Ponytale

by Scarlett Haze

Chapter 7 - Dogs and Tiles

A casual trot is all that you need as you reach a large and open area. It looks empty with only a few trees standing. As you start looking for the next section to go you find a sign. You lean in and read the careful writing on it. You repeat the sign with a raised eyebrow, "Warning: Dog Marriage". The sign doesn't prove useful in telling you where you are or where to go so you take the conscious effort to start roaming the area and hoping that a clear path will reveal itself.

You check your saddle for items and see only the magically sealed pie and a small stash of golden coins in the corner of the bag. Admittedly, the gold coins were just on the ground when you've confronted monsters, so you just decided to pick them up after showing mercy to them. If they didn't want them, maybe you could find use for them later.

You think you hear something bounding around in the snow and stop where you are to look around you. With no sign of movement you take one more step, only to be surprised by another dog that can stand on its hind legs. Unlike the last dog that wore the mask and carried a blue sword, this dog wears metal armor and holds a sword with one paw; the other paw holding a shield bearing an emblem that you've seen before.

Despite being surprised, you only have one action in mind that springs from your mind. Pet. Just pet. Pet the dog and pet it many times. You barely even lift your hoof to stroke its fur and it already gets excited. You keep your SOUL from the onslaught of blue and white attacks along with a miniature dog that leaps up to try and hit it as well. You keep petting and think that nothing can stop you, until you see this Lesser Dog's neck start... inching upwards each time you pet it. Your curiosity gets the better of you as you watch the head go higher and higher, soon reaching beyond the black and white realm of conflict.

You don't want to go any further and just end it with some mercy. You don't see the dog come back... or leave for that matter. Maybe your petting it had made it reach such levels of excitement that it was able to teleport away? You try not to think too hard on this conundrum. Eventually you reach an area blocked off by a wall of spikes and a lot of loose snow nearby covering stone.

With a bit of clever thinking, you start kicking the snow around, watching it fly up and hitting back down on the ground. You do this for a moment and then stop when you see a large red 'X' on the ground. You press against it, but you don't really know what it means. You look at the vague shape that the snow had once covered and then make a snapping noise with your magic, an a-ha moment running in your mind. This is a map of this area and the 'X' on it must be hiding something.

Your mind races as you go to where the map tells you to go. Could it be treasure? A key? A secret passageway around the spikes and through to Snowdin? You get to the square between two trees and use your magic to sift through the snow, finding a switch on the ground. You don't know if it goes to the spikes, but if it does, this means you could pass through the place you were blocked. Flipping the switch you go back to where the spikes should be and see that they're gone.

You move through, now finding the path again and going to continue on your way. That sign before must've been old or wasn't written right. You stop as two dogs wielding axes and wearing hooded black robes approach you. They both take a side next to you and start sniffing.

"What's that smell?" asks one. The other asks, "Where's that smell?"

The male voice gives a low growl, "If you are a smell-"

The female voice finishes, "-identify yoursmellf!"

The both of them circle you, continuously sniffing. When they finish, they pull back. "This smell, makes me want to eliminate," the male dog continues to growl. The female voice joins in on the growling, "Eliminate YOU."

You're thrust into a conflict with Dogamy and Dogaressa, both having removed their hoods and taking a battle position. You don't know what to do and have once more readied your stick. You think on your options. They are able to smell you, so what would it take to remove your smell? How would an action hero from the books handle a situation like that?

You flop onto the snow and start rolling like a mad pony, wanting to rid yourself of smell. This makes you a little colder, but the confusion in both Dogamy and Dogaressa's eyes as they start sniffing again appears to have proven that your smell is now indistinguishable from before.

Your SOUL starts weaving around axes as they rise and move. Your SOUL is able to stop for a second and is then forced into the middle of two dogs and one is barking blue and white hearts at the other.

"You smell... like a..." Dogamy is now really confused on what he's smelling. Dogaressa finishes his thought, "Are you actually a puppy?"

This is a different situation. Now you're not smelling like a pony, but a puppy. Does that mean you can get in close and pet them? So far the petting strategy has worked out for every dog you've come across. You reach out and pet Dogamy. His eyes light up as if he's experienced something mystical. "I've been pet by another pup..." Dogaressa seems eager for you to do the same with her, "Don't leave me out! I want to know what it's like too!"

You also pet Dogaressa and the same wide-eyed look of amazement crosses her face. "A dog that pets... dogs. Amazing!"

Both of them lower their axes and you show mercy to them both. "Our world has been opened to the revelation of dogs being able to pet other dogs," Dogamy speaks in a calm manner.

"Thank you so much for this gift, small puppy," Dogaressa graciously adds before tugging at Dogamy's robes and motioning for the both of them to run off someplace. They both rush off, barking happily through the snow.

You walk on the path and are stopped by another puzzle. The sign next to it tells you to turn every X in the puzzle to an O before hitting a switch. You look at the puzzle and shake your head, this had to be a creation of Papyrus, or course. The two X's were left open and you only needed to step on them for their shape to change into an O. Finding the switch, you hit it and a row of spikes go down, revealing Papyrus on the other end.

"Well, I'll be a june bug in December! How'd you get by my trap AND... did you leave any for me?" Papyrus asks you.

At first, you seem confused. She wasn't talking about this puzzle you completed, so what could it have been? The image of the frozen spaghetti plate fills your mind and you realize what she was talking about. You don't feel like lying to Papyrus about eating it, so you admit that you left it behind.

