//------------------------------// // Chapter 24: Puzzles And Dogs // Story: Harmony of Heroes: Ultimate Multiverse Explorers // by Lucar //------------------------------// They could see that the path going left from where they came was leading to a river and was a dead end unless Sweetie Belle decided to fly and carry Frisk with her, so they took the other path and followed it, passing what was Papyrus' station, made from cardboard instead of wood. On the way, they had a brief encounter with another monster called Ice Cap, a small snowman-like being with a huge, disproportionate head compared to the body wearing a hat made of ice. The Ice Cap was very proud of his hat and was very narcissistic about it, constantly asking them to bask in its glory and saying how jealous they must be. He was absolutely obsessed with it. Thankfully, his attacks weren't hard to avoid, and it was easy to understand what they had to do to calm him: ignore him. The Ice Cap eventually grew frustrated and bored of them. However, before the Ice Cap could walk away, Frisk suddenly had the idea of stealing the hat. This strangely had the effect of turning the Ice Cap into just... Ice. As in, the monster literally turned into a sentient block of ice. Frisk then told him that he looked great like this, and that he didn't need to wear a hat to have a n-ice look. So he didn't have to get everyone to look at his hat to get attention. This opened the monster's eyes (or lack of in his new state), and after Frisk gave him the hat back (returning him to his previous form), he gave her some gold coins in thanks before walking away. Sweetie Belle giggled. Frisk could certainly join Twilight, Rarity, and the others to deal with friendship stuff, she was very good. Further away was another station, fully made of wood this time like Sans' station, but with a little wooden dog head at the top. Nobody seemed to be in it, so they began to pass it, only for a white bipedal dog wearing a ninja mask and a pink shirt smoking a dog-treat (What?!) suddenly rising inside the station, looking left and right as if searching for something. As soon as they saw the dog start to rise, Sweetie Belle and Frisk stopped and looked at it. "Did something move? Was it my imagination? I can only see moving things." Sweetie Belle and Frisk glanced at each other at this. That was one weird dog if he could only see moving stuff. Couldn't he even smell them? It seemed like it, or he wouldn't be questioning himself if there was someone here. Poor guy. "If something WAS moving... For example, a human... I'll make sure it NEVER moves again!" And then, the dog jumped from behind his station in front of the pony and the human, now holding two short swords and revealing that he was also wearing a leopard-print stretch pant and a brown belt. This guy really had a weird sense of fashion... The instant he landed, the Encounter began, and he began to look left and right, eyes narrowed, in search of the smallest movement. So Sweetie Belle and Frisk made sure to not move an inch even before the dog said this. Then, one of the short swords turned blue, and he began a slow sweeping attack with it. The attack was so slow that it would barely hurt, so Sweetie Belle and Frisk let it come, only for the sword to pass harmlessly through them, to their shock. This seemed to calm the dog who dropped his guard, allowing Frisk to carefully approach and to pet him. The dog was surprised to be petted by someone he couldn't see, but he clearly loved it as he became very excited, even repeating "PET?" "PAT?" or "POT?" while he did another sweeping blue attack that still traversed the immobile children without harm. Sweetie Belle then joined in the petting party, and the dog found himself overwhelmed by pets from 'invisible' foes (who regularly had to stop to let a blue sweep pass). Having enough, not comprehending how he could be petted by something not moving, he returned inside his station, complaining that he will need dog-treats