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My Little Undertale

by CTVulpin

Chapter 1: The Ruins

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* something… is wrong. terribly wrong


The Filly awoke on a bed of golden-bloomed flowers that grew within the pool of sunlight streaming down from a hole which seemed to be miles away. Her head ached terribly, and as she tried to get to her hooves a wave of nausea forced her to empty the contents of her stomach onto the ground. As soon as she stopped vomiting, she bit off one of the flowers to wash the taste of bile from her mouth. The bloom tasted heavenly, but her stomach still felt uneasy so she put off eating anymore and instead felt her head until she found a raw, painful lump where she’d evidently hit her head on landing.

Where am I? the Filly wondered, looking around the small cavern. Did anypony else…? No, it was immediately obvious that she was alone. There was no way of climbing up to the hole in the ceiling, but she did see an opening in the wall leading into a passage. I hope this leads out of here, she thought as she followed the passage. It was dark, but enough sunlight filtered into the passage for the Filly to see the walls for most of the distance, and soon she saw more light coming from the other end. The passage only let out into another small cave lit from a hole in the ceiling. In the light, a golden flower twice as large as the ones she’d woken up on stood up tall on its stem, and the Filly stopped short with a gasp when she saw that the flower had a smiling face.

Her surprise was compounded when the flower winked and spoke. “Howdy!” it said in a sweet-sounding voice. “My name’s Flowey. Flowey the Flower.”

“Uh,” the Filly started to say, although she wasn’t sure if she wanted to introduce herself or just ask a question.

“Golly, you look lost,” Flowey went on before the Filly could order her thoughts. “And confused. Well, you’re lucky you have a friend like Flowey to show how things work here in the Underground. Let’s get started!” The Filly’s heart started to beat hard, like it was trying to burst from her chest, and her vision swam and blurred at the edges until all she could see was a white image of the talking flower and a red heart floating in front of her. “See that heart?” Flowey asked. “That’s your soul, the very culmination of your being. Your soul starts off weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LOVE. Do you want some LOVE?”

A flower is hitting on me? The Filly thought, nonplussed, but she nodded.

“Great!” Flowey exclaimed, winking again sticking out a tongue in flirtatious manner.

Definitely hitting on me, the Filly thought. Is this my life now?

“Down here,” Flowey said as five little pellets flew into the air from behind its petals, “LOVE is shared through little white… friendliness pellets.” The flower’s eyes slid to the side on the last two words, which made the Filly doubtful. “Ready?” it asked, and the pellets started moving toward the Filly’s soul. “Move around; catch as many as you can!” The Filly watched the incoming pellets, and at the last second jumped to the side to avoid them.

Flowey gave the Filly a strange look and said, “Hey, buddy, you missed them. You know what? I don’t have time to mess around. Just DIE!” Flowey’s face twisted into a black-eyed, evil grin as dozens of pellets appeared around the Filly, trapping her in a dome of spinning death that closed in on her as the flower laughed. Just before the pellets touched the Filly, they suddenly vanished in a flash of light. Flowey’s evil grin faded into a resigned expression. “Huh,” it said simply, then glanced behind itself and disappeared into the ground just in time to avoid a fireball that came flying toward it.

The Filly looked in the direction the fireball had come from and saw a bipedal goat-like creature wearing a long white and purple robe run up and stomp a foot on the spot Flowey had disappeared into. “What a terrible creature,” it said in a gently bleating, feminine voice, “torturing such a poor, innocent youth.” She stomped once more and then looked up at the Filly. For a fleeting moment she looked very surprised, but then schooled her face into an expression of caring gentleness. “Ah, do not be afraid, my child. I am Toriel, the caretaker of the Ruins. I pass through here every day to see if anyone has fallen down. I admit, I never expected to find-”

Thorny vines suddenly burst from underneath Toriel’s feet and tangled themselves around her body and arms. One vine crept to the top of her head and unfolded into the nightmare face of Flowey. “Kehehahaha!” Flowey cackled as his vines took full control of Toriel’s body. “So sorry, Tori, but you’re not saving this one. Down here, it’s kill or be killed, so nobody leaves this room until somebody’s dead!”

