Long ago, two races ruled over Earth: Ponies and Monsters
One day, war broke out between the two races
After a long battle, the ponies were victorious
They sealed the monsters underground with a powerful spell
Many years later...
Her latest friendship report teetered through the mouth of a small cave opening. Twilight stood there, dumbfounded at what happened. She hesitated. "Maybe I can just re-write the report...but it took so long for me to write especially without Spike around..." A scared sigh escaped her breath and she ventured through. 'Forget it, I'll be back in no time!'
Though, she guessed the 'I'll be back in no time' part didn't include twisting her hoof on a loose vine and falling into a pit.
OoO
The dim glow of the surface light eventually woke Twilight up, she felt the ground beneath her was nothing but a bed of golden flowers. After a couple of seconds wasted to fidgeting, she rolled off the flower bed. "...I guess I won't be back in no time..." Twilight muttered.
She took the only passage way out of the room and found herself gawking at an odd looking, gray door. "Hey! Is anyone here, I kind of need help!" She walked through.
"HELLO?!"
"-hey, that's enough shouting."
"Huh?" Twilight scanned the black room, no visible signs of anyone. "Who the heck was that?!"
"Hehe! Are you brain dead? Look down!"
She did as the voice told and saw a beaming yellow flower staring right at her. "...! Oh my a t-talking flower?!"
"Well I'm a very special flower after all. The name's Flowey and I can tell just by looking at that clueless face of yours, you're new here to the Underground, aren' tcha?"
Twilight slowly nodded.
"Well, it's your lous-, lucky day that little 'ol Flowey's here. How about I teach you the ropes?"
"Why thank you, that be great!" It was the only thing Twilight could say before being surrounded by an army of seeds. Twilight felt something powerful manifest on the side of her chest, her hoof grazed over a small, but beaming red heart full of passion. 'What is this?!'
'Something's up...' The seeds danced around Twilight on all sides, there was no way she could escape without getting pelted to death with the thousand of bullets.
"That's your soul right there!" Flowey said between chuckles. "It's weak, yes, but it can grow strong by gaining LV, or Love, and gaining EXP. How do you gain love? By getting touched with these friendly pellets! Hehe. They won't hurt you!"
Something deep inside told Twilight the Flower was wrong.
"Stop cowering down! You want to earn love, don't you?! You want to grow stronger, right?! Then the ENTIRE underground will bow before you and...and..." His face started twisting into a more threatening expression. "And you won't be treated like the rightful scum you are!"
"...I..."
"HEHEHEHA! For the sake of everyone, JUST DIE!"
Nothing happened. She raised her head, the once menacing flower and his army were replaced with the soothing darkness.
*patter
*patter
Twilight's ears perked to the sound of soft footsteps approaching her, she groaned. "Don't tell me you're yet another evil flower."
"You don't have to be afraid any more. I am Toriel, caretaker of the ruins, and I'm here to guide you." Her gentle and soothing voice instantly relaxed Twilight.
"-Everyday I pass through this place to see if any newcomers have arrived, you're the first pony to ever fall down here in a very long time. Come, I'll guide you through these catacombs."
Twilight followed Toriel to the next room, it was a room filled with roses and...determination. On both sides, a staircase spiraled towards the door.
Toriel stopped when they reached the next room. "The ruins are full of puzzles, pony, you'll be encountering all sorts of them, solving these puzzles are key to moving from one room to the next and I want to teach you everything about them since you'll be living here." She moved over to a group of buttons by the door and stepped on the four outer ones, opening the door. "See?"
"Ok, sounds easy enough!"
Twilight galloped inside the following room, she padded over the bridges bulging with pale, blue water and flipped the second to last switch in the hallway deactivating the spiked trap.
"Very good, now come follow me to the next room."
The room after was small and compact, it contained no puzzles, but a single, lonely dummy. "As a pony, monsters may try to attack you and you'll engage in a fight. However, worry not, you don't have to fight said monster, you can simply strike up a friendly conversation."
"Um....what?"
"I know it seems confusing, so why don't you try out your conversational skills on that old dummy over there."
"Ok..."
Twilight appproached the dummy, she smiled and said, "Hey! My name is Twilight Sparkle, what's yours?"
"..."
"You're not up for conversation, huh?"
"..."
'So eager to talk, she must of had many friends.' "Perfect, follow me."
The room followed was another long hallway with a twisted path that stretched all the way to the next door. She didn't stray from the path until he reached the very end where a frog was staring down at her.
'A real monster! What do I do...just talk to it, right?' "my name is Twilight sparkle...Uh...I really like frogs?"
'I'm not sure what she said, but for some reason, I feel flattered!' Froggit gave Twilight an I'm-really-trying-to-like-you-but-I'm-still-going-to-attack-you-anyways smile, he hopped towards the purple pony but stopped dead in his tracks. The deathly rays of Toriel pounding down on him was far too much for him to handle. At that point, his choice was either to face Toriel or hide in the corner.
Toriel's glare intensified.
So corner it was.
Twilight walked back to the safe comfort of Toriel, her warm, fuzzy paw brushed her mane. "This is the puzzle," Toriel explained, as they walked past the corridor. "I'm sorry for not mentioning it earlier." The puzzle consisted of an array of sharp spikes laid out across the floor.
She saw her face grow pale. "But I think it's best if I help you through this one-it's um, rather dangerous."
Toriel guided Twilight through the 'puzzle' and into the next room, she stopped and she silently prepared for her next action. "I'm sorry, but I have something to ask you..." She felt something swell in her throat. "Can you please walk this room...by yourself...please forgive me." She shuffled off and swiftly hid behind a decaying pillar.
"Oh-I feel so bad." Toriel quietly murmured. 'Perhaps he feels like I didn't want to be around him anymore, maybe I should...' She heard the familiar click of hooves and saw Twilight had already gone ahead. "Hey, Toriel!"
"You completed it so fast...!"
"It was pretty easy, nothing I can't do!"
"Well it looks like you've grown to be a very independent pony...uh...I'm sorry this is so sudden, but I have business I need to attend to and I must go alone. So please do not follow me, it's too dangerous to explore by yourself," Toriel pulled out a small, junky box and handed it to Twilight. "Here; it's a cell phone. If you need anything, just call." Then, just like that, Toriel left.
Twilight hovered the cell phone over her horn and kept it close to her side. "Hm, I have a feeling you want me to follow you, huh?" And just like that, Twilight left.
The butterscotch pie Toriel tediously prepared had long grown cold. The cavern was silent, nothing but the sound of her nervous pacing and occasional sighs filled the dense air. '..Such a lovely pony , what if some monsters got a hold of her? Oh I feel so...'
"..."
A soft scuffle echoed through the halls, they grew louder and louder with each passing breath.
"It's probably some monster making a ruckus, isn't it?" Toriel reasoned.
Another noise erupted from the abyss, a noise she'd couldn't tag on any of the monster dwelling in the ruins. "...the noise...it's the sound of..-" She ran to the entrance.
"I'm sorry..."
Sure enough, the pony trotted through the entryway. "...I came so late." Twilight was surrounded by her warmth once more.
"I-I'm sorry, it was irresponsible of me to leave you so long for some silly surprise."
"Oh it was nothing," Twilight pushed away from Toriel. "I just had so much fun with the puzzles I kept on redoing them over and over again!"
'Strange...' "What about the monsters?"
"They...didn't give me any trouble at all with the temporary time freezing spell I put in them."
"Looks like you didn't have any trouble at all...well the pie's a little cold, so while I warm it up, you can rest up a bit."
The smell of stale chocolate and cold pie swept Twilight into Toriel's cottage, giving her bittersweet memories of Pinkie pie's own creations. Toriel ushered her into a room down the hall. "Please rest in the guest room, I'll be back with the pie in a jiffy." She said.
Twilight looked around, the small pile of toys and cutesy layout was a dead giveaway this room once belonged to a child. 'It's really clean here for a guest room, I guess not many people visit here.' She settled down on a small bed hugging the right wall.
Her eyelids grew heavy. "I wonder how everyone is doing back in...Ponyville...."
OoO
*THUD
"OW! Ow-Ow!"
Twilight's hoof scratched the floorboards, she pushed herself up. A buttery-sweet smell hit her like a bullet then it finally dawned upon her Toriel warmed up the pie she was babbling on about.
The pie plate hovered a few inches from her while she walked out of the guest's room. Past the foyer, Twilight walked in the living room where Toriel was reading by the fireplace.
'I know I can't stay here forever...' Twilight cleared her throat and set the butterscotch-cinnamon pie on the table. "Excuse me Toriel," The melody of Toriel's rocking chair hastened as she approached. "I'm really greatful for your kindness and I'm really glad I met you but, I think it's time for me to go back to my own home."
"What're you saying, child?" She sputtered. "I won't have to worry about you since you'll be staying here with me, won't you, I mean, we'll be doing so many fun things together, I even set a curriculum up for your edu-"
Her hoof swiped across the floor. "I want to...go home."
"This IS your home. Would you care to know about the book I'm reading, it's called 72 uses for snails: limited edition."
"Toriel..."
"Do you um want to learn about an interesting snail fact? Well, did you know that snails are the slowest known moving creature on earth?! I guess they can't escarGO when you want them to. Hahahaha..." Toriel stood up. "Excuse me," She hurried out of the room.
"..." Twilight shook her head. "Where'd she go?" She huffed, steaming out of the living room. The foyer lead to either the hallway or a series of stairs leading down to the basement. 'I'll try the basement.'
Toriel heard the sounds of light footsteps approach her. "You want to know how to return to 'home', do you not?" Another sigh. "Ahead of us will lie the end of the ruins and the entrance to the rest of the underground-I'm going to destroy it. No one will be able to leave the ruins ever again. Stay here and don't follow."
Even though Toriel told her no, she knew she wouldn't listen-just as all the other times. So she continued to talk. "Every pony who's fallen down here meets the same exact fate, time and time again. They come. They leave. They die. ...he...Asgore will kill you. This is for your own good. Go back to your room."
Twilight didn't go back so she didn't stop. "This is your last warning. Go back." They entered the last room, Toriel headed towards the purple door, her only chance of freedom. "Fine then, you're just like all the others, if you want to leave so badly, then...then you must prove your strength worthy, with a fight."
"I refuse to fight you."
"Then I refuse to let you pass."
An array of fireballs surrounded the pony. Her hooves dug further into the ground with every separate fireball pounding on her. "...The only strength I had..." She stuttered every last word.
"Came from friends..."
Another set of fire balls buried through her coat, scorching her delicate skin. "...without them how do you...expect me to show you my...strength..."
"...I don't...have any..."
"...?"
The fire stayed, cooking her skin even longer until there wasn't enough fuel to sustain itself. Not a sound except for the slow crunch of soil.
"Wh-what are you doing? What're you trying to prove?"
"I..won't...fight...you." She was breathing heavily.
More fireballs surfaced and dined on Twilight's back. The fire tore down the layers of his skin, then she did an odd thing, the corner of her mouth slowly curled up. "Stop it." She choked. "Please."
The other corner curled up. 'Despite all this pain she's in...she still manages a smile?! This pony...I've never seen such...'
"If you let me...maybe...we can be friends...and then...we can be strong...together."
"...why are you making this so hard? Go back upstairs or, no," Toriel's arm suddenly dropped to her side. "Ha-ha...it's pathetic, is it not?" Her eyebrows knitted together. "I can't even save a single pony, I understand, you would be unhappy-trapped inside this place."
"When you get used to these ruins, they get very small. For you, I'll put aside all my worries and if you truly wish to leave these ruins, I promise not to stop you."
"Just please, my little pony, do not come back."
"Wait." Twilight said, she stopped.
"...?"
"What do you think about my offer...still...want to be friends?"
Toriel turned and flashed a sincere smile. "Of course."
OoO
"Howdy, my little pony!"
'Ugh that flower again!' Twilight hadn't realized she walked right into a patch of vibrant green grass-a perfect place for a certain yellow flower to pop up and mock her.
"What do you want?"
"Tell me, just what were you trying to accomplish? Standing out there like that, don't you know...?!" His starched face twisted dramatically. "In this world it's...KILL OR BE KILLED!"
"Kill or be killed? I'm not sure what kind of soil you grew in, but in Ponyville, they teach us to have some decent morals."
The corner's of Flowey's mouth no longer curved. "Decent mor-you're trying to scold me now?! You're just as-"
Twilight walked away.