for this. He also let some gold coins as thanks for the nice pets. The children took the coins and let the dog to his treats, muffling giggles. They then met Sans a little further, before an area covered in slippery ice. "that was some class a petting over there. you should open a pet business, it'd be a real treat for the dogs." "I prefer giving free hugs," Sweetie Belle said before the two children laughed, joined by the skeleton chuckling. "so, it seems that you already understood this thanks to old doggo. when you see a blue attack, don't move, and it won't harm you. think of them as blue STOP signs." "Thanks for the advice, Mr Sans," Frisk said. "please, just sans." "Okay, Just Sans," Frisk said with a grin, making Sweetie giggle. "heh. maybe i can make you my apprentice. you seem promising." "What about me?" Sweetie Belle asked. "you, you don't need my teaching. you proved earlier that you're already a nice joker." "Well, why so serious after all?" Sans laughed. "exactly." They then continued their way. The path forked again from the icy area, and in the one going left from where they came, they found a sentient Snowman who asked them to take a piece of it so it could see the world, the Snowman not being able to move. They accepted. They then continued toward the other path, encountering on the way another dog monster. An adorable 'small' white dog in armor named Lesser Dog. But despite his small size, the dog was equipped with a really big sword and a shield as large as his body. And yet, the dog didn't use the sword to attack, but magically materialized spears either blue or normal, and even a small dog jumping at them after cutely barking. The Lesser Dog, however, was quickly pacified with another petting party. The more he was petted, the more he was excited (to the point that he eventually stopped attacking), causing his neck to stretch more and more. Pushed by curiosity, the children continued to pet the dog to see how much his neck could stretch. By the time they were done, the monster looked more like a fusion between a dog and a snake. After this encounter, the children exited the forest and found themselves on a cliff with Papyrus and Sans in front of them at the other side of a darker squared area. The taller skeleton seemed to be in the middle of admonishing his brother about his laziness, again. "YOU'RE SO LAZY!! YOU WERE NAPPING ALL NIGHT!!" "i think that's called... sleeping." The children found themselves muffling their laughter again. "EXCUSES, EXCUSES!" And then, Papyrus finally remarked the children's presence. "OH-HO! THE HUMAN AND THE PONY ARRIVE! HUMAN!! IN ORDER TO STOP YOU... MY BROTHER AND I HAVE CREATED SOME PUZZLES! I THINK THAT YOU WILL FIND THIS ONE... QUITE SHOCKING!!! FOR YOU SEE, THIS IS THE INVISIBLE... ELECTRICITY MAZE!!!" "Oooohh! Nice pun!" Sweetie Belle said. "THANK YOU, MY LITTLE EQUINE! WAIT A MINUTE..." Papyrus' expression suddenly morphed into horror. "OH NO!!! I'M CORRUPTED BY SANS!!! THAT'S HORRIBLE!!! IF I DON'T DO ANYTHING, I'LL BECOME LAZY AND START TO EAT DISGUSTING GREASY FOOD AND HAVE A WEIRD FIXATION ON KETCHUP!!" "dang, you got me. my plan to convert you to the lazy side has failed," Sans said with the widest grin he could give, on the verge of laughing. "YOU WILL NEVER GET ME, YOU LAZY FIEND!! MY DESTINY IS TO BE THE COOLEST ROYAL GUARD! NOT TO BE A LAZYBONES!" Papyrus then turned back toward Sweetie Belle and Frisk. "ANYWAY, LET'S RETURN TO THE MAZE! WHEN YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THIS MAZE," He took a blue orb out of his chest plate. "THIS ORB WILL ADMINISTER A HEARTY ZAP! SOUND LIKE FUN??? BECAUSE! THE AMOUNT OF FUN YOU WILL PROBABLY HAVE, IS ACTUALLY RATHER SMALL I THINK. OK, YOU CAN GO AHEAD NOW." The children stared at Papyrus, then at the orb still on his hand, before they exchanged amused glances. They then advanced until touching an invisible wall. And Papyrus was the one getting a "hearty zap." When they saw the skeleton now entirely black with a