as evidenced by the cold chill he felt all over his body. He had never felt anything like this before. Was this maybe another side effect of the continuous resets?

Next, his sense of smell. This was strange, considering Sans lacked the one thing necessary to smell. A nose.

The only thing he could smell was fresh air and water, something that definitely wasn't kept in his room. In fact, he thought his room was potentially the least fresh room in the entire underground.

After that, his hearing returned to him, and that was the moment Sans knew something wasn't right. He could barely hear himself think over the sound of wind roaring and rain pattering down on top of him. The occasional clap of thunder echoed through Sans' mind as his desperation to wake up grew.

What had the kid done? How could they have messed up the timeline that badly already?

Lastly, Sans' sight returned to him, but he didn't need that to know that something was very wrong. His eyes opened, and all that he could see was a blank grey canvas moving and shifting, raindrops trickling down his face.

"What the-" Sans exclaimed, attempting to lift himself up off the ground.

His arms moved to his side and pushed into the ground, but to no avail. Sans came crashing back down into the muddied grass with a splash, only see that his arms were not arms anymore.

"What the hell did that kid do?" Sans asked himself, staring at one of his four white legs.

Seconds passed, and still Sans wasn't sure how to process what he was looking at. He was no longer a skeleton, and he now had four legs.

Sans let out a grunt, reaching both of his front legs to his side as he raised his upper body from the ground. The feeling was foreign to him, but his front legs served as replacement arms decently well.

With his head off the ground, he finally could get a decent look at his surroundings.

Stretching out in all directions was nothing but fields, every individual blade of grass blowing violently in the wind. With every clap of thunder, a bolt of lighting illuminated the dark grassland with a blinding white light.

"Papyrus!" Sans yelled out, but to no response. Like Papyrus was gonna be here. He wasn't even underground anymore from the looks of things.

Mustering as much upper body strength as he could, Sans hoisted himself up further, attempting to stand using his hind legs. Thankfully, standing on his two back legs felt much more natural to him, but for some reason he couldn't seem to keep his balance.

A strong gust of wind pushed Sans back down to the ground, sending him face first into the mud.

He wasn't about to give up just yet, though.

Placing his front legs at his sides, he attempted to push himself up from the ground. His hind legs assisted, pushing against the mud and forcing him upwards, eventually ending with him stood on all fours. He had never decided to run around on all fours before, but for some reason it felt like second nature.

Now that he was stood up, he could finally get a good look at this new world he found himself in.

The fields seemed to continue even further than then originally thought, like an endless blanket. The wind blew against them in gusts, almost making the wind itself visible.

Off in the distance, Sans thought he could see a town, yet it didn't resemble any towns that he had came to know. Even then, it looked friendly, at least from Sans' point of few. A mass of brown buildings lay closely compacted together, with what looked to be a large tree as the centre point, giving it an almost magical feeling.

Following along from the town, there seemed to be a farm, a large red farmhouse standing proudly in the middle. Orchards of apple trees stretched out for miles around it, merging with the fields.

Behind the farm was a strip of trees, seeming to mark the edge of a forest. The trees lined the field all the way up to where Sans stood, blocking him from seeing any further. Thankfully there were a plentiful amount of small hills nearby to the forest's edge, meaning Sans could easily get a vantage point to see over the treeline.

Moving one leg forward, Sans took his first step, soon followed by his second. It wasn't easy but even then, it still felt like walking on all fours was the right thing to do.

He took his third step, but by the time he moved his leg to make a fourth, a burning sensation overcame him. The pain was bearable, but it caused Sans to begin limping with every few steps. He just hoped the limp didn't send him falling back into the mud yet again.

Painstakingly, he walked to the top of the hill. It wasn't particularly steep, however the combined elements of the rainfall and the burning pain made it quite a challenge.

The view from the peak of the grass mound was unlike anything Sans had ever seen before.

A forest, rain clouds hovering idly above it as water poured down upon it, expanded outwards as far as the eye could see. It was truly magical. Back in the Underground, the only forest Sans had the pleasure of seeing was Snowdin, and that forest was permanently stuck in a snowstorm.

Now that he thought about it, almost all of the nature he had seen in the Underground had been artificial. From the stars in the night sky, to the rain in Waterfall, none of it had been the real thing. Even the chill he would occasionally feel in his bones was nothing more than the effects of wind that wasn't really there.

Sans had never seen nature in its truest form, and now that he had, he felt... empty.

"Heh..." Sans chuckled to himself as he looked at the branches of the trees swaying in the wind, leaves flying through the air like miniature kites.

Papyrus should've been here with him now. His friends should've been here with him now, but here he was, entirely alone. The worst part of it was that he didn't even have any idea where he was, or why he was there.

Sans was alone with nowhere to go, and no one to turn to.

A single tear fell from his eye, but he wouldn't have been able to notice. Tears in the rain just look like all the other raindrops anyway.

"I'll see you again, Paps..." Sans vowed, a small smile forming on his face as he looked up to the sky, "I promise..."

He didn't like making promises, but this is one he would refuse to break, even if it meant death.

Turning away from the forest, his attention locked on the village in the distance. Sitting and contemplating in the rain wasn't going to bring his friends back.

His hoofs dragged across the cold, wet grass, stumbling slightly with every limp. The wind continued to howl and the rain continued to fall, and the town only seemed to be slightly closer. Sans' walking began to slow and his breathing began to grow heavy, before he stopped in his tracks completely.

He couldn't keep going. Sans wasn't one to give up, but with seemingly no reason to continue, he couldn't help but wonder... Maybe if he died just one more time, everything would go back to normal. Maybe he'd see his brother again, and maybe he'd live the life he had wanted all this time, without the resets.

His head lowered down, and he stared into one of the many puddles that swamped the field around him. Even though the water continued to ripple as raindrops poured down, Sans was still able to somewhat make out his reflection, however it was far from the skeleton that he once knew.

"What am I?" Sans asked as he stared at his reflection with disbelief.

Staring up at him was a pony with a white mane, dirtied with patches of mud. He had a dim blue mane similar to that of a flame, almost akin to a dying ember. The irises of his eyes were grey and colourless, giving him and almost emotionless appearance, and on his rear was a small image of a ketchup bottle. Most shocking of all, sprouting from his back was a pair of white wings, folded neatly despite being covered with mud and dirt.

He continued to stare for a second, unable to fully take in what he was seeing.

What was happening?

How was any of this possible?

No amount of resets should cause this much damage.

His eyes closed, holding back a flow of tears. Sans had never felt so hopeless before. There was nothing he could do to change things this time other than give up. He'd just let the human do whatever they want with the timeline and hope that eventually he'd get home.

His eyes opened, and in his reflection saw Papyrus stood over his shoulder, smiling warmly. Sans didn't turn around. He knew he wasn't real.

"You cannot give up yet, Sans!" Papyrus exclaimed, encouragingly, "Just think of what the great Papyrus would do in this situation! Stay determined, and show the world just how great I truly am!"

The pain and despair Sans once felt began to burn and wither, replaced by a feeling of courage. Papyrus wasn't really here, but his words had a real meaning.

He couldn't give up yet.

Using all the strength he could muster, he continued walking against the wind, ignoring the feeling of the rain slamming against him. All he could hear was the wind tearing at his ear drums, but he was too focused to care.

Fight through the pain. Stay determined.

Soon, he reached the village and let out a sigh. He limped over to the nearest building and leant against the wall, the infrastructure being surprisingly soft and comfy. Sans knew he had to keep going, but...

All he wanted to do now was rest, and he fell down to the cold, hard floor, muddied water splashing over him.

"Pinkie, remember what Mr. and Mrs. Cake told you about bringing homeless ponies into the shop?" Twilight asked, looking down at the mud-covered Pegasus that was now resting on one of the many tables.

"Yeah, but I couldn't just leave him there! Especially not when there's a new friend to be made," Pinkie replied, defending herself. Mr. and Mrs. Cake understandably weren't happy that she had brought a random unconscious Pegasus into the cafe, however they agreed to let him stay as long as the mud left behind was cleaned up.

"What was such a stallion doing resting outside in the rain like that?" Rarity asked, keeping her distance from the table he lay upon.

"I bet it's because he's a weak flyer. You've got to have some pretty weak wings to get knocked down by some rain," Rainbow Dash answered, crossing her hoofs.

"Rainbow, do ya really think now is a good time to mock the poor thing?" Applejack replied, jumping to the sleeping ponies defence.

"Hey, I'm just saying," Rainbow retorted, "We even forecasted it, too!"

The six ponies gathered around the muddy Pegasus, Rarity keeping just a bit further back than all of the others. As much as she wanted to check if the pony was okay, she also didn't want to risk any mud getting on her mane.

"Oh my, look!" Fluttershy exclaimed, looking just above one of the pony's hind legs, "He's injured!"

Dangerously close to one of his legs was a relatively large slice, seeming to cut pretty deep into the flesh. A small amount of blood had leaked out onto his otherwise white coat, combining with the mud to form a crimson brown. The ponies weren't sure how they hadn't noticed it sooner.

"Okay, I take back what I said. Something else definitely happened to him," Rainbow said regretfully upon seeing the wound.

"Pinkie, I think that if you didn't find him, he would've..." Fluttershy explained, stopping herself before she could say the final word. Every one knew what she was saying, either way.

"We can fix this, right?" Pinkie asked, turning to Twilight.

"We should be able too..." she replied, immediately beginning to look around the room for something that they could use to bandage the wound. Soon, she found a roll of orange and red wrapping paper that was being kept behind the counter. She had no idea what it was being used for, but she hoped that Mr. and Mrs. Cake wouldn't mind her using it, "Rainbow, can you hold his leg up?"