Papyrus seems rather shocked by this, "Really? You resisted the flavor and aroma of my homecooked pasta?" She looks to be blushing a little, "To share it with me?" A glint in her eye returns her to the high-energy skeleton that has been 'challenging' you as her chest puffs out. "Well, you better believe that I, Master Chef Papyrus will make you the highest and most delectable pasta you could wish for! Heh heh heh neigh!"

She rushes off again, but this time you're right behind her as she actually slows down and trots alongside you. At first, there is a silence and then Papyrus speaks up. "My sister's been startin' a collection of socks. It's not the most wholesome activity she could be doing, but I can't imagine how she would be without such a hard-workin' and tough gal to take care of her."

You say nothing, not wanting to let your inner snark get the better of you.

Both of you get to another puzzle and Papyrus seems like she's wanting to say something. "Pony! I need you to be aware that since you were taking a little longer than I initially planned, I made improvements to this puzzle."

You look over the Papyrus face puzzle on the ground with its multiple X's needing to be made into O's.

"You like it? I did too," Papyrus continues, still in speech mode. "Problem is, the dang snow is now stuck in place and the solution is totally different! Sans is also nowhere to be found, as usual; lazy sister. But, don't you worry 'bout a thing, pony! I, The Great Papyrus, will solve this here issue with no problem! You can try it if you'd like, being a fellow puzzle thinker yourself."

You do decide to give it a try and on a few attempts you mistakenly touch an O and make it into a triangle. Those few attempts did help you find a solution and you breeze through it before hitting the switch and lowering the wall blocking the way.

Papyrus seems genuinely impressed by your effort. "You were able to solve it on your own, and without my help! You really do care about puzzles like I do!" She starts hopping in place, "Oh, I can barely contain myself in seeing how you'll get past the next puzzle! See ya there!" With the sound of rushing wind and a fading whinny-laugh, you could tell Papyrus must be eager to see how this next challenge is going to go for you.

You meet with sans again as she is waiting past the lowered wall. "Good job on solving that puzzle so quickly. For a short moment, I thought you'd need my help, but you didn't. And that's great for me because I like doing absolutely nothing." At first you think nothing on her comment, but a little shine in her eye makes you question if what she said was true. She did seem the rather comfortable type... maybe it's nothing.

You move on and see both sans and Papyrus standing across the way from what looks to be a grey square... thing on the ground. You quickly check behind you and don't see sans, but you also didn't see any way she could've moved around you without you seeing her.

Papyrus waves to you across the square, "Hey! You're gonna love this puzzle, pony, I just know it! It was made by the Great Dr. Alphys!" Before you could ask who exactly this Alphys individual is, Papyrus pulls out sheets of paper and starts reading from them. "These tiles will change color once the switch is thrown. Each color has their own function. The red tiles can not be stepped on. Yellow tiles are electric and will shock you if you try and step on them. Green tiles sound an alarm when they are stepped on and the stepper will be forced to fight a monster. Orange tiles are apple-scented and will make you smell delicious."

Papyrus takes in a breath before continuing to read, "Blue tiles are water tiles that house deadly piranhas that will eat anything apple-scented. If the blue tile is next to a yellow tile, the electricity will zap the stepper as well. Purple tiles are slippery and you will slide into the next tile, the soap that covers this tile is lemon-scented and piranhas hate lemons. Yes, piranhas hate lemons, shut up this is science." She flips a page and mumbles, "Yeah, sure, science. Where was I? Yeah, right here." Clearing her throat(?) she again continues, "Pink tiles do nothing and you can step on them all you like."

She throws the papers to the ground and starts congratulating herself before looking at you again. "How was that? Got everything?"

You only let out the sound that you make when you're completely lost in what to remember. Papyrus assumes this means 'Yes.'

"Very good!" Papyrus declares as she flips the switch and the tiles light up and start switching colors, "Just one last thing. This puzzle is entirely random! It's going to make a puzzle that has never been seen ever before! Not even I, a creator of puzzles will know its solution!"

The tiles switch faster and faster, while the machine that controls it starts beeping louder and louder. The colors start bleeding into one another and you can't keep up with anything going on until finally, the tiles stop. An impending silence fills the cold winter area as you see a strip of pink tiles leading straight to the other side. Papyrus seems to have hypnotized herself with the flashing colors and stumbles away. You give a look to sans and ask if Papyrus is going to be alright.

"She's not usually all right. She can also go left from time to time," sans answers you. "You want to know about that spaghetti she made?" She asks you. "Honestly, it's not all bad. She's been taking cooking lessons and improving a lot. Heck, who knows? Maybe next year she'll have managed to get to a point where she'll make something that won't make a stomach cringe."

You give a small laugh and move on. You move a little slower as you see a wide array of snowdogs and their fallen heads alongside the path you are on. You wonder what must've happened when you see a monster passing by. "That dog just rushed through and did all of this. I could see it in his eyes; pure inspiration. It kept making snowdogs, wanting to capture its emotion and it kept happening. The dog kept adding more and more snow, the neck kept getting longer and longer."

You take a wild guess and assume it was the dog that had it's head sail into the clouds a while ago. If that dog is any indicator to you, you know it will never stop trying to recapture that wild moment in the perfect snowdog.

While a wild sight to have seen and imagine, it fills you with determination.