//------------------------------// // 15 Truth and Joy // Story: A new chance at one HP // by Emeraldleafeon //------------------------------// “bro…” “BROTHER, THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS CONFUSED AND SCARED! I HAVE ATTEMPTED TO GIVE A PONY A HUG, BUT MY BODY SEEMS TO BE LACKING IN THE PHYSICAL DEPARTMENT! THIS IS VERY DISTRESSING TO ME! WILL I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, NEVER BE ABLE TO HUG A PONY AND BECOME FRIENDS?” “What?! But?! How? Wha? You should be dead!” Alphys exclaimed. “We had your dust and we had witnesses saying they saw you die, and, and- how are you here?” “THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS TOO GREAT FOR DEATH! DEATH IS BELOW ME! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!” Sans, after a short internal conference, decided to laugh instead of cry. “Bro, you're…  you’re back.” Somehow, both ended up happening. Celestia walked into the room, guards in tow. “I see that you know this, ghost, then?” Sans, who was now holding his brother’s scarf, nodded sedately. “yeah, this is my brother. or at least my brother’s scarf, who is now my brother.” Papyrus looked over towards the ponies who had entered the room, barely having to tilt his head down to see Celestia. “HELLO, LARGE PONY, SMALLER PONY, SIMILARLY SMALLER PONY AND PONY OF RELATED SIZE TO THE TWO AFOREMENTIONED! I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS! WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE FRIENDS?” Celestia gave a motherly, if somewhat bewildered, chuckle. “Of course I would like to be your friend Papyrus. You know, I have a student that could learn from you.” She giggled and turned to the guards to dismiss them. “I am happy to say that we will not be needing your qualifications, you three are dismissed.” As the guards exited the room, Alphys began to inspect Papyrus. “I-I’ve never dealt with something like this before…” she muttered. “The closest thing I have to compare you to is Flowey, and his situation is still different from you...” She trailed off, before looking over to Sans. “Sans, could you draw out Papyrus' soul please?” “uh, sure.” Sans held out his hand straight towards Papyrus' scarf, which had been passed to Alphys, made a fist and pulled towards himself. “not sure why you’d want to see it, but-” Sans was interrupted by a gasp coming from his brother. The soul he had pulled out was similar to any other monster soul. It was mostly grey, with a faint bit of yellow. The only difference was the size; where any other soul would be big enough to comfortably fit in Sans’ hand, Papyrus’ soul… “WHY IS MY SOUL SO SMALL?” Papyrus exclaimed. “IT’S BARELY THE SIZE OF YOUR FINGER, SANS! THE HUMAN HAD A SOUL MUCH LARGER! AM I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, INADEQUATE?” Upon completing this thought Papyrus began to panic, rapidly talking to himself. “NO, NO NO, OF COURSE NOT, DON’T BE SILLY, ME! THERE IS NO WAY THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL NEVER BE INADEQUA- EVER BE INADEQUATE! YES! BE AS BIG AND STRONG AS EVERYONE ELSE!” He brought his head close to his soul, squinting. “GROW, SOUL, GROW!” Alphys chuckled, gently pulling him away from the soul. “No Papyrus,” she assured him, “your soul is so small because you’re still recovering from being dead, not because you’re inadequate. From what I can tell in this short time, you have something similar to what Flowey has. In fact, the only reason you actually have a soul right now because you have gotten a boost in growth from Celestia's magic. Its because of this boost that you can feel things and have emotions at all.” “Yeah,” Flowey added. “I’m running on pure determination, so I can’t feel anything. No soul, no feelings, nothing like that.” Alphys looked down for a second after he said that, silent, before resuming. “Your soul also appears to be growing slowly even as we speak. It won’t be much longer.” Papyrus seemed to calm down at that. “Well Papyrus,” Celestia cut in, “it appears that you are doing well, which is good to hear. Now that I am able to finally meet you after all of the things I have heard about you, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Princess Celestia, diarch of Equestria and raiser of the sun. This is a formal welcome to the land of Equestria, and I hope you have a wonderful time here.” Papyrus put his ethereal arm to his equally intangible chest. “A Princess!? The Great Papyrus accepts your welcome! Thank you for your kindness!” Papyrus then turned to Alphys and flowey, “I am... Friends with a Princess! Nye Heh Heh! Even rulers cannot resist my awesome-” Papyrus put an ethereal arm to his equally intangible chest. “A PRINCESS?!” He gaped at her for a second, before turning to his brother. “(SANS, IS SHE ACTUALLY A PRINCESS)” “(yeah)” Papyrus’ other arm also found its way to his chest. “A PRINCESS! THE GREAT PAPYRUS ACCEPTS YOUR WELCOME! THANK YOU GREATLY FOR YOUR KINDNESS!” Spinning, Papyrus turned to talk to Alphys and Flowey. “I AM… FRIENDS… WITH A PRINCESS! NYEH HEH HEH! EVEN RULERS CANNOT RESIST MY AMAZING CHARM! ...OH HI, FLOWERY, GOOD TO SEE YOU HERE.” Celestia then turned to Sans, amused. “Is-” “-he always like this?” Sans finished her question as Papyrus continued to gush to Alphys and Flowey, nearly overwhelming them, “pretty much, ever since he was a baby bones he was always peppy and willing to make new friends. not everyone accepted it at first, but over time he basically