"Hey! Don't you know it's rude to walk away when someone's talking to you?!" Flowey plundered under the earth then popped up in front of Twilight.
"Since when did physchotic flowers have any manners?!"
"You think you're so high and mighty don t'cha?! Well I hate to break it to you, but the world of monsters doesn't take kindly to ponies, so what if you went by without killing a single one of those monsters! When you exit these caverns you're bound to meet a relentless killer, and what'll you do then? Sit back and let them ki-"
Much to Flowey's annoyance, Twilight wandered off again.
"What the- you didn't even let me finish my monologue!"
"I don't want to listen to that anyways." She stopped, shifting only slightly to meet Flowey's grimace. "And if I ever face a monster like that, I have several tricks, I'm not completely helpless."
Flowey opened his mouth to say something, but stopped and plunged himself underground.
XxxxXxx
-Snowdin-
Hundreds of needle thin trees extended miles long, they crowded up most of the area so one could only take a small, narrow path to exit. The sheet of snow was fresh, crunching softly under Twilight's hooves as she ventured further and further into the abyss.
'I don't see anyone...here...it's so creepy!'
*THUD
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Twilight muttered something, then continued to get back up, she cocked her head around to try and find the culprit. "...! That's it!" A heavy weighted stick laid perpendicular to her pathway. It was far too heavy to try and pick up so he levitated the thing."
*snicker-snicker
"...!" She wavered the stick.
*rustle
Her movements hastened. "If someone's out there, you come on out now, this isn't funny!" She hollered.
The sound of snow-scrunching got louder and louder until she could make the shadow of someone approaching him. The shadow stood still for what seemed like the longest two seconds of Twilight's life.
"Pony." He drew the out the O longer than he should've.
"-Why don't you come over here?"
She set the stick down. "S-sure!" She sputtered, she inched over to the person. That is if you counted a short, living, breathing skeleton dressed in the most comfortable clothes as possible a person.
A hand composed entirely of bones slinked out of his jacket sleeve. "Come on. Shake my hand, will you?"
"Oh that's right...pony...I forgot." He stuffed his hand backed inside his pocket. "Anyways, I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton."
Twilight nodded. "Interesting name, why do they call you that?"
"...that's a story for another time, friend. Now, don't take this personally, but I'm actually supposed to be on watch for ponies like you but..." For a moment, Sans' piercing white pupils diverted off of Twilight. "I don't really care about capturing ponies, but my brother Papyrus on the other hand, he's a pony-hunting fanatic."
"I'll just freeze him for a quick second."
'So she's going to use that horse magic on my brother, geez lady, you sure do know how to pick em.' "Smart idea, but" His sharp tongue dulled down to a blunt edge. "If it were easy as that, we wouldn't have any pony souls to begin with."
"What?"
"...I'm just saying us monsters have developed a way to combat pony magic. Be safe."
"Uh, thanks?" Twilight turned, a rusted gate towered over the both of them, though the wide bars made it easy for her to slip away. Through the last section of needle trees was a small rest area.
Twilight prepared to go ahead, but was cut off by a certain thick skeleton.
"I wouldn't go on ahead if I were you, my bro is coming." Sans said, walking up from behind the sentry station. "I have a better idea, hide behind that-" He motioned to a lamp sitting next to Twilight.
The lamp was rather lopsided, although it was just tall enough to fit Twilight's size, it didn't accommodate her hooves. Sans shrugged it off. "Guess that's too bad, huh? And...here he comes...I'll try and stall him for-"
"You don't have to."
"Heh, you got guts, I'll give you that, but let me handle this."
"No really, this spell should do the trick." She advanced to the exit.
*crunch
*crunch
'That's Papyrus, he'll be here at any moment.'
"Fine, whatever."
*crunch
Papyrus was a tall, heavy chested skeleton, his bright red boots punished the delicate snow as he made his way towards Sans.
"'Sup bro." Sans casually greeted.
He shook his head. "Sans, did you hear some-"
"Excuse me, you must be Papyrus." Twilight said, her gentle smile burned inside Papyrus' memory.
"Ah so nice, just like I."
"Bro..." Sans snickered, Papyrus noticed him burying his hands further inside his pockets. "...that one's a pony."
"What?" He looked skeptically at Sans then back at Twilight. 'Well she is rather pony like for a monster.' "Are you really a...pony?" The child's head slightly squeaked in response.
"I see..." Papyrus' joints loosened for a second, he almost looked relieved. "This is...this is...AWESOME! S-stay here pony! Let me go find my sack!" His boots scraped against the snow and he shuffled into the abyss.
"So that turned out well after all, good job? But, I guess, you're not as bad as I thought. My brother's been feeling down lately and when he saw you, he got so happy. Maybe you can do this act-like-a-pony thing for a little bit longer."
"I guess I can, just for a little bit."
Sans could still see Twilight's vivid purple coat as she began walking further and further away. "That horse," He said between chuckles. "I don't have to worry about Pap after all."
OoO
Twilight figured wandering far away from the path would result in getting, so she didn't steer far. The path eventually let up into a crossway section filled with luscious evergreen trees. There was a crimson red chest and a sign standing idly by the trees, she walked over to it.
She lifted the hood and levitated the contents inside. 'A glove? Wow, wonder how long that thing's been here?' " She put it back.
"You didn't even bother to read the sign, figures."
"A sign, I completely for-" 'Wait! W-who's voice is that?!' She slowly turned around. "An owl...sort of?!"
"You don't even know what I am, figures." Snowdrake said, he took a giant breath and filled his cheeks up with cold air.
"Figures?"
With the use of magic, the cold air formulated into sharp edged boomerangs and one-by-one they spewed out of his mouth. Twilight could easily weave through the boomerangs. "What do you mean by that?"
"A pony like you wouldn't understand the power of...comedy!"
"You mean like a joke or something?"
"Yeah-yeah! I'll try out an ice pun 'cause ice puns are snow problem."
"Um...hilarious."
"I know right?! Comedy gold. Dad was wrong, I'm not just funny, I'm a comedy genius! I have to tell him, later." Using his stubby yellow legs, Snowdrake waddled away.
The few moments of peace he gathered were quickly disrupted when another monster came strutting alongside the road. Twilight dismissed its presence and kept on walking.
"..."
"Huh?"
Ice cap turned around at the spot and ran up to the pony. "Ahem!"
Twilight kept on walking.
"UM...HELLO?! My hat's up here!" He pulled on Twilight's mane. "Look at it!"
"It's um great?"
"Isn't it, but it's not the best now that I think about it. It's not as captivating as that pony mane of yours. I'll rebuild my hat. I have all the materials. I can make it better than it was! Taller, prettier, icy-er! Yes!" Twilight watched the ice cube cheerfully hop off. 'These monsters are really crazy...'
OoO
As the evergreen trees closed in tighter and tighter on the pathway, Twilight felt the same inescapable tightness crowding up on her from when he first entered the snow blanketed region. She could hear the sound of soft murmurs grow louder every step she took. 'Those voices...I know I heard them from somewhere...!'
"So like I was saying about Undyne, when I asked her if I the royal guards could patent my pony catching sack she-"
"Hey, don't look now, but the pony's back."
"What?! Really?!" Indeed, the lavender pony had returned to his presence. 'Oh my god! She's here, she's really here!' "Now that I have my sack with me, I can finally be...and then Undyne she'll...I'll be so popular! I'll have so many friends!"
"Ahem! Pony," Twilight shifted uncomfortably at her mention. "You shall not pass this area! Nor will you spell me! I, the great Papyrus, forbid you, for it'll be I who'll capture you and I who'll ship you to the capital!"
'He won't catch me yet!'
Whipping out a small, brown potato sack, Papyrus charged, full throttle, towards the pony.
Sans eyed the pony suspiciously, for some reason, she didn't even bother to move. 'I guess he took what I said to heart-' Only when Papyrus was nearly on top of her did her muscles twitch. It happened fast. Before Papyrus could process it, Twilight was clear out of the area. '-or maybe not.'
OoO
'I'm glad I got away, thank Celestia for teleportation.'
"Did something just move or...was it my imagination? 'Cause if something like a pony were moving, well I'd make sure they never move again!"
"...who is that?"
*SLASH
"..."
"...?" 'I could've sworn a sword or something came through me and...' Twilight looked around, the trees were still. "Well, well," A dog donning leopard print pants and wielding two short swords stood in front of the pony. "I guess I was wrong, no one's 'ere after all." Doggo said, his white snout pointed directly at Twilight.
Twilight started walking away with the benefit of the doubt the dog couldn't see her.
"Oh-oh-oh! I was right after all!" Doggo gripped his blade and swung randomly, barking "Take this!" Each swing he took.
'Just a second ago he couldn't see me, but now he can?!' Twilight took a moment to study the dog. 'A blue sword, and a white one, when he attacked me the first time, he used the sword that didn't work on me.' Doggo stepped in the Twilight's direction, holding only his white blade, he grinned. "I see you."
'It's his blue blade then, the one that doesn't work!' Twilight crawled out of the way just as the sword swung down, easily, it cut past the thin layer of snow and etched itself inside the ice. Doggo muttered something and tried to pull his sword out.
'...I have something!' Twilight used her horn and created a bone, she threw it.
*plop
"More movement?" Doggo stopped pulling on the sword and turned to investigate. Twilight then sprinted away, never looking back until he was sure he was far from the dog creature.
OoO
"Hey, watch out."
"Hu-" Her legs flew forward and he fell on his back resulting in an unnatural sounding crack coming from the ice beneath her. "Oh it's just you," Was the first thing that popped out, Twilight got herself up. "You need something?"
"Nah," Sans' faded blue sneakers proved to be good traction on the ice and he leaned on the sign plotted right in the middle of the ice lake. "I have something important that you need to remember..."
"What is it?"
"...well my brother has a very special attack. If you see a blue attack, don't move, and it won't hurt you."
"It sure would've been nice to know this sooner..."
"What?"
"Nevermind."
"Right, right. So anyways, just imagine a stop sign, when you see a stop sign, you stop. Stop signs are red, but instead, imagine a blue stop sign. You'll remember that during battle, won't you?"
"I think so, yeah."
"Good."
*pound-clank
"I guess that's my cue to leave. Remember, blue stop sign, also, I advise you to pet it."
"Pet what?"
*Pound-Clank
"That."
A heavy built, white dog hung over Twilight. With its sword, amour, and shield it somewhat had the appearance of a typical guard.
"..." Lesser dog's blue spear flew down on Twilight, though it didn't do anything, so they switched to the white spear.
'Sans wants me to pet it, right?!' "Here I come!" Twilight reached for Lesser dog's head and brushed the top of its fur.
"Woof-woof!"
Twilight pet Lesser dog again and the excited barking intensified. The more Twilight petted it, the looser its grip on the spears were until it finally fell onto the ice. "Haha! This is fun!" Another pet and its head rocketed into the sky. Lesser dog's massive neck loomed in the sky, it casted a tall shadow over the pony. Twilight scraped at its neck again, but instead of getting taller, it began lowering.
Lesser dog's head had gone underground, Twilight was over petting the dog at this point.
"...?" Twilight revoked her petting. "Where's it now...eh, I'll just...go." She left north of the ice lake to find a lone lump of snow.
"Wait!" The lone lump of snow called out as she started to leave, Twilight stopped.
"I WANT TO LIVE! TAKE A PIECE OF ME OUT TO WORLD WITH YOU!"
"No problem," She levitated a handful of snow. "I'll take this really far!"
This time, Twiloght went east of the ice lake, dhe found himself in a cleared out field where the two skeletal sentries were waiting. "You're so lazy!" Papyrus said, his buoyant voice hovered in the air for a bit before settling down. "You napped all night!"
"Actually, I think that's called...sleeping." He quipped.
"Excuses don't burn calories, Sans!"
"Um ok? At least the horse has crawled back."
"Oh wow he has! Ahem! If the sack didn't work, then for sure these puzzles my brother and I created will halt your movements! This one in particular you'll find to be quite..." His eye sockets slit. "Shocking. Behold, the invisible electrifying maze!"
Papyrus held out a shiny sphere like contraption in his red mitten. "When you touch the maze, this orb will deliver a near fatal shock. Fun, right? Well...between 1-10 of the amount of fun you'll actually have, it's probably a 1.4."
Twilight smiled then approached the skeletons.