shocked expression (in all the senses of the term), the children couldn't hold it any longer and fell on the floor laughing again. Sans himself barely managed to remain up. "SANS!!! WHAT DID YOU DO?!?!" yelled the little brother as he stomped the ground in anger. "i think that they have to hold the orb." This calmed Papyrus down. "OH, OKAY." The skeleton then proceeded to walk through the maze, not seeing that he was leaving behind footprints, marking the right path to take. When he arrived in front of Sweetie Belle and Frisk who had calmed down by then, he said, "HOLD THIS PLEASE!" before he gave the orb to Frisk. He then returned to his previous position beside Sans, leaving even more footprints. "OKAY, TRY NOW!" The children exchanged amused glances again before they followed Papyrus' footprints through the maze, not touching the walls even once, to Papyrus' disbelief. "INCREDIBLE!! YOU SLIPPERY SNAILS!! YOU SOLVED IT SO EASILY... TOO EASILY!" he said as he took back the orb. Sweetie Belle looked at Sans and raised an eyebrow at him, silently asking "Should we tell him?" Sans replied with a shake of his head and a chuckle. "HOWEVER!!" Papyrus continued, unaware of the silent conversation that just happened. "THE NEXT PUZZLE WILL NOT BE EASY! IT IS DESIGNED BY MY BROTHER, SANS! YOU WILL SURELY BE CONFOUNDED! I KNOW I AM! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!!" And at this, Papyrus left excitedly. Before the children could follow him, they were stopped by Sans. "hey, thanks... my brother seems like he's having fun. by the way, did you see that weird outfit he's wearing? we made that a few weeks ago for a costume party. he hasn't worn anything else since... keeps calling it his "battle body." man. isn't my brother cool?" Sweetie Belle giggled. "He could give one of my friends a run for her money." Frisk agreed with a nod, also giggling. They then left Sans, going after Papyrus. They passed beside a tall rabbit-like blue monster who was an ice cream seller. Or "Nice Cream" seller as he called them. However, obviously, because of the cold climate of the area, nobody was buying his Nice Creams, but the guy didn't understand this as he thought that it was the perfect climate to sell something cold. Taking pity in the guy, they bought two Nice Creams, and Sweetie Belle told him that he may have better luck in Hotland. You didn't need to be Starswirl the Bearded to understand that an area called Hotland was very hot, and so, was better to sell cold stuff. After the ice cream stand, the children traversed a small wooden bridge connecting to another cliff, and they had here some kind of golf game with a snowball. Sans was also here, attempting to sell to them "fried snow." That was obviously a prank. A path beside Sans led to two stations that seemed to belong to two more dogs. From the sign here, the dogs seemed to identify the other people by their smell. And if they smelled a human, then they had to destroy them at all costs. Sweetie Belle glanced at Frisk who just shrugged at this. They then took another path behind the goal of the snowball golf game, and Sans and Papyrus were awaiting them here. Between the children and the skeletons was a simple piece of paper. "HUMAN!!! I HOPE YOU'RE READY FOR..." Papyrus remarked then that something seemed to be missing. "SANS!! WHERE'S THE PUZZLE!!!" "it's right there. on the ground," Sans answered as he pointed at the paper. "trust me. there's no way they can get past this one." "Why do I feel like he's playing another prank?" asked Frisk. "Because this is certainly the case," Sweetie Belle answered before she took the paper and looked at its content. "Oh! Word Search! I like these!" Frisk joined her and looked at the word search. "It should be easy." However, not long later... "Wait a minute. This word, here, "giasfclfebrehber." Look carefully," Sweetie Belle said. Frisk looked at the pointed word and remarked what was wrong. "Oh! There's a "u" instead of the first "e"! Uh... It must be