Chapters MT. EBOTT 20XX
A soft feeling spread across their back. It seemed so calm and peaceful, as if nothing could've gone wrong, still in bed, just waiting to be woken up by the sun...
Except, that did not happen. They opened their eyes and were surprised to see that the sun was eclipsed by the cave's rocky walls. They could barely see the sky from where they laid. They lifted their head and took in their surroundings.
They had fallen from a considerable height, almost enough to break several bones. But it appeared as if a dense patch of yellow flowers on the ground broke their fall, and spared them from death. The human closed their eyes and sighed.
They steadily lifted themselves up and managed to stand upright. They looked around once more, trying to search for an exit.
They spotted a hallway, darkened by the shadows cast from above. It appeared to be the only exit from the pit.
And so they made their way, near the wall, as the light from the pit began to fade into darkness.
They suddenly stopped feeling the wall, noticing a small bright spot in the middle of an obscured cave. A strange flower had a little smiley face carved onto it, and was pointing directly at the human. They thought that this flower was just merely there to scare someone...
That is, until it began to talk.
"Hey there!" Called the flower in a happy tone.
The human didn't flinch, and merely held the pillar next to them, staring at the strange flower.
"Hey! Don't be afraid, come over so we can have a little talk!"
The human didn't seem to like this.
"C'mon! I can help you get out of this place! I promise!"
After a few long steps, the human got close enough the talking flower that they could hear them far more clearly.
"So, you're new to the UNDERGROUND, aren'tcha?"
"Boy, you must be so confused!"
"By the way, I'm Flowey, Flowey The Flower!"
"If you want to get out of here, someone's gotta teach ya how things work in the UNDERGROUND!"
"Hmmm,"
"I guess little old me has to do," Sighing a little bit.
All of a sudden, the human's perception of color faded into a simple black and white scheme. They didn't know what was happening, or why it was happening, yet Flowey, rooted to the ground, seemed happier than before.
"Now,"
"You see that heart in front of you?"
"It's your SOUL, the very culmination of your being!"
"Your SOUL starts off weak, but it can grow stronger if you gain a lot of LV,"
"What's LV stand for, you ask?"
"Why, LOVE , of course!"
"You want some LOVE , don'tcha?"
"Here, LOVE is shared by... Little red drops of BLOOD ."
All of a sudden, giant vines erupted from the ground and rapidly surrounded the human. They immediately tried running away, but a stray vine made them trip over to the ground, giving opportunity for the rest to completely encase the human. Still, they struggled to free themselves, only making the flower's grip on them tighter.
The flower began to laugh.
"Hahaha! You IDIOT,"
"Hasn't anyone told you yet?"
"In this world, it's KILL , or BE KILLED ,"
They didn't want it to end like this.
"Now that you know the rules, how about we try executing them, hm?" An unpleasant smirk on its lips.
They were slowly lifted from the ground, and put onto a standing position. The vines lessened their grip on the human in the upper part of their body. They glanced down and saw an opening in middle of their chest.
They looked up again, and saw a sort of cactus spike pointing directly at them, with the flower still smiling. A deadly smile, at that.
"I've waited too long to let this one pass by..." The flower thought out loud.
"Now, do me a favor and d..." A frown formed on its face.
It smelled funny... It smelled like smoke.
The flower turned around and let out a scream of agony, letting go of the human right away, making them hit the floor with a thud. The flower pulled the vines down and sunk into the ground, a small fire following suit.
A moment passed, and the human lifted themselves up, holding a hand on their head. They glanced up, and saw yet another being unknown to them.
The being in front of the human was by far, the strangest thing they have seen yet. A sort of horse, but much smaller and friendly-looking. The being wore a large dress that covered most of its body with a strange symbol drawn on it. The being itself, having a yellow toned fur, gave a patient smile, along with those vivid blue eyes. Its mane, a bleached pink, was perfectly arranged all the way down to its hooves, as was its tail, stripes decorated with a small yellow knot near the end.
"Ah, hello my dear!"
Calmly pointing its hooves at itself, "I am Fluttershy, caretaker of the RUINS,"
The human seemed to be shivering.
"Don't you worry, little one, I am not like that being,"
"I can take you to the ruins if you so wish, my child,"
"It is safe there, I promise,"
They stopped, considering their options for a moment.
The mare extended its hoof carefully in a sympathetic way. They took it, and were lifted from the ground.
"Come this way, dear,"
They followed the mare throughout a dark path until they began to see light from a left corner.
A large entrance flanked by stairways and by a small garden made of yellow flowers was made visible to the human. Its purple bricks contrasted with the orange-tinted torches on each side of the entrance.
"This is the entrance to the ruins," The mare stated as she approached the stairs.
They, however, were admiring the flowers, due to how bright they shined against the torches. It was as if the sun itself had come here to fill this room with the sky of the outside.
Before they knew it, they were happily crinkling in the small garden with joy, almost forgetting what happened earlier.
A voice echoed through the room, ' Determination ', they heard it whisper.
The unknown voice caused them to jump a little, glancing around for the source of the voice.
A slight chuckle was heard, "Little human, we should continue over this way,"
The human, now looking at the mare above, quickly nodded, and stood up from the small garden.
Climbing up the stairs and passing through the entrance, they saw the mare trotting along some stone pressure plates and pulling a switch down, causing the closed entrance in front to slide open with a loud thud.
"Here in the ruins, there are a lot puzzles to be found,"
"Please do get accustomed to seeing them, my dear,"
They examined the room in detail, from the switch's metallic clinking, to the stone pressure plates, and in what order the mare pressed them to open the entrance.
"Follow me to the next room, dear,"
Before they did, they glanced at the sign left of the entrance, intrigued by what it said.
' Not everything must have a happy conclusion nor an unsatisfactory one. '
The next room was voided with the noise of rushing water. The walls that previously seemed to be in perfect shape, now look degraded, having every so often a large gap which allowed for vines to fill in the space. The walls were sometimes decorated with signs of various sizes, but they were unable to read most them from afar.
"Dear, to make progress here, you might need to flip some switches,"
"But don't worry! I have painted those that need to be used for you,"
"If that is alright with you, of course,"
The human smirked and nodded.
Following her over a small bridge above the water, the mare stopped just behind a spiked floor and awaited for them to solve the puzzle.
Almost in a blink, the switch was pulled, and a thud was made audible.
"Good! Now onto the next one,"
Before the mare could reach the next set of spiked floors, another thud brought them instantly down. She turned around to face the human child, who was already next to her eagerly awaiting for more.
She smiled softly, "Very well done, little human,"
Both made way to another room, circular in shape and again, wildlife beginning to penetrate the walls. Roughly in the middle of the room, was a dummy barely held by a wooden stick.
"Now, a human like yourself may risk being attacked by monsters, here in the underground,"
"But, don't worry, dear!"
"When you encounter a monster, you will enter a FIGHT,"
"During a FIGHT, you can try talking to them peacefully, without resorting to violence,"
"Sometimes, a monster will rethink their choices and let you be,"
"Try stalling for time, or give them a nice compliment!"
"You must be prepared to face these situations, my child,"
"Now, do you see that dummy?"
"Try starting a conversation with it,"
The human was confused by this, but nevertheless complied to her orders. They walked next to the dummy and found themselves to be in that same ambient, only the colors black and white distinguishable from each other.
Three options came to mind.
FIGHT the dummy, ACT out a conversation with it, or, SPARE it from its horrendous fate, whichever it was anyways.
They had to choose carefully if they wanted to gain the full potential of this training.
They needed to do the right thing here.
But these options were so intriguing, all of them.
If they were to choose one, then all of the other options wouldn't be worth it.
And they could never see how the situation would play out if they were to choose that option.
They needed to see all of them, all of the options, but which one...?
All of a sudden, the dummy had tired itself of the human's aimless shenanigans and flew out of their vision.
They turned around and looked at the mare. She seemed troubled by this.
