Solar awoke with a dull throb in his shoulder. He groaned and opened his eyesockets to find his shoulder patched up, but not completely healed. From what, he had no idea. Did someone stab him in the shoulder while he was unconscious? Nah, he'd have woken up if that were the case. Did he get hurt by someone or something before he got knocked out? It's possible, but who would be stupid enough to attack THE positive guardian? Confused, he sat up in bed, feeling suddenly so much.... lighter.

'That's strange,' he thought, standing up. 'Why do I feel like I could float away?'
He looked behind him to check if his wings were ok, but almost screamed at the sight that greeted him.

His wings were gone.

Just... gone!!!

He turned one way then another, frantically trying to convince himself he was either blind or dreaming. But, after a few more twists and turns, he accepted this was reality, and his fear and confusion morphed to anger.

'Whoever has done this to me is in for a world of pain,' he thought, storming out of the room and barely acknowledging its unfamiliarity. Instead of his office, the door through which he exited the room led directly to a hallway, stretching in both directions. Going down one side, he found a flight of stairs and headed down, hoping to find Pale, his receptionist, anybody to tell him what the hell happened to his wings.

Well, he found someone, alright. He found himself in a kitchen, facing a skeleton who was drawing at the kitchen table. The artist looked up from his work and waved, smiling at who he thought was his friend, Dream.

"Heya, Dream! How ya feelin'? Your shoulder wasn't too hard ta patch up, but ya know me, I ain't no healer."

"Who are you?"

Ink blinked in surprise.
"Uh, buddy? Ya feelin' aright?"

"I am fine. You seem to recognize me, but I don't recognize you, or this house. So, who are you, where am I, and what have you done with my wings?"

"Pfft, what wings? Did that portal do somethin' ta yer head? Damn, Baron musta knocked ya on the head or somethin'!"

"Who's Baron?"

Ink narrowed his eyesockets in suspicion.
"Ok, now you're just bein' weird. Ya really don't remember nothin'?

"Are you insinuating I have amnesia?"

"Uh, maybe?"

"Of course I remember! I was chasing my brother Nightmare, perhaps you've heard of him, then I lost him and his troublesome associates. A portal appeared and I let my curiosity get the best of me, so I went through it. Inside, there was nothing but white, but I saw someone there. They were just beyond some sort of window, and they looked familiar...."

"What'd he look like? I could try drawin' 'im for ya!"

"That would be helpful, yes. He was a short skeleton, about up to my waist. He had golden eyelights, he wore a golden circlet like my own, he wore a pale yellow jacket with teal trim, a black jumpsuit, yellow boots-"

"Aright, I'm gonna stop ya right there, Dream. Ya just described yer exact twin."

"Wha-? No I didn't!"

"Oh, yeah?"
Ink turned the tablet around, showing a picture of none other than Dream. Solar looked it over, then looked back up at Ink.

"Yes, that's the skeleton. But, we look nothing alike."

Ink groaned and dragged Solar over to the bathroom. He stood Solar in front of the mirror, and waited for the other to realize. Solar's eyesockets widened at what he saw. The same skeleton he'd met in the blank world was staring back at him. He looked back at Ink, who wore a solemn expression, and looked back at his reflection.

"H-how...?"

"I dunno, buddy," Ink said, shrugging and walking out.
"All I know is, you were passed out in front of the door when I foundja, and I can only guess what happened to ya. Of course, that demon guy Baron, probably had somethin' ta do with this, since he's the one who made that portal."

"..."

"Hey, you ok there, buddy?"

"Hmm.... If I'm in this body, that means the other skeleton is in mine. For now, I will focus on getting back to normal."

"Waaaaaaait a sec. Are ya sayin' that you're another version of Dream?!"

"That's not what I-"

"Holy shit! Does that mean the Dream I know is in your body?! Awesome! Is there another version of me as well? What's he like? What's Nightmare like? What's Error like? What's-"

"ENOUGH! I can't answer every question at once!"
Solar sighed, rubbing his forehead in frustration.
"First off, I only know one person that goes by the name 'Dream.' Second, I don't know who you are!"

"Oh yeah, my name's Ink! Nice ta meetcha!"
Ink held his hand out for the other to shake, but was left hanging.

"Charmed, I'm sure, but I don't know anyone by the name 'Ink.' You do, however, remind me of my right-hand skeleton, Pale. He's a monster without a soul, like you."

"U-uh, how did you-"

"I can sense your emotions, but they are... artificial. Much like Pale, you absorb your emotions from an outside source, correct?"