Obliging to her request, Rainbow Dash hovered slightly above the ground and gently raised the injured pony's leg up towards her. Twilight's horn began to glow and the roll of wrapping paper rose into the air, gliding over towards the table. Cautiously, it began wrapping around the pony's wound, like an incredibly colourful cast.

"Has that done it?" Rarity asked, still maintaining her distance.

"Yep, that should do it!" Twilight exclaimed, happily, "It hopefully will have healed in a few days."

"Since when were you such a medical professional?" Rainbow teased, releasing her hold on the pony's leg. It fell down quickly, slamming into the table before sprawling out to his side.

A wave of pain crashed through him as he felt his leg collide with the table, causing him to jolt upright.

"Huh?" Sans yelled as his eyes opened. Seeing six ponies gathered around him, all of which he had never seen before in his life, his natural instincts kicked into overdrive. His four legs began kicking at the table in an effort to put as much distance between him and them as he could, eventually pushing him near to the edge of the table.

"Woah! Careful, you're gonna-" Applejack attempted to warn the panicking pony, however he didn't seem to hear as he went falling to the ground.

Sans collided with the hard, green floor with a crash, however it was a surprisingly cushioned landing. As a result, it didn't hurt him all that much, but it did leave him a little dazed.

"Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked, concern in her voice.

Rubbing his head, Sans looked up to the six ponies. The immediate feeling of fear he had felt seemed to have been a primary instinct, as now the feeling had completely subsided. Instead, he felt a warm feeling of safety and belonging, despite never meeting any of them before.

"Yeah, I'm fine..." Sans replied, trying his best to give them a smile, but failing.

"Ya didn't seem fine when Pinkie first found you," Applejack stated, looking towards the pink earth pony. She cheerfully gave a wave, happy to take the credit, "If it weren't for her, you woulda been toast."

"Soggy toast!" Pinkie Pie added.

"Heh... Good thing I like toast then, huh?" Sans said, in an effort to cheer himself up. Usually, a cheesy line like that would have lifted his spirits instantly, but he just didn't feel like himself right now.

Thankfully, his intentionally unfunny comment didn't go entirely to waste, as he thought he could see a small smile appear briefly on the blue Pegasus' face. Pinkie also had a huge, beaming grin, however that was to be expected.

"You had a pretty bad cut on your chest, pretty close to your leg. Do you... Remember how you did it?" Fluttershy asked, timidly. She wasn't sure whether she should be asking such a question so soon, however the curiosity had gotten the better of her.

Sans' eyes closed, deep within thought. That burning pain he was feeling back in the field, it must've been the same wound causing it. Could it have been...

No...

There was no way it should've been possible, but it was the only way Sans could explain it. When Chara had hit Sans with the knife back in the last reset...

Could the wound have carried over?

"Uh..." Sans said, unable to explain his theory, "A flying accident."

"See, I told you it was because he was a weak flyer!" Rainbow exclaimed, proud that her inference had turned out to be correct.

"Rainbow, I don't think that's a very good way to make a first impression," Twilight replied, worriedly.

"Heh, don't worry about it," Sans said, attempting to get back onto his hooves, "Truth is, I'm not that great of a flyer. I've got other ways of getting around."

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Rainbow asked, curious.

"Well, maybe if you behave yourself and avoid further insults you'll get to see," Sans replied, winking and shrugging with one hoof.

Rainbow Dash shrunk back, defeated, while the rest of the ponies let out a chorus of laughter. Considering he still had no idea where he was, he thought he was doing a pretty good job at making a first impression.
Aside from the passing out in the rain with a large slash across his chest.

"Seriously, thanks for patching it up for me. I owe you guys," he explained, pointing to Pinkie. He looked down at the gift paper bandage that was partly coiled around his leg, "Not really my colour, though."

"You don't owe us anything, Sans!" Pinkie exclaimed, happily.

"Yeah, we're just glad that we got to you before... Well, you know..." Twilight added, unable to see the sudden sense of unease that had emerged within him.

How did she know his name? He could've sworn he had never told her. Hell, he'd only even been awake for five minutes. There was no possible way he could have told her in that space of time.

"Sans?" Rarity asked after a few seconds of silence.

Suddenly, Sans snapped back into reality, however the feeling of unease continued to stick with him.

"Pinkie, right?" he asked, looking towards the pink pony. She nodded happily, confirming that was her name, "How do you know my..."

Sans let out a sigh.

"It doesn't matter," he said. Too much weird stuff had happened for one day, so at this point it just seemed normal. After all that had happened, why wouldn't he wake up in a new body in a world full of ponies where one of them just so happened to know his name.

"Well," Twilight began, sensing the sudden awkwardness that had emerged within the air, "We know your name now, so it's only right that we share ours! I'm Twilight Sparkle!"

"Ah'm Applejack, and this here's Fluttershy," the earth pony stated, pointing at the yellow Pegasus beside her.

"I'm Rarity. It's a pleasure to meet you, however you're going to need to wash all that dirt off before I'd be willing to come within two metres of you," Rarity said, maintaining her distance from Sans even now.

"Alright, that can be arranged," Sans replied. Having all this dried dirt and blood on him was incredibly uncomfortable anyway.

"I'm Rainbow Dash, but I'm pretty sure you knew that already," Rainbow said, proudly, "I'm also the most awesome pony you'll ever meet, no contest."

Sans wasn't entirely sure that was true. He knew someone who was pretty awesome, even if he wasn't a pony. He'd even go as far as to calling him great. He could already tell that if he were here, Rainbow would have some pretty fierce competition as to who was the greatest of them all.

"And I'm Pinkie Pie!" the pink pony exclaimed, happily. Her overenthusiasm was almost infectious, even managing to raise Sans' mood despite his confusion.

"It's great to meet all of you, but there's still something I've been meaning to ask," Sans began, the question playing on his mind. It was something he had been wondering since he had first woken up in the field, rain pouring down on him, "Where am I? I work on every sentry station in the Underground, and I've never seen somewhere like this. It's so much like the surface it's... almost scary."

All six of the ponies gave him confused stares.

"Sans, I think you need some sleep," Twilight answered with a laugh.

Sleep. Sans would've like nothing more than to go to sleep right now, but when he hadn't the faintest clue where he was, it was kinda difficult to find a safe spot to take a nap.

"Trust me, I'd love to catch a few Z's as much as the next guy, but..." he replied sincerely. This was the first time in his life since the first few resets had occurred where he felt truly scared, "Honestly, Twilight? I don't know where to go anymore,"

"You... Don't have anywhere to go?" Fluttershy asked, weakly.

Sans shook his head, the very faint blue that there still was left in his mane dimming to a dull grey, identical to the sky outside.

"If that's the case," Rainbow interjected, attempting to come up with her own solution to the problem, "Come crash with me for a bit! You can stay until you know where you wanna go. Trust me, it'll be awesome!"

"Rainbow, I don't think that he's in a good enough condition to fly at all, let alone in this kind of weather," Rarity added, pointing out of the window to the raging storm outside. Droplets of rain pattered against the glass of the window, and the wind could be heard whistling between the frame and the glass itself.

"Yeah, I guess your right. The offer still stands though," Rainbow explained, with a warm smile.

"Pinkie, would Mr. and Mrs. Cake be bothered if he stayed with you for a while?" Twilight asked, causing the pink pony to visibly beam with happiness.

Sans in the meanwhile, had just decided to remain silent and let them figure it out for themselves. Beggars can't be choosers after all.

"Probably not. I'm sure they'd be fine with it since we have a genuine reason!" she replied, happily.

"So it's decided, then?" Sans asked, confirming what he had heard.

"Yep! Sleepover time!" Pinkie screamed, ecstatically.

Author's Note

Sorry if this chapter's kinda slow paced. I needed to introduce the ponies to Sans while also taking into account that the reader already knows who they are, and it was kind of a challenge to get right without it seeming awkward or boring.
(Also, yes, Spike ceases to exist for the time being. Sorry if he's your favourite character.)

I accidentally closed this page while working on the chapter, making me lose 1,500 words of progress. Pretty annoying, but things like that happen. I tried not to let it affect the chapter as a whole, and I hope it came out okay :)

Credits

Undertale - The World Beyond (Main Theme Remix) by Amella

3 - Home

Hot water poured down onto Sans as he stood under the shower. Much like his experience in the rain was his first time feeling the cold, this was his first time feeling heat.

Water seeped through the red and orange wrapping paper that protected his wound, causing it to sting a little, however it was more than bearable after being stabbed dozens of times. Still, the feeling of warm water against him felt nice, unlike anything else he had felt before.

Expectantly, warmth was the polar opposite of cold. Instead of invoking feelings of loneliness and despair, it created emotions of belonging and comfort.

The feeling of hot water hitting his wings felt a little strange compared to the rest of his body, as they were mostly made out of feather, however Sans likely couldn't notice the full difference. As a skeleton, he couldn't feel anything physical other than pain if something were to break through the bone, so being able to feel physical contact finally was nice, even if it was a little strange.

He watched the mud and filth that covered his coat fall off him, spiralling around the drain before disappearing below. He had no idea what he looked like without the dirt, but already he felt much cleaner.

"Ugh..." Sans groaned, pushing his head against the wall as water poured down onto his mane. Finally he was alone and could piece together his thoughts, "My head is killing me..."

He remained motionless for a while, resting his head against the cold tiles of the bathroom wall.

"I still don't know why I'm here," Sans said to himself, "It's only been a few hours, but..."