"Uh," Unsure what to say.
She glanced the dummy, which was now hanging on the ceiling, utterly defying gravity.
"Come with me, dear!" Making up her mind.
**
They had entered the next room, which had a strange set of paths, all of them zigzagging the room in a random frenzy. They thought this was a joke.
"There's another puzzle in this room,"
"I wonder if you can solve it?"
The human examined the room carefully. Soon after, they came to the conclusion that this room had nothing related to a puzzle, so they decided to move on to the next corridor, the mare following and quickly making way further ahead.
The human could see the reflections of water in the ceiling, but before they could see what it was in its entirety, the human stumbled across a monster.
Again, he was brought into that ambient, the ambient of a FIGHT. But this time, against ...
A frog.
The human decided to check what this frog could do before they were to decide which action to take.
They asked for its name, to which it grudgingly replied 'Froggit', it didn't seem like it was having the best of days.
Just as they were about to take action, Fluttershy stepped in and glared intensely at the frog. Froggit felt guilty all of a sudden, and hopped away. It seemed as if it dropped ten gold coins, the human, without question, stored them in their pocket.
Now that the frog had gone away, they continued following the mare, until she stopped in her tracks. They were surprised to see a large room with spiked floors surrounded by water up further ahead. Perhaps there was a way to deactivate them or maybe walk past them without being spiked to death.
"Hm," The mare thought out loud.
"Maybe this is a little too hard for you,"
"Here, hop on my back," She said as she lowered herself to let the human climb onto her.
Now on her back, they watched as she made her way past the spiked floor as if it was nothing, doing zigzags around the room and eventually reaching the other side.
They hopped off of the mare's back.
"There we go!" She said to them with a smile.
"This way, dear,"
The room they stepped in was much more bigger than any they've been before, as part of it was obscured by the slight fog that voided the other end. It was a very long hallway.
She sighed, "I must ask you something..."
She looked away.
"I, need you... to..."
"Walk to the other side of the without me ,"
"Please forgive me," She nearly cried as she sprinted out of view.
...
The human just stood there, processing the current situation.
...
Apparently, they had to run.
And so, they did.
They began walking, shortly after, a jog. They summoned all of their strength and ran as fast as they possibly could.
The coldness of the hallway helped them keep up the speed, but the fog didn't help them from nearly crashing against a pillar near the end of the room.
"Ah!" The human heard coming from somewhere.
"Oh no! Dear, are you alright?" The mare trotted from behind the pillar next to the human, who was now resting their palm against the wall and panting.
"I should've known you'd be tired of running this far so quickly,"
"Pardon me for this, I will never do something like this again,"
"I should have walked with you the whole way, I-"
The human, trying to control their breathing, signaled the mare to calm down.
"B- But are you alright, dear?"
They nodded, standing up straight now.
"Oh, thank goodness,"
"Dear, I will bring you home right now, I will not let you be alone again!"
The human shook their head.
"What? Dear, if I leave you alone, you'll end up hurting yourself, and..."
...
"I-... I understand, but I do not want you to feel alone and hurt,"
"Oh!" A thought occurred to her.
"Here, have this,"
The mare gave them a small grey mobile phone, which was neatly decorated with tiny stickers of various types of animals.
"This way, we can keep in touch while I prepare things back at home for you,"
"If you so wish, stay here, and I'll come back for you when I'm finished,"
"Be good, will you my child?"
And so, the mare left them alone at last, with a phone and a pair of exhausted lungs, ready to explore the rest of the ruins by themselves.
The human stumbled upon a pile of brown leaves, just in front of a large entrance.
They checked their phone for their overall status, a trick they had learned from confronting so many monsters.
' LV 1
'HP 9 / 20
'EXP: 0
The human did not know what exactly most of these meant, but they were almost sure that 'HP' stood for their health, as they were feeling rather, weak, at the moment. It seemed as if that monster candy they'd found earlier wasn't enough to survive through the monsters' constant attacks without a scratch. But they were confident that they could dodge their attacks, no matter how grim the situation.
They lifted their head from their phone and gazed upon the large entrance in front of them. It looked as if home was just a few steps away from them.
... But that other doorway, to their right. Had it something special they did not know about?
Perhaps home could wait for a bit.
They stood up, and walked themselves through the doorway. Looking around, they spotted a little Froggit, standing there, munching on some spare lettuce on the floor. They approached it.
"Hm?" The froggit said as it finished its meal.
"Oh, you're the human, aren't you?" Not surprised.
"Yeah, I know you,"
"Fluttershy came down from those stairs over there, carrying groceries,"
"She kept talking about you all the way,"
"But I wasn't bothered, at least she gave me this! I was starving!" It finished, as it went for another piece of lettuce.
The human looked at the stairway, curious to where it led. They left the frog and walked up to it.
After a short while, they reached the top. They were amazed by the sight they had discovered.
The Ruins. At least now, they knew it wasn't just a couple of abandoned rooms that led up to the mare's house. From atop a balcony, they could see the whole extent of the ruins, ancient buildings of multiple floors dotted the view, some recognizable pieces of architecture had light emitting from them, signalling that there still lived monsters here.
After staying for a bit, enjoying the view, they decided to turn around and head back to the entrance. However, before they did so, they noticed a small object lying just by the edge of the balcony.
They took hold of it and examined it with detail.
A toy knife.
It certainly looked better than their stick, which was nearly breaking up due to it being stuffed into their pocket for so long. They decided to take it and leave the stick behind, keeping in mind that they needed to defend themselves, should the need arise.
As they climbed down the stairs, they couldn't help but feel a little tense for a moment, as if the floor beneath them was actually shaking. Though, once they had arrived downstairs, they felt nothing out of the ordinary. Froggit sure did not feel anything, being fast asleep near the corner of the room.
Passing the brown leaves, now riddled with small stones from the ceiling for some reason, they made their way to the entrance. Their attention was soon captured by a large flourishing tree, its leaves decorated with the same golden flowers seen back at the RUINS' entrance, specially the trunk, having a multitude of vines with those same flowers.
The human heard a voice approaching them.
"Oh no, they should've been here by now,"
"They haven't picked up their-"
"Oh!"
It was the mare, Fluttershy, who they had encountered once more.
"How did you get here, my dear?" Getting close to the human.
"Oh my, you've hurt yourself pretty badly, I knew I shouldn't have left you to solve those puzzles by yourself!"
"B- But anyways, I'm glad you've made it here,"
"I've just finished preparing the house for you! Come!" A little excitement in her voice.
The younger one accompanied the mare past the tree, and was greeted by the view of a colorful home. The same bricks covered the exterior of the house, but instead of the usual purple, it wore a shade of green, partially due to the amount of vines and degradation it already suffered from. The roof was obscured by the purple bricks from above, but they could tell that, it too had a similar color with the rest of the house.
The mare approached the door and opened it for the human.
"Come in, now!" A warm smile on her face.
They entered the house, and a cozy, warm feeling spread across their whole being. It felt like they had entered the most peaceful, and happy place since they remember. The entrance room appeared to have a staircase leading down to what the human presumed to be the basement, and a few hanging ambient pictures on the walls, all of them depicting scenes of the outside world.
The human nearly lost themselves just at the change of pace, from that certain eagerness to explore everything and everywhere possible, to the calm and warmness that let them almost tired from all of their previous adventuring.
They absentmindedly followed the mare through a corridor until she stopped right in front a door.
She opened it for them.
"Surprise! Your very own room, my child,"
"I hope you like it!"
"I've also prepared a..."
The human was nearly falling to the ground, their expression having 'sleepy' written all over it. The mare gave a kind smile.
"Alright, my child, you can go to bed for now,"
The human nodded weakly, yawning while they walked towards the bed. They made themselves comfortable in the bed sheets, and soon after, succumbed to their sleepiness.
**
They opened their drowsy eyes, and sat up, stretching their arms as a yawn woke them up from the irresistible warmth of the bed. The room seemed dark, but not too much, as they still could make out the room's furniture.
