Undersong

by Dolfeus Doseux

You awoke without any memory of your origin or your past. But these ponies, they're going to take good care of you. Together, you'll unlock the secrets hidden in your memory. Yet something is lurking within the darkness. How will these ponies protect you when they can't even protect themselves? We're going to make great partners.

Undersong by Doseux

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Chapters

Quam Sancta

Quam Serena

Quam Benigna

Quam Amoena

O Castitatis Lilium

Finis

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Quam Sancta

I was falling again, though this time into a world full of fresh possibilities. Day had dawned, and the light illuminated every vivid color of its landscape. I could even see small sunflowers swaying in the wind far below. I imagined on each one a smile. I saw their smiles fade away, and the way the wind swayed them reminded me of shivering and fear. The ground came closer and closer, and in the seconds before we met time stood still. Seeing how fast I was falling, fear entered my heart. There was nothing to cushion our landing. And this soon... where would we end up? I surpressed the dread in my chest. Time resumed.

We hit it hard. All I could see were bright stars of white, and all I could smell were dewy blades of grass. Then blood covered my sight and my smell, and my mouth was filled with the taste of pain. In the last moments of my consciousness, I heard a gasp from afar. Only the rushing wind followed me into the darkness.

Yet you awoke. You opened your eyes when it nudged you, and you gritted your teeth when it picked you up. The sway of its step as it carried you caused you to fall asleep and dream.

I know you saw me there, waiting in the darkness. Did you hear my cry? Well, only you know. But soon...

Frisk! This is all just a bad dream...! Please, wake up!

You stirred in the sheets. Their warmth was welcoming until you regained your sense for pain. Something prevented me from calculating the damage accurately, but judging from the sharp aches which wracked your body, our fall had been a near-death encounter. We were going to live, but barely.

You opened your eyes.

The room was comfortably laid out, neither too spare nor too cluttered. The window was open, and sunshine streamed through it. The curtains were being pushed back and forth by a soft breeze. Paintings featuring forests and fauna hung from all four walls. Other than your bed, for furniture the room contained only a closed chest, a bedside table, and a standing closet.

"Oh, are you awake already?" sighed a soft voice. Your eyes fell on the small pony standing beside you. She patted you affectionately with one hoof. "There, there. Don't worry, little creature. We'll get you fixed up very soon. For now, you need to rest."

"Where am I?" you said, though the words were harsh on your dry throat.

"Oh!" She looked at you. "I did not know you could talk?"

"Water..."

She made a sound of surprise again, then nodded to herself. With one quick motion she turned around and trotted away.

You laid there for awhile, waiting.

"Here." She tipped a glass to your lips, and cool water trickled out and into your mouth. After two or three gulps, she withdrew the glass and set it on the table. "Sorry, sorry. Too much will make you sick. So, what is your name?"

"I don't..." It hurt to think. But the memory from a moment ago flashed in your mind. "My name is Frisk."

"Frisk, huh? That's a nice name. My name is Flutter—riel..."

Your head felt like it was splitting apart. You sat up and screamed. This scared the pony, and she pushed you back down with her hooves.

"Please! You're still really hurt. You have to lie down. Please, don't move."

The sound of her voice calmed you down. Your breath was heavy, and your face was covered in sweat. But the headache had left.

"What did you say was your name?"

"Oh, I said my name was Fluttershy." She smiled. "But, call me whatever you'd like. I don't mind."

"Fluttershy," you said decisively, determined not to forget it. "What... happened to me?"

"I don't know, really. I found you out in the woods while I was walking. You must have fallen out of a tree. It looks like you hit your head quite hard. Can you remember anything?"

You closed your eyes and thought. But nothing else came.

"No, I can't remember anything."

"Oh dear..." She stared down at the ground, despondent. "Well, for now, let me heal you. Later we might be able to go see someone about your memory. I've never seen something like you before, so I have no idea where you might belong."

There wasn't much else you could do at the moment, so you only nodded quietly.

"Um, so... here." She produced a small bell and set it on the table. "If you need anything, just ring this bell. I'll be along to help you shortly."

You looked at the bell.

"Well, then, be good." She patted your head gently and left the room.

The wind kept blowing in, freshly scented with flowers and carrying the calls of birdsong. You breathed deeply and closed your eyes. The rest of the room grew dark. The pain in your body subsided, and again you were left in darkness.

Do you really hate me that much?

The corridor here was really dusty. If you stayed too long, you'd catch a cough. Why was everything always so dusty? Hee-hee. It was a pitiful laugh. You cried. You knelt on the floor and couldn't stop laughing. The tears streamed down your face. It was so funny.

Wait, you didn't do that? Maybe that was me.

Behind the purple door was darkness.

A nudge at your side let the light break through. The cottage room came flooding in, and the smile on her face brought the pain back to your body.

"Here, drink this." She offered you a teacup. The smell inside made your nose scrunch up. "Trust me." You lifted your head a bit, and she brought the cup to your mouth. A small sip entered your lips. The taste was so bitter it was a battle to keep from spitting it back out. With a queasy face you forced yourself to swallow it. "Just a bit more." She tipped the cup to your lips again and more of the bitter elixir entered your mouth. This, too, you swallowed dutifully. However, you didn't know how much more of this torture you could endure.

She set the cup on the table and looked back to you with an empathetic expression.

"Sorry. That should help with the pain."

You eyed her skeptically. "Hey, Fluttershy?"

"Mm-hm?" she hummed, her bedside smile returning in a flash.

"You kind of remind me of someone. I think, when I see you, I remember my... Mom? You seem really similar."

"Really? That's nice, that you remember your mother, I mean. Do you remember where she lives?"

"I..." It didn't hurt to think anymore, but the long corridor in your head didn't lead anywhere. There was only dust and darkness. "No, but..." You looked up at her. "I think that I must've said something really mean to her, before I left, you know? And I..." Tears welled in your eyes. "I never got a chance..." Then you sat up and caught the sudden sobs with the palms of your hands. "To s-say, I'm sorry."

"There, there," said the pony, hugging you. A wave of emotion washed over you, covering your face in water. "Hush, hush... it's alright. When we find her, you can say sorry. So don't worry. I'm sure she'll forgive you."

She would forgive you? But it hurt so much. It hurt so much to remember. It hurt her so much.

At last there weren't any tears left in you. Your body still resounded with soreness, and your chest felt filled with emptiness. But the calm petting from the pony relaxed you.

"No, you're right," you said, taking in a deep breath. "I feel a bit better. Thank you." She let go of you. "Hey, but, you're going to help me find her, right? I'll just be happy to see her again. It feels like I haven't seen her in forever."

Fluttershy nodded. "Hey, can you move around much without hurting?"

You shifted a little where you sat and streched out your arms.

"Ya, I can move around. Still a bit sore, but it's much better than it was before. Thanks." You were still a bit bruised, but there didn't seem to be any bleeding. Nonetheless, a bandage had been wrapped around your head. Touching it with your finger caused a sharp spark of pain to pierce the side of your head and a shrill ring to enter your ear. You winced, though within a second the sensation went away.

"Okay, now we need to take a bath."

"Eh?" You looked up at the pony. "A bath?"

"Ya, it looks like you really need one." She giggled. "But don't worry. I've done this with all kinds of animals. I've actually gotten really good at it." Her reassurances don't remove the look of suspicion on your face.

The bath was set just to the right of the corridor coming from your room. It was surprisingly spacious and contained quite a quantity towels and utensils. Little ribbons of steam evaporated from the pool of water before you while the smell of soap slowly filled the room. Fluttershy stood beside you, still smiling innocently. Standing side-by-side like this, your head only reached to her chest.

"Uhh..."

"Here, you can put your clothes in this." She dropped a wicker basket beside you. "They'll need to be washed, too. In the meantime, well, we'll figure something out."

"Uhhhh..."

"Is, um, something wrong?"

You continue to stare at her with the same nervous incredulity.

"Hey, you're aren't embarrassed by all this, are you?"

You crossed your arms and puffed out an indignant pout. "No, of course not."

"Then...?"

Resigned, you remove your shirt and shoes, placing them in the basket.

"Those too," she said, pointing at your pants.

Unable to phase her with your stoic indignation, you toss the pants into the basket as well.

"Oh, hey, what's that?" she asked, eying you with an inscrutable expression.

You looked down. Around your neck was a heart-shaped locket. You held it between two fingers and stared at its silver surface where the words "Best Friends Forever" were engraved.

"Well, you wouldn't want to get it wet—"

You clasped both hands around the locket and glared at her. This time, she relented.

"Oh, if you want to keep it on, that's okay, I suppose."

Relieved, though unsure of the source of this sudden surge of protective instinct, you let go of the locket and looked back at the warm water waiting for you.

Fluttershy did not lie when she said she had gotten quite good at bathing other creatures. And while your brain couldn't tell you how long it had been since you last had a bath, your body informed you that it had been far too long.

You weren't sure how she held the sponge she used to scrub you, nor how she held the small cup she used to pour out water over your head to rinse you off, but the sensation of untold days of dirt washing away left you little opportunity to ponder on such trivialities.

The vapors from the pool had gone, and the water was tepid.

"Hey, Fluttershy," you said as she helped you out of the tub.

"Yes?"

"What happens when ponies die?" You were still sopping wet, and you made a small puddle on the floor while standing there.

This question completely stopped her. She looked down at you. You could see her slowly thinking through all the things she could say to you in response.

"Well..." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Well, what my mother said when I asked that question was that it depends upon the pony. Those who were good, those who had a lot of friends and family who loved them, they would live on in the memories of those they left behind. But those that—"

"No, I mean, what happens to their bodies?"

If she hadn't been uncomfortable before, she was surely well beyond it now. She stared down at you, slightly disturbed. "P-pardon me?"

You looked down to the ground. "Nevermind. It's not really that important."

Though still somewhat shaken, she stood strong and grabbed a towel in her mouth. After depositing it on your head she said, "Well, I've heard that each kind of pony returns in some way to the elements from which we were made. An Earth Pony would become the plants of the land, a Pegasus Pony would become clouds in the air, or a Unicorn Pony would become stardust in the sky. That's what they say, at least."

You dried yourself off. You don't know why you had asked that question to begin with, but you were satisfied by her answer.

After drying yourself off, you looked up expectantly at Fluttershy.

"Oh, I suppose now you need something to wear..." She picked up a robe off a rack and gave it to you. You put on the far-too-large-for-you bathrobe and looked back up at her. She giggled and said, "Well, I guess that will have to do for now."

You were filled with indignation.

Much later that day, Fluttershy returned to you while you were waiting in your room. She placed your clothes on the bed and stepped back out. The door closed with a creak.

The heart-shaped locket rested in your hands. Its weight on your palm recalled a memory locked deep in the darkness. You put the locket back on, right where it belongs. You dressed quickly, and the clean linens felt great against your skin.

You walked out of the room and found Fluttershy sitting in her living-room.

"Oh, hey, how are you feeling?"

You stretched your whole body. While your muscles gave a pang of resistance to the tension, the sensation of a good stretch refreshed your body. "I'm great. Thanks so much for all your help."

She stood up. "Hey, Frisk."

"Ya?"

"If you're feeling up to it, I'd like to take you into town. I have a friend there who could help you find some clothes that fit you. And there are so many ponies I would like you to meet. While you're here, you might as well make a few friends."

You thought about it and smiled. Nodding eagerly, you said, "Sure. Let's go."

The village of the ponies was only a few miles away from Fluttershy's house. She led you to what you could only assume was the main street of the village, where shops and stands and ponies selling so many things sat all in a row.

"Hey! Hey, care for a treat today?" said one of the ponies. The two of you came closer.

"Mm, Frisk, would you like something?"

"Who's this you have with you?" The salespony stared down at you, smiling. He then said, "You're new in town, aren't you? Well, little fella, I'll give you a cinnamon roll on the house! How's about it?"

You looked between Fluttershy and the other pony. "Sure."

The pony gave you the cinnamon roll. The smell made your mouth water. You checked Fluttershy, and she met your gaze with an encouraging expression. You bit into the cinnamon roll.

Recollection flashed in your eyes.

Human, it was nice to meet you, said a gruff voice standing there, smiling. Shadows shrouded him.

The smell of cinnamon filled the room. Mom walked up behind him.

Do you smell that? she asked. Surprise! It is a butterscotch-cinnamon pie! I thought me might celebrate your arrival. I want you to have a nice time living here. So I will hold off on snail pie for tonight.

He was kneeling now, saying, Human, I promise you, from now on and for as long as you remain here, my wife and I will take care of you as best we can. We can sit in the living room, telling stories and eating butterscotch pie. We could be like a family...

"Hey, are they alright?" asked the pony who had given you the cinnamon roll.

Fluttershy gave a nervous shrug of confusion.

You wipe the tears from your eyes. "I'm just so happy."

"You must really like cinnamon," said the standpony.

"Ya!" you said. "I like cinnamon!" You smiled broadly, holding up the roll in one hand triumphantly.

"Oh, well, that's good," said Fluttershy. "Um, thank you, sir. For the free treat. They seem to have really enjoyed it."

You ate the last of the roll and licked your lips in content. You grinned up at Fluttershy, eying her with expectation. She smiled back.

"Okay. Well, now we need go see my friend Ra—"

"Hey, what's that?" you said, running up to a flower shop.

"Er..." Fluttershy said. "Oh, well. One more stop can't hurt." She trotted up next to you. "This is a flower shop. It's run by my friends Daisy and Roseluck. They're great flower-arrangers." She frowned. "Why are you so interested in flowers, anyway?"

You entered without answering.

Fluttershy opened the door behind you. "Hey, Frisk?"

You gawked at all the flowers there. Some where still in pots. Others had been cut and placed in beautiful bouquets.

"Oh hey, Fluttershy. What's the occasion?" said a pony behind the counter. She looked down at you. "Oh! Who's this? Is this a friend of yours?"

"This is Frisk," said Fluttershy, standing close and putting a hoof around your shoulder. "We were running some errands in town and they wanted to check out some shops in the meantime."

"Frisk? Huh, well, if you see anything you like, just say so."

You walked back and forth along the walls filled with flowers. All the different kinds filled your vision with a multitude of colors.

Howdy! said an upbeat voice.

You turned around to face the voice. Surrounded by its peers, a single sunflower smiled at you.

"Huh," you said. Then you smiled back at it.

I'm Flowey.

"I didn't know you had flowers that could talk here."

"Huh?" said the shopkeeper.

Flowey the Flower, it said whilst bouncing on its stem and beaming a jolly smile.

"That's really neat."

You didn't really think that you could kill me, did you?

"Wait, what?" You stared at the flower, utterly confused.

No, of course not. We're inseparable, remember? I'm still a part of you, even after all this time. Its face contorted into an horrific visage full of grinning teeth and soulless eyes. A lolling tongue hung famished from its mouth, and its petals were shed on the ground.

You turned around to run to Fluttershy... but there was nobody there.

Hee hya hah. Vines grew all around you. All the flowers in the room prickled with thorns. One tendril caught your leg and lifted you up into the air. Oh, how much fun it will be to pay you back the misery I have endured.

"W-wait! This must be a mistake. I didn—"

It slammed you into the ground at full force. You could feel a sickening snap somewhere in your leg. Horrible pain filled your chest and stomach. It had knocked loose a tooth or two, too.

