18. This Ain't a Scene
Princess Cadance's heart was nearly beating out her throat as she made for the nearest balcony to get a good view at what had gone wrong in her empire. She had heard explosions and screaming, and it still felt as though something very crucial was now missing.
"CADANCE!"
The alicorn princess halted, hooves scraping the crystal floor, to turn and face her husband and the other two princesses that ruled Equestria's night and day. "What's going on?" the snow-white unicorn known as Shining Armor asked in a panic.
"I don't know," Cadance told him. "I think…something may have happened to the Crystal Heart. If that is the case, then I need you to go out into the streets and see if the ponies there need help. If they need to be evacuated, then evacuate them!"
"I will!" Shining Armor nodded before galloping down a side stairway.
Cadance looked to the two who remained: the tall white multicolor-maned alicorn Celestia, who brought the sunrise every day, and the deep blue alicorn Luna, who brought with her the night. They, like Twilight and her friends, had gone to the empire just for a casual visit.
"We are with you," Celestia emphasized to Cadance.
"Whatever comes, we will face it together," Luna added.
Cadance gave a firm nod, then resumed her run, this time with Celestia and Luna in tow.
...
As the Storm Rider swooped close to the ground, Pinkie Pie brought out her party cannon. "EAT THIS!" she cried, setting it off in the face of a very confused Storm Rider and filling the Heartless' vision with confetti. "AAAAAAND THIS!" The cannon launched a cloud of silver glitter, most of which went up the Heartless' nose. "And while you're at it, have some cake!" Pinkie produced a seven-layer cake topped with strawberries, which she held out with a smile before smashing it into the Storm Rider's nose.
Rarity took over from there, charging the monster and dealing a swift kick upward into its chin. In the meantime, Spike blew a rush of green flame at the creature's tail. Applejack leapt aboard the Storm Rider's head just as the creature decided to take flight, pulling into a loop-de-loop. With a cry of surprise, Applejack wrapped her forelegs around the Heartless' central horn, hanging on tight as the Storm Rider flipped. When it righted itself, the creature let loose another wave of bombs to fall into the streets.
Rarity and Pinkie Pie screamed in terror as the bombs fell. They were protected by the sudden appearance of a magenta dome that covered them, letting all the explosives detonate harmlessly against it. It took them a moment to realize Twilight was standing between them, putting up the dome.
The Storm Rider flipped again, and Applejack could hold on no longer. She slipped and plummeted; Twilight caught her with a magenta aura, slowly lowering her to safety. "Thanks, Twilight," Applejack breathed with relief as her hooves touched ground.
"Looks like we'll have to take this to the air," Twilight announced.
"Ready when you are!" Rainbow Dash cried, appearing at Twilight's left side; Fluttershy timidly approached from the right.
"NOW!" Twilight barked, and the trio lifted off.
The Storm Rider beat its wings at them, and a host of projectiles made of pure electricity surged forth. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy swerved to avoid all the harmful magic, making a beeline for the Heartless. Rainbow Dash and Twilight pulled up short to let Fluttershy arrive first. "So you're just a big BULLY, huh?" Fluttershy snapped, staring the Heartless down hard. "Well, I'm only going to tell you this once: STOP! PICKING! ON MY! FRIENDS!"
The Heartless, which normally did not give a care toward anything beyond the primal instinct to destroy, was momentarily stunned by that stare, a shiver running through it. It held still long enough for Rainbow Dash to fly circles round and round it, building up a rainbow cyclone that spun the Heartless until it was dizzied.
Spreading its wings and surging with lightning, the Storm Rider broke free of its confining cyclone. Waves of electricity washed out toward both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, causing them to scatter to the left and right. Once they'd put some distance between themselves and the Storm Rider, the creature summoned two walls of electricity to fence them off.
"HEY!" Rainbow Dash barked, trying to find a way to fly around the wall; the Storm Rider only made it grow larger. Fluttershy cowered behind her own wall. And that left Twilight boxed into an alley in the sky that only contained her and the Storm Rider.
Twilight's teeth gnashed. Her horn charged up. The Storm Rider beat its wings twice before bringing its wing tips together in front of its massive body, an enormous ball of lightning forming where they connected.
"TWILIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!" Pinkie Pie screamed, watching the scene from below.
Shining Armor, in the midst of escorting a host of crystal ponies to safety, turned his gaze skyward to see his sister squaring off against the great beast. "Twily!" he gasped in fear.
