My Little Tale

"Well, it all kinda began when ah had moved da shop from the capital to Snowdin,"

"Ah heard business was better here, so ah packed things up and set sail,"

"Now, ya won't believe this, but ah found those two creatures going exactly the same way as myself and mah family,"

"Asked them if they wanted company or somethin', they uh, seemed ta be strugglin' kinda,"

The human cocked their head.

"Yeah, but it's not all,"

"We uh, offered them to come an' join us to Snowdin, 'cus they didn't tell us where exactly they were goin',"

"Anyhow, we reached this here town, built the shop and Inn from scratch, and helped them build a home of their own,"

She sighed, "Those were ta simpler times,"

"Now they're da entertainment of da town,"

"Pullin' pranks on everypony, laughing, cheering, even arrangin' parties,"

"When they're not pulling pranks and doing things of da sort, they're uh, on their posts by da forest,"

"Searchin' for humans and watching out for anythin' dangerous,"

She inched closer, "But just between you and me pardner, ah don't buy inta it,"

"Though, sometimes they're neither in their posts or da town,"

"They wander out ta somewhere and usually return after a couple of days,"

"... And that's 'bout it ah guess," She finished, a thoughtful look on her face.

Fortunately for them, they had a good rest, otherwise they'd be sleeping already. Though, the human found this interesting in a way, specially the last bit. The thought of seeing the sisters throughout the Underground didn't seem like a bad idea at all, excluding of course, more puzzles and terrifying traps.

But for now, they had asked enough from the shopkeeper, Applejack, and were planning on visiting other parts of town.

...

"Alright! T'was nice havin' you here, g'luck out there," The shopkeeper said, waving the human goodbye from behind the counter.

The human closed the door behind them, and breathed in the fresh air of the Underground. They admired the cloudy skies, snow flakes slowly falling down to the ground. It reminded them of the surface, somewhat.

They glanced down, and noticed a vaguely familiar chest just beside them. They hadn't noticed it there yesterday, and wondered how it even got there.

Curious, they opened it, and were surprised to see a toy knife. Very much alike one they had dropped back in the forest, lying just in between some broken cobwebs and dust. They picked it up, and wanted to make sure it was actually the same one, and not just some practical joke someone was trying to pull on them.

But as it seemed, there was nothing different compared to the one they had left yesterday. Still, they found it interesting to see this item again. They placed the toy knife in the chest and closed it.

They looked to their left, and without the fog hindering their sight, they could nearly see the entire town, spotting a few ponies gathered around a large tree.

As they approached it, the reason for the ponies being there became more and more clear. The tree had a whole arrange of shiny lights and beaming decorations, all the while being covered in a light layer of snow. Many presents, of differing colors and sizes littered the ground below the tree.

They were now behind a small crowd of what they thought to be parents watching their fillies and colts joyfully open the presents beneath the tree. But not all were doing so, as the human spotted a trio arguing about something.

Not just any trio, the human had spotted something new. A pair of fillies and a small purple being with green scales running on its back down to its tail. They were curious about this being, it did not resemble any of the ponies around, as it actually had hands and stood up straight, just like them.

"No way! You're both lying, I don't believe it," The being nearly shouted.

The human got closer to the group, hearing the on-going conversation clearly.

"We're telling you," One of the fillies said, while looking at the other, "We lost it somewhere yesterday,"

"How could you two lose my present just like that? I trusted you both!"

"Well, if you weren't such a crybaby just because some dirt started to shake, we wouldn't have lost it," Argued one of them.

They could nearly see its head turning red and steam puffing out of the its mouth. Luckily for the ponies around, its anger faded away once it spotted the human watching them. It took a while for the pair of fillies to notice, but when they did, they too froze on the spot.

The human couldn't tell if they were scared or just shocked at seeing them.

"Sweetie Belle, is that what I think it is?" One of the fillies asked while staring at the human.