It dragged your broken body along the ground, lifting you up into the air covered in dust and blood.

"W-why are you doing this..." you managed to gasp.

Its glare met your stare.

Your body met with the ground again, this time making a most sickening crunch. You could feel your heart tearing into two pieces. You stared up at the ceiling until darkness consumed your vision, unable to say another word at the last moments of your life.

Then there was only the howling wind.

You could see nothing but blackness, but your whole body felt like it was being sucked into a whirlpool. Those unseen waters pulled you down, until you could feel yourself drowning in the darkness. At the bottom of the abyss, choked for air and light, and without even a shred of life left within you, all went white.

When you finally opened your eyes, it was staring back at you, the same as before.

Did you really think I would be satisfied with killing you only one time?

A tear rolled down your cheek. "Why are you doing this?" you cried.

More thorn-filled vines shot forward. You rolled out of the way, but one tore into your pants leg and cut the flesh. A trickle of blood came out and pooled in the sole of your shoe.

"Why is this happening to me?" you asked, desperate for some response from the abomination before you.

A dozen vines came at you from all directions. They caught you before you could find an opening to roll away. Their thorns twisted into your skin, and the vicelike vines crushed you in their grip. The very center of your being was ripped apart.

Darker still.

The white came quicker than before.

I can feel it. Every time you die, your resolve erodes. Little by little, I'll eliminate your very will to live. Then what will you do? Will you finally accept your fate?

Seedlike pellets levitated around its face. They all shot at you. You managed to jump through the hoop. Those that missed thunked against the ground and walls, kicking up dirt and splintering the wood.

"I don't want to fight you," you said firmly.

Well that's too bad. It sent another flurry of bullets in your direction. You dodged them one after another, your heart beating out of your chest. In this world, it's kill or be killed. And by that I mean I can kill you or you can be killed by me. It cackled. A pellet whirred past you, grazing your face. It left a thin mark that slowly bled out.

"Someone..."

Go ahead. Call out for help. Scream out into the darkness, "Mommy, Daddy, somebody save me!" See what good it does you.

You looked at it.

No one will come.

Your eyes welled with water.

Because you...

"Shut up!" Your knees bent to the ground. Your palms touched the earth. You shook your head. "Mom and Dad love me! They'd never abandon me! You're lying!" You reared up, eyes closed and crying, ready to strike its face with your fist. "You're lying!" you screamed.

A jolt of electricity down your spine forced you to open your eyes. Sweat poured off your face as you sat upright. The echo of your cry still rang along the corridor.

It was Fluttershy's house. This was the bed she had lent you.

"A n-nightmare?" you said to yourself.

You leaned back, shaken. Dread clung to your chest, and your breath was still nervous. After a few moments, you calmed down and looked around. Beside you was still that table, this time only holding the bell Fluttershy had given you.

You rang the bell.

But nobody came.

You got out from under the covers and stood in the room. Light still streamed through the window. The color hinted at a late afternoon.

"Fluttershy," you said at the door. With a shrug you stepped into the hallway and walked around the house. "Fluttershy?"

Where was she?

You stopped in the kitchen. It was tidy, almost entirely too tidy. She either had a religious cleaning regimen, or she didn't cook all too often. The floor and walls were tiled white. A stovetop and an island sat off to the side. A sudden shock sent shivers down your spine. You looked around, but the room was the same as before. It was only an ordinary kitchen. Your heart thumped, and your blood became chilly. You crossed your arms and bent your back, a feeling of sickness filling your stomach. There was a drawer in the kitchen, under the counter. It was by the sink. Silverware was probably inside.

You chuckled half-heartedly. There was no reason for this horrible feeling wracking your body right now. The drawer sat there. The drawer had a handle made of wood. You didn't know why ponies made things that didn't compliment their biology at all.

Your heart thumped. Your blood was so cold now. Your fingers wrapped around the handle. You had to see inside.

Like you expected, there were forks, several kinds of spoons, and...

I smiled.

A large knife lay there, still set securely in its safety sheath. I picked it up and unsheathed it. Still sharp. I pointed it out toward the air and slashed left and right several times. Just as good as the old one.

It felt good to be me again.

Fluttershy wasn't home. Though, she might be outside. I decided to search there instead.

Fluttershy's cottage was surrounded by well-landscaped gardens and a quiet forest to the side. From the position of the Sun and its light over the trees, twilight would arrive in around an hour.

Many animals lived here, it seemed. They approached me occasionally, likely out of curiosity. I ignored them all and walked on. The area around Fluttershy's house wasn't very large. It took only a few minutes to find that she was nowhere in sight.

She was in town, then. I didn't want to get too deep into it so soon, and I was craving a quicker encounter that could whet my appetite. So I would wait for her to return. In the meantime, maybe I'd play with the animals. Surely they could provide a short period of entertainment.

As I planned out my next sequence of moves, I heard a merry hum coming from the forest boarder. Back so soon? I smiled.

After approaching the location of the sound, my good humor turned into curiosity. It was not Fluttershy humming, but the pony we saw while in the flowershop. She was filling her basket with small, cerulean-colored blooms and had not noticed my presence. I thought about how to engage her. Stealth was never an option before, but perhaps now...?

I shook my head and smiled.

"Oh!" she said when I walked up to her and tapped her with my hand. "Oh, hello. I didn't see you there. Your name is Frisk, right? Are you feeling better?" She looked back to her basket full of flowers. "Ah, if so, I suppose you might not need these."

"Why do you say that?" I asked, sitting down.

She sat on her haunches and looked over at me. "Well, when you collapsed in my store like that, I got worried. Fluttershy said you had a fever. But she ran out with you before I could say anything. I thought that you might have had an allergic reaction to my flowers. If that were true, I'd feel really awful." She put a hoof on her basket full of flowers. "Then I remembered that these flowers grow right next to where Fluttershy lives. They're well-known for being hypoallergenic. They grow here because there is a clear spring river that runs near these woods. So I decided to stop by and pick some for you. They're not the prettiest, but I know even a small ray of sunlight can help when you're feeling down."

I could almost hear the rushing water which flowed through the forest far off in the distance. Insects sang all around us, and the smell of flowers mingling with freshly-cut grass filled up the air. The day was just temperate enough to be comfortably warm without causing me to sweat. It was a wonderful evening, and I breathed it all in.

I looked over the flowers. A single bee buzzed about them, collecting nectar. It was nearing nightfall.

"Hey," I said to the first star to appear in the sky. "Do you think that even the worst person can change? That there is a glimmer of a good person inside everyone, and that they can do better if they try?"

Even though I was still staring up into the sky, I felt her wonder at my words.

"Ya," she said. "I would say I believe that. I mean, no one is all-bad, right? Even the meanies and villains. Maybe they're doing what they do because they're angry or hurt. Or maybe they're just all alone. Maybe they think that no one cares about them, so they stop caring about other ponies."

I sighed, still smiling. "I have a better question."

"Oh?" She perked up her ears, more curious than before.

"Do you think you'll have what it takes to survive, once the time comes for you to die?"

She heard the question, but she hadn't understood it. I saw that in her eyes.

"I'm sorry? I'm not—"

"When you meet someone who can't feel remorse, will you continue to believe compassion can solve all your problems?"

She still hadn't understood, but I had unnerved her.

"Even if I met—"

"Finally, if you never came home tonight... If today was the last time you got to see your friends, your last chance to tell those closest to you that you loved them, would you be happy with how your life had turned out?"

That had gotten her. I wasn't as good at the psychological side. That was his preference. Still, I was satisfied.

"I'm sorry. I'm going home. It's l—"

I stood up and brought out the knife I held in my hand.

"I'm sorry, but no, you aren't."

---

Quam Serena

The sun had set and night had come. The lights in the sky had been covered by clouds. A ghastly darkness hung all around.

"W-what?" she said. "H-hey, if this is a joke, it isn't very funny." She stood up and started backing away.

"But you haven't even heard the punchline yet," I said.

"Y-you're really freaking me out, kid. S-stop making that face..."

I saw in her shaking legs that she wouldn't fight back. Her expression was filled with fear and wariness, but one more provocation would cause her to flee. Now was the time, then. Her usefulness had been exhausted.

I inhaled, clutching tighter to the handle of my knife. The next move needed to proceed smoothly if we were to avoid unnecessary mess. I struck along the neck with a swift stroke. The clouds in the sky cleared away, and moonlight caught the splay that appeared as if it was a flurry of rose petals turning in the wind.

She fell to the ground. Her body made no sounds.

"Looks like you're pushing up daisies now," I said. It wasn't funny. I laughed anyway.

Once she was gone, I had a moment to think to myself. It hadn't been much fun. I was still getting used to how different this world was from our own. Hopefully they wouldn't all be like this. No, there'd be someone along the line strong enough to survive... for a time. They could make it fun. Before then, though, I'd have to make the most of what I had. This could be interesting, if I played it out properly.

I turned my back to the forest threshold. I left the edge of the trees and walked home. In the dark the light from the windows lit up the grass. When I got to the door, it wasn't locked.

"Hey—" I said before stopping. There was the trace of something sickly sweet wafting though the house. My stomach churned. A shudder shook my body and I knelt to the ground, clutching the splintering pain in my head. It was too soon. I can't be... This couldn't be the...

"Oh!" said a voice from the kitchen. "Were you outside this whole time? Please don't run off like that again. Here, I brought home an apple pie that my friend made for you."

When she had walked in and seen me, she stopped. The parcel in her mouth dropped to the ground. The room was full of the smell of cinnamon.

The knife fell from your hand. You looked around in confusion, settling your sight on Fluttershy. "I—?" You struggled to recall the last hour. "Sorry, when I woke up, you weren't home. I thought you might be outside, so I looked around there. I guess I didn't notice when you came back."

She took a moment to recompose herself. Then she smiled.

"Oh, I probably should have left you a letter, at least. But I honestly did not expect you to be up and about so soon." She looked down at the knife laying on the ground. "That said, you really ought not to play with things like this." She picked up the knife and the parcel from the ground. "You could have hurt yourself quite badly."

You chuckled at this last thought. You weren't entirely sure why you had brought it outside, but surely...

"Well, where I come from, it's rather common for dangerous creatures to be roaming around randomly. I, I think I picked that up out of instinct, as a means to protect myself from potential danger."

Did you really believe that?

Fluttershy giggled. "You won't have to worry about any dangerous creaures here, Frisk. Even the big bear only looks dangerous, and he's only like that when he's gotten grumpy over something. And if that ever happens, a back rub and a eager ear are all that you need to calm him down."

You nodded. You had felt a pang of unease at the thought of using the knife against another creature. But your memory of those emotions soon coalesced into a pool of unintelligible slurry. In its wake was left only the image of Fluttershy looking at you quizzially. You stopped nodding and shook your head to attention with an abashed grin.

"Here, let's have some of this apple-cinammon pie. It'd be an awful shame to have it go to waste." She gestured to the kitchen where two plates had already been set out.

You followed her there and sat down at the small kitchen table.

She cut the pie quickly and served you a slice. She took the next piece, and together you tried it. It was exquisite. Your heart brimmed with joy.

"Hm, that's odd," said Fluttershy. "I think I taste the faintest hint of rose. Applejack must have tweaked her recipe."

"Applejack?" you asked.

"She's the one who made you the pie. She has a whole orchard of apples out near here. She's a great cook, too." Fluttershy beamed while taking another bite. "Maybe you will have a chance to meet her soon."

"I'd like that," you said, finishing off your plate of pie.

When the dishes were cleaned and put away, Fluttershy turned to you and said, "I know this might sound like an off-the-wall question to you, but what do you think of school?"

"What do I think... of school?" you said back to her. You reached back into mind, trying to recall anything useful.

Yo, dude... Hey, I thought we were friends! Why are you doing this? Hey! I'm talking to... d-don't look at me like that.

(Oh man. This is bad. What would Papyrus do?)

Yo! I know this looks bad, but I think this might just be a big misundersta—

Head hurt for a moment. But you came back with an answer.

"Mom ran a school. But something tragic happend during classes one day. They had to shut the whole thing down. She wasn't very happy about that. That had been her dream, too, to be a teacher." You sighed. "Since it happend so soon after I started, I never actually experienced what school was really like. So, I don't know."

Fluttershy stood and pondered on your words.

"You're still young, right, Frisk? I don't know how your kind ages, but I assume you're still a kid?"

"Ya, I'm still a kid."

How old were you really? I suppose it depended upon how you were counting.

"If you want, tomorrow I can take you to the school in town. Since you don't really have anything to do in the meantime, and I have a few things I need see to that day, you could spend some time getting to know ponies nearer to your own age. How does that sound?"

"Sure." You hadn't thought over it, but you saw no reason to argue.

"Okay, then." Fluttershy tapped your shoulder. "Now you need to go to bed."

Despite having only woken up a couple of hours prior, you genuinely felt fatigued. You nodded your assent, yawning. She took you back to your room, tucked you in, and sang a short lullaby before leaving quietly.

You fell asleep before the door had closed.

Wind over the grass rustled the leaves of the trees. Moonlight and the bright twinkling stars loomed overhead, coloring over the darkness. These scenes reached you while you slept. They formed the background beneath your eyes now blind at bedtime.

You felt the grass brush up against your face and awoke with a start. You were outside, facing toward the edge of a forest. In the air hung the hum of a familiar melody. She was there with a watering pot, pouring water over the plants. They sparkled with small drops of dew.

She was that flowerpony from town. Yet that wasn't right. She shouldn't be here, not after the dead of night. The song still rung in your ear. The water flowed from her pail.

You shook your head with a reserved resolve, walked up to her, and tapped her with your hand.

"Oh! I didn't see you there." She turned back to the patch of flowers she was watering. "I wasn't expecting any company tonight." The buds drooped sadly on their stems. They were rather small and didn't have a smell. "But it will be nice for a change. Few ponies will see lunar blooms in their prime." As soon as she had said this, one by one the flowers stood up straight and their petals unfurled fully.

They all threw the dew on their buds into the air around them. As the moon shown on these drops, the whole glade lit up like an outlandish starfield. An uncanny glow came from the blossoms. The scent of nocturnal life emerged, and you were swallowed by the smell of the morning hours. Like a daydream you sat together watching it all unfold. Except this was more like a nightwake, a mixture of darkness and keen awareness. Even the slight mist sent out and falling gently on the grass grazed your cheeks. The cold moister ran down your face.

"Every month, when the New Moon shines in the sky, I come out her and water these flowers. If the night is bright enough, they bloom. And when the night is finished, they die. But the small pockets of pollen sent out tonight will find more flowers, and from those will come seeds that reach the ground. In only a month's time, they sprout, a fresh batch of these strange flowers. It's like life."

"What happens to those that don't bloom?" you asked suddenly.

"Mm? Oh, well, I suppose if one never bloomed, it would just keep on living here, stooped a little, still waiting for the time when it can finally unfurl."

You looked on at the flowers swaying, throwing out their pollen, and living their last moments in a beautiful blaze. You imagined a single stooped stem set in among them, hidden by the glory of its peers.

"Hey, you know my name, but I don't know yours," you said to her.

