Underfell Frisk seemed positively FASCINATED with the world that lay on the other side, as did Underfell Undyne, who couldn't resist chatting it up with Alphys. They had spent the day tasting Burgerpants's cuisine and enjoying burgers NOT made using any sequins, had gotten to sample Muffet's baked goods, much to their intrigue and delight, been quite intrigued to find an Asgore that was as delightfully tubby and adorable as he was bearded, and, of course, had been able to enjoy a hug from Ms. Toriel without worrying one iota if she'd be, seconds later, stabbed in the back by a carving knife.

"My "mom" is such a kidder that way." Underfell Frisk had laughed, sitting with her as Rarity looked her over, working on fixing up her slightly raggedy long-sleeve. The two dimensions had now been in open contact for a good three days now, and so far, so good. Fluttershy and Twilight and Sans and Toriel had had nothing but nice things to say about the Underfell World's new state!

...which was a bit too much like a police state.

"Yeah, where the slaves are happy and carefree. Sounds awful." said Scootaloo as the Cutie Mark Crusaders sat nearby, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom listening in on what Fluttershy had to say whilst helping out around her home, unaware that Rarity was having a similar conversation with Underfell Frisk.

"It just seems that...everyone is sort of...well, dear...it's just the things I've heard rather make it seem as though they're somewhat FORCED into being nice. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of kindness? Altruism for altruism's sake is the highest ideal one can aspire to, doing good deeds in the name of reward or for avoiding punishment isn't really altruism, it's...it's selfishness and fear." Rarity confessed.

"Kindness has to come from the heart, not from something stuck into you by a mad scientist." Fluttershy nervously intoned to the Cutie Mark Crusaders as she handed Angel an adorable little salad made in the shape of his face as he cheerily dug into it with big, crunchy mouthfuls.

"I dunno, though..." Sweetie Belle murmured. "I mean...from what Underfell Undyne said, everyone over there is like...SUPER mean. I mean, worse than Diamond Tiara on a bad day mean!" She waved a hoof in the air as Apple Bloom helped fluff up a pillow for a squirrel, Scootaloo giving a spider a little piece of watermelon. It visibly blushed. "If they can't bring themselves to be good, maybe they DO need outside help?"

Meanwhile, Underfell Frisk rubbed their chin, thinking it over before she said

"Look. Suppose you have a villain. A really awful, disgusting jerk. Someone irredeemable. And the only way to make them somewhat decent at all would be to change their mind. To get inside their head, make them think they were a good guy. Have them more inclined to help old ladies across the street instead of beating and robbing them. Would you do it?"

Rarity stared at her. The implication behind what she had said genuinely frightened her, a chill running up her back as she hesitated, biting her lip.

"Think about it. If...say...you knew they were the type of person who'd go after your little sister, Sweetie Belle. Do the worst sort of things. Wouldn't you say to yourself "what's wrong with cleaning them up a little"? After all, they'd end up better people, they'd be helping others, doing good, and they'd never ever be a villain again. Even if HOW they became that way might seem a bit bad to you, isn't all the good they'll end up doing worth it? Think of all the families that'll be safer now. Or your own sister!"

Rarity hesitated again. "I...don't know. Part of me would LIKE to just wave my horn and MAKE uncouth villains become decent, part of me wants that, I won't deny I've sometimes had the urge. All unicorns, ALL of wield magic have at one point had a bit of an urge, I think, to fool around a little, be it playing a prank, or trying to make lead into gold or...things more dramatic."

"I can understand the appeal of that sort of thing, "UF", I really do." said a voice that rang through the air, and Underfell Frisk turned to see Twilight trotting into Rarity's boutique, her face solemn and thoughtful. "When I first got the power of the Alicorn, I had all sorts of ideas for what I could do. Sometimes I even dreamed of using my powers to short-circuit the minds of DESPOTS, but you know what I realized?"

"What?"

"That sort of thing isn't me." Twilight reasoned with a shake of her head. "It isn't the sort of thing I could do. Or should do. People ought to be good on their own."

