Ponytale

by Scarlett Haze

Chapter 1 - Into the Ruins

Suddenly awakening, there is a feeling of... confusion. You remember falling. You remember being picked up. But when your eyes open, all you see is inky blackness and the light from the hole you had fallen through up above. You decide to check yourself if you are hurt and pat yourself down. Your fur is a little messy, but that's nothing a quick swipe with a hoof won't fix. It's the mane that's a problem though. Still, you try to use what little magic you have with your horn and straighten it out.

You look at where you've fallen and see that its a bed of golden flowers. They look so... peaceful where they are. Still, you look back up where you've fallen and tell yourself that you need to get back home. You can make out a path to something resembling a gateway and muster up a little courage to step from the sunlight and through the gate.

Stepping through you see a flower on the ground. It's also golden... but at its center is a white face. "That's rather odd." You think to yourself, "Flowers don't have faces." At first you press on before suddenly you hear a friendly and cheerful voice call out.

"Howdy! I'm Flowey!"

You jump back a bit, trying to find the source of the voice. It continues.

"Flowey the Flower! Hmmm... You seem new to the UNDERGROUND, aren' tcha?"

You blink once and look down at the flower with a face. There's no way...

"Golly, you must be so confused." Flowey speaks, his smile still persistent and inviting. You certainly do feel confused... maybe that fall hit you harder in the head than you thought. "Someone ought to teach you how things work around here! I guess little old me will have to do!"

You pat your head and check for any injuries.

"Ready? Here we go!"

Without warning, something happens as the world turns to black and white and a glowing red heart floats in front of you. You look around you and the heart follows where you are peering at. However, the heart appears to be surrounded by a box that keeps it from whizzing about every which way. Flowey continues to talk as you question just how this is possible.

"You see that heart? That is your SOUL, the very culmination of your being!"

Something tells you that you'd rather have a different color heart than red, but it seems you're stuck with this color for the time being. This time ruminating also allows you to see below the box and its display on something called LV. You wonder what-

"Your SOUL starts off weak," Flowey presses on, interrupting your thoughts. "but it can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV. LV stands for LOVE, of course! You want some LOVE don't you?"

The flower winks at you and sticks its little tongue out. It's... oddly making you like this little plant a little more.

"Down here, LOVE is shared through..." Flowey starts and reveals spinning white pellets from behind him. "Little white... friendliness pellets. Are you ready? Be sure to catch them all!"

You panic, seeing these pellets come at you makes you nervous and you mistakenly weave through the pellets and scrunch up your face. You apologize profusely and try to catch your breath as the smile of Flowey tries to stay on. "Hey, buddy, you missed them."

Once more you apologize, trying to explain that you are having a hard time trying to remain calm at the sight of those pellets coming for your SOUL. Flowey just seems to shrug off your apology, "Let's try again, okay?"

You brace yourself and wait for the pellets to come before you once more avoid the pellets and let out a yelp. You again start to apologize before Flowey stops you. "Is this a joke? Are you braindead?" You keep trying to apologize before you hear-

"RUN."

"INTO."

"THE."

"BULLETS!!!"

A second passes before Flowey shakes his head and puts up his smile again, "I meant friendliness pellets! Run into the friendliness pellets."

That one second is enough for you to have made up your decision. This time, you avoid the 'pellets' and stare right into the flower, almost daring him to make a move.

This makes Flowey VERY upset with you. Its face shifts into something monstrous and stares right back, murderous intent in its eyes. "You know what's going on here, don't you? You just wanted to see me suffer."

The box is suddenly surrounded by hundreds, no thousands of bullets and you feel stuck at its center. Flowey can see the fear in your eyes as you realize that there's no escape.

"Die."

Flowey cackles maniacally as you keep looking around at the circle as it starts closing in. You keep your SOUL at the center and then look back at Flowey, betrayal in your eyes. This thing didn't want to help you from the very beginning, it wanted to kill you from the start. The circle keeps closing in, but you stay determined. You'll live until the last second, even if it means just clutching on to life.

Still, you shut your eyes, fearing for what it to come.

It feels like an eternity, but you hear the sound of someone yelping out in pain.

"What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth."

The new voice makes your eyes open wide and you're greeted by what looks to be a... caretaker of some kind. She's not a pony, that's for sure. She more resembles a yellow goat with pink horns... albeit a goat that stands on its hind legs. You ask her what just happened.

"Ah, do not be afraid, my child. I am TORIEL caretaker of the RUINS. I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down."

That... didn't answer your question.

"You are the first pony to come here in a long time."

Suddenly, you remember the tales you were told as a foal. The tale of MONSTERS and PONIES. Could you have...? A look of shock crosses your face.

"Come! I will guide you through the catacombs," Toriel offers and waves for you to follow. "This way."

You look around you for another second, still unsure as to what has happened over the last few minutes. Still... if she is willing to guide you through the catacombs of this RUIN, then maybe... maybe you can get home! You follow after Toriel, passing into the catacombs and reaching its entrance.

You are filled with determination.

Comments

[mastermenthe]

Get an editor, pal.

[RenaissanceDreemurr]

Hmm... I think that you should be careful with plagiarism, it sounds too similar to the game.

[Radioactive Dragon]

6640741 yeah i agree the rules say it cant just be a game replaced with ponys