Author's Notes:

Greetings Gotham, Joker here! Well, here we go again, the latest incarnation of DARK. Now, I just want to be clear here. THIS IS NOT A DISPLACED STORY. The "Gaster" in this story is one of the pieces that was scattered all over time and space. The Frisk and Chara in this story are in fact the genuine articles. Now that that's out of the way, let's get this party started!

Beware the man who speaks in hands… beware the man from the other world… beware of… me, I suppose.

Allow me to formally introduce myself. My name is Dr. W.D. Gaster, MD, PhD, and far too many other Ds than I care to count. If you value your existence, I’d advise against asking me what “W.D.” stands for. Then again, if you’ve heard of me, you could very well already know what it stands for. All the same, do not address me as such if you want to stay alive. Please, call me Dr. Gaster, W.D., or just plain old Gaster. Furthermore, do not think for the slightest instant that I am a mere bookworm too weak and frail to fight back if provoked, for I have the brawn to match my brains. I am the Master of Shadows and Darkness. I may not be the most powerful being in the Multiverse but I can handle myself in a battle.

However, just because I have dark powers, doesn’t mean I’m an evil monster with no one who loves or cares about him, nor anyone he loves or cares about. I am dating the beautiful Princess Twilight Sparkle, whom I intend to propose to very soon, I might add. Not only am I dating Equestria’s newest celebrity, but I am the foremost scientific mind in all of Equestria. Anytime the Princesses or their Royal Scientists have a scientific problem or question, I’m the one they go directly to.

I suppose you’d like to hear the story of how I ended up in the magical land of Equestria in the first place. Well, I suppose I could tell you. Once, a very, very long time ago, I was in another dimension, working as King Asgore’s Royal Scientist in a world known only as the Underground. I was at the forefront of his Determination experiments, and I had just created a renewable source of power for all of the Underground to enjoy. I even had a small group of followers who groveled at my feet. It seemed like there was nowhere to go but up for me.

Then, one fateful day, tragedy struck me. I don’t really know what happened. The memories are… hazy… for me. Nothing more than a confusing blur. All I know is that somehow, some way, an experiment of mine went wrong, and I fell into my beloved Core. The result was… excruciatingly painful to say the least. I was broken like glass, the pieces of me scattered all over time and space. While I am merely a broken fragment of the completed form of Dr. W.D. Gaster, I was able to form a stable body of my own and make a life for myself here, in the seclusion of the Nightshade Woods of Equestria, where I conducted my experiments in relative peace, and kept a close eye on the adventures of the Elements of Harmony… which is more than I can say for some pieces of me… forever consumed by the darkness with no desire other than to fill their emptiness with entire worlds.

And now, with the introductions taken care of, we can finally begin the story properly. Let’s start with how I met the Mane 6 for the first time, shall we?
...

Twilight Sparkle walked slowly through the dark forest. She was a young woman, her long, dark blue hair accented with a pink stripe running off centered through it. The pink in her hair matched the color of the star on her cheek. She wore her usual outfit of simple blue jeans with a purple hoodie over her black undershirt. Her white sneakers quietly scuffed the foliage of the silent, looming forest as she led her friends to their destination. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and even Spike, quietly held their breath, looking around their surroundings with curiosity, suspicion...and fear. The forest they were in was not the Everfree Forest, no, this Forest was known only as the Nightshade Woods. By no means was it dangerous to the average person. Hardly any hostile creatures lurked in these woods, those that did lived far from any paths a traveller would take. The black trees with grey leaves only gave the women and dragonblood a feeling of dread, but they were in no danger.

Having seen Princess Celestia the day before, Twilight was given a specific task in these woods, to investigate a strange building that the two royal sisters were never able to enter, apparently having some form of shield over it that blocked Celestials from entering.

Lighting the way with her hand, which was glowing with magic, Twilight walked along the gravel path while keeping an eye out for anything that could possibly harm them. “So what are we looking for again? We've been out here for hours and we haven't found anything!” Rainbow Dash complained, fluttering her cyan wings nervously. Something about this forest didn't seem right, though she couldn't put her finger one it. She pulled up the hood of her light blue jacket, covering her rainbow'd locks. She did that when she was nervous, and a little at her rainbow'd lightning cheek would only serve to drive the point home; however, the others were preoccupied with their own uneasy feelings to notice. They just passed her comment off as annoyance, which was partially true.