She smiled broadly. "Oh, I'm—"

A circle of seed-like pellets surrounded her. They all came crashing down onto her. She had the same look of surprise your Dad had when he died. In a moment her whole body had evaporated into the wind, a stream of red petals scattered between the trees.

Hee hee. You will never learn, will you?

Your hands were shaking. You didn't want to be afraid. You were too angry to be afraid.

Being friends, getting to know people, caring about them. All of this just opens up your heart to be hurt. Flowey popped up from out of the dirt. His menacing grin spread wide across his flowery face. Under the earth, something was stirring. But I know how you are. You'll want to fix this. You'll want to go back to undo the "mistake". So go ahead. Reset us. I'll wait.

You stood there silently.

Wait, that's right. You can't, can you? All that power lost. What an utter waste. His face contorted into a mock contemplation. On second thought, it was wasted on you to begin with. So good riddance.

From the center of your soul a memory escaped. It lifted up into the air as a beam of light. You grasped it in your hand. And here it was: the worn dagger, perfect for cutting down weeds like these.

Sassy. So you think you can fight me? Well, we'll see about that. The earth rumbled. The ground split apart. From under the flower a form of hellish proportions appeared. Its glass-laced face glowered down upon you. In a voice like the rumble of a busted lawnmower it said, You have no friends who will save you this time.

A protrusion of vines in the shape of a fist struck down from above. You leapt out of the way. The ground and the grass scuffed up your shirt. You got up and struck a determined stance. Whatever this monster was, you would refuse to let it win.

Honestly, I'll almost feel bad for defeating you so easily. An impossible onslaught of bullets rent the air to pieces. But not really! They all flew toward you, filling every possible avenue of escape. You gritted your teeth and crossed your arms over your face. The sound of them slicing through the air filled your ears. A blue-tinged aura blazed at either side of your sight.

They struck, and you heard them strike. But you were unscathed.

"Do not worry, my child. I am here to protect you," she said soothingly.

You brought your arms down. "M—!" You stopped. Your smile wavered. Your joy was quelled, but the thankfulness of surviving still remained. "Who—?"

Standing with you under the canopy of her magic shield was a dark blue unicorn. She turned to you, holding her head aloft. "I am the Ruler of the Night. I am the guardian of ponies' dreams. I am Princess Luna." She turned to Flowey. "You must be the one that my vision warned me of. I have followed it here. Now you will be vanquished and I will be victorious!" She readied her horn and thumped the ground aggressively.

How precious. You think I'm the threat. With my most heartfelt symphathy I inform you that this is not the case. I'm merely a shade of regret locked in the depths of that damned soul. So killing me, even if you could, would help you none.

Luna looked confused. "If not you, then—?"

I couldn't help but laugh. This was better than I could have dreamed. Or rather this was the best that I could dream. Even so, excitement pumped through me. A nervous ache pounded in my blood.

She turned to me, then. She looked me in the eyes. If I could have loved, I would have loved that look they get when they see my eyes. My soul stirred at that cold terror, that purely reflexive action, struck suddenly upon their faces.

"You can't kill my best friend." I pointed the knife at her. "Only I am allowed to do that." I laughed hard. Why was nothing ever funny anymore?

She recovered from her shock. She stepped back and stood defensively. Her horn glowed with more blue aura. The signs of a magic spell hung in the air. She wasn't going to waste time with dialogue. Fine. I wouldn't have listened anyway. Though there was something off about the whole ordeal. This went against the usual course of events. I would say new world, new rules, but...

"Hey, why are you so quick to fight me?" I asked her. "Is a menacing pose really all it takes to ruffle your feathers?"

She stopped. She actually stopped and thought. Her face could not decide upon an emotion to express, so at last it settled into dispassionate distrust. "If you are what I believe you to be, I cannot afford to be off-guard."

Now that was interesting. Despite myself, my curiousity finally forced me to ask, "And what is it that I might be?"

Her whole body tensed up. Her eyes stayed alert. Her hooves gripped the dirt. "Something that shouldn't be here!" she said before pounding the earth and firing off a volley of magical blasts. What a disappointing answer. Oh well.

I saw them coming, and I stepped aside. I noticed the unnatural slowness of a preparatory attack. My mind began its mapping of her patterns. At least here at the beginning of battle there was nothing unusual. She would progress in the speed and complexity of her attacks. She would have a pattern of several different versions of the same mechanic. Possibly, but unlikely so soon, she could have a second stage of attack attempting to throw me off after I'd learned the initial stage. But what I learned from the initial stage would tie back into the next and allow me to successfully overcome it.

A swirl of will-o'-the-wisps whipped by. I saw the way they swerved. The homing was slight, but it would take some concious herding on my part. When they landed in the background, they popped and spilled out light over the nighttime.

Maybe a dozen or so projectiles flew at me at a time. That wouldn't be enough, and she knew that it wouldn't be enough. She was baiting me. She was waiting for me to reveal my dark powers and attack her with some unholy strength. She expected me to be the boss monster.

I laughed, and an echo in the trees laughed back. Strangely enough, it was never a megalomaniacal laugh, like the laugh that a mad villain would produce.

Do you remember when you told some awful pun and, despite yourselves, you laughed after the silence had passed? That kind of laugh, the kind of laugh that you have after finding something surprisingly funny, and funny in a way nearly unbearable, was the laugh that I had.

She didn't find this any funnier than I did. But she showed her frustration. Her face was filled with fury.

"Pick up the pace. It'd be pleasant to have this done before morning."

The next round she actually attacked. She flung a wide tide of blue at me. The easy part had gone. There was little room here for error, so I constrained myself. In one quick breath my limbs went numb. My heart beat quickly, and my chest glowed with its heat. I kept my center secure and passed through the stream. They grazed my arms and legs, but the wounds could not hurt. I shifted left and right, walking toward her slowly. Her mouth wavered when I came close.

"Goodnight." I was close enough now. "And don't let the bed-bugs bite." In one motion I plunged the blade into her chest, around where I thought her heart might be. Out of the wound streamed strange ribbons of starlight.

"This isn't the end!" she said. "You might have defeated me tonight." She bit down with her teeth, gnashing them in defiance. "But we will not lose this fight."

Suddenly I realized something. She thought she was going to survive.

"This is all just a bad dream, isn' it? You're not really here. Neither am I." I looked over at her disappearing form. Under the dome of stars, set far higher than any cave ceiling, we stood together. She said nothing else to me. In the shadows on the edge of the forest, I saw the plants receding. "This, however, will ensure you never wake up."

She didn't believe me. How could she put on such a skeptical expression? Time to wipe it away.

I smiled. The earth shook and a row of vines shot out. They wrapped around her. An electric buzz filled the atmosphere, along with maniacal laughter. That was the laughter of someone who took this villainous role seriously.

Shock shattered the scene. The night bled out into white.

You awoke to the morning Sun streaming over the windowsill. The terror of a nightmare half-remembered lingered on your sweating face. Your chest relaxed, and your breathing slowed. The face of the flower-seller was etched onto your vision. Her expression had said that Asgore was really dead. Was that what your dream had told you? There was more, but it all looked like an image as seen through clouded glass. Colors moved, and voices spoke. But the colors blurred into formless splotches and the voices were hollowed-out and unintelligible.

You shook your head, trying to clear away the murk. While fully alert, no more of your memory came back. You sat up and stepped out off the bed. It was just a dream. Yet a very faint dread hung in the background.

You decided to stop dwelling on it when you smelled the sweet aroma that had wafted into your room. It called out to your hungry stomach, and you dutifully followed it to the kitchen where Fluttershy was cooking.

"Did you have a nice night of sleep?" she asked when she saw you.

You weren't sure what to say. "I had a bad dream." That was fine.

"Oh? What was it about?" She turned back to the food she was cooking.

"I don't remember."

She placed two plates upon the table: scambled eggs, toasted bread, and a few long, green stems. Eggs and toast? This universe must be written by wavering hand.

Together you ate quietly. When you tried to bite into the stems, you found them too tough and bitter to endure. So instead you left them on the plate.

"Yesterday I talked to the schoolteacher Cheerilee. If you still would be willing to go to classes, she'd be happy to have you."

You thought on this. "Ya, sure, I'll still go."

"Then let's go!" she said with a smile.

The schoolhouse was to the Northeast. It sat in a small clearing, near to the river that circled this town. Small ponies walked along the road in groups of two or three, chattering excitedly to each other. You looked over them and started to wonder whether this was a good idea after all.

"Hey, don't worry. I'm sure you'll do fine. Just ask when you don't understand something. Don't feel stupid, because there's always someone too afraid to say when they're lost."

The schoolhouse stood before you. The two of you stepped through the doorway. A few ponies had come in and were now sitting at their desks. They ignored you and continued either reading books or speaking amongst themselves

"Oh, so they decided to come," said the adult pony at the largest desk. "Well, we're glad to have you today." She stood up and trotted over to you. "My name is Ms. Cheerilee. I'm the town teacher." She nodded her head toward you.

Fluttershy nudged you a bit from behind.

"Uh. I'm Frisk." What in the world did they do at school again? Come to think of it, you'd completely forgotten. Did it involve lots of fighting? Would it be dangerous? Well, no time like present to find out... "Um, what am I supposed to do?"

The teacher smiled at you, stepping toward a small desk. "Just sit here. Class will start in a few minutes."

You obeyed. The clock on the wall ticked by the time, agonizingly slow. Fluttershy had left. You were alone.

There were other ponies here, but they weren't with you. They seemed to ignore you sitting there. Their chatter put your nerves on edge.

A bell rang shrill throughout the room. Its sharp sound almost startled you out of your skin. Before you could recover, you were sprawled on the ground. This desk was hard to sit at. It wasn't really made for you.

As you picked yourself up from the ground, the whole class was laughing. Ms. Cheerilee cleared her throat. The sound stopped. She smiled as if nothing had happened.

"Today we have a new student. Everyone say hello to Frisk."

You stood there facing them. They looked bored. Some muttered a half-hearted hello. Others just played with their pencils.

"Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, Frisk, so we can get to know you better."

—getting to know people—

A cold terror gripped you, and your mind went utterly blank.

"Well, um." You stumbled for something to say. "I like cinnamon?"

Someone coughed.

After a few seconds, Cheerilee's smile became quizzical. "Is that all you want to tell us?"

What else did you have to tell?

"Uh, sure. I'm, that's all."

"If that's all you want to say, I won't pressure you for more. You can sit down now."

You took her advice and sat down, still a bit shaky.

She unrolled a map above her blackboard.

"Today we will be reviewing the First Chaosade. I hope everyone has read Chapter 15 in An Equestrian Primer. If not, just ask Twist if you can copy her notes." Cheerilee winked.

"Wait, what?!" You fell out of your seat again.

The class went by quicker than you thought it would. After the lesson (most of which you couldn't comprehend), Cheerilee apologized for forgetting to get you a text book before class started. She gave you An Equestrian Primer by Historical Analogue. And while the weight of it daunted you, she assured you that she wouldn't hold you responsible for reading the whole thing in one go.

The real surprise arrived when you opened it up.

"I can't read any of this," you said, defeated. You held up the book. It was filled with strange symbols, none of which you recognized.

"Can you really not read? Or is that just a poor excuse for not wanting to do the assignment?" she asked slyly.

"Really! I've never seen this language before. Is it really the same thing we're speaking?"

"It is. That's Equestrian, certainly. Wait. Can you read this?" She wrote on the blackboard.

"Ya, that says 'cat'?"

"Oh, I see. That makes more sense. You must've only learned romanized Equestrian."

How does that make any sense at all?

"How am I supposed to read this book, then?" you asked her.

"I can teach you traditional Equestrian. It's a bit of a tax on memory, being a logographic system. But I'm sure you could pick it up with plenty of practice."

You sighed, resigned. Your head hurt just thinking about it.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Why don't you go outside and play awhile with the other ponies? Exercise and clean air should clear your head. We can start on the tough stuff tomorrow. I'll even take the time to tutor you personally, if that would help."

You nodded to her and smiled up sadly. After placing the book down on your desk, you left. Beside the school was a small playground. Ponies were running around it, having fun.

So much for school. You were honestly unsure whether you would come back.

You wandered over to the playgound, idly appraising the swings and the monkey bars. This place was weird. But still, you decided to have a go at the swing-set. It looked sturdy enough and, more importantly, normal enough. It shouldn't pose any problems.

The chains made a slightly squeaky noise when they swung back and forth, but besides that, it felt fine. The wind flowing over your hair and the sun shining in your face as you swung toward it made you smile wide.

Then something pushed you from behind. At the apex of your swing, when you were closest to the Sun, a solid force slammed into your back. Your body left the seat of the swing. Momentum carried you forward, toward the light in the sky. Yet your Icarian flight was fated to fail. In one swift motion your body fell to the ground. Rocks scratched your face and arms. Sand sullied your shirt and pants.

Something snickered behind you. Two ponies stood there, one with her hoof still held in the air. The pain on your hands caused you to cry.

"What kind of monster are you?"

Her voice melded with memory. It was a beautiful day outside. Birdsong floated over the flowers.

"You're not a pony, and you're not any monster I've seen before. So, what are you, anyway?"

"I heard it can't even read," said the pony beside her.

"Can you talk? I know you can. Don't tell me you can't."

"It's too busy crying."

"Here I thought we'd get to meet an awesome monster. Looks like we've only found a crybaby instead."

The first pony, the one who pushed you, walked around the swing. I wonder how long it would take to choke the breath out of her neck. She took a step back.

"W-why are you smiling like that?"

I stood up. "Do you still want to see a monster?" I asked her.

Even ponies can feel such an aura of killing intent, it seems. She was nearly speechless.

"Uh, I..."

"Well that's too bad." I closed my eyes. "Because there aren't any monsters left." I laughed.

Her friend piped up: "That's not true! Everyone's seen a dragon at least. He lives in that tree!" She pointed to an old hollowed-out oak. It had been fitted with windows and a door, along with several other of the accoutrements of a home.

"A dragon? That's quite special." I smiled wider. "Is it dangerous?"

"Of course not." She appeared perturbed by that question. "Spike is harmless."

"Then is it really a 'monster'?"

She gritted her teeth. "Well, maybe not! But you ask weird questions and have a creepy face!"

I stared at her. "No, the only monst—"

"Hey! Quit picking on the new kid!"

"Ya! Get lost!"

"Are you guys sure that this is a good idea?"

A trio of ponies came bounding in, shouting at these two. One lagged behind a bit.

"Great. It looks like the loser patrol is here to protect one of their own."

I laughed. "That's a good one. You should do stand-up comedy at the local night club."

"Quit laughing like that. I'm making fun of you, you freak."

The ponies arrived. They stood between me and her. The five ponies glared at one another.

"I was getting bored anyway. Come on, Silver. Let's go play somewhere else. This side of the park is filled with weirdos."

They left us. The three new ponies turned around.

"Howdy! We're the—" the red-headed one started. She stopped when she saw my eyes.

---

Quam Benigna

"The Cutie Mark Crusaders!" finished her friend for her. She continued, "I'm Scootaloo. And these are my friends, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle." She pointed to each of them in turn. They both nodded nervously. Scootaloo hadn't noticed their discomfort.

"H-hey, don't take any heed to those two," said Apple Bloom. "They're both big bullies."