"Aright, ya caught me. Yes, I don't have a soul, but I can feel emotions through these vials I stash on my sash. *snort* Sash stash. Try to say that ten times fast. Anyway, this one's anger (red), this one's creativity (orange), this one's happiness (yellow), this one's calmness or logic (green), this one's patience (teal), this one's sadness (dark blue), and this one's fear (purple)!"

"What's the pink one?"

".........................................................................
We do not speak of the pink one."

"Ooooook, then," Solar muttered, looking around. The kitchen was small and cozy, but he wasn't too interested in the decor. He was looking for clues on who this version of him knew, if this Ink was to be believed. What was this Dream's brother like? Was he as childish and annoying as Lunar and his friends?

(Nights: UH, THIS IS VERY CONCERNING!!!
Me: Hehehehehe, I know~ He'll figure it out the hard way, tho-
Nights: WHYYYYY??!!! NOT THE PRECIOUS BIRB-
Me: *smiling* Simp.)

Suddenly, Ink winced and put a hand to his head. He looked at Solar awkwardly, realizing that he and Ink will have to join forces to stop Nightmare and his minions.

"What's wrong, Ink?"
Solar crossed his arms and narrowed his eyesockets, wary of Ink's behavior.

"W-well, uh, ya might already know this, but Nightmare is... probably causin' trouble somewhere..."

"Tch, typical. That little brat is always up to some sort of mischief somewhere. We'd better go put a stop to it before someone gets hurt."
With that, Solar opened a portal, feeling a disturbing amount of negativity in one AU in particular. He didn't notice a gravely concerned look pass over Ink's features as he followed the guardian into the portal. Ink gulped.
'Oh, somebody has most definitely been hurt where Nightmare is concerned...'

The instant Solar set foot into the ruined AU, he choked on the dust and smoke in the air. His eyesockets widened in shock as he stared at the scene in horror. Buildings with giant, red slash marks in them were collapsing, fires dotted the landscape from his view on a hill, explosions shook the ground, and the screams - oh, the screams - in the distance sounded so much closer as the souls they belonged to cried out in fear, begging for someone to save them. Solar wanted to help them, he really did, but his body would not move. He was paralyzed in shock and horror, as well as the negativity festering in the whole AU.

Solar gasped as he spotted a figure amongst the rubble of what appeared to be a store at one point, but had been razed to the ground, probably by the figure. Said figure had tendrils sprouting from its back, and one was strangling a very badly mangled human.

»CRUNCH«

Solar winced at the nauseating sound,  almost feeling sick as the figure snapped the poor human's neck and threw the now dead body to the ground like a ragdoll. The figure turned to the two guardians, a twisted smile on his face.

"Great timing, killjoys," Nightmare said, his smile turning to an irritated snarl as he walked out of the ruins of the building towards them.
"I was just starting to enjoy myself."

Solar reached for his sword out of reflex, failing to remember this wasn't his body, and thus would not have his favorite weapon. Cursing under his breath, he looked to Ink, who drew his giant paintbrush and took an offensive stance. It reminded him greatly of Template, since he too was an artist with a similar weapon, but that begged a question: Where was this multiverse's version of Template?

The sound of a gaster blaster revving up was heard behind them, and they jumped out of the way as the red beam seared the air in its wake. Cross stepped into view, sporting the same disinterested expression Solar would often see on Pale. He swung his knife into an aggressive position, ready to take on both of them. Cocky little oreo, aren'tcha?

(Nights: Ugh, pass me the Flex Tape.
Me: Here ya go!
Nights: THIS IS GORILLA GLUE!!!
Me: So what? It still works-
Nights: YEET GOES THE CAN!!!
Me: *gets hit in the head*
Nights: ...... huh. Looks like knocked them out. Hehe, time to have some fun!)

Ok, then Cross ran at Solar like a train while Ink threw Dreammare comics at Nightmare. Nightmare screeched at the disgusting imagery and curled up into a ball, pointing his sharp tentacles at Ink and the neverending cursed pictures of him making out with his bro. Then, Epic yeets himself at Cross, who is trying to chew on Solar's leg, and the two cuddle on the ground. Platonically, of course. Bromance UwU. Then, Solar shoots Nightmare with a random shotgun just lying on the ground for some reason, and as Nightmare bleeds to death, he whispers,
"Bro, *cough* I've never told you this, but *cough* I am sexually attracted to you. *cough*"
✨dies✨
Solar stares at Nightmare as he dusts away, feeling very confused, concerned, and disgusted. Error comes outta nowhere and tackles Solar, screaming,
"NOOOOOO!!!!! NOT MY SENPAI!!!!!"
Ink, Cross, Epic, and Solar stare at Error with varying expressions of amusement, disappointment, and disgust.
Then-

(Me: *wakes up to see the ensuing chaos* Nights? The frick is this tomfuckery-
Nights: Um-
Me: Give me that! *snatches notebook* Now I gotta fix it.)