Twilight let loose a beam of magic at the exact same moment that the Storm Rider forged its energy sphere into a cannon of electricity. The two magics collided i midair, and the Storm Rider began to immediately overpower Twilight, pushing her beam back as the crackling energy grew dangerously closer.
But Twilight's beam was joined by a second, then a third and a fourth. Surprised, Twilight glanced out her peripheral vision to see that Cadance, Luna, and Celestia had all joined her in the sky. The quartet pressed on with their magic, fighting the electricity back, pushing it toward its owner. Then, all at once, the Storm Rider lost control, and its own beam washed over it as well as the four alicorns' magic. Overpowered, the immense creature dissolved into thin air, wisps of Darkness surrounding a glowing red heart that soared into the atmosphere.
The walls of electricity that had fenced off Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash came down, and the two pegasi joined the four princesses on their way to the ground. "Nice save!" Rainbow Dash congratulated.
"What is that thing?" Cadance asked.
"It reminds me of creatures I have seen long ago," Luna answered. "Creatures of pure Darkness, forged from corrupted hearts. They have not come to Equestria in a long time."
"There were more earlier," Twilight explained. "Smaller ones. They were summoned here by a harpy."
"This is worrisome," Celestia replied as the flying battalion touched ground.
Cadance spun to survey the base of the castle, and her fears were confirmed as she beheld the empty pillar. "The Crystal Heart! It's missing!"
"That harpy!" Rainbow Dash accused.
"It's weird," Twilight mused. "Mozenrath said he and his friends would attack from the other side. Where ARE they?"
"No idea," Applejack answered as she, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie approached the rest. "We haven't seen 'em since we split up."
"Who is Mozenrath?" Cadance asked.
"Somepony I'm beginning to wonder about," Twilight responded. "The harpy targeted him earlier, and he was interested in the Crystal Heart too. If he's gone…" She began to tremble. "We might have just been played for foals!"
"We shouldn't jump to conclusions," Fluttershy said firmly.
"He was also interested in the Elements of Harmony," Twilight remembered. "I have a bad feeling."
"You need to see the Tree of Harmony and be sure he has not attempted to harm it," Luna filled in.
"Yes!" Twilight responded. "Yes, exactly!"
"How are you going to get back to Ponyville that quickly?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"And how do you think HE got back to Ponyville that quickly?" Applejack followed up.
"There are certain spells that can transport a unicorn that far," Luna explained. "Dark spells. The Crystal Heart would have prevented anypony from using that magic earlier. However, now, it is fair game for anypony. Including myself. I can bring you to the Tree of Harmony if you must go, Twilight."
"Please, Luna!" Twilight begged.
Luna nodded her head to the side, and a Corridor of Darkness appeared in that direction. "We must use the Corridor," she explained.
Twilight spun to face the rest of her friends. "I might be wrong," she admitted. "I just need to be sure."
"We understand," Applejack told her. "You just go do what ya gotta do. We'll look for 'em here in the empire. I sure am hopin' you're wrong, though. Wuya was the one lookin' after my sister…"
"And mine!" Rarity cried.
"And Scootaloo!" Rainbow Dash realized. "We gotta find them one way or another!"
"Stay in the empire in case more of those creatures show up," Twilight advised. "Luna and I will go make sure Mozenrath isn't where I'm worried he is."
And with that, she turned and sped into the Corridor of Darkness at full speed. Luna followed quickly, and the portal closed behind them.
...
An insistent knock at the door jerked Sora, Ruby, and Papyrus out of unconsciousness and into the waking world. It took them a moment to realize that they had fallen asleep on the couch in front of the television the night before, leaning on each other chastely like a comical set of tipped-over dominoes – Sora draped against the couch's arm, Ruby snuggled up on him, and Papyrus sprawled next to Ruby with his head on her shoulder.
"WERE WE SLEEPING ON THE COUCH ALL NIGHT?" Papyrus stated the obvious as he peeled himself off Ruby, who in turn rolled off Sora; the latter two rubbed their eyes lazily. "I DO HOPE SANS DIDN'T SEE THAT. I WON'T HEAR THE END OF IT FROM HIM FOR WEEKS!"
"what now?" a deep voice sounded from the kitchen doorway. "did you say you hoped i didn't see you doing exactly what you always tease me about?"
"SANS, NO!"
Sora and Ruby stifled giggles as they looked back and forth between the two brothers.
"SANS, WHILE YOU'RE UP, GET THE DOOR," Papyrus commanded.
"nah," Sans replied.
"YOU'RE RIGHT THERE."
"door's too far away."