They rubbed their eyes in an attempt to shoo the drowsiness away, but they weighted so much, they wanted to go to sleep again, yet they couldn't anymore. After feeling the walls for a few moments, they found the switch and turned the light on.
The human was quite surprised to see a slice of Cinnamon Pie laying right in the middle of the room. They now know why Fluttershy had asked them which they preferred while they were out exploring the Ruins. They smiled.
Although there were not hungry at the moment, they stored it for when they did so.
Now taking a better look at the room, they found it to be perhaps a little empty on the other side. Only having a small drawing and a lamp to cover the brown wall. Another bed would maybe do good there... But why?
After observing the rest of the bedroom, they decided to leave and close the door behind them.
They looked around, interested in exploring other parts of the house. On their left, they spotted another room, which so happened to be open. Curious, they entered it.
What they found, was Fluttershy's own room, neatly decorated with nature-oriented furniture and paintings. It was clear now that the mare appreciated (if not admired), nature and its little creatures. Suddenly, they spotted an open book. They soon came to discover that it was a diary.
The human peeked inside, and read a random line:
'What does an elephant say to a bad pun?'
'Your pun is IRRELEPHANT '
'Hey, let MINNOW if you change your mind!'
The rest of the diary was filled with jokes of similar caliber.
After tiring themselves with the incredibly funny jokes on the diary, they decided to leave the bedroom and take a look around the house some more.
They had spotted yet another bedroom, however, its door had a sign stating that it was under renovations, and was defiantly closed. The human sighed, they were half-hoping that this one contained a similar diary of terrific bad puns.
Their curiosity still at its peak, they decided to look around some more, and came across a wide mirror. They looked at themselves, smiling, due to how happy they felt here and that things could only get better... Yes, it was their precise reflection.
They jogged all the way to the entrance area and reached the living room. There, they found a sitting Fluttershy, reading a book atop their large cushion near a blazing fire. The human observed the rest of the living room, which had a large dinner table with four chairs in each side, and a sizable yellow flower in the middle of it.
Now that the human saw it, they recalled a couple of vases with the same yellow flower back in the hallway, but otherwise ignored the fact.
"Already awake, dear?" Fluttershy said, noticing them. The human nodded.
"Did you enjoy the pie? I made it with your favourite ingredient!"
Not wanting to disappoint her, they nodded.
"Good," Glancing back at the book.
"Oh! Dear, do you want to hear this?"
They approached the mare and sat down next to her.
"It's an old book I've had for many years, it tells of mythical beings and fabled treasures," The human seemed excited for a moment.
"And including, my favourite, Nature itself! It's quite interesting if you get to read it," Their dreams were ruined.
"Did you know that butterflies begin their lives as tiny caterpillars? I think that's interesting,"
"Don't you agree?" The mare asked with a smile.
The human tried smiling back, but couldn't. Still, they nodded.
"Well, if you want anything, just call, dear,"
They lifted themselves up and walked towards a doorway.
They had entered a kitchen, which was undoubtedly clean, even though Fluttershy had baked that enormous slice of cinnamon pie... It appeared as if they'd discovered the rest of the pie, just laying atop the counter and large enough to break someone's head with sheer weight.
Apart from that, the kitchen seemed just like any the human would see in the surface...
... In the surface.
A thought occurred them.
They exited the kitchen and approached the mare. They tapped their head for attention.
"Yes, my dear?"
...
"What?"
...
"B- but this IS your home now, dear!"
...
"... I see, I'll be right back, stay here,"
The mare left the living room in somewhat of a hurry. The human followed her in her steps.
Fluttershy trotted down the stairs to the basement hurriedly, and the human followed her still. The basement led to a long hallway which turned a corner at the far end. Both sides were dotted with torches, allowing for them to see clear as day, as the mare stopped in her tracks in the middle of the hallway.
"So, you want to leave the Ruins, little human?"
"I will not permit it, it is too dangerous out there, and you will get hurt,"
She continued walking.
"If you leave the Ruins, his subjects will find you, and bring you to him,"
"He, Zephyr
"...I will destroy the entrance, so they cannot do such thing to you,"
"Please, return to your room now,"
The human persisted in following her.
"This is your last warning, my child,"
"If you follow me now, there will be c- consequences,"
The mare made a turn past the corner of the hallway. The human made up their mind and continued on forth.
When they reached the mare, she was facing against a tall gate, head down and breathing slowly.
"You are that determined to leave, then?"
She turned around, her expression changed drastically. Her eyes had shrunken and were visibly twitching, she nearly gritted her teeth.
"T-then prove to me, prove to me that you can survive what's out there!"
She threw her dress to the floor and unfolded her... wings, which now covered most of the entrance with yellow feathers, all of them so perfectly arranged and cared for. Fluttershy was desperate.
"I'm sorry, my child," Her voice trembling.
The ambient changed into one of a FIGHT.
The human had to choose carefully now.
They first began checking for the mare's capabilities... They were dumbfounded, to say the least.
Then, in a swift take off with her enormous wings, she unleashed her attack by air. Storms of wind reached out from the corner of their vision and charged at their SOUL. They managed to dodge most of them, but a stray one reduced their health significantly. They gritted their teeth in pain.
They chose to ACT , and attempt to dissuade her from fighting... However at that moment, they could not come up with anything remotely comforting. They limited themselves to simply looking at her.
Another attack, a small tornado shot out various types of debris that would occasionally hit their target. The human struggled to keep standing much longer.
They chose to SPARE her, they could not bring up the courage to...
She looked sideways, and unleashed another attack, shattering the floor below with spikes of wind, that would seriously hurt the human. They noticed their health reaching a dangerous low point. And yet, they remained persistent.
"What are you doing? Stop it and fight!"
Another devastating attack, their health was a mere three now, they were about to die, and they knew it. But they remained confident.
"Please, don't do this, fight!"
' 2 / 20 HP '
The mare began shivering, "Stop... Please,"
' 1 / 20 HP '
They would not succumb to the pain, they simply could not. They struggled to breathe, knees on the floor. They slowly lifted their head and looked at Fluttershy.
With a smile, they used MERCY .
Fluttershy prepared her attack, but something seemed wrong in her. She shivered as her gaze met the child's. She couldn't muster a proper attack, and all of her missiles fled to the exact opposite direction.
MERCY .
"I... I-"
She broke down and fell to the ground.
"I- I'm so sorry !"
"I only wanted you to be safe, I wanted you to feel like you were at home!"
"I couldn't even save one of them... Oh, my child, I only wanted to keep you safe!"
"Oh, please forgive me, my child, please ,"
She nearly gasped as she felt the human's hands on her mane. Fluttershy looked up and saw the most kind and sincere smile from the bruised human. They embraced her with their arms tightly.
They forgave her.
"Th- thank you , my child,"
After a moment, the human broke the embrace.
She rose up and cleared her tears.
"I- shouldn't have doubted you, my child,"
"You have been honest with your feelings all along,"
"My fear, my loneliness,"
"For you, my dear child, I shall allow it," She returned the smile.
Fluttershy trotted past the human, and began leaving them. However, as she looked back one last time, she nodded at them with a new-found confidence.
**
Once she left their sight, the human took a deep breath . They turned around and opened the gate.
As they slowly opened, the human was presented with another corridor, this time completely obscured from beyond the reach of the gate's torches, and unable to tell if it were long or not.
But they were determined to face whatever situation that awaited them further ahead.
They walked right in.
Their visibility began to fade, and it became increasingly difficult to know if they were approaching its end or not. They wished they'd brought a torch from the previous corridor now.
They heard the wind howling, but they did not know from where it came from. It sounded as if they were reaching ever so closer to the surface... Could it really be?
Suddenly, they saw light from their left side, and turned to face it.
Unfortunately, it was not the exit, but their 'old friend'.
