My Little Tale

The first blow was certainly the one who hurt the most.

And the human knew that all too well.

They decided to ACT, and chose to try and dissuade them from attacking.

"Hah! Your money is worth more than words!"

"Yeah! What she said!"

Without hesitation, the mares stomped their hooves at the same time, and summoned a massive storm of t-shirts and other merchandises as they flooded human's view. They barely managed to dodge half of them before a stray sock exploded near their SOUL, this caused the human to get confused and suffer from the incoming souvenirs.

Once the mares seized their attacks, the human took a moment to regain focus, before choosing to ACT and talking to them.

"Could you please just shut up for a moment, like, I'm trying to hit you y'know?"

"Hey! I'm doing that too!"

A line of arm, or hoof, bracelets encircled the human, leaving only a small window open to escape before it became too small and strangled them. They made it out at the last moment, but unfortunately for them, a couple of gold coins flew off into the distance, never to be seen again.

They had decided to SPARE both mares, but unfortunately for them, their pockets spoke louder than their actions.

"Don't make me laugh!"

"Like, I'm not laughing, ok?"

Yet another wave of merchandise flooded their view, considerably damaging their soul. But they pressed on, determined to find a solution to this fight.

It took some courage, and a certain amount of sighs, but they chose to Bargain with the mares, in hopes that their hunger for gold would calm down, even if for a bit. Otherwise, they would have to apply a tactical retreat. Also known as a quick run down the hill.

"What?"

"Like, how would one even do that?"

This time, their attacks slowed down, only giving minimal damage to the human when they hit.

The human continued bargaining with the mares.

"No way! You're lying!"

"How could somepony even fall for that?"

The mares seized their attacks this time, and were eagerly awaiting for more.

...

"Gosh, I should've thought of that beforehand!"

"Yeah, that's like, so dull when you put it like that,"

The human SPARED both mares.

The world around them returned to normal, and were back again in the snowy mountains.

"Like, seriously, we should start thinking of doing that,"

"Yeah! But, like, we're too poor for that,"

The blue mare stared at the other for a moment.

Then both of them looked at the human in an awkward way.

"Like, I wanna- no, we wanna say sorry, heheh,"

"We were just a little excited, that we forgot to not try and steal money from random people all the time..."

"Ye--"

The mare just realized what she said.

"I- I MEAN!"

"She means that we're just a little short on money, yeah! Just that..." Some sweat dripping from her face.

"We, uh, yeah, sorry," Looking down.

...

"What? You forgive us??" Shocked.

"This is like, totally new,"

"We have never been forgiven like that, just, wow!"

"Thank you human! You were really nice to us!"

"Yeah, and sorry again, bye!"

The mares trotted past the human happily, disappearing behind the fog.

They glanced up at their top hat, and were quite saddened to see a gaping hole right in the middle of it. But they didn't complain much, as it had removed some of the extra weight from the falling snow.

After the unexpected FIGHT with the mares, the human sought to know what their general stats were since last time back in the Ruins. They took out the phone, still dotted with animal stickers, and pressed a couple of buttons before the menu appeared.

' LV 1 '

' HP 4 / 20 '

' EXP: 0 '

...

' GOLD: 0 '

They were officially broke now.

**

As they climbed down the mountain, the trees were becoming more and more dense, again surrounding the pathway, and occasionally blocking it, forcing the human to make detours again. The lower they got, the worse these detours became. At first it was a simple tree blocking the path, the next was a stray river which was too deep to cross, and then Yuon, which seemed to be looking for something in the wrong place.

They were just glad that Yuon didn't see them, otherwise, they'd be running for their life again.

However, this time, the detour was different.

A fence prevented the human from crossing the path. A sign next to it stated that trespassing was not allowed beyond that point. Another sign next to it had an arrow pointing towards a place called ' Snowdin ', the human smirked at the name for some reason.

They glanced back at the fence before them, and tried jumping, attempting to see what was on the other side more clearly. All they noticed were more trees, and the pathway eventually disappearing behind the vegetation. The human wondered where it led, but did not bother to investigate this time.

Instead, they turned to their right and followed the arrow's direction, almost eager to reach someplace where they could rest for a while.

As they walked, the surprisingly tidy pathway they once followed was replaced with a clearing full of debris, and unsuspecting tiny pieces of rock, causing them to nearly fall over multiple times. They still blamed the weight of their top hat for it.

As the clearing became smaller, the surrounding forest was suddenly replaced by a ravine, its bottom obscured by the persistent fog. A short bridge connected both sides with each other, although it did look like it has seen better days.

The human carefully stepped on the first plank of wood, making sure it wasn't too unstable. After that, a little more confident, they slowly walked on the planks, reaching the other side safely.

They sighed in relief, and were sure to find the rest of the clearing leading up to the settlement just behind them. However, they've found something else entirely.

