Chapter 5: Puzzles and Pasta part 2

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..."

Author's Note

I didn't dwell much on Snowdin town because I'll be going back to it, not every single NPC and every single area will be explored all at once, it gradually happens.