"Hey, wait I didn't see you could wa-"
*ZAPPP
"SANS!" Papyrus stomped his foot on the ground, recovering quickly from the electric shock. "What happened?! What did you do?!"
"I believe the pony has to hold the orb for it to work."
"Oh I get it!" Papyrus went out of his was to go through the maze himself, once he reached the end, he dropped the orb on Twilight's back. "Ha-ha! Try to solve the puzzle now!"
She stared at the puzzle for a moment before taking a step forward where Papyrus walked, after two cautious steps, she got the hang of it. 'This is way too easy.'
"What?! You slippery slug, you solved that puzzle so easily...too easily...however, you won't be so lucky next puzzle because it was designed by yours truly's brother, Sans!" He finished with a round of NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEHs and slowly backed away.
"Thanks, it's...been a while since I've seen him this happy, but, the way you're going on right now isn't working. The monsters here in the underground don't take to that fil-I mean that pony magic of yours. Keep on using it like that and you'll find yourself in deeper trouble than you asked for."
The wind shifted subtlety as Twilight walked away from the big-boned skeleton, not a word was uttered from her. "Thanks for the advice, but I think I can handle solving puzzles without my magic. I'll only use it to get out of danger."
Sans forced himself not to laugh. "I guess you're right, heh, try not to die, pal."
OoO
It felt like hours gone by before Twilight saw another life form, it just so happened to be that life form was a blue rabbit selling ice cream.
"Oh! A customer, finally, wouldn't you agree it's the perfect weather for some Nice cream?" The rabbit hollered.
Twilight curiously approached the blue rabbit. "Nice cream?" She asked. "I'll take one."
"Wonderful! Nice cream is only 15G here in Snowdin Forest, a cheap price if I do say so myself."
"15 what?"
"15 Gold. Whenever you encounter monsters, most of the time, they'll drop this shiny yellow stuff called gold. Haven't you ever thought to pick some up?"
"...no."
"So you're broke is what I'm hearing."
"Kind of yeah."
His face sagged dramatically.
'Guess I better leave then,' To the right of Twilight was a stiff bridge, while crossing over it, she could still hear the steady pattern of heads bangs and loud groans coming from the Nice cream man.
The next area contained a wide slab of frozen dirt with a single, large snow ball right dab in the middle. Twilight levitated the snowball and shot it through the hole. A red color flag popping up.
Though another snowball substituted in its place, Twilight walked past it.
"Hey again," At this point, hearing Sans' voice was no surprise to Twilight, like all their other encounters, she stopped to listen to what Sans had to say. "I've been thinking about becoming a vendor too, I would ask you to buy some fried snow right about now, but I heard you had no money."
Sans took a look at Twilight's face. "It's fine, it's fine, I don't have any fried snow to give out."
*SANSSSS!
"I hear my brother calling, gotta fly."
OoO
Sans made his way down past the snowball game and onto a makeshift road. "...?" Pausing, he took a look at the rows upon rows of evergreen trees packed together. "I know you're there, pony, come out."
One of the evergreen trees shook violently, the shaking suddenly stopped and an Ice cap strutted out.
Sans chuckled. "My mistake," Though a session of snow-crunching filled in the silence, Sans didn't bother. 'It must be that Ice cap,' Instead of fading, the crunching grew louder. 'No, this time, it's the pony.'
"It's you again," Sans said.
"Haha, yep, just dropping by."
Twilight grew comfortable around Sans' presence, she didn't feel scared anymore, she wanted to be near him.
"I think we've reached my brother by now."
"Sans! There you are!" Papyrus yelled, Sans was amused by how worn-out the ground beneath his boot was due to his constant tapping. "And is that the pony with you?! Nyeh...it doesn't matter, Sans did you bring your puzzle?"
"My puzzle's right over there," Sans pointed to a piece of paper laying on the ground. "It's specially designed so a pony can never get past it."
"Woowie, that's great!"
Twilight stared at the piece of paper she levitated. 'Monster Kidz Word Search.' "Easy!" She threw the word search back on the ground and resumed walking.
"-Sans! That didn't work at all!"
"Whoops. I knew I should've used today's crossword, but I didn't."
"Crossword?! I can't believe you just said that, in my opinion, Junior jumble is easily the hardest."
"Really, dude? That easy-peasy word scramble, that stuff's for baby bones."
"Un. Be. Lieve. A. Ble. Pony, solve this quarrel!"
"Neither. They're both pretty easy."
"Easy?! Nyeh, I knew I shouldn't of asked such a cocky pony like you. I guess I'll go recalibrate the puzzles then." Sans watched as both Twilight and Papyrus strolled off and soon, he followed.
OoO
Eventually, the cluster of evergreen trees let up in an isolated location. It was unusually bare except for two coordinately placed tables and a note, Twilight held the note, quickly skimming its contents. "Pony...please enjoy this spaghetti, blah, blah, blah it's a trap, blah, Nyeh-heh-heh, Papyrus."
'Oh Papyrus.' She put the note down then passed over the spaghetti-plate and spaghetti-microwave. It didn't take long for Twilight to reach another note, beyond the note was a field of hardened snow clumps.
She read the note. "...a marriage?"
"Oh my, it's that pony again!"
An Ice cap, Snowdrake, and some other monster approached Twilight, and as promised, Ice cap's hat was even more stunning than the last time. "So, how about my hat?" Ice cap asked.
"It's pretty basic," Jerry said, everyone shuddered.
"Hey, Jerry, look over there." The second Jerry turned his odd, little head around, everyone made a run for it.
"They just ditched me, ugh, some friends," Jerry's soulless, pitch-black eyes dipped inside Twilight's soul. "But you won't leave me, right?"
Twilight's hooves pressed hard against the delicate blanket of snow, her turn was sharper than a knife then she galloped. She'd gotten so far in such a short time, all Jerry could see was a blur of lavender.
'Looks like I lost him, good, and I was able to pick up some of this gold while Ice cap and Snowdrake ran away.' She wavered the gold in front of her. 'I wonder what I can do with this?'
She obliviously stepped over a short line of spikes, (supposedly meant to be a puzzle) and passed another stiff bridge.
"What's that smell?!"
"(Identify yoursmellf!)"
Two dark figures prowled beside Twilight, sniffing intensely. "(This smell...it-)" One of them began saying.
"-makes me want to destroy!" The other finished.
Without their menacing hoods on, it got pretty tough for Twilight to be frightened by two fuzzy, white dogi. They only got scary when they pointed their huge battle axes at her.
"H-hey! I'm just trying to make my way across, I d-don't want to fight you!" Twilight exclaimed.
"(Yeah right!)"
Down to their round snouts and floppy ears the dogi were near identical, except, Dogamy had what looked like marker-drawn eyebrows and a malevolent cowlick. "Prepare for trouble!" Dogamy growled.
Dogaressa's eyelashes, on the other hand, were greatly empathized. She growled a similar note to that of Dogamy. "(And make it double!)"
Twilight couldn't even catch a breath before the dogi hammered their axes down beside her, trying to back away, she slipped on something and landed face first in the snow.
"(...what? Do you smell this smell I'm smelling?)"
"I do!"
"(Oh, you said that same thing to me during our marriage!)"
"Puppy, I know. About that smell you were talking about, I think it's a lost puppy."
"(I think it is!)"
They nuzzled noses for the sake of it.
'If these dogs are anything like the last then, this should work!' Twilight reached for the top of the dogi's fuzzy heads and pet them affectionately.
"(...! A dog that pets a dog...amazing!)"
"What will this world think of next?! Thank you strange puppy!"
They nuzzled again just because.
"It smells like the weird puppy is lonely, do you want to nuzzle with us?"
"No, I have to get going, next time, ok?"
"(Well. More for us!)"
XxxxXxx
"So these are the hard puzzle Sans was talking about?" Two ominous blue X's and a flat, gray switch all laid in triangle formation to each other, at the end was a set of spikes. Twilight solved the puzzle accordingly and made her way past the spikes.
"WOW!" Papyrus yelled, rushing towards the pony. "You solved that in literally three seconds! How is that even possible?! Not speaking of, did you eat that spaghetti I prepared?"
"Umm..."
"Woowie, my pasta must of been so good you're speechless at the mere thought! I'll have to make more then!" Papyrus left then shortly came back. "-don't just stand here, come along."
Twilight followed Papyrus until they reached a stopping point, there was another puzzle of similar caliber to the last one ahead, but this was infinitely more challenging. Papyrus walked to the sidelines. "I don't know how to say this pony, but my brother and I made this puzzle for you, but you were taking so long I decided to improve the puzzle by rearranging it to look like my face, then the snow froze to the ground and now the soultion's diff—"
"Solved it!"
"My, my, you're some kind of puzzle wizard, pony, you're almost 1/10 better than me! Now I'm even more determined to make the most hardest puzzle in the universe!"
"Go for it!" Twilight chirped.
"Nice."
She'd grown accustomed to meeting Sans after every puzzle, this time was no different. "Well, I always love a good puzzle, they're my favorite pastime beside reading."
"Looks like you'll fit just right in the Undergound, this place is filled with puzzles, in fact, there's another one right ahead you can solve."
Twilight and Sans walked over to yet another puzzle that Papyrus was working on with a rectangular machine. "Bro, what are you doing?" Sans asked.
"I'm making this puzzle harder for the pony!"
"You sure you know how this thing works, it's Alphys' machine after all."
"Of course I do, Sans! Now, pony, I'm sure you're wondering what this particular puzzle is all about, you see those tiles?"
Twilight nodded, keeping a close eye on the grayscale tiles.
"Well, after I throw this switch here, they'll change to different colors and each color has its own separate function! Red tiles are impassable, you can't step on them! Yellow tiles are electric, they'll electrocute you! Green tiles are alarm tiles, if you step on one, you'll have to..."
"xxx"
"xxx"
"-and pink tiles do absolutely nothing, hey, pony, you were listening, weren't you?!"
"I can make a transcript of everything you just said!"
"Good, when I pull this switch it'll make a puzzle never before seen in puzzle-history, not even I will know the solution. Nyeh heh heh! Get ready!"
The tiles blinked between color to color, first slowly, then the blinking got faster and faster until it stopped altogether.
Twilight couldn't help but crack a smile at Papyrus' futile attempt in tricking him. Every one of the computerized slabs turned a malicious shade of salmon pink, all except a single red tile that stood out like a sore thumb against all the pink.
Papyrus rounded off with a spoonful of Nyeh-heh-heh's then spun away.
Sans wryly looked at Twilight. "I guess my brother broke the machine, good for you." Twilight responded with a tried smile then promptly stepped on the first tile.
*FWIP
The titles began swapping pallets rapidly changing from shades Twilight couldn't place a name on. It took only but a moment for the tiles to settle down on a new puzzle. "They...they're all the same exact colors!"
"Yep..." Sans chuckled his usual chuckle. "My brother definitely broke that thing."
Twilight walked to the other side of the pink tiled layout. On her way out, she gave Sans a side smile. "You know...your brother's pretty nice!"
"I guess you would say...it's fun tibia around him."
"..."
"Ha...?"
Twilight spun around and distanced herself as far away from Sans as she possibly could. At some point, she ended up in yet another strange place, the needle thin trees were spaced out so wide you could see the darkness creeping along its extended bark.
Though Twilight was never really bothered by the cold, a certain chill shivered up her spine each step she advanced. It could've been from all the dismantled snowdog necks scattered around, or just the fickle weather.
A scrawny looking faun walked beside Twilight and patted her mane. "You look jumpy," He said.
"It's nothing." She tried to sound nonchalant but it came off as a scared whelp.
The faun pulled at its purple vest collar. "I bet it's the dog sculptures they are...frightening. Well, a dog recently ran in here filled with inspiration and it's kept trying to build a snow dog that would embody its emotions. The more it built, the more excited it got, the neck got longer and it just kept on adding more snow..until...it was rather sad to watch it all go down, but I couldn't help myself."
"Oh, it must of been that one dog I pet earlier, I didn't catch his name..."
"You're talking about Lesser dog, speaking of, here," The faun offered a short squat stick in to Twilight, she levitated it, then looked squarely at the stick. "What's this for?"
"Greater dog."
OoO
Twilight's hoof tapped on the snow, gradually getting more hectic each breath she took. "Another puzzle!" Instead of morbid spikes at the end of the puzzle, there was a wide gap, too wide for anyone with enough sense to jump over. "This'll be easy."