"Howdy! How was the trip?" Asked the plant in a mocking tone, with a burned pellet beside its face.
The human seemed dissatisfied.
"What a show back there! You really told us all how it's done,"
"Hahahah, you're pathetic ,"
"You think you're really smart, don't you? Sparing a single life from death,"
"How dramatic ,"
"I bet you couldn-"
The human had enough of this flower's aimless shenanigans, and walked right past them without a care in the world.
"?!"
"HEY, I'M NOT FINISHED TALKING TO YOU! "
They waved them a goodbye from behind.
...
...
"You shall pay for this in due time ,"
A menacing chuckle could be heard before the human opened a gate, to what they thought to finally be the outside world...
To their dismay, it was not the surface.
But at the same time, it looked so much like it was the outside.
Before them was a dense snowy forest, foggy and a howling wind that sent a chill down their spine.
The gate suddenly closed behind them and made a few mechanical noises before it stopped. There was no going back for them, they had made their decision.
Among the dense forest, the human noticed a small path that led to somewhere, perhaps a refuge or a place where they would not freeze to death. They breathed in slowly and began walking in the small path.
They began questioning the ambient they were in. How could it be that a large forest such as this exist so far below the actual surface? Not mentioning the snow and wind, that simulated quite accurately what one would feel on the surface. They had a feeling that this wasn't even the beginning of what they were going to see in the future.
They would sometimes glance around, unsure if there were any beings waiting to catch them off-guard or just their mind playing tricks on them. Either way, it was preferable to be safe than sorry.
Their heart suddenly jumped, and caused them to feel a strange sensation all over their body.
Their heart began pounding faster, but for what reason, they did not know. Their breathing was now visible against the chilly winds, soon they would be shivering just from the cold that was beginning to shatter their skin. They crossed their arms, trying to keep themselves warm.
Cold sweat slid down their forehead. They felt uneasy.
At that moment, they spotted a wooden bridge of sorts by the far end of the fog. Perhaps it was there they could find a shel-
*Crack*
They turned back, paranoid that something was following them.
They started taking longer steps, hurrying to get past the gate. They needed to get past that gate.
The human heard the crunching of snow behind them, positive now that they were being followed.
It seemed to be getting closer and closer, not matter how much the human advanced their steps.
By now, they were at the beginning of the bridge, but...
They couldn't move.
The crunching noises approached and slowed down. The human felt something breathing behind them.
"H u m a n "
"D o n ' t y o u k n o w h o w to g r e e t a n e w f r i e n d ? "
"T u r n a r o u n d , a n d s h a k e m y h o o f ,"
Barely knowing what to expect, they turned around cautiously and looked at the hoof in front of them.
They shook it.
A massive wave of shock consumed their body as they felt their hair spike up and their vision blur beyond recognition.
They had been caught, they would fall and be brought to the king and be separated from their soul. They thought they would die right here in this instant, but, what they envisioned turned out completely different from what they actually got.
The shock subsided, and they blinked, still confused to why they hadn't fallen yet.
They focused their attention at the being in front of them.
The being howled in laughter, it seemed as if they were content at the human's misfortune.
"Y- You look like you just came out of a tornado," It said, trying to contain its joy.
The... pony in front of them had an overall pink appearance. Its long dark mane covered most of its right eye, while its left eye had the clearness and vibrancy of the surface sky, blue. This pony seemed to be wearing a similarly colored jacket that went down until it reached its bare pink hooves, while its hind legs were cushioned with home slippers.
"Boy, I haven't laughed at an overused prank in long time,"
"You have officially made my day, kid,"
"Oh, by the way," Adjusting its mane a bit.
"I'm Pinkie Pie, hilarious name, am I right?"
"And you must be a human, funny how you all look like over-sized action figures," Giving a wink.
The mare rubbed her chin with her hoof.
"Hm, tell you what,"
"See that? That over there in the sky is my lil' sister,"
"She's been searching for a human like you for a long while,"
"How about we make a surprise?"
The human didn't seem to like the idea.
"Oh, don't worry, she's completely harmless,"
"The worst she can do is... Well,"
"Is to crash a piano onto your head, but that's it really," Speaking as if it were a common event.
"Come on now, silly,"
The human unsure what just happened, pretended to understand everything the mare did until now, and limited themselves on following her over the perfectly designed bridge (It was actually nearly falling apart, but the human didn't notice). They had instead noticed, that the chilly winds and the frozen air had melted into a warm climate, even though the snow remained the same all over.
The path led to a clearing, where they noticed an empty shack, or perhaps outpost with an array of balloons freely floating around it in a circle.
"Hey, Googly Eyes! I've got a surprise for you!"
"... Where has she gone to?"
Both looked around, searching for the mare's sister, until a loud thump and a barrage of snow overwhelmed them.
The human was stuck beneath the snow pile.
"Oh Em Gee," They heard an unfamiliar voice say.
"PINK, WEREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE SEARCHING FOR FROSTING FOR THE TRAP?!"
"There's a whole lot of it around you,"
"And besides, I've been preparing a surprise for you,"
"Huh? What surprise..."
"IS THIS THE SURPRISE, PINK?!"
"It's not the snow pile silly, it's what's inside,"
As if on cue, the human managed to pop their head out of the snow, and be greeted with the view of yet another pony.
A pony with an unkempt mane and fur, grey and yellow respectively, gazed upon the human with its orange eyes... Its eyes ventured around its sockets separately, trying to focus on the being in front of them without much success, not mentioning its wings that served as paddles that spun around endlessly.
"Is that a..."
"Yes, Googly, it is,"
"I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT,"
"Then what should I call you?"
"HAH! That is quite simple, my dear sister," The mare said in a gentle manner, her eyes somehow adjusting back to what is considered normal.
"I am only to be known as Le Grandiose Derpimena !"
"The most excellent-est muffin baker IN ALL OF THE WORLD , AND BEYOOOND!" Managing to stay up with her hind legs and posing dramatically.
The human smirked.
"Oh and, nice haircut you have there, human!" The mare remarked.
They glanced up, and noticed that they had that spiked hairstyle of the electric shock from before. They made sure to adjust it.
"BUT FOR NOW! I MUST GO, CYA TWO LATER, BYE," She took off and flew to the air, paddling majestically to the horizon.
The human glanced at Pinkie Pie.
She shrugged.
"Oh, and if you haven't guessed yet, she's Derpy,"
...
"Not accustomed to hearing those names yet, huh? Don't worry, you'll get used to them, eventually,"
"But hey, judging by how quick she came here and left, she's probably preparing something,"
"And I'm sure it involves you in some way," Smiling a little.
"Go on ahead, I'll catch up to you eventually,"
...
"Oh, no, not at all,"
"Sure, you might find a couple of party-poopers out there, but really,"
"You won't get to see too many ponies wandering the forest at this time,"
They were slightly confused by this, but nodded otherwise. They made a turn, and began walking down the path deeper into the forest.
**
'Hello, I am a box! You can put anything inside of me, for FREE! - Written kindly by a box lover '
It seemed as if they had encountered a lone box just beside the path. They found it strange that someone would put a box in the middle of an underground forest just so something could be stored there indefinitely. Still, they needed to topple their curiosity, and open the container.
Spider webs, rotting wood, horrible smell, and... Two magnificent boxing gloves.
The human took hold of the boxing gloves and examined them.
It looked so new compared to what the box had inside, they thought that this must've been placed here recently. Shortly after taking hold of the gloves, the human made a comparison with their old toy knife and the boxing gloves, and came to the conclusion that they needed better ways to defend themselves than using a simple toy knife. The human dropped it in the box and closed it.
Satisfied with their new find, they equipped the gloves and set out to explore the rest of the forest...
That is, until a voice suddenly called them.
"He...hey- h- please come over h-here..." Its voice cracked and almost inaudible.
The human looked around and tried to spot the source of the voice.
