Undersong

You sighed on Papyrus’s couch when he came in with yet another plate of spaghetti. Sans was sitting on the couch with you. Honestly, Sans spent so much time sitting here that he had more right to its ownership than Papyrus, who sat down with you after setting his plate of spaghetti on the coffee table. There was nothing on the television worth watching right now. Alphys still hadn’t finished repairing Mettaton, so instead of his show this station had been showing reruns of Mew Mew Kissie Cutie for the last fortnight. Since the anime only had thirteen episodes, this quickly became unbearably repetitive.

The front door slammed open. The chill winds from outside blew into the house, and Undyne stepped in with them. She closed the door. The room grew warmer, but your spine still felt a chill.

“B-brrah!” She shook off the ice from her scales. “Hey, Punk! Are you still hanging out back here? You can’t sit around forever. Get up and get moving! If we could become besties, you and Asgore will have no trouble at all! You two wimpy, big-hearted buffoons were made for each other!”

You hung your head a bit.

“I believe in you, Human,” Papyrus said. “But take it at the pace you like! This is your own adventure, after all. Enjoy it however you want! I’m sure Asgore would say the same thing.”

Undyne sat down with you three. The couch reached its maximum capacity, and you were a bit crushed between two sets of hard bones and her slimy scales.

“Look,” she said. “I also know how Asgore can get when he...” She looked up at the ceiling and breathed. “Asgore won’t break a promise. He’s dutiful to a fault. So he’ll probably try to fight you. Yet you’re more than strong enough to survive his attacks. Even if you have to knock some sense into him first, I’m sure you can help him remember what matters to him most. I’m counting on you, Punk.”

“Undyne! You’re making the human cry!”

“Ya, Undyne. What’s with that?”

“‘What’s with that,’ he says!” retorted Undyne. “You’re one to talk, Mr. ‘You’d be dead where you stand!’”

“Jeez, it was just a joke. I didn’t know the kid would bawl his eyes out right in the restaurant.”

Eventually, you’d have to progress. But you could hardly stand the thought of what lay waiting at the end of your journey. Nothing you did changed it. There was no way to avoid it, besides refusing to go forward. The only way to end this awful loop... but doing that was even worse. You couldn’t just move on from the Underground after the end. And whatever came next, you knew it’d end up as only more of the same.

You woke up cold and covered with sweat.

The room was dark, and the sounds of sleeping surrounded you. You looked around and stood up from the pillow you had been sleeping on. Where were the bathrooms in this place?

You crept through the floor of sleeping ponies. Celestia, for whatever reason, had set everyone in the same room for the night. You stepped over your last obstacle: A loudly-snoring Spike. He turned a bit in his basket, but he didn’t wake up. Wait. When did he get here? And where was— You shook your head. That would have to wait till later. You opened up the door and cringed when it creaked. The hallway was lit by low candlelight, so a long golden sliver cut across the floor. Luckily, it didn’t fall on anyone, and so no one had noticed.

You closed the door as carefully as you could.

Did this castle even have those... facilities? It wasn’t an impossible thought. Most monster-built homes had that deficiency of design, for the rather simple reason that monsters didn’t have all the same biological necessities that humans had. If that was the case, you’d need to find some other way to relieve yourself.

You walked briskly through the halls, scanning every doorway for something that resembled a lavatory. After a few moments of desperate searching, you discovered a tiled enclave in the wall. You explored into it, and found that it had two doors on either side of its inner walls. One had a pony and the other had... a pony. Sex-segregated bathrooms? But both the signs looked almost exactly the same.

You shrugged your shoulders and walked into the one on the right.

It was just a normal bathroom with the ordinary furnishings of a human bathroom. You had no time to ponder on the impracticalities posed by such a design to the pony inhabitants. You thanked your good fortune for having found a place such as this so quickly.

Whoever cleaned these restrooms must have used a lemon-scented scrub, since the whole place was filled with the smell. It covered everything else well.

The sinks were a bit high for you, but you managed to reach the tap and turn on the water. You grabbed the bar of soap from its stand and washed your hands. It slipped out of your grip once or twice, but you finished your hygienic regimen without much fuss. An ordinary cloth towel hung from a hoop on the wall. You wiped your hands dry.

You opened the door and walked out into the hallway.

“Auntie, I’m too tired to be out at this time talking to you. Why do we have to do this now, anyway? Isn’t there a more convenient schedule we could keep, one which doesn’t disrupt my beauty sleep?”

“This will only be for a moment. Don’t complain. You may not have a chance to rest well for some time to come.”