And it was, clearing it within a few seconds, she watched as the last X flickering to a satisfying O, then pressed the long-awaited gray button, activating a needle-tree enclosed path to the other side.
Ending the path was a fork in the road, Twilight weighed her options. 'I should...go south.'
Twilight's mind switched back to her gold piece the farther she headed south. 'I wonder how far I am until I find a town or something, then I could finally buy some food...I'm so hungry... I don't think I can go on like this,'
"What's up, pony?"
"Sans?" Twilight bobbed her head up, Sans was leaning against the bare wall, he looked content, almost. "What're you doing here?"
"Nothing,"
"Oh really?" She said in heavy sarcastic tone.
"You catch on quick...I don't think there's no harm in telling you anyways. You see, there's a door all the way to the farthest right I go to regularly. Feel free to check it out."
The blankets of snow got thinner as Twilight began her trek towards the mysterious door, sometimes she would even come across a dry patch of purple land. She lowered her head to the patch of naked land. "I think someone came through here recently,"
"It was probably one of those rowdy teenagers."
Gyftrot was much older than all the other monsters in Snowdin forest, and less alert, promoting kids to decorate him and his ginormous antlers. His voice was sluggish when he spoke to Twilight, it seemed each syllable dragged on longer than the last. "Are you here too to 'decorate' me like the rest of those teenagers?"
"N-no, I don't even have anything to decorate you with!"
"That's what they all say until they stick some random postcard on your forehead," Gyftrot stamped his pencil-width hooves in the snow, causing the ground under Twilight's hooves to tremble.
The trembling stopped. 'What...what just happened?' Three present boxes rose from the ground and rested under her hooves, she was standing on a white present box, but the one left to him was blue.
"Hohoho! This is my ultimate weapon for all those pesky youths. Have a nice trip!"
Twilight jumped off.
"You rebel! Get back on before-" While in mid-sentence, the presents rocketed into the still sky. "-they lift..."
"AH-! I could've just died or something on that!"
"No, they come back down, I think."
"Good grief," Twilight proofed all the decorations off of Gryftrot's body. "Happy now?"
Gryftrot breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes. A weight has been lifted." He walked off.
'With him out of the way, I can finally see that door Sans was talking about.'
At the edge of the snow-mounted cliff held a large cave opening. "This is it then," She walked through.
Using the dim glow of mushrooms dotted around the cave as lighting, Twilight could make out a purple door at the end of the cave. She timidly approached it. "This place..." Her eyes glazed over a symbol engraved on the door. The symbol perfectly replicating the one on Toriel's outfit "...it's an entrance to the ruins..."
Twilight rested against the door. "I'm ok. Really...Sometimes I do feel a little hungry, but I'm nearing a town soon, I'll be fine....I met lots of cool monsters along the way, they're all really fun to be with...but...it's not like I've forgotten about you!"
"I...wish you were here...Toriel...I...miss you so much."
XxxxXxx
This time Twilight had gone east and she found herself staring at mounds and mounds of snow poffs. 'Huh?!' She stuck one hoof through an isolated snow poff. "Nothing?"
Twilight continued her raid through the snow poffs (ending unsuccessfully) until she reached the very last one, her hoof penetrated through the delicate snow shell and hit something metallic.
"Woof-woof!" A white dog head and its tail popped out on either side of the snow poff.
"Oh, it's just a little dog..."
Then it stood. What she thought was a small dog turned out to be an exceedingly larger dog, Greater dog's large armor coupled with its spear cast a menacing shadow over Twilight.
"BOW-WOW!" Greater's dog bark thundered in the frigid air.
Twilight stumbled back, she wavered the stick. "H-hey! I got something for you!"
Greater dog bounded for the pony, flecking buckets full of slobber along the way.
*BAM
*BAM
*BAM
"...! WHAT THE?!"
Greater dog helplessly laid under the weight of Gryftrot's present boxes. Greater dog was so close to the stick, it could almost feel the stick scraping against it's tongue.
Twilight ran over to the wholly white dog and shoved the presents off its back. 'These things aren't as heavy as I thought!' "There you go!" Giving the last presents a well-deserved push, Greater dog slowly got itself up then happily pounded on Twilight.
"Alright, I still got the stick, want it?!" Twilight enticed.
"Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip!" Greater dog's head moved like a revolving sprinkler, there was not a patch of snow safe from its slobbering.
Twilight turned, she flung the stick as far as possible, Greater dog followed in pursuit.
OoO
"So as I was saying about the sack patent, Undyne laughed me in the face, does she not understand the importance of sacks?!" Papyrus impatiently tapped his foot on the yellowed bridge, a common habit of his. "And what if a pony comes to her what is she gonna do without a sack?"
Sans shrugged. "Use her spears."
"NYEHH!"
"Papyrus and Sans!"
"-I recognize that voice! It's the pony and right on time!"
Once pony was close enough to them, Sans and Papyrus shuffled off the bridge. "Behold pony!" Papyrus announced. "'Tis your final and most dangerous challenge! Introducing the Gauntlet of deadly terror!"
"Yeah," Twilight leaned on the rope railing, stiffened from the bitter coldness. "Let's see it." At word, weapons of many different diversities surrounded her. Flails, spears, flame throwers, canons, even ominous white dogs, you name it, were in its arsenal.
"Prepare yourself, for when I say the word, it will fully activate! Canons will fire, spikes will swing, blades will slice all violently up and down! Only the tiniest chance of victory remains! Are you ready, because, I. Am. About. To do it!"
"..."
"...?"
"Well, what's the holdup?" Sans asked.
"Holdup?! What holdup?! I'm activating it right now as a matter of fact!"
"..."
"That, um, doesn't look very activated."
"Clearly this puzzle is not up to date, I cannot allow that, I am a skeleton with standards. My puzzles are very fair, and my traps expertly cooked. This method is far too direct, I couldn't sleep at night if I'd make you complete this!" The puzzle deactivated and all the weapons went away.
She smiled. "Whatever you say."
"Don't think you've won this round purple fiend! Nyehhhh-heh-heh!"
Papyrus twirled away.
"I'm not sure what my brother's going to do now," Sans went over to Twilight as he was exiting the bridge. "But he's all riled up. If I were you, I would remember the blue attacks."
"If that's all there is, then Papyrus isn't gonna give me much trouble!" Filled with determination, Twilight ran off, following the distorted snowprints Papyrus made to a small town known as Snowdin.
OoO
If Twilighy could describe Snowdin town with only one word, it definitely be cozy. From its houses to its shops, every inch of wood exterior was packed tight with warmth and the occasional fur tuft. A conjoined building labeled Shop/Inn snuggled tightly in between masses of evergreen trees. "Finally, I can spend all this money!"
Warm gusts of air and a friendly voice greeted Twilight once she swung open the shop door. "Hello traveler, how can I help you?"
"Do you have any food?"
The bunny smiled at her presence. "I sure do, a bisicle and a cinnamon bunny-my own special recipe."
"I'll take the cinnamon bunny," She said.
The bunny twitched her nose, she bent behind the counter and grabbed her desired item, then wrapped up the pastry. The two exchanged goods and Twiloght bit down into her pastry. "Wow! This taste delicious." "I try my best," She combed through her bunny ears then fiddled with her sun hat. "It's all I got after all untill I can...expand."
"...I'll find a way for all of us to get out of here, there has to be one, right?"
She nervously half-smiled. "Yeah..."
"Oh well, thanks again for the food,"
As the door shut behind her, Twilight noticed a monster running up to her.
"Pony, pony, I have great news!"
'Ice cap!'
Ice cap and Snowdrake were coming towards her, if even possible, Ice cap's hat was bigger and better than the last one. He never ceased to please Twilight with his constant hat upgrading. "My hat evolved overnight!"
"Looks...bigger," Twilight said.
"I know right?! My hat's gonna be taller than you at this rate."
Snowdrake slide glanced at Ice cap. "Ice cap went crazy overnight, he's highly unstable, I have to keep a close watch on him. I'm snow sweet, right?
"Oh my god, Snowdrake!" Ice cap yelled. "You're taking all the attention away from my hat with your astronomically bad puns."
"Icy how it is!"
"Snowdrake!"
"-Yo guys!" A distinct, pitchy voice cut in between their bickering, a voice like that could only belong to one of the shortest monster in Snowdin; Monster kid. Everything about Monster kid, from the top of their spike-adorned head to its striped shirt was mustard yellow.
"...who's that monster?"
Snowdrake and Ice cap exchanged sharp glances. "It's just Monster kid," Snowdrake said, he muttered something else under his breath but Twilight didn't quite catch it.
Monster kid stumbled on their floppy brown feet and landed face first in the snow, they slowly got back and brushed it off. "That was so uncool..." Falling, for Monster kid, was normal, it was the laughing that came afterwards they didn't understand.
Snowdrake and Ice cap caught a few snickers while Monster kid went over to them. "Are you guys going to see Undyne too?!"
Twilight indiscreetly stared at Monster kid, having no arms, it was a wonder how they'd ever get that shirt on. "Who's...Undyne?"
"What?! You don't know about Undyne?! She's only the coolest monster in the underground, she's got all these spears and this armor, you gotta see her!"
"She sounds great!"
"Doesn't she?! I'm getting out of Snowdin town just so I can see her, you should go too!" Monster kid trotted away.
"Hey, are you guys going to see Undyne too?" Twilight asked, turning to follow Monster kid.
"Undyne's overrated just because she's the head of the Royal Guard," Ice cap said.
Snowdrake added, "Well I hear she can bench press seven kids...that's pretty cool."
"That's nothing, my hat can bench press eight!"
"So would you say..."
'He's gonna make some kind of weird joke again, I need to leave.'
Twilight was near the edge of Snowdin, another establishment practically begged for her to open its door and walk in. 'Wel...It wouldn't hurt just to look around.'
All sorts of monsters routinely relaxed to Grillby's, including members of the Royal Guard, outside the regulars, not many newcomers visited. So when Twilight entered the laid-back pub, all eyes burned on her.
"...smells likes that bizarre puppy!" Dogamy said, breaking the tension.
"(Why it does!)"
Everyone went back to their usual business while Twilight walked by Dogamy and Dogaressa's table. "What're you guys doing?" She asked.
"Playing cards, you can play too if you want, but be careful where you sit," Dogamy nudged to Greater dog who was slobbering all over his deck much to Doggo's annoyance. "Or that big guy over there WILL jump into your lap and give you lots of love and attention."
"N-no I'm good!"
"HhhHhheydude, I-" A bunny from the booth called out to Twilight, their words slurring together. "Wait, OooOps, you're a girrrrrrrl, man, everywhere I go it's alwaysssthe same menus, the same people. Unnngh, I can't take it! I want-huhhh, where'd she go?!"
'I think I spent a little too much time in there,' Twilight pushed through the snow with little thought on her mind other than reaching Undyne.
She eventually passed by the 'librarby' and had to summon all of her might not to go through its doors, but next to it was a festive, galant-sized wooden house, a magnet for attention. Her snout pressed on the windows, soft yellow light from inside burst from the window panes, panting her face gold. 'Doesn't look like anyone's home...'
Past the house sat a contrastingly plain shed. Too plain to even dwell on.
OoO
Fog trickled into the air, it felt every step he took was more suffocating than the last. Twilight couldn't see two inches past her, only the sound of rushing water soothed her nerves. "...what was that?" Naruto heard a familiar voice echoing through his ears, another couple of steps and the echoing turned into understandable words.
"Pony..."
Twilight knew that voice from anywhere. "...Papyrus?"
"..."
"Allow me to tell you some complex feelings, feelings like the joy of finding another pasta lover, the admiration for another's puzzle-solving skills, the desires to have a cool, smart person think you are cool...these feelings must be what you're feeling right now! I can hardly imagine what it must be like to feel this way, after all, I am very great. I don't ever wonder what having lots of friends is like, I pity you, pony."
"Worry not, for you shall be lonely no longer for I, the Great Papyrus, will be your...I will be your..."
His buoyant voice sunk like a rock in water. "What am I saying?! You're...you're a pony, I'm a monster." He drew a long sigh reeking of melancholy. "I must capture you! Then I can finally fulfill my lifelong dream! Powerful! Popular! Prestigious! That's Papyrus...the soon-to-be newest member of the Royal Guard!"