"T- to your left, p-please,"
They turned left and finally noticed from where it was coming from. Behind the trees, a clearing was visible, and a figure weakly waved its arms at the human. They approached the trees, and slowly walked through the vegetation.
An old-looking pony laid on the floor and trembled to get on its hooves. The human did not think twice, and rushed to help the old pony up, but before they could, the pony pointed towards its walking stick, which was nearly falling off a small dock down the river and be flushed away.
At the last moment, they managed to grasp the stick, and successfully bring it to the old pony.
"Aaah, th- thank you so much, h-human," It said while the human helped it get up.
"It h-has been a lo-long time since a- a human has helped an- an old fool like me, eheheh," Coughing a little.
"I- I appreciate y- your h-help," The pony nodded.
"B- but please, h- human,"
"I have a- a rigorous request f- for you," Gaining their full attention.
The pony shook as it tried to get an enclosed letter out of its saddle bags.
"Take t-this,"
"It is for an old friend o- of mine, living far away in..." Its words trembled more for a second.
"B- badlands,"
"Y- You will recognize him, w-when you see him... I miss him so much,"
"I- If you give this to- him, tell him a- and his compatriots that there wa- was always a p-pony who cared about them..."
The pony suffered from a coughing fit. The human tried helping, but was waved away.
"It's al-right, I am fine,"
"W- Will you please give this to him?"
The human felt bad for the old pony, and firmly nodded in reply.
He smiled, "You are truly blessed, human,"
After waving the pony goodbye, they passed through the light vegetation and continued following the path.
They walked, and walked, looking at their sides for anything of interest, searching for something that would appeal to them or give them a challenge. They needed to explore this forest more, but without much to see, was it really worth the time? Still, they followed the path, in hopes of stumbling across something .
And they did, against a rock, which made them fall right into their face.
They dug out their face from the snow, and glanced up to see two figures talking to each other.
"HAHA! I told you it would work! The human didn't see it!"
"Wow, I'm like, really proud of you, sis',"
"THANK YOU!"
It was the two sisters. The human got up to their feet and brushed the snow off of their clothes.
"I shall be awarded with the most AWESOME-EST PRIZE EVER!"
"Imagine Pink, us two in the capital, BAKING THE BEST MUFFINS THE WHOLE OF THE UNDERGROUND HAS SEEN!" Nearly squishing her sister with her embrace.
"And you, human, will be our special ingredient!"
They cocked their head.
"Ooooooooh, trust me human, you will enjoy what's coming next..." Her eyes suddenly straightening.
"But first, I've got to prepare it! BAAAAAAI," Zapping out of view.
Again, the human stood there, absolutely dazzled out of their mind by this. This time however, they couldn't bother asking Pinkie Pie what just happened or how her sister literally zapped out of their view. They had a feeling that this wasn't even the beginning for their misadventures with the sisters.
They, without looking, walked past the pink mare, who called out before too late.
"Hey, kid, don't worry, she usually isn't like this,"
"It's just that she's really excited to show you her... Projects, that she can't control herself,"
"I'm sure you'll end up enjoying it," Giving a wink.
"Well, I'll see you at the next stop,"
Continuing on forward, they made sure to follow the path, sometimes being forced to make a detour either due to a fallen tree, or a steep cliff, even though they still were underground. They allowed themselves to stop questioning every detail they encountered, some of them being so strange that they couldn't even begin describing it.
They had encountered a shack, similar to what they had seen earlier. Strangely, the path leading up to it was littered with combs. Combs of all colors and variety. Some transparent, some radioactive and some even dismembering...
Nope, nothing unusual, according to the forest's standards.
They approached the shack, curious to what'd they find. They peeked inside.
The human found themselves thrown backwards at an immense speed and hit their head against a tree. From inside the shack, a horrible creature raised its head, staring down at the human.
"Yuo no touch my hayr," It said with its quirky voice.
A disgruntled pony with incredibly tiny eyes, squinted at the human in a fervent manner. Its extremely long and unkempt hair reached down its chin, which caused it to look like it was a growing beard. They happened to notice another detail, that this pony had a horn coming out of its hair, just above its forehead. The human found it strange, at least for a pony to have such feature, but they had thrown that meaning out of the window a while ago.
"Yuo are tresssspasssing, and yuo shall pai for it!"
The pony somehow levitated a comb out of the shack and threw it at the human, who was barely in time to dodge it.
They had noticed that a glow had encompassed the horn whilst the pony attacked them. They made sure to remember this.
While they had checked the pony, and learned that its name was ' Yuon Sun ', it charged yet another attack, this time levitating those green radioactive combs and spearing them at the human.
"Hayr not gud, need better comb," It said while it tried finding a comb to use.
They took this opportunity to try and talk with them, but were shooed off.
"Nonono! U hurt hayr, u pay for that!" It said, before summoning a massive wave of sharpened combs.
Some of them hit their target, but doing little to no damage what so ever.
"Bad combs, baaaad!"
They thought for a moment on the situation, and came to the conclusion that there was only one answer to this problem. They picked up a normal comb from the ground, and straightened the pony's fur, leaving behind a nicely arranged mane.
"Waaat?! Impossibru!!!!!" It nearly screamed.
"Yuo help Yuon? But yuo human!"
They straightened its mane further, making the pony look more like a gentleman, than a barbarian with a massive beard.
"..." It looked itself at a mirror.
"Yuon learned lesson today, human good, make Yuon vely beetiful,"
It nodded happily, "Tank you!"
They nodded back, trying to push away any questions regarding the radioactive combs.
Just as they were about to turn around, they noticed that all of the combs laying on the floor were being levitated inside the shack, which forced the human to dodge a couple of them coming from ahead, while Yuon hummed a happy tune, unaware of this.
They sighed, defeated at the thought of more misadventures to be lived inside this forest.
They panted heavily, catching their breath beside a tree.
After meeting with Yuon, the pony began staring at them for no apparent reason, and gave chase to the human almost immediately. The human spent the following ten minutes trying to outrun the monster, and failing miserably over and over. Each time they were caught, they would receive a nice batch of spiked combs, which, fortunately for the human, would do little to no damage.
Eventually, the enraged pony calmed down, after the human realized the fact that they had a comb in their pockets, and given it to the pony, which trotted happily back into its shack.
Their lungs no longer hurting, and their breath stable again, they began marching on forward, always following the snowy path.
Although, they had to admit, this path was really long, they had probably been walking for at least thirty minutes, excluding the accidental comb robbery, of course. Nevertheless, the human was determined to reach its end and find someplace to finally rest.
After a few minutes of walking, and (strangely) nothing of interest happening, they stumbled across an opening furnished with a table and a chair, one having an unplugged microwave on top and the other a lone muffin with a piece of paper strapped on it.
They approached the scene with caution, well aware of the affects suffered from overexposure to seemingly normal things in the underground.
Taking the piece of paper from the muffin, they began reading it.
' HEY ITS ME YOR BEST BAKER DERPIMENA I JUST WANNA SAI I SAW U RUNNING AROUND FOR NO REASON AND DECIDED TO BAKE YOU A MUFFIN STRAIT FROM MY HOSE I REALLY OPE YOU LIKE IT '
' FROM THE WORLD'S BEST BAKER - DERPY' '
They glanced up at the muffin before them.
Carefully wrapped around in its paper muffin cup, the muffin itself was dotted with little brown flakes, while its delicious chocolate-colored texture left little to no resistance in eating it. And so with one quick sweep, they took hold of it and munched on it.
...
...
Surprisingly, it tasted good, contrary to the mare's random personality and somewhat clumsy behavior. The human simply devoured it, satisfied with the nice treat made by Derpy. They brushed the crumbs off of their face and nodded to themselves, agreeing that this was the single most well-baked muffin they had eaten yet.
After a while, they glanced at the microwave, convinced that it was put there in case the muffin became too cool, even though it was still unplugged. They glanced inside, noticing that there was another muffin, with yet another note strapped on to it, but this time, its message very clear from behind the microwave's glass:
' FOR THE GRIZZLY BEER IN THAT CAVE IN FRONT OF YOU, NO TUCHING! '
The human looked up, just now noticing that there was a huge cave entrance in front of them, which presumably housed the beer... Or was it bear?