"well, not everyone can be. look at...well...Discord. guy needed friends to be good."

"AAHH!" Everyone jumped, Sans now having spontaneously appeared right next to Underfell Frisk, giving them all a sort of weary smile as he waved.

"guy like him? he needed other people to "keep him in line". and sometimes it takes being on death's door to show others the light. not everyone can be good in life, only in death." Sans intoned quietly. "i ain't sayin' i like the idea completely myself, but...i understand it. i can understand the idea of amplifying the tiny speck of good buried underneath the trash, enough to turn that tiny flame into a bonfire to burn everythin' away."

"Well I'm glad you can approach it a bit more reasonably than some of the others here." Underfell Frisk said with a grin, getting up and stretching before reaching into her pocket, pulling out a notepad. She'd been taking EXHAUSTIVE notes about just about anything she saw, and now she showed off some lovely fashion designs. "Now I can show these fine costume ideas to Aaron over in my dimension, I'm sure he'll really appreciate some of these."

"She's such a nice girl." Rarity said with a wistful sigh, Underfell Frisk heading out the door, whistling nonchalantly.

Meanwhile, over in the Underfell Universe, Underfell Gaster was showing "True" Frisk an example of his AEON in action once again. This time, with Underfell Burgerpants, who appeared to be debating whether or not to hold up the convenience store in Mettaton's Hotel. UF Gaster and Frisk sat within the lab, the good doctor handing Frisk some popcorn as he sipped on a nice little soda, Frisk looking a bit concerned as Underfell Burgerpants nervously fumbled the poisoned biscuit in his pocket, having added rat poison to one of Muffet's concoctions. The Underground had almost entirely rid itself of any weaponry, he couldn't just shoot the aged mouse-like owner of the Mettaton Convenience Corner located on the first floor of the hotel, oh no. But he appeared to also, perhaps...be unable to bring himself to poison her.

"He, unfortunately, is desperate." Underfell Gaster confessed sadly. "Burgerpants has not yet gotten a raise, and the rent is rather high. I should talk to Mettaton about it, or rather..." He steepled his clawed, skeletal hands, raising an invisible eyebrow. "I will if Burgerpants makes the right choice...but I think he will. Watch closely, Frisk. Behold the power of the AEON."

Frisk leaned in, Burgerpants was whispering, the secret cameras placed all over the Underground caught so much! And one was placed in a potted plant close to the closet where Burgerpants was directly hiding behind, looking through the shrubbery at the convenience store and the mousey, frail store-owner. "Gotta do this. Gotta do this."

"And now...his conscience comes into play." Underfell Gaster said with a grin.

"Alright, stop!" Underfell Burgerpants gasped, a delightful, adorable little Sans with a blue bandanna around his neck, slightly baggy shirt, shorts, blue slippers and a big, fat bone strapped to his back was now standing to his right, shaking his head.

"Huh?"

"Now before you go into that store, try to get money out the drawer, y'all better think of the CONSEQUENCE!" It proclaimed.

"Who are you?"

"Duh, silly! I'm your CONSCIENCE!"

"What nonsense!" And now to his right stood a short-haired, blue-jacket wearing human who had baggy shorts, rather deep-set, eternally-sleepy-looking eyes, and was rather tubby. He shook his head, giving a very toothy grin, his voice as low and deep as Sans's was. " Poison her, grab the money, and run off to your girl's crib! Borrow a damn dress, and a black wig! Tell her you need a place a stay, you'll be safe for days if you shave your legs with Catty's razor blades!"

" Yeah but if it all goes through like it's supposed to, well this whole neighborhood knows you and they'll EXPOSE you! Think about it before you walk in the door first! Just look at the store clerk, she's older than Mr. Burns!" Said the cheery-looking, bandanna-wearing Sans, shaking his finger in Underfell Burgerpants's face before "Human Sans" pushed him aside, poking Underfell Burgerpants right in his chest.