Gray particles formed over Papyrus' glove, they clumped together into a milk-white bone. "Nyehhhh! Take this!" Papyrus hurled the bone and it perched softly on the snow beside Twilight. "WHAT HOW DI-I mean, don't worry you swift sawyer, there's more where THAT came from!"
'That bone...it came out of nowhere! He didn't even have to mov-' One of the bones conked Twilight in the jaw, another bone to the forehead made her stumble back. Standing, even for a second, proved to be futile with the seemingly unlimited supply of bones.
"Nyahahaha!" Papyrus laughed, throwing more bones. "Run for as long as you like, you'll get tired then I'll capture you!"
'Oh enough of this!' Twilight formed a wall of pink magic and it reflected the incoming bones.
"You reflected my attack?! No one's ever done that before!" Papyrus threw even more bones to counterattack, each of them failing one after another. "Great, wait, I got it! Let's see if you can handle my fabled 'blue attack'!"
'Blue attack? Right, I just won't move for this one!'
Papyrus' back hunched, he held his hand out where blue-tinted particles materialized into a vibrant blue bone. He jumped over the barrier, holding the bone tight."Behold!" Small bursts of maniacal laughter slithered up Papyrus' hollow throat as he swiped the bone through Twilight's torso.
Feeling no signs of external damage, Twilight looked at her soul. What was once a ruby red color was now cobalt blue. "What happened to me?!"
"You're blue now, that's my attack! Nyeh heh heh heh heh heh heh!"
She shivered. "Wh-What happens when I'm blue?!"
"It makes my already great attacks, even greater...or it should!" Papyrus backed away, he raised his arms and an army of tall, lean bones rose in conjunction. The bones eagerly rushed for Twilight.
*SMASH
'My barrier! It broke through?!' Her thoughts came to a sudden halt when a bone from under the snow thrashed her into the chilling atmosphere.
"...! PAPYRrusssssss!"
She landed in a lumpy snow pile, giving no time to catch her breath, another array of tower high bones came her way.
"Ha-ha! I hope you're not feeling overwhelmed by all the bones I have, because I got a special attack coming up! I can almost taste my future popularity!"
"Hey Papyrus...it's...not too late, is it?"
"Too late for what?"
She smiled. "To hangout!"
"Of cours-ugh, stop it! I can't let you hang out with me, I need to capture you! I'll finally be in the Royal Guard and I'll be so popular, the king will even trim a hedge in the shape of my smile! Undyne, she'll be so proud of me, my brother...we'll he'll stay the same, but I can't drop this opportunity, so give up or face the wrath of my special attack!"
The bones stretched taller, bobbing up and down as if they were a wave, but it didn't flicker the slightest emotion for Twilight while she approached Papyrus. She navigated through a short row of bones. "...Even though you're not a loner, can we still be friends?"
For the longest time, Papyrus stared at Twilight. "...someone like you is really rare and I don't think they'll let you go...but who cares?! I...won't...I won't be your..."
He still couldn't say it.
Twilight watched as Papyrus balled a cluster of gray particles and threw them above his head. She looked up. 'What the heck?!' Bones miraculously grew out of the sky, they dangled in the air itself.
"This is my second most devastating attack yet!" Papyrus announced, then added, "-if I were you I would give up!"
Twilight took a cautious step forward, one of the bones fell down, blocking her path. She backed up. '...that's it, that's what I'll do.' The bones were falling fast, at the rate they were going, moving quick wasn't an option, it was necessary.
'I get now. The pony...she's coming towards...me!' "J...just give up already or face my special attack!"
"I won't give u—" Twilight fell forward, emitting a shaky oomph on the snow.
'The pony's down! This is a perfect chance for me to capture her!' The snow suffered from the heaviness of Papyrus' painfully slow steps. 'All the fame, all the glory, all the fans, I can have it all in just a few more steps...'
'...but...I can't have...her.' Papyrus flinched when the pony made a sudden jolt. "Pony...?"
Twilight lifted her head and pulled herself up.
"Oh!" Papyrus looked at the pony's body in horror, a thick red liquid was oozing from her nose which caked her neck. He'd never seen it before. 'Wait...she has spaghetti sauce all over herself! She carries around a jar of spaghetti sauce too?! No, no, I can't be wavered by his tricks!' "So pony, you've survived my second most fatal attack, never fear, for now I will use my special attack!"
"Yeah! Not very long from now I will use that special attack!"
"Last chance to give up before I use that special attack!"
"Behold my special-"
"That's it! I tried being friends with you!" Twilight rammed into Papyrus' wide chest, he tipped over and the two of them fell backwards.
His cherry red scarf knitted between Twilight teeth. "I...I won't let you capture me!"
"...'huff' I guess that's how it'll be. You obviously can't defeat me...Therefore I, the Great Papyrus, elect to grant you pity! I will spare you pony, now you just have to accept my mercy!"
Twilight let go of his scarf. "I accept."
"Sorry Undyne, I'm not going to be part of the Royal Guard anytime soon...but...it won't be so bad, you're here after all and be my friend!"
"Of course!"
"Wow! I have friends! Who knew the only thing you needed to make them was to give them awful puzzles and fight them in a life-or-death battle! You taught me a lot about making friends today, pony!"
"...I, the ever-so-great Papyrus, grant you permission to proceed, and on top of that, I'll give you directions to the surface. All you have to do is continue forward until you reach the end of the cavern, then when you reach the capital, cross the barrier."
"That's it? Sounds easy!"
"Welllll...there's also the magical-seal-trapping-us-all-underground problem. Anything can enter through, but nothing can exit...except someone with a powerful soul...like you! That's why the king wants to acquire a pony, he wants to open the barrier with soul power, so us monsters can return to the surface!"
'I feel so much better knowing why the monsters hate me...I finally understand what Toriel was talking about back in the ruins.' "Then, I just won't wave until I find another way to open the barrier and free the monsters...without me, um, dying."
"Wowie, that sounds great...and maybe even come by my place so we can do the hangout! Nyeh heh heh heh heh heh!"
XxxxXxx
Papyrus leaned back on the wooden board of his house. Each passing second he steadily becoming more and more nervous, only the spaghetti-scented wood polish smothered all over the house calmed his nerves. 'Yep, things should run smoothly, I have everything planned out!'
"Yo Papyrus!"
"P-pony?!" His skull jerked right. "...oh, it's just you."
Sans smiled, ending his walk on the first step. "I think I'll be staying in bed today, I'm running a femur."
"SANS!"
"I can't fool you, after all, you see right through me."
"OH MY GOD SANS-wait, I hear the pony coming!"
Sans wasn't too surprised Papyrus already grown acute to sounds the point usually made, his hand relaxed on the bronze doorknob. "You don't think she'll be upset when he finds out we have no horse food, do you?"
"What do you mean? Ponies eat the same food as us monsters, and we have plenty of food!"
"Right."
As Sans opened the door to go inside, the pony walked up to Papyrus. "Papyrus! Where're we going to hangout?!"
"The best place in the entire town-" Papyrus took Twilight all the way to the library and back. "-My House!"
Date Status: Start!
Date LV: 9001
The inside of Papyrus' house was pretty average compared to Twilight's expectations, sure they had a purple-blue chevron carpet but other than that, it was your typical couch, TV, end table, gigantic portrait of a bone set up.
"This place looks kind of...."
"Awesome! I know right?! Anyways, whenever you're ready, we can start this 'dinner date' and do whatever you're supposed to do!"
'Since when did this turn into a dinner date?!'
Twilight entered the orange tiled kitchen and Papyrus followed suit. "So during the few sentences it took you to get here, I had just enough time to make some of my famous spaghetti, it'll taste so great!"
Papyrus went over to his extra long sink, he opened the door. "Usually I put my emergency bone supply under our extra long sink, but I also put the bowls in there too!"
"Arf!"
"What?!"
An annoying white dog, carrying a bone twice the size of it, scrambeled out from under the sink and right under Papyrus legs. "Darn it! Catch that meddling canis lupus!" Twilight took a step forward and the white, furry beast was already clear out of his house.
"Curses!"
*PAHHHHHH-PA-RAAAAAAAH
Hangout LV: 8999.5
"SANS! PUT THAT TRUMPET AWAY!"
Papyrus turned around, he grabbed two bone-esque bowls and set them the stove top. "...I'll be back, I just remembered something..." Papyrus left the kitchen, heading straight for a stinky white sock hanging from the cord of their game system. 'Not even the sticky notes I placed worked!' "Sans! Please pick up your sock!"
He heard a weak 'ok' in response.
"And don't put it back down, move it!"
Another 'ok'.
"You moved it like two inches, move it back to room own where it belongs!"
Yet another 'ok'.
"And don't bring it back!"
One more 'ok'.
"It's still here!"
The barrages of ok's finally stopped. "Wait, didn't you just tell me to not bring it back to my room?"
"...Forget it!"
*SLAM-CLANK*
"What was that?!" Papyrus went back inside the kitchen, Twilight was knocked out cold on the floor lying next to a half eaten bowl. "Oh no! The taste of my spaghetti was so powerful, she couldn't handle it! That's ok, I prepared for an event like this to occur!"
Hangout LV: -121300.676
He picked up Twilight and set her on their lime green couch. "I hope you'll be not dead."
OoO
'I bet you're happy you left that old hag's house...you wouldn't of made your first friend if you didn't.'
'Yeah...'
'It doesn't matter anyways, one friend out of all the others who despise you, it's only a matter of time before he turns on you. This place is different, they don't have to keep you alive.'
'No...this one, he's different. He's not like the rest, he's...'
'A monster.'
"..."
"I THINK SHE'S AWAKE, SANS!"
"I'm right here, bro." Sans stood back, catching a quick glance of Papyrus. 'I hope all his other hangouts don't end up like this.'
"Papyrus..." Twilight muttered.
"Yes, pony, do your cravings want more of my delicious ramen?"
She hopped off the couch. "'Uh...no, I'm stuffed, yep!" Opening the door, they exchanged their last goodbyes and saw each other off.
Hangout Status: Complete
Earn: 0 EXP, 0 Gold, the gift of knowledge
XxxxXxx
-Waterfall-
The thin layer of dry air grew stickier as Twilight walked further past his and Papyrus' battle site. After a while, her hoof hit a gravel surface. "Ah, this place is so interesting!" She ran over to a stream of rushing water and dipped her hoof inside, giving her nothing short of a smile.
She stood back, staring starry-eyed at the group of gray waterfalls feeding into the water. 'I don't see Monster kid anywhere, he's probably running late.' Twilight passed by a sharp corridor and met with another one of Sans's sentry stations.
"Oh, hey Sans, what're you doing here?"
"I'm working here. You know, two jobs means twice as many legally-required breaks. In fact, I'm going to Grillby's, wanna come?"
She nodded.
"Since you insist, I'll pry myself away from working," Sans left the station and motioned for Twilight to follow. "Here, I know a shortcut."
OoO
"Fast shortcut, huh?"
"Yeah,"
Twilight and Sans walked inside the lazy pub, immediately when Sans was there, it became a different atmosphere. Twilight couldn't exactly put it into words but it felt, welcoming.
Sans usual routine in Grillby's consisted of receiving some hi's and hello's from the regulars and a cheesy pick up line from the drunk bunny, then sitting himself down in one of the slightly crooked stools at the bar.
An eyesore of a fish leaned back in his stool, and said, "Sans, weren't you here a few minutes ago for breakfast,"
"Haven't had breakfast here in at least half an hour."
"You must be thinking of brunch."
Sans spun around, he shrugged his shoulders and everyone laughed.
"Heh, everybody knows your name in Grillby's, that's why I like it here, anyways, let's order."
Twilight eyed Sans suspiciously.
"Don't give me the look, hey, I'll even let you choose whatever you want."
"I want-"
"Actually, you pretty much only have a choice between fries or burgers."
"I'm not really hungry..."
"Whatever. Grillby, I'll have an order of burg." Grillby turned and headed to the back door.
The back door closed, Sans turned to Twilight. "Be honest with me, do you still think Papyrus is kind of cool?"
"Sure."
"Yeah, me too, I think he's the coolest. You know that outfit he wears, he wears literally every single day, he'd only take off that thing if he really had to, well, at least he washes it every once in a while. If you take washing as bringing it in the shower with you."
