An Undertale of Equestria

by David Silver


29 - Rising to the Challenge

Trixie lifted the weakly panting form of Sweet from the ground and began walking away. Not being sure what I should do, I grabbed the bag which promptly vanished. I had the strong impression the money was available to me to pull out of my pockets when I needed it, so no need to worry there. I ran off to catch up with Trixie, leaving Cadance to her planning. "Got the money."

She twitched an ear back at me. "That's a lot of bits. How are you? Trixie should know better. Her familiar is Great and Powerful, like she is." Summoning her map and unfurling it before her, floating in the air, she lifted a hoof to point. "Our next objective is high in the mountains. The plus side? The two points aren't terribly far from one another, just higher up the mountain."

The sound of a rotor brought my eyes up. There was Flim and Flam pedaling a two-pony machine that allowed them to fly in the air like a personal helicopter so long as they kept trotting in place to keep the machine's pedals going.

"Hello!"

"Salutations!"

I waved up at them as they came in for a smooth landing. "Hey guys. Everything alright?"

Flim hopped off the bike. "Better than alright--"

Flam joined him with a smile. "--We feel ready to tackle the world!"

Together they leaned close. "And it's thanks to you--"

They paused, eyes on the more peacefully sleeping form of Sweet Tooth. Flim tilted his head. "Is she alright?"

Trixie waved a hoof dismissively. "She will be. The sooner we leave, the better. The last place we have to reach, quickly, is the top of a mountain."

"You're in luck!"

"We just happen to have what you need."

They backed off to either side as they gestured to the helicopter they rode in on. "We'll trade, this for our house."

Trixie pointed back into the city. "It's just over there, safe and sound."

I peered at the odd flying thing. "How are we going to get this off the ground?"

"With your hooves."

Flim peered at me a moment. "Which he doesn't have, brother."

Flam snorted softly and gestured to Trixie, then Sweet. "They have sufficient hooves. The boy just has to ride. He isn't very heavy, it shouldn't affect their mobility at all."

"I suppose you're right, brother. Well, thanks for everything. We have a lot of things to get to."

Together they waved. "Ta ta for now!" And off they went, half-skipping towards where the cider car was parked and talking animatedly about how they were going to bounce back from their recent setback.

I hiked a thumb at Sweet's form. "Do you think she's ready to wake up?"

"Only one way to know for sure." Trixie set Sweet down and gently nudged at her. "Time to wake up."

Sweet stirred with a sleepy murmur as her eyes fluttered open behind her pink glasses. When she realized where she was, she bounced to her hooves. "We have to warn Cadance!"

I moved in front of her quickly. "We did that. We have some time."

Sweet let out a loud breath of relief. "Oh thank the dark... Wait, time? She's still going to do it?"

Trixie nodded. "If we can't resolve this, or find the rest of the pieces to this mystery, she will proceed, so we'd best get moving."

Sweet shrank a little, almost bumping into the bike. "Why would she do that?"

I lifted my shoulders. "It's easy from your angle, but from hers, she has to be responsible for this whole city she can see right in front of her. We haven't convinced her there could really be a city of dark ponies, or really any dark ponies besides you."

Trixie pointed to the bike. "Then let's prove it, shall we? Sweet, you get in the back." She hopped up onto the bike, wobbling dangerously a moment. "Alright, have you ridden this before?" Her magic grabbed me and dropped me on a seat between the front and back. There weren't even any pedals for me to reach for.

Sweet climbed up with less confidence, resting her hooves on the pedals and pressing lightly. "No, how do we make it move?"

"We must pedal together. On three..."

They heaved on Trixie's signal and the bike gave a sudden lurch before it lifted into the air under the power of the spinning rotors. "There! You've got it down. Now let's get some supplies before we go."

We hovered around town, picking up a new jacket and food for the journey. I saw a music box sitting there in the store next to the jacket. It was so out of place I had to point it out. The shopkeep had a price tag on it, and it wasn't too much, so I bought it and tucked it away to where the coins went off to. I was getting better at being Frisk.

I remembered having a backpack. I went hiking one weekend with my roomie and some other friends. We had a great time, even when we were busy messing things up. Failing in good company wasn't so bad. We laughed when we struggled to get a fire going, and cheered when it finally did work. We also drank a lot and I forget a lot of what happened after that. Good times.

"Familiar?" Trixie nudged me out of my thoughts and we got back on the bike. It was time to go! We ascended into the sky and headed out of the city. I had a pony behind and in front of me. The constant fluid motion of their cycling legs was kind of amazing in a way. They were both bigger and stronger than I was, so I just held onto the bars and looked down over the snowy terrain as we went past.

