Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A large, ovular plate was rested on the smooth, marble countertop. Piled on it was a heap of little gingerbread men, freshly baked with the slightest glimpse of steam still rising from the sweet, crispy tops. The baker placed her oven mitt inside one of the small drawers adjoining the oven in the kitchen. The mitt was specially designed, appearing much smaller at the top than many of the ones commonly used by humans. The top was just as small as the part typically used for one’s thumb. This was because the baker did not have human hands or human fingers. Her hand had hooves, three to be exact, which acted much like human fingers but were a bit rougher and bulkier in use. 

Noelle Holiday hummed softly to herself as she climbed the stairs of her home and made her way to her room. It was a Friday evening and the sun outside had begun to set, casting a fall orange light across the town. The songs and sounds of birds chirping could be heard outside along with the occasional sight of autumn leaves blowing in a slight breeze. Noelle had made sure to leave the front gate to her home unlocked such that there would be no need to climb over it or the surrounding walls for any incoming guests. She wanted to make sure that things were at least workable in her room and intended to be able to greet her soon-to-arrive classmates with a warm welcome. A nice batch of cookies seemed to her like something to lift the mood off another boring assignment. There was always something being assigned for school and that it always ended up being group projects. 

They were the worst, and Noelle would often end up getting stuck working with the most sarcastically condescending student in class, Berdly. That was not to say that all the other students in class did not have their own share of potentially distasteful qualities, but he was by far the worst. This opinion was not solely in Noelle’s mind either. Anyone with half a brain could tell that she abhorred him and dreaded having to work with him, but she was always too sweet, hesitant, and reserved to speak up against him. Time after time again, she would have to work with him, all the while he regarded her with the title of second smartest student in class and whatever other foolhardy remarks he could think of. This was until chance came, and Noelle ended up joining her classmates Kris and Susie on several unique adventures in what she only knew as the dark world. 

The dark world was a world of magic and imagination where things from the light world could be given new forms and life. It was often a dangerous place but luckily not one that Noelle had to travel alone. Kris was the quiet human that everyone in town knew. They said little and acted strange, almost like they were not acting on their own behalf a lot of the time. Susie was the big bad bully of the school which no one would dare look in the eyes. This was partially due to them being obscured by her mess of dark brown hair but more so because it would likely be one of the last things said eyes would ever look upon. Throughout their various adventures, Noelle learned that it is reasonable to be afraid, but when people feel scared the most is when they do things that they thought were most impossible. The dark world alone seemed like an impossibility to Noelle, yet it still existed. Through her journeys there, she had not only grown to understand Kris and Susie much better, but also what it meant to stand up both for herself and for what she felt was right. 

The twitches that Berdly’s eyes, beak, and wings made upon being told to find a new partner sent a ripple of reactions throughout the class. Several students dropped what they were doing and looked over in a mixture of shock and surprise, as Noelle had never said that to anyone before. Susie needed to cover her face to hide her laughter after seeing the disappointment on Berdly’s face. Even Kris formed a small smirk, but with them it could have been for some other reason. Noelle opted to work with the two of them on their next project, leaving Berdly to bitterly bicker to himself as he was placed into a group of three with Temmie and her egg. After offering to have her two partners come over to her home after school to work on their project, her time for preparation was nearing an end. 

Noelle’s mother Carol was at work in the town hall for the day, her father Rudy was still being kept in the town hospital for analysis, and her sister Dess was staying after school for chess club, so Noelle had the home to herself. Pushing the evergreen tinted door of her room open with one hoof, she looked around to see if everything was in check. Having the town mayor as a mother ensured that Noelle was always on her toes with all her work and organization. As such, she wondered why it seemed as though whenever one wants something that is ordinarily neat and tidy to remain that way that it never seems to be. Although the floors of her room were visible and there was certainly enough room for three people to work as needed, there were still many things that had not been entirely tucked out of sight. Noelle walked across her carpet, fashioned with a powdery snow design that seemingly glistened the longer one would look at it. She stood on its center, tapping one of her feet, which were also hooves, as she looked around the room in anticipation. 

Her work desk was mostly in order, with her laptop as well as a few scattered papers and pencils lying around on top. A small violin and bow rested in the corner of the room just behind the edge of the desk. As her cobalt blue eyes moved across the room, they met her bed, which had been mostly made neatly. The hoof-knitted pine pattern comforter faced upwards on top of the bed with its sides tucked underneath the mattress and no wrinkles that anyone could see at a glance. A purse sat on top of the blankets and a small mobile from Noelle’s earlier years still hung above the bed by a small hook on the ceiling. Several large snowflakes accompanied a group of stormy, winter clouds hung from the hook and turned ever so slowly from each of their connective strings. 

A small wooden table sat next to the bed with a single drawer and long legs on its underside. A mini-igloo rested underneath, a small memento of an arts and crafts project that Noelle had made several years prior with Dess. It was pieced together with tape and foam material and had been given a smooth, white overcoat of paint with marker drawn crevices. Noelle’s eyes paused on the igloo for a moment, as if something were hiding itself beneath it. Her eyes narrowed on the entrance which stuck out slightly from underneath the table. Her buck front teeth turned slightly with her mouth as she looked on. 

“…” Noelle continued to look at the small craft. “Eh, Kris and Susie won’t pay any mind to that,” she eventually said as she waved her hoof, disregarding it. Her dresser stood between the small table and her desk. Five drawers filled with probably a hundred Christmas sweaters lined the front of it, each with three little handles. Small paper links hung on the handles of the small dresser with various designs and colors, including that of a reindeer, Christmas tree, and snowman. The top had several oddities scattered about it, including a coin jar, family picture frame, tiny empty locket, small track trophy, and fully opened advent calendar from the year prior. Noelle would have thrown away the old calendar, but the misty, winter mountain design on the front made Noelle hesitant to. She could not part with it at least until she could draw something like it after having referenced it enough. 

As her eyes continued about her room, she glanced over the rectangular wooden box that rested at the end of her bed. Several stuffed animals and plushies were tucked away inside, with the only one left out being a furry green critter with a grumpy pout upon the face. A little button on his chest read, “Grow my heart and make me smile.” Noelle was about to put the stuffed toy back in the box, but the grouchy demeanor of it made her chuckle slightly. “Maybe I’ll leave that one out for Susie,” she said quietly to herself, “Tell her that this would be her if she was a toy.” 

A small closet rested in the wall opposite to the bed with its doors shut. While Noelle knew that Kris and Susie had first visited the dark world inside the supply closet at school, there was nothing inside her closet that was anywhere near as interesting. Just hangers with a few dresses and other clothing packed away along with an old dream castle playset that Noelle could never sell at any of her family yard sales. 

Beside the closet doors stood a shelf of knick-knacks and toys of varying sorts. An old Fluffby toy rested on the shelf with big, round eyes, fuzzy fur, and smiling beak. Next to it stood a small, toy soldier wearing a tall marching hat and a wicked pair of chompers. A snow globe rested beside it, but all its snow pellets had sunken to its base. A plastic elf with long striped arms, legs, a point hat, and a smile that would never droop sat just on the end. Noelle’s eyes halted upon the eyes of the elf and its eyes looked right back into hers. They stared at one another for a moment before Noelle broke the silence. 

“I never liked you…” she said to its face. After taking one more glance around the room, nothing seemed too out-of-place or messy for what Noelle assumed Kris and Susie’s standards were. A messy pile of various school notebooks sat at the side of her bed near her open backpack, but that was to be expected for their assignment. She let out a deep breath as she closed her eyes and ran a hoof through her blond hair until it met one of her antlers. 