Sans raised his head and looked at the glass that surrounded the shower. It had begun to fog up with heat, making it just barely see through.

Angrily, he slammed a hoof into the wall. He needed to take his frustrations out on something, and he figured it'd do less damage hitting the wall than the glass. The last thing he needed right now was for Pinkie Pie to kick him back out into the rain because he'd coated her bathroom in glass shards.

"No. I can't throw in the towel just yet," Sans explained to himself, slowly trying to come to terms with his situation, "I will find you again, Paps. I'll find all of you, and I'll stop whatever that freak's doing with the timeline."

His head placed against the wall once again. It felt nice to finally let it out. Even after all of the resets he had endured, he never once allowed himself to vent out of the fear that Papyrus might have heard. Now though, he didn't have to worry about that.

"Sans? Are you almost done in there?" Pinkie Pie called from outside, "There's so much steam coming from under the door that I thought you'd started a fire."

In his frustration, he hadn't noticed how much steam had built up in the room. It was like somebody had connected a smoke machine and turned it onto full blast, which would've been pretty dangerous considering the room he was currently in.

"Yeah, I should be done soon," he replied.

"You didn't actually start a fire did you? As fun as starting a fire sounds, I don't think Mr. and Mrs. Cake would be very happy about it," Pinkie asked seeming somewhat concerned, yet also a little excited about the prospect of starting a fire.

It was kinda concerning, actually.

"You think fires are fun, huh? Pinkie, I didn't take you for an arsonist," Sans joked, feeling his frustrations begin to wither away.

"Fires are fun, and they look pretty cool," she replied, happily, "As long as they're legal and don't damage anything!"

"I'll keep that in mind next time I have a bonfire," he replied with a smile. Seeing that he could use his same sense of humour in this world made him feel much more comfortable with his surroundings, even if it was only in the context of his jokes.
Who knew that all he needed to feel comfortable was for his sense of humour to be understood?

Sans smiled to himself as he turned off the shower. Maybe this world wasn't that bad?

If this was hell, he had to admit it really wasn't doing a very good job in punishing him. If this was heaven however, he also noticed that there was a significant lacking of Grillby's to be found.

He approached the mirror and rubbed away the condensation that had formed on it thanks to the steam. This was the first real time he could get a look at his strange new body. His coat was now a pristine white, completely void of mud and blood stains. It was almost definitely this colour thanks to him being a skeleton once upon a time.

His mane was now longer entirely grey, but was now a faint blue. It was faded, however it seemed like the colour had begun to return. In addition to his mane, the grey irises of his eyes had begun to regain colour too, now also a faint blue. With time, it seemed like Sans' blue colouring was returning. It was just a shame that he didn't still have his hoodie from the underground with him.

After drying himself off, he opened the door and left the bathroom, entering into a somewhat dark corridor. Sans could barely see where he was going, but he could just about manage to see the staircase that lead to the loft of the building. Usually, he wouldn't want to risk falling down the stairs and breaking his neck, but he had no idea where the light switch was in this place.

He reached the bottom of the staircase, and at the top he could see a light shining from under a door. Thankfully, the light was enough to illuminate the staircase, nullifying any chance he had of falling and breaking his neck.

Upon reaching the top of the staircase, he gave a few knocks on the door.

"There you are!" Pinkie exclaimed, swinging the door open, "I thought you might've fallen down the stairs and broken your neck!"

"Yeah, that's happened a few times, actually," Sans joked.

Even though he was joking, he could faintly recall a timeline where he did in fact fall down the stairs in his house and break his neck.
He was very glad he didn't have to remember the rest of that timeline.

"Woah, cool! It's happened to me a few times to!" Pinkie replied, happily.

Sans figured it would be best if he didn't question her. On her way out of Sugarcube Corner, Twilight had told him that she was quite a strange pony, and that sometimes things she'd say wouldn't make much sense. That was, until you looked a bit deeper into them, and then they'd make much more sense.

"So, uh..." Sans began, looking around the room. He saw one bed, a closet, and one small purple chair in the corner of the room, turned to face the window, "Where am I gonna sleep? It's not the most spacious in here."

Pinkie thought for a moment, "Well, you could sleep in the bed, orrrrr..."

She dashed over to the purple chair by the window, and spun it around to face him. Sat in the chair was a scaly, green crocodile with beady, purple eyes. It wasn't remarkably large for a crocodile, however it still managed to take up most of the space on the seat.

"What is that?" Sans asked, "Is that another monster?"

"No, that's not a monster, silly!" Pinkie Pie replied, laughing. She pet the crocodile on the head with a hoof, who responded to her touch with a lick of his lips, "Wait, what do you mean another? Sans, have you been fighting monsters?"

Sans went silent for a few moments, feeling something flicker in his left eye, before fizzling out again.

"You could say that," he said, in a much more ominous tone than he intended, "Anyway, uh... What is that thing?"

"It's my pet crocodile, Gummy! Say hi, Gummy!" Pinkie answered, to which the crocodile responded by biting down onto her hoof, latching on like its life depended on it.

"Heh. Seems like he likes you," Sans said casually, unfazed by the animal biting into Pinkie's hoof.

"Yeah, he does," Pinkie replied with a smile, before waving her hoof around violently in an attempt to get the crocodile to let go. Her attempts failed, an instead caused him to latch onto her mane, "Maybe a little too much."

"Need some help with that?" Sans asked, seeing the pony struggle to get the animal to release his vice grip on her mane.

"No thanks! I think he's happy up there," she answered, deciding that she was okay with Gummy residing in her mane for the time being.

The tiny crocodile showed no signs of happiness, or any emotion for that matter. It just hung there, mouth closed, staring at the wall with its big, purple eyes. It was almost like it was looking through the wall, beyond the confines of Sugarcube Corner and out to the world beyond. Perhaps some of the things that Gummy had seen were best left to the imagination, for once you knew what he had seen, you would never be able to un-see it.

Perhaps that was why Gummy had such a blank expression on his face all the time. He had seen things that no other living thing had seen, or should see for that matter.

"So... Am I gonna sleep in the chair?" Sans asked, returning to the original topic, "Trust me, I can fall asleep just about anywhere."

"Well in that case, the purple chair that no one uses is all yours!" Pinkie exclaimed, enthusiastically.

By now, night had set in and the rainstorm continued to slam against the window. The ambience of rain was almost calming, reminding Sans of all those times that he'd fallen asleep at his post in Waterfall. The sound of the falls gushing and the streams flowing, and the occasional splash of a boulder falling down the waterfall. These sounds were partly the reason why Sans could manage to sleep while working, only to be woken up by an echo flower a few moments later.

"Pinkie, would we be able to go visit Twilight tomorrow? She mentioned something about living in a library," Sans asked, now sat in the chair leaning against one side.

By now, Sans was almost certain than this wasn't his world. While at first, he thought that it may have just been some strange, altered version of the surface, it became apparent that this wasn't the case when he saw magic be used. Surface dwellers in his own world couldn't use magic.

"Sure we can! You probably want to learn some more about our world, huh?" Pinkie replied, sending a slight chill down Sans' spine.

"What?" Sans replied, staring at the wall, blankly.

The room was entirely pitch black now, so hearing Pinkie Pie say something like that was more than a little unnerving. Was it possible that she knew?

"I mean, Ponyville is probably pretty different than wherever you're from right? It only makes sense that you'd want to read up on it."

Phew, Sans thought.

The last thing he needed right now was for his only friends in this world to find out that he was from a different universe where a psychopathic child slaughtered him and his friends several times over.

"O-Oh. Yeah, that's exactly why," Sans replied, still a little shaken from Pinkie's words. The way she worded it just felt off, "There was actually a library where I was from, but the sign was misspelled. I definitely had nothing to do with that."

Sans let out a yawn, and in sync with his yawning he felt his wings stretch outwards, before folding back in. It had been an incredibly long day. He'd been killed, almost killed a second time, and then met a bunch of talking ponies. He couldn't say he'd ever that order of events play out before.

"Oh, Twilight probably has some books about flying too! You could use them to learn how to fly," Pinkie suggested, enthusiastically, "That, or you could ask Rainbow Dash!"

Sans felt his heart stop beating for a second. Even though he was once a skeleton and lacked the pulse of a heart entirely, it still felt strange. His eyes had become hollow. Even though he was a pony now, it seemed like his eyes still reacted to his emotions the same way they did when he was a monster. That was twice now that Pinkie had said something that she should've had no possible way of knowing.

He gulped, "How did you know I couldn't fly?"

"I didn't, silly! I just meant you could learn to get better at flying after your flying accident!" Pinkie replied, however her response didn't calm Sans' nerves in the slightest, "I know you can't fly now though!"

Admittedly, not being able to fly was a problem he was going to have to face eventually anyway. Did it really matter all that much if Pinkie Pie knew before the others?

"I think I'm gonna get some sleep now," Sans said, with another yawn. If things kept up at this rate, he was gonna end up too paranoid to get any sleep, "Night, Pinkie."

"Night, Sans!" she replied happily, with Gummy still attached to her mane as she began to fall asleep.

Within seconds, Sans was out like a light.

Author's Note

A more light-hearted chapter, seeing as how the last two were so intense.

As Sans grows more comfortable with Equestria, the colours on his mane and irises will return, along with something else as well. Remember, Sans isn't entirely a pony. He's part monster too. Regular pony rules don't always apply to him.

That being said, I hope you're enjoying the story so far! I've got quite a lot planned for it ;)

4 - Unnatural

Sans awoke, sat in the same purple chair that he had fallen asleep in. Raindrops from the storm the night before still continued to patter against the window, however the intensity of the storm seemed to have subsided almost entirely.