“We're looking for a building hidden deep in the forest for the princesses, and from what I can tell from the way the path is starting to become narrow, we must be close,” Twilight answered normally, trying not to let Rainbow Dash’s impatience annoy her.

“And they couldn't just send in some of the Royal Guard because...”

“They already tried that, the soldiers were unable to enter whenever they sent in groups. They were either denied access or scared off by something guarding the building.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes and scoffed as Fluttershy gave a squeal of fear. The timid woman wrapped her butter yellow wings over her face, to hid her face from the world. She was usually a bit cautious about most everything, constantly hiding behind her long pink hair, her bangs covering most her face. After a moment of realizing there was not immediate danger, she sheepishly unfurled her wings, her cheeks blushing almost as bright as the pink butterflies on her cheek.with the hem of her white blouse, eyes down cast to stare at her green skirt and pink sandals in embarrassment.

“Ooh! Ooh! Maybe when we find the building and meet whoever or whatever is inside it, we can throw them a party!” squealed Pinkie Pie. Pinkie was was a mess. Literally, she looked like she was halfway baking a cake while decorating a party. With the splatters on her blue shirt and jeans and colorful confetti in her bushy pink hair, her face seemed to be stretched in a permanent smile as she bounced rather than walked everywhere she went. It didn't help that her cheek held the image of two blue balloons under a yellow one.

“Pinkie Pie, Ah know how ya’ll want to throw a party for everyone new ya’ll meet, but Ah think it might be a better idea to find out if there’s anythin’ dangerous in this here buildin’ first,” said Applejack. She had her blond hair back in her usual ponytail, wearing her favorite Stetson hat. Knowing that she and her friends might have to rough it for the day, she didn't dress up fancy. A simple green shirt and blue jeans did the trick, though the cowboy boots might have been a mistake. They were great in open areas, but in a dark forest? It seemed that she found every snag and hidden root there was to find. She gently tugged at the red bandanna at her neck, to alleviate herself of the excess heat from the walk. She wiped a hand over her her red apple adored cheek as she caught the trickle of sweat running down.

“Applejack’s right, Pinkie, I’d rather know if we’re dealing with some kind of brute before we run up to him with open arms,” said Rarity Belle, smoothing out her purple skirt. She also took a moment to look over her white blouse, making sure that it remained unblemished from any dirt. She lightly brushed her long, purple hair that spiraled fashionably, out of her face, revealing her own cheek mark of three purple crystals. She really wished she'd reconsidered her black heels. The shoes were killing her feet, but with this outfit, nothing went better. Oh, she was truly a martyr for fashion.

“But-but what if a party is all he needs to be nice again! No one can be evil after they been thrown one of MY parties!” said Pinkie.

Any further argument was brought to a complete halt when Twilight came to a sudden stop in front of the front gates to what appeared to be a large grayscale mansion of some kind. There was an image of a skull that seemed to be partially melted or fractured on the right side, and beneath it was a small plaque that had bizarre symbols and hand signs on it.

“Well… this is it,” said Twilight with a nervous look on her face.

“Any of you girls feel like you’re being… watched?” asked Spike. Unlike the rest of the young women, who were in their early twenties, he was just a sixteen year old boy. His spike green hair framed his face as he looked about the forest. He had his hands tucked in the pockets of his partially zipped purple jacket, revealing a black undershirt tucked into his blue jeans. He felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Someone was definitely watching..or something.

The Elements of Harmony all nodded uneasily. Rainbow Dash walked up to the gate, grabbed a hold of one of the bars, and shook it as hard as she could. The gate rattled and shook, but did not open.

“Well, the gate’s not budging, so I say we pack up and get on-” said Rainbow, before the gate began to open with a loud creaking sound.

“Well… looks like the gate’s opened for us… not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but, let’s get going,” said Twilight nervously as she and the others cautiously approached the front door of the mansion and knocked three times.

The door almost immediately swung open, causing the women and young boy to jump back in fright, which was only made worse by the apparent lack of anyone who could’ve opened it. Fluttershy’s wings immediately snapped right up against her body, which went ridged and fell to the ground.

Applejack heaved a sigh and lifted Fluttershy and placed her over her shoulder in a fireman’s carry.