an error." "But because of this, the word search can't be properly solved. Not that it matters in the end as it doesn't seem to have a secret word like in usual word searches," the filly concluded before she looked at Sans. "Well played Sans. Well played." Sans smiled smugly. "thanks." "HAVE I HEARD IT RIGHT?! A WORD SEARCH?!? AND ONE THAT CAN'T BE PROPERLY SOLVED?!?! THAT'S UNACCEPTABLE SANS!! ALL PUZZLES SHOULD BE ABLE TO BE SOLVED! OR ELSE, THIS ISN'T A PUZZLE, BUT AN IMPASSABLE OBSTACLE!! AND IT'S NOT FAIR!!! ALSO, A WORD SEARCH? REALLY?! THAT'S TOO EASY! YOU SHOULD HAVE USED THE JUNIOR JUMBLE. IT'S THE HARDEST." "what? really, dude? that easy-peasy word scramble? that's for baby bones." "UN. BELIEVABLE. YOU TWO!!! SOLVE THIS DISPUTE!" Papyrus ordered the children. "Sorry to say this, Sans, but Papyrus is right. Jumble asks more reflection than word search. Word searches are just finding the listed words in a mishmash of letters. Jumble is not that simple," Sweetie Belle said, and Frisk agreed. "SEE? I TOLD YOU!" "well, when they use logic, i guess that i have nothing to say against it. however, it wouldn't be the same if it was a crossword." "PFAH! JUNIOR JUMBLE IS STILL HARDER." "I agree!" Frisk said. "Not me, I find crosswords harder," Sweetie Belle said. "uh. i guess it's a draw." "WHICH IS STILL A VICTORY!! THANK YOU, YOU TWO! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!!!" Papyrus ran away with a victorious laugh. "heheh. yeah. thanks, you two. you just made papyrus' day by giving him this victory. well, even more than it was already made. but come on, i understand that the harder versions of Jumble ARE hard, but the junior version?" Sweetie Belle shrugged. "It depends of people. Some find it harder." "if you say so. thanks again for paps. yesterday he got stumped trying to "solve" the horoscope." "I don't think he is the only one. That thing can be hard to decipher sometimes," Frisk said. "good point." Leaving Sans, the children continued their path and arrived to an area with two tables and a note. On the squared table in the middle was a spaghetti dish, and on the round table beside it was a... If Sweetie Belle remembered correctly, Magolor called it a microwave oven, a box made to heat dishes using what was called microwaves (hence the name). Behind the table, at the bottom of a wall, was a little hole. The note was from Papyrus. HUMAN AND PONY!! ENJOY THIS SPAGHETTI. (LITTLE DO YOU KNOW, THIS SPAGHETTI IS A TRAP... DESIGNED TO ENTICE YOU!!! YOU'LL BE SO BUSY EATING IT... THAT YOU WON'T REALIZE THAT YOU AREN'T PROGRESSING!! THOROUGHLY JAPED AGAIN BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS!!!) NYEH-HEH-HEH, PAPYRUS "Pfft... That's so Papyrus," Frisk said. "This says something when we say this as we barely met him," Sweetie Belle said. "Too bad however, the spaghetti must be cold. And the microwave won't work. It misses electricity." "Leave this to me!" Sweetie Belle then used her magic to heat the dish. "Yay! Spaghetti!" They each quickly took a bite, only for their faces to scrunch up. "Uh... At least, it's better than my cooking before I learned," Sweetie Belle commented. "You were that bad?" "I burned orange juice." Frisk stared at the filly. "............Seriously?" "I'm dead serious," Sweetie Belle deadpanned. They decided to leave the spaghetti, thinking that the mouse in the hole will eventually eat it. Before they continued, Frisk activated a Save Point. Mmh... Writer? Can you narrate what happens when Frisk activates the Save Point, please? Frisk touched the yellow twinkling star. Knowing that you are the better cook here even if you never cooked... It fills you with determination. "Hey! I have gotten better!" shouted the filly. "What? How did you...?" "I have my own tricks. Anyway, I will show you whenever we have time that I can cook edible food now!" Frisk gave her a smug smile. "It doesn't say if your cooking is better than mine." "We will find out sooner or later!" They then followed the path