Chapter Seventeen: Memories of the Far Past
The Caretaker smiled sadly as she came back to the present remembering that she was going to head out soon. After all, the Duchess of Mandalore had invited her over for some tea. This was something that they did yearly once the Mandalorian Civil War ended. Something that always weighed heavily on Fluttershy. She knew it would end with Tor Vizsla either being killed in battle or his capture. She couldn’t say she hated him, just was sorely disappointed in him. Shaking her head, the Caretaker continued on her way.
“heading out, kid?” Sans asked, appearing next to her, the Caretaker smiled as she looked down at him. After all the years of living together with him and Asriel she appreciated his presence before leaving Tython.
“I’m going to see the Duchess.” the Caretaker answered, touching her face. “Maybe afterwards speaking with Count Dooku.”
Sans held up her veil, the Caretaker’s hand hovering over it as she began to think about the far past. Long before the restoration of Tython, long before she had gained this form. To when Fluttershy was still a Pegasus of Equestria and she was flung to a time where Monsters were trapped in the Underground.
When Fluttershy opened her eyes she found herself lying amongst yellow buttercups with the sun shining down above her. The vines of the flowers curling around her arm, upon her back was something warm. Looking over she saw a strange creature resting upon her back and over her wing. She carefully examined the creature as she thought back to what had happened prior. Rainbow Dash getting angry at her and Fluttershy flying away in tears. The three mysterious creatures: Urðr, Verdandi, and Skuld. Fluttershy then realized that this must be the test. ‘To find the strength of who I am and to survive.’ Fluttershy thought as the new creature began to shift and yawn. Once she was sure that the being was awake they stared at each other for a moment.
“Ummm, excuse me?” Fluttershy asked and the creature looked at her with tired eyes. “A-are you alright?”
“You… speak?” the being asked quietly, Fluttershy realizing that this could be a child of the species. She nodded her head and the child moved forward. The child sat up, resting their full weight upon their knees.
“I’m Fluttershy.” Fluttershy spoke hiding behind her hair and the child nodded. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Frisk.” the child replied with a smile growing on their face. “Did you fall down as well?”
Fluttershy nodded her head in response before she climbed to her hooves. Frisk did so as well and Fluttershy saw that they were about seven inches taller than her.
“I’ve never seen a talking pony before, are you normally little?” Frisk asked and Fluttershy nodded her head before asking. “And I’ve never seen a… are you a human? My friend Twilight has met humans before but I’ve never seen one.”
Frisk nodded their head as well and Fluttershy felt herself calm down a little bit. Frisk looked around as Fluttershy asked. “Where are we?”
Frisk was quiet for a moment before responding. “I’m not sure, but I think I see a doorway… I think… maybe we should stay together?”
Fluttershy nodded her head as they began to walk, the silence began to gnaw at them both before Fluttershy asked. “So… what are you?”
“I'm a boy. I know I don’t look like it… well to other humans. They call me an...an…” Frisk seemed to fumble over his words and Fluttershy smiled saying. “Androgynous? Don’t worry, I can’t tell.”
Frisk laughed a little before they walked through the doorway. The room beyond it was dark, only a patch of grass was lit up by the sunlight peeking through the cracks above. Sitting upon it was a lone flower, Fluttershy noticed right away that something was off about it. Upon the capitulum was a face, a grin spreading across it as the flower greeted them. “Howdy, I’m Flowey. Flowey the Flower, I’m your best friend.”
“Hello Flowey, my name is Fluttershy and this is….” Fluttershy’s words were cut off as Flowey waved a leaf continuing. “I know who that is, let me explain how things work down here.”
Fluttershy frowned as the flower began to explain about SOULs and LOVE. Fluttershy felt something was off when Flowey offered to show them how to gather LOVE. Frisk flinched back as white pellets were summoned, though they were called “friendliness pellets” Fluttershy was prepared for anything but.
“Try to catch as many as you can.” Flowey told them as he sent the bullets at them. Fluttershy and her SOUL, a green one, and Frisk with his red SOUL dodged to the side. Much to the flower’s irritation, he chided them before sending more in their direction. Fluttershy flew up into the air, glad that there was some space as Frisk moved around below. Her wings throbbed causing her to land next to Frisk once again.
“You… you’ve figured out what’s going on, haven’t you?” Flowey growled, his voice warping, as Fluttershy looked at the pellets which had dug into the wall. “Down here it’s kill or be killed! That human’s SOUL is mine!”
Flowey summoned more pellets, this time they formed a circle around her’s and Frisk’s SOULs causing them both to tense. Flowey seemed to enjoy dragging out their doom, so much so that he didn’t notice a flame coming towards him.