Pointing ahead, Trixie pulled my attention to a tall mountain we were approaching. "That's where we're going. Our first stop is about halfway up, the last, right at the peak. Trixie hopes you--Get out of Trixie's mane!" Large vulture-sized birds were suddenly swarming us, their forms oozing shadowy contrails as they flapped, squawked, and pecked at us.

Conflict was on us, and their words were a jumbled mess with so many of them on top of each other. "Trixie, pass me a bag from hayburger."

"This is no time!" Despite her complaint, the bag appeared in my hands.

I opened it quickly and pulled out a burger, waving it around. "Here you go!" One of the birds grabbed it right out of my hand, and another grabbed for it. They began struggling, which drew a third bird into the fight. "No need to bicker, here." I pulled out the bag of hayfries that drew a fresh wave of attention. The bag didn't survive longer than a moment before being torn open. Hayfries were sent scattering to the ground. With a cry of hunger, the flock descended after them, leaving us alone. I heard the jingle of arriving money, conflict resolved!

Sweet smiled behind me. "Good job. What were those things?"

Trixie glanced over her shoulder. "Some kind of birds."

"Birds?" Sweet tilted her head. "How odd. Does outer space have more strange creatures like that?"

I shook my head. "As soon as we can sort this all out, oh, Trixie, you guys have zoos, right?"

"Of course."

"Great, if I vanish, promise to take Sweet to a zoo."

Trixie raised a brow back at me. "You are not vanishing. You are Trixie's familiar. Stop saying things like that. Why are you so eager to leave Trixie? She isn't that difficult to be around, is she?"

She sounded self-conscious in all the wrong ways. "No! Nooo! Of course not. You're the best horse mom I ever had."

Trixie snorted. "Pony."

"Pony mom too." I leaned forward to give her back a pet.

"Trixie is not your pet to be stroked when upset." She snorted again, glaring back at me before turning back to the mountain. "Hold on tight, Trixie thinks she sees an acceptable place to land."

Sweet shook her head. "Where did you come from? Did you have a name before you were 'familiar'?"

"He's Frisk."

Was I Frisk? No... James, right, that was it. I was, no, am, James, son of Sheila and Darrell, friend of Tom!

"Familiar?" We had landed, snow gusting around us and Trixie looking at me with concern. "Are you alright?"

Sweet was standing beside her, looking at me with a little smile. "He looks like I did when I remembered. What did you remember?"

I put a mitted hand to my head. "I remembered my name."

"It wasn't Frisk?" Trixie raised a brow.

"No, uh..."

"Why did you say it was Frisk? Where did that name come from?" Trixie leaned in close.

Sweet nudged her head away with her own. "Easy. He just remembered. We should be happy, not upset." She beamed at me. "Tell us your real name."

"James." Saying it made all the difference. I could remember talking to friends about going to the convention. I could remember the manager I didn't like much, and the one I did. I could remember where my house was, and what state that was in. Current events I saw on the news while channel surfing came back with the memory of a new Coldstone Creamery opening up in town. Everything. I remembered... everything. I could see it all, and I couldn't reach it. I was in a world of colorful ponies, a thousand light years, or one dimensional hop or whatever away. Would I ever get back? Did I want to? Of course I did! I was human, not some... sexless mannequin with squinty eyes. But could I? Would solving this quest send me hurtling back, or did I just have to get used to the idea of having a horse mom and a dark pony for a best friend?

I snapped out of my trance to feel a tongue run over my cheek, clearing away some tears. "It'll be alright," whispered Sweet Tooth.

Trixie cleared her throat. "Yes, well... Perhaps Trixie was a little terse with you... James. The Humble and Apologetic Trixie is sorry to push you so hard." She reached for me and pulled me into a warm hug. "Are you alright?"

I let out a misty breath into the frigid air. "I'll be alright... Either this sends me back, or I'm going to have to get used to the idea of living here."

Sweet tilted her head. "What's so bad about that? The crystal doesn't hurt you, you could be happy with the crystal ponies."

Trixie waved a hoof. "She is unlikely to stay here. She likes to travel." She smiled at me. "Wouldn't you like to see the world?"

If I had to stay here, traveling and seeing this new world actually did sound kind of exciting. "Yeah..."

"See! Everything will be fine." She squeezed me once more before turning to point upwards. "We have to climb a little before we reach the cave Trixie is certain is our destination. Let's get moving."