After a few moments of admiring the muffin inside the microwave, they set off on following the path again, in hopes of finally getting some much needed rest.
As they walked, the surrounding forest began being ripped apart by cliffs and steep hills, eventually turning into a mountain range.
They looked down from the mountain, and admired the view they got. A flood of trees, with a neat little river passing through them, and a house only noticeable by its smoke flying up from the chimney. It looked so much like the surface.
Suddenly, they felt something tapping their shoulder.
"Ahem, excuse me,"
They turned around, and were greeted with the view of a pony. An uncertain smile on its lips and a cautious look, it tried saying something, while its purple curly mane kept falling off from its hairnet. The human happened to notice that this pony had a horn too, experience tells them to be cautious around it.
"I, uh, just wanted to ask you if you, uh,"
"Want a bowl of soup?"
The human glanced around, confused by their question.
"O- Oh, yeah right!"
"My stand is right over there, can't see much past the fog,"
"Follow me if you want to try some,"
The human followed the mare, although a little hesitantly, over a small bridge and atop another cliff. They looked to their left and were shown a little stand, a sign above its umbrella clearing stating that it had soup.
"I've uh, been waiting for a customer to pass through here, but..." She said as she trotted behind the stand.
"It's been nearly two days since any sensible customer came here,"
...
"Yes, they do, but..."
"Those two sisters aren't exactly... You know, how one would expect them to be," Chuckling a little.
"B- But that's beside the point!"
"Welcome to my little corner of the mountain, where we sell the best bowls of soup in the Underground!"
"One fresh bowl is only twenty-three gold!"
The human thought for a moment on the purchase they were about to make, and decided to check their pocket to see if they had some gold.
' GOLD: 37
...
They seemed to be nearly broke.
But bought the bowl of soup anyways.
"Alright! Bowl of soup for the tiny human, coming up!"
Concentrating, the mare levitated a spare bowl and started filling it with green soup, splattering her pink coat with bits and pieces of carrot and other vegetables.
"Here you go!" Floating the hot boiling soup to the human.
...
"Where's the spoon, you ask?"
"Don't you know? Here, we drink the soup right out of the pot! Go ahead!"
They sighed, and shortly after gulped the entire soup down. It was burning hot, but they had to admit, it tasted really good.
After finishing the soup, they let a huge gasp out to try and cool their burning mouth down. They even waved just to get some air inside.
"Eeeeenjoyed it?"
They nodded quickly, still trying to cool their mouth.
"Great! Thank you for buying my soup!"
"It really helps me out," Smiling at the human.
...
"Spice? No, I never use that, why?"
"Oh, is it still burning? Here, have this,"
The mare gave them an ice cube.
...
"What?"
**
The human walked down a hill, trees once again becoming plentiful and the winds finally calming down.
They turned a corner, and were greeted with the sight of Derpy, the world's best muffin baker, who sat there, looking at the sky with a blank expression. She hadn't noticed the human yet.
The human approached the mare, and tapped on her head.
"Huh?"
"OH HI-"
She stared at the human.
"Oh. My. Golly." Mouth agape.
She stared at the human's magnificent snow top hat, and their smoking mouth, which looked like a chimney each time they opened it.
"THAT IS SO AWESOME OMG"
"I WANT THAT, NOW,"
The human seemed a bit disgruntled.
"YOU HUMAN ARE THE BEST, I RARELY CAN GET A TOP HAT, I ONLY GET A MUFFIN MOST OF THE TIME,"
"OH, AND, HOW DID YOU GET YOUR MOUTH TO SHOOT SMOKE LIKE THAT??"
...
"wait." Her eyes suddenly adjusting.
"you bought a bowl of soup, FROM HER?!"
"that's like... SO AWESOME!"
"I'VE NEVER SEEN THAT HAPPEN, SHE MUST'VE USED A MAGIC SPELL OR SOMETHING,"
The human rolled their eyes.
Derpy's did a three-sixty turn, somehow.
"Oh, and human!"
"Did you like my muffin?! I baked it just for you!"
The human nodded, somewhat happy now.
"YES! This is proof that I can be the most bestest muffin baker everest!"
"... But, you didn't touch that other muffin, did you ?" Her pupils shrinking.
...
"HAH! I KNEW I COULD TRUST YOU!"
"OH AND BY THE WAY,"
"THOSE PUZZLES YOU DID BACK THERE,"
"They weren't mine," Gaining the human's full attention.
"They were there since I came to this forest, funny how plants just give you top hats for no reason,"
"AND I JUST LOVE IT!" Derping around in a circle.
The human sighed a little, letting out a nice puff of smoke out of their mouth. They turned their attention to what was behind Derpy.
A carefully placed set of rocks with the much familiar ' O ' puzzles, which the objective was to turn all of the ' O ' spots into triangles by stepping on them. However, their experience with these puzzles wasn't very safe, to say the least. There was a reason why they had a top hat on their head after all.
"Oh, and that there is MY puzzle!" Noticing the human's absence from her little dance.
"I tried to make it look like the bartender in Snowdin, but I think I misplaced the eyes, just by a little bit,"
"But hey! Solve this awesomely-crafted puzzle, AND I'LL SHOW YOU MY FINAL FORM!"
The human watched as Derpy entrenched herself in the snow, and reached for a pair of binoculars eagerly searching for something. They could see her eyes in the binoculars, both flying around their eyeballs, still unsure where to look at.
The top hat they wore was becoming increasingly heavier, as small flakes of snow began falling from the sky. With that in mind, the human decided it would be best to leave the hat somewhere safe. The answer was made quite clear to them.
They took off their top hat, and put it on Derpy's head.
She didn't seem to notice.
Now turning themselves to the puzzle, they had noticed that the pressure plate was put on the opposite side of the area, just beside a tree. Slowly and carefully, the human tapped the symbols one by one, not planning in repeating the same mistake they had committed back in that other puzzle.
After finally stepping on the last symbol, they turned around, and were about to call Derpy, until they noticed a single square symbol in the midst of all the triangles. They sighed.
They needed to reset the puzzle, but how, was the question.
The human looked around, and saw nothing that could assimilate to a pressure plate or lever. Except of course, the one right next to them, which was probably there to use when all of the puzzle was turned into triangles. Either way, they pressed it, which caused an audible thump coming from their back.
They turned around and only just then noticed that the path used to be blocked by a wide arrange of spikes.
The human called Derpy this time, which disappeared beneath the snow, and returned right back up through a hole near the human.
...With the top hat still intact.
"WOWIE, THAT WAS QUICKIE," She mused, rather loudly.
"CONGRATZ HUMAN, YOU SHALL RECEIVE AN AWESOME PRESENT RIGHT AHEAD...!"
"Or is it left ahead...?"
"Anywaaaays, don't forget your epic top hat! YOU'LL NEED IT TO SURVIVE YOUR PRESENT! "
At this, the top hat fell from the sky and landed directly on the human's head. The human wanted to say something to Derpy, but she had already left.
They heard a chuckle.
The human noticed Pinkie Pie sitting there, munching on some fries just by the floor spikes. They approached her.
"So kid, whaddya thought of that?"
"My sis' worked a bunch on it, even though she forgot to remove the pressure plate over there,"
...
"Nah, it wasn't for you to use,"
"She pressed the thing whenever she got stuck in the puzzle,"
...
"Look, before I answer that, maybe you need to clear up that smoke of yours,"
"Cus' my fries over here are going to get double-cooked with that," Giving a small wink.
"Hold on a second, I might have a solution for you,"
She put the fries down, and turned around, searching for something.
"Ah, there we go!"
She pulled out a nice wooden smoking pipe, and inserted it in the human's mouth.