"Screw that! Come on, hit that lick! You can't afford to blow this, you sure ain't rich! Why you scared to death? Are you that chick? You really think she cares if you're gonna have KIDS?!" Human Sans demanded, Burgerpants quivering and shaking, looking from the convenience store to the wallet he now held up...to the picture of Underfell Catty, her belly bulging, full of HIS children, only one month away...

"Man, don't do it, it's not worth it to risk it!" said the other Sans, shaking his head. "Not over this stuff! Drop the biscuit!"

"I WILL." Burgerpants said, tossing the poisoned biscuit away into a garbage can across the hall, heading off.

"Don't even LISTEN to HS, he's bad for you!"

"You know what, Swap? I don't like your attitude!" Human Sans grumbled, and as Burgerpants exited the hall, the two of them vanished, Underfell Gaster grinning in delight as Frisk gasped in amazement and surprise, turning from the screen they were watching all of this upon to the doctor as he turned to smile over at Frisk.

"How the...how on..."

"My AEON manifests the conscience magically, Frisk. In the event the little voice in their head telling them to do what's right isn't enough, I've got a bit of EXTRA help to push them in the right direction. Based on the most bubbly, cheery little face and the most unlikable, hateful one, all to get them to listen to the right side."

"I was wondering why he'd be a human." Frisk murmured. It made sense, Underfell Gaster would make the voice of their "shoulder devil", the face of their darker urges into something that resembled the people they'd hated for so long, and not only that, but a pathetic mockery of one of their own, whilst the AEON's inner "angel" would be an adorable doppelganger of their most laid back, kindest, chummiest...if not lazy...compatriot.

Unbeknownst to him, however, his counterpart had been very busy. They'd been taking notes of everything for one reason and one reason alone. To share the information with their secret compatriots.

"So THIS is how they set up the gate." Underfell Frisk explained, six other human kids looking up in awe at the schematic display that she unfurled on the ground as they stared through a makeshift portal she'd crafted, more of a window than a true door. "If we can get the materials, we can do it ourselves. I'm going to lay the bait for Underfell Toriel tomorrow, then you can come on through. If we're all together, we can get her to come back to where she belongs, and then!" She grinned. "Then we can teach that Dr. Gaster his place."

"Y'all sure this is a good idea, sweetie?" said a distinctly Southern-drawled voice, as the owner rubbed its chin. "I mean, if we get caught..."

"We won't get caught. And Gaster's not going to keep his plans going for much longer. I'm done with his little experiments." Underfell Frisk said balefully. "MOM deserves to run the Underground, and we'll make sure she does. I'll be a bit difficult to get her to listen, but I'll get there in the end."

"We'll get the explosives ready, then!" said a girl in a scientist's labcoat, her hair rather messy and with goggles atop her face as she toothily grinned. "I'll make sure Gaster's lab is wired with enough C4 to..."

"No, no, not EXPLOSIVES. We need something else, explosives would be too obvious. And if they ever found the remnants, they'd figure out it came from our dimension. No, we need to frame those little ponies." Underfell Frisk reasoned, shaking her her head. "The Hologram Inducer. That'll do it. And make sure the guard rails around the CORE are good and loose, and the cameras aren't watching."

"I can do that." said Underfell Christa, the child of two mad scientists giggling. "No problem for me to figure out how to loop footage long enough. But we'll need to get Underfell Gaster out of his laboratory for a good half an hour for us to do it."

"I think, perhaps...it's time we got him to have a good sit-down with his counterpart." said Underfell Anthony as he nonchalantly lit up a cigarette, the chef's apron on his front smattered with cooking grease as he chuckled, his voice far too gravelly from the result of chain-smoking. "Yes, let's have Bonnie here approach Frisk and suggest he have a little chat with his other self! They'll probably be talking for HOURS about things like "thermionic transconduence"!"

"Crap. I gotta take a shower?" Bonnie grunted, the desperado-looking teenage girl cringing. "...okay, okay, I'll do it. I can pass for his mom easily if I just clean up a little." She remarked with a chuckle. "You were right, sweetie. It DOES help to constantly be watching them whenever they come over to our dimension."

