//------------------------------//
// Bros-Hoof 
// Story: The Moon in the Dark 
// by Tatsurou 
//------------------------------//

	Woona moved carefully through the relatively deep snow of the path, pushing her way through the snow that was shoulder high on her on the path, and nearly horn high off of it.  She could have hovered over it, since she had - as Toriel predicted - learned to levitate herself with her magic, but that was rather tiring.  She didn't want to use up her magic like that, just in case she should need it to protect herself from a less than friendly monster.  Not that she wanted to fight, but Chara had made it plain that, sometimes, she'd have no other choice.

To either side of the path was a thick forest of thin trees, the snow piled to nearly twice her height beneath the boughs.  Admittedly, that meant it wasn't even knee height on Toriel, and maybe waist height on Chara.  "I knew I'd have trouble with Monsters in the rest of the Underground," she muttered under her breath, "but compared to the terrain, monsters are snow problem!"  She giggled lightly at her silly pun, only to freeze.  She could have sworn she heard someone else giggling, a deep, echoing, stuttering chuckle, as though the sound were bouncing around bones instead of flesh.  Even more nervous than before, she started pushing her way forward again.

As she moved forward, she came across a sturdy branch crossing the path.  She managed to get over it, thankful for the brief respite from being half buried in snow.  Examining it, she noticed the branch was a lot sturdier than it looked, and would take a great deal of force to break.  She paid this no mind as she continued, however.  As she continued, a loud snap behind her startled her.

"GYAH!" she shouted, spinning around.  Her magic shot off in her shock, a lance of light cutting fifty trees straight through in the sweep of her arc.  "Oh no!"  She rushed over to the trees, trying to see if anyone was hurt.  "Oh I hope nobody was in there!" she whimpered.

They weren't, Chara informed her.  The power of that blast or the falling trees would have instantly killed anyone of this area out there, and if you'd killed anyone, you'd have felt your strength increase.

"...that's not very comforting," Woona whimpered, turning back to see the sturdy branch from before snapped completely in twain.  Turning, she made her way further through the snow.





Hiding behind the trees on the other side of the path after a quick 'shortcut', Sans desperately struggled to catch his breath.  "and she's the one i promised to protect?" he marveled.  He shook himself off.  "welp, i made the promise anyway.  time to try and keep it."





As Woona continued down the path, she could sense someone following her.  Who...who could that be? she whimpered internally.

Not someone who will hurt you, Chara replied.  Unless he decides to hold that deforestation against you.

A quiet whine escaped Woona's throat, and she moved forward as fast as she could.  Seeing a bridge ahead, she breathed a sigh of relief.  Once she was on the other side, she could look back and see who was following her.  Unfortunately, the snow was piled deep in front of the bridge, and she got stuck trying to get through it.

Hearing heavy footsteps in the snow behind her, she began to panic, struggling to try and get through the snow and across the bridge to perceived safety.  Unfortunately, she made no appreciable progress, and the footsteps halted just behind her.

P o n y a deep voice echoed, half in her mind and half in her ears.

Letting out a scream of terror, Woona fell forward to her forehooves and bucked out with her hind legs as hard as she could.  A tiny 'pfft' sound echoed as she felt her hooves impact something soft and full of air.  "...huh?"

"wow," the voice continued, the menace completely gone from the voice and it now entirely in her ears.  "a full force kick and you didn't even completely deflate the whoopee cushion.  just what is your atk, anyway..."  The voice trailed off.  "...negative 12?  wow.  just...wow.  and i thought i was weak at atk 1."

Nervously, Woona turned around...and found herself face to face with a skeleton wearing a blue hoodie.  He grinned widely down at her, tiny white points for eyes within the black sockets.  Gulping, Woona attempted to bury herself backwards in the snow to hide.

"oh geeze," the skeleton moaned, kneeling down to be closer to her level.  "i didn't mean to scare you that bad.  just a little bit."

"Little?" Woona demanded, upset.  "That scare was bigger than I am!"

The skeleton chuckled a bit.  "yeah...but it's snow problem, am i right?"  He shot her a wink.

Woona tilted her head.  "I...I want to laugh...but I'm too confused trying to figure out how a skeleton can wink."

"it took a lot of practice.  can you guess how much?"

Woona paused, scratching her chin.  Her eyes suddenly widened.  "A skele-ton?" she guessed.

The skeleton laughed.  "you got it!"

"You're Mommy's friend!" Woona gasped out happily.  "Her day planner has all sorts of skeleton puns in it!  She got them from you, right?"

