(Spoilers for those who haven't played Undertale Yet. You have successfully been warned.)
Pinkie had waited patiently for Toriel to arrive; the goat lady was looking around in surprise at some of the newest features in the ruins. Wouldn’t you after thousands of spiders miraculously install working plumbing in less than an hour? There were several levels of absurdity going on here. That it even worked perfectly at all was amazing; the monsters were welcoming of this change in scenery and couldn’t complain about having toilet paper.
“My goodness, what happened here?” Asked Toriel who looked around the room with both her hands clasped together as this was something new and never before seen in the ruins. She looked to the table that Pinkie was sitting at to see that she was smiling and waving at her. “Oh there you are Pinkie; I hope that none of the monsters here gave you too much trouble.”
“Oh there was no trouble at all Tori, in fact I’ve made friends with a lot of monsters since I started helping out with this bake sale.” Now would be a good opportunity for Pinkie to share her love of baking with Toriel by selling her a cupcake that was made just for her. She had to point out her new friends who were really good at acquiring things. “All the proceeds go to helping out these friendly little guys! To be more specific these three spiders right here are George, Georgette and Georgina, they helped organize it all. They are a really cute family along with Geo, Geology, Geosynchronous, Geode and many other spiders like them. It’s really hard to remember more than a hundred names when there are thousands of these guys around here. So anyway, will you please buy a cupcake? I promise they’re spider free!”
Toriel came up to Pinkie and looked at the strange confections that she saw several monsters walk, hop and or wiggled their way out of the room with. They had seemed to be enjoying their treats and they did seem to inspire passion in the monsters of ‘Home’. After a moment of looking into the adorably big eyes of Pinkie Pie and that wonderful smile, how was Toriel to refuse buying one and eating it to see what the fuss was all about? Seeing the cost of the confection, Toriel reached into her robe and pulled out her coin purse.
Toriel was ignoring the many stares and bows she was getting from the surrounding adoring monsters as she paid the money for a cupcake of her own, Pinkie knew she was a guardian of the ruins but they were all paying attention to her presence in a highly reverent way. Why were there hints of sadness if she was so loved?
The cupcake was an intriguing thing to Toriel and this one in particular was covered in a pink sugary icing that used fruit in some way judging from the smell. Sniffing it made her mouth water slightly. Apparently she did the right thing earlier when she asked Pinkie about her preferences for butterscotch and cinnamon; it definitely looked like she appreciated a well made baked good.
“Thank you for your patronage Tori! Now if you spiders will excuse me, I think I’m done with selling baked goods today.” The first three spiders Pinkie named waved at her that it was okay for her to leave, she did them a great service today and they would always be in debt to her. “Thanks for letting me help you guys out! So, are you going to try it Toriel?”
Toriel looked at the cupcake with a bit of apprehension; she just could not quell her need to bite into it. She wondered what it would taste like and slowly opened her mouth and moved the confection towards it to take a bite.
Quite a few monsters with small popcorn buckets sat nearby, they all leaned forward to see how Toriel reacted to this. Even Pinkie was holding a small bucket of popcorn munching on some of its contents; she wasn’t even going to bother questioning where she got it from as she was busier with watching Toriel’s lips part for the cupcake in a rather sensual manner.
If Pinkie were aware of herself, she would have notice herself licking her own lips at the sight of Toriel parting hers. This moment was something Pinkie really wanted to see, the goat ladies first cupcake. They say you’re first time was always the most exciting, especially when it came to a good pastry.
Toriel slowly bit into the treat, her teeth sliding like knives down into the fluffy and sugary treat of enormous delectability. Pulling her head back with a chunk in her mouth, she carefully chewed and savored the flavors. After a moment she gave of a cute soft moan and her pupils shrunk and then grew big and glossy before they started to fill with tears.
Then Toriel ate the rest of the cupcake like a ravenous blood thirsty maniac.
No seriously, Toriel couldn’t get enough of that one cupcake and slapped some more money on the counter and took three more cupcakes. They were all made by Pinkie, who just smiled at such a reaction. Even the other monsters were surprised to see her lose her graceful appearance as she slowly savored the other three cupcakes she just bought, they just couldn’t help but watch her doing so.