"We must always stay one step ahead." Underfell Frisk remarked.

"Do we really have to keep watching them even when they go to the bathroom though?" Neil inquired, looking a bit disgrunted since HE was always stuck with that duty.

"WEMUSTALWAYSSTAYONESTEPAHEAD."

...

...

...

... "It's all...so...perfect. TOO perfect." Frisk murmured quietly as he sat in Underfell Mettaton's restaurant, listening to some jokes from Underfell Snowy's father as he munched a bit on some fries. The faintly snowflake-shaped head of the avian-esque monster frilled a bit as he cleared his throat, adjusting his bow tie before going on, the crowd eagerly watching as his distinct accent filled the air.

"So a Jewish guy's a-walkin' down the road, past this farm and a field of cows, and who should drive up in his cah but HITLER! So Hitler, course, pulls out his pistol. Says the Jew's gonna eat a cow patty right there. The Jew, he's pissed, but he gets on his knees, starts eatin', and Hitler's laughing his ass off, so hard...he drops the gun! The Jew rushes over, snatches it up, says "Now YOU'RE gonna eat a cow paddy!" And he gets in Hitler's car, one hand on the wheel, makin' the moustachio'd asshole eat the cow paddy before he drives off and heads home. His wife sees him come into the kitchen, she asks him how his day was! And he says..."You'll NEVER guess who I ate lunch with!"

With that, everyone burst into raucous laughter, Frisk nervously smiling. He got the joke just fine but...all the same, there was still something rather unnatural about the overly smiling, happy faces around him. It was as if each of the monsters were wearing faces that didn't belong to them, and part of him felt sickened by that thought. Part of him felt that was wrong. "I should be happy THEY'RE happy. They're not hurting each other, there's a real sense of warmth and hope and joy here. They might be almost totally forced into doing it, but if it causes this much good, then...is it really so bad?"

Frisk just wasn't sure. Luckily, there came salvation, for as he looked up, he saw a figure waving over to him and he beamed, approaching the blonde-haired teenage girl wearing a cowboy hat and a large tan brown jacket, her eyes aglitter and beaming. "Mom! Bonnie! So you're here too? I was worried that...well...someone might have eaten you."

"Nah, I lucked out." Underfell Bonnie laughed, holding up the four leaf clover necklace she wore and grinning. "But I couldn't help but notice my favorite and only son is lookin' real down in the dumps. How come?" She asked, walking alongside Frisk as they made their way down the hall, Frisk rubbing the back of his neck.

"I want to like what Underfell Gaster's done, it's good to encourage people to be kind. But...this seems like its brainwashing, kinda. I dunno how to feel about it."

"Well, you know who might be able to convince him to change his mind?" Underfell Bonnie offered. "Who better to talk with than...yourself?"

"You think he might listen to OUR Gaster, then?" Frisk asked, Underfell Bonnie grinning.

"Of course! He'd be speakin' with an intellectual equal who's walked in his shoes! Perhaps literally!" She laughed, clapping him on the back as they reached Burgerpants's store and she whistled sharply, slapping down some gold. "Some milkshakes, please. Chocolate."

"Why, of course." said Underfell Burgerpants with a nod as he headed down to the right...before popping back in briefly. "It'll be a little while though, um...you see...I've been sort of LIVING in it because rent is so high."

"...you can keep the change." Underfell Bonnie sighed, hanging her head as she seemed to flinch, Frisk noticing this as she folded her arms over her chest. "So...I ain't heard anythin' from your friends or you about...well...your Dad. Did...I mean...when I got pregnant with ya, and tried to talk to him. He didn't...take it well where I came from, tried to...well..." She raised a hand to the white undershirt she wore and tugged it down, showing off a nasty bullet wound.

"Don't worry, he didn't do that where I'm from." Frisk offered.

"What DID he do?"

Frisk nervously looked over at Burgerpants. "Oh, look!" He said loudly. "He's back with our milkshakes. BOY I love chocolate milkshakes!"