“This should be fine,” she said, rubbing the few freckles on her cheek with her other free hoof, “we can hopefully get this done pretty fast.” Noelle began to turn and leave the room, but something caught her eye as it turned away from the pile of notebooks. Upon looking back, she saw another with a dark gray cover tucked just within eyesight underneath her bed. She walked over to her bed and knelt to pick it up. 

She held it in front of herself and looked at the front cover. The yellow silhouette of a twenty-sided die was printed on the front without any text or pictures. Seeing the book and cover reminded Noelle of how she had always tried to borrow the “How to Draw Dragons” book from the librarby, but how they never seemed to have it available. Noelle had later decided that this just left more up to her own imagination as to how to draw and base a dragon. She sat down beside her bed and began flipping through the pages of the notebook. 

Her family would continually get her various colorful notebooks and activity books for the holidays and special occasions, even though she was too old to get any serious enjoyment out of them. The notebook she held was one of the few that she could still enjoy at her current age. Unfortunately, there was no one else around that Noelle knew who would play the associated game with her aside from Berdly. She knew that he would run his games and campaigns unbearably, so she never bothered to bring it up with him. Kris would not be enthusiastic about it and Susie would find it way too geeky to get into, so Noelle was left alone with the notebook along with all the others. However, when left alone and given all the freedom of her imagination, she found another use for them which proved to be much more fantastical. 

As Noelle scanned through the pages, a warmth like a starting ember from a soon to be lit fire began to light inside her chest. This developed into a flame which gave off flashes of the world detailed within the pages and the ever so enticing plot. The more words that Noelle read, the redder her face became until it was just a shade under the color of her nose. Her cheeks began to sting slightly from fluster as she brought the notebook closer to herself. She eventually placed it against her checkered red and green sweater as she closed her eyes and slowly formed a serene smile. 

“Snowbell… Spring Dragon…” she whispered to herself, “you’ll always live on in my heart…” She continued flipping through the pages and indulging herself in the context within. Upon flipping to one of the last few pages, she paused. She looked on at the print upon the page as her heart began to beat faster and faster. One could see visual jets of flustered steam emanating themselves from Noelle’s face as her eyes reflected the drawing upon the page with a glistening innocence. “If only this were true…” 

Within a moment, the front jingle bell doorbell sounded off, causing Noelle to jump slightly and catch the notebook as it was slightly launched from her hooves. The red of Noelle’s face drained as she sat there for a moment, realizing that the ones at the door had to be Kris and Susie. She continued to sit there in delayed concern until she heard the doorbell sound off again, accompanied by a rough voice from outside. 

“Hey, Noelle,” the voice called out, “You gonna let us in or what?” 

That voice. That rough, tough, and harsh voice sent a jolt through Noelle’s heart, especially considering what she was just reading. She scrambled to her feet, closing the notebook shut. Putting it back under the bed did not seem like the best idea to her considering how she noticed it with just a glance before. In a hurry, she hastily placed it atop the edge of her dresser. 

“Y-Yeah,” she called down with a slightly shaky voice, “b-be there in a minute.” Noelle quickly paced out of the room, pulling the door shut behind her. As the door closed, the resounding force slightly shook the notebook she had just placed upon her dresser, causing it to tip and fall cover-first onto the pile of school notebooks below. 

Noelle rushed down the stairs with one hoof on the railing as she scurried down. Upon reaching the front door, she took in a deep breath of composure. She opened the door to see Kris and Susie standing just outside. Kris had on their usual green and yellow striped shirt, brown pants, and brown shoes. Likewise, Susie had on her typical purple jacket, torn blue jeans, and black shoes. Noelle could seldom make eye contact with Kris even when she tried, so she looked to Susie. When the slits in Susie’s yellow eyes met the blue ovals of Noelle’s, Noelle’s heart skipped a beat and then began feeling a slight warmness within. After having been through some past adventures with her, Noelle had learned to stay mostly composed while near Susie. However, the way that her heart would get whenever she thought about or saw her was something that Noelle did not seem capable of controlling. 

“Hey Kris. Hi Susie,” Noelle said, forming a pleasant smile and placing her hoofs together, “Come on inside and we can get started.” As the two entered inside, Susie’s face quenched. 

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Susie snarled as her sharp teeth locked together, “Hate how Ms. Alphys is always assigning this crap.” 

Even just hearing something as common as that from Susie made Noelle’s heart beat faster. Noelle could never bring herself to speak that coarsely this casually. At the same time, that was part of what made Susie who she was to Noelle. A part of what made her so different and so special. Noelle tried to play it cool and gave a slight chuckle, trying to make it sound genuine. 

“Eh-heh, yeah,” she said, putting her arms up in a shrug, “but, you know Ms. Alphys. She tries to make things interesting.” Susie looked back at Noelle with an eyebrow raised. 

“Interesting?” she sarcastically replied, “The most interesting thing I’ve ever seen in that room was you telling Nerdly to pick up the pace on his own. That was golden.” 

Susie gave a coarse snicker and Noelle giggled along, this time honestly. Kris continued walking as though there was no laughter in the air at all, but that was normal. Noelle directed the two upstairs and began walking up with them herself. 

“My room is the second one on the left-hand side,” she directed, “The one with the evergreen door.” As Susie headed down the upstairs hall, she halted in front of the door. 

“Geez, is there anything in your house that’s not Christmas related?” Susie rambled, “Even the doors?” Noelle put her hoofs together in front of her. 

“That’s how it’s always been in the family,” she affirmed, “It’s nice though. Lots of bright colors year-round.” Susie opened the door and entered inside. 

“If that’s what makes you happy,” she replied, shaking her head slightly as she spoke. As Kris walked down the hall, Noelle realized that she had forgotten about the cookies she had baked downstairs. 

“Oh, hang on just a second,” she sputtered, “I forgot something downstairs.” 

Kris stopped walking and stared in Noelle’s direction as she went back downstairs and to the kitchen to grab the plate of cookies. She tried one to ensure that they were sufficiently prepared and baked. The cookie snapped and crunched with a sweet and crispy gingery flavor in her mouth as she continued back to her room. As she headed up the stairs with the plate in-hoof, Kris saw Noelle coming and walked over in her direction. 

“Might not be a good idea,” they said, putting their hand up slightly in a halting position. Noelle stopped and raised an eyebrow in confusion at Kris. 

“What do you mean?” she asked. Kris looked back towards Noelle’s room to make sure that Susie was not listening in. They leaned forward and put a hand up to their mouth as they spoke. 

“Susie will down that instantly,” Kris whispered, “You can’t let her see that.” 

While they had intended to be informative with what they said, their statement put a different image in Noelle’s mind. She stood there with the plate of cookies in her hoof, imagining what it would be like to see Susie ravenously scarf down an entire plate of cookies. Kris had enough time to take a cookie from the plate and eat right in front of Noelle without her noticing, for she was too deep in thought. Through their unkempt brown hair, Kris stared at Noelle after eating the cookie, realizing that she was staring off just as much as they usually did. 

“Noelle?” Kris spoke. Hearing Kris’s voice brought Noelle back to reality from her hungry-crush imagination. 

“U-uh, y-yeah,” Noelle responded, “You’re probably right.” 