"Guess it wasn't a dream, huh..." Sans said to himself, looking around the empty room.

Well, empty aside from a small sleeping crocodile laying in the bed.

Part of him had hoped that the whole thing was a bad dream, and that he'd wake up in his bed, Papyrus yelling at him to wake up like he usually did. It wasn't all bad though, since even if this was a dream, he'd still have to deal with the kid and their ability to reset. God knows he wouldn't be able to live a normal life with them around.

"Pinkie?" Sans called, only to be met with no response.

With a yawn, he rolled out of the chair and onto his hoofs, trying his best not to wake up Gummy. He knew better than anyone that you don't interrupt something when it's sleeping. Usually the roles would've been reversed however, with Sans being the one sleeping.

He slowly opened the door to the bedroom and looked down the staircase. Sure enough, it was empty, but he could hear some movement from the floor below.

Groggily, he made his way down the staircase and past the bathroom, proceeding down the next set of stairs until he eventually reached the shop below. Pinkie Pie was already down there, hurriedly moving tables around the room and scrubbing away the last of the mud that was left behind from the night before.

"Need a hand?" Sans asked. Usually, he wouldn't be the first to offer help with chores, but since he was the one who caused the mess, it was only fair.

"Oh, hi Sans!" Pinkie exclaimed, scrubbing vigorously at the final patch of dirt, "What's a hand?"

He lifted one of his front legs and stared at his hoof, confused. It was at that moment when he realised that ponies didn't have hands, and therefore wouldn't understand any phrases that used the word hand in them. Maybe the correct terminology would've been: 'need a hoof'.

"Never mind," Sans said, lowering his leg back down to the ground, "Looks like you've got it covered."

Within the few seconds that they had been talking, Pinkie had somehow managed to clean away all of the dirt that covered the tables.

"So you wanted to go see Twilight today, right?" Pinkie asked, enthusiastically.

While he did plan on going to the library today, he first felt like going out and doing some reconnaissance of his own. That, or he just wanted an excuse to be lazy, even if he couldn't really afford to be right now. Sans had never really been a fan of studying either, and if Ponyville's library was anything like the one in Snowdin, it would almost certainly put a damper on his mood.

"Yeah, but I think I might go for a walk on my own first," Sans replied, glancing out the window. It was still raining, but by now it was only a light drizzle, "Just wanna clear my head first, y'know?"

"Oh, yeah! I get that too!" Pinkie replied, confusing Sans a little, "Sometimes my head fills up with all kinds of junk!"

Sans laughed, "You must have quite a lot of space in that mind of yours to be able to carry junk."

"Not that kind of junk, silly!" Pinkie replied, feigning insult. To be honest, it wouldn't have been that surprising if Pinkie somehow managed to find a way to carry literal trash inside of her head. Anything seemed to be possible when it came to Pinkie Pie.

"Well, what kind of junk are we talking here?" Sans asked, an amused smile on his face, "Empty bottles, torn sheets of paper, cringy childhood photos you'd rather not remember-"

"Metaphorical junk," Pinkie said, interrupting Sans, "Thoughts that don't have any real reason for existing, so I go for a walk to clear my head and dispose of them like junk!"

Sans' smile faded, replaced by one of surprise. That got surprisingly dark.

"Are you okay, Pinkie?" he asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

Pinkie Pie nodded her head, smiling, "Of course! Why wouldn't I be?"

"Heh, just checking," Sans replied. Even if a surprisingly deep comment from Pinkie Pie seemed strange to him, it was probably a pretty normal occurrence for everyone else, "I'll meet you at the library in a few hours."

Sans began making his way towards the door, before suddenly remembering that he didn't actually know what the library looked like. The library in Snowdin could be identified easily enough, thanks to the sign above it saying 'Librarby', however he doubted he'd have such luck here. Almost every building he had seen looked the exact same, aside from the one he was currently in and the giant tree that stood proudly in the centre of it all. None of them seemed to show any sign of being a library.

"Sans, wait!" Pinkie called, seemingly reading his mind. Strange. She had done something similar the night before, somehow knowing things that she shouldn't have known, only to find a perfectly reasonable excuse for it moments later, "You do know where the library is, right?"

"Uh..." Sans said, blankly.

Pinkie Pie let out a giggle, covering her mouth to supress it. Despite the fact that he may have gotten lost if she didn't stop him, he was still glad that his forgetfulness had managed to make her laugh.

"It's inside the big tree, you can't miss it!" she explained, pointing out of the window. Even from here, the tree was still visible standing tall over every other building.

"Heh, that's kinda ironic," Sans joked to himself.

Seeing as how trees needed to be cut down in order to create the paper needed for books, it was pretty ironic that a library, a place filled to the brim with books, was built inside of one.

"Don't take too long, and try not to get lost, okay?" Pinkie said, assuming that there was a very high chance of Sans getting lost.

Truthfully, the chances of him getting lost were pretty high. He had no idea about the lay of the land, aside from the field he had woken up in, yet even then it probably looked almost identical to every other field. Long stretches of grass weren't exactly good landmarks.
That being said however, the library itself was tall enough to be visible from practically anywhere in Ponyville. Sans had no idea how to navigate the village, but as long as he could see the library, he could find out where he was.

"I'll try. See ya soon, Pinkie," he said, opening the door and stepping out into the rain.

The air outside wasn't quite as cold as Sans expected, at least not compared to how it was last night. Being his first experience of the cold, waking up in the midst of a thunder storm wasn't exactly a great first impression. At least having experienced extreme cold already, a typical morning chill now felt like nothing to him. It was almost like he was a skeleton again, only now he had four legs and a pair of wings.

Even the light drizzle of the rain was barely noticeable now, the only thing that was felt being the dampening of his coat and mane.

He'd began walking through the small town, and soon found himself in a market unlike any he had seen in the underground. Colourful stalls formed strips of shops, each selling different forms of food and merchandise. Large crowds of ponies gathered around, attempting to purchase their share of the goods before they ran out of stock.

It was quite a change in pace compared to the quite shop and inn back in the Underground, that was for sure.

Soon, he had approached the library, however he didn't have the intention to enter just yet. The area around it formed an empty circle void of buildings, almost like a town centre. It would make sense, considering the majority of the market stalls stood in the area around it.

Sans glanced up at the many branches and leaves of the tree, and sure enough, several windows were placed on each of them. There was even a balcony hanging from the top of the trunk, partially shrouded in a mass of vibrant, green leaves. It felt incredibly magical, more magical than anything Sans had seen in his home world. Surprising, considering his entire race was built from magic, and without it they would cease to exist.

Thinking back to his home world, he felt his mind begin to wander. It wasn't a problem though, since that was the main reason he had went for a walk to begin with.

Sans couldn't understand what had happened.

Even with the amount of timeline knowledge he had, still he couldn't wrap his head around it. No amount of resets should cause anything this drastic to occur.

If the entirety of the Underground was brought to this world with him, then sure, that would make a little more sense, but this wasn't the case. From what he had seen, he was the only monster around. No Papyrus, no Undyne. Hell, it didn't even seem like Flowey was around.

He could hear their voices repeating in his head. Papyrus calling out to him, his own voice talking aloud, and... G's...

Since he had fallen into the CORE, Sans hadn't really heard much from him. He had his occasional run in with that strange door in waterfall but never built up the courage to enter, then when he'd come back the door would be gone. It almost certainly was G's doing, but did he have that much power that he could send Sans to a completely different world?

It seemed plausible, but even then, Gaster was only a monster like the rest of them. Sure, he had been scattered across time and space, but that doesn't necessarily mean he gained the ability to control it.

Speaking of abilities, his sudden memory of all the previous timelines may have had something to do with it. He wasn't sure how, but it definitely wasn't natural.

Not to mention that kid, Chara.

They've had the ability to control time and reset for a while now, but surely they couldn't do so on this scale. From his knowledge, not even seven human souls combined could grant that much power, so the idea that Chara could do it with only one was out of the picture.

It just didn't make any sense.

How could Sans focus on finding a way back home when he didn't even know how he got here in the first place?

The only thing he could hear through his own thoughts was the sound of raindrops hitting the ground, but they seemed to be growing less and less frequent. Maybe the sun would come out soon? It had been a while since he had seen that. Since he had last had that happy ending.

It seemed like he'd been lost in thought for so long that he hadn't even noticed that he had reached the edge of Ponyville. Strange how thoughts can completely override the real world if you let them.

-

The rain had completely came to a halt, and the only sounds to be heard were the birds chirping and water flowing. Nearby, there was small stream that flowed under a bridge, overlooked by a small cottage that was elevated just slightly higher up.

"It's kinda nice here," Sans thought to himself as the sun began to peak from behind the clouds, but then he glanced a little to his left and saw the hulking mass of dark trees, a sudden contrast to the vibrant greenery that surrounded the cottage. It almost looked a little unnatural.

Thought of entering the forest played on his mind, casting its unusually eerie appearance aside. It would be the first time that he had seen a forest that wasn't covered in snow each and every day of the year.

Step by step he got closer to the forest, passing by the cottage, until he suddenly stopped without explanation. He hadn't chosen to stop, he just suddenly felt like he had to. Staring at the treeline, a feeling of unease washed over him. It felt like the forest was controlling itself, separate from the rest of the world, and it felt incredibly off-putting.

"Sans, wait!" a quiet voice called out from behind him. Immediately, he turned around to see Fluttershy quickly hovering towards him, "You shouldn't go in there."

