• Published 6th Dec 2015
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The Moon in the Dark - Tatsurou



When little Luna falls down a deep pit, she discovers a world she never knew existed...and an adventure that will reshape the world as she knows it.

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Woona Doesn't Get It

Once Woona finished celebrating befriending Undyne, Woona glanced around at the crater where her house had been. "Huh...I should probably try and fix this..."

Or you could go back to making your way to the barrier to try and find a way to break it to let everyone out on the surface, Chara offered. Then she could get a new house up there.

"Good idea!" Woona agreed eagerly. "...so..."

Back to the mountain where we had a FIGHT with Undyne-

Woona took Sans' shortcut, appearing at the base of the mountain. "Oh, a tunnel!" she squealed happily, racing through.

...warn me next time... Chara groaned. Shortcuts are not good for my etheric balance.

"Oops...sorry."

Woona carefully followed the path north into an area glowing red, rocky outcrops linked by wooden bridges suspended over pits of lava. As she walked, she panted a bit. "I see why...this place is...called Hotland..." she gasped out.

Stitch the 'cold' rune into the Stained Apron, Chara suggested.

"...huh. Good idea!" Removing the Apron, she pulled out her sewing kit and stitched in the rune that kept the pouch with the snowman in it cold into the inside of the apron, putting her magic into it.

Woona equipped Chilled Apron
DEF +11
Grants immunity to heat based magic effects
Halves the damage of fire magic
Restores 1 HP every other turn, 1 every turn in Hotland.
The heat of Hotland does not cause exhaustion while worn.

"...wow," Woona muttered. "Talk about an upgrade!"

...maybe you should put runes in your other equipment, Chara suggested.

"But I only know cold, hot, gold, and bigger on the inside," Woona countered.

...you should look up some more useful ones at some point.

Nodding, Woona continued east, deeper into Hotland. After passing an empty guard post and a water cooler, she reached a crossroads, with paths going north, south, and east. The north path was blocked by two large monsters in black armor that concealed all their features. Woona decided it would be best to avoid them for the moment.

The south path led to a dock on a river, but there was no boat. Returning to the crossroads, Woona made her way east, coming to a large white building. 'LAB' was written above the door in red letters. As Woona approached, the front door slid open. Unsure what else to do, Woona made her way inside.

The inside of the Lab was clean, the linoleum tiles almost sparkling as Woona's hooves clip-clopped against them. The walls were a pale yellow, at least what Woona could see of them as the whole chamber - a long hall as best she could tell - was dark, save the light given off by various electronic devices...including a large screen that showed Woona herself walking through the lab. "Whoa..." she whispered as she approached it.

It's just a television, Chara explained. Someone's recording you and displaying it live.

Focusing her magic, Woona levitated herself upward until she was in front of the screen, and saw the screen zoom into an eternally shrinking view of itself. "Whoa! There's millions of me!"

...you are easily amused, Chara scolded.

Only just noticing? Woona teased back.

Quickly losing interest in the TV, Woona continued further east past a computer desk piled high with documents of some sort, nearly obscuring the computer. Since she couldn't make out details in the darkness, she decided not to examine them too close just yet. There was also a large fridge and a bag of what looked to possibly be dog food.

As Woona passed the dog food, she saw a door open in the distance, and a female drake stepped out. Woona recognized such a figure from the adolescent dragons she had seen up on the surface-

There are dragons on the surface? Chara asked in shock, having heard her thoughts.

-and this one seemed much like the wingless variants she had seen, because yes there were dragons on the surface even if now wasn't the time to talk about it with Chara.

...last I checked, it was my job to narrate you.

This one had yellow scales and appeared to have just the slightest bit of what she'd heard described as 'chub'. Her two front teeth stuck out slightly over the lower half of her beak/muzzle, and she wore a white lab coat and thick glasses. Walking across the hall, she turned on a light, illuminating the whole lab and making Woona wince at the brightness. The drake then turned towards Woona...only to gasp in surprise.

"Oh...my god!" she shrieked out in terror. "I wasn't expecting you to show up so soon! I haven't showered, I'm barely dressed, it's all messy, and...oh you must think I'm horrible!"

"Uncle Sans is worse in all three areas," Woona offered comfortingly.

The drake blinked for a bit, then managed to chuckle. "I...I guess that makes me feel a little better," she mumbled as she caught her breath. "Still, I was trying so hard to make a good first impression and had all these plans, and-"

"Will it help if I go back outside and come back in when you're ready?" Woona suggested.