Kris headed towards Noelle’s room as she headed back down to the kitchen to put some tin foil over the plate. As she took the foil out of one of the counter drawers, she paused. No matter how hard she tried, she was struggling to not remain curious about how Susie could potentially devour the entire plate almost instantaneously. 

“Do I really want to do this…” Noelle muttered to herself, looking down at the foil on the counter. 

“Noelle…” a voice spoke from behind her. Noelle gasped and spun around to see Kris standing at the kitchen entrance, staring at her like before. Her ears drooped slightly as she let out a small sigh of relief, seeing that it was only them. 

“O-okay Kris,” she chuckled with a nervous smile on her face, “I’ll be up in a second.” 

Tearing off some foil and covering the entirety of the plate, Noelle followed Kris back upstairs and to her own room. Upon entering the room, Noelle put the plate down on her bedside table and took a seat at her desk. Kris sat on the floor just next to a perfectly fine chair while Susie sat at the edge of Noelle’s bed. Susie looked confusedly at the wad of tin foil. 

“What’s with the foil?” Susie queried. After looking at Susie’s face again, with her freckles, purple skin, yellow eyes, sharp teeth and all, Noelle again started contemplating if she should tell Susie just to see what would happen. Noelle noticed Kris staring at her again out of the corner of her eye and begrudgingly said a cover up excuse. 

“Oh, that’s something for later,” she stated, her eyes looking slightly away as she spoke, “We need to start working on this project though.” Noelle saw the little green stuffed toy still sitting on the toy box at the end of her bed as her eyes wandered. 

“Hey Susie,” Noelle prompted, pointing to the stuffy, “Have you ever wondered what you would look like if you were a toy?” Noelle expected Susie to look at the green stuffed toy and to give a response, but Susie was instead staring at the little elf that sat across the room. 

“No, but I’ve never seen something like that before,” Susie said uneasily, “It just stares at you.” Noelle looked over and saw what Susie was staring at on her shelf. 

“Yeah,” she replied, “just don’t stare at it too long. And don’t touch it either.” Susie looked at Noelle after she said that and then back to the elf. She wondered if Noelle was implying that it was cursed or something. 

“No need to tell me twice,” Susie shuddered, tearing her eyes away from it. Noelle booted up her laptop and brought up an internet browser. 

“Ok, so how about this,” Noelle proposed, “I’ll look up the information. Kris’ll fact check it. And you’ll write everything down, Susie. Does that sound good?” Kris nodded once in assurance while Susie rolled her eyes. 

“Fine,” she grumbled, “Writing this stuff down is boring, but I guess it’s the least mundane part of all this.” 

The three worked on their project for a little less than an hour without any significant shake ups. At one point, Susie could have sworn that she saw a tab open on Noelle’s laptop that read “Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2 Fanart,” but when she blinked it was gone. After enough boring research about how genuine creativity is almost impossible to come by anymore, Susie ran out of pages in the notebook she was using. 

“Agh, this is why I freakin’ hate school,” she huffed, tossing her pencil down inside the notebook, “You have to do all this work and writing and then your supplies run out half the time when you’re in the middle of something.” Susie glanced down at the pile of notebooks at the side of Noelle’s bed. “Hey Noelle, could I borrow one of your notebooks to write the rest of this bunk down in?” Noelle did not hesitate to oblige to Susie’s request. 

“Oh, sure thing,” Noelle responded, not looking away from her laptop, “Take whichever one you’d like.” 

Without hesitation, Susie grabbed the first notebook on the top of the pile. It was a dark gray one. She flipped it around to the front and saw the silhouette of the twenty-sided die on the front. She held the notebook in front of her, narrowing her eyes at the printing of the strange die. 

“You're into some weird stuff Noelle,” Susie remarked, moving her hands to the side of the notebook, “Twenty-sided dice? What are you gonna play with that? Nerdlys and Geekwads?” Noelle chuckled slightly at Susie’s sarcasm, putting a hoof on her forehead as she did so. 

“Oh, no, Susie,” Noelle answered, “That’s called an icosahedro-” 

Noelle stopped herself mid-sentence. That word. “Icosahedron.” Upon making the connection with that word, she realized which notebook Susie must have grabbed. She did not know how she could have grabbed it since Noelle thought she had put it on her shelf, but she spun around to see Susie opening it up to one of its middle pages. Noelle jostled herself over and partially lunged for the notebook. 

“No!” Noelle yelled, “Not that notebook!” 

Noelle grabbed the bottom of the gray pad cover and pulled it as hard as she could away from Susie’s hands. Susie had never seen Noelle so shaken up and quick-to-action. As such, the sight startled her a bit. As Noelle snatched the notebook from her, a few of Susie’s claws caught on some of the pages, tearing them out and sending them flying across the room. Several pages flew the distance of a fly’s wing in front of Kris’s face, but they did not bat an eye to any of it. Noelle put her hooves to her face and let out a high-pitched shriek. She panicked to pick up the pages, tripping over herself and falling over several times as she attempted to do so. Susie looked at Noelle in bafflement, as she had never seen her act like this. 

“Why are you freaking out so much?” Susie entreated, “It’s just a notebook.” Noelle froze up slightly as Susie said this and gave a most insincere chuckle. 

“N-No…” Noelle faltered, starting to shake slightly, “N-No it’s not…” Susie looked at Kris who simply shrugged, not knowing what to make of the situation either. “It’s… kind of personal…” 

As Noelle picked up several pages on the other side of the room, Susie noticed that Noelle had missed one just by the far corner of her bed. She picked it up to see that it looked like a character sheet of some kind. Although Susie did not understand much of the statistics or descriptions filled out, she saw the name “Snowbell Princess” written in at the top. She flipped the page over to see a bunch of scrawled writing all over the backside. In addition to the writing, there were a few little doodles sketched about the page. Susie narrowed her eyes to look at the one near the top of the page. The doodle resembled a princess-looking version of Noelle with a little snowflake tiara and an ice-looking cloak. Susie snorted slightly at the doodle. She turned to Noelle and held the page towards her. 

“This is what you’re so worked up over?” Susie questioned, “A dorky princess character of yourself?” Upon realizing that Susie had looked at the page, Noelle screamed and snatched the page from Susie’s hands. 

“Nobody is supposed to know about that!” Noelle wailed. Susie looked at Noelle in disbelief at the thought of her losing it so badly over this. 

“Why? It’s geeky, sure,” Susie pondered, “But why are you flipping out so bad over this? What even is it?” Noelle’s face was as red as the fiery passion she had when she wrote and drew the contents of the notebook pages she was picking up. She clenched down on the front of her mouth with her buck teeth as several drops of sweat and fluster started forming on her head. 

“N-Nothing. I-It’s nothing!” Noelle fretted hurriedly, “J-Just something that the w-wrong eyes shouldn’t s-see! T-That’s all!” Susie folded her hands across her chest as she looked at Noelle, still scuttling to pick up the last few pages. 

“Oh, come on, Noelle,” Susie reasoned, “It can’t be that bad.” 

After speaking, Susie felt a slight draft pick up in the room. She looked around for a source, only to see several of the pages that Noelle had already collected get blown back out of her hooves. Noelle gasped as she jumped after one blowing by her bed, only to land rather roughly on her bedside table. She narrowly missed the flying page and instead had her hoof land hard on the foil-wrapped plate of cookies. A large chunk of foil tore from the plate as it was knocked over and several little gingerbread cookies spilled all over the floor. The sliver of foil floated down and landed beside the entrance to the little igloo underneath. Noelle mewled at sight of the mess she had just made in addition to the pages of the notebook still flying around. Susie saw the mess, but her interest was more on the breeze in the room, as it was getting stronger. 