"You're telling me. Something about it feels off," Sans explained, turning back to the dark green trees.

"It's actually the Everfree Forest, but you might not have realised because of how close by my house is," Fluttershy said, pointing towards the cottage that Sans had previously walked by.

"The Everfree what?" Sans asked, confused.

Fluttershy suddenly looked just as confused as he did. Everypony knew about the Everfree Forest, whether you were from Ponyville or not. Even as a foal ponies are taught to stay away at all costs.

"You... Don't know about the Everfree Forest?" Fluttershy asked, to which Sans shook his head.

"Well I'm guessing it's a forest," Sans joked, earning a smile out of her. Technically he was entirely correct, even if it was a joke.

"Do you... Wanna come in?" Fluttershy asked, the two beginning to walk back up towards her house, "You don't have too of course, I just thought I'd ask..."

Sans laughed faintly to himself, "Heh, I'd love too."

Fluttershy gently opened the door to her cottage, and Sans was immediately fond of the interior. The room within had several old-style elements, like the grey brick fireplace against the wall. It almost reminded him of the Ruins when it was still populated, only this time the entire room wasn't purple.

The best word to describe it was cosy, and it was enhanced by the small rabbit slouching on the couch.

"You've got a rabbit, huh?" Sans asked, making eye contact with the animal, "Sure hope it's not as bitey as Pinkie's crocodile."

"Oh, don't worry. Angel wouldn't hurt a fly," Fluttershy replied, smiling sweetly at the rabbit. Angel suddenly stood up and gestured towards his mouth, indicating that he was hungry.

Seemingly unfazed by Angel's bossiness, she trotted over to the kitchen and brought back some food, which the rabbit proceeded to shred down into nothing but a few crumbs.

"I don't know, he seems kinda bossy," Sans said, looking down at the rabbit with an uncertain expression on his face. Pleased with his meal, Angel flopped back down onto the couch with a wide smile on his face.

"It's just his way of showing affection," Fluttershy explained, "Have you ever had any pets, Sans?"

"Yeah, I have actually, heh," Sans laughed to himself, thinking back to the pet that he used to keep in his house, "I had a pet rock. Best animal there is if you ask me; all it needs is some sprinkles every now and then and it won't bother you."

Fluttershy gave him a confused stare, before her sweet smile returned to her face.

"Well, I have a lot of animals but I don't think I have any rocks. I do know one pony that loves rocks though," Fluttershy explained, causing Sans' ears to inadvertently perk up, "Pinkie Pie's sister likes eating them..."

Sans' smile drained from his face in an instant.

"That's evil," he said blankly. He thought that Chara was evil, but this was on a whole other level. If only he could see the LV of this pony, it would've been through the roof.

"Don't worry! She eats the non-animal ones!" Fluttershy exclaimed, realising what she had said and quickly making an effort to save the situation.

"Good, because if she dared eat a live rock, then, well..." Sans said ominously, eyes blacked out. Fluttershy took a single step back nervously, feeling slightly afraid, "Then she'd have a very bad time."

Fluttershy didn't dare to talk. Clearly the idea of a rock being consumed was enough to tip Sans over the edge. Sensing her fear slowly increasing, Angel perked his head up, ready to protect her at a moments notice.

"Heh, I'm just messing with ya Flutters," Sans said with a wink, sliding alongside her and nudging her leg.

Immediately, all of the fear that Fluttershy felt vanished and was replaced with a feeling of confusion, "D-did you just call me-"

"Yep. Looks like I found your nickname already," Sans explained, happily.

With that being said though, he couldn't help but feel like he'd used that trick in a previous timeline. He remembered saying something along the lines of 'you'd be dead where you stand' or something like, only to diffuse the tension immediately after in almost the exact same way. It was with the kid, but... Not that kid. A different kid.

"I... I like it," Fluttershy said, timidly. She almost seemed to be blushing slightly.

"Well, I was once known as the legendary nickname master. And the legendary fart master. And the legendary insert verb here master," Sans joked, referencing his once elusive secret secret codeword.

Those codewords were no joke, by the way. Enough timelines had eventually passed that Sans had somehow managed to become the legendary master of everything. By become, it means he used 'The Legendary Everything Master' as his username on UnderNet.

"Anyway, I'll be seeing ya around, Flutters. There's somewhere I need to be," Sans said with a smile as he began making his way towards the door.

"Wait!" Fluttershy called, stopping him in his tracks, "I thought you wanted to know about the Everfree Forest?"

"Nah. Honestly, something tells me I'll probably find out all about it pretty soon anyway," Sans said, turning back around towards the door, "See ya."

"Oh, okay. Bye, Sans!" Fluttershy replied happily, waving. She closed the door behind him and smiled to herself, "Well, Angel, what do you think?"

Angel leapt up and crossed his arms, a sign of disapproval.

"You don't like that he scared me?" Fluttershy replied, somehow understanding what the rabbit was saying, "I know, but... He was only joking..."

Angel opened one eye, before uncrossing his arms and falling back down onto his back.

"I don't know, I just feel like I can trust him... He reminds me of Rainbow Dash, very confident," she continued, only to be met with a faint grumbling, "Unnatural? Angel, I... I don't know what you're talking about..."

This time, she was met with only silence. The rabbit lay turned to the back of the couch, eyes closed.

"Get some sleep, okay?" Fluttershy said, patting the rabbit's head, "Maybe you're just a bit grouchy today."

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay on this chapter. I recently left school so I took a 2 week break from writing, but thankfully I already had some of this chapter written so I had a point to start from.
I also know that I said I was aiming for 1-2 chapters per week, but I think I'm gonna scrap that. For me, the main cause of a burnout is having a schedule to stick to, so I think I'll just upload each chapter as I finish it.

This chapter probably seems like the start of a Fluttershy romance, but I promise it's not. I can't say much about romance without spoiling some of my future plans, but I can say that there won't be any romance in this story. There may be the occasional flirting, but other than that there won't be anything, and it can just be written off as Sans being Sans (Like in this chapter).

Credits:

Megalovania But It's Lofi by Case

5 - Once Upon a Time

Sans wandered through the bustling streets of Ponyville feeling significantly more hopeful than he had been prior. At first he thought that this world's inhabitants were only being kind to him because he was injured, but after meeting Fluttershy again, it seemed that wasn't the case.

If everyone was as friendly as her, then maybe he didn't need to be in such a huge rush to get home. To be fair, he didn't even know if time was still passing back in his home world.

It probably seemed pretty self-centred to believe that time only continued if he was present, but he still couldn't prove anything. That being said though, he also couldn't rule anything out. What if time was still passing, only he wasn't there.

He hadn't thought about it before but...

What if there was a world where everything was exactly the same only he didn't exist?

Perhaps that was what his original world was like now. Chara continues her genocide with no one to stand in her way, and Papyrus never had a brother.

Honestly, Sans wouldn't mind that.

It would've brought him some comfort knowing that his disappearance didn't bother anyone else, but that slight comfort was taken away immediately as he thought of the human's meaningless slaughter repeating again and again.

Either way, Sans wanted to get back home as quickly as-

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" a voice exclaimed angrily as Sans was bounced to the floor.

Sans placed his hoofs on the floor besides him to support himself, and looked up at the stallion. He was pretty large and definitely seemed ticked off about something. A couple of apples and other fruits lay on the ground around him, as well as an empty basket laying on its side.
"Huh? What?" Sans asked, confused.

"What do you mean what? You just walked straight into me and made me drop everything!" the stallion exclaimed, inching slightly closer to him.

Recently, Sans had been falling that deep into his own thoughts that the world around him had begun to get blocked out. He must've accidentally bumped into this pony and knocked all of his food to the floor.

"Uh... Five second rule?" Sans figured that now would probably be a good time to get out of here, before the stallion took his comment the wrong way.

He focused on his surroundings and attempted to teleport, but the only thing that happened was the flickering of a faint blue spark within his left eye.
Seemed like he'd even lost his powers. At this point, he wasn't even surprised.

"The five second rule? Is that all you've got to say for yourself? You're not even gonna apologise?" the angered pony shouted, visibly getting more and more frustrated. So much for a friendly world, huh.

"Back off, ya'll. We don't want any trouble." A familiar southern accent broke the growing tension between the two stallions, barely saving Sans from a situation that could have potentially grown out of hand very quickly.

He gave Sans a stern glare, before turning around to pick up his apples and leave.

The pony who had diffused the situation approached Sans and stood by his side, and much to his surprise it was none other than Applejack. It seemed that she must have been pretty well respected by other ponies for the stallion to just listen to her like that.

"Nice to see ya again, Sans!" Applejack said with a smile. He was surprised about how little she was fazed by the stallions anger towards him.

"Is, um... Is stuff like that normal around here?" Sans asked, beginning to retract his previous thoughts about the world seemingly friendly.
"Nah, don't worry 'bout him. If stuff like that ever happens, it usually never goes further than a few harsh words," she explained.

If that was truly the case, then atleast Sans could walk around without the worry of being murdered. He usually preferred to stay out of arguments and diffuse situations with a joke or two, but with how little he knew about this world's population, he couldn't say for sure how the townsfolk would react.

"I'm still glad you showed up when you did," Sans replied, climbing to his hooves.

"Aw shucks, Sugarcube! Ah barely even did anything," Applejack explained, helping him get back up from the ground, "He wouldn't have done anything to ya even if ah didn't show up. Ah'm not sure how things were where you're from, but fellas are pretty friendly around these parts!"

"Gotta say, not that bad for a first impression. It's better than being killed right?" Sans joked, "Anyway, do you live around here?"