The clip of hooves on stone sounded down the corridor, and they were coming closer. An instinctual fear forced you to dart back into the enclave and hide behind the inner wall to the right. Logically, there was no reason for you to act so sneakily. Celestia was your friend, someone who was trying to help you... right? You were filled with contradictory emotions all fighting for dominance.

“D-do you really mean that? Why? What’s going on?”

“I need you to do something for me. I need you to stay strong, even if I am not there to help you. With Luna missing, you are the sole heir to the throne. Now, come. I have something to give to you.”

“You sound so serious. Don’t speak like that! It makes me fear that something might happen to you.”

“Something might,” she said before walking out of earshot.

You stepped back out. You didn’t know what that had been about, but you disliked it nonetheless. There was something almost conspiratorial in the color of their conversation. They were planning something, but you didn’t want to risk investigating. You decided to walk back to your room and spend the rest of the night sleeping.

Only she was standing right outside the door, her hoof held against it.

She looked over and smiled, taking her hoof off the door and waving at you. “Oh, Frisk! You’re already awake. That’s perfect.” Twilight trotted up to you, a book floating beside her. “I won’t have to wait until morning after all. I think I’ve found a way to recover your lost memory. This spell is an anti-amnesiac. As far as I can tell, it should work on anyone, pony or not. Your past could hold the key to resolving all our problems! So, here we go. I’ll perform it now.”

You looked up at her glowing horn. “Um, wha—?”

Purple light stung your eyes and enveloped your vision.

One of the largest mountains in the land was named Mount Ebott. A village sat at the bottom of this high mountain, and that was where you lived.

Wintertime had come. Mount Ebott was a bit snowier than usual, and everyone in the town was busy with enjoying their traditional festivities. You were out with an ax, chopping off the branches of trees, trying to gather enough firewood to stay warm for the next few nights. You stacked them neatly on your mobile rack. The wooden frame had two rope straps so you could carry it on your back.

You swung your ax, and a particularly belligerent branch fell to the ground with a snap. You smiled. As you bent down to pick it up, a bush several feet away swayed and squeaked. You stood up, holding your ax in a defensive position.

The bush rustled again, and this time the source of the noises stumbled out.

You weren’t sure what you were looking at, not at first. It was a tiny ball with feet and a large eye in the middle. Two tiny horns protruded from its top. It shivered in the cold and looked up to you, blinking its large yellow eye. The ax shifted in your hands. It stepped toward you.

“Hey! Don’t come any closer! I don’t want to hurt you.”

If it understood what you said, it hadn’t heeded your warning. It started running toward you.

You lifted up the ax, preparing to strike it down. Your heart beat. Despite the cold, you were sweating beneath your clothes.

Right before you swung to kill, the creature jumped up and landed at your feet. You dropped the ax in surprise. It hadn’t hurt you. Instead, it was cuddling against your legs. You stooped down and picked it up. It snuggled up against the warmth of your chest.

“Heh, you scared me, little guy. Just a second longer and you could have been a goner. What’s something like you doing out here, after all? Aren’t all the monsters trapped underground?”

It smiled and squeaked up at you. It had probably understood you, but you couldn’t understand what it was trying to tell you.

“Frisk! Have you got that firewood gathered yet? I need your help over here.”

You set the small monster down. “That’s my dad. Here...” You pulled out a scarf from your pocket. “This will keep you warm.” You tied the scarf around the monster, trying to cover up its body as best you could. It was a challenge trying not to cover up its eye, but you managed it.

“Frisk!”

“Coming!” You patted it on the head. “Stay here, and I’ll come back to see you soon.”

After some more encouragement, the monster got the idea. It scampered back into the forest. You stood up, strapped on your rack, and went to help your father.

The next day you came back. You looked around, but there wasn’t anything there.

“Hey! Little buddy, are you here?”

You waited, but the place was silent.

“Oh well...” You sighed. It wasn’t reasonable to expect that monster to stick around. Not so close to a village of humans.

You heard a squeak. When you looked down, it was standing there, still wearing the scarf you’d given it.

“Hey.” You smiled. “Oh, you’re going to appreciate this! I brought you a present.” You took off the pack you’d been carrying. After rummaging around a bit, you pulled out a box of small treats. “I don’t know if you’ve ever had fudge before, but its the best!” You took out a piece and held it out to the monster. It looked at your fingers curiously. “Like this,” you said while placing it in your own mouth. “Now you try,” you said through a mouthful of fudge. You picked up another piece and held it out.

It nibbled a bit at the treat. It stopped and stood there. Then it made a sound of pleasure and devoured the rest in one bite.

“See! I knew you’d like it,” you said. “Here, have another.”