“Uh, Noelle?” Susie hesitated, “Do you have really strong ventilation or something?” Noelle looked up at Susie with her ears drooping in angst. 

“N-No…” she answered, her buck teeth chattering slightly, “W-Why?” Susie looked over at the window beside Noelle’s bed only to see that it was shut. 

“Uh, then why is it so windy in here,” Susie cautioned.  

Kris additionally looked around the room for a source. As soon as they faced the door to the hallway, it closed shut. Everything then went silent. Dead silent. Everything except for the sounds coming from three of them inside the room. A distant pressure-like sound then started building, like that of a strong electrical current. The light in the room started flickering and the screen on Noelle’s laptop began to distort and repeatedly lose brightness. The blinds on the window began chittering for a moment before slamming down and folding themselves completely shut. The three looked over in awe as the bulb in the room light burst and the screen on the laptop eventually shut off, leaving it completely dark in the room. It was all dark. All except for the three of them and the pages that now rested on the floor, or at least what looked like the floor. 

“Get ready,” Kris spoke, seemingly braising themselves as the floor began to shake. Both Susie and Noelle knew what was coming but were still unable to prepare themselves for the drop. The pages on the floors began to fall and fly as the floor beneath gave way. As the three fell, they could feel the air get cooler and cooler the further down they went. They fell and fell and fell… and eventually, they landed. 

It took them a moment to pick themselves up, as there was a coating of powdery snow on the ground all around them. It was not very deep, but it felt quite colder than one would have expected. As they picked themselves up, Ralsei and Lancer additionally stood up with them a moment later. 

“Wow, another snow land,” Lancer cackled, moving his short white arms away from his small, blue body, “but this one’s more open than a prom clown’s party.” While Lancer stuck out his tongue in a goofy manner, the teeth within mouth on his stomach chattered slightly in the cold air. Ralsei brushed off the chilly powder of snow from his green robe, pointy hat, and pink scarf. He looked around, examining the area around them. 

“More snow,” he noted, “and another field it looks like.” Susie took a step forward, allowing the rest of the grainy snow covering her to fall to the ground. 

“Can’t say I expected another dark world here,” Susie marveled, fastening the yellow studded bracelets now on her arms, “Nothing like this at least.” After additionally adjusting her heart belt buckle, she looked over to Lancer and Ralsei and then to Kris. “It’s a good thing that we started bringing their objects with us everywhere,” she remarked, “I guess these places can just pop up whenever things are just right.”

Kris nodded and looked around, pushing the snow off their now dark blue hair, armor, and torn pink cape as they did so. After doing a once over scan of the area, they could see something in the far distance. They narrowed their eyes and could see a structure in the far distance. 

“There’s a palace,” Kris said, pointing towards it, “just there.” Ralsei looked in the distance and saw the same structure. 

“Yes, I see it,” he acknowledged, “We should probably travel there and see if anyone could tell us where we are.” Susie looked over at Noelle, who was looking around in a shaky manner. 

“Noelle,” Susie called over, “Do you recognize any of this?” Noelle slowly looked all around, growing increasingly shakier as she did so. Her ball gown-like dress and hood, as white as the snow on the ground all around them, quivered with the rest of her. The instant her eyes met the palace in the distance, she froze. The sight of it made Noelle realize instantly what it was that she saw and where it was, they all were. Much to her dismay, she could feel her heart and mind starting to clot up. She raised a hoof to her heart. Not the yellow one that her hood connected to, but the one that felt as though it were about to stop inside her chest. 

“Oh…” she muttered, her pupils growing small, “oh no…” Everyone else in the Fun Gang stood in a mixture of shock and surprise as they watched Noelle’s body collapse as she fell unconscious into the snow covering the ground. 

Chapter Text

As the black clots covering her sight began to fade and the voice speaking her name became clearer, Noelle had begun to wake up. The image of Ralsei’s fluffy face began to materialize within Noelle’s sight as she felt herself coming back to reality. Ralsei was holding her up by her chest and head as he continued to speak her name. She could additionally see Kris, Lancer, and Susie standing around her, each with equally puzzled and concerned looks. 

“Noelle? Noelle?” Ralsei repeated, his circular green glasses falling partially off his snoot, “Do you hear me? Are you okay?” Noelle groaned as she put a hoof onto her head and slowly leaned forward. 

“Y-Yeah,” she weakly answered, “I’m… I’m fine…” Everyone else continued to look at Noelle with worried looks. 

“You’re obviously not fine,” Susie stated, casting her hands out in front herself, “What the heck caused you to pass out like that?” Noelle gently pushed herself to her feet as she stood up, waving her arms slightly to keep her balance. 

“Yeah,” Lancer piped, the mouth on his stomach sticking out its tongue as he leaned over to inspect Noelle more carefully, “you shouldn’t crash like that unless you’ve had more than a dozen Lancer Cookies™.”

“I… I don’t know…” Noelle murmured, her blurred vision starting to clear up, “I… I thought I saw-” 

After her eyes met the palace again in the distance, Noelle’s mouth and nose started twitching slightly. Her eyes embodied an unusual terror as the palace in the distance was reflected in them. Ralsei looked over in concern as he placed a paw on Noelle’s shoulder. 

“Noelle, have you seen this before?” Ralsei asked. Noelle’s eyes quickly dashed back and forth between Ralsei and the structure in the distance. 

“Uh, n-no,” Noelle attested, her mouth quivering even more now, “I-I’ve never seen this place before.” Ralsei took his paw off Noelle’s shoulder as he looked to the others in concern. Kris stared stone-faced at Noelle while Susie folded her arms and raised an eyebrow, detecting the blatant lie in Noelle’s statement. Lancer mimicked Susie and folded his arms as well. 

“Yeah…” Susie spoke in a low, curt voice, “so you passed out after looking over at that palace for no reason?” Noelle looked back at Susie with a gullibly guilty look upon her face. 

“W-Well, um…” Noelle insisted, putting a hoof behind her head as she looked away and began sweating slightly, “S-Some others in my f-family have had a history of, uh… s-spontaneously fainting…” Susie tapped her arm with one of her claws as she raised her eyebrows even more at what she had just heard. Lancer did the same. 

“Sure,” she slowly doubted, “and we’re really expected to believe that?” Noelle started to turn slightly red as she stammered her responding words. 

“U-Uh, no, it’s really a, um… thing that happens, sometimes…” Noelle protested, “you see, u-uh, my aunt… she-”

“You really are awful at lying, Noelle,” Susie said, genuinely impressed, “like, damn.” Noelle began to shake again slightly as she raised her arms in an anxious shrug. 

“B-But I-I’m not… lying…” Noelle jabbered, shaking even more, “it… it r-really is s-something that… uh…” Ralsei noticed Noelle’s increasing shakiness and put his paws out in assurance. 

“It’s alright if you don’t want to say why, Noelle,” he heartened, “Everyone has things that they don’t want to talk about.” Noelle slowly began to stop shaking after hearing this, but still got several odd looks from the others. Ralsei looked out at the palace and then back to Noelle. 

“Noelle, is there anything in that palace that is going to harm us?” he queried. Noelle looked at him anxiously. 

“W-Well… no…” Noelle responded. Ralsei turned his head in curiosity at her. 