Row after row of snow poffs.

All of them perfectly aligned with each other.

The human blinked for a moment, trying to understand the meaning behind this collection of artistic sculptures of snow. Or rather, piles of snow.

The human approached one, and examined it with great detail.

Its incredibly soft-looking surface and circular shape was so perfect, it seemed to be inviting the human to jump right into it, but they realized that their tie would be ruined if they did so, not mentioning the monocle, which was still being bombarded with snow from above. It was simply too much to bare.

The human moved on to the next one, and noticed that this one had a distinct smell. It smelled so much like snow. It was almost unbearable. It had the right scent, the right intensity, it was simply, magnifying.

The other one had a snow top hat on it, and a classy mustache. But it needed something else, something that would turn it incredibly attractive. They took out their monocle, and placed it in between the mustache and top hat, completing a set that would shock the world for many years to come.

The next one was certainly a snow poff, its characteristics planned and executed down to the tiniest detail.

And that over there was a snow poff, still perfect, just like the other ones.

Was that a snow poff? It must've been, its divine shape and quality cannot be seen elsewhere.

A magnificent snow poff it must be...

...

Time passed, and the human had finished searching and admiring almost every single snow poff around. For some odd reason, they were intriguing to the human, a magnet of wonder and curiosity, even though they had already seen more questionable things during their trip in the forest.

They reached the last snow poff, which was adequately put right in the middle of a path that led so somewhere, presumably the settlement called ' Snowdin '.

They admired and wondered, happy to see a snow poff and being able to appreciate its... Grandiosity.

Then, all of a sudden, the snow poff broke apart and from it appeared a small fluffy head of a pink pony. The human recoiled a bit.

It gasped with tremendous emotion, and then shut its mouth in an instant. It popped its tongue out and made noises with it. Its eyes were blankly staring at the trees, almost as if it was doing it because it bored.

Again it gasped, and broke its stare to look at the human. It kept its mouth open for a very long time, before deciding to finally close it and pout at them, making one of the cutest puppy faces the human has ever witnessed.

They cocked their head, unsure what the fluffy pony wanted from them. It kept moving its head up and down, desperately waiting for them to give it something.

The human glanced down where the pony was looking at.

Then, they realized it.

The fluffy pony wanted their highly sophisticated tie.

They couldn't believe it, such costly vanity being torn from their possession by a being they barely knew about. How scandalous it was...

In reality, the human simply took it off and put it over the pony's head, not really caring much.

An explosion suddenly covered the human in snow, the second time since they've arrived here. They popped their head out from the snow pile, and discovered that the pink fluffy pony happily jumped out of the pile the human now found themselves in, and ventured off to their little hut within the rows of snow poffs.

It made itself comfortable in the hut, yawned and closed its eyes, snoring loudly not long after.

The human climbed out of the snow pile and blew with force the snow out of their pipe. A grey snowball fell to the ground below. They glanced up, and were surprised to see that their top hat no longer had a hole in it. The weight of the top hat once again forced them to walk slowly.

**

Further ahead, the human spotted another wooden bridge, this time more sturdy and complete than the other one. The fog limited the view of the other side, and the sheer height the bridge was suspended on, did bring a few nervous thoughts to the human. But they were determined to reach the settlement as soon as possible.

They took a step forward and made their way over the bridge, holding the ropes of the bridge, while dearly trying not to look down.

"HALT, HUMAN!"

The bridge shook for a moment.

The human glanced up and saw the two most random mares they have met. Both stood on the other end of the bridge, one proudly, the other lazily.

"YOU HAVE ARRIVED AT A CRITICAL POINT IN YOUR JOURNEY HUMAN!" Derpy exclaimed, her red scarf waving against the winds.

"YOU-" However, the scarf waved in the wrong direction this time, and went straight at her face.

She readjusted her scarf, while her sister began giggling.

She turned around, "WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING ABOUT?"

Pinkie simply pointed at the human, who tried keeping themselves balanced as the winds again shook the bridge.

"Ah, yes!"

"HUMAN! YOU SHALL WITNESS THE ULTIMATE MOMENT OF YOUR LIFE!"

"BEHOLD!"

From above and below, cannons, wrecking balls, snow balls, gigantic torches, chainsaws, cakes and a fluffy pink pony, all pointed towards the human on the bridge, ready to either bash them, burn them, or fire at them with tremendous force.

The human stood completely still, just glancing at the dangerous-looking contraptions around them.

"MY ULTIMATE TRAP!"

"Gee, sis',"

"Was it really necessary to set all of this up just to get the kid?"

"OF COURSE IT IS!" Blowing her sister's mane a bit.

"Wow, okay then,"

"If ya need me, I'll be watching the show," She said, as a couch and some boxes of chip appeared out of literally nowhere.