“N-no,” Toriel bleated helplessly as the vines forced her to raise her arms and prepare a fire magic attack. “Run, my child, before it’s too-” Fireballs sprayed wildly from her hands. The Filly backed into the wall trying to get away from the fire and then pranced quickly from side to side to try and slip her soul-heart between the fireballs. She dodged most of the attack, but one of the last fireballs struck her in the chest. She winced in pain as she felt the fire steal some of her strength, but when she looked down she saw no burns on her body.

“That’s odd,” she murmured.

“Come on now, little… horse,” Flowey taunted from his perch on Toriel’s head. “You’re still standing, so strike back! Get some payback for the pain! Kehehaha!”

“No,” Toriel started to beg, only to be silenced as Flowey grew a vine over her mouth. The Filly stood rooted to the spot, overcome with fear and confusion, wishing desperately for somepony to come save her, and then started to cry.

“Ugh, don’t waste my time!” Flowey shouted, forcing Toriel’s hands up again. More fireballs rained toward the Filly, and this time she leaped forward as she dodged between the attacks. Fireballs sideswiped her twice, but at the end of the wave she remained on her feet. “You’re tough one at least,” Flowey noted reluctantly. “Could you stand another round, though?”

The Filly looked at the evil, sneering flower, and then at the tear-filled eyes of the goat-creature it was controlling. Determination filled her, and she lowered her head and scuffed the ground challengingly. Flowey started to taunt her again, but before he could get more than a word out the Filly charged, climbed up to Toriel’s shoulders, and then bit through Flowey’s stem and flung the golden blossom away. The vines entangling Toriel dried up and crumpled into dust, and her arms came up one more time to catch the Filly in a hug as she fell off Toriel’s shoulder and her vision returned to normal.

“Thank you,” Toriel said gently before setting the Filly down. “Now come on,” she said, “let me guide you to another part of the catacombs before that thing returns.” The Filly nodded and followed Toriel deeper into the caverns.

Shortly, they came to an opening in the cave walls that had been turned into a doorway. On the other side of the door was a room of worked stone lit by torches. The room contained only six raised stone buttons on the floor and a switch on the wall along with a second door opposite the entrance. Toriel stepped on four of the buttons and then pulled the switch, which opened the door, and motioned the Filly to follow her through.

“There are many puzzles like that in the ruins,” Toriel explained in the next room, “fusions of old games and mechanisms to open the doors. You’ll need to learn how to solve them in order to navigate the ruins. But do not worry, I will guide you.” She started to lead the way through the long room, but paused and looked back at the Filly. “Oh, and you may run into other, less friendly monsters as we go. Don’t panic and don’t try to fight; I’ll step in and protect you right away.” She turned away, only to pause and turn back one last time, taking a piece of candy out of her robe. “Eat this,” she said, handing the candy to the Filly. “It should heal some of the damage your soul sustained.”

“Thank you,” the Filly said, and ate the candy. It seemed to melt instantly in her mouth, leaving behind a hint of flavor that could only be described as “not licorice,” and she immediately felt much healthier. Toriel smiled as the Filly’s eyes lit up with pleased surprise and then the pair set off again. The walk through the first part of the room was uneventful, but just as Toriel and the Filly reached a part where the room narrowed into a twisting tunnel, a giant froggish monster landed between the two, blocking the Filly. “Hey!” the Filly snapped, “get out of my way!”

The frog looked less sure of itself in the face of the Filly’s attitude, and when Toriel tapped it on the head and gave it a death glare, it slunk sheepishly back into the hole it had emerged from.

“Are you ok, my child?” Toriel asked.

“I’m fine,” the Filly said. “Honestly, I could have scared that thing off by myself.”

“Maybe,” Toriel said, frowning, “but most monsters aren’t so easily frightened. You should never fight, but you will often need to be clever to talk monsters out of fighting you.”

“Oh, I’m very good at talking ponies into doing what I want,” the Filly said proudly.

“Maybe,” Toriel said again.