“Then why are you so hesitant about this?” he inquired. Noelle’s eyes dashed around, unable to look him or any of the others in their eyes, as she tried to reply. Susie began to tap her foot in the snow as she watched on. 

“I… um… y-you see, there’s… t-this whole place… i-it’s… uh…” Noelle stuttered. Before Noelle could bring herself to say what she was thinking, Susie walked over and squatted down in front of her.  

“How about this, Noelle,” told Susie, starting to grow impatient, “until you give us a reason or can think of a genuinely good lie by my standards, we’re heading over to that palace.” Lancer clenched his hands excitedly and formed a long smile across his face and stomach. 

“Oh, I wanna see what kinds of salsa they have there!” Lancer called out, “And peanuts, and swishy drinks, and gushy cakes, and… and… uh… What other foods do palaces have again?” 

“I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to find out,” she went on with a shrug, “Unless Noelle learns to be deceptive, which she won’t, we’ll probably be in for a treat.” Susie started walking with Kris and Lancer in the direction of the palace, leaving Noelle and Ralsei slightly behind. 

“W-Wait!” Noelle cautioned, opening her hoof towards them, “I-I can explain… this… this whole thing… it’s… it’s…” The others were getting too far away to properly hear Noelle, leaving her stuttering to just Ralsei. She covered her face with both her hooves as her ears drooped. “Oh no…” she whimpered to herself. Ralsei knelt down to Noelle’s level as she fell to her knees in the snow. 

“Noelle, I’m sure that whatever it is that has you so worked up will be fine,” Ralsei averred, “We’ve always had each others’ backs. Whatever is over there won’t get any of us down.” He stood up and waved Noelle over. “Now come on, things will be okay.” Noelle grabbed one of her arms with the hoof from her other as she slowly got up and begrudgingly started walking towards the others. 

“I…” Noelle uttered, “I really don’t think that they will be…”

After catching up with Kris, Susie, and Lancer, the group of five began crossing the powdery white field. Aside from the palace they were heading towards, they could see a windy or gusty looking area across from it. Otherwise, there was nothing in sight. Nothing except for grainy, snowy fields. There was not even any snow falling in the area. It was just a dull, cold winter. Every once in a while, Lancer would dig up something from the snow. First it was a frozen iris-looking flower; then a strange, withered claw; a small shooting star-shaped badge; and last a faded red ribbon. The air was chilly and a few of them even started grabbing themselves and walking closer to one another for warmth. Eventually, the five approached the great walls of the palace. 

The walls stood around the main structure in the shape of a star, much like the one that would be put at the top of a Christmas tree. They were light blue in color and were not tremendously tall, but high enough that one would not be able to easily climb over them even with the proper equipment. The actual palace itself was as white as the ground all around them and had five short towers that each stood by a corner of the wall. In the center rose a larger center tower. Its top had a large, rotating snowflake that seemingly tilted depending on the direction the wind was blowing from. After looping around the walls, the Fun Gang eventually saw the doors that led inside. They sat in the inner point of what the five assumed was the bottom of the star-shaped walls. On each of the doors, there rested a large, spherical knocker attached to the door by a metallic yellow hook. One was green while the other was red, much like the pattern on Noelle’s sweater in the light world. The five looked upwards at the doors. 

“I suppose we need to knock,” Ralsei inquired, “Which one of us should try?” The five looked upwards at the large knockers. 

“They look a bit too high to reach,” Lancer noted, hopping not even to the top of Susie’s height to try to reach the knocker. Noelle appeared gleeful at his statement. 

“Well, I guess they’re too high to reach,” she settled, full of phony confidence, “All right, let’s get going.” Susie looked over suspiciously as Noelle started slowly walking away, hoping that the others would follow suit. She reached over and pulled Noelle back by her hood, causing Noelle to squeak slightly as she did so. 

“Not so fast there, Poinsettia,” Susie dictated, her eyes narrowing on Noelle’s, “I said that until you tell us why we shouldn’t go in there or you prove to me that you know how to lie, we’re heading inside this palace.” In addition to her previous angst, Noelle started turning red after seeing Susie so close in this regard. 

“B-B-But… B-But…” Noelle choked. 

“Shut it with the ‘buts’ and get your head in the game, Noelle,” Susie inserted, “We need you to be with us on this. All right?” Noelle looked into Susie’s eyes and saw her own tragic ones reflected at herself. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh. 

“All right…” Noelle sniveled. 

“Good,” Susie replied, letting go of Noelle and turning back to face the door, “Now, how the hell are we going to reach these knockers?” The five stood there looking at the knockers and developing a course of action. 

“Susie should knock it,” Kris said, “she’s the tallest and strongest.” Ralsei looked at Kris in confirmation. 

“Good idea,” he agreed, “but how do we get Susie up there?” The five looked around, wondering if there was anything to use. There was nothing in the area around them except for soft, freezing snow which did not look or feel right for packing. Lancer then jumped in the air with his hands up, clearly having had an idea pop into his head. In Lancer’s case, he likely had a bag of chips opening up over his head rather than a light bulb lighting up. 

“Oh, I know!” he exclaimed, “Susie could toss Toothpaste Boy at the knocker until it gets knocked back enough!” Everyone stared at Lancer. The silent, blank expression on Ralsei’s face spoke more than his actual follow up response. 

“How about we don’t do that?” Ralsei opposed, putting a paw on his forehead, “Why don’t we try to think of something with the smallest possible risk of injury?” The top of Lancer’s head slouched, and his stomach mouth frowned as he heard his idea shot down. Susie then looked up at the knocker and thought about it as simply as possible. 

“What if you all lean up against the wall and let me stand on top of you?” she suggested, guesstimating the height between the ground and knocker, “I might be able to reach it if I can get enough height.” 

“That sounds like an idea,” Ralsei conferred, “Let’s give it a shot.”

He waved over Kris, Lancer, and Noelle as he leaned up against the wall. Noelle begrudgingly leaned into Ralsei for support as Kris stood up on Ralsei’s shoulders, leaning into the wall themselves. Lancer pushed up against Ralsei’s legs but had little to offer for help for he kept sliding down onto the ground. Susie stood back in preparation. 

“Ready?” she asked. 

“As ready as can be,” Ralsei answered. 

“Readier than baked goods at a Lancer bake sale,” Lancer chortled. 

“Go, now,” Kris said. 

Susie carefully climbed over each one until she was standing on Kris’s shoulders. Kris’s arms and legs bent as they strained to hold Susie up. Ralsei additionally grunted and closed his eyes as he tried to keep a hold of Kris. Noelle tried her best to support Ralsei but had a feeling that this would not end well. Lancer continued to keep sliding off Ralsei’s legs as he tried to help support him. Susie, leaning into the wall, reached up and could touch the bottom of the right-side knocker with a bit of extra reach as well. Upon trying to push it, she realized just how large it was. It was far bigger than any of them were. She pushed but needed more force to make it move. 

“Damn!” Susie grunted, “This thing’s heavy!” Susie pushed harder up on the knocker but applied more force on her supporters and spotters below. 

“Susie…” Kris griped, now shaking to keep Susie held up, “too much…”  

“Just… a… little… more… force…” Susie panted, “Gah!” 