The smile on my face faded. I looked over the trio of ponies, pondering their arrival. The small park was still quite full. If they cried out for help, things could get hectic.

"Do those 'big bullies' make your lives difficult for you?" I asked.

Sweetie Belle was the one to speak first. "Occasionally—"

"They're always trying to put other ponies down!" Scootaloo interjected. "They make rude remarks about all of us, just so that they can feel better about themselves. Some days I just wanna..." she trailed off.

"How would you feel if they died tonight?"

Scootaloo chuckled nervously at my question. The others wore highly uncomfortable faces.

"Honestly, I'd feel pretty bad about it. Even if they're bullies, that doesn't mean they deserve to die. I mean, how would I feel if it was one of us who died? There must be someone who feels the same way about Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara."

Her words rang in my mind. They were utterly familiar. Something stirred in my memory. It rose to the surface suddenly, enveloping my senses.

It was the night on which I died, and our long trek had taken us to the village of the humans. There I laid down my dead body on a bed of flowers. Finally, we had the opportunity to recompense the humans for the suffering they had caused. Finally, we would be able to free everyone from their imprisonment.

"Are they sleeping?" asked a voice behind us.

I turned around. It was a little girl. She looked up at us and wondered at his face. I stared at her through his eyes, making the expression of grim determination. I lifted up his arm and set it against her for a swift attack. That will make two souls, only five more to go.

His arm stopped. Our energy would not come out.

"What's wrong? We need to move quickly. The longer we hesitate, the more people will come, and the more people we will have to kill."

I... I can't. What if that were you? I can't imagine living in a world without you. There must be someone who feels the same way about her.

She had gotten scared when she saw me talking to myself like that.

"Don't do this, Asriel. You can't refuse to fight. Not now. If someone see—"

"Monster!" screamed a voice from afar. She ran up to us and clutched the little girl. "Please don't hurt my baby."

The windows of the village were quickly filled with light. Out of the houses stumbled irritated villagers. All around us a crowd gathered. The situation had escalated, and we were now in for a bloody battle.

"I didn't want to do this. But if I have to take all your souls, then so be it." I made to blow them all away.

But he refused.

"Let me use our magic. If they decide to attack, we won't have any defense against it."

"It killed the child!" They had seen my body lying behind us.

He wasn't budging. I couldn't move his body anymore.

"We're going home."

He turned around and picked me up.

Asriel!

I couldn't see outside anymore. He had locked me in.

19, a tinge of red in the darkness.

No.

15.

Asriel, don't do this.

10.

I could feel the damage piling on. Even with our combined strength, the onslaught outside had already reduced us to half-health.

5.

You promised me! You promised that you would trust me. We would free everyone, together.

1.

Asriel, you can't die. I'll kill you if you die on me! I couldn't stop from sobbing. Even though I had no eyes of my own, I knew my tears mixed with his when they ran down his face.

"I'm sorry that I wasn't... strong enough."

My heart broke apart.

"Why are you crying like that?" she asked.

You blinked away the tears. The three ponies stood before you, wondering at your sudden fit.

"I-it's nothing. What those other ponies said must've gotten to me. I'm sorry."

Sweetie Belle patted your shoulder. "Hey, don't worry. There's nothing to be sorry about."

"Hey, Frisk!" It was Fluttershy's voice. "Oh, thank goodness you're here. We need your help."

Before you had a chance to say anything else, she was towing you along.

"Wait, help with what? What's going on?"

"One of the ponies in town went missing. She was last seen heading toward my cottage last night."

You thought on this. An eerie recollection hung over her words. Or perhaps it was a premonition?

"Here we are." She stopped in the clearing by her cottage. Another pony stood there, a unicorn with a purple coat. "Twilight, this is Frisk." She nodded at you. "And Frisk, this is Twilight Sparkle."

"Hello." You wondered what else to say. "Um, nice day today?"

"You were walking outside last night, right? Did you see anything suspicious?" Twilight asked me.

You stood between the two ponies, trying to recall what had happened. "I..."

What had happened? You left and came back, but the interim had been completely unmemorable.

Then something between the trees caught your eye. Growing on the edge of the forest, its flowers still in full bloom, was a rosebush. A crack ran across the threshold of your memory. The dream from last night, it had been set here...

She noticed the shock on your face.

"W-what did this pony look like?"

"She has a pale yellow coat and raspberry hair. Her name is Roseluck."

Her face flashed in your mind once more.

"That's... really weird. I, I dreamed last night about a pony that looked just like that."

Fluttershy raised her eyes with surprise.

Twilight's expression grew grim. "Tell us about that dream."

"I met her here, at this very spot. Then a monster came out of the ground and killed her. That's all I remember from it..." No, there was still something else. "Except... at the very end, when the monster turned to attack me, a blue light saved my life. That's everything."

She sighed. She stepped back and forth, a frown of concentration forming on her brow. "This is all too odd. I desperately hope that your dream does not turn out to be prophetic." She stopped and stood there with her eyes closed. "For now, I will inform the Princess of the situation. She can send a proper search party."

"I don't understand. Is this such a serious thing?" you asked.

Twilight turned her head towards you. Her eyes pierced through you. "Ponies do not go missing. But if they do, we will find them." A deep sadness settled over her. "She left a basket near here. That's all we've found so far."

"Twilight!" an exuberant voice called out. A purple dragon trotted forward, holding up a scroll. When he got to us, he crouched over to catch his breath. After coughing to clear his throat, he unfurled the letter he had been holding and read out: "Twilight, You must come back to Canterlot as soon as you can. This is an emergency. Bring your friends. Signed, Princess Celestia."

"An emergency? At a time like this?" Twilight scrutinized him. "We haven't even had the chance to resolve one mystery before another crops up." She took a deep breath. "Still, if the Princess says it's an emergency, I'll attend to it. While there I will be able to request her aid directly."

"I suppose you can stay here while I help Twilight—"

"They're coming too, Fluttershy."

"Oh?" she said. She patted the ground meekly.

"Look, it's nothing against your new friend. But I have a suspicion that they might be the key to solving the strange goings-on we've had since yesterday." Her eyes narrowed. "It cannot be just by chance that their arrival has happened to coincide with a missing pony and an emergency in Canterlot."

"But they couldn't possibly have anything to do with that..."

"Maybe not, but I still have questions about the dream they've described and how it might be connect to Roseluck's disappearance. If we have the time, I might be able to research a spell in the archives..." She did not finish her thought.

"If we're to go, I suppose we better do so soon," you said. "That letter sounded urgent."

They all looked at you. "Right, let's go."

The city of Canterlot sat upon an impossible mountaintop. Its only entrance was an equally-impossible railway that wound around the inside of the mountain. The only light to illuminate the train on its way up were small stones set in the ceiling. You stared out of the lamp-lit carriage, out into the darkness of sparkling cavern-stars. You didn't feel up to any more small-talk with Twilight's other friends. They all acted so glad when they met you, when all you felt instead was dread.

"Whatchya lookin' at?" asked one. Her name was Applejack.

"'I wish that I was home.' That's what I'm thinking right now." You poked at the window. "If you wish with all your heart upon a star, that wish will come true."

"Sorry to say, but there aren't any stars in here. Those are just magic studs set in the ceiling to help with the maintenance of this cave." She said this so carelessly.

You turned your back on the window. "Ya, you're right. There aren't any stars in here." You looked out over the six ponies riding with you and the small dragon that accompanied them. "'What is a star?' Someone asked me that once. I wonder, if you killed a star, would the wishes placed on that star fail to be fulfilled?"

What a morbid mood.

"I don't think you could ever truly kill a star," she said. "It sounds like something from a fairy tale."

"You're probably right about that. Hey, do you think everyone is the star of their own life?"

"That'd be a different kind of star. But I reckon that each pony is a star to someone."

You looked over the ponies in the carriage again. They all probably had their own stories and their own lives, though each might take its own lifelong journey to tell. "Ponies are too happy all the time," you said.

"Aren't you excited?" asked a puff of pink hair that popped up and filled your vision. "Because I am. This feels like a big finale, like the culmination of an exciting story. I can't wait to see what lies ahead. Maybe a foreign monarch declared war on us! Or the Sun is falling onto Canterlot and the fate of Equestria lies in our ability to rebalance the heavens." That was Pinkie Pie. She had energetic blue eyes.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," said Twilight from the back. "While I do not doubt the urgency of this situation, we shouldn't excite ourselves by fanciful tales. Expect anything and everything, but count on nothing."

"I think the book phrased it, 'We must allow ourselves the pleasure of a pebble that became a mountain, but we must also allow ourselves the knowledge that an acorn may never become a tree,'" said Spike.

Twilight blushed. "Stop giving away the source material for my inspirational speeches."

"You didn't even paraphrase it very well!"

Rainbow Dash stamped her hooves. "Well, Twilight's version was terse and to-the-point."

"Where is that from?" you asked. "I've never heard such a phrase before."

Spike answered almost immediately, "Starswirl's Everlasting, a collection of riddles and half-baked sayings. I don't know why Twilight likes it so much."

"Spike! It's an esoteric text. He put his life's collected wisdom into parables, so that once the one reading gains the deeper meaning, they can attain his treasure of knowledge. It's also a very mystical book where the words themselves are often spells. It takes a life steeped in magical practice to unlock the full potential of that work."

Spike stretched his arms behind his head. "I still say he had one too many tries at the salt lick one night."

Twilight, having a flustered face, turned away and said no more.

"Y'know, he had this strange idea. He thought that there was some way to gain godlike strength. But the process involved... made no sense."

"By what way would you do that?" you asked.

He continued: "Mmm... The passage was something like, 'There has been only one situation so far that I've found, in all of history set down, that could most perfectly accomplish this unity to the infinite spirit that stretches on above us. That situation whereby the soul attains its true character is when the pure-of-heart sacrifices his life for the sake of his friend who hates him. At that moment, there is no greater power, neither amid mortals nor among gods.' I never got that part, 'His friend who hates him.' They wouldn't be friends, then, right? And he says this so cryptically, 'There is no greater power.' Where is it? If this person is dead, how would they use it?"

Light flooded into the cabin. The mouth of the cave we came from gaped behind us, and the sunlight settled over us. The city of Canterlot surrounded us, an odd wonder of architecture and imagination.

The train stopped at the station. The doors on all the carriages opened up, and the passengers from each filed out. You did the same, trotting out together and keeping close to one another so that no one would be lost in the crowd.

A guard spotted you. He trotted over and inclined his head. "Miss Sparkle. If you will, I can take you and your friends to the Princess."

"As you like," she responded. "But can you tell us anything more about the emergency that drew us here?"

"That information remains unrevealed. If I knew anything, I would tell you. The only thing..." He looked around the plaza, scanning the crowd of ponies pressing upon them. "I can tell you one thing, but it is only a hunch. Princess Luna did not meet with us this morning, not even when her sister had declared a state of urgency. So I fear that something might have happened to her."

Twilight stared out past the pony, her appearance plagued by a fallen countenance.

He led you through the city. The streets passed by far too fast for you to absorb the fullness of their splendor. To your left and right sat shops sporting signs filled with strange lettering, a splendid assortment of sweet-smelling eateries, and even the occasional outpost of magical oddities jutting from the street corner. These gave way to an area of modernist business, an urban composition of high-contrast glass buildings framed in steel and concrete. Ponies in stuffy suits walked in and out of the automatic doors. At the end of the street was a large brick building with a revolving entrance. From the well-uniformed ponies carrying suitcases inside, you assumed it to be a hotel of some sort.

Beyond this lay Canterlot castle. Its impressive pillars disappeared from your sight when the guard led you through the garden and into the castle itself. He led you to the throne room where Celestia sat. The room was otherwise empty, and the stained-glass windows caught the light, shooting shards of color onto the floor. The prismatic display shifted over Celestia's white fur when she sat up. Her eyes showed an ageless exhaustion, and her hair had started to fray. Her hooves clipped against the marble steps. The sound echoed down the chamber, making a melancholy reverberation along the walls. She looked at the guard. "You are relieved."

He nodded curtly and exited.

"Twilight, everyone, come with me."

All the walking up to this point had put an ache into your legs. Your feet throbbed through your shoes. You followed along, keeping pace with them only through considerable effort. Your time of tribulation ended swiftly, as the Princess stopped at a doorway covered by a magical barrier, a blue clock whose hands had stopped.

"In here," she said simply. She inclined her head and touched the center of the clock with the tip of her horn. From there a shimmering golden energy spread outward, converting its entirety into glimmering sunlight. She passed through, and so did you.

Your breath stopped at the sight of what was inside.

You could sense no describable walls to the room, and a very light wind swept up your clothes and hair, though from where you couldn't tell. You stood in front of an expanse of dark violet set with starlight. Pockets of gemlike beacons glowed around you, hovering several feet above the disappeared flooring. At the heart of it all was a bed covered by bluish curtains and sheets.

"W-what is this, Celestia?" asked Twilight when she had seen it all. "Where are we?"

"This is where Luna's room was. But last night... she disappeared without a trace, and her bed became the center of this anomaly. I have sealed it inside this room, but I fear it might in fact break the barrier and escape to cause ruin for this city, and even for the rest of Equestria." She stepped toward the bed. "But what Luna said before last night weighs most heavily upon my mind. She told me of a vision given to her that day, that a great calamity was about to befall our ponies."

"Calamity?" exclaimed Applejack. "What kind of calamity are we talkin' about here?"

"She told me: 'On the field of the nighttime the lives of all the ponies lie sleeping. Each one is represented by a lantern blowing in the wind. Two greater lights are set in the sky to rule over the lesser, and those greater lights are the Sun and the Moon. But in this vision, the lamplights flickered. One by one they fell to the ground and broke apart into uncomprehending darkness. After the whole field had fallen into darkness, the Moon cracked and the Sun was squelched.' This she saw during the day, yesterday."

"Are you saying...?" Twilight's voice trailed off, and deep fear settled on her face. "Could something like that really happen?"

"It very well may. But I believe it is within our power to prevent this premonition from becoming a reality. If we can uncover the source of that darkness before it begins its spread, we could stop it there. I suspect that we will find Luna there as well. But in order to do this, I will need your help and power."

"What do we have to do?"

"We will have to find a lead to go by. Despite my searching, this place holds no hint of its cause. There must be something amiss elsewhere, from which we can derive more information."

"Wait! I think that I might have it," Twilight told her. "Frisk—" She turned to you. "Can you please describe the dream that you had to Princess Celestia?"

You stepped up. Nervousness crept up your spine as you tried to remember all that had happened during that dream. "Well, I woke up outside Fluttershy's cottage. There was a pony there watering flowers. She said... She said something about how they only bloom when the moon shines on them." You didn't want to waste time with superfluous information, but neither did you want to miss a detail that could turn out to be crucial to solving this mystery. "Uh... Then I asked her what her name was. But before she could answer, a terrible monster in the form of a flower erupted from the ground! It killed her, and then it tried to kill me. But right before I was about to die, a blue light shown all around, and I lived."

Celestia looked at you expectantly. "And? Is that the end of it?"

"I... I really don't remember anything else. That's where the dream ended. Sorry."

Celestia shook her head. "It sounds like Luna interrupted your dream. If she did, I am sure she must have spoken to you. Do you really not remember seeing her at all?"