It certainly would make for a good slow motion movie. Thankfully Pinkie Pie had a very good memory and she would see this with great clarity for the rest of her life, however long that may be especially with what the future entails and where she currently was.
“You’re actually kind of underselling it you know. You actually have to be here to enjoy the experience of watching Toriel eat these cupcakes.” Addressing the air, Pinkie’s face had noticeably turned straight red and she wasn’t the only one with a red face. All the monsters were also watching Toriel go from sweet and innocent to downright sinful in a matter of seconds after getting her first taste.
After she was finished eating the last cupcake slowly, she looked horribly goatish about it all with a grin and blush on her face. She had returned to her senses to realize that she had an audience that didn’t have any popcorn left, having given them enough time to finish their popcorn with the way she had eaten the other three cupcakes far more slowly than that first one.
The reason why it was impossible for Toriel to be sheepish about this was because she was a goat lady.
“Well duh, tell them something we don’t know!” Pinkie said blandly to the air, as if expecting it to answer her that Toriel might have incidentally found the taste so wonderful she was going to hug the baker who made them. It wasn’t quite a romantic thing, but it was sure to be cute to all the monsters around that were watching.
Toriel swept Pinkie up into a hug and nuzzled the back of her neck and the pony didn’t struggle, in fact she came to enjoy the nuzzling feeling of the humanoid goat’s nose pressing against her neck, diving into her long straight hair and incidentally taking a small whiff of it. The pony’s eyes closed as she relaxed, Toriel made her feel completely safe.
It was only a few seconds later that Toriel had completely disarmed Pinkie’s brain when she found a sweet spot behind one of her ears to start rubbing with her fingers. Pinkie started cooing before she fell asleep in Tori’s arms purring like a happy kitten with her tail wagging back and forth almost sweeping across the floor in Tori’s strong grip. The pony hadn’t realized how tired she was since she got to the Underworld, until Toriel picked her up to start petting her affectionately.
“Excuse me everyone, I have to get this sleepy one to bed. She must have had a really tiring day and when she wakes up… well, I hope she likes the surprise I’ll have waiting for her.” Toriel cradled the pony in her arms and smiled; she found Pinkie adorable in how she curled up in her arms and snuggled into her body. As cute as she was, Pinkie was still quite heavy for her size. The pony grunted angrily in her sleep at something, Tori took it as her getting cranky so she had to move on after addressing the monsters. “I wish you all good health in the near future. It has been a long time since I’ve seen things brighten up down here and I know I haven’t exactly been the most attentive caretaker. I’m sorry for not trying harder to make things better my people.”
“Worry not; it is nice for us just too even see that you’re finally feeling better mistress Toriel. It gives us hope to see that your spirits can be lifted even after all that has happened to you.” Mifty bowed to Toriel, she was smiling as she watched her carry Pinkie off into the ruins back towards her home. Now she would attend to the one Pinkie called Hop and try to reintroduce him to monster society, hopefully he would fully regain his senses and stop being feral.
-
Toriel opened the door to the room and carried the sleeping pony to the bed and tried to place her on it. It was a little hard to dislodge Pinkie as she was quite the snuggly pony and Toriel was a warm and inviting figure to cling to. It took her a few tries to get Pinkie’s hooves off of her and there was a temptation to just give in and crawl into bed with Pinkie, but she decided against it. They were just becoming friends, they weren’t that close yet. She felt her face heat up because the word ‘yet’ popped up in her head as if she were wishing to be closer to this brightly colored individual with an excessively friendly demeanor.
After tucking the pony into bed, Toriel sighed wistfully as she leaned down and kissed Pinkie on the cheek making her smile in her sleep. The pony’s sleeping face raised up to nuzzle Toriel before resting itself on the pillow, the smile on Toriel’s face broadened but she was still sad at the reminder of her past.
Toriel just knew that Pinkie would want to leave eventually, she tried to harden her heart to the possibility and she just couldn’t as she looked at the pony sleeping peacefully in the bed. She looked weird enough to pass for a monster, but she had a powerful soul and Toriel didn’t want her to leave if she was just going to be attacked for it like the others. It hurt her deeply that she couldn’t save any of them.