Grillby pushed open the back door while carrying a plate with a burger on it, he set the plate down and continued cleaning the cups. Sans screwed off the ketchup cap and chugged it straight from the bottle. He slammed the now empty bottle on the counter. "~ah."
Sans scratched his pelvis. "My brother, he really wanted to be apart of the Royal Guard...one day he went to the head of the Royal Guard's house and begged her to be in it. Likewise, she shut the door in him because it was midnight, but the next day she woke up and still saw him there waiting, seeing his dedication she decided to give him warrior training...it's a...working progress. I would've never thought he'd ever give up becoming one, but for you, I guess he had second thoughts. You must be something special, kid."
Twilight stared at the counter, there was nothing she could say. Nothing she wanted to say, at least.
"This is off topic, but have you heard of a talking flower?"
Her memories flooded in. "Are you talking about Flowey the flower?"
"Nope, doesn't ring a bell. Though I'm pretty sure it's just an echo flower, you know what those are, right? They repeat things that people say over and over. Interestingly enough, yesterday my brother told me of a flower that pops up when no one's around and whispers things to him. Flattery, advice, encouragement...predictions...I think it's someone using an echo flower to play a trick on him."
"Yeah, of course," 'What would Flowey even want with Papyrus anyways, it's not like he did anything...'
"But, I'll look into this Flowey character you're talking about, flowers have been a problem with someone lately...welp," He scooted off the stool. "That was a long break, I can't believe I let you pull me away from my job like that."
"I guess I forgot what I was about to say..." For some reason, he said that part a little bit louder than usual. "...Grillby, put it on my tab. I'm out of here."
"HI PONY!" A smile grew when she realized who it was.
"Short story long, I slipped my number into your cell phone while you were knocked out, so now we can talk all day...well not all day, I have to go somewhere, but when I come back we can talk for a good-amount-of-time day!"
"I'll be waiting!"
Twilight walked by Sans' second sentry station where he was back to dozing off. "Still no sign of Monster kid..." She said in a tone slightly louder than a mutter.
Her walk ended at the edge of the boardwalk, a step further and he would end up in the collected pool of purple-tinted water. 'I guess I should go ahead but,' Discolored rocks dropped into the water one by one, sounding off a chorus of splashes. 'That doesn't look very...'
"Yo! What's up?!"
Twilight turned around. "Hey, Monster kid, you're finally-" With Monster Kid tripping on their feet and ramming in Twilight's stomach, she wasn't able to finish her greeting but instead plummet into the surrounding water.
Monster kid's sheepish smile loomed over Twilight once they got back on their feet. "Hehe, sorry about that, but look on the bright side, at least the water isn't deep?"
"Yep." Twilight deadpanned, she was able to maneuver out of the water quickly before any rocks could flatten her. She helplessly laid on the boardwalk. 'Now I'm dripping wet, all because of,'
Twilight playfully shot daggers and Monster kid cracked another sheepish smile. "H-hey, that's water under the bridge now...!"
She responded with a vicious smirk. "That won't be the only thing underwater!"
Monster kid slid under Twilight's legs and shot clear across the water. Twilight sighed, all he could see left of Monster kid was a yellow blur. 'That kid sure can run...but...I can run teleport!'
Twilight teleported dead straight I front of Monster kid, but instead of stopping, they kept on running and accidentally bumped into Twilight making them both tumble down a lopsided hill, their rolling eventually stopped in a patch of steep grass.
"...ugh..."
"..."
"Did you...say something?" Twilight asked.
Monster kid rolled onto their back. "No."
Using the nearby wall as leverage, Twilight poked her head out of the grass just high enough to investigate. '...! Papyrus?'
"H-hi Un-undyne!" Papyrus squeaked.
'What...?' Twilight could've sworn he heard a clank of metal, but the shadows were so heavy he couldn't make out anyone beside Papyrus.
"I'm...I'm here with my daily report! Regarding that pony I called you about earlier...you know, with the whole sack thing..."
Twilight heard a voice clearly distinct from both Papyrus' and Monster kid's. She nudged Monster kid. "Is that... Undyne?" She whispered, tried to whisper at least, her racing heart didn't help the fact.
"YEAH THAT'S-" Twilight slapped her hood over Monster kid's mouth. "Don't be so loud!" She hissed.
"...Huh? Did I fight them...? O-of course I did! I fought them valiantly!"
'Doesn't Monster kid know I'm a pony?!' Twilight picked up on Papyrus' fast breathing and shuddered.
"I fought to the best of my abilities, I tried, Undyne, I tried very hard, but I could not capture true her and," He said something muffled Twilight couldn't catch.
"Y-you'll just capture the pony's soul yourself?! But, you don't have to kill this pony, she's different...she's my...friend!"
"..."
"I can't feel pity, you shouldn't of made friends with our target."
"I...I know."
Papyrus backed away, the familiar sound of his boots scraping against the land subtlety got vaguer each shaky breath. Twilight's hold on Monster kid's mouth fell and she let a pent-up sigh escape. 'She called me a target...looks like she's serious about capturing me.' Twilight took a step forward, skin crawling when the clank of metal followed next.
"Now of all times you get nervous to see Undyne?! Sure, I'm a little scared too, man, but just think, a couple of steps in and we'll finally meet her! I mean, did you see that stare she gave you, it was so AWESOME!" Twilight wouldn't budge. "That's it, I'll go on ahead without you, maybe she'll give me the same stare!"
Monster kid hopped out of grass, their radar vision, as sharp as it was, couldn't pick up any signs of Undyne. "Aw, she left, but that's fine, we'll catch her next time! We'll have plenty of chances to catch her, she lives here after all."
"That's great!" Twilight said disdainfully.
Monster kid scurried ahead in search off Undyne while Twilight loomed over the thought of being on the wanted list of such a scary monster.
OoO
"So you won't try to solve the puzzle?" Twilight asked.
"Nope, it's not like I'll finish it."
Twilight slunk a hoof inside the narrow water stream that prevented them from going any further. Her hoof jetted, the water too cold for even her standards. "You're pretty dense, this one's not even that hard."
"That so? Then you can..." Monster kid felt hot breath clawing his neck, she saw the Monster kid's drawn out expression and went stiff. "...Wh-whose behind me?"
"I'm not sure..."
"Hey ya crazy kids, what's shaking?;)" It sounded like a somewhat normal voice for Twilight so she finally had the nerve to turn around, regretting it immediately after.
Aaron was a monster of way too many abs, he practically had abs on his abs, and he wasn't shy in flexing each and every one of them. "You can check out my abs ALL you want!;)"
Monster kid and Twilight's heads never swung away so fast before in their lives. "You must be a sea horse, right?" Twilight said, staring intently at the ground.
"No-no, my equine cousin." He brushed toned fingers through his burnt chestnut hair. "I am what you call a mer-horse."
Twilight shook her head. "Well, we really must get going now."
"Did I hear you two say you wanted to have a flexing contest with me?;)"
"What."
"I heard a yes!;)"
Aaron's serpent like tail lifted from the floor, he hovered over Twilight and Monster kid and began flexing. Monster kid looked at Twilight. "He won't leave unless you flex with him, do it already."
"Ugh fine." Twilight created an image of a giant purple arm slightly flexing.
Aaron's flex was so hard his turn, he flexed himself out of the space-time continuum and into the fifth dimension.
"Ummmm. Ok?" Their next destination was the narrow water crossways where some water lilies were out off to the side. Easily, she solved the puzzle and watched the water lilies grown tenfold, enough to even walk on.
Twilight's hoof pressed on the petal. "Looks like we're done here."
'She solved the puzzle so fast! Amazing!' Monster kid ran after him, of course, not without falling a couple times.
Monster kid and Twilight crossed a more realistic bridge and ended up staring at yet another flower puzzle. A long, serpent-like water crossway winded from the bridge all the way to the lavender cave walls serving as the base of the puzzle.
She cleared the puzzle in record time speed and the two continued on.
OoO
"What is this place?" Twilight asked, walking into the next room. She gazed at the lights adorned in the cavern ceiling that smothered his skin with a soft blue color. "Stars...but...we're underground."
"They're not stars."
"Then, what are-"
"-Oh wow, look at this!"
Monster kid showed Twilight a glowing flower doused with cyan standing in the corner. "I've heard about these, they're echo flowers."
'Sans told me about echo flowers back at Grillby's,' Twilight leaned in, hoping to catch any traces of sound.
"...I hear something!"
A long time ago, monsters would whisper their wishes to the stars in the sky. If you hoped with all your heart, your wish would come true. Now, all we have are these sparkling stones on the ceiling...
Another echo flower laid close by and she listened closely.
Thousands of people wishing together can't be wrong! The king will prove that.
Then another.
C'mon sis! Make a wish!
Twilight stopped at the last one leaning on the cavern walls.
I wish my sister and I will see the real stars one day...
'I...I hope so too.'
"Yo, I found this cool monster hanging out, he wants to clean you for some reason."
"He wants to wha-" A bar of soap pelted Twilight in the stomach. "-uh, who threw that?"
"It was me, Woshua!" Woshua. The first (and last?) monster Twilight encountered who was a literal, walking, talking, soap-hurling bathtub. His putrid green face, if you could call it that, held no expression other than misery. "I'll wosh u SOUL!"
Woshua's wasted no time in shooting bullets of bleach-white water at Twilight. All of which Twilight reflected with a reflection spell.
"What do you want this time? A hug or something?"
"Ew no! I'll be so filthy after that! I want to be washed!"
Twilight levitated a bar of fallen soap. "Then it's your lucky day."
Woshua excitedly jumped in the air, unknowingly spilling some of his contents. "Would you really?!"
"Yep." Naruto went over to Woshua and started cleaning through his already clean body. Bathtub body.
"Ooooooh, I'm feeling fresh!"
Woshua felt much better with all the non-existing grime gone. "Don't go too far, I'm coming back so u can clean my filthy friend." Using his turtle like legs, he waddled away in search of his not-so-clean companion.
Twilight shook her head. "Come on, let's go before he comes back."
They walked behind the nearest corridor to find an out-of-place dead end. "What? Shouldn't there be a door here somewhere?"
"It could be hidden." Monster kid suggested.
The wall fell apart from Twilight's light tap. "See, what did I tell you." Monster kid and Twilight stepped over the debris, entering a cavern swallowed by darkness.
Their steps began echoing louder off the close walls the farther they wandered inside the cave's mouth. Cattails growing from the abyss made slight cuts in the shadows, indicating they were surrounded by water. "Is this a fishing harbor?"
"Not sure, but it seems too dark for anything."
Monster kid and Twilight were drawn towards bright text engraved on the walls. The words just barely legible enough for Twilight to encrypt. "The War of Ponies and...Monsters." Her voice uncharacteristically dropped, wavering over each word.
"Why did the ponies attack? Indeed, it seemed that they had nothing to fear. Ponies are unbelievably strong. It would take the soul of nearly every monster just to equal the power of a single pony soul."
"But ponies have one weakness. Ironically, it is the strength of their soul. Its power allows it to persist outside the pony body, even after death. If a monster defeats a pony, they can take their soul. A monster with a pony soul...a horrible beast with unfathomable power." The last picture depicted an indescribable beast.
Silence reeked the air. Not a word spoken from either of the two races.
Monster kid opened their mouth to speak, but was briskly cutoff by Twilight. "....that's interesting..." "Uh-huh."
"We should...come on, let's go."
"Right."
Monster kid and Twilight boarded a floating piece of driftwood that functioned as the only way to get across the water. Silence, once again, being the usual disease throughout their short trip.
They stepped on the awaiting boardwalks.
*Clank
*CLank
"Hey, you hear that?" Twilight hoarsely whispered.
"All these super tall columns are probably just magnifying some mouse noise or something."
*CLAnk
"No..."
*CLANk
"That's that sound of armor!"
*CLANK
Twilight jerked Monster kid away right as a giant spear lodged into the boardwalk. Monster kid practically squealed. "OH MY GOD! That's Undyne's spear! She actually threw it at us!"
'No! She found us!' Twilight levitated Monster kid, while she ran on the boardwalk.
Spears were everywhere at this point. Bobbing up and down in the water, stuck in between walls, flying over Twilight's head. It wasn't until one particular spear nearly sliced Twilight's head off when she decided she couldn't just run. "Here it goes!"
Right before Undyne's eyes, the pony and Monster kid disappeared in a flash. 'Damn it, she's gone...but she can't be too far!'
