To Save a Life

by Infernity Zero

Spaghetti and Nice Cream

In the next area, Sunset saw a small bridge connecting two cliffs together. And directly to her left was...a vendor's stand?

What's a vendor's stand doing in the middle of the woods? There's no one here to buy anything.

Well, no one except her. She walked towards the vendor, a light-blue rabbit-like creature, who turned in her direction when he heard her footsteps and perked up upon seeing her.

"Wow! A customer at last." He sighed with relief. "I was worried I'd never get a chance to sell these. I don't understand why no one's buying anything. It's the perfect weather for something cold."

"Something cold?" Sunset cocked her head. "What are you selling?"

He gestured to the wares. "I'm selling Nice Cream. It's the frozen treat that warms your heart. Now just 15g. Would you like one?"

Sunset checked her inventory. She had enough for at least two.

"'Nice Cream'? Is that any different from Ice Cream?"

"Oh yes." The vendor nodded. "For one thing, instead of a joke, the wrapper says something nice. For another thing, it's cold in your mouth but warm in your stomach. Delicious."

"Wait a second." Sunset held up a finger. "If it's cold in your mouth, wouldn't it be a better idea to sell the ice cream somewhere warmer? I mean, I don't know how it works down here; but where I come from, people want something cold when the weather is hot and something hot where the weather is cold. The contrast makes the food appealing."

He stared at her for a couple of seconds, then at the snow around them, then at the Nice Cream. "That's incredible. Why didn't I think of that? I'll have to move my stand to a better locale after you're finished here."

Her curiosity piqued, Sunset pulled out 15g. "One please."

After taking her money, he slipped two into her hands. "Take an extra on me for your help."

"Thanks." She put the second one away and opened the first one, glancing at the wrapper once she'd finished. "Let's see. It says 'Love yourself! I love you!'" The words put a smile on her face and a blush on her cheeks. "Thank you for this. Thank you so much."

Then, she took a bite of the Nice Cream.

At first, the chilly treat combined with the snow around her made her skin turn blue and start growing icicles. But a few moments after swallowing it, a warm glow spread through her body and defrosted her, even melting the snow where she was standing. Almost like she'd slurped down some hot cocoa. Sunset blinked a couple of times.

"Wow. That was delicious."

"Glad you liked it. Hope to see you again soon." He waved after her.

Reinvigorated, she walked forward across the bridge. Sans stood a few yards away next to a cluster of trees. To her right was a strange looking snowball game. She approached the skeleton first.

"heya. i've been thinking of getting into the selling business too. you want some fried snow?"

She put a hand on her hip. "Fried snow? Isn't that just water?"

"yeah. want some?"

She jerked a thumb at the Nice Cream guy and smirked. "Sorry, I just ate. Maybe later."

"kay. just watch out for the dog marriage."

"Wait. Did you say Dog MARRIAGE?"

"yeah, you heard that correctly." He vanished before she could ask him to clarify.

She turned towards the snowball game again.

Is this some kind of sport? Or another puzzle?

Sadly, she lacked the patience to get the ball in the hole and walked onward instead. Sans and Papyrus were in the next room along with a piece of paper on the floor. They turned towards her as she drew closer.

"HUMAN! I HOPE YOU'RE READY FOR..." Papyrus glanced at her. "SANS, WHERE'S THE YOU-KNOW-WHAT?"

Sans pointed at the paper. "it's right there on the ground. trust me. there's no way they'll get past it."

Sunset approached the paper and picked it up off the ground. The words were in a goofy font, but she could just manage to make them out.

You're invited! To a super awesomely spectacular party palooza in Snowdin Town! Enjoy food, cake, and presents with the best monsters around. See you there! Hee hee.

Her hands trembled as she recognized the handwriting. "Pinkie Pie?" The word was merely a whisper. She turned to the two skeletons. "Hey! Where'd you get this?"

"huh?" Sans scratched his head. "the card? oh yeah. that pink girl gave it to us. remember bro?"

"HMM." Papyrus tapped his foot for a moment before jolting up. "AH YES. NOW I REMEMBER. SHE CAME THROUGH HERE BEFORE YOU DID. SHE LOOKED JUST LIKE A HUMAN; BUT WITH THAT MASSIVE PINK MARSHMALLOW ON HER HEAD, I WASN'T SURE."

"Do you know where she is now?" Sunset put the paper on her pocket and ran up to them.

"I CAN'T SAY FOR SURE." Papyrus frowned for the first time she'd seen him. "SHE RAN OFF AS SOON AS WE MET HER. SAYING SOMETHING ABOUT 'DOING SOMETHING SPECIAL FOR ALL HER NEW FRIENDS'."