“Look out!” warned Fluttershy, but it fell upon deaf ears as it slammed into the flower sending him flying. A large goat-like creature, that if Fluttershy had to guess, was a little over 8’ tall. She approached the two, her voice calm but chiding as she spoke. “What a horrible creature, torturing such a poor innocent child. I am Toriel, Keeper of the Ruins, I come here everyday to see if a human has fallen down here.”
Fluttershy glanced off to the side feeling an immense amount of sadness coming from the direction that Flowey had been thrown. When she saw no sign of the flower she decided to introduce herself. “I’m Fluttershy, a pony from Ponyville. Where am I?”
“You are in the Ruins, the old home of the Monsters who live in the Underground.” Toriel explained before leading the two deeper into the Ruins. “Long ago, there was a… fight between Humans and Monsters. The Monsters lost and Seven Human Mages sealed us here, forming a barrier to prevent anything from leaving. Their choice of punishment is a cruel one… come let me explain the Ruins to the both of you.”
Fluttershy followed along with Frisk as they listened to the explanation of how the puzzles worked. Both Frisk and Fluttershy were quiet in their thoughts. Including the puzzles Toriel had a much different way in dealing with the Monsters of the Underground. Instead of attacking them like Flowey, Toriel would have them talk to the Monster until she arrived to diffuse the situation. It was much more up the two alleys as they practiced on the dummy. Frisk complimented the training dummy and Fluttershy decided to do the same. Though she began to get quieter the more she talked to the dummy, she was getting the feeling it was watching her. Before they moved on Fluttershy felt something pat her on the head and she glanced around for the source. That was when she saw the dummy wink and she quickly walked to the two. The only puzzle that Toriel didn’t let Frisk solve on his own was a spiked floor. Taking his hand she led him through the puzzle while Fluttershy glided above them. Before they entered the next room Toriel turned to look at Fluttershy saying. “Could you please wait out here for just one moment.”
“Alright.” Fluttershy replied before sitting down and humming a small creature poking its head out and walking towards her. It wasn’t the creature from before, a Froggit, it was more like an insect. It didn’t seem to want to fight, shaking like a leaf and frightened of her. Holding out her hoof, Fluttershy watched as the creature moved towards her only to fly away as Toriel called out. “Fluttershy, you can come in now.”
“Goodbye.” whispered Fluttershy before heading into the room and Toriel looked at her saying. “I am sorry, I had to be sure the child would be fine on their own if you two were ever separated.”
“Oh, that’s alright.” Fluttershy glanced at Frisk who smiled at her happily. “I’m sure we will be fine.”
“Now remember my instructions, don’t leave the room until I come and get you.” Toriel told Frisk and he nodded his head watching her leave. Fluttershy walked over before taking a seat next to him. He sighed, pulling out a strange device before shoving it back into his pocket. Glancing next to her Fluttershy extended her wing and pulled Frisk closer to her asking. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, just bored… how long do you think we have to wait?” Frisk mumbled looking up at Fluttershy who furrowed her brow before answering. “I’m not sure, until she comes and gets us. I don’t know how long that will be. I’m sure we will have lots to do. Ah, how old are you Frisk?”
“Six.” Frisk said a big grin on his face as he began to bounce in his spot. “Oh! I didn’t get to say this before but thanks for trying to tell Flowey my name.”
“You’re welcome.” Fluttershy poked at the ground with her hoof trying to see if they could use it to play a game. It didn’t budge causing both of them to sigh. Frisk pulled out the strange device again and glanced at it causing Fluttershy to ask. “What is that?”
“This? Oh, it’s a cellphone, you can talk to people with another one of these!” Frisk tried to explain how it worked but it seemed like even he didn’t know. It began to ring, freaking both of them out. It was Toriel who seemed to be having a few problems and wouldn’t be back in the timeline she had stated before. She tried to keep them updated until her phone was apparently stolen and eaten by a dog. The last straw for Fluttershy was when they heard the dog sleeping on the other end. She climbed to her feet saying. “I have to find that dog, Ms. Toriel wouldn’t mind if we went to go get her phone back.”
Frisk nodded his head as they began to walk out of the room together ready to face the unknown puzzles and Monsters together. It wasn’t as bad as Fluttershy initially thought, the Froggits liked compliments and if they were careful the attacks were easy enough to dodge. Fluttershy generally would take the attacks for Frisk if he couldn’t move out of the way fast enough which would cause the frog-like monsters to feel really guilty and leave them alone. The Whimsums, the strange bugish creatures from before, were more prone to panicking than Fluttershy. Often getting scared when Frisk would chide them and fly away before he could comfort them. Though most of the time they flew into Fluttershy’s mane to hide. Neither of the two minded as they continued on their way.