Twilight finally let go of Monster kid when they tumbled into a safe haven of familiar steep grass. "Sasn't that spear scene so a-" Monster kid suddenly lifted.
"Hiya Undyne!"
Twilight's heart nearly pounded out of her chest.
'S-she's right behind me!'
Monster kid plopped down soon after and the clanks of metal were few and far in between. "Yo, did you see that?! She...she touched me! I'm never washing my face ever again!"
"Yeah that was, uh, fun." Though her color drained face told another story.
"Man, you're so unlucky if you were just standing a little bit to the left then she would've totally got you!"
Twilight looked at the crystallized surface encasing an ancient chunk of cheese. "Cool, right? That thing's older than dirt." Monster kid said.
"Heh heh heh. Having fun, hor- kid?"
'Sans is staring to become a creep.' "Weren't you fast asleep at your sentry station, how did you get here before us?"
"I have a few tricks...speaking of, come with me, I want to show you guys something." Monster kid and Twilight curiously followed the big-boned skeleton to a hall glistening from stones of all shapes and sizes.
Sans stopped at a dingy-looking telescope almost identical to the one they saw in the previous wishing room. "I'm thinking of getting into the telescope business. It's 50000G to use this premium, top of the class telescope, but," He slanted on the gem infested cave wall. "Since I know you, it's for free. Howzabout it?"
"Nope."
"What about your friend?"
"Nope."
"Too bad, you're missing out in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
The two walked through an entrance beside Sans. The room was dark, not even dim glow of the surrounding mushrooms helped much, but they did make it just light enough to see the front of a red vendor cart. 'It's that rabbit salesman again...' Twilight thought, feeling hungry again.
With no warning otherwise, the Nicecream vendor started talking. "Oh my, it's you again, I relocated my store, but there are still no customers...fortunately-" His ear mechanically sprung up in mid-sentence. "I have a solution; Punch cards! Everytime you buy a nicecream, you can take a punch card from the box, if by chance you get three cards, then you get a free nicecream!"
Nicecream vendor's ironed-on smile could've scared any kid away at the point. "They're sure to get the customers back! Nicecream, the frozen treat that warms your heart, now only 25G!"
"We're flat broke," Monster kid bluntly said.
A few simple words were all it took for Nicecream vendor to go down like a punctured balloon. His ears stiff ears relaxed spread out on the vendor cart. "Oh...why aren't these selling?!" He noticed they were gone, but continued talking anyways. "At this rate, I'll be...homeless, then what'll I do? That's it, I'll have to market a new campaign!"
"Or just change location."
OoO
"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Monster kid asked, barely keeping up with Twilight's wide strides.
"I always go South and this time's no different."
"You might be right, this place is just so cool!"
Monster kid was right. Twilight practically drooled over the landscape, the pool of water surrounding them illuminated with a vibrant blue color and painted over the cosmic black grass as if it were a canvas and he loved every bit of it.
Their trek ended in a square peninsula, sitting at the edge was an echo flower standing out like a sore thumb against the black grass. Twilight bent down, her ear sitting on the longest petal. She heard a passing conversation slowly forming.
So? Don't you have any wishes to make?
Another one laid right beside it.
Hm, just one. It's kind of-
*RING
*RING
"HELLO! THIS IS PAPYRUS!" He heard the cell phone a little farther away. "-Remember when I asked you about your clothes?!"
"You never asked me about my clothes, and I don't ever any clothes."
"Even better, now she'll never know who you are, unless you happen to be wearing a yellow shirt with a red stripe down the left side. Along with hot red pants..."
"Um..no." 'He was describing the rabbit salesman of all people, I hope Undyne doesn't kill him.'
".... I just want to be friends with everyone."
*click
"Who was that?"
"A friend, now, let's keep on going tha-" Twilight's hoof stepped in something slimy, she jumped back. "IT'S TH-THOSE MONSTERS AGAIN!"
Monster kid didn't understand Twilight's sudden disgust, they looked like any regular jello shaped monster. "Yo, what's the matter? Those are just harmless Moldsmals."
"Harmless?!" She turned to Monster kid, shuddering. "You have no idea how they were in the Ruins..."
XxxxXxx
-Ruins-
Twilight breezed through the puzzles with partially no problems...or that's how it was until—
*sexy wiggles
"..."
"Um excuse me," Twilight said.
*more sexy wiggles
Just like that, Moldsmal wrapped around her leg. "What in the-get off my leg!"
*sexier wiggles
"..."
*slightly more sexier wigg-
"Stop with that already!" Twilight tried shaking the monster off. But it only made the wiggling worse. "...You're not getting off of my leg, are you?"
*incoherent slime sounds
"I'll take that as a no...then there's no use fighting it, I mean what's the worst you can do, right?"
XxxxXxx
"A-At least don't tell me you're like the ones in the Ruins."
*sexiest wiggling yet
The Moldsmal clung onto Twilight's back, she shivered as it circled around her body twice then finally settled on her head instead. "Looks like she likes you!" Monster kid playfully teased.
"Uuuuugh. Let's just go already."
It didn't take long for Twilight to dismiss Moldsmal's presence, well almost, the occasional vibrating and bubbling emitted from Moldsmal would always take her back to reality. When the two finally reached another wall of glowing text, Twilight completely forgot about the pint-size slime stuck on her back.
"The power to take their-*squorch* this is the power the pony on-*burble* ...feared and the power they somehow rep-*burb*" Twilight's fuse was burning fast. "Could you please quiet down?"
"Ah, that's weird, why is it so active all of a sudden?"
"Who knows..."
"I might." Monster kid's curiosity led them to a set of stairs leading even farther into the underground. "I think there's something down there."
They walked down the water littered steps. The stairs ended at a collection of unexcited water. "So...how is the Moldsmal?"
"It's purring?"
The water went choppy, waves violently crashing against each other, effectively spraying beads of water all over the place. Within all the madness, a single tentacle rose from the thrashing waves.
Several seconds passed, but nothing else happened.
Monster kid and Twilight's pace picked up fast when they saw another tentacle pop out. Another and they were practically sprinting.
*Wham
'Of all times to fall!' Just as Twilight ran back to pick up Monster kid, a large, cream colored creature surfaced while its casting shadow devoured them. 'Just...what is this thing?!'
The monster's high-pitched vocals matched well with its appearance. "Hey...there...noticed you were...here. I'm Onionsan! Onionsan, desu-desu!"
Onionsan followed Monster kid and Twilighg and tried making awkward attempts to start a conversation along the way. "You're visiting Waterfall, it's great here, desu! You'll love it, desu! Yeah! Me too! It's my big favorite!" Their head buried underwater. "Even though, the water's getting so shallow here and I have to sit down all the-"
"Hey, are you gonna stop talking anytime soon?" Monster kid asked, annoyed.
"Wh-what? I've only gotten started and you cut me off at the best part...wait, please don't leave, talking to myself is the worst!"
Twilight lowered her head. "This thing'll talk to you a lot, take it if you want."
"Would you really be so kind?!"
"Sure."
*POP
"Yay! This is sadly the best day of my life! Thank you! I hope I see you around some time, in the Waterfallllll!"
Twilight's eyes were getting strained from looking at the onion for so long. Now that it was gone, she could breathe a sigh of relief. 'I'm glad that thing's finally off my back.' Just outside of Onionsans' cavern they saw a solitary monster lingering by unwinding cascades.
"...oh?"
"I...really like your song," Twilight said, stopping at the edge of the cascade's deposit.
The monster didn't dare turn her face around, she sat still and pretended she wasn't there. 'I had no idea someone was near...oh they'll probably just go away after a while.'
"You...probably don't want to be bothered...I'll leave."
"Hey, you gotta look at this, come down here!
She caught a glimpse of a small room behind the corridor and followed after Monster kid. "An old piano?" Twilight muttered, making her way to the aged instrument.
"Dude check it out, if you play the piano correctly, we can find some treasure, it says all you need is the first eight notes," Monster kid said.
"Of what? Where'd you get that from?"
"I'm not sure, but I got it from the wall. Just think of something and play the first eight notes, that should do it."
Despite its antique appearance, the keys moved smoothly under Twilight's harsh jabs. She swiftly ended on the eighth note and waited for a response. "It didn't work?"
"Only because you didn't play the right notes."
The keys Twilight chose mixed together as if it were oil and water and to Shyren, it sounded like utter garbage. She couldn't concentrate on anything with her playing so brashly. "Then why don't you play it your-" She paused, instantly recognizing her vibrant blue hair and shrouded identity, "You're the..."
"Could I play?" Shyren squeaked, suddenly engrossed by the ground.
She nodded, starting to blush, and she sat down.
Strangely enough, Twilight watched as a set of fins rested on the keyboard. Thoughts formed quickly. "Is this o-okay?" Shyren asked. She mumbled a quiet 'yes'.
Shyren's fins graced the piano, each note flowed into each other flawlessly, fabricating a beautiful melody. Monster kid and Twilighy were dumbfounded when she finished the ending note, under her fins, eight notes went by in a year.
*Rumble-Rumble
An opening engraved itself into a wall just beyond them.
Twilight smiled. "Thank you, you sure are a lot better than me at piano!"
Shyren finally got the nerve to turn at Twilight, she brushed her blue hair out of the way and took a good, long look at the pony. Twilight did the same, seeing a face bursting with joy. Noticeable stress lines tore down her pastel green face, which he could only guess was from consistent sadness. But now Shyren was happy and she was too.
"It was my pleasure," Shyren said, no longer squeaking. She quietly let herself out with something she hadn't felt in years.
Monster kid and Twilight went inside the hidden room, a half size than the last. "Boring," Monster kid said, turning to leave.
"You have to be kidding me. This treasure's so interesting!"
"It's just a dumb orange orb thing."
"Well. What kind of treasure were you expecting?"
"Undyne's equipment."
"We betteleave it so others can marvel at its beauty!"
"Right..."
They left, going past the east hallway. "Man, sometimes I wish I were a pony, that way she would beat me up every night! I wanna see her again so badly!"
"Uh..huh." She said weakly.
OoO
Twilight approached a statue that stood no taller than her holding a faded red umbrella in hand, rain seeping from a crack in the ceiling steadily poured onto its cloaked head. "There you go, this'll make things a little bit easier." She fixated the umbrella over its head. Monster kid was only slightly mused by this, keeping themselves attached to the room's exit.
"I don't see why we had to stop just to give a statue an umbrella." There was a hint of irritation threaded in their voice.
"I just...had to."
'She's gone craz- wait...what is that?' "Huh, do you hear that, too?"
It took a few moments for Twilight to mold together the random drops of noise in the background. "Mm hm, it sounds like a music box playing."
"Sure does sound nice..."
"Shyren played this on the piano, didn't she?"
"Yep, but If that's the case, it must be a new puzzle, otherwise she would've taken the treasure already."
"Her? Somehow, I doubt it."
OoO
'Yep I feel it.' Twilight flipped open an old umbrella, then levitated it over her and Monster kid's head. "It's a good thing I took this, it's really coming down here."
Monster kid's reaction was noticeably delayed, all the rain pouring down on their umbrella made it near impossible for them to concentrate on anything else. "...uh. I guess." It was silent for the longest time, but gradually, the rain reduced itself to a mere light drizzle. "Hey, I just remembered something," Monster kid suddenly said.
"What?"
"So one time there was this school project where we had to take care of a flower-the king we had to call him 'Mr. Dreemurr'-volunteered to donate his own flowers. He ended up coming to school and teaching the class about responsibility and stuff. That got me thinking...How COOL would it be if UNDYNE came to school?! She could beat up ALL the teachers!"
They thought for a moment, then added, "Umm maybe not, Undyne's way too cool to be hurting innocents like that!"
"Uh, yeah, that's Undyne for you!"
The hall ended and they stepped into a vast region, spectacularly illuminated by dazzling gems on the wall. It was, in short, beautiful. "There's the king's castle, over there, great isn't it?"
Slabs upon slabs of stone and marble were piled onto each other so high, the tallest structure seemed untouchable to the arched ceiling. Twilight had never seen anything like it before. 'So that's where the king lives, it seems so...far away.' "It's so beautiful, just like Celestia's palace."
"Who?"
"Princess Celestial, she's kind of like your own king, but she..." Her words drifted apart the moment she saw a wall that towered above them, it was impassable. Twilight watched Monster kid stare at the wall for the longest time then finally at him. "Come on, I'll get you up there. Climb on my shoulders."