"Like I said, if something else happened, I had forgotten by the time I woke up. Even as much as I remember now, I didn't remember originally. Worse, I can hardly remember anything from my life before yesterday."

"Most interesting of all, they had this dream on the same night that a pony from our village disappeared."

"Mm..." Celestia bowed her head in contemplation. "Twilight."

"Yes, Your Majesty?"

Her ear twitched at those last two words, but otherwise Celestia stood still. "I know how you think. Or, at least, I hope I know you well enough to anticipate your next move. If you happen to be looking for a book, try first for the reading stand in that room." However, she did not make any indication as to which room was "that room."

"That r—" Twilight eyes flashed. "Oh, alright. I will look."

Celestia lifted her head. "Thank you. I hope you are satisfied by what you find."

You and the other ponies puzzled over this cryptic communication.

"Is anyone going to tell us what that was?" asked Rarity into the air. "I don't see any reason to keep it a secr—"

"Don't worry, ladies... and, uh," She looked back at you. "And Frisk. Everyone, don't worry. We can each go out and look for leads independently. Spike and I will be going..." She stopped. "Well, don't worry about us! Here, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash can search the downtown area. Fluttershy, Rarity, and Frisk can search the castle grounds. That'll be just about even."

"Right," said Rainbow Dash, assuming the starting position for a competitive sprint.

The rest of you muttered amicably to the idea. Celestia kept standing next to her sister's bed. Twilight and Spike went... wherever it was they were going. Applejack and the other girls split off from you after exiting Luna's room. You, Rarity, and Fluttershy stood in the hallway, wondering where to begin your investigation.

Castles like these tend to have rather large kitchens.

The hooffalls of another pony echoed down the hallway. A handsome stallion was coming up on your gathering, his face a daze of lazy arrogance.

"Prince Bluh!" Rarity looked around. She started walking swiftly away. "I will go over here to check the..." She scratched her head. "The library!" Her panicked trot faded away.

"But the library..." Fluttershy sighed when the other pony passed you. "The library is the other way."

"What was—?"

Fluttershy interrupted before you had time to ask: "You don't want to know."

This castle, like most others, had a place where they prepared meals for all the ponies that lived there, as well as whatever guests might have arrived.

"Do you have any ideas of where to go?" she asked you. "We might try the library." She looked down the corridor, in the direction Rarity had fled. "I don't think she's going to find it any time soon."

You would hardly be able to imagine the number of plates and cups and other dishes stored up in cupboards and cabinets in such a castle. Even to see the empty tables is to look over a veritable river of smooth slab running off into the distance.

"I think—"

You hadn't eaten in a while. In fact, the last time you ate had been this morning. It was now getting rather late in the day.

"Y'know, I can't think clearly. I'm rather hungry right now."

"Oh! I'm so sorry. I didn't even think about that..."

There wouldn't be any meat to eat, but something in your stomach would be better than nothing.

"Um, where are you going?"

You stopped walking. You hadn't even realized you were walking. Where were you walking to, anyway?

"Aah, to get something to eat?"

"The kitchen and dining hall are that way," she said while pointing in the direction Rarity had run. "I suppose... we don't even know what we're looking for, so a stop for something to eat first couldn't hurt."

You walked together. The door to the dining hall opened to a soft squeak. The sound had not been the door, but rather it was the pony sitting at the table inside. A plate of spaghetti sat in front of her. Beside her stood a gray stallion in a servant's uniform. He nodded cordially.

Rarity swallowed the food in her mouth. "I'm sorry! But this pony asked me so politely, 'Why, won't you have something to eat?' And I didn't get a chance to catch lunch before we left, since Twilight asked us all so suddenly..."

Fluttershy giggled. "It's okay. Truthfully, that's what we came here for as well."

The two of you sat down at the table.

"What would you like to eat?" he asked.

You looked at the plate of spaghetti on the table. It filled you with an odd mixture of affection and revulsion.

"I'll have what sh—" Unfortunately, the revulsion won over the affection before you had a chance to finish. "On second thought, maybe not." You thought about what to ask for. What you wanted was on the tip of your tongue, but you couldn't quite grasp onto its handle... "I..."

"Might I suggest something?" said the stallion.

"Go for it," you told him.

"My specialty is eggplant Parmesan. Not just that, but we received a really good batch of the plants just this morning. I promise you won't regret trying it."

You smiled up at him. "That sounds good. Can I use a knife to eat it?" you asked.

A chill ran down your spine.

Fluttershy and Rarity looked over at you.

"Wait, I mean, well..." You stumbled a bit. The dread that had remained in the background so far rose to the surface, enveloping you almost entirely. "That's not..."

"Calm down, little child," he said. "It's not such a strange question. If you need a knife, I'd be happy to bring one out for you."

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?" asked Fluttershy. "This is truly still a small child, after all. A knife might be a bit dangerous for them."

The dread in you ebbed. In its stead rose a pique of indignant anger. "Pardon me, but I'm perfectly capable of using a knife without hurting myself," you said. "I'm not a helpless child. I can take care of myself."

"I mean no offense, young master, but I must go with the will of the elder ponies here. It is really not necessary for the dish, after all. I don't think you will have a problem eating it with only a fork."

"Did he just call us old mares?" asked Rarity incredulously.

The anger in you erupted. "No!" You stood up in your chair and slammed your palm down on the table. "I will have that knife." This was now a matter of principle.

Then you saw them staring at you, and your hand relaxed. The anger that had bubbled up, that had exploded so suddenly, had vanished. In its place returned your dread. But mingled with it was a new emotion: embarrassment. "I don't know why I did that. I really don't know why I did that." Fear gripped your soul. "I-I don't know why I did that." It didn't feel like you had been the one to do it at all.

You sat back down.

"I understand your situation is very stressful right now," said Fluttershy. She put on the voice that sounded so much like Mom's. "Try to calm down. Once you've had something to eat, I'm sure you'll feel far better than you do now." She looked up at the stallion. "Please excuse us. I don't think any of us have eaten since early in the day..." She patted you on the head. "Would you be so kind as to bring us two plates of your specialty?"

"Right away!" he said whilst somehow also managing to snap his hooves.

She hadn't lied. After you ate, your foul moods mostly flowed away. But by that time it was nearing night again. Your party resolved to call it a day and discover what accommodations the castle could provide.

While walking down the corridor, you met with three other ponies: Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie. They each seemed to be in a different state of disarray. Pinkie Pie had black soot and scorch marks all over her body. Rainbow Dash had been covered by glue and feathers. And Applejack... well, she looked alright, other than a rather accentuated black eye.

"Alright. We'll all agree this afternoon never happened. Okay? Good." Applejack finished talking to the others right as you met them. "Don't even ask about it," she said resolutely upon seeing you.

"Hey, has Twilight gotten back yet?" asked Pinkie Pie. "You guys sure did miss a great show. I've never seen such a passionate confession before..."

"What part of 'Let's never speak of this again,' didn't you understand?" shouted Rainbow Dash.

Pinkie Pie smiled a wide, pink-and-white smile.

After a scuffle and a bit of stumbling around, you found a servant who led you to the rooms set out for your stay. You thanked her graciously and collapsed in an exhausted mess onto the nearest thing that resembled a mattress.

---

Quam Amoena

You sighed on Papyrus's couch when he came in with yet another plate of spaghetti. Sans was sitting on the couch with you. Honestly, Sans spent so much time sitting here that he had more right to its ownership than Papyrus, who sat down with you after setting his plate of spaghetti on the coffee table. There was nothing on the television worth watching right now. Alphys still hadn't finished repairing Mettaton, so instead of his show this station had been showing reruns of Mew Mew Kissie Cutie for the last fortnight. Since the anime only had thirteen episodes, this quickly became unbearably repetitive.

The front door slammed open. The chill winds from outside blew into the house, and Undyne stepped in with them. She closed the door. The room grew warmer, but your spine still felt a chill.

"B-brrah!" She shook off the ice from her scales. "Hey, Punk! Are you still hanging out back here? You can't sit around forever. Get up and get moving! If we could become besties, you and Asgore will have no trouble at all! You two wimpy, big-hearted buffoons were made for each other!"

You hung your head a bit.

"I believe in you, Human," Papyrus said. "But take it at the pace you like! This is your own adventure, after all. Enjoy it however you want! I'm sure Asgore would say the same thing."

Undyne sat down with you three. The couch reached its maximum capacity, and you were a bit crushed between two sets of hard bones and her slimy scales.

"Look," she said. "I also know how Asgore can get when he..." She looked up at the ceiling and breathed. "Asgore won't break a promise. He's dutiful to a fault. So he'll probably try to fight you. Yet you're more than strong enough to survive his attacks. Even if you have to knock some sense into him first, I'm sure you can help him remember what matters to him most. I'm counting on you, Punk."

"Undyne! You're making the human cry!"

"Ya, Undyne. What's with that?"

"'What's with that,' he says!" retorted Undyne. "You're one to talk, Mr. 'You'd be dead where you stand!'"

"Jeez, it was just a joke. I didn't know the kid would bawl his eyes out right in the restaurant."

Eventually, you'd have to progress. But you could hardly stand the thought of what lay waiting at the end of your journey. Nothing you did changed it. There was no way to avoid it, besides refusing to go forward. The only way to end this awful loop... but doing that was even worse. You couldn't just move on from the Underground after the end. And whatever came next, you knew it'd end up as only more of the same.

You woke up cold and covered with sweat.

The room was dark, and the sounds of sleeping surrounded you. You looked around and stood up from the pillow you had been sleeping on. Where were the bathrooms in this place?

You crept through the floor of sleeping ponies. Celestia, for whatever reason, had set everyone in the same room for the night. You stepped over your last obstacle: A loudly-snoring Spike. He turned a bit in his basket, but he didn't wake up. Wait. When did he get here? And where was— You shook your head. That would have to wait till later. You opened up the door and cringed when it creaked. The hallway was lit by low candlelight, so a long golden sliver cut across the floor. Luckily, it didn't fall on anyone, and so no one had noticed.

You closed the door as carefully as you could.

Did this castle even have those... facilities? It wasn't an impossible thought. Most monster-built homes had that deficiency of design, for the rather simple reason that monsters didn't have all the same biological necessities that humans had. If that was the case, you'd need to find some other way to relieve yourself.

You walked briskly through the halls, scanning every doorway for something that resembled a lavatory. After a few moments of desperate searching, you discovered a tiled enclave in the wall. You explored into it, and found that it had two doors on either side of its inner walls. One had a pony and the other had... a pony. Sex-segregated bathrooms? But both the signs looked almost exactly the same.

You shrugged your shoulders and walked into the one on the right.

It was just a normal bathroom with the ordinary furnishings of a human bathroom. You had no time to ponder on the impracticalities posed by such a design to the pony inhabitants. You thanked your good fortune for having found a place such as this so quickly.

Whoever cleaned these restrooms must have used a lemon-scented scrub, since the whole place was filled with the smell. It covered everything else well.

The sinks were a bit high for you, but you managed to reach the tap and turn on the water. You grabbed the bar of soap from its stand and washed your hands. It slipped out of your grip once or twice, but you finished your hygienic regimen without much fuss. An ordinary cloth towel hung from a hoop on the wall. You wiped your hands dry.

You opened the door and walked out into the hallway.

"Auntie, I'm too tired to be out at this time talking to you. Why do we have to do this now, anyway? Isn't there a more convenient schedule we could keep, one which doesn't disrupt my beauty sleep?"

"This will only be for a moment. Don't complain. You may not have a chance to rest well for some time to come."

The clip of hooves on stone sounded down the corridor, and they were coming closer. An instinctual fear forced you to dart back into the enclave and hide behind the inner wall to the right. Logically, there was no reason for you to act so sneakily. Celestia was your friend, someone who was trying to help you... right? You were filled with contradictory emotions all fighting for dominance.

"D-do you really mean that? Why? What's going on?"

"I need you to do something for me. I need you to stay strong, even if I am not there to help you. With Luna missing, you are the sole heir to the throne. Now, come. I have something to give to you."

"You sound so serious. Don't speak like that! It makes me fear that something might happen to you."

"Something might," she said before walking out of earshot.

You stepped back out. You didn't know what that had been about, but you disliked it nonetheless. There was something almost conspiratorial in the color of their conversation. They were planning something, but you didn't want to risk investigating. You decided to walk back to your room and spend the rest of the night sleeping.

Only she was standing right outside the door, her hoof held against it.

She looked over and smiled, taking her hoof off the door and waving at you. "Oh, Frisk! You're already awake. That's perfect." Twilight trotted up to you, a book floating beside her. "I won't have to wait until morning after all. I think I've found a way to recover your lost memory. This spell is an anti-amnesiac. As far as I can tell, it should work on anyone, pony or not. Your past could hold the key to resolving all our problems! So, here we go. I'll perform it now."

You looked up at her glowing horn. "Um, wha—?"

Purple light stung your eyes and enveloped your vision.

One of the largest mountains in the land was named Mount Ebott. A village sat at the bottom of this high mountain, and that was where you lived.

Wintertime had come. Mount Ebott was a bit snowier than usual, and everyone in the town was busy with enjoying their traditional festivities. You were out with an ax, chopping off the branches of trees, trying to gather enough firewood to stay warm for the next few nights. You stacked them neatly on your mobile rack. The wooden frame had two rope straps so you could carry it on your back.

You swung your ax, and a particularly belligerent branch fell to the ground with a snap. You smiled. As you bent down to pick it up, a bush several feet away swayed and squeaked. You stood up, holding your ax in a defensive position.

The bush rustled again, and this time the source of the noises stumbled out.

You weren't sure what you were looking at, not at first. It was a tiny ball with feet and a large eye in the middle. Two tiny horns protruded from its top. It shivered in the cold and looked up to you, blinking its large yellow eye. The ax shifted in your hands. It stepped toward you.

"Hey! Don't come any closer! I don't want to hurt you."

If it understood what you said, it hadn't heeded your warning. It started running toward you.

You lifted up the ax, preparing to strike it down. Your heart beat. Despite the cold, you were sweating beneath your clothes.

Right before you swung to kill, the creature jumped up and landed at your feet. You dropped the ax in surprise. It hadn't hurt you. Instead, it was cuddling against your legs. You stooped down and picked it up. It snuggled up against the warmth of your chest.

"Heh, you scared me, little guy. Just a second longer and you could have been a goner. What's something like you doing out here, after all? Aren't all the monsters trapped underground?"

It smiled and squeaked up at you. It had probably understood you, but you couldn't understand what it was trying to tell you.

"Frisk! Have you got that firewood gathered yet? I need your help over here."

You set the small monster down. "That's my dad. Here..." You pulled out a scarf from your pocket. "This will keep you warm." You tied the scarf around the monster, trying to cover up its body as best you could. It was a challenge trying not to cover up its eye, but you managed it.

"Frisk!"

"Coming!" You patted it on the head. "Stay here, and I'll come back to see you soon."

After some more encouragement, the monster got the idea. It scampered back into the forest. You stood up, strapped on your rack, and went to help your father.

The next day you came back. You looked around, but there wasn't anything there.

"Hey! Little buddy, are you here?"

You waited, but the place was silent.

"Oh well..." You sighed. It wasn't reasonable to expect that monster to stick around. Not so close to a village of humans.