again, only to encounter a group of monsters composed of a Snowdrake with sunglasses, an Ice Cap (seemingly a different one from the one they met earlier), and a new monster that looked like a flying saucer who was very rude and clearly annoyed the other monsters. "Your hat SUCKS! And you, you call yourself a rebel? You're pitiful." The other monsters attempted to ditch him, but he followed them, clinging to them. "Dude! Leave us alone!" shouted the Snowdrake. "Yeah, I prefer to be with people who like my hat!" said the Ice Cap. "Who would like a bunch of ice? Ya're stupid," said the third monster. "And you, you are the worst dude of the Underground!" shouted the Snowdrake. "Pff! Come on. My mother calls me far worse. Is that all you have? So much for a rebel." Sweetie Belle and Frisk had heard enough and approached the monsters, gaining their attention. "Hey! Look! Two more lame-o!" shouted the monster. After a quick check, they discovered that the monster was called Jerry, and that he had the particularity of making the other monsters so annoyed that they attacked with more ferocity. So Sweetie Belle gathered a lot of snow into a giant snowball and made it roll toward Jerry. "What the-?!" Jerry found himself trapped in the snowball that rolled away with the annoying monster. "OH THANKS THE DEVIL! He's gone!" shouted the Snowdrake, which was actually called a Chilldrake. With the annoyance gone, it was easy to deal with the other two monsters despite having to dodge both their attacks. They started with the Chilldrake, confusing him by agreeing with his rebellious thought which, in return, made him feel less like a rebel. He left, starting to think about his life. The Ice Cap soon followed with the same method used than with the first one. After this encounter, the children found a suspicious patch of snow that revealed a hidden map drawn on the ground. The map indicated that there was something hidden in an emplacement between two trees. The exit path further was blocked by spikes. They found the emplacement not far, finding a hidden switch. They activated it, making the spikes blocking the way disappear, letting them continue and pass another small bridge. Only to be stopped by two cloaked dogs each armed with an axe approaching them. They quickly identified Frisk's smell as human and began to attack, the dogs being the ones whose stations further back (after the maze) belonged to. The dogs were a couple. Dogamy and Dogaressa, and they were constantly smooching in the middle of the fight... Frisk immediately understood what she had to do and, while avoiding the dogs' axes and other attacks generally made of heart-shaped projectiles, she began to roll on the ground. Back where the dogs' stations were, the sign said that someone that smelled like dirt was identified as a puppy. So if they could trick the dogs to think that Frisk was a puppy, then they will let her go. And this worked. After making the dogs smell her, they began to think that she was a puppy and they lowered their guard. Then began another petting party to convince the dogs for good that they weren't a danger. To thank them for the petting and to apologize for the assault, the dogs gave them gold coins before walking away. "They were so adorable," Sweetie Belle said before they continued. They then arrived at a new puzzle with two blue X. A sign said that they had to walk on the X to turn them into O, which was easy since there were only two. Once all the X were turned into O, they then had to press a switch to confirm that the puzzle was a success and make more spikes blocking the path disappear. Behind the spikes was Papyrus. "WHAT?! HOW DID YOU AVOID MY TRAP? AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY... IS THERE ANY LEFT FOR ME???" "Uuuh... Yes, we left some," answered Sweetie Belle. "We thought that the mouse in the hole would want some, but it probably won't be able to eat everything, so there will be some for you," Frisk said. "AWW THAT'S VERY KIND OF