They left the hallway, and the Filly hesitated when she saw that the floor of the next room was almost entirely covered in metal spikes. Toriel stopped at the edge of the spikes and looked from them to the Filly and back again a few times. “Uh, I’ll just carry you through this, ok?” she said at last and picked the Filly up before she could respond. Once she had a good grip, Toriel stepped out and the spikes retracted beneath her feet as she traced a winding path to the other end of the room. She set the Filly down in front of the door to the next room and rubbed her head, saying, “Puzzles may be too much for you after all.”

The Filly raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. It was becoming clear to her that Toriel had real strong motherly tendencies that crossed into overprotectiveness, but that was something the Filly could put up with for the moment.

They passed through the door into a passageway so long the other end was hidden in shadow. Toriel turned to the Filly and said, “I’m sorry to ask this, my child, but I need you to try and walk to the end of this hallway alone.” The Filly looked past Toriel at the empty-seeming hall and then gave Toriel a questioning look. “I’m sorry,” Toriel apologized again, and then took off running down the hall.

“I have been hit by fireballs and ripped an evil flower off your head, lady” the Filly muttered as she set off at a trot. “If you think I can’t handle walking down a hall by myself…” She began her trot with confidence, but after a few dozen feet she started to feel a little apprehensive, wondering if any monsters were lying in ambush. When the end of the hall came into clear view and nothing had yet jumped out of her, the Filly picked her pace back up until she noticed Toriel trying with middling success to hide behind a lone marble pillar. Heaving a huge sigh, she walked up to the pillar and asked, “What’s your deal, Toriel? I saved you from Flowey, but you’re acting like I’m helpless.”

Toriel stepped out from behind the pillar with a hard, disapproving look on her face that made the Filly take an involuntary step back. The Filly’s reaction filled Toriel with shame, and she looked away. “I know what you mean, my child,” she said, “but…” she stopped and shook her head. “No, I still don’t think this is best place to talk. But, if you want, I’ll go on ahead and let you try the puzzles up ahead on your own. Take this cell phone.” She pulled a cell phone out of her robe and held it out to the Filly, only to hesitate as she suddenly realized the Filly’s lack of hands. “Oh dear, how is this going to work?”

The Filly grabbed the cell phone in her mouth, set it on the ground, and examined it for a second. “What’s it do?” she asked at last.

“It would let us talk even if we’re far away from each other,” Toriel explained, “so you could call for help if you get stuck on a puzzle or run into trouble. But how would you even carry it?” In answer, the Filly scooped the phone up with one hoof and balanced it expertly on her back. “Of course,” Toriel said, smirking. “Alright, let me show you how to call me and answer if I call you…”


The puzzles of the Ruins proved to be far simpler than the Filly suspected, although she did have a fright early on when the floor in one room suddenly gave way under her hooves. She didn’t fall far and landed on a thick pile of leaves, and there were stairs right by the pile that let her climb back up and continue on her way. Toriel called the Filly a couple times, first to ask if she liked butterscotch and cinnamon, and then just a few seconds later to see if the Filly was all right. The Filly had answered the second question with an exasperated “yes” and Toriel took the hint, promising to wait until the Filly called her for help.

Monsters were even more of a nonissue. There were timid flying things that fled the moment the Filly so much as looked in their direction, living piles of jelly that did nothing to stop her from walking around them, and more oversized frogs. Those actually made efforts to attack by spitting magic flies at her, but the Filly found that a couple threatening words was enough to make them back down.

After navigating across a dangerously cracked floor and having to talk a rock into sitting on a button that removed some spikes from her path, the Filly entered a small room that narrowed in the middle. There was what looked like a large bedsheet ghost lying on a pile of leaves in the narrow space, taking up so much room that the Filly didn’t think she could slip past. The ghost was making fake sleeping noises and didn’t budge when the Filly approached. Apprehensive about disturbing something that clearly wanted to be left alone, the Filly withdrew to the room’s entrance and called Toriel.

“Hello? This is Toriel,” the goat-creature answered after the first ring.

“There’s a… ghost in my way,” the Filly said. “What should I do?”