You ate the whole box together. When it was empty, you patted the monster and told it, “I’m sorry, but there isn’t any more. I’ll come back tomorrow, though. So wait for me!”

You hugged the monster and left.

You came back the next day and the day after that. Each day you brought something different: a new treat, a ball to play with, the toy your parents gave you the day before, a book, an article of clothing, a small bunch of flowers. Every day you brought something new to show him.

“Hey,” you said one day. “You need a name.”

He looked up at you. “Na-a~?”

“See, I’m Frisk. But I don’t know what to call you.”

“Friss,” he said pointedly.

You smiled. “Ya, Frisk,” you said while pointing to yourself. “What about you?” You pointed at him.

“Yu-u!” he shouted happily.

You chuckled. “Ha! Here, maybe I should give you a name. How about... Luke?”

“Lu-u...”

“You... luuk like a Luke.”

Luke just stat there bemused. But you laughed. Hey, it was funny!

When he saw your laughter, he started laughing too. He danced around the spot, shouting, “Lu! Lu! Lu!”

Soon, Winter left and Spring came in its stead. The birds started singing again. The flowers spread out their petals. Eastertide had arrived.

You were walking around town when you saw the crowd.

“Monster!”

You stopped cold. Your eyes went wide, and chills ran down your spine. Your heart was filled with dreadful feelings.

Running up to the crowd, you saw what they were shouting about: a creature in a cage. He still had that scarf on.

“Stay back, Frisk.” A strong hand gripped onto you.

“Dad! What are they doing?”

“We’ve caught a monster. Don’t get too close. It could turn out to be dangerous.”

“Luke isn’t dangerous! He’s harmless! I don’t think he could hurt anyone even if he wanted to!”

You father turned to you. “Do you know this monster? How so?”

“I meet him by the trees behind our house. Look! Does he look like he could hurt anything?”

He shook his head. “Elder.”

A man with a spear stepped up to you. “Child, you don’t understand how grave a situation you’ve put yourself into. Had this creature been able to defeat you and take your soul, our entire village would be put in jeopardy. No, every human... our entire existence as a species would be in jeopardy. We have no recourse against a monster with a human soul. We cannot afford to take that risk. It takes only one encounter to ensure our destruction. That is why we must do this.”

“D-do what? What are you going to do with him?”

The elder hung his head gravely and walked up to the cage. “Let this be a lesson to you.” He pointed his spear downward and jabbed it through the bars. The monster inside made a pitiful sound before being reduced to dust. All that was left in the cage was a strip of cloth.

“N-no! He can’t be...” You ran up to the cage. You poked your hands through the bars and gripped at the dusty, torn piece of cloth on the floor. Tears welled up in your eyes. “I-if... m-monsters are supposed to b-be so strong, why c-couldn’t you defend yourself?”

“That one was weak, though it had the potential to be strong.”

You were shivering in the springtime.

Your father patted your shoulder. “Monsters and humans weren’t meant to live alongside one another.”

You clenched your fists. You bit down on your teeth and cried: “You’re right!” You turned around and pointed at him. “But you’re the ones that are the monsters! Am I the only one here who has any humanity left? How could you lock away your compassion like that? Is life so worthless? If you think so, then... then...” You couldn’t speak. Your throat was closed by grief. You needed to get away. You wanted to be alone.

“Frisk!”

You didn’t listen. You pushed them aside. You ran and didn’t care what they would say.

You passed the main gate to your village. You didn’t look back, even when the guard asked you where you were going. You ran into the forest, though you could hardly see where you were headed. Everything was smudged by the water pouring from your eyes.

You kept running. You didn’t think of anything except getting far, far away.

You were brought back to the earth by a vine in the road. It caught your foot and caused you fall face-first into the dirt. It hurt. Your heart hurt. Your whole body hurt.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. I’m sorry that you had to die.” You couldn’t cry anymore. You lay in the dirt, staring at the grass moving slowly right beside you. You took a deep breath, but emptiness was all you felt inside.

An old legend, older even than the war between monsters and humans, warned that no one returned from a trip up the mountain. An eerie air hung about it, inviting the disaffected up to its summit. There was another name for the mountain, one used only in the darkest places and by those nearing the end of their life. That name was The Mountain of Death. Its shadow over the sunrise reminded everyone of their unwavering fate.

The path to that universal destination lay ahead. It was only a little ways away. The first steps on the journey to the end were here, right where your feet dared to trod. Sadness, fear, and loneliness... they all faded away. In their place was something new, something mostly unknown to your experience.