The drake seemed pleased at the idea, but quickly shook her head. "N-no, that wouldn't do. I'll...I'll just have to work with what I've got..." She swallowed nervously.

Woona decided to take the lead. "Hi! I'm Woona!"

"I-I'm Dr. Alphys," the drake replied. "I'm Asgore's royal scientist."

Woona scratched her chin. "So you're the Alphys that wasn't allowed to stay too long at Undyne's house because you're precious to her and she was worried she'd break you if left alone with you for too long?" she asked innocently.

Alphys' cheeks turned bright red and she buried her face in her hands. Chara burst into uncontrollable laughter. I didn't even suggest that one! he gasped out in Woona's mind.

Woona blushed brightly. "D-did I just accidentally make another dirty joke? I'm sorry!"

"Q-quite alright," Alphys replied. "I j-just...never thought Undyne would...l-look at me that way..." She quickly cleared her throat. "A-anyway, ever since you stepped out of the Ruins, I've been, uh, observing you."

"The cameras?" Woona asked, surprised.

"Y-yeah," Alphys confirmed. "At first it seemed like you were crazy, since you talked to yourself when you were alone...but after some tweaking, I was able to see the spiritual being that was overshadowing you, and I was even able to tweak the audio filters to pick up his words."

...okay, I'm impressed, Chara murmured. I didn't think it was possible to perceive me overshadowing you without abilities like Sans'. Pity she can only do it via the screen. There's so much I could say otherwise.

Behave yourself, Chara, Woona chided silently. "That's really cool!" Woona praised Alphys out loud. "You're really good with the science stuff!"

Alphys rubbed the back of her head. "I'm not...really that great..." she muttered. "Well...watching everything you went through, and...hearing what I couldn't see...I found myself rooting for you. I know your soul might be the key to breaking the barrier...but seeing you succeed's become more important than that! So, uhh, I want to help you!"

Woona gasped happily. "I've already made a new friend? That's wonderful!" She clapped her hooves happily.

Alphys blushed in pleasure. "W-well, with my knowledge I can easily guide you through Hotland. I can get you right to Asgore's castle, no problem! ...well, unless someone's tweaked Mettaton's code..."

"Mettaton?" Woona inquired, intrigued.

"Well," Alphys stammered, "a while ago I...built a robot. Originally, he was supposed to be an entertainment bot, like a robo-TV star, but...recently, I gave him a bunch of weapons and human hunting protocols, since, you know, we needed human souls. But you're not human, so that shouldn't be a problem-"

A loud clang echoed as the entire room shook.

"Uh oh!" Woona gasped out, doing her best to be extra dramatic.

Another loud clang shook the room, making Woona and Alphys both jump.

"B-but how can this be?" Alphys demanded, confused.

Five more clangs echoed, each shaking the room enough to make them jump.

"Get behind me!" Woona and Alphys both shouted at the same time, before glancing at each other in surprise.

An explosion erupted from the wall, briefly blinding everyone.

"OH YES!" a robotically synthesized voice proclaimed loudly. "WELCOME BEAUTIES..."

As Woona's vision cleared, she heard a drumroll. A spotlight turned on, illuminating what appeared to be a giant calculator with long arms on a wheeled base, holding a microphone.

"...TO TODAY'S QUIZ SHOW!" the robot proclaimed, its circuitry beeping under its voice.

Confetti began to fall as rainbow-colored lights swirled around and a large placard reading 'Game Show' lowered from the ceiling as the rest of the lab became somewhat illuminated.

"OH BOY! I CAN ALREADY TELL IT'S GOING TO BE A GREAT SHOW-"

"Mettaton!" Alphys gasped out. "W-what's the meaning of this? Y-you're only supposed to hunt humans!"

"MY SENSORS DETECT APPROXIMATELY 10.78% HUMANITY IN THE PONY'S SPIRITUAL AURA!" Mettaton replied firmly.

That much from you? Woona asked Chara, surprised.

Chara remained silent, stunned by the implications that he represented that much humanity in Woona's soul.

"THESE PARAMETERS...ARE ACCEPTABLE!" Mettaton concluded.

Alphys snapped her fingers. "Oh...I knew I s-should have waited until the 17th model to bring you online!"

"I'M A POP STAR, NOT A PARK RANGER!" Mettaton countered.

As a laugh track played, Woona wrinkled her brow. "...I don't get it..."

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