"IT MOST CERTAINLY IS NOT! JUST WALK OVER TO IT…" Papyrus got up, striding to where the knocking was getting louder and more insistent. "AND OPEN IT, LIKE THIS!"
He threw the door open to a view of several police officers; the first one in line roughly spun Papyrus, forced his arms behind his back, and slapped him in cuffs.
"HEY!" Sora cried; he and Ruby stood at once. "What are you doing THAT for?"
"You're under arrest for the murder of Eddie Adams," the officer announced.
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Papyrus cried in a panic, twisting his arms; the cuffs held firm.
"hey, i dunno what's goin' on here," Sans interjected, "but i do know my brother didn't murder anybody."
"We have several witnesses who saw him stab the child in the throat – " the officer began.
"A CHILD?" Papyrus was thrown into more of a panic than before. "A CHILD IS DEAD?"
" – last night, at roughly 9:30 p.m.," the officer continued. "He fled on foot and evaded pursuers for the entire night. We came here to ask YOU – " He gestured to Sans. "Where your brother was. We didn't expect him to actually come back here."
"That can't be right!" Sora pushed his way into the conversation. "We were with Papyrus all night! We made cookies, we enacted a serious hypothetical battle with action figures, and we fell asleep watching TV! He didn't have time to go murder anybody!"
"Your story sure contradicts a lot of witnesses," the officer pointed out. "Including Eddie's parents. He killed the kid right in front of them."
"But he would NEVER!" Ruby insisted.
"You're new around here, aren't you?" the officer reminded Ruby. "How do you know him well enough that you can say that?"
"I just…I do, okay!" Ruby stamped her foot.
"I'm sorry," the officer told her, "but we're going to have to ask the three of you to come in for questioning, especially since you claim to have an alibi."
"Gladly!" Sora insisted, folding his arms. "We can tell you everything! Because we KNOW Papyrus was here the whole night!"
"If you come willingly," the officer said, "you'll make this easier on everyone."
As Papyrus was dragged along to one of the police cars parked outside, watching Ruby, Sora, and Sans escorted by the officers toward a different car, a feeling of dread built inside of him. He remembered a child named Eddie who'd asked for his autograph. He didn't want to think about any child being dead, but that in particular twisted him.
The look on Sans' face was nigh unreadable, as always, but Papyrus knew he was concerned. The looks on Sora and Ruby's faces were easier to read. And he knew they felt the same dread he did, though perhaps for a slightly different reason.
One of the officers left behind on the scene nodded to her fellows. "Search the house."
...
The Tree of Harmony's luminescence cast a glow over the surrounding cavern, almost beckoning Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo closer, their own eyes shimmering with excitement.
"All right, girls," Apple Bloom said firmly. "Let's do this."
"How does this even work?" Sweetie Belle wondered aloud.
"I think we just get close to the tree," Scootaloo suggested, "and…"
Before she could finish her sentence, the tree's branches peeled away their bark, and the center of the trunk split wide, revealing the six Elements buried within. The crystals had been interrupted in the process of reforming into basic polygonal shapes, still retaining somewhat the outlines of star, balloon, diamond, butterfly, lightning bolt, and apple. The gems sped outward on shining trails of glittering dust, pairs settling in slow orbits around each of the fillies: red and pink for Scootaloo, purple and deeper pink for Sweetie Belle, and orange and blue for Apple Bloom.
"I can't believe it!" Apple Bloom chirped. "We got 'em! We actually got the Elements of Harmony!"
From her vantage point behind one of the thick, towering trees of the Everfree Forest, Wuya chuckled to herself. Seducing people into doing the wrong thing for the right reason was turning out to be just as fun as tempting them to be unrepentantly evil. She really had to do it more often.
A scream of pain rang out through the air. "What was THAT?" Sweetie Belle asked in concern.
"Somepony's in trouble!" Scootaloo cried.
Wuya chose that moment to step into view. Egging the girls on would be a bonus; she recognized that scream and she wanted something done about it. "Girls!" she said dramatically. "There you are! I've been looking all over for you!"
"Why?" Sweetie Belle asked. "You asked us to go home and then left."
"Well, obviously, you aren't at home," Wuya replied dryly. "Ohhhhh, you've got the Elements of Harmony now, I see."
"Yup!" Apple Bloom confirmed. "And we're gonna use 'em to save the Crystal Empire!"
"As soon as we help out that poor pony that just screamed," Scootaloo clarified.
"Hurry," Wuya urged. "That scream came from a friend of mine. Help him as soon as you can, please!"