You were filled with determination. Your resolve had hardened, and your heart was steadfast. You followed the path from the base of the mountain. You followed it up the steep climb. You overcame the obstacles that got in your way, and you arrived at the place you sought after.

On the mountainside, far away from the world you knew, sat a deep ravine. It cut sharply into the mountain, so that you could see every layer of its composition clearly. The bottom, if it had a bottom, was hidden by darkness and mist. This was the absolute.

Your numbness was all-encompassing. You felt only the susurrus in your blood as it mixed with the sound of the wind in your ears.

You closed your eyes and allowed the darkness to consume you.

The howling in the air grew steadily in intensity. At the last second you opened your eyes, and the ground caught your body.

The breath was knocked from your lungs. You struggled to regain it as the burning sensation in your chest became a blaze. At last with a gasp you could breathe again. You were alive.

A bit bruised, but you were still alive.

You tried to lift yourself up, but your arm was too weak to support the rest of your body. You fell back down, and your face was filled with smell of flowers. You blinked, but all you could see were the swaying faces of flowers.

You groaned. You weren’t even strong enough to kill yourself, a helpless human stuck at the bottom of this gorge. You wanted to cry, but you couldn’t. You wanted to shout angry things at the sky, but you couldn’t speak.

You heard something treading though the plants. You tensed up defensively.

“It sounds like it came from over here...” The voice was pleasant, young, and had a hint of melody in it.

You felt the presence of someone standing over you. You tried looking up, but all you could see were white feet.

“Oh! You’ve fallen down, haven’t you...?” Something touched your back. “Are you okay?”

You shook your head. “Ngh...”

“Here—” You felt a firm grip on your shoulders. “Get up...” It gently lifted you up off the ground.

You looked at his face for the first time. He wasn’t human. Had that really been the voice of a monster?

He asked you another question, though you hadn’t heard it well. You felt something in your heart, something indescribable.

He had asked you for a name. He wanted to know who you were. You were a human who shouldn’t be there. You were from a village...

Hatred in your heart, that’s what you felt. No, that wasn’t coming from your heart. It came from elsewhere, grasping onto your soul and holding back your love. You felt your compassion being dragged back, taken into the abyss. You forsook your human life, so you no longer wanted a human name. You would give yourself a new name. You would give yourself a name worthy to be feared. You would tell him the name of a true monster.

You called out my name, and I answered.

“Thank you, Twilight Sparkle.” I opened my eyes and smiled. “I was getting tired of being that naive child all the time.”

She stepped back. “Who...?”

“I must admit that I had become worried. I thought that I might never get a chance to accomplish what I came here to do. But with my compassion securely locked away again, there won’t be any more inconvenient interruptions. My question to you: Is tonight a good time to die, or would you like to run away and live another day?”

My killing intent had never been this high before.

“W-what are you saying? And what is that expression on your face? W-why...”

“Twilight, get back.” A blur of white feathers dropped down between us.

“Celestia? Wait, what...”

“There isn’t any time. Quick, go to the room where the rest of your friends are sleeping. Wake them up and get them out of here. There is a passageway behind the bathroom mirror.”

I laughed. “There was a bathroom in there the entire time?” Both ponies were unnerved by my words.

“Now, Twilight.”

She hesitated for a moment longer, but finally she dashed to the door and went into the room.

“So, are you ready to stop the ‘anomaly’? Are you ready to save your world from destruction? Honestly, I’m in a bit of a bind.” I shrugged my shoulders while holding out my empty hands. “I’m not exactly prepared. I was hoping for more opportunities to hone my skills. But now I don’t even have a weapon...”

“Why are you doing this?”

I looked her right in the eyes. “Because you’re weak. If you can’t defend yourself, you don’t deserve to live.”

“That’s an odd thing to hear from an unarmed child.”

“Princess Celestia!” Two armored ponies trotted up, baring spears. “We came as soon as we could.”

“You’re right on time,” I told them.

“Where’s the villain?” the other guard asked.

I grabbed his spear and pulled it easily from his unfingered grip. “Here I am,” I said while plunging it through a gap in his armor. He stumbled back from the force of the blow. I yanked on the shaft and the tip of the spear reappeared, now red with his blood.

“Still standing? I must not have done enough damage...” I lunged again, this time aiming at his throat.

Golden light knocked me to the ground. The spear slipped out of my hand and slid across the floor.

“I will handle this.”

“Your Highness...”

“Go and evacuate the castle. Find and prepare the Elements of Harmony. We will certainly need them this time.”

The unwounded guard looked like he was about to speak, but he hung his head and helped his friend limp away. I watched them walk down the hall.