- An hour later. -
Toriel sat in her comfortable chair with her reading glasses on as she read a book about the uses for snails. Despite being mostly an herbivore like a normal goat she did get a taste for snail pie every now and then, it was very much an acquired taste.
As she read her book, Toriel couldn’t help but feel a pang of hopelessness to see someone like Pinkie die by trying to leave the safety of the ruins. Why did she keep doing this to herself? At least this time it was an adult or at least what Toriel assumed was an adult pony. She knew how to bake and take care of herself and of that Toriel was sure of, but could she survive against the monsters of the Underworld? That flower monster was unusually powerful; even then Pinkie would have survived the initial attack had Toriel not interfered.
Thinking on it, she would do what she always did. She would try to discourage Pinkie from leaving; her soul was a shining beacon of happiness that had spread throughout ‘Home’ and after a few hiccups the monsters seemed to like the exuberance and enthusiasm Pinkie had brought to them. It was a little strange that Pinkie didn’t seem to be overly worried that she was stuck in the Underworld and she wasn’t sad at all; she must have had something to go back to at least if she was that good at baking.
Toriel sat up and closed her book, it was no longer time for her to keep pretending that she could continue reading with her heart hurting like it was, Tears filled her eyes as her hands came up to her face and she let loose. Hearing a door open she feared that she had disturbed Pinkie Pie’s rest, only for the sleepy pony to come to her and crawl into her lap before resuming her sleep. Toriel just couldn’t cry anymore after that, even if she was still upset. Pinkie was a beautiful creature that just had so much love to give even as tired as she was.
It was about time that Toriel decided that she got some rest herself and she closed her eyes as she slowly nodded off rubbing Pinkie’s belly as that seemed to make the sleeping pony giggle. That laugh really made Toriel frown, considering that it would soon be gone from her life and it reminded her of her sorrowful past.
- Underworld Morning or what passes for it. –
Pinkie sighed and stretched out before blinking blearily having just woke up feeling very comfortable, looking to her belly she could see Toriel’s left hand resting on it. A blush broke out on her face as the hand gently rubbed her belly even as the goat lady snoozed in the chair and she noticed that she was lying in her lap.
“Yes, I like this and I’m upset that I have to do this, but…” Pinkie raised a hoof and started slowly pressing it to Toriel’s face trying to get her to wake up. “Tori, hey it’s time to wake up!”
After a moment Toriel’s eyes scrunched up and she shook her head and felt something warm under her palm and in her lap, looking down she saw Pinkie looking up at her. With a kind smile she stood up and deposited the pony in her warm chair as she walked off to the kitchen past a bathroom that she didn’t have previously, the spiders were working very fast if they had already started altering Toriel’s home.
“I’ve tasted one of your cupcakes… and had three more after that. Now it’s time for you to taste my butterscotch cinnamon pie.” Toriel hoped that Pinkie liked it since she used her magic to personally warm it up for her. She waited patiently as Pinkie sniffed the air around the pie.
“All natural ingredients, just the right amount of sugar to make the flavor just right. Oh my goodness…” Pinkie’s eyes snapped open and she stared at Toriel before nibbling at the tip of the slice of pie, her pupils also grew big and watery. “Toriel… can we date? I mean I’m an adult and you’re an adult so… and your pie is just so amazing!”
“I would like that.” Toriel had to admit she’s never exactly thought of getting into dating again, nor did she really think she was that attractive. Had she bothered to ask the monsters in the ruins called ‘Home’, she was considered the most attractive monster there.
“Give me a montage please; I’m sorry that I said I would never want this!” Pinkie screamed at the air, confusing Toriel greatly as to why she was asking it for something. Of course the goat lady wouldn’t know what a montage was, but Pinkie obviously did.
- A week long montage, because Pinkie asked nicely. –
Pinkie and Toriel spent a lot of time together telling jokes and puns. There were many laughs to be shared. Toriel even found a red ribbon to tie back Pinkie’s hair after brushing it out.