"C'mon, girls!" Apple Bloom commanded, turning to gallop in the direction of the pained cry. "We gotta help!"
As Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo ran along, their crystals still circling them in midair, Wuya kept a close trail, slightly torn in her loyalty. Everything was going exactly according to plan, and no doubt the Elements would soon be in Mozenrath's clutches.
But that was provided he survived whatever had made him cry out loud enough to be heard across the forest.
...
Asgore liked to have MTT Radio playing in the background each morning as he poured his coffee. Mettaton's flair never failed to entertain him, or at least it never had in the past. The android had a talent for taking the littlest things and turning them into massive announcements, which did wonders for the soul when he got ahold of positive events.
However, that morning, what Asgore heard did not entertain him at all. The latest acoustic ballad hit of the week had been interrupted by Mettaton's strong baritone: "I am interrupting this regularly scheduled broadcast of Mornings with Mettaton to bring terrible news! It seems that Knightdock's hometown hero Papyrus, known to many as 'The GREAT Papyrus,' has just been arrested for charges of murder!"
The coffee pot slipped from Asgore's hand and crashed to the floor, leaking boiling black liquid everywhere.
"This is absolute slander if I've ever heard it!" Mettaton went on. "As a friend of Papyrus, I simply cannot bring myself to believe he would ever harm a child as he has been accused of doing! And to think those who call themselves authorities claim he plunged a knife into a poor boy's throat! I do not know what is going on here, but there is definitely subterfuge and evildoing afoot! This is an absolute outrage for which I will not stand!"
Asgore quickly turned the dial to silence Mettaton, as though that would shut him up on every radio across Knightdock and beyond. Panic coursed through him; if a child were dead and a monster accused, Mettaton taking as firm of a stance as he had done would certainly be polarizing.
But worse than that was the news about Papyrus. How could anyone have pinned the murder of a child upon him? A cold sweat sprang up beneath Asgore's fine white coat. Papyrus was so innocent; too innocent. If anyone deserved to bear the brunt of consequences for murder…
Someone did, Asgore realized, and that someone was standing in his comfortable house pouring himself coffee while poor Papyrus was trying to figure his way through his arrest. He knew that his admission of his crimes would not be a guarantee of Papyrus' release. But he did know that to go any longer without such an admission would be unjust.
...
As the officer leaned across the counter to stare Ruby down dead center of her silver eyes, she felt a chill. "And what were you doing at 9:30 p.m.?"
"I'm pretty sure that's when we broke into the stash of board games," Ruby recalled. "We tried playing this one where you buy property and charge people for trespassing on it and try to run everybody bankrupt, but we got bored of that one after a while, and Sora had already won half my money anyway, so then we switched over to the one with the candy where you pick a card and it tells you where to go, and at least nobody could collapse my empire or PLAY WITH MY EMOTIONS THAT WAY…um…yeah, we were just playing board games."
"And you're sure it was 9:30?"
"Well, I wasn't watching the clock the whole time, but I'm pretty sure."
"Hm." The officer relaxed a bit. "That's what your friend Sora said, too. Right down to the part where he won half your money. Either you worked hard collaborating on this alibi, or you're both telling the truth to the best of your ability."
"It IS the truth!" Ruby insisted, slamming a fist on the counter.
"We have several witnesses who saw Papyrus running away from the crime scene," the officer reiterated, "not to mention the boy's parents."
"Look, I'm not saying that…SOMETHING…didn't happen," Ruby replied. "But whatever it was, Papyrus didn't have any part in it. Maybe it was someone who looked a lot like him! Maybe someone put on a red cape so witnesses would think it WAS Papyrus!"
"Right now, it comes to witness against witness," the officer sighed. "You and Sora both provided a solid alibi, and Sans gave a testament to Papyrus' character. But the Adams parents saw what they saw, and so did everyone else that lived near them that night. Not to mention that you and Sora…you seem like nice people, but you also seem to have come out of thin air."
Ruby squirmed. She hoped her and Sora's points of origin weren't going to come under question. Telling the local authorities that they'd flown in from other worlds on a candy-colored spacecraft was obviously not going to fly. "Sooooo…what does that mean?"
"It means we're going to be holding Papyrus in our custody until we know exactly what's going on," the officer sighed. "No matter how long it takes."
Ruby nodded. "I understand."
"You're free to go for now," the officer told Ruby. "I think we have all we need from you."
Ruby nodded. "Okay."