The journey was more like a pleasant trip, there was little to no conflict. Fluttershy sensing that they were being followed and would often check behind her just in case. She only caught glimpses of a flower sinking into the soil below. Whenever she would see this she moved closer to Frisk, her wing wrapping around him. Frisk just smiled at her and patted her on the head as they continued on. The puzzles varied and the Monsters that did attack them left them some money once the conflict was resolved. Fluttershy always made sure that they kept some money set aside just in case they found a store.
Soon they came upon a ghost resting on the leaves, though it was obvious that he was pretending to be asleep.
“Excuse me, but we need to pass through. If you don’t mind, that is.” Fluttershy spoke quietly and the ghost stirred for a moment. Frisk walked up and tried to nudge him for a moment but jumped back when the ghost tried to attack them. Fluttershy watched the battle only stepping in when Frisk was about to get hurt protecting his SOUL with her wings. The tears that the ghost cried turned out to be acidic. She let out a whimper of pain and Frisk just gave the ghost a patient smile.
“I-I’m sorry.” the Ghost sobbed his tears streaming everywhere. Frisk decided to take this chance and give him a compliment about his bowtie. This seemed to cheer up the ghost but the tears didn’t dry and the battle continued. It did take a while until they managed to calm down the ghost enough to get some information from him. The ghost, as they found out, was called Napstablook. Frisk found that out by using the check option. Fluttershy had no idea what he was talking about because she didn’t have any options like that.After listening to his problems they went ahead after giving him some advice. Frisk stopped to get some food from the spider bake sale. They went through the last few puzzles, Frisk having to do the one with the holes and ended up talking to Napstablook and finding a faded ribbon before getting to the switch.
When they made it to Toriel’s house, Frisk had found a toy knife, but didn’t even equip it beforehand. They were led to a room. Fluttershy let the tired child use the bed while she slept on the floor. She opened her eyes for a moment to find Toriel draping a blanket over her. Her eyes closed again as she slipped back into the blissful embrace of sleep.
The next morning when she awoke Frisk was already gone, poking her head out of the room she saw Toriel reading.
“Good morning.” she said walking over to the Monster. “Where is… the human?”
“They’re exploring the RUINs some more. They wanted to leave the ruins but instead ended up listening to some snail facts instead.” Toriel explained with a sad smile. “I know they will want to leave eventually. But I can’t let them, they will die out there, I can’t let that happen again.”
“What do you mean by again?” Fluttershy inquired sitting by the arm rest feeling the warmth of the fire. “There were more?”
“Yes, six more before the child.” sighed Toriel closing her book. “They all stayed here for a while but they wanted to leave. Most wanted to go home, one… wanted to help no matter the cost. I can’t lose another one.”
“Would it help if I went with them?” suggested the Element of Kindness with a smile earning a surprised look from the goat monster. “I may not be the best fighter but I can protect them anyway I can. I don’t mind if you can think of a test for the both of us. To see what we have learned and to make sure we can take care of ourselves!.”
“A test huh?” Toriel tapped a finger against her chin as she closed the book on her lap thinking. “Oh there’s some pie in the kitchen if you want some. It is butterscotch-cinnamon. I hope you enjoy it.”
“Oh, thank you.” Fluttershy headed off to get some pie. Toriel leaned back in her seat thinking some more. She was going to need to ask for some extra help, not that she didn’t trust Fluttershy, it was more of the fact that she needed someone she’s known for a long time to make sure that they both don’t die. Their kindness was strong but that meant that they would probably not fight back with other monsters which could get both of them killed. She could always ask the “Joke Master” for help but she needed an excuse to go down into the basement without them getting suspicious.
Fluttershy hummed under her breath as she got a plate for the pie. This world was different from the world she was from but felt the same. Most of the items were for beings with fingers and hands. ‘Like monkeys.’ she thought, trying to use the pie knife with her teeth. It took a lot of work but she managed to get a slice. Picking the plate up with her teeth she walked out slowly towards the table in the sitting room. Frisk was there reading a book from the shelf and Toriel was watching him from the book she was reading. The air was heavy, like they both had a discussion while she was trying to get the pie. She didn’t pry though, instead set about trying to eat the slice of delicious smelling pastry.
“Hey mama. where is the exit to the RUINs?” Frisk asked quietly, his eyes focused on the pages in front of him. Toriel sighed before getting up. “Stay here, I have something I must do.”
‘I have a bad feeling about this.’ thought the kind pony as Frisk walked over to her and went to climb on her back. She moved so that he could and he grabbed her plate for her.
“You want us to follow her?” inquired Fluttershy and he nodded his head. “Alright.”
Moving as fast as she could she headed towards the area that Toriel walked into. Taking a deep breath she moved towards the stairs, it was just a feeling that she had but she could almost sense the feeling of pain coming from there. They found her at the bottom of the stairs where she spoke her voice calm. “At the end of this hall is a door that is the exit to the ruins. I am going to destroy it. Do not try to stop me.”