The smoke from the human's mouth was now entirely coming out from the end of the pipe. It looked like a proper chimney now.
"But we shouldn't forget the icing on the cake, hm?"
The human felt as a monocle was neatly put on their face, complete with a pocket watch and a highly sophisticated tie.
A click, and then a flash of light blinded the human, which forced them to blink several times.
"And all done!" Smiling.
"You look like the most stereotypical person from the capital,"
"And you should be proud, silly,"
The human had absolutely no idea why they had the certain appearance of a noble, or how Pinkie even had all of those things behind her without them noticing. All they did in response was to sigh, and let out a barrage of smoke through their pipe.
"Aw, don't be so sad, kid,"
"At least you'll get to see my sister's big number in style," She chuckled.
"Go on ahead, I'm waiting on the other side,"
**
A few minutes of walking (and being blinded by their monocle on multiple occasions) later, they stumbled across a pair of shacks, set in the middle of a hill. The human walked across a bridge from one hill to another.
Now arriving there, they found out that these shacks were in fact shops, each having on display various objects, ranging from plush toys to t-shirts depicting the area around them.
In the middle of each shack, there were signs with promotional text and discount offers.
The words of these signs were crudely drawn on a yellow background, easily seen from afar, excluding of course, the unfortunate habit the fog had in leading them to dead ends and limiting their sight greatly. This naturally caused some confusing moments when the human forgets where the main pathway was.
Although some of these merchandises were intriguing, the human had decided to leave them behind, since there were no shopkeepers nearby.
They passed the bridge again, and continued on through the main path.
As time passed, and the path stretched itself throughout the underground mountain, the human couldn't help but feel that they were being watched, no matter where they found themselves in.
Maybe it was because of the two amazing statues of snow demonstrating with an astounding detail, the two sisters.
Both had a sign, each with two names.
'THE GRAPE DERPIMENA - Cooker of Worlds
Derpy's statue represented her with a cooking hat, holding two frying pans while she stood on her hind legs, posing dramatically. The pans seemed to be coming straight at each other... Or was it at Derpy's face?
' Pinkie Pie - Eater of Fries
Pinkie's statue showed her sitting on a comfortable-looking couch, wearing a party hat, and lazily munching on some fries. Below her was a box with the words 'Quality Fries' written on it. The container seemed empty.
The human smirked at the snow statues, imagining each sister's reaction to the other's work.
After a while, they left the statues alone, and continued down the pathway, which by now, was steadily descending the mountain to roughly the level which most trees were.
They had to admit, so far, this forest was one of the most exhausting, fun, and somewhat painful they had encountered yet. But for some reason, none of this bothered the human anymore. It was as if they had gotten used to it, even though they were here for more or less an hour now.
They had also gotten used to the fact that, what ever misfortune they encountered, could be resolved through any means. Mostly, running, or being extremely patient. This of course, wasn't for the fact that they had to run for more than thirty minutes from an angry Yuon, no. It was most likely because of the still-smoking pipe Pinkie had glued into their mouth.
During their train of thought, they just so happened to bump into two ponies in the middle of the path. They nearly fell back due to the weight of their top hat.
"Oh sorry!" One said.
"We didn't see you there!" The other followed.
They looked up, and found a pair of mares, looking at the human worried.
The one on the left had a yellowish coat with a double-colored mane, blue and pink. Its eyes were a bright shade of blue.
The one on the left, though generally having a blue mane and coat, had several stripes of a pale blue, similar to the rest of its body. Its vivid yellow eyes looked similar to the other's coat.
"Like, we were going back to our shops, and all,"
"Yeah, and we were about to close them,"
...
"Oooooh, nice top hat you've got there!"
"Oh wow, that's like, exactly the same as those colts use in the capital!"
"Oh my god, that's so true,"
"Where'd you get those?" Pointing at the pipe.
...
"Oh no,"
"That's so bad,"
"You bought a bowl of soup from her?"
...
"Um, Bon, what was her name again?"
"I think she's called... Ame- Ameth- Amethyst, yeah,"
"Wow, no wonder we almost forgot about her name,"
"Yeah, real hard to remember,"
"Hey, question, you're like, a human, right?"
"Wait, they are?"
...
"Oh em gee,"
"Like, we were thinking, have you bought some things from our shops?"
...
"...No?" She paused.
The other did not respond.
"Well," Her expression started to change.
"Wouldn't it be a shame if you just so happened to loose just a couple of gold coins?" The mare's expression put them at edge.
...
The mares were inching close.
"We promise we won't take too much from you," Smiling now.
The human had entered a FIGHT
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.
The human freely followed through a path that would lead to the town of Snowdin. They felt happier, now that both their snow top hat and monocle weren't interrupting, or slowing them down all the time. They had no complaints about the tie though, it was actually becoming quite fashionable for them. But not enough to keep it.
Still, all of that running, eating, jumping and talking really took a toll on the human's brain. They already had bags under their eyes, and struggled to keep them open for much longer. Though, before they were to enter the Inn to sleep, the pipe still needed to be taken off.
Pinkie made them a grand favor and glued it into their mouth, mostly because it shot smoke whenever they breathed. Or at least that's what they thought. They were suspicious that Pinkie might have taken a picture of them, and is planning on doing something about it. Perhaps she already had.
The human stopped in their tracks and thought of how to get rid of the pipe. They were certain to remember the mare in her soup stand next time they saw her. The mare's soup might've been great in the human's opinion, but a burning mouth hot enough to shoot smoke should be considered dangerous, if not funny to watch.
But the idea of being laughed at and surrounded by a crowd of ponies, lingered in the human's mind. Then they considered the possibility of the sisters living there, along with their random and somewhat illogical behavior. If that were true, then the inhabitants of the town might already be used to seeing the most unusual of things.
They made sure to ask one of the pon-
*BANG
A muffled, but still loud explosion trembled the earth both above and beneath them. The ground shook like an earthquake was happening there, shattering and cracking open the soil bit by bit.
And then it stopped.
The human looked around, utterly confused and slightly scared, trying to find the source of the violent explosion.
Nothing, the fog around them did not help in locating the source. Whatever it was, they had a feeling that anything near it would be damaged and possibly hurt. Hopefully everything was okay where the loud bang happened.
They waited a moment, expecting to hear another explosion and subsequent trembling of the ground and ceiling. But nothing happened after that.
The human reluctantly continued following the path, with their heart beating faster than usual and being extra cautious for anything too much out of the ordinary. This situation certainly put them at edge.
Occasionally they would notice several cracks appearing right in the middle of the path, some tiny, others big enough to put a pony in. The human avoided all of them, the fear of falling into one creeping into their thoughts.
But as scary and worrisome the trip was, they had finally made it to the town.
' WELCOME TO SNOWDIN
Said a wide sign neatly decorated with snowflakes and various shiny lights.
From what the fog allowed, the human could tell that the town of Snowdin was a relatively calm one, as they didn't see any of the inhabitants out at this time. But it was most likely because of the sudden explosion, no one could've predicted it being so loud, and happening in such a short notice.
They looked ahead, and spotted a wooden house with a sign stating that it was shop. Staring at it for a moment caused them to come up with an idea, which involved getting rid of the pipe they had been so mercifully given.
Approaching the dark wooden door, they grabbed the handle and gently pushed it open, creaks from the door and a cling from the bell notified whoever was there that a visitor had arrived.
They closed the door behind them and turned around to see a bright and cozy shop with various items on display behind a counter. The ambient was extremely comforting, although they could still feel the breeze of the outside coming from somewhere. Then they heard another door close near them.
"Ahm, sorry ta come in late n' all, I wasn't exactly expecting clients..."
"... so late..."
A mare had appeared behind the counter. Its pale yellow mane was very much unkempt, with a couple of stray hairs popping out in the wrong place. Its unusual green eyes shined against the light from her shop almost magically. The mare's orange coat, although unkempt like her mane, mixed itself with the wooden background from the shop, its colors almost identical.