“Hm. What’s it doing?” Toriel asked.

“It’s just lying there right now,” the Filly said, “pretending to sleep.”

“Oh,” Toriel sounded relieved. “That’s probably just Napstablook. He comes into the ruins every so often to act gloomy and depressed, but he’s harmless. Mostly.”

“Mostly?” the Filly deadpanned.

“Well, no monster is completely harmless,” Toriel said. “Just talk to Napstablook; he might need a little encouragement to get up, but if you’re polite he won’t mind getting out of your way.”

“Ok, thanks,” the Filly said before hanging up. “I guess.” Steeling herself, the Filly walked over to the ghost. “Excuse me,” she said, “but I need to get past.”

“Oh,” Napstablook said in a distant, depressed voice, “it’s come back.” They got up and looked down at the Filly with a gloomy expression. “Guess I have no choice.” They sighed, and the Filly’s vision swam as her soul-heart appeared.

“Wait a minute,” the Filly protested, “I don’t want to fight! I’m just passing through, honest.” Napstablook blinked slowly. “Could you move aside just for a second, please?” the Filly asked.

“Ok,” Napstablook said. The Filly’s vision returned to normal as the ghost floated up into the air. The Filly started to walk across the leaf pile, but after a moment’s thought she made a mighty leap and almost cleared the pile without setting foot on it. Napstablook floated back down the ground and turned to look at her.

“Thank you,” the Filly said, giving the ghost a wave as she continued on. “Have a nice day.”

Napstablook watched her leave until she round a corner out of sight. At length, the ghost smiled. “‘Have a nice day’? Well, I guess I can try that for a change.”


The puzzles grew a little more complicated as the Filly delved deeper into the Ruins, and she met new kinds of monsters. The large talking carrots threw her for the biggest loop at first, but once she discovered that they could produce vegetables out of thin air she tried to talk one of them into traveling with her. The carrot had only said “Vegetables don’t talk, silly!” and disappeared into the ground. The Filly scratched her head at that for a moment, and then continued on with a shake of her head.

Finally, the Filly came to a large cavern with a black tree planted in the middle and a house built into the far wall. As the Filly entered the cavern, Toriel emerged from the house and started to pull out her cell phone. She noticed the Filly just after dialing the Filly’s number, put the phone away, and ran up to the Filly with a look of relief. “There you are,” Toriel said, “I was starting to worry. Come, come inside, my child.”

The house was small but wide, and filled with the aroma of cinnamon and butterscotch. The entry room contained a staircase heading down and doorways leading to the left and right. Toriel guided the Filly into the hallway on the right and stopped in front of the first of three doors. “This will be your room,” Toriel said, rubbing the Filly’s head. “You must be worn out from all your walking and puzzle-solving, so why don’t you take a little nap? The pie needs more time to cool anyway.”

The Filly started to protest, but a sudden urge to yawn broke in on her thoughts, so she simply gave Toriel a grateful nod and went into the room. The bedroom wasn’t lavish, but the bed, desk, wardrobe, and lamp all had a comfortable, welcoming design. In fact, between a complete lack of dust and the presence of old toys and shoes made for feet like Toriel’s on many, smaller scales, the room looked like it had seen regular use up until recently. Filing that away with the other questions she had, the Filly turned off the lamp and climbed into the bed for a quick nap.

She awoke to the smell of butterscotch and cinnamon and opened her eyes to see a slice of pie on a plate on the floor. She climbed off the bed and tried a bite. The pie melted in her mouth as quickly as the candy from earlier, and the Filly’s eyes closed in pleasure at the taste. She gobbled down the rest of the pie and then picked the plate up in her mouth before stepping out into the hall to look around. She found Toriel sitting in a chair reading a book by a hearth in the room on the other side of the entryway, and to the left of the fireplace was a door leading to a kitchen. “Oh,” Toriel said, looking up, “you’re awake already.”