You heard a squeak. When you looked down, it was standing there, still wearing the scarf you'd given it.

"Hey." You smiled. "Oh, you're going to appreciate this! I brought you a present." You took off the pack you'd been carrying. After rummaging around a bit, you pulled out a box of small treats. "I don't know if you've ever had fudge before, but its the best!" You took out a piece and held it out to the monster. It looked at your fingers curiously. "Like this," you said while placing it in your own mouth. "Now you try," you said through a mouthful of fudge. You picked up another piece and held it out.

It nibbled a bit at the treat. It stopped and stood there. Then it made a sound of pleasure and devoured the rest in one bite.

"See! I knew you'd like it," you said. "Here, have another."

You ate the whole box together. When it was empty, you patted the monster and told it, "I'm sorry, but there isn't any more. I'll come back tomorrow, though. So wait for me!"

You hugged the monster and left.

You came back the next day and the day after that. Each day you brought something different: a new treat, a ball to play with, the toy your parents gave you the day before, a book, an article of clothing, a small bunch of flowers. Every day you brought something new to show him.

"Hey," you said one day. "You need a name."

He looked up at you. "Na-a~?"

"See, I'm Frisk. But I don't know what to call you."

"Friss," he said pointedly.

You smiled. "Ya, Frisk," you said while pointing to yourself. "What about you?" You pointed at him.

"Yu-u!" he shouted happily.

You chuckled. "Ha! Here, maybe I should give you a name. How about... Luke?"

"Lu-u..."

"You... luuk like a Luke."

Luke just stat there bemused. But you laughed. Hey, it was funny!

When he saw your laughter, he started laughing too. He danced around the spot, shouting, "Lu! Lu! Lu!"

Soon, Winter left and Spring came in its stead. The birds started singing again. The flowers spread out their petals. Eastertide had arrived.

You were walking around town when you saw the crowd.

"Monster!"

You stopped cold. Your eyes went wide, and chills ran down your spine. Your heart was filled with dreadful feelings.

Running up to the crowd, you saw what they were shouting about: a creature in a cage. He still had that scarf on.

"Stay back, Frisk." A strong hand gripped onto you.

"Dad! What are they doing?"

"We've caught a monster. Don't get too close. It could turn out to be dangerous."

"Luke isn't dangerous! He's harmless! I don't think he could hurt anyone even if he wanted to!"

You father turned to you. "Do you know this monster? How so?"

"I meet him by the trees behind our house. Look! Does he look like he could hurt anything?"

He shook his head. "Elder."

A man with a spear stepped up to you. "Child, you don't understand how grave a situation you've put yourself into. Had this creature been able to defeat you and take your soul, our entire village would be put in jeopardy. No, every human... our entire existence as a species would be in jeopardy. We have no recourse against a monster with a human soul. We cannot afford to take that risk. It takes only one encounter to ensure our destruction. That is why we must do this."

"D-do what? What are you going to do with him?"

The elder hung his head gravely and walked up to the cage. "Let this be a lesson to you." He pointed his spear downward and jabbed it through the bars. The monster inside made a pitiful sound before being reduced to dust. All that was left in the cage was a strip of cloth.

"N-no! He can't be..." You ran up to the cage. You poked your hands through the bars and gripped at the dusty, torn piece of cloth on the floor. Tears welled up in your eyes. "I-if... m-monsters are supposed to b-be so strong, why c-couldn't you defend yourself?"

"That one was weak, though it had the potential to be strong."

You were shivering in the springtime.

Your father patted your shoulder. "Monsters and humans weren't meant to live alongside one another."

You clenched your fists. You bit down on your teeth and cried: "You're right!" You turned around and pointed at him. "But you're the ones that are the monsters! Am I the only one here who has any humanity left? How could you lock away your compassion like that? Is life so worthless? If you think so, then... then..." You couldn't speak. Your throat was closed by grief. You needed to get away. You wanted to be alone.

"Frisk!"

You didn't listen. You pushed them aside. You ran and didn't care what they would say.

You passed the main gate to your village. You didn't look back, even when the guard asked you where you were going. You ran into the forest, though you could hardly see where you were headed. Everything was smudged by the water pouring from your eyes.

You kept running. You didn't think of anything except getting far, far away.

You were brought back to the earth by a vine in the road. It caught your foot and caused you fall face-first into the dirt. It hurt. Your heart hurt. Your whole body hurt.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I'm sorry that you had to die." You couldn't cry anymore. You lay in the dirt, staring at the grass moving slowly right beside you. You took a deep breath, but emptiness was all you felt inside.

An old legend, older even than the war between monsters and humans, warned that no one returned from a trip up the mountain. An eerie air hung about it, inviting the disaffected up to its summit. There was another name for the mountain, one used only in the darkest places and by those nearing the end of their life. That name was The Mountain of Death. Its shadow over the sunrise reminded everyone of their unwavering fate.

The path to that universal destination lay ahead. It was only a little ways away. The first steps on the journey to the end were here, right where your feet dared to trod. Sadness, fear, and loneliness... they all faded away. In their place was something new, something mostly unknown to your experience.

You were filled with determination. Your resolve had hardened, and your heart was steadfast. You followed the path from the base of the mountain. You followed it up the steep climb. You overcame the obstacles that got in your way, and you arrived at the place you sought after.

On the mountainside, far away from the world you knew, sat a deep ravine. It cut sharply into the mountain, so that you could see every layer of its composition clearly. The bottom, if it had a bottom, was hidden by darkness and mist. This was the absolute.

Your numbness was all-encompassing. You felt only the susurrus in your blood as it mixed with the sound of the wind in your ears.

You closed your eyes and allowed the darkness to consume you.

The howling in the air grew steadily in intensity. At the last second you opened your eyes, and the ground caught your body.

The breath was knocked from your lungs. You struggled to regain it as the burning sensation in your chest became a blaze. At last with a gasp you could breathe again. You were alive.

A bit bruised, but you were still alive.

You tried to lift yourself up, but your arm was too weak to support the rest of your body. You fell back down, and your face was filled with smell of flowers. You blinked, but all you could see were the swaying faces of flowers.

You groaned. You weren't even strong enough to kill yourself, a helpless human stuck at the bottom of this gorge. You wanted to cry, but you couldn't. You wanted to shout angry things at the sky, but you couldn't speak.

You heard something treading though the plants. You tensed up defensively.

"It sounds like it came from over here..." The voice was pleasant, young, and had a hint of melody in it.

You felt the presence of someone standing over you. You tried looking up, but all you could see were white feet.

"Oh! You've fallen down, haven't you...?" Something touched your back. "Are you okay?"

You shook your head. "Ngh..."

"Here—" You felt a firm grip on your shoulders. "Get up..." It gently lifted you up off the ground.

You looked at his face for the first time. He wasn't human. Had that really been the voice of a monster?

He asked you another question, though you hadn't heard it well. You felt something in your heart, something indescribable.

He had asked you for a name. He wanted to know who you were. You were a human who shouldn't be there. You were from a village...

Hatred in your heart, that's what you felt. No, that wasn't coming from your heart. It came from elsewhere, grasping onto your soul and holding back your love. You felt your compassion being dragged back, taken into the abyss. You forsook your human life, so you no longer wanted a human name. You would give yourself a new name. You would give yourself a name worthy to be feared. You would tell him the name of a true monster.

You called out my name, and I answered.

"Thank you, Twilight Sparkle." I opened my eyes and smiled. "I was getting tired of being that naive child all the time."

She stepped back. "Who...?"

"I must admit that I had become worried. I thought that I might never get a chance to accomplish what I came here to do. But with my compassion securely locked away again, there won't be any more inconvenient interruptions. My question to you: Is tonight a good time to die, or would you like to run away and live another day?"

My killing intent had never been this high before.

"W-what are you saying? And what is that expression on your face? W-why..."

"Twilight, get back." A blur of white feathers dropped down between us.

"Celestia? Wait, what..."

"There isn't any time. Quick, go to the room where the rest of your friends are sleeping. Wake them up and get them out of here. There is a passageway behind the bathroom mirror."

I laughed. "There was a bathroom in there the entire time?" Both ponies were unnerved by my words.

"Now, Twilight."

She hesitated for a moment longer, but finally she dashed to the door and went into the room.

"So, are you ready to stop the 'anomaly'? Are you ready to save your world from destruction? Honestly, I'm in a bit of a bind." I shrugged my shoulders while holding out my empty hands. "I'm not exactly prepared. I was hoping for more opportunities to hone my skills. But now I don't even have a weapon..."

"Why are you doing this?"

I looked her right in the eyes. "Because you're weak. If you can't defend yourself, you don't deserve to live."

"That's an odd thing to hear from an unarmed child."

"Princess Celestia!" Two armored ponies trotted up, baring spears. "We came as soon as we could."

"You're right on time," I told them.

"Where's the villain?" the other guard asked.

I grabbed his spear and pulled it easily from his unfingered grip. "Here I am," I said while plunging it through a gap in his armor. He stumbled back from the force of the blow. I yanked on the shaft and the tip of the spear reappeared, now red with his blood.

"Still standing? I must not have done enough damage..." I lunged again, this time aiming at his throat.

Golden light knocked me to the ground. The spear slipped out of my hand and slid across the floor.

"I will handle this."

"Your Highness..."

"Go and evacuate the castle. Find and prepare the Elements of Harmony. We will certainly need them this time."

The unwounded guard looked like he was about to speak, but he hung his head and helped his friend limp away. I watched them walk down the hall.

"How lovely," I said. "So you saved the life of a single person. Luckily for you, you won't be alive to see him die." I picked up the spear and stood up, chuckling silently to myself. "But you already know that, don't you? I can sense it. I can see it in the way you stand."

"Even if I fall, the Sun will not be set on Equestria."

"You really believe that? 'I believe a true hero will come and strike you down.' Is that what you are thinking? Because, if so, I have bad news for you..."

I jabbed at her with all my strength. A golden bubble surrounded her, blocking my attack. Sparks tumbled to the floor from where we met.

"You're sorely mistaken," I finished.

The bubble popped, and sharp shards of light flew in all directions. I jumped back just in time to avoid them. Shattering glass twinkled in the background.

"That look!" I said to her. "You seem so serious. Well, how about this: let's loosen up and have some fun?" I swung wide, aiming to graze her chest. But she blocked me with another bubble of energy. I didn't have the leverage necessary to break it, so I stepped back and prepared a new angle of attack.

She preempted me with a shot from her horn. It left a scorch mark along the floor.

"Ah, that one almost hit me. Try a little harder than that and you might have a chance!"

I tightened my grip on the spear and observed her patiently. She took advantage of my inaction by summoning to her a bright spear and sending it my way. I tumbled out of its path.

I smiled. "You're invulnerable while using those magic shields, aren't you? Heh. What a cheap trick." I clenched my fingers together. "Stand and take my attack like a proper monster!"

She stood without response. She closed her eyes and the horn on her head glowed.

A ball of energy formed on the tip of her horn. It grew steadily, encompassed by flickering light, sending out sharp sounds into the night. If I had to guess, she was preparing a very strong attack that would blow me into char and ashes. That was the resolve I felt from her face.

She did not have a chance to launch that attack. During her preparations, I took advantage of the time she had her eyes closed. In one swift motion I stepped close, secured my feet on the stone, and rammed hard into her.

The light that had been gathering on her horn disappeared with a spark. She opened her eyes and looked down at me in bewilderment.

"Like I said, you're weak—" I twisted the spear with my hand. "And pitifully so."

Golden light shimmered down the length of the shaft. The spear tore out of her and wrestled itself from my grip. It flipped around and pointed at me. Celestia's eyes had wrath within them. "Says the unarmed child."

"Now that's just unfair—"

The spear flew at me. I stepped backwards and to the side, but I was too slow. It grazed my side, leaving a long and bloody mark. The steel spearhead embedded itself in the stone.

I fell to my knees and gripped my hands over the wound.

"I'm sure there will be much discussion on the fairness of your fate at a later date." She stepped up to me and stumbled, grimacing. "No... not yet." Golden light glimmered over the spear behind me. It budged a bit, but it would not come undone from its place in the stone. "This body..." Light poured from her chest like water, splashing on the floor and illuminating the dark corners of the hallway.

I laughed hoarsely, then coughed. "I guess I did more damage than I thought." I felt the wet blood dripping from my fingertips.

She was still standing a few feet away, appraising my state. She bowed her head low and brought her horn to the level of my chest. Her stance was one of a jouster.

She was about to run through and gore me, right here in the hallway. She was actually going to kill me.

I might die.

That thought struck me with uncharacteristic strength. There may have been a time when I feared death, but that time had long ago faded from my memory. But now, with my SAVE completely unreachable... No, I still didn't care. I refused to care. I refused to be weak in the last moments of my life.

"Come on, then. This isn't over yet. I'm not done with you." I beckoned her with my bloodied fingers.

She charged, and I smiled wide.

I grabbed the spear behind me and yanked it up. My heart pumped hard, and I watched her horn intensely.

We collided, and the sound of sharpness shearing flesh filled the room.

Her horn rested on my shoulder. I turned the spear in her side and pushed it with all the force I could muster.

She lifted up her head, and the pain was apparent in her face. More of her energy scattered over the floor, dripping down like molten gold. I thought I saw her cry before she died.

Sunlight covered my face, and my eyes were seared by it brightness. Her weight evaporated from off of me, and I was showered by the droplets. After the light had gone, so had she.

"Here's where I'd make a snide pun that I found remarkably unfunny." I put a hand on the ground to support myself. "But... I'm not really feeling up to it, see?" Red marked the stone where I drew my fingers across the ground. "Heh..." I coughed again. "Well, we had a good run, didn't we?"

I placed my hand on my side. What I felt startled me. The gash at my side had closed itself. The stunned expression on my face soon faded, and I started laughing. I couldn't stop. Tears the same shape as your joyful tears rolled down my cheeks. I felt cold inside.

"Unicorn blood... how utterly convenient."

---

O Castitatis Lilium

You opened your eyes and looked around. You were in the purple hallway where Mom died. When you breathed, you could see a trail of white smoke streaming from your mouth. You wrapped your arms around yourself and shivered. The room was unusually cold. You looked down the path and saw that the door at the end was cracked. White light and little flurries of snow slipped through from outside.

You walked to it, bracing yourself against the chilly atmosphere. You opened the door, filling the end of the hallway with drafts of cold air and the unnatural twilight of the Underground. You remembered everything. The bush to your left held a camera, and down the path was where you first met Sans.

You walked on.

There was no one to meet you this time. Everywhere you went was nothing but desolation. The chill air and the shiver it sent down your spine remained the only constants during your journey. A still, quiet voice of despair clutched at your heart.

All the homes of Snowdin sat empty. All the lights had long ago flickered out. You searched through the dusty darkness, but there was nothing of note to be found. The door to Sans and Papyrus's house stood locked. You even tried the back way, but you didn't have the key. You weren't even carrying your phone with you.

You shambled along the cold road, heading out to Waterfall. Maybe something there could give you a clue as to what you should be doing.

"Hllerp!"

You stepped back. A sound like that of a muffled voice had come from beneath your feet.

"Hello?" you asked tentatively to the ground.

"Hrmarn?"