Applejack turned to look out past the market stands and out into one of the fields that surrounded Ponyville. Sans traced her gaze and immediately recognised the farm that he had seen when he first woke up in the rain. "Not quite. Ah live on that there farm with the rest of mah family, but it's not that far away from the rest of Ponyville."

"Most of you just live on the edge of town, huh?" Sans asked, realising that both Fluttershy's and Applejack's homes have been relatively out of the way when compared to Sugarcube Corner, "Can't say I blame you. The quite life is definitely the route I'd choose."
"Nah, not all of us. Twilight actually lives right in the centre of town, there's no way you could miss it!" Applejack exclaimed, pointing a hoof at the huge tree that stood proudly above all the other buildings.

"Speaking of Twilight, I'm actually meant to be there right now, so you don't wanna come with, right?" Sans asked, figuring he'd at least try to be polite and ask. It was honestly a little difficult to just act natural instead of cracking a bad skeleton pun every time he talked. Given his new body, skeleton puns wouldn't even make sense anymore, so he was completely out of random jokes to tell.

Applejack shook her head. "Ah'd love too, but ah was in the middle of runnin' some errands when ah ran into you. Tell Twilight ah said hi though, okay?"
"Alright, I'll tell her you were too busy doing important farm things. See ya, Apples," Sans said cheerfully, as the orange pony began to trot off down the path back to Sweet Apple Acres, "Eh, that name could use some work."

"So who exactly is this guy?" Spike asked. He was the only one who hadn't met Sans with all the others, so understandably he was a little curious. "His name sounds kinda weird. Nothing like 'Twilight Sparkle' or 'Pinkie Pie'."

"He's a Pegasus who Pinkie found injured last night. He'd cut his chest near his leg and I don't think he'd be able to fly, so he's staying with Pinkie for now," Twilight explained, placing a few of the books she had been reading the night before back onto the bookshelves that coated the interior of the hollow tree.

"I don't mind it, really!" Pinkie chirped, happily, "He's pretty funny, and if I ever changed my mind, Rainbow Dash said he could stay with her!"
"You don't think he's a spy, do you? You said you don't know where he's from," Spike asked, seeming genuinely concerned despite the implausibility of his accusation.

Pinkie Pie burst into a fit of cheerful laughter. "Oh, Spike! If he was a spy, I'd already know!"
"How so?" Spike asked.
"I don't know!" she replied, with a smile.

Twilight was blocking out their conversation, focusing on sliding the final book back onto the shelf between two other books without knocking them over. Her magic had to be carefully aimed, or else she would risk dislodging the books and making the entire shelf look uneven.
Her tongue stuck out and her eyes squinted as she carefully lined the book up with the free space, making sure the edges aligned perfectly, before slotting it into its place.

"Done!" she exclaimed, proudly.

"Why exactly did you need to put every book away? Usually they're just laying in piles on the floor," Spike questioned, glancing around the spotless library.
"I don't want Sans' first impression of the Golden Oak Library to be a mess, especially not if it represents Ponyville," Twilight explained, taking a seat besides Pinkie Pie on the couch.

"Where even is Sans, anyway?" Spike asked, looking at the clock. It was now 12 o' clock exactly, which was pretty late considering how early Sans had woken up, "I thought he was only going for a walk?"

"Oh, don't worry," Pinkie reassured him, looking at the front door of the library, "He should arrive right about..."

Coincidentally, she was interrupted by a series of knocks on the door.

"...Now," she finished as Twilight got up to open the door.

She walked halfway across the room before simply deciding to open the door with magic. It was simply much more convenient that way than to finish walking the two and a half metres that were left.

"Heya," Sans greeted them, standing in the doorway, "Applejack said hi."

"There you are, Sans!" Pinkie exclaimed, "What took so long?"

Sans entered the library and began making his way towards the couch. As of right now, he hadn't noticed the baby dragon sitting next to the free space. "I, uh... Ran into a few ponies. Nice place, Twilight. Crocodile free too."
"Hey! Gummy's a nice crocodile!" Pinkie Pie cried in defence of her pet.
"Oh, I know. I could tell from the way he latched onto your hair," he replied with a witty wink.

Twilight and Pinkie both stared at him, confused.

"What?" Sans said in response to their stares. Maybe he really would have to tone back his humour for the time being if this was the way they reacted.

"Nothing," Twilight replied, attempting to relieve the sudden awkwardness of the situation. She had no idea why he had referred to Pinkie's mane as 'hair', but she was sure it had a valid reason, "There might not be a crocodile here, but there migghht be something else..."

Sans stopped walking the second he laid eyes on Spike. Before the awkwardness could return, the dragon leapt up onto the arm of the couch to introduce himself, "I'm Spike!"

"Uh... Hey, Spike. Can't say I've ever met a talking dragon before, heh..." Sans said, surprised that the dragon had the ability to speak. The shock factor wore off pretty quick though, since by now he had grown used to almost any weird occurrence that could happen.

"Don't worry, he's the friendliest dragon you'll ever meet," Twilight added, just in case he was put off by the idea of sitting next to a literal dragon.
"Y'know, this is the part where'd I'd tell you all some stories about myself to break the ice," Sans said, taking a seat besides Spike, "But I wouldn't want it to dragon."

Pinkie erupted into laughter having understood the joke immediately, and even Twilight let out a few snickers, however it seemed to take Spike a little longer to catch on.

"What's so funny?" Spike asked, getting no response, "Drag on? Wait a minute..."

All three ponies looked at him, waiting for the moment that he'd understand, "Ohhhh! I get it now! Dragon!"

"See what I mean, Twilight? Funny!" Pinkie exclaimed, thrilled that her previous point had already been proven despite him only being there for five minutes.
"Well, you were definitely right about that, but Sans..." Twilight began, diverting his attention away from the talking dragon, "You don't seem too bothered by a dragon that talks. I mean, when Spike met Fluttershy, he barely escaped with his life."

Sans shrugged. "Eh. I've seen some pretty cool things in the past. A talking fish, a talking rock, you name it. Plus I'm in a world full of talking ponies. A talking dragon isn't as surprising as you might thing."

Once again, he was met with confused stares from everyone in the room.

Wait, did I just say what I think I said? he thought. He was used to keeping secrets, but now he had to be incredibly careful. Things that he'd once considered normal could potentially reveal all his secrets to the world, and that was the last thing he needed right now.
"Sans, are you okay?" Pinkie Pie asked, tilting her head with concern and curiosity.

"You keep saying some pretty weird things..." Twilight added.

Sans took in a deep breath. Maybe he should tell them everything, but then again, would they even believe him? All that it'd do is cause distrust and disbelief, and that would almost definitely make getting home even harder. He couldn't afford to risk the relationships he was building this soon if he wanted any shot of getting back home.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," he lied, "It's just the... It's just the injury, that's all."

"How is your leg by the way?" Twilight asked, changing the subject. Sans had brought up his injury on purpose since he had a feeling that it would move their attention away from his seemingly strange statements.
Sans placed a hoof on the wrapping paper that covered his wound, "I've felt worse. Then again, I haven't even seen it, so I wouldn't really know."

"You could look now if you want," Spike suggested, "Twilight knows what she's doing. Probably."

"If it looks bad, I've got some actual bandages that you could use on it this time, but if it seems okay then you should be fine without it," Twilight explained in an attempt to persuade Sans.
"I guess it couldn't do much harm, right?" he told himself, reaching down to the paper preparing to unravel it. The paper slowly became looser and looser as it winded around his leg, eventually falling off all together. Honestly, he was expecting a nasty slice to be staring back up at him, but to his surprise there was only a thin cut. For what it was only a day earlier, it was healing remarkably fast.

"Hey! That's not that bad!" Pinkie exclaimed happily upon seeing the progress.

"Huh. To be honest, I was expecting something much more messy," Sans said with a smile on his face. Even now he still wasn't sure whether the wound had came from a fall that we wasn't aware of, or from when Chara had hit him with the knife back in the Underground.
Twilight leaned in closer to get a closer look at the cut, "I'm no doctor, but I think that should be healed in a day or two."

"Heh, thanks doc. I'll be back in the air in no time," he replied. Ironic considering he knew full well that he couldn't fly.

"Then you'll be able to go back home, right?" Pinkie asked, seeming a little upset that her new roommate was leaving already. She was used to being latched onto by Gummy by now , but it was nice having another pony there to watch it happen.
Sans let out a sigh, "I wish it was that simple, Pinkie."

"Sans." Twilight could tell from his voice that something was bothering him, and from all the weird things he had said in the short time they had been talking, she was almost certain that something was very wrong, "Last night, you said you had nowhere else to go."

He stared into her eyes for a few seconds, contemplating whether or not he should tell them. It might make things more difficult, but then again maybe it wouldn't.

"Eh, don't worry about me." Sans turned to look around the library, scanning the shelves for any books that might help his knowledge of the world. His eyes landed on two shelves, the 'Pegasi and Flight' section and the 'Equestrian History' section, both of which were coincidentally right next to each other, "Is it alright if I read a few books?"

"Be careful, Sans. She's just tidied up all the books to impress you," Spike joked.
Twilight gave him an unimpressed stare, "Of course you can read some books. This is a library, after all."

"Heh, thanks," he replied, making his way towards the 'Pegasi and Flight' shelf.

His eyes grazed along the shelf, reading the book names off the spines. There were many books that simply covered the anatomy of a Pegasus and the type of magic that a Pegasus can wield, and while these may have helped him, right now he was looking for something to help him learn how to fly.
Eventually, his eyes landed on a book titled 'Flight 101: Flying for Young Pegasi'.