YOU. ANIMALS DESERVE TO KNOW TOO ABOUT MY LEGENDARY COOKING, AFTER ALL!! BUT IT'S SAD THAT YOU COULDN'T EAT AS MUCH AS YOU WANTED BECAUSE OF THIS. DON'T FRET! ONCE WE REACH MY HOME, I WILL MAKE YOU ALL THE PASTA YOU COULD EVER WANT!" "Eeh... Thank you, Papyrus. That's very generous. But we won't be able to stay long, we still have a long road to the capital," Frisk said with some sweat pearling on her forehead. "THAT'S RIGHT, I MUST STILL CAPTURE YOU TO SEND YOU TO THE KING SO I CAN BECOME A ROYAL GUARD. BUT ONCE YOU COME BACK FROM THE CAPITAL, THEN YOU WILL BE WELCOME TO MY HOME!" Papyrus then walked away with a laugh, and the children followed him, the skeleton telling them how Sans started a sock collection recently and how saddening it was. Then, they stopped in front of another X and O puzzle, this one more complex. Papyrus looked a little sheepish. "HMMM... HOW DO I SAY THIS... YOU TWO WERE TAKING A LONG TIME TO ARRIVE, SO... I DECIDED TO IMPROVE THIS PUZZLE... BY ARRANGING THE SNOW TO LOOK MORE LIKE MY FACE. UNFORTUNATELY, THE SNOW FROZE TO THE GROUND. NOW THE SOLUTION IS DIFFERENT! AND, AS USUAL, MY LAZY BROTHER IS NOWHERE AROUND. I SUPPOSE WHAT I AM SAYING IS... WORRY NOT, YOU TWO! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL SOLVE THIS CONUNDRUM! THEN WE CAN ALL PROCEED! MEANWHILE, FEEL FREE TO TRY THE PUZZLE YOURSELF! I'LL TRY NOT TO GIVE AWAY THE ANSWER!!!" "He doesn't have the answer..." Frisk whispered into Sweetie's ear. "Yep... Let's try to find it. It shouldn't be hard." With the two of them, it didn't take long to turn all the X into O without stepping back into the O. Once they were done, they pressed the switch, unlocking the path, much to Papyrus' shock which turned into pride. The skeleton then ran away, leaving them behind. After a brief meeting with Sans who congratulated them, they continued to the next puzzle, which was just after. After another small bridge were tiles or various shades of grey. At the other side were Papyrus and Sans, a strange machine beside them. The tallest skeleton was very excited, even more than usual. "OH YOU WILL LOVE THIS PUZZLE! IT WAS MADE BY THE GREAT DR. ALPHYS! YOU SEE THESE TILES!? ONCE I THROW THIS SWITCH... THEY WILL BEGIN TO CHANGE COLOR! EACH COLOR HAS A DIFFERENT FUNCTION! RED TILES ARE IMPASSABLE! YOU CANNOT WALK ON THEM! YELLOW TILES ARE ELECTRIC! THEY WILL ELECTROCUTE YOU! GREEN TILES ARE ALARM TILES! IF YOU STEP ON THEM... YOU WILL HAVE TO FIGHT A MONSTER!! ORANGE TILES ARE ORANGE-SCENTED. THEY WILL MAKE YOU SMELL DELICIOUS! BLUE TILES ARE WATER TILES. SWIM THROUGH IF YOU LIKE, BUT... IF YOU SMELL LIKE ORANGES! THE PIRANHAS WILL BITE YOU. ALSO, IF A BLUE TILE IS NEXT TO A YELLOW TILE, THE WATER WILL ALSO ZAP YOU! PURPLE TILES ARE SLIPPERY! YOU WILL SLIDE TO THE NEXT TILE! HOWEVER, THE SLIPPERY SOAP... SMELLS LIKE LEMONS!! WHICH PIRANHAS DO NOT LIKE! PURPLE AND BLUE ARE OK! FINALLY, PINK TILES. THEY DON'T DO ANYTHING. STEP ON THEM ALL YOU LIKE. HOW WAS THAT!? UNDERSTAND???" Sweetie Belle showed a paper on which she wrote everything. "Yup! All clear!" "GOOD THINKING! EVEN I ADMIT THAT IT CAN BE HARD TO REMEMBER EVERYTHING CORRECTLY. ALRIGHT!!! LET'S START THE PUZZLE! OH, ONE LAST THING BEFORE I START. THE SOLUTION IS NEVER THE SAME! EVEN I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT WILL BE! SO YOU WILL HAVE TO FIND ON YOUR OWN! NOW, BE READY!" Papyrus then threw the lever, and the tiles began to rapidly change colors. After a few seconds of mixing, the tiles finally settled... And formed a straight path of pink tiles from the bridge to the other side, with red tiles at both sides of said path. Papyrus' expression remained blank at this before he began to spin his way to the exit of the area under the laughs of everyone else, not saying anything. "What were the chances?" asked Sweetie Belle once she calmed down. "No idea, but... Pffft... It was hilarious!" Frisk replied. When they approached Sans, he told them that the spaghetti from earlier wasn't too bad