“W-well… it’s rude to just hang around on someone’s front porch like this, so…” said Rarity, trailing off as she spoke, her fear keeping a lump the size of an orange in her throat. Moving forward as though hypnotized, the Elements of Harmony and Spike entered the building. The door slammed shut right behind them, causing them to jump about a foot in the air and causing their feelings of fear to intensify.

“What the hey is goin’ on around here?!” said Applejack, her voice sounding a little higher than usual.

“That’s what I’d like to know!” said Spike, shaking from head to foot as he spoke.

“Hey, do you girls hear music?” asked Pinkie Pie, cupping her hand over her ear.

The Elements of Harmony and Spike stood still and listened intently. Sure enough, there was music playing. An eerie, haunting tune…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB8o_VdvFpk&t=237s

“Okay, this is officially beyond spooky now and moved right on down to freaky town,” said Rainbow Dash, shivering in fear as she spoke.

“L-let’s try to find out where that music is coming from,” said Twilight nervously, before swallowing a gulp.

Holding each other for support and comfort, the Elements of Harmony and Spike moved as best they could without tripping over each other towards where it sounded like the music was coming from. Along the way, the national heroines saw very ominous things, such as heads belonging to monsters the likes of which Twilight didn’t even know. Finally, the music lead them to a large white door.

“Okay girls… just in case whatever’s behind this door kills us, I want you to know that… knowing you girls has been the greatest honor of my life,” said Twilight, to which she earned a murur of general assent. “Okay, here goes…”

Twilight grabbed the doorknob, turned it, and pushed the door open. Through the dull gray light, Twilight and her friends could see that this room looked something like a laboratory, with a large supercomputer of some kind facing them directly. Off in the corner was a piano, and playing it was…

The Elements of Harmony all gasped in shock and fear. Playing the piano was a young man with chalk white skin. His black hair almost hung to his chin, swaying as he played his haunting melody. He didn't seem to notice them as he played, swaying as he fingers danced along the black and white keys of the instrument in front of him. Like the keys of the piano, he was dressed in a black suit, his neck wrapped in soft white of the turtle neck shirt. Had Rarity not been fearing for her life, she would have been fawning over the smart style he wore, truly appearing, and preforming, like a professional pianist.

“You can come in, you know. It’s rude to just stand around in people’s doorways, just as it’s rude to talk about them when they’re listening,” the man said, his voice dark and raspy.

Nervously, Twilight and her friends made their way forward. “H-hello,” said Twilight nervously. “I’m-”

“Twilight Sparkle, I know,” said the man. “And with you is Rarity Belle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and the girl in a comatose state on Applejack’s back is Fluttershy. Oh, and the boy with you is Spike.”

As the man said each of their names, the women and dragonblood’s jaw dropped like a sack of potatoes.

“H-how do you know our names?!” said Rarity in shock.

Rainbow Dash placed her hands on her hips and gave the man a glare hat reeked of suspicion. “Are you a spy?” she demanded.

“No, I am not a spy,” said the man who stopped playing the piano, got up, and looked up at the Elements of Harmony. Rarity shivered at the sight of the man’s face, while the rest of the group, save for Fluttershy, could only stare, transfixed. The parts of his eyes that were supposed to be white were jet black, and his left eye was a vivid shade of electric blue. The right side of his face, however, looked as though it was horribly scarred, melted almost, and the eye was a poisonous shade of yellow.

“I am a scientist,” the man continued. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Dr. W.D. Gaster. I have been watching each of you from the very moment you got your Cutie Marks simultaniously.”

“WHAT?!” said the Elements of Harmony as one.

“Rainbow Dash was right! Ya’ll are a spy!” said Applejack, who looked as though she was fixing for a fight.

“Again, I am not a spy,” Gaster said, sounding a little irratated. “Sit down, and I will explain everything.”

“I think we’ll stand, thanks,” said Twilight, growing ever-more suspicious of the doctor.

Gaster shrugged. “Suit yourself,” he said, before taking the seat that faced the supercomputer and turned it to face the Elements of Harmony. “Like Pinkie Pie, I too have a sort of sixth sense, one that lets me know about anomilies in the fabric of reality. When each of you earned your Cutie Marks at the same time, I knew right away that you six were somethng special. So, I began to keep an eye on you, see what would become of you. As time passed, I couldn’t help but notice that each of you, one by one, moved to Ponyville. Finally, when Twilight arrived, you six banded together to wield the Elements of Harmony against Nightmare Moon, then again against Discord. But, even still, you’ve only just begun to realize your true power.”

