An Undertale of Equestria

by David Silver

6 - One Down

Trixie directed her horn at it, her hat lifted out of the way. "Just one little spell and we'll be on our way." A bright beam of purple light fired from her at the black blot and it began to shudder and wither a moment before it rebounded with a solid think. The pink beam turned black by it and rapidly ran up its length in a monochrome wave before colliding with a surprised-looking Trixie.

The impact knocked her back onto her haunches with a little 'oof'. "The very nerve! Nopony dares to defy the Great and Powerful Trixie, especially not some inanimate shadow stuff." She sprang back to her hooves and glared at the black blob as if it had personally slighted her. "Familiar!"

I jumped in surprise before turning to her. "What?"

She extended a hoof. "We will try a combined attack, using your esoteric aura and my magical mastery, we'll defeat this thing before it even knows what hit it."

I reached out an uncertain hand and took ahold of her forehoof and she nodded. "Excellent! Trixie can feel your otherworldly magic." She directed her horn at it and I could see words starting to form beside the blob just before she blasted. Her pink swirled with blue and green speckles, and the blob squealed before popping away. I felt... dirty.

We messed up.

Not that Trixie knew any better. She was looking quite proud of herself. "Ha! Trixie knew having a familiar of such fine quality to match her own would see the task done. Perhaps a treat to celebrate. Do you like oat... Familiar? Why do you look upset?"

There was another way, and I wasn't going to let it slip by. I was de... no! Saving was exactly what I didn't want to do! There had to be a way to load besides losing a fight.

"Familiar?"

I looked around the alleyway. The sunlight was streaming in with the shadow no longer sucking up all the light in the area.

"Familiar? Trixie demands your attention.... Familiar? You're making mother worried..."

I snapped out of my funk as she said the word mother and I saw Trixie staring at me with a concerned expression. "Are you alright?"

How did I explain? The truth seemed like a good place to start. "Everything we can deal with without violence, we should. I saw the way just before we destroyed it."

Trixie tilted her head. "It was nothing but a gathering of shadow magic. Even if you did see it, familiar, it's already gone. How can we do anything about it now?"

I wrung my hands together. "Well, uh. I can sort of go back in time." Trixie raised a brow, but was quiet. "But so far it only works when I die."

Trixie's other brow joined it, looking more surprised than skeptical. "Is this why you're wearing that armor?" I nodded. She put a hoof on her chest. "Trixie has outdone herself in her familiar selection, but if you do travel in time, Trixie will forget. You must promise to tell Trixie when you arrive."

Huh? "Well, sure, but how? I don't know how to get myself back there without dying."

She raised a hoof suddenly. "Trixie can fix that." Oh god, was she really suggesting? "Trixie has complete faith in you. Do you?"

I swallowed thickly as that hoof moved over me, ready to come down. "Alright, I trust you."

She brought it down and I squeezed my eyes shut, only to be lightly bonked on the head. "Trixie appreciates your faith, now let's do this sensibly." She rose up and took a sudden step towards me. "Trixie challenges you!"

I felt the tension of conflict suddenly begin. "Is it working?"

Was it working? We were in a battle situation. I could see words floating beside her. It was a legitimate conflict. "Yes. Why are we fighting?"

"Because you are losing this time." Her horn glowed and rained sparks down at me. Every single one that touched me made me felt sleepy. Should I try to dodge? Or just... I fell asleep.

I saw an alleyway that caught my attention and wandered towards the darkness, only to meet a black orb that split into a big green grin. "We meet again, and so soon. Did you forget something? Or is there really something you want to change so quickly? Oh, I see it, a little touch of darkness. You've tasted it, and now you're in such a rush to get rid of it? What a coward!" He burst into laughter as the fog began to rise quickly all around me.

I was fanning at the cloud desperately and suddenly light burst through the darkness. Trixie arrived, banishing the cloud away with light and stomping hooves even as she grabbed me up onto her back. It was all replaying again. It had worked! With the smoke orb gone, Trixie went to challenge the darkness and gave it a good zap, only to be knocked onto her rump with some unkind words that she spat out at it as she clambered up to her hooves.