The other just stood there, mouth agape.

While the purple being seemed more than curious to know about them, its eyes almost glittering.

...

"IT TALKED, IT TAAAALKED!"

Because of this, the crowd turned around from the decorated tree, and shared similar looks when they spotted the human. Silence gradually overtook the area, and the whole scene was directed to the human, them standing there, unsure what to do.

They sure were in an awkward position.

"Hey, don't you guys know?" The purple being began saying.

"It's a human! We've all seen one before, right?"

There was a massive 'Ooooh' of understanding and nodding in the crowd. Not a few moment later, the ponies around the tree had completely forgotten about the human, and were happily watching their fillies and colts beneath the tree again. And yet still, the trio did not break eye contact with the human.

They scratched their head.

"Hey, you, come over here!" Invited the purple being.

Slowly, they walked up to them, still confused by the strange reaction from the crowd.

"Don't worry, it's always like this whenever somepony new comes around," It reassured.

...

"Oh, hi, I'm Spike, Spike the dragon," Almost posing proudly.

"That over there is Sweetie Belle and next to her is Scootaloo,"

They glanced back at the fillies, who were still a little bit shy to talk with them.

"Heh, what's up now, Scoots? Lost your tongue somewhere?" The dragon said with a mocking smile.

The filly seemed ready to jump on the dragon, but a hoof from what they thought to be Sweetie Belle stopped her from doing so.

"Sorry about that, we would never imagine seeing an actual human here," Blushing a little bit.

"Yeah! I thought it was one of Pinkie's pranks again!" The other filly, Scootaloo said.

"Like, remember that one time where I was playing catch with you and saw a giant bear near the trees?"

"Hu uh, that time it was Derpy, though,"

"Oh yeah..."

...

"If they do! All the time, every day of every week of every month of eve..." Scootaloo trailed off.

"Yesterday they told us that there was a human around here," Said the dragon.

"Obviously we thought that it was a prank again, but now that you've showed up--"

"-- He doesn't need to go Human Hunting anymore," Said Sweetie Belle, smiling.

The human cocked their head at Spike.

"H- hey! I thought we had settled that problem already!"

"Nu uh, you spent the entire morning blaming us for loosing the net to catch the human,"

"And now we won't stop bothering you until you say sorry,"

"What?! Me, say sorry to you both? Oh please,"

...

"Huh, what's that?" The dragon asked.

The human got closer to Spike.

...

"B- but they lost my net!"

...

"...Fine,"

The human gave space for the dragon to talk.

"Uhm, ok, sorry about that, I won't bother you guys anymore,"

"... Do you promise?"

"Ugh, yes, I do," Nodding.

"Haha! Take that you greedy monster!" Scootaloo said, greatly enjoying the moment.

Spike turned around to face the tree, ignoring the pair.

The pair of fillies were about to leave before one of them stopped and glanced back at the human.

"Oh, nearly forgot, human,"

"It was SPICE to meet you," Almost giggling at her own pun.

The human and Spike were then left alone by the fillies, idly looking at the crowd of ponies unwrapping the gifts from the tree. Both remained so, neither starting a conversation or go anywhere.

Then, Spike glanced at the human.

They glanced back.

"Don't worry, I won't make any bad puns,"

They smiled.

"Well, ok, mostly because I'm terrible at them," Chuckling.

"... So, you're actually a human, yeah?"

They nodded.

"Wow, it's been a long time since I've seen a human,"

...

"No, none of the fillies and colts around here met one before,"

"They've only heard bedtime stories about them, boring if you ask me, heh,"

...

"That's actually a pretty good idea, follow me and I'll show you around,"

The human followed Spike past the crowd and away from the decorated tree. Tiny pieces of ice crystals fell from the sky, covering the path they were following with a white soft carpet of snow. The surroundings were dotted with trees and the occasional house, the town there being sparsely populated compared to what they've already seen.