*Ahem* Cross lunged at Solar, raising his knife to strike the guardian down. Solar held his hands up and closed his eyes. He didn't think Cross would be this ruthless; nevertheless, he prepared for the impact. Instead, a metallic ringing sounded between them. He looked up. Two golden daggers shone with light, almost blinding both of them. Solar smirked and twisted the daggers backward, swiping one at Cross. The black and white clad skeleton dodged, and Solar tried again. This time, Cross blocked it, but the other dagger was buried in his leg, earning a cry of pain from him and allowing Solar to trip him up. As Solar stood over him, Cross tried to back away, hoping Nightmare would do something to help him.

Ink had been distracting the dark skeleton, throwing red paint by the buckets at him. So far, it was working, and no matter how many spells Nightmare cast at Ink, the artist always seemed to dodge or escape them. This frustrated him. Where was Error when Nightmare needed him?

Speaking of whom-

The glitch has gone to find the Sans of this AU, designated "Epictale," to force them to watch as he destroyed their home. Then, he would kill them, satisfying his resentment toward these "mistakes," as he called them, once more. He hated the whole lot of them, wishing they didn't exist. This hatred, though he would never willingly admit it, stemmed from his jealousy of how lucky they were. They had homes, families, friends, and he had nothing.

Ok, that may have been a lie.

But, he won't admit it.

You stubborn tsundere, you.

The ones with happy endings were the ones he hated the most, so he targeted them more frequently. This, however, made it easier for Dream and Ink to find him, Nightmare, and Cross, as a sudden spike in negativity in a predominantly positive AU alerted Dream to their position.

Anyway, he came across the Mount Ebbot of this universe, but the barrier was still up. Oh well. Made his job easier if he didn't have to hunt the monsters down. Shrugging, he teleported inside. At least this one isn't one of those DETERMINATION-infused barriers; otherwise, he'd have to break it. He had appeared in the throne room to find a very confused Toriel, Asgore, and-

Sans.

Aha. This version of the punny skeleton wore a long, purple, black and white jacket with a hood. A scar etched its way down his closed left eyesocket, giving the impression he was blind in one eye. This wasn't the case, but Error didn't care enough to ask. Under the jacket was a plain white t-shirt, along with black pants tucked into heavy tan hiking boots. Well, this guy didn't look very intimidating-

Sans' left eyesocket opened, revealing a dark purple eyelight, and his expression darkened considerably.

-ok, nevermind.

"Who are you?"
Asgore turned to face the stranger fully, taking in their appearance. The skeleton before them looked a bit threatening, so he summoned his trident and prepared to fight.

"A better question is, howdja get in here, bruh?"
Sans stepped up to the strange skeleton, his eyelight glowing.

Error chuckled, the glitchy sound making the others cringe.
"I'm the one who's gonna destroy this pathetic universe, and don't even try to stand in my way."

Sans frowned a little, looking the skeleton up and down.
"So.... what? Are ya the exterminator, bruh? Bringin' the apocalypse?"

"Yeah, whatever. Now, to rip this mistake to shreds."
A piece of paper appeared before Error, but before he could tear it apart, Toriel threw a fireball at him. She wasn't stupid. If this guy was for real, then she would do whatever it takes to protect her home from someone who wanted to destroy it. Error didn't notice it, so he got hit directly in the chest. His clothes caught on fire, and he desperately patted at the flames, barely putting them out before he could be burnt alive.

Sans walked up to the paper, and it disappeared from his hands soon after he picked it up. The skeleton was standing back up, so Sans got into a defensive position. He dodged a couple of strings gracefully, sending a flurry of bones back at Error.

This continued for awhile, each sending an attack in the other's direction, until Error decided he'd had enough. Huffing and puffing and exhausted from the fight, he figured this was a good time to retreat and regroup, since he trusted Nightmare could make short work of this annoyance. He teleported away, leaving Toriel, Asgore, and Sans even more confused.

"Bruh."

Error arrived just in time to latch his strings onto Solar, who had Cross pinned to the ground with his foot. Solar was catapulted backward, landing roughly on the ground a few feet away from Error.

Solar looked behind him and gasped. A dark-boned skeleton stood a few feet from him, glitching and smiling insanely. This skeleton was unlike any he'd seen before; not even Blue or Template resembled him, and this concerned him. For one thing, he couldn't fall back on previous experience to take him down, and for another, they were now outnumbered. He stood up to face the giltch, a steely glint in his eyelights. Error smirked and sent a volley of strings at Solar. Most of them were cut in half, but a few caught his arm. He tried to pull away, but Error tightened the strings, earning a groan of pain from Solar. More strings wrapped around his limbs, and tried to tear his arms and legs off.