Susie had managed to push the knocker up and away from the door slightly. However, in doing so, Kris, Ralsei, Lancer, and Noelle all gave out from underneath her. The knocker smashed against the front of the wall door and gave a loud crashing sound as each member of the Fun Gang roughly piled on top of one another. Lying in a heap on the ground, they all sat there for several moments, dazed from the impact. To their surprise, they heard a loud clicking sound come from the door and noticed that it started to open itself inwards. While each of them looked upwards, expecting a large person of some kind to answer the door, there was no one. Not until the Fun Gang looked down did they see who answered the door, and it was quite the surprise to four of them. 

A darkner had answered the door, and one about their size. This was not what surprised them so much as what she looked like. The Fun Gang looked in awe as she looked back at the pile of them on her doorstep. The darkner who stood before them was a spitting image of Noelle, but much more innocent and with an altered charm. She had on her head a small, crystal-looking white tiara with a stellar dendrite snowflake on its front. The tiara wrapped partially around her antlers and twinkled as she moved like it had been coated in glitter. A pair of matching holley earrings hung from both her ears and she wore what looked like little light-up bracelets on both her wrists. One of them glowed red and green while the other glowed yellow and purple. Much like Noelle, she also had a little heart on the front of her hood. However, hers appeared to be frozen in ice that pointed sharply downwards and lined the hood itself. Her clothing also did not resemble a dress but more so a smooth, silk cloak as white as snow that dragged slightly on the ground beneath her. She tilted her head slightly at the Fun Gang pile in front of her. 

“Hello there?” she greeted in a soft voice, “I haven’t seen you all around here before. What might your names be?” After realizing that she was speaking to them, each of them scrambled off one another and got to their feet. Ralsei walked forward and put his paw out. 

“Hello, I’m Ralsei,” he introduced, pointing to himself and then to each of the others, “and that there is Kris, that is Lancer, there is Susie, and right here is Noelle.” The darkner looked at each of them with a welcoming smile but paused on Noelle’s. Much to Noelle’s discomfort, she walked over to her and looked her directly in the face. 

“Wow, we look almost exactly the same,” she noticed, looking at Noelle from various angles. Noelle looked at her other uncomfortably, as she noticed that her eyes were noticeably shinier than her own. 

“Uh, y-yeah,” Noelle nervously admitted, “Eheh…” Noelle stood awkwardly still and silent, looking all around with her eyes, and hoping that someone else would say something. Ralsei eventually got the hint and stepped in. 

“You two do look quite similar,” he confirmed with a smile on his face, “And what might your name be?” 

“Oh, me?” the darkner replied, placing a hoof on the front of her cloak, “I’m Snowbell. Snowbell Princess.” Noelle gave an uncontrollably violent twitch as she heard the name and quickly turned to face away. Lancer then popped his head up between the two. 

“Creamy crisps! We have two Snowpoff Girls!” he blurted with enthusiasm, “First we had gingerbread and now we’ve got powdered macaroon.” Snowbell looked oddly at Lancer upon hearing the remark but seemingly shrugged it off. She looked at the Fun Gang and then to the door. 

“I’ve never seen anyone actually use those knockers by hand,” Snowbell acknowledged, “That must have taken a good effort.” Susie’s eyebrows dropped upon hearing this. 

“What do you mean?” she asked. 

“Oh, you see. Just here,” Snowbell directed, pointing to a part of the wall just beside the door, “There are two buttons on both sides of the doors that automatically operate the knockers. Here, watch.” Snowbell walked over and pushed in a tiny, barely visible button that matched the color of the walls just next to the door. Upon pressing it, the knocker moved itself back and gave two gentle knocks on the front wall door. Snowbell could practically see steam rising from Susie’s head as she clenched her fists and looked over at the button on the wall. 

“Great,” she carped, folding her arms in annoyance, “Fan-freaking-tastic to know now.” As Susie stood there let out multiple deep breaths through her nostrils, Ralsei began talking again. 

“So, Snowbell,” Ralsei spoke, “Is there anything that has been going on around this land?” Snowbell looked at him for a moment and then down to the ground. 

“You see, there’s been an awful winter here for as long as I can remember,” Snowbell told, “and not the enjoyable kind. It’s just… cold. Cold without cheer or spirit.” Ralsei’s eyes shined concern as he looked at Snowbell, but she continued to face the ground. “I’ve always wanted to see a spring here in my land, but I don’t know if that is even possible anymore…” 

“Don’t say that,” he assured, “I’m sure that there’s a reason there hasn’t been spring here. If not, maybe we could find a way to make it spring.” Susie looked at Ralsei in disbelief. 

“Uh, Ralsei, we didn’t enter this dark world through a magical wardrobe,” Susie remarked, “How the heck are we supposed to make it spring here?”  Snowbell looked up with a different expression. 

“Oh, there is a reason,” she replied despairingly, putting her hooves nervously together, “b-but we can’t do anything about it. We can’t stop… him…” Kris approached Snowbell and looked her in the eyes. 

“Who?” they questioned. Snowbell hesitated before saying the name, but eventually brought herself to. 

“Winged Winter…” Snowbell mumbled. The Fun Gang looked at her, not sure what to make of this. “He’s awful,” she continued, “Ever since he came here, he’s made everything a terrible winter. It’s just… bitter. Almost as bitter as himself.” Ralsei looked at Snowbell and wondered about what she was talking about. 

“Well, is he doing it intentionally?” he queried, “And has he ever tried to hurt you directly?” Snowbell looked up at Ralsei but seemingly grew more nervous. 

“Oh y-yes, it is intentional. And yes, he has attacked my palace several times,” she answered, now fidgeting her hooves together, “He always hurls insults at me as he does so. He is always so… condescending. ‘Second most beautiful creature in all the land, and not the first’ is probably his favorite.” Susie looked over to Snowbell with a rising flame in her eye. 

“Sounds like a real twit,” she asserted, “Have you ever tried to do anything about it?” Snowbell looked at Susie in disbelief. 

“Tried to do anything about it? Even if I wanted to, I have no chance at stopping him. He’s far too big,” she quavered, “Plus, anything that I’d say or do would just make him angrier…” The five looked at Snowbell in concern until Kris stepped forward. 

“We’ll help you stop him,” Kris said. Snowbell looked up at them in shock. 

“W-What?” she faltered, “B-But there’s nothing that we can do…” Ralsei took a step forward as well. 

“Of course, there is,” Ralsei assured, “And with our help, this ‘Winged Winter’ won’t stand a chance.” Susie then stepped forward. 

“Yeah,” Susie added, “And if he tries anything, I’ll show him how to bite rather than bark.” Lancer then vaulted past Susie’s shoulder. 

“Yeah!” Lancer chimed in, the mouth on his stomach giving an approving smile, “And I’ll be there to make sure everything is Lancer approved!” 

“W-Wait, no!” Noelle demurred, casting her arms out and waving her hoofs at them. All five of them stared at Noelle, who lowered her hooves and backed up slightly. “Uh, I mean, maybe we should take… ‘Snowbell’s’ word here and not pursue this,” she reasoned, “It might be too much of a risk.” Snowbell looked down but did not seem upset or shocked by the response. 

“She’s right,” Snowbell concurred, “If any of you got hurt, then I’d… I’d…” 

“Snowbell, don’t think that way,” Ralsei encouraged, “We’re volunteering to help. It would be on us if we get hurt. And we won’t. I think we can count on Kris for that.” Ralsei turned to Kris who gave a single, firm nod regarding his statement. Susie looked over at Noelle who was now backing away and looking bothered in multiple ways. 

“What’s your deal? Why are you so against all this?” Susie questioned, “What are you hiding?” Noelle’s heart skipped a beat as she tried to take in a breath. 