"This'll do," he said to himself, reaching up and taking the book off the shelf. While he wasn't a young Pegasus, he most likely had similar flying to that of a newly born foal, "Twilight, can I keep this?"

Pinkie Pie glanced at him with a confused expression, "What do you need that for? That's for Pegasi who can't fly silly!"
"I know, but it's just in case I'm ever feeling a bit rusty," he explained, a smile on his face.

"Sure!" Twilight responded to his question cheerfully, which was a surprise. Sans was expecting some resistance since the library in Snowdin wasn't fond of monsters taking the books home with them, "Take whatever you like, but please don't be like Rainbow Dash and never bring them back."

"Heh, no promises." Sans placed the book down on the table, deciding that he'd practice the next time he was alone. If all else failed, he could always ask Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash for some tips.
After finding a book to help with his flying, he made his way over to the 'Equestrian History' section. If he was going to get home, it was important that he knew as much as possible about the world he found himself in.

Once again, he traced the spines of each book, reading out the name in his mind. Eventually he had found multiple books that fit his needs, the first of which being 'Age of Chaos'.

Supposedly there was once a being believed to be the embodiment of chaos and disharmony who ruled over Equestria, only to be defeated by the current princesses, Celestia and Luna. It would be an interesting read for sure, and it would probably help if Sans got to know more about the princesses in the event that he eventually might meet them.

The second book was titled 'The Mare in the Moon', and from the cover he could tell that this one had a slightly darker undertone. It seemed the story was split into two parts, the past and the present, with the past seeming to primarily feature the princesses once again.
"Seems like they've seen everything, huh?" Sans said to himself, moving onto the third book that had caught his eye.

The final book seemed to be the largest of the three, and had a distinct style that set it apart from the rest. While almost all of the books in Twilight's library were pristine and had vibrant colours and patterns, this one lacked patterns in exchange for strange hand-like symbols, and traded the colours for an almost burnt, yellow papery look.
It was clearly older than the other books, so it may also hold the most value. The title was written in large, bold letters: 'The Great War'.

Since it seemed to hold significantly more history within than the others, and seemed to cover a much larger and more widescale event, Sans simply couldn't resist the urge to read a few lines right then.

He slowly opened up to the first page, a plume of dust flying into the air.

Long ago, two races ruled over Earth: Humans and Monsters. One day, war broke out between the two races. After a long battle, the humans were victorious. They sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell.

Sans' eyes widened with shock and the book fell to the ground.

Author's Note

This chapter started off pretty uninspired, and I ended up having to rewrite it multiple times since I was never happy with it. Eventually I wrote an a scene where Sans meets Applejack for the second time, however I'm still not entirely happy with it. I feel it seems a bit too forced, but I think it's better than just starting the chapter with Sans arriving at the library.
I'm happy with how the library scene turned out, however. I may have a scene in the future where Rainbow Dash helps teach Sans how to fly, but for the most part I'm going to have him use the book to teach himself between chapters.

Also, I know I said Spike ceased to exist, but I changed my mind and added him in. You're welcome, Spike fans :moustache:

Credits:

Once Upon a Time - Piano & Strings by Leizel Banci

6 - Undying

Author's Note

Hey.

So, long time no see. Unless you found this story just now, in which case you’ve never seen me before. In that case, hi!

This story was something that I had a lot of passion for, even planning out sequels, what songs to use, battles, etc. I’ve been gone for 6 months now and my passion for this story hasn’t gone anywhere. What I did lose however was my passion to write, and when you lose the passion to write the story that you planned has no way of making it to paper.
I’m trying to start writing this story again in the hopes that my enjoyment for writing will return, as I really want to get the rest of this story as well as other things relating to it out there, since it’s been bouncing around in my head for over a year now. Anyway, if you’re one of the people that I left waiting 6 months for an update, then I’m sorry. I can’t promise a regular update schedule yet, but hopefully it shouldn’t be that long again :twilightsheepish:

Anyway, I know that there’s 0 MLP in this chapter, and that’s because I need to follow Chara’s story at the same time as Sans. The next chapter will be back to Sans in Equestria though, so don’t worry if that’s what you’re here for.
Yes, the wingdings do translate to something that makes sense. If you ever see them from this point on, feel free to translate them.

Apologies for the long authors notes this time, and I’ll see you again in hopefully not 6 months :pinkiehappy:

Credits:

Battle Against a True Hero - Epic Orchestral Arrangement by Cloudjumper

6 - Undying

"Sans?" Papyrus wandered through the snow of the Snowdin Forest searching for his brother. Despite being told to go to his post, the skeleton was nowhere to be found, "Brother, where are you? You'd better not be napping again!"

Last time Papyrus had found Sans napping on the job, he was forced to sleep on the couch for a full week. It wasn't a very effective punishment when he could effectively fall asleep in any scenario. To Sans, a couch and a bed were almost exactly the same thing.
"Sans, I swear if you don't show yourself I will be confiscating your ketchup!" Papyrus yelled, the silent forest echoeing his own voice back to him.

It was awfully quite today. Papyrus hadn't ran into a single other monster.

On any other day he would've ran into a few members of the royal guard, since they liked to patrol the areas closer to the Ruins. The most common guards around the forest were usually the dogs, but even they were nowhere to be found.

"Don't make me do this, Sans! You know you wouldn't like it if I had to-“

His voice was caught within his own throat, despite being made entirely of bones. He froze dead in his tracks, remaining still for long enough for falling snow to begin gathering on his shoulders.
Laying slightly buried in the snow was a blue jacket with white fur lining the edge of the hood; Sans' jacket.

"S-Sans?" Papyrus cautiously approached the jacket. Sans would never take that thing off, even if his life depended on it.

Before the falling snow could continue to bury it, Papyrus reached down nervously, lifting it off the ground. He called out once more, but he was met with only silence.
That silence was unnerving.

“Hm, that lazy bones. He couldn’t even be bothered to pick up his own jacket,” he told himself, brushing it off as the wind blowing Sans’ jacket off of him without him realising.

Perhaps the best cause of action was to go and tell Undyne. She would know what to do, and she'd be able to organise a search party.

Preparing to head back home, he turned the jacket around to brush of the snow and his eyes widened with horror.

Almost in line with the centre of the hoodie was a large stab wound, a red fluid staining the once blue fabric around it. Specs of dust were scattered across the material, but most of it seemed to have gathered on the ground, blending in with the snow flakes. Various other scratches and holes covered the front and sides, some barely holding together at the seams.

"S-S-" was all he was able to say, staring down at the blood soaked jacket.

Maybe it was ketchup?

Perhaps the heavy wind that took his jacket also made him spill some ketchup?

No, that didn’t add up.

A few tears began to form in his eyes, falling slowly down his face and eventually down into the snow like a raindrop. It might not have been raining here, but as always it was raining somewhere else.
Papyrus couldn’t deny what this was any longer.
Papyrus knew what had happened.

Unable to hold back any longer, he held his face up to the back of the hoodie and cried uncontrollably.

"W-Why, S-Sans?" he asked, knowing he wasn't going to get an answer, "W-Why would an-anyone do th-this?"

Papyrus continued to cry with no end to the torrent in sight, the occasional tear falling down onto the fresh snow, but no matter how much he cried, Sans wasn't coming back. Sans was gone, and the only thing Papyrus could do now was make sure that the other monsters didn't meet the same fate.

His crying began to slow, eventually stopping completely.

Now, he was going to teach the human a lesson they would hardly forget.

Chara trudged through the pre-evacuated Snowdin with their knife in hand, despite already knowing that there were no monsters to be found here. It was almost natural for them to be holding their blade at this point, as if it had become a part of them.

Still, she checked all the buildings in the town, just in case something was different. Already, she had seen more than enough evidence that this timeline was special, to say the least.
She was only in Snowdin, but already Sans was dead.

Soon, his brother would join him. She felt her grin widen.

There was no time to waste. The bloodlust was insatiable. She had already killed Papyrus hundreds of times before, but this time it was different. This time, she knew there was no smiley trashbag still left to deal with, and so she planned to savour the moment.

Before long, she had reached the edge of the town, and immediately she noticed that something was off.

Papyrus wasn’t there.

Interesting.

Perhaps that idiot had finally grown some sense and decided to evacuate with the others. Of course, this meant less EXP, but Chara would make up for it. She'd just make sure that she got to Asgore before Flowey did.

She made her way into Waterfall, cutting down all the monsters she could find. Like always, it was almost effortless. Every single monster she encountered was nothing more than a pile of dust on the ground in no more than a few seconds. Even with the drastic changes that were affecting this timeline, it was still incredibly boring.

She passed one of Sans' sentry stations, already prepared to slaughter everything she found in the next room, but then something... strange happened.

Instead of the next room that she would usually be in, she was met with a long corridor, its only notable feature being a mysterious grey door.

Chara looked around. This was confusing to even her. She expected to see a few changes after her encounter with Sans, but this?

She couldn't understand why Sans dying early would cause this door to appear.

Inconceivable sounds emanated from the door, and quite honestly Chara wasn't even certain whether she could truly even hear them or not.

She reached out and grabbed the handle to the door, and immediately it felt as if she was no longer in control of her body, as if her soul had been pulled out. Her hand, now acting under its own will, swung the door open, revealing a gaping black abyss of nothingness. Unable to control her legs, she took a step out into the void and began to fall. It was an endless fall, a fall that was to last for all eternity, but Chara wasn't scared, or even intimidated.
She was intrigued.

The void grew dark, darker, yet darker, until it overwhelmed her senses, leaving nothing behind.

✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ ✌︎☼︎☜︎ ☠︎⚐︎❄︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎☼︎ ⚐︎🕈︎☠︎ 💣︎✌︎💧︎❄︎☜︎☼︎📬︎

❄︎☟︎✋︎💧︎ ☟︎✌︎💧︎ ✌︎☹︎☹︎ 👌︎☜︎☜︎☠︎ 🏱︎☼︎☜︎👎︎☜︎❄︎☜︎☼︎💣︎✋︎☠︎☜︎👎︎📬︎

👎︎⚐︎ ☠︎⚐︎❄︎ ☞︎☜︎✌︎☼︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎ 👎︎✌︎☼︎😐︎📪︎ ☟︎🕆︎💣︎✌︎☠︎📬︎

✡︎⚐︎🕆︎☼︎ ☼︎⚐︎☹︎☜︎ 💧︎☟︎✌︎☹︎☹︎ 💧︎⚐︎⚐︎☠︎ 👌︎☜︎ ☞︎🕆︎☹︎☞︎✋︎☹︎☹︎☜︎👎︎📬︎

Before long, every monster in Waterfall had met their end by Chara's hand. That is, every monster except for that scrawny yellow one and Undyne. By now, she had killed Undyne enough times that their fight should be pretty short lived.

Chara stepped out onto the bridge, expecting Monster Kid to follow from behind, but strangely, there was no one.

It was just her, on the bridge alone.

Her heart felt like it was beating out of its chest, like her soul was attempting to tear free from her body. Of course, this wasn't her soul to begin with, but even if it were to get free, its previous owner was long gone.
The edges of her vision became dark like a black void, and a faint feeling of déjà vu crept over her.

Something had happened.

Something unique to this timeline had just happened, but she couldn't remember it. Somehow, she had forgotten about one of her previous saves, but she could still barely see some of her memories of it.

Falling.
Darkness.
More darkness.

For a being who had full power to save and load time and space at will to have their memories of a reset wiped was... startling.

Something was very wrong with this timeline, and Chara planned to enjoy it while it lasted.

Finally, her endless slaughter was beginning to pay off. At last something was changing, and if she had to continue her genocide to see it change even further, then so be it. She would gladly wipe out the monster race countless times if it meant she could alter the timeline in such ways.

"Human," an ever so familar voice called from the shadows. Almost on cue, Undyne stepped onto the bridge, "No... You don't even deserve to be called that. Creature."

Her spear was already gripped in her hands, prepared for a fight that no one would be able to back down from.

"I think it's time I brought your slaughter to an end with a slaughter of my own. In the name of all those who have fallen... In the name of Sans... I will take your soul," she proclaimed. Something about the way she was speaking seemed different. It was almost as if she was giving a final speech, knowing that this would be her last stand, "I don’t even know if your soul will work to break the barrier. We need human souls, and you are far from that. Either way, I will strike you down!”

“Right now, I can feel every-“

Pain surged through her entire body like a thunderbolt.

Chara had already grown bored by her monotonous speech, plunging the knife deep into her chest.

She knew full well that it wasn't over yet, however.

"J-Just like that? S-Somehow, with just a single..." Undyne muttered, pieces of her body already deteriorating into dust, "Papyrus... I couldn't avenge him..."

"I've failed everyone..."

The sound of dust scattering in the wind echoed throughout the cavern, combining with the sounds of pouring water to create something that sounded almost peaceful.

"No... My body... It feels like it's splitting apart," Undyne said, the dust that she was becoming slowly transforming back into a single being, "Like any instant, I'll scatter into a million pieces..."
Her grip on her spear was more intense, that burning desire to win growing stronger within her.
"But deep, deep in my soul... There's a burning feeling I can't describe." With her body fully restored, she opened her remaining eye, a bright light shimmer of hope glowing within her iris, "A burning feeling that won't let me die."

Her spear raised, pointing at Chara threateningly.

"This isn't just about monsters anymore, is it?" she said, "If you get past me, you'll..."

"You'll destroy everything, won't you?"

That was unexpected.

Chara had never heard Undyne say such a thing before, not even with the amount of times she had killed her. However, if she had to destroy everything to see all the potential outcomes for this timeline, then she'd gladly do it.
Every world, every universe. she would slaughter them all if she had to.

"Right now, everyone in the world... I can feel their hearts beating as-"

A loud clang echoed through the cavern as Chara's knife met with her spear. The idea of committing genocide in another world was interesting...

She wasn't going to waste any more time on this walking seafood.

"I'd only expect a coward like you to break the rules of their own game."

Undyne smirked. With a huge push, her spear managed to deflect the blade, causing the two to engage in a close range sword fight, only without the swords. A small knife versus a long spear, surely the victor was already decided.

Somehow, despite its range, Chara's knife managed to block all of Undyne's strikes, parrying each blow with a metallic clang. Undyne had begun moving her weapon with such speed that its blue glow had begun to look like a vortex surrounding her, almost invisible to the human eye.

Still, Chara kept up with her pace, occasionally attempting to make an attack of her own. The two exchanged blows as the wind continued to howl, the chorus of the waterfalls crashing around them.

"Is this all you've got?" Undyne mocked, pulling the spear back for a moment.

Chara grinned, seeing an opening and seizing it, swinging her knife down with enough force to kill. Her demonic grin faded however, when Undyne thrust her spear forward, sending it slicing through Chara's flesh.

She let out a blood-curdling scream as Undyne braced herself for another attack, lifting the spear once more. It came crashing down, slicing through the air with remarkable speed, only to miss its target completely. The weapon collided with the bridge, causing the entire structure to shake violently and become jammed in the old wood.

Chara had dodged the attack, and that sickening grin had returned to their face. They had let themselves get hit in order to put Undyne in a more vulnerable situation.

Her knife raised, convinced that the fight was already over.

"You're going to have to try harder than that," Undyne stated proudly, summoning a small spear in the air above them. It fell down, slicing through the decrepit infrastructure of the bridge and sending them both falling down into the waterlogged cavern below.

Chara felt herself crash into several sharp rocks as she fell, but any damage they could deal was insignificant. Upon hitting the floor, she was immediately back on her feet as a sharp spear erupted from the ground where she lay. Countless spears burst from the rocks surrounding her, caging her in like a zoo animal.

"Waterfall will be your final resting place, creature," Undyne's voice called. She stood on one of the many rocks that were coated by deadly blades, determined to end this by any means necessary, "En guard!"

Flying through the air, Undyne leapt forwards, sending a torrent of miniature spears in the direction of her foes like a flying cyclone. Each one sizzled upon hitting the ground, disintegrating as it touched the water. Chara dodged and weaved effortlessly, before jumping up and attempting to slice Undyne as she was still airborn.

The blade sliced through a portion of her armour, but thankfully didn't manage to cut any deeper. The flooded ground splashed as she landed, ignoring the close call that she had just experienced.

A flash of blue light illuminated the cavern as both of their weapons collided once again, a true symbol of good versus evil, blue versus red. Behind Chara, a miniature spear had formed, preparing to fly straight into the back of her head and end this for good.

It flew forward towards the duo who were still maintaining their blade lock, closer and closer...

Chara wasn't entirely unaware of Undyne's plan, as she could see the faint reflection of a blue object flying her way in the water below.
She ducked down, sending the spear flying over her and into Undyne, piercing her only remaining eye.

"NYAGH!"

She let out a scream that made Chara's previous one seem like that of someone who had just stubbed their toe. From this moment forward, Undyne was fighting blind.

Chara moved back, savouring her opponents pain as her end neared closer. The fight had not yet concluded, but like always, she would come out on top. She had experienced this too many times to lose, but she could at least have fun with her victim's last moments.

Undyne let out a furious cry, "I refuse! I refuse to die! Monsterkind's hopes and dreams lie within me, and I will protect them from you!"

It seemed that even blind, she still had some fight left in her.

A rainstorm of spears fell from the heavens, leaving almost no space to dodge. A few of them actually managed to graze Chara's arm, but alas it was almost pointless.

She positioned herself so that she was stood almost directly in front of one of the rocks that had been coated in spears, splashing the water with her feet to draw Undyne's attention. She could end this now, but where was the fun in that?

"You. Will. Die!" Undyne screamed as she charged in the direction of Chara's splashing, swinging her spear with as much might as she could muster. All Chara had to do was take a few steps to the side, and then watch as she ran straight into her own spears.

Like moths to a flame.

-

“God… Damnit…” Undyne coughed, her spear falling to the ground as her arms went limp. Head hung low, her magic began to fade and the spear wall she had created vanished into a cloud of blue dust, causing her to fall to the ground with a splash, “You… You won’t win…”

Chara approached the fish out of water, watching as it flopped helplessly on the ground as she prepared to fillet it with her blade.
“Even though you got past me… Asgore will crush you… Like the insect you are…”

Her face had begun to twist and contort, drooping downwards akin to the wax of a candle. Her own determination was too much for her, and now the effects were on full display.

“Sans and I can rest easy… Knowing that everyone will be safe… And this world…” Chara raised her knife high above the helpless fish’s head. Where was the fun in letting her pray melt?

“This world will live on!” Undyne proclaimed, a large smile on her disproportionated face as Chara delivered one last strike to the dying monster. The sound of dust scattering along the wind joined in the chorus created by the waterfalls, but this time you could see it too. Dust being carried along the breeze only to hit a puddle of water and dissolve, leaving only a pile of grey sand behind.

That was all that was left of Undyne.

Chara smiled to herself, looking back up to the bridge that they had fallen down from.

Nothing stood in her way now.