"You don't have to," Twilight teleported to the top, she smiled down at Monster kid. "We'll see each other soon, ok?"
"...while both monsters and ponies contained and could manipulate 'magic' though only a select few of these ponies could possesses such a trait and they were known as Unicorns. Despite their similarities, the ponies attacked suddenly and without mercy.'
"In the end, it could hardly be called a war. United, the ponies were too powerful, and us monsters, too weak. Not a single soul was taken and countless monsters were turned to dust,"
A long path of boardwalk awaited Twilight when her head turned right. A familiar feeling of terror crept up her spine when he entered the purple labyrinth.
OoO
Twilight's foot landed in a neon blue circle, she stepped back and more circles surrounded her. Several spears sprung from the circles nearly killing Twilight on the spot. 'Undyne's back!' Fueled by a sudden surge of adrenaline, Twilight ran away as fast as she could.
Twilight saw a gap ahead of her. 'Here I go!'
"..."
"THERE YOU ARE!" Undyne threw spears left and right, oddly enough, they emitted empty clanks. 'I couldn't of missed, I threw like a million spears.' Undyne's neck suddenly snapped forward and she struggled to stay balanced.
"Sweet move, huh," Twilight said as she landed on the bottom boardwalk.
"Yeah, rig—wait she's gone....not for long!"
Twilight teleported back to the top boardwalk. 'This should trick her, she'll still think I'm on the bottom and won't attack at the top.' Twilight soundly flew past the narrow strips of boardwalk, she skidded to a stop. "Looks like I'm almost out of this place, all there's left is this big area, should be easy."
*SMASH
Splintered pieces of wood scattered at her hooves. "What is..." She turned, unlike the last time, Undyne's spears tore straight through the boardwalk, her spears cut as if it were knife to butter againt the dense pieces of wood.
Twilight ran for her life as the spears engulfed the boardwalks. She barely dodged an incoming spear falling from above her.
Then it ended.
Twilight couldn't go any further, she gazed at the black chasm. "My only options are to fight and risk dying or to jump and risk...not trying at all." The immediate clanks of metal gave him his answer.
"This is the end for you, horse." Undyne hissed.
Before Twilight could argue, the boardwalk cut in half and he fell.
OoO
'It sounds like it came from over here...oh! You've fallen down, haven't you...'
'Are you okay? Here, get up...'
'...Chara, huh? That's a nice name.'
'My name is-'
'...'
OoO
Twilight awoke with a startle. "...! Am I...am I still alive?!" She felt the ground beneath him was nothing but a bed of golden flowers. "I-I started over?! Tor-wait," Her snout wrinkled. "What's the awful smell?"
She fell off the flowers and her his chagrin landed in water that reached her neck. A piece of garbage floated past her while she trampled through the thick waters. "Please don't tell me.." Her eyes landed on a floating heap of garbage. "Great." A dummy caught her attention next.
"You look like the dummy Toriel made me talk to in the Ruins." She shook her head and Naruto brushed past the dummy, not expecting it to appear in front of her. "I SURE AM NOT YOU FLY, that was my cousin and they used to live inside a dummy too until...YOU CAME ALONG! When you talked to them, they thought they were in for a nice chat...But th-"
In mid-sentence Twilight froze the dummy and continued forward. 'None of that!'
"Hey, please wait!"
She turned. "Napstablook!"
"Hi...that's all I wanted to see really...I'm going to head back home now...uh...feel free to 'come with' if you want. No pressure or anything. I understand if you're busy, it's fine. No worries, just thought I'd offered it y'know..." Twilight followed Napstablook to a quiet area divided off by tall walls. "By the way, my house's ahead...just in case...you wanted to do the 'mingling'."
OoO
"...You came after all. Wow, that was unexpected...well, it's not much as you can see, but make yourself at home."
Napstablook's house was somewhat an extension of himself. The small, single-room house was wrapped in a plain shade of brown that fittingly complemented the exhausted furniture.
His fridge leaned on the wall with a paint job that screamed withered plant. Twilight opened it. "...There's a ghost sandwich in there...but I'm afraid you can't...um...eat it." Napstablook explained.
"I figured as much." An old TV slanted on the fridge, which Napstablook also jumped in to explain. "And that's my TV, I watch a show on it...sometimes. There might be something on right now if you're interested."
Twilight pressed the button, flickering a bit before it settled on some kind of news channel. Napastblook left his computer and floated next to Twilight. "Met...he, never really has anything to report, so he usually just fills the time slot by talking about how cool he is or something about his legs."
[Mettaton] OHHHHHH YESSS! Good evening, beauties and gentlebeauties! This is Mettaton, reporting l-ive from MTT news! Now I usually till I'm the time slot by talking about how cool I am or something about my legs, but not today! As you all know, the horse lurking in our underground is incredibly dangerous and should be taken care of immediately, but recent reports from, um...turn the camera Alphys,
"WHAT THE HECK?!" Twilight nearly choked when an image of Mad dummy came into focus. "How did he break my spell so fast?!" She looked to Napstablook for reasoning who lazily shook his head in response.
[Mettaton] Anyways, Fad dummy,
[Fad dummy] Mad dummy.
[Mettaton] Right, right that's what I said, Mad honey. So, tell the viewers of what you saw.
[Mad Honey?] The horse used some kind of voodoo black magic on me, but fortunately it was some weak ass magic so I was able to get out pretty quickly.
[Mettaton] Interesting, interesting
[Mad Honey?] Purple horse, if you are watching this, I'm totally going to be beat you up!
[Mettaton] You heard it folks! Now back to your regularly scheduled leg appreciation program.
"Interesting news—"
"Thank you for inviting me, this place is pretty nice," Twilight got herself up. "But I have to try a different time stop spell on him, wherever he is..."
"The MTT news station is in Hotland, it's actually not too far from here, it's just past this weird mountain place,"
"Hotland? I'm guessing I'll be in some kind of desert." Twilight left Napstablook's house, completely ignoring the glamorous pink house adjacent to her and went south.
Down the hall was a small shop and the reoccurring treasure chest Twilight never bothered with. 'I sell weapons, armor, items and knowledge. Don't have money for it.'
"Hurt, beaten and fearful for our lives, we surrendered to the ponies. Eight of their most powerful Alicorns sealed us underground with a special spell. Anything can enter through the seal, but only beings with a powerful soul can leave."
"There is, however, one way to reverse the jutsu, if a huge power, with the combined strength of the eight Alicorn, attacks the barrier, it will be destroyed. That strength is only equivalent to the strength of eight ponies. But this accursed place has no entrances of exits."
"I'm afraid we'll remain trapped here forever."
She entered into a sea of black grass, approaching the only visible thing in the black mass; a gaudy mushroom.
She touched it.
The mushroom's light outlined a path in the grass Twilight could follow. "So that's the only you can get through here," She stood up, pushing through until she found another mushroom.
*squish
'... uh, I think I stepped on something.' Twilight lifted her leg to check for any residue on her hoof, relieved to see nothing, she took another step.
*Fhsdhjfdsfjsddshjfsd
"What kind of noise is that," She said.
"hOI! i'm tEMMIE!" Some white and fluffy monster pounced on Twilight's leg, she petted her hair, (which was beginning to look more and more like a gray rat's nest) thinking she was a cat.
"OMG! awwAwa anime horse TOO CUTE!" Twilight's leg jut backwards when Temmie started vibrating violently on his leg. "The heck's going on with you?!"
"Teemmmmmm-"
"AHA! There's the pony!;0"
Aaron and Woshua strutted behind him. Aaron combed through his hair and laid an arm on Twilight's sagging head. "Say, pony, my companion and I couldn't help but notice you were the person whom my older brother, Aaron, met!;0"
"You're not Aaron?" Now that he mentioned it, this Aaron did look a little less toned than before.
"Correct, I'm Thomas, Aaron's younger brother, but I go by another title," He flexed his right arm, purposely making his flashy 'MOTHER' tattoo bulge outright. "The handsomer one!;0"
Temmie was discomforted, no longer vibrating, or breathing. "NO! muscles r... NOT CUTE NO! STOP!" She yelled.
After Thomas flexed a second time, then Temmie was flat out gone.
"That's better," Thomas relaxed his muscles and faced Twilight who looked completely distraught. "Aaron periodically flexes himself into the fifth dimension and usually comes back in hours' time, but we haven't seen ol' Aaron in a couple of days. Not that I'm complaining, it's been a lot more quite around here lately, but he owes me like thirty bucks and I need to go on a hot date with Shyren!;0"
Woshua bobbed in agreement.
"So, do you know where Aaron is?;0"
"No, sorry."
"Oh...well, can't say we didn't try, right Wosh?;/"
"Yup."
"Whelp, we'll be on our way, good evening to you pony!;0" Thomas and Woshua were soon swallowed by the blackness.
'Jeez.' Twilight kicked at another mushroom, and she too ventured through the darkness.
OoO
Somehow, the farther Twilight progressed into the world, it only got darker. It was frightening. 'Ah, there's something over there!' Twilight ran towards an excerpt of ancient text. The brightest thing there was at the moment, next to a lantern sitting by her hoof. "Without candles or magic to guide them home, the monsters used crystals to navigate."
She looked around, the crystals consumed all the surrounding blackness, although they were gingerly sprinkled throughout.
Twilight went to the closest one, immediately greeted with a thick blanket of pink. And finally, the darkness didn't seem so frightening anymore. 'I can't go by these, the crystals are way too far apart from each other, I'll just get lost or something.'
She decided on picking up the dim lantern by the wall. 'This isn't any better either, but...it'll be quicker.' She steadied the lantern, taking careful steps forward.
*distant slime sounds
'Those...things...are here too.' Her pace fastened.
*very close slime sounds
'Huh, my lantern feels really...' Twilight looked down at her lantern to find a moldsmal gripping the head, she threw the lantern. 'Whatever, I don't need that thing!'
Without any source of light, all Twilight could do was stumble blindly in the dark, it felt endless.
"...Oh! I see some light!" Twilight took off to whatever was glowing ahead of her, eventually, even the lingering darkness let up as well as her bottled fear.
"An...echo...flower," She was breathing heavily. "I ran all the way for this, it better be good,"
BEHIND YOU
Twilight heard a sharp voice cut behind her, they were also breathing heavily, "All of this can end. Our pain, our suffering, our misery."
The voice dropped. "And it can end with you."
'Undyne isn't acting like she normally does...' Twilight turned around, showing no fear. "You want to fight me again, don't you?"
Undyne ignored her and subtly walked forth. "With the power of eight ninja souls, our king...King Asgore Dreemurr...will become a god, he can finally shatter the barrier and take the surface back from those horses. He'll give them all the pain and suffering we've endured all these years. You're the last one."
"Do you understand, pony? This is your only chance at redemption," A spear formed in her hand. "Give up your soul or-"
"NO! I WON'T LET YOU KILL ME! Please we don't have to do this!"
"Then I'll just TEAR IT STARIGHT FRO—"
"HEY! Undyne I'll help you fight!"
"..."
"...!"
"Kid!" Twilight gritted her teeth, passionately glaring at the yellow monster. "What're you doing here?!"
"Look, look! Undyne's like right in front of you! You've got front row seats to her fight..." Monster kid scanned the room. "...wh...what? Who is she...fighting?"
Undyne grabbed Monster kid by the cheek. "H-hey, you aren't going to tell Snowdrake about this, are you?"
"Come on, put me down already!" She pinched harder.
'Damn these kids,' Undyne dragged Monster kid away while quietly muttering a few choice words of her own.
OoO
Twilight found herself in another flooded area with knee-high water, except instead of garbage floating around, there were echo flowers scattered everywhere. 'They're really loud this time, like they're in the same room as me...' She thought, slowly passing the flowers.
...hmm, if I say my wish you promise you won't laugh at me?
Of course I won't laugh!
Someday I'd like to climb this mountain we're all buried under. Standing under the sky, looking at the world all around...That's my wish.
Hahahaha!
...You said you wouldn't laugh!
Sorry, it's just funny, that's my wish...too
The hall ended and left a wall of ancient text waiting for her. "The angel...the one who has seen the surface. They will return and the underground will go empty." Twilight continued on the right to a lone bridge.
Twilight was over half way across the bridge when she suddenly stopped. "I know you're there, Kid, come out." Several seconds passed before she heard soft scuffles.