‘This isn’t what I had in mind when I said test.’ thought the kind pony as she followed after Toriel. Toriel urged them to go upstairs and let her do what she had to. Frisk didn’t waver in his resolve to get out of the ruins… though he didn’t want to hurt Toriel to do so. Fluttershy was just worried that someone would get hurt in the end. When they got to the door at the end of the ruins Toriel had her hand on it before turning to face them. She was set on making sure they either stayed or fought. ‘This isn’t what I meant when I said test!’ the pink maned pegasus mentally told Toriel feeling the tears in her eyes as the monster summoned flames. Once again the SOULs appeared in front of their chests.
‘She doesn’t want to fight us.’ Fluttershy realized as she felt emotions radiate off of the saddened being. ‘So I will not fight back.’
‘I don’t want to hurt mama! I don’t want the monsters to remain here either. I want to help everyone!’ Frisk thought his fists clenching the mane in front of him before he got an idea, leaning forward he whispered in Fluttershy’s ear. “Do your best to dodge her attacks, I’ll get through to her. Remember what the Froggit said, sometimes you have to spare someone who’s name isn’t yellow. It just means you have to spare someone who still wants to fight.”
“That’s always something I prefer to do.” sighed Fluttershy dodging the first few flames coming towards them. “Though I have to wonder, does food heal the damage done to our bodies or just our souls?”
“Let’s hope that we don’t have to find out.” mumbled Frisk looking towards the one they had grown attached to, even though they barely knew her. No matter what she did or when she ordered them to fight they refused. The tears were beginning to well up in her eyes and they began to fall. The kind beings felt sorry for as she began to beg them to stay before realizing herself that the ruins would become small for the human child as they grew older. She told them that if they did leave the ruins that they should not come back. The two felt saddened by this but after a hug, and Frisk heading back to sleep in the bed once more, they headed out of the ruins.
They met Flowey on the way who admonished them for not killing anyone. Fluttershy didn’t speak up, instead she was trying to sense what he was feeling. It was odd, she knew what her gift was, but when she felt what Flowey was feeling the first time it was like a door opened to something different. She didn’t know what it was though or if it was because these monsters had the appearance of animals. Frisk was sticking close to Fluttershy which caused Flowey to start yelling at them to which she apologized and continued on her way. She looked back to see the flower looking rather angry, seemingly unaware of the tear dripping down from his face.
When they got out of the RUINs Fluttershy had wished that she had a scarf on hoof. It was like they entered a dark snowy forest. Trudging forward Fluttershy kept a look out for any Monster brave enough to attack them. Frisk didn’t complain about anything but kept close to Fluttershy in order to share some warmth. The two shivered together in a bundle as they tried to give each other comfort. Her ears twitched as she heard what sounded like someone crunching through the snow. Both turned around just a figure vanished. The two turned to look at each other with fear on their faces before they continued on. This began to scare Fluttershy worse than the Everfree Forest. ‘At least there you could hear the sounds of the beings who lived there.’ she thought as they passed over a large stick. ‘Here, there is nothing. Just silence.’
When they were far enough away there was a loud crack and Fluttershy almost bolted. Yet it felt like her hooves were frozen solid. Both her and Frisk turned to look, seeing the large stick frozen. Then they took off down the path. Not slowing down until they saw a bridge. That was when they came to a halt, the bridge was just wide enough for each of them to go one at a time.
“What was that?” panted Frisk bending over and taking gulps of air. Fluttershy felt her lungs burning but that didn’t stop the scream as the footsteps filled the air again. They stopped, a low voice speaking to both of them. “hey buddy, don’t you know how to greet a new friend? turn around and shake my hand.”
Frisk, having gotten his courage back, stepped forward and shook the hand only for a loud farting noise to fill the air. Fluttershy fainted on the spot.
The Caretaker laughed slightly and Sans gave her a confused look as she took the veil covered circlet.
“what are you thinking about, kid?” Sans asked as the Caretaker put the item on answering. “The time when I first arrived in the Underground and how we met.”
Sans paused for a moment before chuckling bashfully. “almost forgot about that. those resets do a number on my memories. you fainted after my joke, got the ki...frisk, all worried.”
“I’m sorry.” the Caretaker uttered knowing how much thinking about the past hurt him. Sans waves a hand saying. “don’t give me that look. you’ve given me another chance at living. something i wasn’t prepared to do after paps died. even gave asriel one, though he’s not aging, i think he’s happier like this. we miss everyone from the underground but it hurts more when we try to avoid the issue.”
“Sans.” the Caretaker said before giving him a hug. “I have to go. See you when I get back.”
“see ya.”