"So, since you're new around here, I'll be your top-quality guide for today,"

"To your left you can admire the passage that leads to the local school, just by the river," In a gentleman's voice.

"By now, you can clearly see the Bar of Snowdin, commonly known as... The Bar,"

An isolated building made up of bricks surrounded by nothing other than trees. It had a large window, blurred by the cold of the outside, only shadows illustrated the inside. It seemed to be full at the moment.

"Hey, it's very important, ponies here aren't creative when it comes to naming stuff," Making sure no one heard him.

"Ahem, and over by that hill, you can observe the Libarby, a center of education and knowledge,"

"Psst, most of the books are about a hundred years old, and I'm not talking about the mare who runs things there,"

"Finally, past this little bridge, you can observe the largest structure of the town,"

"Pinkie and Derpy's house, with over three floors worth of party cakes and confetti,"

"That's the rumor at least,"

The house looked like it only had two floors in total, they thought that the third floor Spike spoke about was a small shed next to the main house. Both had wooden walls and doors, just like most buildings in Snowdin. Except this one had odd sizes for windows, one being too small to even see through properly and another almost as wide as the entire building. Only the ones on the first floor seem normal.

They had arrived at the doorstep of Pinkie and Derpy's house, just behind a wooden arc with a sign of the town's name. They could hear the noise of a river stream from somewhere.

"And done, that's basically Snowdin, how about it?"

...

"Yeah, but it gets boring around here after a while,"

"... Oh! I haven't told you,"

"See that igloo there, left of the house? That's the most awesome thing you can do here,"

...

"Come on, follow me,"

Both of them approached the igloo, it being much smaller than they expected it to be. The closer they were to its entrance, the colder and windier it became. The human rubbed their arms, already starting to shake.

The dragon smiled, "Go on in, I'll be right behind you," Smiling.

...

"No, just go in, it's nothing bad, I promise!" Still not containing his smile.

...

In a matter of milliseconds, the human lost their footing and slipped into igloo, being sucked inside of it with such speed, they hadn't even noticed what happened until they were blown out of the igloo and onto a pile of snow.

They popped their head out of the snow, and saw Spike land on a pile of snow next to them. He too got his head out of the snow.

Both stared at each other, emotionless, until Spike let out one of the loudest and hardest laughs they had ever heard of before. He couldn't contain his tears, it was simply too much for him. The human sighed.

The human broke away from the snow pile, and helped Spike get out as well. His laughter didn't let him get up properly and fell right after being picked up by the human.

"I, haha, sorry, but that was so funny,"

"You should've heard yourself, screaming down the pipe, it was hilarious, heheheh,"

...

"Oh my gosh, the third time you fell into one?!"

They nodded.

"You're really unlucky. Wait, scratch that, you're unlucky AND funny,"

"I wish you w--"

Suddenly, the two heard the ringing of a distant bell, though loud enough to encompass the entire town. Spike nearly jolted at the sound of it.

"Oh no, I should've been there six minutes ago,"

...

"Yeah, that's the school bell," He said, starting to walk away.

"Look, sorry I have to go, but it was nice meeting you! I'll see you agaaaaaaain!" Now running away to school.

With Spike running away to school, they were left alone with their thoughts, and the occasional pony, many highly interested in seeing the human for as long as they could.

They were keen on visiting the library Spike told them about, even if he advised against it. They wondered how the ponies got sealed down here, living normal lives in the Underground without ever seeing the surface world. They were almost certain that's where the answers lied.

They followed the path yet again, not daring to even look at the igloo, and made way to the library up the small hill.

A few moments later, they had reached the library's door. They glanced up, and were shocked to see that this was in fact called a ' Libarby ', not just a mistake made by Spike. Either way, they pushed open the door carefully, still managing to ring a bell, marking their presence inside the building.