The Filly nodded as she walked past Toriel into the kitchen to put her plate in the sink. “The pie was delicious, Toriel,” she said when she re-entered the sitting room. She then sat down in front of Toriel and gave her an expectant look. Toriel looked uncomfortable and awkwardly averted her gaze down to the book in her hands. The Filly sighed in exasperation. “Enough stalling,” she snapped. “I really appreciate how nice you’ve been, but I need to know how to get home. And what was up with that crazy flower?”

Toriel flinched and tears formed in the corners of her eyes. “Can’t… can’t you just let this be your new home?” she asked.

“No,” the Filly said firmly. “I already have a home, in Ponyville. My parents must be worried sick about me and-” She stopped short as Toriel slammed her book closed and stood up.

“One moment,” Toriel said with a stoic expression. She went into the kitchen for a moment, and then came back out and headed for the entryway. “Follow me, my child,” she said. “I have some things to tell you.” The Filly followed her into the entryway and down the stairs, which led into a long, winding tunnel. “The underground is a much more dangerous place outside the Ruins, you know,” Toriel said as they walked. “The monsters will be more aggressive, more willing to kill to serve their own ends. There’s one in particular who…” she paused and looked back at the filly. “Actually,” she said, “I don’t think you have much to fear from Asgore. If you were a human, it would be a much different story.”

“What’s a human?” the Filly asked.

Toriel stopped short and looked at the Filly in complete bewilderment. “You… did fall down here from the surface, didn’t you?” she asked at last. The Filly nodded, and Toriel turned back around very slowly and then resumed walking down the hall. “I suppose that makes another strong argument to let you leave the Ruins,” she said at length, “since there are no clues to your origin to be found here.” Toriel and the Filly turned one last corner and came to the great gate at the end of the ruins. The gate bore a crest consisting of a winged circle above three triangles, which Toriel laid one hand upon before turning around to face the Filly with an expression of profound sadness.

“I have one last thing for you to consider before you decide to leave, my child,” Toriel said. “One last reason why, despite the courage and determination you’ve shown, I fear you will only be walking into death. When we first met, it wasn’t the first time I had encountered Flowey. I have seen him in this very spot on many occasions, imitating my voice to speak to someone who guards the other side of the door, and he has slipped past all my attempts to bar him from this hallway.” Toriel’s gaze dropped to the ground. “The last time I caught Flowey here, he was trying to convince his friend on the other side to kill anything that passes through the door. Little one, you may not have anything to fear from Asgore, but if you step outside these Ruins you still face certain doom. Do you really wish to leave?”

The Filly considered Toriel’s words. She had to admit to herself that she was scared, and that Toriel did know more about this strange world she’d fallen into. Toriel’s house, while modest, did feel like it could be a home if she chose to stay, but the Ruins as a whole were less welcoming. There was also the fact that whatever potential dangers the outside held, Flowey was in the Ruins, and the Filly doubted that the wicked flower would stay down despite the damage the Filly’s bite had done to it earlier.

Looking up at Toriel, the Filly asked, “Couldn’t you come with me?”

A sad smile crossed Toriel’s face. “I wish I could, my child, truly,” she said, “but I… I have to stay and watch for anyone else who may fall down here. It wouldn’t be right to leave any other poor souls to Flowey’s… mercy.”

“Right,” the Filly agreed. “I still have to go; I need to try and find a way home and I can’t count anypony else coming down to find me.”

Toriel nodded, reluctantly. “I thought as much,” she said. “Looking at you with honest eyes, you seem to be a child used to having her own way. You wouldn’t be happy staying in the Ruins. I have a couple last gifts for you.” She produced a small drawstring bag which she tied to the Filly’s side. “This should make it easier for you to carry any items you find, as well the gold monsters tend to drop after a fight is resolved. I put another piece of butterscotch cinnamon pie in there, for the road.” She then gave the Filly a long hug and then started to leave. After a few steps, however, she stopped and took one last look back. “Forgive me,” she said, “but I never asked what your name is, did I?”

The Filly looked up from putting her cell phone into the bag, then ran a pink hoof self-consciously through her mussed silvery-grey mane. “My name,” she said, “is Diamond Tiara.”

Next Chapter: Snowdin Estimated time remaining: 35 Minutes
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