“I-I’m not hiding anything,” Noelle hesitated, “I just… I have a bad feeling about all this…” Susie looked at Noelle with an eyebrow raised. 

“That’s a little better,” she noted, “but that lie was still terrible and nowhere near my standards.” Noelle sighed, closed her eyes, and slouched slightly. Susie looked back over to Ralsei, who was still talking with Snowbell. 

“We’ll take you wherever you need to go,” Ralsei offered, “We’ll find this ‘Winged Winter’ and get him to stop.” Snowbell shook her head. 

“Even if we wanted to, I doubt that we would be able to find him,” she reported, “He’s always flying around from place-to-place. Causing mayhem and shame wherever he goes.” Ralsei put a paw to his chin. 

“Well, is there any way that we could bring spring here that you know of?” Ralsei wondered. Snowbell put a hoof behind her head. 

“Well, putting aside unconfirmed rumors and myth, I’ve wanted to go and scout out the far areas to see if there are any traces of spring,” she commented, “but it’s dangerous to travel the outer fields alone.” Ralsei perked up at this. 

“Well, that won’t be a problem with all of us by your side,” he stated, “We’ll help you search.” Snowbell looked up at Ralsei, her eyes gleaming innocently. 

“Really? You all would do that for me?” she doubted. Ralsei looked to the others to see their replies. Kris nodded, Susie cracked her knuckles, Lancer stuck out his tongues from both mouths and hopped excitedly, and Noelle put her hooves together, closed her eyes, and started silently muttering several words to herself. Snowbell looked at each of them and then back to Ralsei. 

“Okay,” she spoke, “I should know most of the land from here to the outer fields, but after that we’re on our own.” Ralsei smiled at her response. 

“Alright,” he beamed, “Another new party member.”

‘♫ Snowbell joined the par-’

“Oh, wait,” Snowbell appealed, “I need to go grab something first.” Everyone remained where they were and watched in confusion as Snowbell scurried back inside the walls of the palace. After several minutes, she eventually came back holding what looked like a staff from a distance. As she got closer, it turned out to be more of a crook of some sort. It looked as though it was made of a soft Christmas wreath and had a small red ribbon tied just above where Snowbell held it. 

“Needed to get my weapon first,” Snowbell puffed, catching her breath, and gripping the sparkly silver garland grip on the crook, “Sorry about that.”

‘♫ Snowbell joined the party (for sure this time)! ♫’

“All right,” Snowbell began, “If we want to get to the outer fields, the fastest way is that way.” Snowbell pointed to the windy looking area that looked much colder than the surrounding areas. 

“Go figure,” Susie muttered, “The one place that’s gonna be the biggest pain the ass to navigate is where we gotta go.” Ralsei looked in the distance and then to Noelle, who still looked extremely anxious. 

“It will be alright, Noelle,” Ralsei reassured, “We’ll be there for you if you need us.” Noelle continued to look just as uncomfortable even after hearing this. Ralsei turned to Kris. “Are we all set, Kris?” Kris nodded and began to lead the way. Before walking too far, they noticed a white gleam just beyond the exterior of the palace walls. It blended in with the snow so well that they did not notice it before. They approached it and reached out with their hands. 

‘Snowbell, the beauty of dreams and myth, is now your ally. The power of kawaii princesses shines within you.’

Upon having their health restored, the group headed out into the field and towards the gusty area. As they traveled closer, they realized that it looked more like a blizzard of some kind than just wind. To try to get their minds off it, Ralsei started a conversation with Snowbell. 

“So, Snowbell” Ralsei conversed, “What is this land?” Snowbell looked up at him from the back of the group. 

“Oh, this field is actually named the Field of Spring and Sprouts,” she identified, “but there hasn’t been a spring or any sign of flowers or growth here as far as I can remember.” Ralsei looked down at the ground, trying to imagine how there could be any green or flowers in the land. “It’s all because of that Winged Winter…” Snowbell added, her eyes narrowing towards the ground, “more like Bickering Blue…” Ralsei looked away for a moment but then back to Snowbell. 

“Well, do you have any prophecies for this land?” he asked, “Or perhaps legends?” Snowbell looked at Ralsei a bit more level-headed with the new topic. 

“Not any prophecies or legends specifically,” she divulged, “but there is one myth that I know of.” Upon hearing this, Noelle began to cover her ears so that she would not need to hear what Snowbell was about to say. “The myth of the Spring Dragon.” Susie turned around and looked as though she was about to laugh. 

“Dragons? Pfft,” Susie retorted sarcastically, “what else? Gryphons?” Snowbell looked at her and shook her head. 

“No, no myths of gryphons,” she said, “And not dragons. Just the Spring Dragon.” Noelle started putting a bit of distance between herself and the rest of the party, traveling ahead of Kris. Ralsei looked over at Snowbell, curious about the myth. 

“Is this Spring Dragon still around?” he inquired, “And do they have any powers?” Snowbell looked at Ralsei much more enthusiastically regarding the myth. 

“Oh, it is said to be a she, and nobody knows if she is still around,” Snowbell went on, “but it is said that she can spread spring across any land that she flies over with her wings. At least if she puts her heart to it.” Ralsei looked at Snowbell eagerly. 

“If she is still around, then perhaps she could bring a spring to your land,” he suggested, “just like your myth says.” Snowbell looked downwards after hearing this. 

“It would be a blessing,” she responded, placing her hooves together, “but with how things have been, I don’t know if she is still around…” Susie looked at Snowbell with an odd look. 

“So… that’s it? That’s all this myth says?” she prodded, “There’s just this dragon that can make it spring wherever it goes?” Snowbell looked up longingly at Susie. 

“Oh no, that’s not all,” she added, placing her hooves over her chest, “She is said to be the most magnificent and beautiful creature in all the land.” Snowbell closed her eyes and let out a dreamy sigh. “That is why that Bickering Blue calls me the second most beautiful creature in all the land. Nothing is said to compare to her.” Ralsei looked happily at Snowbell. 

“It sounds to me like you would like to meet her,” he observed. Snowbell looked up at the sky and placed her hooves together. 

“More than anything else in the world,” she dreamed, “More than seeing a spring, more than stopping Winged Winter… more than anything…” Everyone except for Noelle had turned around to face Snowbell upon hearing her tone of voice. The way that she said this did not make it seem like this was just a simple interest of hers. Noelle had continued walking forward, much further ahead than the rest of the group with her hooves clamped over her ears and her eyes now shut. 

“This can’t be happening… this can’t be happening…” She lamented to herself, “Why did I ever write those fantasy friend fic-” 

Smack!

Noelle had been so concentrated on dwelling on her regretful creative decisions that she was not paying attention to where she was walking. She walked directly into a small, portable throne being carried by two darkners. Both Noelle and the darkners fell over, knocking the one atop the throne over as well. The rest of the group heard the stumble and looked back ahead. They saw Noelle get up only to have the three darkners start approaching her. 

One was blue and fluffy with bulging circular eyes and a stubby yellow beak that opened in jittery motions. Another looked like a guard of some sort with a red uniform, hat, pop gun, and nasty pair of rectangular teeth that stuck out from their mouth. The last was the one who had been knocked off the throne. He had an unearthly smile along with long, bouncy striped legs and arms. His appearance looked more like a nightmare from one’s garden rather than be something of royalty or festivity. He took off his pointy red hat as if to greet Noelle. 