"your mom lives in the ruins?" the skeleton asked.  When Woona nodded, his grin widened without actually changing shape, somehow.  "then yeah, that's me.  name's sans, sans the skeleton."

"I'm Woona!" Woona proclaimed happily.  Closing her eyes and focusing, she managed to make her soul manifest.  It was surrounded by a black, smokey aura.  She pointed to the aura.  "And this is Chara!  Say hi Chara!"

I will devour your soul and decorate the landscape with your entrails! Chara proclaimed, trying and failing to make his voice echo with menace.

Woona giggled.  "Silly Chara..."

Sans stared at the aura in disbelief.  "the king is going to flip his fertilizer pile when he sees this..." he mumbled under his breath.  "look, woona...maybe you shouldn't be so free with talking about chara..."

"Why not?" Woona asked in confusion.

"well, not all monsters are going to be as laid back and accepting of something like that as i am."

Woona thought about that for a time.  "...like Flowey?"

"who?"

"A talking yellow flower," Woona explained.  "When we first met, he tried to kill me and take my soul.  When I met him a second time, I hugged him and tried to make friends, but he ran away."

Sans stroked his chin in thought.  "well...maybe not like him," he muttered.  "anyway, come on.  i want to introduce you to my brother, Papyrus.  he's probably this way."  He started to walk across the bridge.

"More snow?" Woona whimpered.  "At this rate, snow's going to come out next time I pee!"

Sans looked back, seeing Woona struggling to get out of the snow pile.  While part of him said he should let her make it through on her own, a much larger part was beating him over the skull with his promise.  Walking back up to Woona, he picked the tiny filly up and set her down in his hood.  "that better?" he asked.

Woona smiled, snuggling in.  "Much!" she replied happily.  Gripping Sans' skull from behind, she lifted herself up so she could rest her chin atop his skull.  "And this way I can see where we're going, too!"

Sans glanced up at her, smiling widely.  "as long as you're comfortable-hey!  stop pawing at my eye!"

"But I'm trying to find the cream!"

Both giggled happily as Sans crossed the bridge.  As he did, a much taller skeleton in white armor wearing an orange scarf came rushing up to them.  "sup, bro?"

"YOU KNOW WHAT -SUP-, BROTHER!" the skeleton - presumably Papyrus - proclaimed loudly, his voice oddly high pitched.  "IT'S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T RECALIBRATED.  YOUR. PUZZLES!"

"Puzzles?" Woona gasped eagerly.  "I love puzzles!"

Papyrus blinked.  "SANS!  WHAT IS THAT ON YOUR HEAD?  IS...IS IT A HUMAN?"  His voice was filled with desperate hope and glee.

"no," Sans replied.  "it's a pony."

Seeing Papyrus' face fall, Woona decided to try and cheer him up.  "I've got a human inside me...sorta?" she offered.

I am not a human, Chara scolded.

Close enough to make him happy! Woona countered.  Hush.

Papyrus gasped happily.  "THEN...CAPTURING YOU WILL BE SORTA LIKE CAPTURING A HUMAN?" he asked eagerly.  "AND I'LL BE ABLE TO MAKE IT INTO THE ROYAL GUARD?  ...BUT NO ONE WILL BELIEVE YOU'RE A HUMAN!  YOU DON'T LOOK A THING LIKE ONE!"

Frowning, Woona reached into her saddlebags for her art supplies.  Working quickly, she drew a picture of Chara's face on the paper and tied it onto her face.



Woona equipped the Human Mask.
The perfect disguise!  No one would ever believe you weren't a human!



Papyrus stared at Woona for a time.  "YOU...YOU'LL PRETEND TO BE HUMAN?  JUST...JUST FOR ME?"  He wiped at his eyes.  "THAT'S...THAT'S THE NICEST THING ANYONE'S EVER DONE FOR ME!  I WON'T LET YOU DOWN!"  He thrust one hand into the air, pointing to the sky.  "I SHANT LET YOUR KINDNESS GO TO WASTE, TINY-PONY-WHO-IS-ACTUALLY-A-HUMAN-NOW!  PREPARE FOR PUZZLES!  NYEHEHEHEHEHEHE!"  With that laugh, Papyrus dashed off into the snow, an amazing spring in his step.

Sans rubbed at his own eyes.  "wow, woona.  that was...really nice of you.  it means a real heck of a lot to papyrus that you'll do this for him."

"I promised Mommy I'd befriend every monster in the Underground," Woona replied.  "Isn't this the best way to start?"

Sans looked up at her in amazement.  "...i feel like i must be dreaming," he murmured softly.  "...and it's one of the good ones."  Without explaining further, he followed after Papyrus, carrying Woona on his head.