“Whatever do you mean?” asked Rarity.

“Simply put, you six might just be the future of Equestria. As in, Celestial princesses,” said Gaster.

This news caused a MASSIVE wave of disbelief to wash over the Elements of Harmony. Princesses? Them?

“H-how is that even possible?” asked Twilight, struggling to find words. “Celestials are born, not made!”

“And although I might act otherwise, I’m highly certain none of us are descended from royalty,” said Rarity, looking around and receiving nods of confirmation from her friends.

“I’m not surprised by your disbelief. After all, my version of reality extends far beyond yours,” said Gaster, an amused smirk on his face. “But, let’s get down to business, shall we?”

Gaster turned his chair around and booted up the supercomputer and snapping his fingers. Out of seemingly nowhere, several disembodied, skeletal hands appeared and started typing across the computer’s many keyboards. Across the multiple monitors, the Elements of Harmony could see the same symbols that were on the gate outside flash.

“Erm, excuse me, but what are those symbols exactly?” asked Twilight.

“Ah, that is the Wingdings font. I like to see it as the poor man’s encryption,” said Gaster, his hands darting across the keyboards directly in front of him. “Here we are…”

A series of streaks appeared on the computer monitors. Some of them were criss-crossing abruptly, while others were broken in different ways.

“You see, my dear ladies and gentleman, I’ve detected a massive anomaly in the space-time continuum. Timelines have been stopping, starting, jumping left and right, and an increasing number have been completely obliterated. And this anomaly is headed this way, to this timeline. I need your help to figure out what it is and how to stop it, or else this timeline will be destroyed. Will you help me?” asked Gaster, turning to face the group, all of whom had looks that reeked of suspicion and dubiousness.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up a second. You just come out of nowhere, tell us that you’ve been stalking us since we were kids, and now you expect us to HELP you?!” said Rainbow, her voice suggesting that she wouldn’t help the doctor if her life depended on it.

“Well… yes. I mean, if you don’t help me, then what’s to stop this whole timeline from being wiped out?” said Gaster.

“I think we need to talk to Princess Celestia about this,” said Twilight. “If, and only if, you can get her to believe you, then we’ll help you stop this… ‘anomaly.’”

Gaster gave a sigh of defeat. “Very well, then,” he said, standing up. “Shall we?”

As one, the Elements of Harmony and Spike stood and made their way out of the lab with Gaster. However, just as Spike was about to leave the room, a loud beeping noise caught his attention. Looking over his shoulder, Spike saw that the words “ANOMALY ENTERING TIMELINE” were flashing on the supercomputer.

“Spike! You coming?” called Twilight from down the hall.

Spike shrugged before turning to follow Twilight and her crew out of the mansion.

…

Near the Everfree Forest…

A loud shink noise rang out as a rift of some kind opened up. Through it emerged what appeared to be a young human boy around Spike’s age. He had a curtain of black hair and wore a blue striped hoodie, black pants and boots, and a red heart-shaped locket around his neck with an inscription that read Determination. In the boy’s hand was what appeared to be a knife of some kind.

“Well, Frisk, another day, another Genocide run,” said a voice that seemed to come from the back of the boy’s mind.

From behind Frisk emerged another boy around the same age who bared an uncanny resemblance to Frisk, except that he wore a green-and-yellow striped hoodie and had black and red eyes. Frisk gave this boy a scowl before starting to walk away.

“Now, now, Frisk, you’ve come a long way from being that pansy little Pacifist you were back when we first met,” said Chara Dreemurr. “I’m really proud of you, you know, laying waste to timeline after timeline. But, if I can be honest with you, it’s starting to get a bit… boring.”

“Well, maybe if we’re lucky, we’ll be able to find a real challenge in this timeline,” said Frisk. And perhaps it’ll be more of a challenge than Chara and I can handle… and I’ll finally be free of him. Frisk added in his mind.

“Oh, puh-leaze Frisk. Our LOVE is over Level 50, what could possibly stand against us. And besides…” said Chara before his voice turned deep and demonic. “You’ll never be free of me.”

“Hey, a guy can dream, can’t he?” said Frisk, irratated.

“Oh, yes, he can. You know what I’m dreaming of?” asked Chara, a wicked grin on his face. “The rivers, lakes, and oceans of this world turning red with the blood of its inhabitants! Ehehehehehe...AAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!”