Upon leaving the room, she joined Sora and Sans in the front room of the station, sitting next to them in a row of chairs. Sora eagerly leaned forward; "Well?"
"They're keeping him here until they know what happened," Ruby informed him.
"But we already KNOW what happened," Sora insisted.
"I know," Ruby said softly. "But they don't."
"This doesn't make sense!" Sora went on. "I think somebody's trying to frame Papyrus for murder!"
"I think so too," Ruby agreed.
"could be," Sans said with a nod.
"How can you be so calm about this?" Sora asked Sans. "Ruby and I are freaking out, but he's YOUR brother, and you're just…sitting there!"
"just how i roll, i guess," Sans replied. "trust me, i'm worried about him too. good to know there are people out there like you, though. people who believe in him." He waited a moment before speaking again. "undyne's probably breaking everything she can reach. she wouldn't take this lying down. only a matter of time before she shows up."
That was why when the door to the station opened, Sora, Ruby, and Sans' eyes immediately flicked to the frame. However, the monster who entered was not, as they thought, the passionate Undyne. Instead, Asgore somberly stepped over the threshold.
"Can I help you?" a passing officer asked.
"I…have something I need to say," Asgore told her.
"Is it about the murder case?" the officer inquired.
"Papyrus would never harm a human," Asgore replied. "Or anything else. You cannot hold him."
"We don't have the evidence to decide one way or the other," the officer informed him.
"But I…" Asgore seemed not to have heard the officer, his mind in a distant time and place. "I cannot go on any longer this way."
"you sure you wanna do this, buddy?" Sans asked from his vantage point in the chair against the wall.
"What's going on?" Sora wondered out loud.
"that's asgore," Sans explained. "king of all the monsters. pretty nice guy."
"Six children," Asgore told the officer. "I took the lives of six children who fell into the mountain in an effort to use their souls to break the barrier. I did it for my people. To give us a chance at a better life. But it does not change the fact that I stole their lives from them when they'd barely had a chance to live."
And that, to Sora and Ruby, didn't sound like the hallmark of a "nice guy" one bit.
...
Yzma had tuned in to the latest Mettaton broadcast and was playing it loudly across the laboratory; the Huntsman, Neo, Roman, and Snatcher were scattered about the room to listen.
"And now they're saying that King Asgore himself has confessed to not one, not two, but SIX murders!" Mettaton gushed. "It seems this story only has more heartwrenching twists in its plot as the day goes on! Though while I've no doubt that Papyrus' hands are clean, Asgore as the villain of the tale is something I could believe. After all, which of us hasn't planned a murder or two?"
"I think I like this radio host," Yzma said with a grin. Neo nodded her approval.
"But if he is the villain of our tale, he is an incredibly misguided and misunderstood variety," Mettaton went on. "Listeners, please phone in and give us your take on this devastating tale!"
There was a click as Mettaton put one of the lines on air; Neo recognized the booming voice of her fishy opponent from the beach. "Listen," Undyne growled. "If you jerks think Papyrus had ANYTHING to do with ANY of this, I will FIND you and I will FIGHT YOU!"
"Our very own Undyne!" Mettaton announced. "It seems the disbanding of the Royal Guard hasn't taken any of the spark out of her!"
"Papyrus wouldn't hurt ANYONE!" Undyne continued. "Do none of you know ANYTHING? Have NONE of you been paying attention when he's been trying to protect and befriend all of us? If you know what's good for you, you're going to let him go. NOW." On that note, she ended the call.
"Now listen and learn." Snatcher picked up his scroll, dialing in to Mettaton's station.
"You're live with Mettaton," the android told him.
The voice of Madame Frou Frou was heard across the radios of Knightdock and beyond: "Are all monsters this violent? Not only are two of them murderers, but one of them just threatened us all over the air! How do I know YOU'RE not just as bad as them?" Smugly, he disconnected the call.
Another caller: "That last person had a point. How can you say stuff like 'I will find you and I will fight you' over the air? I thought monsters were supposed to be just like everybody else, but they are just hurting people left and right!"
And another: "I thought we could trust Papyrus. But it looks like I was wrong."
Snatcher, calling in with his natural timbre: "It's not right at all, any of this! Anyone who's lost a child to these freaks of nature should demand justice, and it's justice they should get! How now are we to know that our children are safe playing in the streets? Why, any filthy monster could just pluck any child from their home and eviscerate them until there's nothing left but a pulp!"
Another: "Listen, I just think Papyrus's friends are really passionate in the heat of the moment right now. I don't think he would have hurt anybody."