"Trixie, wait." She turned and looked at me. I smiled and held up a hand. "We went through this once before."

She tilted her head. "Explain, familiar."

I waved at the black void she was trying to banish. "We can destroy it, together, but there's a better way. It was with your help, mother, that I came back in time to do it right. You made me promise to tell you that."

She flashed a bright smile. "Did I? Then it must have been the right thing to do. Very well, how do we defeat this 'properly'?"

I reached out a hand towards her. "Take my hand, but no blasting."

Trixie looked uncertain a moment before she offered a hoof. When we were touching, the words appeared beside it. 'Vision', 'Mercy', and all the ones I came to expect. Vision? What did that even mean? I tried peering into the darkness. It was, well, dark. Dark and empty.

"Is it working?" Trixie glanced aside at me. "Trixie sees nothing happening."

I ignored her for a moment beside squeezing her hoof. A lot of n... No, there it was.

I was standing in a big dark place, a cavern I thought. There were ponies down there, living a life in the dark. A mother was bouncing a ball away from her foal and challenging him to catch it and they were both having a grand time, then a great flash of light came, and they were sent screaming.

The vision ended, and the darkness was gone.

Trixie gently nudged me with the same hoof. "Are you alright? It's gone and you've been staring for an uncomfortable amount of time."

I did it! What did I do? "I saw some kind of vision. It was a dark place. There were dark ponies."

"Umbrum," stated Trixie with pride. "They were in the books we were looking through. Shadow creatures. It is they that create these disturbances, and the Great and Powerful Trixie that will stop them."

I nodded. "Alright, Umbrum, but they weren't acting very evil. They were living their lives. A mother was playing with her kid. They weren't doing anything bad at all."

Trixie frowned a little. "Everything Trixie read said Umbrum were evil by nature. She will need more than one vision to see them as much more than that. Their greatest, King Sombra, enslaved this entire city and all the crystal ponies!" She turned away. "Still, you were right. This calls for a reward. Do you like oat shakes? They are one of Trixie's favorite treats." Her magic wrapped around me and pulled me right up onto her. "Let's go."

As we rode through the city, I took solace in the fact that I had done things the right way. I was filled with determination, and a few wondering thoughts. "Say, Trixie?" She perked an ear back at me. "All the books you read were written by ponies, right?"

"This is correct," she said with a nod as she trotted along.

I raised a finger, pointing upwards. "Then no one has their side of things."

Trixie slowed to a stop and looked over her shoulder. "... Perhaps so." She smiled gently. "You make Trixie nervous at times, familiar. You have a great destiny. Trixie can tell." She started trotting again as she continued talking, almost to herself. "Trixie wonders, are you Trixie's familiar, or is she your pony, here to help you reach that destiny? A part of Trixie bristles with jealousy..." She looked around a moment to see that no other ponies were close by. "But Trixie is glad. This once, Trixie will be part of something big, and important, and good." She looked back at me. "Do you understand?"

I felt that took a lot, for such a proud pony to admit that she might not be the 'star' of the show, so to speak. "Trixie."

"Yes?"

"You're the most important pony I know. Even Cadance isn't as important as you are, Trixie."

She smiled brightly before continuing on her way. "And you are the most powerful and loving familiar Trixie has ever heard of. She is glad to have called you. Now, what flavor do you prefer?" She stopped before an oat shake stand. They had a whole stand, dedicated to oat shakes! I'm not even kidding.

The crystal stallion that manned the stall was happy to get us two big cups of shakes. Trixie held hers in her magic, and I had hands for mine. "Enjoy! Thank you for your patronage, oh, and thank you for helping my friend." He was looking at me. "He runs a pie stand. He said you fought off a whole army of beetles."

Oh man, the beetle army. I blushed at remembering crashing into that poor pony's pie stand. Good thing he never knew who it was that did that.

"Aw, don't blush. You did a good thing. Princess Cadance says they'll really help the city." He ducked behind his stall and pulled out a card. "Here, show this at the next stall you shop at. It's good for one thing free, within reason. All the merchants in the city accept it. Only once, so pick carefully!"