You dug into the snow. After a moment, a white dome appeared under your fingertips.

"P-Papyrus?" you said while pulling on the dome with all your strength. His head escaped its icy encasement with a pop.

"Ow!" he said in your hands. Then he unsquinted his eye-sockets and stared at you. "Oh, Human! Now, I know our last meeting was a little... murdery." He paused, looking down. "But! You've come to see me! So that must mean you want me to guide you down the right path in life! And I, the Great Papyrus, would be remiss if I did not accept your young soul into my tutelage. Perhaps our first lesson should be... let's not kill people! I realize now that this might be a hard lesson to grasp at first, but keep trying and I'm sure you'll get it!" He stopped talking and smiled at you.

You held his head close to your chest. You didn't want him to see the tears in your eyes.

"Um, well, now that I think about it... there's, uh, not any people left to kill, is there?"

"They're all just on vacation, right? They're all just having so much fun they don't want to come back. Why can't you say it like that..." Your sobbing breath made pitiful sounds on the wind.

"Hey! Are you crying? Well, that's okay. I'm crying too."

You looked down. Hot drops fell from your face and covered his cold cheekbones. You tucked his head underneath your arm and continued on the path. The cold air retreated, and in its place came the damp drafts of Waterfall. Sounds of the dripping water and sloshing river filled the cavern, while light from the star-stones kept your path visible. You walked through the empty caverns. Your breath remained the only sound of life in the Underground.

"So... where are we going?" asked Papyrus from your arms.

Even though you weren't entirely sure of your destination, you did have somewhere in mind. You knew that, no matter what, you had to get outside, past the barrier broken long ago. Out there lay the answer.

"We're getting out of here," you said simply.

Papyrus stirred in your hands. "Mm... I seem to recall the shortcut to Undyne's house was near here. Hotland is only a few rooms past there."

You stood at the bank of the river running through the caverns. You stared at the bank opposite you.

"Usually there's a bird here who'll help you," said Papyrus. "Uh... did you—?"

You looked down into the water. "I can swim across."

"Er..."

You didn't wait for his protest. With one swift motion you tossed him to the other side where he landed rather indignantly on his side. His sound of pain echoed off the walls and died further down the pathway.

You took a deep breath and dove in.

The water was painfully cold. It soaked your clothes and bit into your arms and legs, stinging your face with its ferocious chill. You held your breath and swam through the crystal river. Your numbed fingers grabbed hold of the other side just as your legs gave up the last of their strength. You crawled out of the water coughing and shivering.

"Don't kill yourself!" shouted Papyrus. "If you die, I won't have anyone left to talk to."

You picked up his head again. "Don't worry, I won't. Never again."

This placated his plea, and he sat in your arms silently.

"Undyne's house... that's right around the corner," you said. "Is it still...?" You walked forward and stopped.

A few feet to your left stood what was once Undyne's house. Despite all the time, its glass window panes still glowed with fire. The light made white tracks over the black stone. It seemed to be in a very sad state.

What really surprised you, however, was the large suit of armor standing in front of the house, its back turned to you.

"Undyne!" Papyrus leaped a little in your grip.

She turned around and said nothing.

The glow in her eye made you take a step back. "Uh..."

"Hey, can you help us get to the surface from here? We'd both really like your company!"

"Papyrus, I don't think—"

She held up her hand. A blue spear appeared in her palm.

"What? Is there an enemy behind us? I can't see! Frisk, can you turn around?"

You did so and began a mad dash down the path. The spear she'd been holding hit the stone where you had been standing. It disappeared into the air, leaving a deep mark.

"Wait! Where are you going so quickly? Undyne's back there!"

You kept running, breathing heavy. The sound of metal stepping on stone followed you closely.

After a short sprint you ducked into a branching path to the right. Relief filled your face when you saw the ferry sitting in its usual place on the water.

He turned to you and nodded. "Care for a—?"

"No time!" you said, leaping into the boat. "But, yes please. Hotland."

"Dum de dum," he said in that ghastly voice. "Are we in a hurry?" The boat floated back and forth in the water.

A blue spear whistled through the air and embedded itself into the side of the boat.

"Just a bit."

"Please don't do that," he said, dislodging Undyne's spear with his long stick. "Okay. Hotland, you say? I'll do double-time. But it'll cost twice as much." Another spear whistled through the air, this time grazing your face and plunging into the water. A bead of red fell down your cheek.

"Cost? What? Whatever! Just please go!"

"Right away."

The sudden momentum of the boat nearly flung you and Papyrus into the river. The top tip rose to a dangerous degree, the wake behind you was obscene, and the wind forcing itself into your face caused your eyes to cry.

Papyrus made sounds of entertained terror while rolling around between your legs. You turned around to tell him to slow down, but your command was cut short when the boat stopped. You were thrown forward, and your back hit the front of the boat. Papyrus rolled into your chest. The two-sided attack had you coughing hard in an attempt to regain your breath.

The idle sounds of the water returned to the cavern.

You peeked over the gunwale. Sure enough, the outside of Alphys's lab met your sight.

"Well.. ah..." you sputtered. You stood up, shaking. "Thank you?" You clambered out of the boat and swayed when your feet touched solid ground. You set Papyrus down.

"What was that about money for the boat ride?" asked Papyrus. "I thought this service was supposed to be free!"

"Oh, no. 500 for the ferry. Your friend racked up quite a tab. We're at 4,500 now, I believe."

"Am I supposed to pay all that?"

"If you want a ride across the river after you die."

"What does that even mean?"

The boat started floating away. "How should I know? This is your subconscious hallucination, not mine."

You sat down on the bank and watched as the riverman left you.

"He left us!" you said at last.

From the West the sound of metal bounding over stone met your ears. A hellish blue glow emanated from the far wall, pouring out of the hole to Waterfall.

You shook your head and grabbed Papyrus's. "Maybe the elevators still work."

You ran North. You found the doors, and they opened for you. When you got inside, you saw that all but one of the buttons were dimmed. You pressed it and waited as the elevator hummed through Hotland.

The bell rang on your arrival.

You stared past the doors as they opened. You squinted when the dry wind came in. You stepped out, and the full brunt of the hot air hit you. Still unsure of your safety, you took Papyrus to the resort. You didn't even spare a glance down its dark alleyways before strutting inside.

It was lit, unlike Snowdin. But it was empty all the same. A briefcase lay toppled on the tiles, and papers about inane things sat scattered over the lobby floor.

You tried the first elevator. To your surprise, it opened without protest. You stepped inside and tapped the button that closed the doors. The long ride had begun.

"Honestly, I've never seen the inside of this elevator," said Papyrus. "Half the time it's too busy to use. The rest of the time it's being taken out of service for maintenance."

You listened to the dull hum. You imagined the floors flying by, falling below you one by one.

The door opened and you stepped out. You entered the last corridor of the castle.

You looked down the hall. Sans stood there with his hands in his pockets, still smiling.

You had never seen him frown.

"So, you came back," he said. "Your face has changed. But it still seems unsatisfied."

"Sans!" said Papyrus. "Did you find your underwear in the dryer? I didn't have the time to fold it..."

Sans's jaw twitched, and one side of his smiling teeth gnashed together. He stared at you through his eye sockets. Blue pinpricks of light glowed at you from deep within his skull.

"I was supposed to make your life a living Hell," he said. "That's something like justice, right? Even if you never stopped, at least you'd be met with unending death. But I guess I kind of suck at my job after all, don't I? Instead of deterring you, all I did was make you want to beat me more. That kind of determination... that pure pursuit of strength for strength's sake." Sans's left eye glowed brighter, becoming an iris of blue and orange. "I can't say I don't know the feeling."

"But I didn't want any of this!" you protested. "I... it wasn't me, that isn't who I am." Your heart ached hard. Your eyes felt too tired to cry.

Water washed into your recent wound anyway, spilling down your cheek with salt and blood.

"See!" said Papyrus. "Frisk doesn't want to hurt anyone. And with my guidance, they won't!"

"It's the other one," you said. "The one in control of my body. I couldn't do anything... I can't..." You knelt down on the ground.

"You know that hurt you feel when you do something wrong?" asked Sans, placing a hand over his chest. "What if you could lock that all away? Would you do it? You could do what you really wanted without worry."

"Shut up," you said, still crying. Anger welled in your heart, and you clutched Papyrus close.

"When other people got hurt, you wouldn't have to feel hurt, even if you were the one who hurt them."

"Stop it!" you told him.

"It's not too late. You can prevent a repeat of what we went through here."

You opened your eyes and looked up. Sans was gone.

Metal on the stone again, the sound sent shivers down your spine. From behind you something large and enraged bounded up. You didn't take the time to look back. Carrying Papyrus against your chest, you ran down the hallway, past where Sans had been standing. You flew through the doorway, into the throne room's antechamber. The doorway glowed.

You stepped into the sunlight. Its glow warmed your face. But you had no time to enjoy the sensation. It took you only a moment to step through the next threshold and see dimness again, though you had to blink a spot or two out of your eyes before they readjusted.

This was it. Before you stood the door to the barrier... or to what was once the barrier holding back monsters from contact with humanity. You stepped inside. A slight gasp escaped your lips.

It was all wrong.

The hall led up to a panoramic image of a garden at nighttime. You saw six ponies standing in front of you, all having a stance of suspicion. Darkness hid their faces.

"This is as far as you'll go."

"We're not going to let you hurt anyone else!"

"Are you ready, girls?"

You ran up to the image. You hit your nose and fell to the ground. Papyrus rolled out of your hands. You held onto where it hurt while stretching out an arm to them. "Wait! I'm not going to hurt anyone! I don't..." The sound of bone hitting metal caught your attention. You turned around.

Undyne stood over you, her foot on top of his skull.

"Undyne!" said Papyrus from under her foot. "I was worried you wouldn't catch up... But, now that you're here, we can explain that this all has been a big misunderst—"

Her foot cut him off when it came down completely. His skull splintered, and the sound scattered across the room. Small shards of his skull tumbled toward your feet. You pressed yourself further against the invisible wall, your legs working to push yourself as far away from her as possible.

But there was nowhere to go.

She held up her hand. One last blue spear appeared.

"Do you think that a magical rainbow will make all your problems go away?"

It was your voice, but it wasn't coming from your mouth. It wasn't coming from you at all.

"Do you really believe that something like 'trusting in your friends' or 'doing the right thing' can be a substitute for actual strength? Go ahead. Give me your best shot. I will show you what good your friendship will do you!"

You sounded like... the villain of a Saturday morning cartoon.

She moved quickly. Her spear needed only a moment to tear through your chest. Its head hit the barrier behind you, where you heard it clink and crack. A secondary crack sounded, and you saw white light in your peripheral vision.

You coughed, and it came out red.

You were spilling out onto the floor, far too much to clean up, small rivers of red.

Even the white light turned bright red. Darkness spotted your vision. You couldn't breathe. You couldn't move.

You heard another crack, this time from inside you. Your soul was about to break open. Your heart was about to die.

The world disappeared into darkness. You felt your heart splitting apart. You knew it could shatter into a thousand pieces at any second. But you had to hold on. You wouldn't die. You had DETERMINATION!

You held your heart together. It kept cracking. Small shards crumbled off and fell into the void. The dimness grasped it tighter and tighter, until it was only a small speck of murky red in a sea of black.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no...!

From the distance a flood appeared. Its rainbow waves washed over your heart. You breathed in as the cracks all along your heart re-fused. You opened your eyes when you felt the sudden surge of energy throughout your body. Within a second, you were completely rejuvenated. You felt better than ever, like the whole world had come together just to give you new life.

"So that's what they did, then," I said.

You looked across the void.

I smiled and said, "Alright, then. Can you really kill me? If you do, their world will be saved. Not only that, but you'll be free from bondage once more. However, in my opinion, the obvious option is to stop this nonsense and finish what we started. But you... That's not something you'll let me do. Not if you know you can stop me. Hell, even if you knew exactly how futile this intervention is, you'd still try to stop me."

You were going to try to stop me. Even if there was no point in persevering, you'd still do everything you could to stop the slaughter.

"See?" I laughed. "I can get into your head." I pointed a finger at my temple. "But can you get into mine?"

You stepped forward.

"What's wrong? You're not very talkative. Don't you usually like to stumble over the same three words a dozen or so times until you find the right combination that will unlock the 'Pacifist Path'? Then we can have tea and crumpets and be best friends! I'm sure that we'll even find a way to reset the world so that all the ponies who died can be resurrected, right?"

You stepped closer and stared at me.

"Though, since I can't kill you without dying myself, and you'll refuse to fight me... We're at a bit of a standoff, aren't we?"

You were far too close to me now.

"Hey, would you step bac—"

You threw your arms around me, saying, "Listen, neither one of us is a monster. We're just a kid. We don't have to do this. We don't have anything to prove." You were crying into my shirt. Your tears made dark green splotches on the fabric.

I wasn't smiling any more.

"You don't get it, do you?" I said while you held me. "Do you still think that you're above consequences?"

"You were the one—!"

I stopped your angry outburst with one word: "No."

"I couldn't do anything to stop you."

"Stop lying to yourself, Frisk. You only want to believe that there was nothing you could do, that I was the one in control. Deep down you wanted to know... Somewhere inside you, there was a morbid curiosity. And as long as it wasn't really 'Frisk' who did it, you wouldn't have to feel guilty. If I could do it, you wouldn't have to."

"What about now, then?" you shouted. "If I can control what we do, then I choose to stop! I don't want to do this anymore! I just... I just..." You fell to the ground, clutching my shirt. You were running out of tears again. Snot ran out of your nose. "I just want to go home."

"If you wish for something hard enough, if you want something with all your heart, you might actually get it." I pulled out a small key from my pocket. "Do you know what this is, Frisk?"

You stared at the key in my hand.

"This is the key to your soul, Frisk. This is what you traded for the chance to go back."

Your eyes widened.

"Because you wanted to abnegate all responsibility so badly, I granted your wish." I held the tip of the key to your chest. "You truly aren't the one in control anymore." I turned it. The lock on your prison gate engaged.

Due to the darkness, the rainbow light made my eyes water and filled them with small stars. The statues around us had made long shadows along the garden grass. I kept smiling.

"Did it work?" whispered Rainbow Dash.

"I'm not sure," answered Twilight.

"Oh, sure, I'm ready to set down my weapon and go on a big picnic with everyone here. Nevermind all the death and destruction up until this point. Here, I have several ideas on how we can handwave all that away..." I moved my palm across the air, wiggling my fingers for emphasis. "Or, y'know—" I leveled the spear at them— "We could have a real fight for once?"

Pinkie Pie squinted and pursed her lips. She snapped up to me in an instant and put her face right up against mine.

"That's not how this is supposed to go," she said tightly. "If you get us off-script—"

"I'm real sick of your story-savvy shtick." I aimed for her heart. Her unarmored underbelly made for an easy target. Her blood spilled onto the lawn. She stepped back with a face of shock. She mouthed something that I couldn't read before collapsing in a pink heap of frizzy hair and flesh. I turned to the rest, pointed at them, and said, "It's five of you against one of me. This should be easy."

Rainbow Dash flew at me, leading with her back feet. Her hooves hit my chest and flung me backward. The impact caused me to skid several feet over the grass, staining my shirt with streaks of green.