Toriel showed Pinkie around the ruins on a date and they spent time talking to the monsters making their day that mistress Toriel’s funk seemed to have been entirely obliterated by Pinkie’s presence. They knew why Toriel was sad, but would not speak of it to Pinkie.
Pinkie told Toriel of her homeland of Equestria, of her parents and sisters, of her home with the Cakes and her five closest friends. She even made mention to the power of harmony and that she thought Toriel would make a good element of kindness, this caused Toriel to blush slightly and state that she wasn’t exactly as kind as Fluttershy sounded.
Toriel told Pinkie of the future she wished she could have, she wanted to be a teacher and wanted to help many others get a good education. To have a school where all can learn, one that she would build with her own hands if she had to. Her noticeable depression was what was holding her back.
Pinkie told Toriel of Pinkie Promises and what they meant to her, she even Pinkie Promised that they’d always be friends much to Toriel’s shock that she’d promise that.
They talked to each other long into the nights, even if it was hard to tell what the time was underground, they talked to each other opening themselves to a possible future unlike any other. Their hearts growing closer with each passing day, it was hard to separate the two now.
The week they spent together had meant a lot to them, having baked many a snack for the other. The ruins over the week became a true home for the monster, instead of some run down ruins filled with mostly harmless traps. Pinkie had brought about a wonderful change to all who lived there and the monsters started supporting each other on their own, they were becoming self sufficient.
At some point Toriel even decided to talk about the most painful thing in her heart to Pinkie, as they had become close enough for Pinkie to learn of Toriel’s history. It was at the end of the week that she brought this up and she was heartbroken, since she had actually fallen in love with Pinkie in the intervening time frame of the montage and knew what she had to do.
- At the end of a wonderful week.-
“Pinkie this has been… this has been the most wonderful week in my life and… it has been a long time since I’ve felt this way about anyone.” Toriel knew deep down in her heart that she couldn’t keep Pinkie here; she would have to test Pinkie’s resolve. It hurt her to know she was going to hurt such a wonderful young being like Pinkie, but it had to be done. “You’ve asked me multiple times why I’m always so sad, well now it’s time for you to learn of the sad truth about how we monsters ended up sealed down here.”
“I think I can handle it Tori.” Every time Pinkie said her nickname now, there was a smile to be had and Pinkie would brave this knowledge with ‘determination’. “Okay what was with that emphasis on determination? Is there something you’re not telling me here?”
“Long ago our world had two ruling tribes on it; they were the humans and the monsters. Before the start of the war that drove us here, there was a human that I adopted who perished in a terrible accident.” Toriel’s eyes filled with tears once more as she sat in her chair, only for them to be wiped away gently by a hoof and a pair of concerned eyes. “He gave his soul to my son by birth and made him promise to do something, my sons name was Asriel. My flesh and blood son perished and it was that day that marked the true end of the war that broke out between monsters and humans.”
Pinkie stayed quiet and motioned for Toriel to continue on with a hoof as she rubbed her head against Tori’s chest trying to make her feel better.
“The humans were always so strong and they pushed us underground where they sealed us away using powerful magic, needless to say they won the war they started out of fear. We never wanted the war to begin with, as it was all a misunderstanding. My adopted human was the one to kick off the war and with his last request to my son, it took the most important thing I had in this world, my family.” Toriel closed her eyes and tears started to spill from them, Pinkie brought her into a comforting hug. “Now that seal holds whoever falls through it, it’s a one way barrier that prevents anyone who ends up here from getting out. This led to the death of six humans who fell down here previously, their souls being taken from them in the hopes that it will break the barrier to set us free. It’s why I divorced myself from the one who was the father to my deceased children; I don’t like to talk about him much as he lost himself in all the fighting. He’s become a true monster and I can’t find myself to forgive him for it.”
Pinkie slowly put a hoof on Toriel’s arm while looking her in the eyes; she didn’t know what to say to that to make it all better.