compared to what Papyrus usually did because he improved a lot since he started his cooking lessons, and that he may do something edible by next year. This got another laugh from the children before they continued. They reached Lesser Dog's station, the dog busy trying to do snowdogs of himself only to fail because of his current stretched neck, the snowdogs crumbling. So the area was littered with failed snowdogs. Frisk activated a Save Point here. Knowing that dog will never give up trying to make the perfect snowdog... It fills you with determination. After that, they passed beside some bipedal deer-like monster who commented condescendingly about the Lesser Dog's attempts at making snowdogs before they reached another X and O puzzles, the X spread here and there in an area made of slippery ice. Sliding in the wrong direction would cause them to fall down to an area not far below, so they remained careful. Thankfully, it wasn't hard. Once all the X were turned into O, they slid on the switch and slid toward the exit, passing below many trees, some snow falling on their heads. After the ice, the path forked again, one of the paths being a slope going down the cliff, but it didn't seem to lead to their destination. They still went to explore just in case, meeting Sans again who used his teleporting power to mess with them. The path, however, only led to a big closed door inside a cave in the cliff, with no way to open it. As they returned to the fork, they met a monster that looked like a reindeer with a mouth that opened sideways and antlers finishing into small pine trees. The monster, Gyftrot, had some decorations on him, which seemed to annoy him, so the children got him rid of them while avoiding his attacks. Apparently, teens were responsible of this, confirmed as one of the decorations was a photo of Snowdrake with an older-looking member of his species, probably one of his parents. Once all the decorations were gone, the Gyftrot thanked them with gold coins and walked away, letting them continue. Back in the fork, they took the other path, leading to an area full of what Frisk jokingly called snow poffs (just piles of snow) with a small dog house. At the end, a small dog poked its head out of a snow poff blocking the exit. "Aww... Who's an adorable little doggy?" said Sweetie Belle. The dog barked happily before he fully revealed himself out of the snow poff... revealing that he was MUCH bigger than they thought. How did he manage to hide in the snow poff? The dog easily dwarfed the children, and was even taller than all the other dogs encountered until now (without counting Lesser Dog with his stretched neck), and he was also a real mass of muscles. He was wearing a big armor with dog faces on the wrists that seemed alive, and he even had a huge spear also adorned with a dog face at the top. "Uh... Good doggy?" Frisk said. And the fight began. But they didn't have to worry in the end. The dog, called Greater Dog, was still a dog who loved affection and playing. They beckoned him first so he could approach, and then, they petted him, avoiding his spear flickering between normal and blue. The dog then jumped right on Frisk, making her fall, and the dog remained on her lap where he fell asleep only to almost immediately wake up even more excited than before. They petted him and played with him a few more before he was contended. He then got out of the armor, revealing that he was actually a normal dog somehow able to control the armor (the hands even disappearing in the armor), before he licked them, gave them gold coins, and jumped back in the armor, walking away. Funny enough, he had entered the armor head first, so he walked away with his butt sticking out instead of the head. And now, the kids were drenched in slobber, but they didn't mind as Sweetie Belle quickly used her powers to get themselves rid of it, both laughing. After that, they reached a long bridge (which was actually a rock formation painted like one with ropes) giving