"Dash!" called Applejack.

She flew up over me. Her front hoof came down. I had only a moment to pull my head away before her hoof slammed into the ground, slinging up small bits of dirt. I grinned up at the anger in her face.

"You're too slow," I said.

Her expression of fury grew in depth. She held up her hoof again, ready to crush my head on the lawn.

"That's enough!" called out Twilight from behind us.

Rainbow Dash's expression shifted to surprise as she slid backward suddenly.

I raised myself up on my palms and stared at them. I coughed and said, "Are you serious? You were on the brink of victory. Why did you throw it away?" Blood trickled down my chin.

"She's still breathing!" called Fluttershy from behind her. "But... she's hurt badly. We need to get her help immediately."

"I don't want any more of my friends to get hurt," said Twilight Sparkle. "I will deal with this. Everyone else, help get Pinkie Pie some proper medical care."

"Twilight!" protested Rainbow Dash.

"Go! We don't have much time."

Rainbow Dash looked to her injured friend. She flew over and helped Fluttershy pick her up. "Beat that evil weirdo into dust," she said. "For me."

Twilight didn't respond. She stared at me with extreme attention.

The pegasus ponies lifted off. Rarity and Applejack followed close behind, providing ground support.

"Sending the injured away? Stepping up to fight me alone? This is merely a repeat of my last encounter. And I promise you," I said while standing up. "The outcome won't be any different this time around."

Her eyes glowed. Her horn had the aura of magical energy all around it.

I picked up my spear, still smiling.

"She won't be alone this time, though."

I lowered my weapon and looked around. Twilight stiffened her stance.

A white unicorn in a nice suit stepped out from behind a statue. This was the unicorn Celestia had been speaking to earlier tonight.

I chuckled. "So you're going to throw away your life as well? Who gets to rule this place when you're gone, anyway?" I asked.

A key around his neck levitated up into the air. "You misunderstand. I have no intention to die. I'm not even going to fight you. Truthfully, I couldn't even if I tried." He turned to the statue beside him. "The thing is, we have a 'secret weapon', though Celestia said to only... that this was a last..." His words faltered. He was trying with all his might to keep composure. But his regal air disbanded in a fit of tears when he said: "W-when Celestia fell, I kn-new he was the only one who could stop you..." He placed the key at the base of the statue and turned it.

I had never seen a creature quite like this one before. The white marble portrayed a patchwork beast standing up and singing. When the unicorn turned his key at the base of the statue, cracks formed from its one hoof to its mis-matched horns.

The light in Twilight's eyes dissipated as she turned to look at what was happening behind her.

"Keep your head in the game!" I shouted.

I reeled back and took aim. My small body didn't give me much leverage to work with, but at such a close range, I was sure that I could put enough strength behind my attack to deal a significant amount of preliminary damage. Exhaling hard, I threw the spear like a lance. It left my hand and flew through the air.

She turned back around just in time to see it strike her. It pierced through her side, and the darkness was filled with the sound of blood splattering on stone.

"Huh. You don't bleed like the other one did."

Her furry face showed an unnatural pallor. She coughed and moved her lips, but only blood came out. She fell to the ground when her legs would no longer stand.

"Oh well," I said, tearing the spear from her body. "That's not important. For now—"

The statue exploded.

The creature who had been stone a moment ago stood stretching out his limbs. He yawned wide, showing mismatched teeth to go with the rest of his mismatched body.

"Mnyh?" he said, looking around. "Did my alarm go off early?" A small clock appeared beside him. He picked it up and stared at its unmoving hands. "No, no. Then, what? And why is it so dark?" He placed a talon on the smaller hand and spun it around. As if we were standing under a gyroscope the whole sky turned around us, it's bluish colors blurring together before being replaced by clouded light and sunshine. "That's... better, but not quite."

The unicorn looked between the fallen Twilight and this standing stranger. His face could not settle on a suitable expression of dignified horror, so it went with 'frightened like a child' instead.

He turned the clock upside down and fiddled with it more. Bits of sky moved hither and thither. After he had finished, the world was covered by unordered splotches of nighttime and daytime. That was one trick I'd never seen before.

"So, are you going to play exterior decorator all day, or are you going to fight me?"

He turned his head to us two. "Huh? Fight you? What are you—" He noticed Twilight lying on the ground. "Oh, I see."

He disappeared. I felt him place a paw on my shoulder.

"Listen, kid. I don't think you understand how this works."

I took the spear and swung it behind me. But he wasn't there.

"We get our monologue. We get our time in the limelight. We get the fans cheering on our psychopathic antics." His voice seemed to come from everywhere, all at once. "But when the magical explosive rainbow hits you—" The house lights of the world dimmed. A single beam struck down in front of me, where he stood holding a cane and dressed in the attire of a stage performer. "You take a dive." He struck some heroic pose before turning back into stone.

The unicorn beside me said nothing. To be honest, I was at a loss for words as well.

He burst out of his own stone belly. "Because if you don't!"

"If you start singing, I will murder you. Well, I will do that anyway. But I'll be sure to make it unnecessarily painful and drawn out as well."

He stepped up to me, his face near to mine. He was smiling, though I couldn't tell whether it was a genuine expression or one just for show. "Because if you don't, you're going to have a bad time."

---

Finis

You woke up. You looked around. You groped at the darkness.

But there was nothing to be felt.

You sat back and scrutinized your surroundings more closely. Darkness surrounded you on every side. A small disc of light was set beneath you, the only illumination in the entire room. Its gentle glow brought out the colors in your clothes and the odd pallor of your hands. You checked your chest and felt the beat of your heart beneath your fingertips.

More importantly, you were alone and devastatingly so.

"Is it fun yet?" asked Flowey from behind you. "Is it liberating to be stripped of all compassion? Is it freeing to be forced against your will to be bound up here while a monster uses your body to kill your friends?"

"You're not real," you said, not looking back. You wrapped your arms around your legs. "You died a long time ago. We both did."

Flowey popped up in front of you. "Maybe I'm just a memory. But do you want to sit here by yourself moping for the rest of your life? Or do you want to stand up and find a way to fight back?"

"I've tried everything... Do you know how many times I reset before coming here? Countless hours, eons of wasted time running through the same story again and again. No permutation led back to the Pacifist Path. I even destroyed the world and brought it back. After the fiftieth time, Sans stopped talking to me. I don't know what he saw in my face, but his attack pattern never changed. I could dodge it all perfectly."

"So, are you just going to give up? Is this the end?"

"Sometimes, when the existential burden of my life came down on me, when I was too broken to do anything else, I'd just hang out."

"Hang out?" he asked.

"I'd sit somewhere. Sometimes alone, sometimes with someone else. But wherever I was, I'd always try to take in every detail. If there was anything I hadn't noticed before, I memorized it. Even for people I'd do the same. I got to know them all, each one. I discovered everything I could about them, down to the floor of their soul. And I remember every detail." You reached out a hand and touched Flowey's petal. "Even you."

He swatted your hand away with a vine. "So you're just going to sit there and feel sorry for yourself, then?"

You didn't say anything else.

Then you felt the extraordinary pain splitting apart your chest. You gasped and clutched at your chest, where a huge hole had appeared. Flowey's face was fading fast. The darkness came in closer, and you hardly had time to feel the wet running down your hands.

No...

You struggled against the darkness. Your heart had cracked, but it was still intact. You reached out and touched on something hidden amid the murk. A familiar feeling washed over you. You saw the rainbow alight on your soul. Once more it re-fused. The pain went away, and you were revived and alive.

"W-what was that?" you stuttered through ragged breaths.

---

The sweat dropped off my face and into the grass below. I tried to smirk, but my face's usual facade had fallen. "You got me," I said, clutching at my chest. "Too bad that it didn't work."

Discord stood before me, his mouth taut and his eye peeved. "You're just going to cheat your way through this battle? Really?"

"Cheating is such a strong word." I stood up and dusted off my hands. "I like to think of it as an unorthodox tactic."

He sent another barrage of chaos spears at me. They struck me, sending me back and sticking me to a statue. I tried to keep the pain from appearing on my face. The rainbow light came again, dissipating the spears. I fell to the ground, still glowing.

Skin, sinew, and bone covered up the holes. My wounds were healed. I recovered quicker this time.

"So," I said, picking up my spear. "There's only one way that this can end, and you know it." I struck the ground several times in point, gashing the earth and sending blades of grass into the air.

Discord held out his clawed hand. He reached out his palm and then closed his fingers tightly together. A facsimile of his hand, though much larger than the original, came out of the ground and gripped at me. I rolled out of its reach, its claws tearing into my clothes and causing my skin to bleed beneath the tatters.

"Then it's simple," he said. "I won't let it end."

I sighed, then smiled. "I was hoping you'd say that." I lunged at him, swinging wildly. He dodged out of the way, slithering into another part of the garden and sending an array of obstacles in my path: his clock, a potted plant, a complete china tea set, a glass of chocolate milk, at least a dozen varieties of pie, and a small white dog.

I broke the clock on the shaft of my spear, dodged the potted plant and tea set as they landed with a cacophony of crashes, slashed at the glass (which split apart instantly, spilling its liquid-like glass on the ground and leaving two halves of solid chocolate to thud on top of it), weaved between the pies, and saw the small dog floating far away.

When I caught up to him, I rammed the spear at his side. He squirmed away with the fluidity of air, and my spear was caught firm in a stone crevasse.

Discord took this opportunity to tear me apart.

---

One ripped up your back, another caught your ankle and made you fall over. A hole gaped in your shoulder, and drops of blood fell down from it to the ground, bright red against the unnatural darkness beneath. You cried out to the power that was your health and wellness throughout this ordeal. It came on your call and cured you.

"I-I don't know h-how much more of this I can take," you told Flowey. "I can't, I don't—" You lurched forward and lost your lunch. After wiping off your mouth you said, "This is sickly sadistic, even for..."

Flowey frowned.

"Nevermind." You tried to catch your breath. "Look—" You held out a shaking hand to Flowey. "Let's make a deal."

---

I was flying through the air again. Chaos energy surrounded me. Its sharp ripples and waves cut into me from every side, blowing apart my body bit-by-bit until I was nearly only the nub of my soul.

The clouds moved oddly in the sky. They slid along geometric patters, and when one particular configuration was achieved, snow, rain, or thunder would result. The section of land beneath would be subject to a harsh freeze, or a flood, or be struck with lightning until nothing but ash remained. Animals were running rampant, and their trampling rooted up the plants and made large swaths of land a muddy mess.

He was causing far more damage than I could hope to achieve. But, then again, that wasn't my goal. No, what I really want...

Rainbow light with the will to live lit up my vision. My body returned to me and with it came excruciating pain to break apart my reverie. My momentum was not enough to sustain the flight of all this new mass, so I descended rapidly and started skidding along the ground. The dust settled a few seconds after I stopped.

I picked myself up and puffed. "No fair. Now my spear is way over there."

I moved just in time to watch it zoom past my head. It landed at least half a foot deep in the soft soil behind me.

"Not bad. Have you ever considered a career in the Olympics?" I turned around and took up the spear in my hand. "You'd make a great field-target!" I reared back and sent the spear straight forward, directed as best I could at his evasive center.

He didn't dodge it. Instead, a bubble of energy rose up to stop the spear. When it struck, both the shield and the spear shattered. The spear's shaft fell to the ground in small pieces. Light shards littered the ground before disappearing in a glow of stardust. From the cloud of wreckage came a single glint flying toward me.

I caught the spearhead in my hand. Its blade sliced across my fingers, but I managed to keep hold of it at the small portion of the shaft that had remained attached to it.

"I'm tired of this," I told him. "I thought that fighting you might at least be fun, but no. All this is just tedium." I held out the spearhead. "Perhaps you will call me a cheat again. But I don't see how ending this now would be any worse than dragging along a pointless fight that you had no chance to win in the first place."

I searched out that boundless energy. I found it residing within me, and I concentrated on bring it out and into my hand.

The spearhead glowed bright white. Specks of light floated around it. They coalesced on the tip and started building upwards, until a long sword of white light sat in my hand.

Discord raised an eyebrow at me.

I ran forward, bearing my saber. I covered much ground. When I got to his position, I jumped up and jabbed with both my hands at his heart.

Flecks of light surrounded us. I felt the energy within me overflowing. Auras swirled between us two.

My attack landed, and I smiled with a facade of satisfaction. My mask of emotion broke when I saw what I had hit.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" said Asriel Dreemurr, blood dripping down his mouth. He held the blade between his hands. The tip had hit his left side, had punctured his heart.

"That's impossible," I told him. "You're dead."

The blade disappeared in a burst of energy. Without its support, Asriel stumbled forward, still spilling blood on the ground. He fell to his knees. His furry hands held onto my pants.

I took the inert spearhead and touched its tip to his throat. "And if not, I'll be sure to make it so."

"I-I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said. "Not if you want to stay alive."

"What are you—?" Then I saw your soul as it burned brightly red against the colors on his chest. "What?!"

His wound closed. When it had been healed, the light from your heart faded away. He struggled to get up. "A monster's essence lives on in things that his dust touches. I was holding your body when I died. But more than that, a monster's life lives on in the hearts and minds of those who loved him. With enough determination, and with help from this strange new magic, I can be reincarnated."

My hands fell to my sides. The weapon fell from my fingers. Tears refused to fall from my eyes.

"So, are you finally going to kill me? Can you prove that you're strong enough? Or will you give in to weakness again?"

"Aren't you forgetting someone?" said Discord from behind us. "You're upstaging me at my biggest moment! After defeating the menace of Equestria, the ponies will be so glad that they'll once again accept me as their benevolent-but-insane ruler. Though, now that I think about it, they'll have to do so anyway, since there aren't many options left at the moment."

"Can you give us a moment, please?" said Asriel cordially. "I'm trying to have a heart-to-heart with my friend."

Discord looked down on him with his mis-sized eyes. "As you will," he said, turning away and waving his paw at us. "But don't expect me to be the one to clean everything up once you two are done." A Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses dropped down on him. He picked up a suitcase from the ground. After throwing it open, he packed up his broken clock, his statue's dust, and the little white dog that had been floating around aimlessly for the past twenty minutes. "All this work has exhausted me. I'm going on vacation." He snapped closed the suitcase. "Bon voyage! My check better not be late like the last one!" He stepped through a portal and was gone.

He held out a hand to me. "Let's go home."

I turned my head away. "I can't."

"Together, we can load your SAVE—"

"That's not the point!" I glared at him. "I don't have a soul. There's nothing for you to save."

"I mean, we can just..."

"And if you leave me here, I'll just keep killing. There's no point in living anymore. Death is the only option."

"I don't believe that."

I sighed. I fell to the ground. "Only the unfettered will to continue keeps me alive. There's nothing that means anything to me anymore."

He knelt down beside me. "But you mean something to me. That's something, isn't it?"

"Look at this world," I told him. "It's a mess."

"Would making it dirtier make you feel any better?"

"No."

"Then? Would making it cleaner make you feel any worse?"

"No..."

"Then how about we clean it up, together?"

I watched the clouds float through the sky. Without the discordant magic that had directed them before, they traveled freely. The sky shown with shades of pink and purple. The horizon showed something dawning beyond the land below.

"Okay," I said, and we stood up together.