“Now… now I know that I can’t keep you here forever. You have an unbroken family to go back to; they all must be missing you dearly. Follow me Pinkie.” Toriel, with a heavy heart, pulled away and was going to confront Pinkie and make her leave. Those stolen souls would never really free them, but she believed that Pinkie might be able to make it through the barrier.
Toriel walked down the staircase leading to the basement, Pinkie had never asked about it after she told her she didn’t want her going down there. Now there was a sense of dread as she led the pony to the gateway to the rest of the Underworld down the tunnel.
“Toriel… what’s wrong?” Pinkie could feel the dread in the air as Toriel led her down a tunnel, at the end of which was a door. The goat lady hunched a bit before she turned around and slowly looked down on Pinkie with a frown. “I’m not going to like this am I?”
“No, you are not. I don’t much like what I am about to do either. Behind me is the door to the rest of the Underworld, it is a path forward. At the end of a long traveled road is the barrier, I think you might actually have a chance of breaking through it alone. Please show me that you can survive until you pass through it Pinkie, do this for me!” With that Toriel ignited her hands wreathing them in flames and Pinkie felt her heart wrench from her chest. The look of betrayal on Pinkie’s face hurt Toriel immensely, but she carried on. “Defend yourself my sweet little pie!”
As the sad music started playing Pinkie could see the tears in Toriel’s eyes as she launched waves of fire at Pinkie’s bright pink soul. Pinkie started sadly dancing to the music in long sweeps, twirls and quick taps of her hooves to slide her heart between the waves of fire that started encircling in on her soul.
“The flames are rising higher, my heart will not give in, I love you Toriel, you who are my beloved friend!” Pinkie continued to dance as Toriel leapt forward to sweep her hands at Pinkie’s floating pink heart that pulsed with power, it floated out of the reach of her flaming hands.
“This may be hurting me a lot, but I’m giving it all that I’ve got, I will not let you go without knowing you can handle the monsters that do not know your heart like I do!” Toriel launched another wave of flames as she watched Pinkie dance to the music in the air with a long sweep across the floor, then her body twirled dancing beautifully among the flames.
“Toriel, please listen to me, this is not the way things have got to be!” Pinkie shouted as she danced a lonely waltz between the flames trying to damage her soul, heart her got burned several times causing her to wince as she felt her soul take damage. She looked into Toriel’s sorrowful eyes and had already forgiven her for the pain.
“Please Pinkie, fight me and put an end to my broken heart! I can no longer take that which you did start; you ignited it again and brought it back in the end. I think I might love you, but your soul is too bright for me to hold on to. I don’t want think myself as selfish to take that from you!” Toriel was screaming at Pinkie Pie and through the flaming inferno she had started up in the stone tunnel.
“Toriel I don’t want to hurt anyone, especially not you. Who I’ve come to love, it is true.” Pinkie was aware that she couldn’t run from this battle and she stayed and danced despite her soul taking multiple scorching hits. Her lonely waltz could only do so much to protect her soul. “Don’t you know that I care? It is you who I will spare, and from this torment I will pull you while you are there. My heart will dance in tune, to your sadness I will fill with love a new room!”
Pinkie’s continued refusal to fight and Toriel’s breaking heart was starting to affect her ability to actively harm the pony. Pinkie had been having a hard time dodging Toriel’s assaulting magical flames, her heart was slowly being wittled down under the torrent. It was bad until Toriel started to aim away from her slightly.
“Toriel, I forgive you for attacking me, please stop this already!” Pinkie’s dancing became more erratic as her heart tried to sway its way through the flames. It was getting burned and Pinkie was getting weaker in the inferno. She still refused to attack Toriel, ponies could sometimes be cruel, but outright violence was a hard thing for them to achieve.
“You have to fight! You won’t survive the rest of the Underworld on the goodness of your heart alone!” Even as she continued her barrage after a point she noticed how weak Pinkie’s soul was getting, in fact she stopped aiming at Pinkie’s soul entirely and watched as it and the pony danced. “What are you doing Pinkie, fight me!”