Another: "Yeah, to the last person who phoned in. Are you INSANE? Do you want your kids living in a town where MASS MURDERERS are running loose in the streets?"
Snatcher's finger was poised over his scroll before it rang. He grinned, knowing exactly who was calling. "Torchwick," he ordered, "take the next call. Tell them that you think we were better off when monsters were underground, and that's where they should return."
"So the truth, then," Roman replied.
"Monsters underground are not as good as dead ones," the Huntsman argued.
"Who is calling?" Yzma demanded to know.
"A charming officer who was very sympathetic to the plights of Madame Frou Frou and Miss Incandescent," Snatcher told her smugly.
"You gave one of them your SCROLL NUMBER?" Yzma hissed.
"That I did," Snatcher confirmed, "and for the information we are about to receive, it was a necessary evil." He swiped across the scroll's screen, lifting it to his ear and slipping easily into Madame Frou Frou's accent: "Hello?"
"Ms. Frou Frou?" a voice replied.
"Oh, darling, don't act like such a stranger," Snatcher responded. "Call me Penelope."
"Heh…" the voice on the other line chuckled. "So you figured out who this is."
"Of course, Officer Clarence. Your voice is most memorable."
"Just wanted to let you know that one of the monsters ended up confessing and letting us know where he buried a ton of evidence. Apparently, there are six human souls in some kind of canisters in a field out west. The NVPD and the KPD are sending a joint team out there to collect them today. We'll have to keep them at the station for a day or so, but we should be able to return them to friends and family of the victims when we're done. You'll have Oona back with you sooner than you know it."
"Why, Officer Clarence…" Snatcher feigned a stunned demeanor. "I don't know what to say. You do not know how much it means to know we can finally have her remains with us. If only justice for her death would come so easily."
"The guy who did it is going to pay," Clarence replied. "And while the KPD is confused on the skeleton's involvement…between you and me, Penelope, I know he's guilty as sin. The pieces are falling into place, sweetheart. The only thing we won't be able to do is give Oona back."
"Thank you ever so much for letting me know," Snatcher told the officer.
"I'll give you another call when we're ready to release the souls," Clarence stated. "Or if there are any new developments."
"Thank you. I'll be anxious to hear it. You're such a brave man, Officer."
"Well, I don't know about this whole debacle requiring bravery, but you're one special lady yourself, Penelope. You be careful out there, okay? Between the monsters still running loose and the riots that are bound to come out of this…"
"I will take great care, Officer. For your sake."
"Please. Call me Walter."
"Goodbye, Walter." The moment Snatcher hung up the phone, he was finally able to let go of a laugh that had been building inside of him for a while. "Hook, line, and sinker, I daresay! It never gets old."
"And they should go back where they came from, you hear me?" Roman was yelling into his own scroll. "Keep the upper world for HUMANS. Like it was MEANT TO BE. Capisce?" He was in an equally good mood when he hung up.
"It seems you have competition," Yzma informed him. "While you delivered that lovely speech, Snatcher's been chatting it up with the officer he gave his number."
"Aw, you like one of the other boys better than me?" Roman teasingly pouted.
"He couldn't hold a Roman candle to you," Snatcher replied.
Neo stuck a finger into her mouth in the direction of her throat, miming gagging.
"Are you going to exchange flirtations for the next hour," the Huntsman broke in, "or are you going to tell us what information you gained, exactly?"
"The souls are being transported to the police station tonight," Snatcher told him gleefully. "They're as good as ours! Not to mention one of them has been promised to be delivered right into our hands!"
"And what then?" the Huntsman asked. "How do we ensure that the other five are safely within our grasp?"
"I would answer," Snatcher told the Huntsman, "but you're talking like you've already thought something up."
There was a slight crackle of static on the radio. A somber voice broke in over Mettaton's: "They're trying to get into the station, you know. Shyren and I just boarded up all the doors."
"Beauties and gentlebeauties," Mettaton announced, "I welcome hearing all of your opinions with open arms! However, we are ONLY taking phone calls at this moment! No face-to-face communication, please!"
"It seems the mob is gathering," the Huntsman muttered. He turned back to Snatcher: "As of now, I have thought of something."
...
Across the town of Knightdock, twin mobs were gathering, opposite in nature but still connected by method. Around the police station, monsters of all shapes and sizes had formed a sizeable crowd, and a few even carried picket signs demanding to "FREE PAPYRUS."
"M-maybe d-d-don't threaten to f-fight anybody this t-time," Alphys cautioned Undyne, who was hoisting the largest sign of all.