“How lovely,” I said. “So you saved the life of a single person. Luckily for you, you won’t be alive to see him die.” I picked up the spear and stood up, chuckling silently to myself. “But you already know that, don’t you? I can sense it. I can see it in the way you stand.”

“Even if I fall, the Sun will not be set on Equestria.”

“You really believe that? ‘I believe a true hero will come and strike you down.’ Is that what you are thinking? Because, if so, I have bad news for you...”

I jabbed at her with all my strength. A golden bubble surrounded her, blocking my attack. Sparks tumbled to the floor from where we met.

“You’re sorely mistaken,” I finished.

The bubble popped, and sharp shards of light flew in all directions. I jumped back just in time to avoid them. Shattering glass twinkled in the background.

“That look!” I said to her. “You seem so serious. Well, how about this: let’s loosen up and have some fun?” I swung wide, aiming to graze her chest. But she blocked me with another bubble of energy. I didn’t have the leverage necessary to break it, so I stepped back and prepared a new angle of attack.

She preempted me with a shot from her horn. It left a scorch mark along the floor.

“Ah, that one almost hit me. Try a little harder than that and you might have a chance!”

I tightened my grip on the spear and observed her patiently. She took advantage of my inaction by summoning to her a bright spear and sending it my way. I tumbled out of its path.

I smiled. “You’re invulnerable while using those magic shields, aren’t you? Heh. What a cheap trick.” I clenched my fingers together. “Stand and take my attack like a proper monster!”

She stood without response. She closed her eyes and the horn on her head glowed.

A ball of energy formed on the tip of her horn. It grew steadily, encompassed by flickering light, sending out sharp sounds into the night. If I had to guess, she was preparing a very strong attack that would blow me into char and ashes. That was the resolve I felt from her face.

She did not have a chance to launch that attack. During her preparations, I took advantage of the time she had her eyes closed. In one swift motion I stepped close, secured my feet on the stone, and rammed hard into her.

The light that had been gathering on her horn disappeared with a spark. She opened her eyes and looked down at me in bewilderment.

“Like I said, you’re weak—” I twisted the spear with my hand. “And pitifully so.”

Golden light shimmered down the length of the shaft. The spear tore out of her and wrestled itself from my grip. It flipped around and pointed at me. Celestia's eyes had wrath within them. "Says the unarmed child."

"Now that's just unfair—"

The spear flew at me. I stepped backwards and to the side, but I was too slow. It grazed my side, leaving a long and bloody mark. The steel spearhead embedded itself in the stone.

I fell to my knees and gripped my hands over the wound.

"I'm sure there will be much discussion on the fairness of your fate at a later date." She stepped up to me and stumbled, grimacing. "No... not yet." Golden light glimmered over the spear behind me. It budged a bit, but it would not come undone from its place in the stone. "This body..." Light poured from her chest like water, splashing on the floor and illuminating the dark corners of the hallway.

I laughed hoarsely, then coughed. "I guess I did more damage than I thought." I felt the wet blood dripping from my fingertips.

She was still standing a few feet away, appraising my state. She bowed her head low and brought her horn to the level of my chest. Her stance was one of a jouster.

She was about to run through and gore me, right here in the hallway. She was actually going to kill me.

I might die.

That thought struck me with uncharacteristic strength. There may have been a time when I feared death, but that time had long ago faded from my memory. But now, with my SAVE completely unreachable... No, I still didn't care. I refused to care. I refused to be weak in the last moments of my life.

"Come on, then. This isn't over yet. I'm not done with you." I beckoned her with my bloodied fingers.

She charged, and I smiled wide.

I grabbed the spear behind me and yanked it up. My heart pumped hard, and I watched her horn intensely.

We collided, and the sound of sharpness shearing flesh filled the room.

Her horn rested on my shoulder. I turned the spear in her side and pushed it with all the force I could muster.

She lifted up her head, and the pain was apparent in her face. More of her energy scattered over the floor, dripping down like molten gold. I thought I saw her cry before she died.

Sunlight covered my face, and my eyes were seared by it brightness. Her weight evaporated from off of me, and I was showered by the droplets. After the light had gone, so had she.

"Here's where I'd make a snide pun that I found remarkably unfunny." I put a hand on the ground to support myself. "But... I'm not really feeling up to it, see?" Red marked the stone where I drew my fingers across the ground. "Heh..." I coughed again. "Well, we had a good run, didn't we?"

I placed my hand on my side. What I felt startled me. The gash at my side had closed itself. The stunned expression on my face soon faded, and I started laughing. I couldn't stop. Tears the same shape as your joyful tears rolled down my cheeks. I felt cold inside.

"Unicorn blood... how utterly convenient."