In the next area, she found another puzzle involving X's to be turned into O's, this one involving a great many stones blocking paths within the pattern. As she approached it, Papyrus rushed up to her.
"HUMAN!" he called out worriedly. "HOW DO I SAY THIS...I'M NOT CERTAIN THIS PUZZLE CAN BE SOLVED. YOU SEE...I REARRANGED THE STONE BLOCKS AND SWITCHES SO IT WOULD MORE CLOSELY RESEMBLE THE GREAT PAPYRUS...WITHOUT MAKING CERTAIN THERE WAS AN ACTUAL SOLUTION! I AM UNCERTAIN HOW TO PROGRESS, AS A PUZZLE CANNOT BE RECALIBRATED UNTIL IT HAS BEEN SOLVED!"
"Throw me up," Woona instructed.
"WHAT?"
"If I get an overhead view, I can sketch out a plan to solve the puzzle," Woona explained. "If there isn't a standard solution, I can dance around the rules a bit."
Papyrus stroked his chin...only for his eyes to widen. "IS THAT A BONE IN YOUR POCKET?" he asked eagerly, pointing.
Tell him you're just happy to see him, Chara whispered quickly in her mind.
"No, I'm just happy to see you," Woona spoke up.
"SO HAPPY THAT YOU BROUGHT ME A BONE I CAN USE TO LEVITATE YOU OVER THE PUZZLE! NYEH HEH HEH!" With that, Papyrus' magic seized the bone in the pocket of her apron - and thus her - and levitated her over the puzzle.
Why couldn't Papyrus have given you the bone instead? Chara grumbled quietly. Sans face at you saying that would have been priceless...
What's that mean, anyway? Woona asked curiously.
I'll tell you after someone reacts to you making the joke, Chara replied.
Okay! I'll make sure to tell it to anyone who asks about the bone in my pocket! Woona proclaimed in her mind, determined to understand the joke. Gotta hang onto the bone, then. Pleased that this apparently amused Chara, Woona examined the puzzle below her. Smiling, she called out, "Set me down, Papy!"
Once she was on the ground, she approached the puzzle from the other side, following the path she'd deduced to change the X's to O's before stepping on the switch, pleased that the bone in her pocket gave her enough weight to trigger it.
"YES!" Papyrus proclaimed happily. "WE SOLVED IT TOGETHER!"
"Huzzah!" Woona proclaimed happily. "The flag was right! Friendship makes anything possible!"
Papyrus paused. "YOU...CONSIDER ME A FRIEND?"
"Uh huh!" Woona stated proudly. "I don't smooch strangers!" To prove her point, she levitated herself up and kissed Papyrus on the cheekbone. Papyrus fled in embarrassment. Giggling, Woona continued onward.
Across a narrow bridge, Woona saw a patchwork of tiles in different shades of grey. Beyond it, Papyrus and Sans stood at a control device. "HUMAN! YOU'RE GONNA LOVE THIS PUZZLE! IT WAS MADE BY THE GREAT DR. ALPHYS! YOU SEE THESE TILES? ONCE I THROW THIS SWITCH, THEY WILL CHANGE COLOR!"
"What do the colors mean?" Woona asked eagerly.
Papyrus seemed exceptionally pleased that Woona was interested in the puzzle. "RED TILES ARE IMPASSABLE! YOU CANNOT WALK ON THEM! YELLOW TILES ARE ELECTRIC, AND WILL SHOCK YOU! GREEN TILES ARE ALARM TILES, AND WILL SUMMON A MONSTER TO FIGHT YOU! ORANGE TILES ARE ORANGE SCENTED, WHICH WILL MAKE YOU SMELL DELICIOUS! BLUE TILES ARE WATER TILES, WHICH YOU CAN SWIM THROUGH...BUT IF YOU SMELL LIKE ORANGES, PIRANHAS WILL BITE YOU! ALSO, BLUE TILES NEXT TO YELLOW TILES ARE ALSO ELECTRIFIED, AND THUS IMPASSABLE! PURPLE TILES ARE SLIPPERY, AND YOU WILL SLIDE ACROSS THEM! HOWEVER, THE SLIPPERY SLOPE SMELLS LIKE LEMONS, WHICH THE PIRANHA DON'T LIKE! PINK TILES DON'T DO ANYTHING! UNDERSTAND?"
Woona, being the good student Toriel had taught her to be, had taken notes. "Got it!"
"GREAT! ONE LAST THING...THE PUZZLE IS ALWAYS RANDOM!" With that happy shout, Papyrus activated the control panel. The colors of the tiles shifted randomly...
...ending on two rows of pink tiles straight from the bridge to the other side, bordered above and below by two rows of red tiles.
Woona stared at the 'puzzle' for a time. "...can you throw the switch again for a better puzzle?" she called out.