"We'll see," Undyne growled. "People need to know not to mess with my FRIENDS."
Catching sight of a familiar silhouette, Alphys greeted, "T-Toriel?"
Toriel flinched at being recognized. "Hello," she responded.
"Now they HAVE to listen to us, with YOU on our side!" Undyne cackled.
"I can only hope," Toriel said somberly.
"Wh-what about Asgore?" Alphys asked. "S-some m-m-monsters are here f-for him too."
"That is…different," Toriel explained. "And difficult. I know very well what Asgore did. And yet…there was a time I wanted the same thing. For enough humans to die that we could break the barrier."
"We all screwed up, okay?" Undyne insisted. "Things were tough back then. We thought we were being fair and just giving humans back what they gave to us. You. Me. That robot who keeps casting himself as the lead in all the community plays."
Toriel looked somberly toward the station, and Alphys realized something. "You're…JUST here f-for Asgore, aren't you?"
"I care about Papyrus very much," Toriel explained. "I no longer know what it is I feel for Asgore. But I do not want to see him suffer this way. Not when I am just as guilty as he. I remember when I called him a coward for not taking more initiative to acquire the souls we needed. But now…now that I know and love so many human children…"
"If you don't stop beating yourself up over this," Undyne growled, "I'LL beat you up over this. And listen. Right now, I'm focusing on fighting for Papyrus because I know we can win that one. But I'm not gonna give up the fight until we get Asgore back, too! So he's guilty! We know he's better than that now!"
"Um…Undyne? T-Toriel?" Alphys held up a small device she'd been using to stream MTT-radio, small buds inserted into her ears. "You sh…should p-probably know what's h-happening on the r-r-radio."
"Well?" Undyne asked.
"They h-hate us," Alphys squeaked.
...
The cell door slammed behind Asgore, closing him into the small area with only a cot, a heavily boarded-up window frame, and Papyrus for company.
"ASGORE!" Papyrus greeted. "WHY ARE YOU HERE?"
"This…is where I should be," Asgore sighed. "The real question is why you are here. You should not be here. You did nothing wrong."
"EVERYONE SEEMS TO THINK I DID FOR SOME REASON," Papyrus replied. "BUT I WOULDN'T…I COULDN'T!"
"I know."
"THAT POOR HUMAN…WHY WOULD SOMEONE KILL HIM?"
"Perhaps…" Asgore found he could not meet Papyrus' gaze. "Perhaps they thought they were doing the right thing."
"BUT HOW COULD THAT BE TRUE? KILLING A HUMAN WOULD BE A BAD THING! EVERYONE KNOWS THAT! RIGHT?"
Asgore was silent.
"RIGHT?"
Silence.
"AS…GORE?"
"I thought I was doing the right thing."
"ASGORE!" Papyrus cried in shock. "WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?"
"We needed seven souls to break the barrier," Asgore muttered.
"SO YOU…YOU JUST…HUMANS, ASGORE?"
"Yes, Papyrus. Humans."
The air grew heavy, and not a word was spoken for a while. Then Papyrus admitted, "I CANNOT BELIEVE IT, ASGORE. I DID NOT THINK YOU…"
"I am sorry, Papyrus," Asgore replied. "I can attempt to justify what I had done, but at the end of it all…I cannot. Not truly."
"ASGORE…"
"I know you are…probably disillusioned."
"I FORGIVE YOU."
Asgore's head snapped up and he made eye contact with Papyrus. Despite the skeleton lacking lips, it was still easy to tell he was smiling. "But…how…"
"BECAUSE YOU HAVE BEEN GOOD TO US FOR SO LONG! YOU HAVE ALWAYS LOOKED OUT FOR YOUR SUBJECTS! I…DON'T THINK IT WAS RIGHT OF YOU TO KILL HUMANS. BUT YOU DID SAY YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE DOING WHAT WAS RIGHT. AND I BELIEVE YOU, BECAUSE I KNOW YOU WOULD ALWAYS TRY AND DO WHAT IS RIGHT! AND I KNOW YOU CAN DO BETTER FROM NOW ON! THAT'S WHY I DON'T THINK YOU SHOULD BE HERE EITHER!"
"Papyrus…I…" The former king's eyes watered. "Thank you. I don't deserve…"
"AS YOUR SUBJECT, DO I HAVE PERMISSION TO HUG YOU?"
That made Asgore smile ever so slightly. "Papyrus, I am no longer king. You are not my subject anymore. We are friends."