Trixie took the card in her magic and passed it back to me. "Trixie's familiar is indeed great and powerful. We are thankful for your gift." She gained a crafty look as she looked over the stallion. "Trixie wonders, exactly how did her familiar defeat these beetles?"

He looked a little confused, tilting his head. "Oh, uh, my friend said he literally learned their ways while they were trying to bite him clean in half! Then he out muscled their leader and shouted him into submission, sending him running to the crystal castle. It was a sight to see, for sure. I wish I was there to see it..."

I giggled a little more childishly than I intended. "That's mostly accurate."

Trixie smirked a little, but nodded to the stallion and wished him well before trotting down the street. She sipped from her oat shake with a soft mmm. "We did well today. Tomorrow, we go for #2. Once all six sources are taken care of, the problem should be gone, Trixie gets paid, and the empire is safe."

I leaned over her head and tapped my cup against hers. "To peace!"

She tapped her cup back at mine. "To peace, and fame. Don't forget the fame part."

Author's Note:

1/6 defeated! Some important things come up. Can you spot them all?

Besides the typos.

Comments

[Emtu]

Heh. So now our hero is save scumming. Nice.

[Oreon]

Now all we need is Pinkie Pie to be this world's version of Sans, and everything will be complete. Twilight could be Papyrus "I must capture this human and research it!"

[David Silver]

6624338 And his actions were noticed.

[Holliday]

If you want to make a Displaced fic, at least mark it as such.

[Hard Cider]

Dildo sword fighting!

[David Silver]

6624419 Was there something in the story that was written poorly?

[OkayJane]

6624367 I totally agree, but what about Twilight being Alphys, Applejack being Undyne. And maybe RD being sans, imagine it RD is strong and lazy, look at the return of harmony, RESTRAINTS.

[Holliday]

6624431
Bad reading. Let me try to clarify:

If your piece of fiction has elements of a DISPLACED fic, put something in the title/description that makes it easily distinguishable as a Displaced fic.

No underlying tones, no malice. Just make it known as displaced.

[David Silver]

6624635 Was there a poorly written or disturbing part of this story that you are trying to avoid?

Protip: Displaced is not a 'thing', be specific, unless the literal word is what offends you. I can't help with that.

Was it the convention? Do you dislike conventions? I'd say anime conventions, but it was never specified. It could have been any. It could have been a mlp convention, or a toaster convention. We don't specify, nor provide enough details to even reasonably guess.

Was it asian people? That's racist.

What was it?

[Holliday]

6624648

whoops incredibly bad reading from me

Carry on.

[Oreon]

6624419 "Human sent to equestria as character" was done far, far before the "displaced" were even a thing.

[Cracked Egg]

Undertale is different, in that your choices for the endings stay with you.

Considering he screwed up his pacifist run by killing one little thing, then reset himself using his save, this can't end well.

[Malbutorius]

6626178 Only a Genocide Run is truly permanent though, you have to remember that. After all, you can kill Toriel and Reset to still get the Pacifist Ending.

[Cracked Egg]

6626222

How to get answers: Post the wrong one.

Thank you for this info. :D

[Malbutorius]

6626260 No problem. That's what I'm here for.

[Cracked Egg]

6626531

:D

6626523

EDIT: Oh god the image died. As consolation, have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3epEVMNJdY

[Lokito]

I don't know... Trixie seem to be ok with killing her adoptive son and believed him very quickly . To me, I think you should try slowing down the pace. Other then that good story.

[Pvt PartyPooper]

Interesting mention of the umbrum. How much of the comics are you taking into consideration for this story?

[David Silver]

6770936 I take my own spin on the shadow, do read on.

[Songdrawn]

I remembered this song[youtube=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oGs4jb1pCf8] hehe

[David Silver]

7108814 Nice one.

[Legioner8]

41.media.tumblr.com/47d7caec6d0e383ad4627baa3001412b/tumblr_o25y7jYBQe1sseefpo2_540.png

[omegasnowfall]

7703469
i think it's less Genocide run than slightly better than Neutral run.