They noticed right away that the building was devoid of ponies. The main room was only furnished with a handful of chairs and tables, along with a dozen of bookshelves, all in dire need to be dusted off. Taking a step, the creaking of the wooden floor alerted something left from them, they turned around almost immediately.

An old mare, white mane, light brown coat, hovered her glasses at the human with her horn, trying to decipher what was in front of her. After a long period of waiting, she finally recognized them.

"Oh my, oh my," The mare said with a sad raspy voice

"It seems as if yet another human has fallen down, here was my little self thinking it was a lost foal looking for the candy store,"

"Ah, yes, those were the days..."

...

"Oh, sorry little human, I got carried away by these fragile memories,"

She coughed.

"Ahem, s-so, what does the young human want from this libarby?"

...

"It is, yes, it is indeed called a 'Library', funny to think how foals from the village dropped two letters from the sign and misspelled its name,"

"The other foals came here and started calling this a Libarby, oh if I told them that it wasn't, again and again. Unfortunately the name stuck, and eventually my old self fell into the same hole,"

She adjusted her glasses.

"Not literally of course, we already live in- o-," A coughing fit interrupted her.

The human wanted to do something to help her, but they didn't know how.

"Oh, s- sorry dear, I'm alright, I'm fine,"

"I- I'm used to this already,"

...

"Hm, you say you want to know more about the Underground?"

They nodded.

"Please, have a look at the first shelf to your right, those are the most recent versions you can get,"

The human thanked her and neared a bookshelf to their right, entirely occupied with books larger than they could possibly carry. Between those books , they spotted a relatively small one and took it from the shelf.

They pulled a chair and sat on it, placing the book atop the table. Not willing to read it in ts entirety, they chose a random page roughly in the middle of the book and began reading it.

' The surface world was a fantastic place where both races live, even thrived in harmony. These races, Humans and Monsters, evolved together for thousands upon thousands of years... But one day, the humans, known for their greediness and vengeful spirit, declared war upon the monsters, in fear they were plotting the same.'

' The races clashed against each other in a massive battle, desperately trying to gain the upper hand, but eventually, the humans proved more resilient than their monster counter-parts. In a single day, the humans expelled the monsters from the surface world and down below Mt. Ebott, sealing them with a magic spell conceived by seven of their most powerful wizards. '

' The humans now have the whole of the surface for themselves, and the monsters are left with a single mountain, far from human eyes. We ask ourselves if we deserved this, if we deserved to be sealed down here for an eternity, without a way of ever leaving... As much as we wonder, not all hope is lost, our King has a plan... '

The next page had very much faded into a blank piece of aging paper.

They closed the book, their mind struggling to process all of the information. They could hardly believe it, an entire species, living in the Underground, all because humans were afraid...

No, they would put that thought away. They closed the book, hopped out of the chair and placed it on the shelf.

The human approached the counter where the old mare sat. She was wearing a strange expression.

"Dear human, I- I understand you are confused at this moment,"

"But it will all make sense, given time,"

They simply looked down, half-nodding.

"Be careful, human child and, good luck," A frown formed on her lips.

They bid her farewell and left the library. Standing there in front of the door, they could see Snowdin in its entirety, from the Shop in background, to Pinkie and Derpy's house nearby. A sigh escaped their mouth.

The human came to the conclusion that they already had seen most of the town and its residents, and that path behind the sister's house looked like to be the only way out besides going back.

And so they did, climbing down the hill and following the path that led them to... Somewhere.

They glanced by as they saw the arc saying 'Snowdin' becoming smaller and smaller, until being finally clouded by a light fog. The noise of a river stream was louder than ever, and they figured it wouldn't be long until they had to cross yet another bridge to get where they wanted.

Strangely, the river was diverging away from them, as its noise became harder to distinguish. As was their view in fact, the more they traveled, the thicker the fog became.

In the distance, they noticed a silhouette forming in the fog. They stopped just in front of it, wondering what it was.

Until...

"Human,"

They heard Derpy's voice.

"We need to talk."