"SO THAT'S A YES!"
"It is a yes."
Papyrus immediately wrapped his arms tightly around Asgore, and the former king began to tremble as he returned the gesture.
...
The second mob was composed entirely of humans, surrounding the MTT-Radio station. They too carried hastily made signs, mostly reading slogans such as "SEND MONSTERS BACK UNDERGROUND" and "KNIGHTDOCK FOR HUMANS!"
A stolen car very gently rolled up to the crowd. The Huntsman's grip tightened on the wheel. Next to him, Yzma surveyed the angry mob with glee, and in the back seat, Snatcher (dressed to the nines as Frou Frou), Roman (dressed equally flamboyantly as Fiammetta), and Neo (wearing the guise of a redhead in silver) jostled to get a good look through the front window.
"I believe you know what to do," the Huntsman goaded.
Snatcher led the five of them toward the crowd. It was absolutely perfect; he couldn't have asked for a better setup. "YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE!" he barked in heavily accented falsetto.
Most of the crowd stopped to get a good look at the five newcomers, wondering if they were here to defend monsters or join the people in tearing them down. Most of them also wondered why in the world one of them was wearing what looked like a giant horned skull for a helmet.
"These monsters!" Snatcher announced, his voice laden with as much false woe as he could muster. "They have lied to us! They have taken our children from us! And they will MURDER us if we do not stop them!"
This was met with several cries of assent.
"We cannot allow these…these vermin to continue to infect our town!" Snatcher cried. "Nay, we cannot allow them to infect our WORLD! Now tell me! Are you going to simply stand around and continue to let these outrages happen?"
"HELL NO!" a voice called back.
"Then you know what we need to do," Snatcher growled. Thrusting a fist into the air, he cried, "WE NEED TO KILL THE MONSTERS!"
Instead of a rousing cheer, he was met with stunned silence. That was his first clue he had played the card slightly too early.
"That would make us just like them!" one voice cried out.
"We're trying to STOP murders around here!" another yelled.
"Things were fine until yesterday!" a third called out. "It's just the bad ones that need to get locked up!"
"DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?" The Huntsman pushed his way to the front of the group, despite Snatcher, in somewhat of a panic, trying to tug at his sleeve to get him to step back and not make things worse. "MONSTERS ARE A MENACE THAT MUST BE EXTERMINATED!"
"We don't want ANY murders in this town!" One woman stepped forth to look the Huntsman in the eye, only slightly unnerved by the glimpse of crimson she caught through the shadows of his helmet. "From monsters or otherwise! All we want is for them to go back underground so this can stop! If you want to kill them so bad, maybe you should go underground too! Maybe YOU'RE no better than a monster!"
The sentence had the effect of hearing the glass of a hundred-year-old and thousand-dollar vase shatter. Snatcher, Roman, Neo, and Yzma all held their breath, half expecting the Huntsman to kill the woman on the spot.
But the Huntsman refrained, simply turning and stalking away. He threw open the door to the car, got back inside, turned the key, slammed the door, and drove away.
"Well," Yzma sighed, "there goes our ride."
"…Sorry to waste your time!" Snatcher said hurriedly. "Our mistake! We'll be going onw!" He turned and fled as fast as he could in heels, with Yzma, Neo, and Roman close behind.
"You can RUN IN THOSE THINGS?" Roman said in disbelief, looking from Snatcher's feet to Yzma's; her shoes were just as tall.
"You'd think that between the skeleton and King Fazbear," Yzma hissed, "we'd have had them all in the palm of our hand!"
"Asgore," Roman corrected. "'Fazbear' is from that stupid game Neo won't stop playing whenever I need to use the computer."
Neo pointed to Roman, then mimed a panic attack.
"And no, I am NOT calling that game stupid because I'm SCARED of it!" Roman groaned. "Because I am not scared of it! I call it stupid because IT'S STUPID!"
"Whatever!" Yzma groaned. "You'd think they'd at least be calling for the death of Asgoat!"
Snatcher's mind was on the Huntsman. The man was beginning to worry him, for the sake of the plan. He didn't want the Huntsman to spoil what rapport they had going among the people of Knightdock.
Little did he know that another of his companions was absolutely hoping that the Huntsman would spoil things, and soon; it had been far too long since they'd stopped talking sweet and taken some action.
His eyes fixed on the mountain base, the Huntsman clenched the wheel as he drove back to where his weapon was stored. "Whether they want it or not," he growled to himself, "the hunt begins tonight."