“No! You’re my friend and loved one; I have no reason to fight you!” It was as if Pinkie was ‘consistently choosing the spare option’. Eventually Pinkie stopped dancing entirely and sat down to stare at Toriel blankly and all the flames that were dancing around her. Her pink pulsating soul floated there in the middle of the air slightly burned and damaged in the midst of a sea of fire.
Toriel didn’t stop shooting out flames at Pinkie Pie, but she couldn’t hit the heart anymore as her flames actively moved away from the heart. She couldn’t bring herself to steal or break Pinkie’s soul, much less her heart.
“Please… Toriel….” Pinkie didn’t know what to do aside from cry and stare Toriel in the eyes as she too was crying. Not being a violent pony, she didn’t want to hurt Toriel. It was not like she could just push her soul into Toriel to make her stop; because that would just be silly and it would kill her so... “Wait, that’s exactly what I’m going to do! I’m going to give you a heart attack Tori!"
Pinkie stood up and stared down Toriel who continued to encircle them both in the flames of passion.
“Pinkie…” Toriel said sadly as she looked at the pony.
“Toriel… I’m really sorry for what I’m about to do.” Hearing Pinkie’s wavering voice, Toriel thought Pinkie was going to start fighting back and closed her eyes and continued to conduct the flames keeping them encircled.
Pinkie danced forward launching her soul at Toriel and ran forward to start forcing it into Toriel’s chest with her hooves.
Toriel opened her eyes and stared in horror as Pinkie started forcing her own soul into her body.
“I hope you forgive me for this Toriel, but I can’t hurt you! Please take my soul and free your people!” With a strong push of both her hooves, the light in Pinkie’s eyes died as her soul fully absorbed into a horrified Toriel’s body. “I just want everyone… to be… happy.”
“No… Pinkie, what have you done!” The flames dancing around them immediately snuffed out and Toriel could feel the warmth of Pinkie’s soul hugging her insides and filling her heart with warmth and laughter. She fell to her knees and took the limp pony’s form into arms. Her tears grew with the sadness she felt knowing the warmth of Pinkie’s soul was inside of her. This was not how she wanted things to be or go at all.
Toriel let loose a fit of sordid laughter as she rubbed her face against Pinkie’s cold body which started turning from its bright pink colors to a dull sad lifeless grey.
“Why! Why did this have to happen?” Toriel looked to the ceiling holding Pinkie’s body in her arms. She saw something very odd, but it was very faint. If only Toriel could remember all the magic she had at her disposal, she might even be able to ‘save Pinkie Pie’. “What… save Pinkie Pie? What is this that I am seeing? There’s a way to save her? Please if you know, tell me!”
It would take some thinking, but Toriel wasn’t the beloved protector for nothing. In her heart and in her mind she knew there was a way to save Pinkie Pie. Then it hit her like an epiphany, all monsters could draw souls out of a human body, or in this case a pony’s body. It was a common ability, but to do it in reverse, to give one back? Toriel already knew what she had to do, her heart filled with hope and determination that she could achieve this feat!
“For the spirit to be willing, the flesh must first grow weak. Just long enough for the soul in flight… to pass from cheek to cheek.” As she solemnly intoned an ancient spell she barely remembered, Toriel’s body glowed with an ethereal blue light. She slowly brought Pinkie’s lips up to her own and kissed her lifeless body.
Toriel tried to flood Pinkie’s body with the soul she had been gifted in an effort to return it to its rightful place, despite all that she pushed back into Pinkie some of it refused to leave her. Pulling back from the kiss born out of hope and desperation, Toriel could see the grey lifeless Pinkie slowly turn pink once more before she started hacking and coughing. She dearly hoped Pinkie was alright and that what was left in her wasn’t needed for the pony to fully recover.
Weakly opening her eyes, Pinkie looked up into Toriel’s worried visage from the floor where Toriel laid her recovering body.
“Is this heaven? I always knew you were an angel Tori…” Pinkie’s eyes closed and she snuggled weakly against Toriel’s warm body when she felt herself become trapped in a wonderful embrace.
Toriel, the Queen of the Underworld, cried tears of joy and laughed. She had done as the mysterious words had asked of her. She had saved Pinkie from perishing and her own mistaken need to try and make Pinkie change who she was.