"UNFORTUNATELY, NO," Papyrus admitted. "A PUZZLE CAN'T BE RESET UNTIL IT'S SOLVED, AND WON'T ACTIVATE FOR SOMEONE REGISTERED AS HAVING SOLVED IT BEFORE. BOTH SANS AND I HAVE PASSED THIS PUZZLE IN THE PAST, SO..."
Pouting, Woona crossed the pink path. "And this puzzle sounded so awesome..." she whimpered, continuing onward.
As Woona moved on, Sans caught up to her. "look...i know you said you're looking forward to tasting paps' spaghetti...but you might wanna reconsider."
"Why?" Woona asked, confused.
"well...he has taken cooking lessons, and his cooking's improved remarkably since. next year, he might even make something edible."
Woona tilted her head, confused. "But...but it looked so good..."
"yeah, it looks good," Sans admitted, "but he makes the noodles out of alfalfa and cowparsley, and fills the sauce with nettles and wild garlic and willow and brambles...even gorse tops and golden rod tops. completely inedible..."(1) He paused. "uhh...you're kinda drooling..."
I am really not looking forward to when you taste that pasta... Chara groaned.
With the idea of what that pasta would taste like firmly in her mind, Woona raced onward. The next puzzle she encountered involved more X/O tiles, along with ice she could slide on. "WHEEE!" she cried out happily, doing her best to imitate Papyrus' voice on a whim, but not quite managing it as she slid from tile to tile.
With the puzzle complete, she slid across the ice through the trees, ending up with a snow kitten on her back. She walked carefully, so as not to disturb the adorable snowy passenger, but it fell apart before she'd gone a few steps off the ice.
As she moved on, she entered a FIGHT with a creature that resembled a reindeer with tiny trees for antler tips, but his antlers were covered in decorations. He seemed irritated about this. Seeing this, Woona quickly levitated the decorations off the Gyftrot - for that's what its name proclaimed it to be - before presenting them to him in a box. "There you go!" she offered happily. "Now you can decide what you want to wear!"
Once it overcame its shock at how quickly she handled its prime issue, the Gyftrot happily walked away with the gift on its back, and gold in Woona's pouch, the FIGHT over.
Further on, Woona encountered several piles of snow that Chara told her were 'Snow Poffs', all surrounding a dog house. One of the snow poffs even had money inside. The last snow poff in the area blocked the path forward. As Woona approached it, a tiny white doggy popped its head and tail out.
"Aww, how cute!" Woona squealed.
The dog gave two adorable, high pitched barks...and then stood up, revealing a massive armor suit and a spear.
The Greater Dog, Chara informed her. Careful, he's-
"He's even cuter than I thought!" Woona cried eagerly. "Come here boy!" Completely ignoring the FIGHT lines, Woona beckoned the Greater Dog to play with her, easily dodging the stray bursts of magic he released. After a time, the Greater Dog flopped over contentedly for pets...but wouldn't let her rub his belly.
Tummy rubs are forbidden, Chara informed her.
"Not for me!" Woona proclaimed happily, rolling over on her back and happily accepting belly rubs from the Greater Dog.
As the FIGHT lines dissolved, the Greater Dog hopped out of its armor, revealing it was actually dog sized rather than Toriel sized...but it was still bigger than Woona. He happily gave her face a few licks before hopping back into his armor and walking away...tail wagging out of the top.
"He's silly!" Woona giggled as she moved on.
As she crossed the next bridge - which was much longer than any previous bridge - she found Papyrus and Sans waiting for her. "HUMAN! THIS IS YOUR FINAL AND MOST DANGEROUS CHALLENGE! BEHOLD! THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR-"
"wait, bro," Sans cautioned the eager skeleton soldier. "rules of scare: no scares bigger than the target. she's so little..."
Papyrus gasped in shock. "YOU'RE RIGHT! IT WOULDN'T BE FAIR TO THE TINY HUMAN TO UNLEASH ALL OF THESE ON HER! THE SPIKE BALL, THE FLAME THROWER, THE SPEARS, THE CANNON...THOSE ARE ALL TOO MUCH!" He rubbed his chin in thought. "AHA! I'LL JUST USE THE DOG!"
A dog slowly lowered on a rope, blocking the bridge. Once its paws were on the bridge, however, it slipped out of its rope to rush up to Woona, bracing its paws on the Mysterious Torc to lick her cheek before dashing off.
"GOODNESS!" Papyrus proclaimed dramatically. "THE POWER OF THIS HUMAN'S FRIENDSHIP IS TOO GREAT FOR ANY OBSTACLE I CAN CONFRONT HER WITH! I MUST FLEE!" With an excited laugh, Papyrus dashed away. Sans laughed as well as he followed.
Woona laughed as well as she continued, the shared laughter and canine affection filling her with DETERMINATION.
(1) Looked up plants that are good for horses. These are ones horses will actively seek out when grazing, so it's logical to think they'd be especially tasty treats for ponies, but horrible for humans.