them a nice view of the forest below, and of how vast the Underground actually was. There was even a lake with a small island! Sans and Papyrus awaited them at the end, just at the entrance of Snowdin Town. "WELCOME! THIS IS YOUR FINAL AND MOST DANGEROUS CHALLENGE! BEHOLD! THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!" Suddenly, a spiky ball tethered by chains, two spears, an oil drum fire pit, a cannon, and a dog attached by a rope came out of nowhere above and below the bridge. It was actually some technology probably made by this Dr. Alphys Papyrus talked about earlier. Floating platforms were above and below the bridge, each transporting one of the weapons. And why a dog?! "WHEN I SAY THE WORD," Papyrus continued. "IT WILL FULLY ACTIVATE!!! CANNONS WILL FIRE! SPIKES WILL SWING! BLADES WILL SLICE! EACH PART WILL SWING VIOLENTLY UP AND DOWN! ONLY THE TINIEST CHANCE OF VICTORY WILL REMAIN!!! ARE YOU READY!? BECAUSE! I! AM! ABOUT! TO DO IT!" ... ... "Uh..." Frisk began hesitantly as she looked at the weapons. "well? what's the hold up?" Sans asked. "HOLDUP!? WHAT HOLDUP!? I'M... I'M ABOUT TO ACTIVATE IT NOW!" ... ... Sweetie Belle impatiently began to tap the bridge repeatedly with her hoof, eyebrow raised at the skeletons. "that, uh, doesn't look very activated." "WELL!!! THIS CHALLENGE!!! IT SEEMS... MAYBE... TOO EASY TO DEFEAT THE HUMAN WITH. YEAH! WE CAN'T USE THIS ONE!!! I AM A SKELETON WITH STANDARDS!!! MY PUZZLES ARE VERY FAIR! AND MY TRAPS ARE EXPERTLY COOKED! BUT THIS METHOD IS TOO DIRECT! NO CLASS AT ALL! AWAY IT GOES!" And just like that, the weapons returned where they came from. "PHEW!" Papyrus sighed under the stares of Sweetie Belle and Frisks. "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT!? THIS WAS ANOTHER DECISIVE VICTORY FOR PAPYRUS!!" "Explain at least the dog!" Sweetie Belle shouted. "THE DOG? BUT IT'S OBVIOUS! DOGS ARE TERRIBLE WEAPONS! TRUST ME ON THIS, THESE STUPID POOCHES CAN RUIN YOUR DAY IN A MATTER OF SECONDS. ESPECIALLY THIS ONE. THIS DOG IS SO... ANNOYING!!! YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE!!" "your worst nightmare." "THAT'S THE SAME! WHAT'S NIGHTMARISH FOR ME MUST BE NIGHTMARISH FOR OTHERS! EXCEPTED UNDYNE... SHE WOULD JUST PUNCH OR SUPLEX OR STAB ANYTHING NIGHTMARISH. BUT EVEN SHE WOULD FIND THIS DOG ANNOYING!" "Seems like there's a story here," Frisk said. "SEVERAL EVEN! YOU HAVE NO IDEA! THE RIVALRY BETWEEN ME AND THIS POOCH IS LEGENDARY! I WILL GLADLY RELATE TO YOU MY BATTLES AGAINST THIS TERRIBLE AND NOISY FLUFFY MAMMAL AFTER I CAPTURE YOU, HUMAN. SPEAKING OF..." Papyrus began to dramatically walk away. "I WILL AWAIT YOU AT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TOWN FOR OUR BIG FINAL! SO PREPARE YOURSELF! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!!" Sweetie Belle and Frisk left the bridge behind Papyrus, looking at him as he walked into the town. "Did he mean... that we will battle him?" the filly asked. "seems like it," said Sans who was still here. "just a warning, he has the same... trick as me. but you don't need to worry. you know papyrus by now. it won't be anything serious. well, for you." Then, he approached Sweetie Belle and whispered to her. "however, if you do anything to him..." His eye sockets suddenly entirely turned black. "you're gonna have a bad time. no matter how powerful you are, i will do my best to make you regret your actions." "Noted... You have nothing to worry about. Like I said, I don't kill innocents. And I already consider Papyrus like a friend." "glad to hear," Sans said before the whites in the eye sockets returned. "well then, welcome to snowdin. take your time." And he walked into the town. Frisk hadn't heard the small discussion between Sweetie Belle and Sans, but she saw the threatening look he gave her. "What... was that?" "Nothing, don't worry, he's just very protective." Frisk gave a huff. "Come on, we won't attack Papyrus, right? He's too precious to be attacked." Sweetie Belle giggled. "Agreed!"