Chapter Eleven: Fluttershy Lost
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.
“Ummm, excuse me?” Fluttershy asked and the creature stood before looking 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 feet. Frisk did so as well and she 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 this flower. 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 alley as they practiced on the dummy. Frisk complimented the training 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. “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 with 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 flying 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.
It took a while to get to Toriel’s house. They faced many Monsters, one of which included a sad ghost which they complimented until it vanished. Frisk got a red ribbon which hinted to Fluttershy that they weren’t the first down here. Toriel had called them frequently, Frisk answering seemingly interesting questions or just listening. When they arrived at Toriel's house she was heading out to gather them and stood there surprised when they approached. Though her face gave way to a gentle smile when she had seen that Frisk sported no wounds. Fluttershy had taken the brunt of the attacks, Frisk having set money aside to buy something from the spider bake sale. Toriel told them that there was pie inside and led them into her abode. Little did the two know that this would lead to an adventure unlike any other.
Rainbow Dash touched down at Fluttershy’s cabin, her face guilt ridden as she approached it calling out softly. “Fluttershy? You there?”
There was silence causing her to sigh and approach the door. She was about to knock when she saw something approach her causing her to spin around hoping it was her friend. Instead it was a skeleton over 7’ tall wearing some strange body armor with a short red-orange cape.
“HELLO FRIEND! I SEE THAT YOU ALSO KNOW MY GOOD FRIEND FLUTTERSHY!” the skeleton loudly spoke, causing Rainbow Dash to cover her ears.
“Uhhh, who are you?” Rainbow Dash took a step back before walking around the skeleton. “You’re not a pony.”
“I AM PAPYRUS! FUTURE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD! Well… I was supposed to be,” the sadness was evident in the skeleton voice. “I don’t actually know how I am even back. I died.”
Fear gripped Rainbow Dash’s soul as she flew up to look at Papyrus in the eye sockets. “What happened? Is Fluttershy alright? She’s been gone for almost two weeks!”
“I… I DON’T er… I don’t know. All I remember was trying to get the human to calm down from their murder spree,” Papyrus sat down dabbing at his forehead with part of his cape. “I just hope my annoying brother is alright.”
“I’m sure he’s fine. Fluttershy isn’t the type of person to let anyone get hurt,” Rainbow Dash assured him, patting him on the shoulder and giving him a smile. “I need to apologize to her. I said a few hurtful things to her.”
“You will have that chance Rainbow Dash,” a voice spoke, causing Rainbow Dash to look around. “A mistake had been made. Find her Rainbow Dash.”
“Wait… what?” Rainbow Dash felt herself get pulled downwards as everything went black.
Fluttershy was sitting on a rock looking at an image in front of her. “I understand, but I will continue. Even if I cannot meet her face to face, there are people out there who need my help.”
“I understand, just remember you can’t meet her, She has her own task to fulfill.” Fluttershy nodded her head at the image before it vanished.
“everything alright?” a skeleton asked, he was about five feet tall, Fluttershy looked at him with a kind smile on her face saying. “Yes, Sans, everything is alright. Our friend was just warning me that Rainbow Dash has arrived. Yet we cannot meet as she has her own destiny to follow.”
She climbed to her feet, her wings spreading as she said softly. “We have work to do.”
Twilight was walking through the streets with her friends. She was worried about Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash had gone to look for her. It had been two weeks since anyone had seen her. ‘I should be looking as well.’ she thought to herself. Pinkie Pie was waving towards someone. It always seemed like she didn’t have a care in the world. “Twilight Sparkle.” the voice of Harmonia called out and Twilight looked up in shock. Standing there was the spirit from the Core Realm. “The time has come to begin your tasks. Did you tell the others of the rules?”
“No I… I didn’t have the time,” Twilight admitted, not noticing everything stopping around her. “I thought I would have more!”
“I am sorry then, but this must be done, I did not realize my other half was this much in a rush,” Harmonia said as a cloaked figure appeared behind her. Before she could react the figure snapped its fingers causing Twilight and her friends to vanish. Harmonia looked up towards the sky leaving one last message to Twilight and the Heroes of Harmony. “Your first task is to find the weapons of the First Heroes upon your path.”