became loved by everyone who knew him personally. Celestia turned to look at Papyrus, who was still talking with Alphys and Flowey. “I would say I’m surprised to see you, but I can’t because I’m not because I can’t.” “Huh? W-wait, what does that mean, Flowey?” “A WORD GAME! IT’S QUITE SIMPLE! THE FIRST CAN’T REFERS TO HIM NOT BEING ABLE TO SAY HE’S SURPRISED, THE NOT MEANS IT’S BECAUSE HE’S NOT SURPRISED, AND THE SECOND CAN’T IS BECAUSE HE IS INCAPABLE OF BEING SURPRISED DUE TO HIS LACK OF A SOUL!” “Papyrus, could you, uh, try to be a little more gentle around him? I’m sure it’s a sensitive subject.” “Oh, sure. Let me just go and get offended at someone for saying I have no soul. Oh, wait. I can’t get offended. Because I have no soul.” Celestia giggled as Papyrus babbled even more, turning back to Sans. “Well, he certainly seems in good spirits for having been dead,” she commented. “Twilight Sparkle would have been a quivering mess on the floor by this point.” “yeah, papyrus never really let anything get him down. even when he was dying he believed in the demon that was killing him, saying it could change.” Sans shook his head affectionately. “he really is something.” “Indeed.” Silence. “Well, this seems to be under control, and I believe that you and your brother would like some time alone, so I will be off..” Celestia bowed her head formally. “Until later, Sans.” Sans simply waved. “cya, sunbutt.” Canterlot Castle Medical Ward Cadence looked up at Celestia as she re-entered the room, curiously without her guards. “So, what called you away anyway?” she asked politely. Celestia’s face grew a happy smile. “Well, Sans’ brother is back. Not as Sans knew him, but he is back nonetheless. I decided to leave them alone for a while with his closest friends.” “That’s nice,” Cadence said, her face mirroring Celestia’s. It quickly turned thoughtful, however. “Cadence?” Celestia asked. “Is there something wrong?” ‘It’s now or never, Cadence. Well, probably not, but it’ll be a while. ...Well, not really, I can see her tomorro- you know what, I’m just going to do it now anyway.’ “Cadence?” “Aunty,” Cadence carefully began, ignoring Celestia’s concern. “I have a question for you.” “What is it? You can ask me anything you want, you know this.” “I want to know what you think about Sans. The skeleton.” Celestia’s ear twitched slightly, but asides from that her face offered no clues. “About Sans? Why do you ask?” “I’m just curious.” “Well…” Celestia pondered for a moment, “I will say that in the short time that I have been able to be in his life and him in mine, we have become good friends. I feel that I am able to trust him, more so than any other ambassadors I’ve met. He is also close enough that I think that I am able to portray what I am really feeling to him without being judged as Princess Celestia. He views me just as Celestia. He is a wonderful friend that I trust wholeheartedly, especially after the incident with your wedding.” “Do you feel anything else?” The solar alicorn’s ear twitched again, her mouth curved in a slight frown. “Well, mayb- No. I don’t think so.” Celestia then looked back down at Cadence, her face bright. “I’m sorry for rushing off again so suddenly,” she apologized, “but I have a meeting to attend to. Yes. A meeting with an ambassador of Saddle Arabia. Once again, I apologize my niece.” She then exited the room and turned in a direction that certainly did not lead to the Ambassador’s hall. ‘Well, Cadence you gave her something to think about at least.’ She internally continued her monologue, “You still got it.” She whispered to herself. Cadence turned in the direction Celestia had trotted off in, grinning. ‘One day soon. Celestia. You can’t hide your feelings forever.’ Underground, MTT Resort. “Bleug. I got glitter on my tongue again.” Somewhere deep underground in another universe entirely, a small child sat at a table, eating a Glamburger. She put it on the table for a second, wiping something sparkley off of her tongue, before turning back to the burger. ‘About ten days of food left,’ the child thought, holding her burger in one hand and absently pushing the blade of her knife through the glitter that fell off of her burger with the other. She wasn’t trying to draw anything in particular, she was just bored. Soon the child had finished her meal. She stood up, trying to wipe the glitter and dust off of her knife. The glitter was easier. The dust, not so much. The dust had a habit of following her and sticking to her clothes, as if crying out about what she had done. “How did they pull that off anyway?” she wondered out loud to herself for the ninth time that day. “It must have been the weed. He must be able to tell when I save. Makes sense, I suppose. Does not mean I have to like it. I never should have left them alone.” She walked away, tugging at the blue and purple shirt in annoyance. She much preferred green and yellow. “But it does not matter in the end,” she continued, looking up. “I will find you, Comedian. And when I do, well… To quote someone I hate, you are going to have a bad time.” She giggled, a terrible high-pitched sound of innocence tainted with unspeakable malice. “When I find you, you are going to wish you had just died when I struck you before.” The girl suddenly turned around and stabbed her knife into the table roughly. She pulled it out just as roughly with her small hands, leaving ugly, uneven cracks on the table’s surface. “You’ll wish you were already dead.”