Out of nowhere, a bone shot at the strings, freeing Solar. A figure stood breathlessly a few yards to Error's left, his purple eyelight shining with amusement.
"Ayy, long time no see, bruh!"

"How the HELL DID YOU ESCAPE???!!!" Error demanded, glitching slightly.

"Funny story, bruh, my dadster was just about to break the barrier with this experimental tech I like to call, "Teh Epik Lazir." Pretty cool, right? Then you showed up, bruh."

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!!!"

"Heh, whatever you say, b r u h."

With a growl of frustration, Error summoned a gaster blaster and aimed it at Sans. The beam fired, and when the dust settled, there was no one there. Error smirked, thinking he'd finally destroyed that nuisance, until he heard a bone-chilling voice whisper in his ear.

"Ya missed, b r u h."

Error screamed, stumbling backwards and glitching crazily in fear. He hated when people he didn't like were close to him, and that obnoxious wind demon, Feralixis, would always use that weakness against him. Instead of getting used to the physical contact, it made his haphephobia worse, which was actually the intended result, despite what the wind demon says. If he or Nightmare or Cross had a weakness to exploit, those demons would surely find it. They seemed to have a knack for it, after all.

Sans summoned a bone wall behind Error, preventing the frightened skeleton from escaping. A tendril latched onto the hooded skeleton and threw him to the side, where Cross was still sitting on the ground with an injured leg. Sans got up, holding his head, then spotted the monochrome skeleton.

"Oh my bruh! Are you ok?!"

Cross looked up to see Sans holding out a hand for him. He slapped the hand away, growling viciously.

"Whoa, bruh, calm down. I'm only tryin' ta help ya, bruh."

Cross said nothing, but looked away. His eyesockets widened as he watched Nightmare create a portal and leave with Error in one of his tendrils. Not even sparing Cross a second glance, he and Error disappeared, effectively abandoning Cross for the enemy to do whatever they want with him. He should've known Nightmare would only care about rescuing his "favorite."

"Bruh, that's harsh," Sans said, watching the same scene unfold.
"Ya look like ya could use a hand there, bruh."

Once again, he offered a hand to Cross. Sighing and having no other choice, Cross took it. Solar marched up to them, an intense glare in his eyelights.

"Who were those two, Cross?"

"Uh, Dream?" Ink interjected.
"That was Nightmare and Error. What, did you not recognize them?"

"No," he said, turning to Ink.
"The only one I recognize fully is Cross, and even then, his outfit is noticeably different. And Nightmare... which one was he?"

"He was the goopy octopuss- er, I mean, he was the one who looked like he was covered in tar, and Error was the glitchy boi. Pfft, I mean, glitch."

"What happened to Nightmare to make him look and act like that?"

"Y-you don't know?"

Solar glared at Ink. The artist scratched the back of his neck, trying to find the words to explain.
"You're right, stupid question, I know. Well, he sorta kinda maybe... ate a black apple-"

"WHAT?!"

"Jeez, not so loud."

"You mean to tell me," Solar said slowly, rubbing his forehead in frustration again. "He willingly ate a black apple?!"

"Yes?"

"Ok, take me to your Dreamtale. I need to check something."

"Um, alright then."

Ink created a portal to an empty field. In the middle of the vast plain was a tree. Half of the tree looked dead, while the other half was black as coal, its branches heavy laden with black leaves and glistening, pitch black apples.

'Hmm,' Solar thought, approaching the tree. 'He turned all the golden apples black. Interesting.'

"So.... what are we doing here, again?"

Solar glanced at Ink, then back at the tree.
"I need you to do something for me, Ink."

"Uh, sure."

"Find a way to contact Nightmare. Tell him to meet me here, alone. I don't want anyone to come with him."

"Can I ask why?"

"Just do it!" Solar snapped, causing Ink to flinch.

"Aright, aright, ya don't haveta be so pushy."
Ink grumbled, opening a portal. He knew exactly how to get the Bad Guys' attention, and it'll be quite entertaining.

Solar turned back toward the tree. If his theory is correct, this might be the only real shot at stopping that... that thing Nightmare has become. Whatever possessed this version of his brother to eat black apples surely could be overcome, right? Regardless, he was determined to set this right.

It is time to fight fire with fire.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Me: *is still beating the shit out of Nights for messing with my stuff*

Nights: *sad musician noises*