"Muhah haha hah," Derpy chuckled menacingly.

"Human, before you is my Ultimate Trap, built entirely from scratch!"

"I dare you to survive everything it has to offer!" She said as she took out a remote.

"With a press of this button, all of my traps shall be unleashed upon you!"

...

"Buuuuuut, there is a catch!"

"You must survive, WITH YOUR TOP HAT INTACT! Muha hah hah hah!!"

A drop of sweat rolled down the human's face.

But it wasn't for Derpy's evil plans, no, it was more because of the blazing hot flames from the torch next to them.

"I'm gonna count until I reach ten,"

"Then, I shall begin the grand event!"

"Okay, oooooone..."

"Twoo..."

The human was sweating even more, droplets from their forehead running down their face into their clothes.

"Threee..."

"Fooour,"

The sweating was becoming more and more problematic, washing down their face like a river almost. It felt so cold, it must've been because of the winds.

"Fiiiive..."

"Heya kid," the human hear Pinkie call.

"Six,"

"I don't want to alarm you or anything but,"

"Seven..."

"Your hat isn't doing so well there," She said as she grabbed a whole bunch of fries and munched on them.

"Eight..."

The human glanced up.

"Nine..."

"TEN!"

Derpy looked up from her remote excited and confident, only to drop her smile once she saw the human.

The human's top hat had literally melted on their head and soaked the human with fresh, cool water. They blinked a couple of times, unsure what to do.

Derpy opened her mouth as if to say something, and left so it for a while, trying to comprehend what exactly went wrong in her plans. She thought out every detail, every possible error, but she just didn't know what went wrong.

"Well sis', you could say that your, uh plans, might need some,"

"RECALCULATIONS regarding the kid,"

The human smirked at the remark.

Derpy turned her head around, and gave her a death stare, while Pinkie just gulped on some apple juice and did her best impression of being lazy.

And then, chaos ensued.

"HOW COULD IT FAIL?! HOW DID MY PLAN FAIL SO MUCH!"

"IMPOSSIBLE, I-M-P-O-S-S-I-B-L-E!"

"I HAD EVERYTHING PLANNED OUT!!"

"THERE WAS SOMETHING I MISSED, BUT WHAT?!"

"Wow, wow, sis' chill," She tried telling Derpy.

"Maybe you forgot to move the torch away from the kid, I mean, it's only normal it would melt if it were that close to them,"

"Wait..." Derpy realized something, as evidenced by her straight eyes.

"Fire can melt things even if it's not right next to it?"

...

Derpy stared into the distance, her knowledge had been expanded beyond a point she would never even dream of. Her perception of things changed drastically, she had just discovered a whole new world of wonders and mysteries. How... Curious, it was. She needed to learn more from this, so that there would be no more margin for error.

She looked at the human, dumbfounded. It was them who allowed her to discover such things, marvels of the world and beyond. She needed to compensate them, but how, was the question.

Then an idea sparked in her mind. She needed to prepare it before the human could reach it!

Derpy took off from the ground and disappeared behind the fog.

...

The human seemed confused, and so was Pinkie, as her couch had disappeared and her fries gone.

"Well, I haven't seen her like that in a loooooong time," She mused.

The human safely walked across the bridge and made it onto solid ground again, next to Pinkie.

She turned back at them and smiled a little.

"So, didya enjoy my sis' awesome contraption? I mean, she worked on it a lot, like, since you've arrived here,"

The human nodded, happy that the weight of the top hat was finally removed.

"Heh, I guess she didn't take into account that little detail,"

"Glad you've enjoyed it though,"

"But don't worry, it won't be the end of her show, y'know that red scarf she wore?"

They nodded.

"Well, she didn't use it because it was cold, she used it because she was ready for an epic battle,"

"Whenever she has that thing on, ya can expect a whole bunch things happening from her,"

...

"Ah, the piano thing? No, she's known around town to be a good muffin vendor, just by the bar,"

...

"Fight her? Uhm," She rubbed her chin, looking around thoughtfully.

"I wouldn't really count on that if I were you, unless you're actually looking to pick a fight with her," The thought causing a chuckle.

...

"Oh, so you're tired huh?"

"Well, the Inn, just next to the shop can fix that for ya, just a couple of Gs, and you're set for the night,"

They nodded, the fact that they were broke still pressing hard against their thoughts. They began walking towards the town, still eager to get some sleep, if they could, that is.

"Actually, can I say just one tiny tansy thing before you go? " She interrupted, adjusting her mane a bit.

"If you do end up being caught by my sister,"

"Remember the Yellow attacks, not everything is what it seems like, don't you forget that, silly,"

"Just a warning, you can go now,"

"If you need anything, try finding me over by the bar or in my ultra secret base of operations," Winking.