Realizing the answer was probably just as morbid, Underfell Bonnie took the milkshake and she and Frisk started to drink, heading out of Mettaton's hotel. "Well, um...I guess y'all turned out okay over there all the same." She murmured. "Try to find time to drop in on the doc, get him in touch with YOUR doc. Gotta say, all those smiling faces in there...look, Snowy's Dad is funny but he ain't THAT much of a gut buster. BIT creepy seein' them laughin' at aaaaaaaaall his jokes." She murmured, Frisk nodding as he waved goodbye, seeing her head down the road as he decided to head for the Riverperson, who had their hood up and, unlike HIS Riverperson, Underfell Riverperson had a dark red hood, and a faint slid line for visor-like eyes, a bony hand gripping a scythe as it readied to row down the river.

"Tra la la la la." It remarked. "I am the Riverman. Or Riverwoman? Just kidding. I'm both." It remarked with a chuckle. "Where would you like to go?"

"Could you take me to Dr. Gaster's lab?" Frisk requested, Riverperson nodding as it let Frisk into its bony, Gaster-blaster-headed boat, a dark breeze chilling Frisk's bones as it stroked...stroked.

"Beware the Boy who Comes from Another World." It remarked, Frisk stiffening. "A flower in the basement. Waiting for a lonely death."

Frisk stiffened. The Riverperson had had a habit of prophetic, on-the-nose predictions. He had a feeling he should listen...and listen well.

"We are our own worst enemies." Underfell Riverperson added softly, closing its visor-like eye, as utter darkness seemed to bathe over the boat, for in these dark halls not even a single glowing mushroom now remained to light the way. The rower had no way of knowing which way that it was going and he certainly wasn't showing any sign that he was SLOWING!

And then...

He stopped.

"...Tra la la. Do come again." It remarked, Frisk now realizing he was, at last...at the dock close to the Hotland Lab. A laboratory he knew was one of the few places in the Underground that HAD a basement.

"Um...th-thank you!" With a quick nod, he barreled out of the boat, heading for the laboratory, Underfell Gaster currently sipping on some hot cocoa before he glanced up, the scarf bundled around him nicely as he raised a nonexistent eyebrow.

"Frisk, dear boy! How may I help you?"

"Um, could I check out your basement for a moment?" He inquired. "I don't think I've been down there?"

"Not really anything DOWN there." Underfell Gaster confessed. "I know what your Alphys did, but mine never resorted to Determination Experiments. Still...if you'd like to check out old storage bins, well, be my guest!" He laughed, tossing Frisk a skeleton key that soared through the air, Frisk grabbing it with one hand and heading for the basement elevator. He put the key into the proper slot over a button marked "Basement", and it descended down, down, down, as the air seemed to get more cold and soft and deathly silent...

Save for a faint, sad thumping, squirming noise you could only BARELY hear if you listened over the hum of dim lights.

Frisk gulped, making his way past dark, greenish walls, heading down thick-paneled floors, making for the sound, past boxes and boxes of old storage bins and abandoned equipment, towards a broom closet. It seemed to be faintly shaking...

Frisk took a deep breath, grabbed the door and tugged. Locked.

So he grabbed up a nearby toolbox, opening it up, finding a wrench, and BANGED the lock open...

A terrified, desperate-looking, near-emaciated little flower with a cute face gazing back at him.

"FRISK?! Oh thank GOD, it's you, the GOOD one, listen, you gotta help me! Underfell Frisk has lost his mind, he's gone evil, and he wants to seal us off from everyone else forever!"

"Wh...what?" Frisk asked, sounding alarmed as Flowey's little eyes bugged wide.

"The longer he spent down here, the more he came to a conclusion. The conclusion that..." Flowey gulped, eyes brimming with tears. "That nobody deserved to escaped. That we all deserved to rot down in the dark and the deep. And he'll do anything...to make sure we stay down here."

Frisk felt his insides turn to ice. His counterpart was, even now, in Ponyville.

What was she up to?

...and what did she want to do to the people he loved?