But what the human found most interesting about the mare, was her funny accent.
"Wow, I'm must be dreamin'!"
"You're an actual human!"
They nodded awkwardly.
"No way in hay I saw this comin',"
"Howdy! Mah name's Applejack, I'm the shopkeeper of this thang here,"
"Please! Feel free to look around!"
...
"Whaz that?" Inching closer to hear.
"You need help getting that thang outta ya mouth?"
...
"It's GLUED inta yer mouth? Ah fiddlesticks,"
"I'm bettin' it was one of ta sisters again, they're always up to somethin'..."
"One moment they're doin' nothing in their house, the next they're pullin' pranks on everypony,"
"Ah swear..."
...
"Oh right, that thing,"
"Gimmie a moment," She said once she began searching for something below the counter.
The shuffling noises coming from below only stopped when they heard a glass break.
"Weeeeell," She stood up.
"If it's really glued ta yer mouth, I guess this should do the trick," She said as she took out a bottle of water.
The human stared at it, confused.
"Now, listen here human,"
"I ain't got any of those fancy toys they have in the capital, so warm water's gotta do the trick,"
"Jus' take it and drink it like ya normally would,"
The human grabbed the bottle of water and looked at it for a brief moment, then proceeded to pour it into the pipe. Not a few seconds later, they had completely emptied the bottle.
"Thirsty, huh partner?"
"Now just take it out,"
Carefully, they grabbed the pipe stuck in the right side of their mouth, and slowly tried pulling it out. A little pop later, and they had the entire pipe in their hand.
"See? Whadda I tell ya?"
They opened and closed their mouth, trying to get used to having a fully functional thought sharer again.
"Never mistrust an Apple!" A proud thought written across her face.
...
"Oh the pipe? Well,"
"I might be able ta use that for somethin',"
The human cleaned the pipe with their shirt and placed it atop the counter, content at not having to breathe with their left side of the mouth anymore.
...
"Somewhere ta sleep? You're in luck partner!"
"That door ta yer right will lead ya to the Inn! Mah sister Applebloom runs it!"
"And uhm, if yer goin' there, please be gentle, she's uh lil' new there,"
...
"Okay, be sure ta sleep well!" A happy grin on lips.
The human waved her goodbye and opened the door leading to the Inn.
Once they closed the door, the human was unexpectedly greeted by a loud yelp coming from their left followed by a heavy thump. They turned around, and saw that a large shelve on the with various books scattered around had fallen to the ground. A young mare, or filly, was right next to it. She was quite shocked.
Then she turned back around to look at the human, mouth slightly agape.
"Uh, I, ahm sorry!"
"Ah, ah got scared cus of you, and, ah put the book too quickly!"
The human heard the door open behind them. It was Applejack.
"What in the..."
"Applebloom, howda hay did you do that?!" Surprised at the scene before her.
"Sis' I put the book in the wrong place, t'was it! An- And I got scared by the thing next to ya!"
She sighed, "Sis, it's not a 'thing' it's a human!"
"A what now?"
"Hu-Man,"
"Oh, like in those scary night time stories ya usually talk about when ahm goin' ta bed?"
"Yeah, all that, but now we oughta fix this here problem ya decided to bake for us,"
Applejack turned around, and seemed awkward for a bit.
"Look, ya'll understand now? Mah lil' sis' just needs a couple of more days and she'll be alright on her own,"
"An' sorry for the scene here... Tell ya what,"
"Jus' cus of this, you'll be gettin' a free night at our Inn! It's ta least we could do,"
...
"Take that key near the edge of ta counter, it's room number five,"
"Have a good night!"
The human nodded, and directed themselves towards the staircase, while grabbing the key from the counter. Climbing up the stairs, they glanced back at the reception and saw Applejack help her sister lift the shelve back up again. They smiled.
Arriving at a corridor, they found the door with the number five on it, and inserted the key. They turned it and opened the door with a click.
Inside, they had a bed thrice their size, a bedside table with a giant lamp on top and a tiny ambient picture hanging on the wall just above it. Not mentioning the carpet beneath them, which size was comparable to one of a mouse. They didn't mind it though, and closed the door shut behind them.
They jumped onto the bed, exhausted and unwilling to do anything other than sleep.
After a day like those, it was only normal for them to be tired. Running non-stop for thirty minutes, getting a mouth burnt, dodging bracelets and t-shirts alike, bargaining like an expert, being put into a noble costume, having a pipe glued into the mouth and to top it all of, knowing the fact that the human was now in the same village as the two sisters, absolutely baffled them, considering it all happened in a single day.
But for now, they could push all of those thoughts away, as a warm comfortable bed invited them to sleep.
**
They rubbed their eyes open, and let out an enormous yawn. A sleep like this was exactly what the human needed. They felt refreshed, and more alive than ever, eager to explore and discover new things in the village and the Underground. Still, they learned to be cautious when doing so, they weren't looking for a thirty minute jog again.
They jumped out of bed and took the key from their pocket. They opened the door, left the room and locked it with the key, still ignoring the fact that the door was actually four times bigger than them.
The human climbed down the stairs slowly, worried that there might still be sleeping ponies in the Inn.
Reaching down at the reception, they looked to their left and noticed that the shelve had been brought up to its place, along with the books inside. They also noticed the filly, Applebloom, sitting on a bench, reading a rather large book.
But how she was sitting on that bench, was anyone's guess.
...
She turned around and nearly jolted out of the bench.
"O- Oh!"
"Uh, sorry, ahm still not used ta seeing ya," Blushing a little.
She closed the book, and got out of her bench.
Circling around the reception with the book on her mouth, she tried saying something to the human. Only gibberish reached their ears.
With the book placed on the shelve, the filly sighed, realizing her failure at speaking with a book on her mouth.
"Sorry again,"
"What I meant ta say was, did ya sleep well?"
They nodded.
"That's good ta see!"
"Well and, since uh, that thing happened yesterday, mah sis' got ya a free night,"
"Ah mean, it's rare for her ta do somethin' like that,"
"It's, a RARITY,"
She chuckled, "Was it good?"
...
"Uh, yeah! It's a pun, kinda a tradition here in Snowdin, actually!"
...
"Let's see, if ah remember, every new visitar should be met with 'least one pun, to remind them of ta town itself..."
"Oh and yeah, you'll probably find more ponies out there sayin' puns," The thought bringing a smile onto her face.
The human had a feeling that this visit to Snowdin could either end up horribly, or so funny that they couldn't even stand up. They preferred the latter one.
A few moments of chatter (and somewhat bad puns) later, the human waved Applebloom goodbye and left for the shop right next, searching for the filly's older sister, Applejack.
And there they found her, idly glancing around her shop, with a thoughtful expression. So it was, until she heard the door's creaking and spotted the human entering the room. She approached the counter and smiled at them.
"Howdy! Everything okay over by mah sister?"
...
"That's nice ta hear,"
"Also, before ya say anything, lemme tell ya somethin'," Dropping the smile.
"Ahm really sorry about that yesterday, mah sis' didn't mean it to happen, she's not used ta seeing humans,"
"Hopefully ya had a well-deserved rest up there, it was ta only free room we had,"
The human was actually going to ask her about the odd sizes the room had, but it probably would sound mean if they said that now. Instead, they asked about the town.
"Snowdin?"
They nodded.
"Well, da town itself isn't that big, there's a library, a school, a bar and a couple of houses here an' there, a pretty quiet town, you'd think,"
"But oh noes, ya don't even know half of what the town's got!"
"First it's a town with a very special tradition of telling puns to new visitors,"
"Ta be honest, I don't find them very... PUNNY,"
A drop of sweat fell down the human's face.
"And secondly, ya've got two important residents who love ta do whatever comes ta mind,"
"Ya should've guessed who they are by now,"
...
"So ya want ta know about the sisters, huh?"
"Okay, but be warned, it doesn't make a lot of sense,"
"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."