Yep. That's Pinkie Pie all right. Sunset remembered the girl had thrown her a welcome party when she'd first started attending Canterlot High. No doubt, she was doing the same thing here even though SHE was the new one. To her, befriending monsters would be no different than befriending humans. Unfortunately, that would make her the most vulnerable to Flowey's manipulations.

"i wouldn't worry too much about it, bucko." Sans stepped forward. "if you keep going, you're bound to run into her eventually."

Sunset had stopped listening. Her eyes were glued to the paper even as she walked past the skeletons.

"uh. right then. see yah."

"SANS. THAT DIDN'T WORK EITHER! SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ENRAPTURED BY THE POSSIBILITY OF A PARTY! I KNEW WE SHOULD HAVE USED JUNIOR JUMBLE INSTEAD."

Her mind was racing. First Twilight. Now Pinkie Pie. I guess the girls really did fall down here before me. But where are they now? She clutched the letter to her chest. I have to find them before the monsters do.

Calling out for her wasn't an option. It would only lead the other monsters right to her. And as nice as Sans and Papyrus seemed, she doubted they'd defend her from their own kind like Toriel. No. She'd just have to find her way to Snowdin Town. The sign from before had sent her in the right direction, so now she just had to keep going.

The next room had a tiny mouse hole in the wall to her left and a microwave and table in front of her. There was another note, this one with Papyrus's handwriting.

"HUMAN! PLEASE ENJOY THIS SPAGHETTI. LITTLE DO YOU KNOW THAT THIS SPAGHETTI IS A TRAP DESIGNED TO ENTICE YOU. YOU'LL BE SO BUSY EATING IT THAT YOU WON'T REALIZE YOU AREN'T PROGRESSING. THOROUGHLY JAPED BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS. NYEH! HEH! HEH!"

She moved closer to the spaghetti. It was completely frozen; but with a nearby fork, she just managed to pry a clump loose and pop it into her mouth. Her face scrunched up reflexively then softened as she started chewing.

"This is...this is DELICIOUS!"

Author's Note:

Obligatory reminder that horse teeth are stronger than human teeth.

It may be small and insignificant, but I love the idea of Nice Cream. Ice Cream with compliments in the wrapper. Because as crappy as the world can be at times, something like that could be a great fix for a rough day. So with that in mind, I decided to make his tagline a little more literal.

And here we have another divergence. I admit that because of how long the game is from a purely writing standpoint, it's tempting to just copy and paste the entire game into a verbal format and replace Frisk with Sunset. But that would be the lazy way out. And I am better than that.

So a LOT of you asked when we'd be seeing the rest of the Rainbooms again. As I've said before, I wanted one of the earlier chapters to go back to Twilight, but that ended up spoiling too much. So I decided to take the Luigi's Mansion route instead.

Question of the Day: which puzzle in snowdin is your favorite?

Inventory

Butterscotch Pie: A gift from Toriel. A combination of Frisk's and her son's favorite flavors

Twilight's Crown: A reminder of my closest friend. I need to find her.

Snowman Piece: A piece of a snowman that wants to see the world

Nice Cream: A delicious frozen treat that's cold in my mouth and warm in my stomach.

Party invitation: A party invitation in Pinkie Pie's handwriting. Where is she?

Comments

[calinjc]

This was a very nice chapter. I like the way that you're going with revealing what happened with the mane 6. Genius idea.

[Arthor2017]

The girls can wait. First of all spaghetti.

[ShadwSonic]

So far, there's only been three characters I've seen enjoy Pap's spaghetti... Paps himself, SMG4's Mario, and now this version of Sunset. Except Sunset doesn't have either an obsession with pasta or creative pride in the dish... perhaps the whole "originally a pony" thing means it's palatable?

[verypeeved]

8621439
maybe it tastes like hay?

[Infernity Zero]

Out of curiosity, what do you guys think about me using the in-game save points as stopping points for each chapter? I feel like they might help me keep each chapter from being too long or short.

[calinjc]

8622778
I'm perfectly fine with it. You just do what you feel you have to do.

[Dinode]

8622778
Except maybe the last two save points, which are really close together, but other than that sure.

[MurderP0n7]

which puzzle in snowdin is your favorite?

definitely the spaghetti with the microwave in the storage area, the first time I saw it I thought that if it could be eaten, I spent 3 minutes trying to do it before realizing that it was not going to do anything... well, it was just 1, but I used the other two to see if anything happened