“May your day be merry and bright,” he greeted, “for she’ll peck, I’ll laugh, and he’ll bite.” Noelle backed away from them until the rest of the group caught up. 

“Oh no…” Snowbell shuddered, clinging to her crook, “this can't be good…” Susie looked back to her with confidence. 

“Don’t worry,” she heartened, “we’ll show you how to handle goons like these.” Lancer jumped to the side so that they could ready themselves. 

“Yeah, you guys got this,” he cheered, “It’s the five of you against clown one, clown two, and clown two and a half because I don’t like the look of that middle one.” Kris summoned their sword as did Susie with her axe and Noelle with her staff. Snowbell began breathing heavily and did not appear to the others as the kind of person to usually take part in fights. 

“Just do what Kris says,” Ralsei instructed her, “and we’ll be alright.” Snowbell clenched her crook nervously and looked at the opposing darkners. 

“O-Okay…” she murmured. The five then swung their respective weapons in a battle initiation. 

Chapter Text

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TP 0% |                                              |

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* Happy Holidays! Fluffby, Nutcase Crasher, and the Gnome on the Throne approach!

“I-I’m not sure if I can do this,” Snowbell shuddered, looking apprehensive at the darkners across from her, “I-I’m not really one for f-fighting.” Ralsei gave Snowbell a confident look. 

“You don’t need to be,” he stated, “Kris and all of us hardly need to fight most of the time. They find ways to act through fights.” Susie rose the back of her hand in Kris and Ralsei’s direction. 

“Yeah, yeah,” she remarked, “but if someone’s head needs a bashing, I’m the one you look to.” Snowbell looked to Noelle. She said nothing and looked back towards her with the same uneasiness that she had when they first met. Snowbell faced back towards the enemies and gripped her crook tightly, still a bit anxious. 

The Gnome on the Throne continuously moved its legs around itself in elastic ways only to rotate the rest of its body to stay aligned afterwards. He ensured to keep his eyes on the Fun Gang the entire time. Nutcase Crasher repeatedly clicked his pop gun and held it in several uniform positions as if following unspoken orders. He snapped his teeth down in a menacing regard whenever anyone in the Fun Gang looked at him. Fluffy repeatedly clicked its beak and looked all around as it jittered in place. The sound of Susie’s voice made Snowbell jump slightly. 

“You said that you are the princess of these lands,” Susie recalled, “so why don’t you tell these thugs to get on their knees and listen?”

“W-Well…” Snowbell contemplated, gripping the garland of her crook tighter and turning to Kris, “I-I guess I’ll do what Kris wants me to do…” 

TP 0% |                                              |

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

                                                                                  |Enchant| - Snowbell

                                                                                 🧡Talk                             Sugar Crash

                                                                                      Slippery Slips              Beautiful Peace

                                                                                  |Defend| - Kris, Susie, Ralsei, Noelle

* You ordered Snowbell to talk to the enemies!

“U-Um…” Snowbell trembled, “by order of me, Snowbell Princess, I dem-… uh… request…  that you… kind and… respectful citizens of my land stop… attacking us?” Susie slowly turned around to face Snowbell, wide-eyed and unable to believe what she just heard. 

“What was that? That’s not how you get people to listen to you or how you tell others what the hell you think of them,” Susie criticized, “And since when has talking been considered an enchantment?” Snowbell turned to Susie and began to answer her questions. 

“I’m sorry, I thought that if I asked them nicely that they’d stop,” Snowbell answered, “And everything starts with words. Considering how hard it is to say them sometimes, talking is enchanting in my eyes.” Susie’s face drooped as her eyes stayed on Snowbell independent of where her head faced. 

“Those questions weren’t supposed to be answered, Snowbell.” Susie scowled in a low voice, “And nonetheless answered like that.” 

“O-Oh…” Snowbell muttered with a pitiful smile, “s-sorry.” 

“'Tis the season to be giving. Giving us your lives!” the Gnome on the Throne cheered. 

“I’ll crack open a good tale. Maybe I’ll crack you open too!” Nutcase Crasher announced. 

“Doo-moh May-lah kah!” Fluffby squawked. 

Everyone who was not acting defended as the red soul entered the battle box and the enemies began to attack. A white bird-like silhouette fluttered near the top of the box and dropped several feathers as it hovered back and forth. A small figure rode atop the bird and threw out streams of white gifts and other miscellaneous toys as the bird flew around. A pop gun was additionally held at the right side of the box as it repeatedly fired off and reeled back its cork. The soul swiftly dodged each of the projectiles, narrowly avoiding several and gaining some extra TP in doing so. Upon returning to the fighting menus, Snowbell looked at the enemies with fear in her eyes. 

“Phew,” she sputtered, “that was close.” 

“It’s alright, Snowbell. We all start somewhere,” Ralsei encouraged, “I’m sure Kris will think of something else to try.” 

TP 57% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII                   |

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* The Gnome on the Throne looks at you with a smile that says… something… 

                                                                                  |Act| - Kris - Gnome on the Throne 

                                                                                     Check                      🧡(Susie) Name

                                                                                     Behave                         (Ralsei) Touch

                                                                                  |Defend| - Ralsei, Noelle, Snowbell

* You ordered Susie to give the Gnome on the Throne a name!

“Are you for real, Kris?” Susie complained as she looked over in Kris’s direction. They looked at Susie firmly and pointed towards the Gnome on the Throne. Susie turned to face the enemy with her axe still held over her shoulder. She looked at the smile that was locked on her and flinched slightly. Within a moment, her grimace turned into a slight scoff and toothy grin. “All right. From now on, your name is Payne. ‘Payne Entheeaz.’”

“‘Payne Entheeaz’ I am and ‘Payne Entheeaz’ I shall be for this holiday season. You all better be good!” the Gnome on the Throne demanded. 

“Under the Holiday tree I belong. Where is Clara?” Nutcase Crasher questioned. 

“Wee-tee/kah/way-loh!” Fluffby chirped. 

While the others defended, the soul again entered the battle box as the attacks came. The same bird as before spewed a gibberish language from its beak that homed in on the soul. Two twisty legs danced around the box simultaneously as a pair of rectangular teeth chomped down at the soul. With a bit of luck, none of these made physical contact with the soul. After returning to the menus, Susie snickered to herself over the Gnome on the Throne’s lack of pun-awareness. The rest of the Fun Gang awaited the next command. 

TP 100% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII|

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* The Gnome on the Throne watches your behavior as Fluffby and Nutcase Crasher stand by. 

                                                                                  |Act| - Kris - Gnome on the Throne 

                                                                                     Check                           (Susie) Name

                                                                                 🧡Behave                         (Ralsei) Touch

                                                                                  |Summon| - Noelle

                                                                                 🧡Silver Bells (-20% TP)                   Red-Nosed Reindeer

                                                                                     Let it Snow

                                                                                  |Defend| - Susie, Ralsei, Snowbell

* Everyone behaved themselves for the Holiday season!

“Here, let’s go around and each say one good thing we’ve done,” Ralsei suggested, “I offered help to someone who was in need of it.” He turned to Kris, prompting them to say something. They paused for a moment before facing towards the enemies. 

“I haven’t let my team down,” they said. They looked over to Susie who looked like she was having a difficult time thinking of something to say. 

“I guess I didn’t torment anyone yet today,” she eventually spoke with a mordant smirk. She firmly nodded towards Noelle, who still looked miserable but felt that she should not let her friends down. 

“I…” she hesitated in a low voice, “I made some cookies for my friends…” Noelle did not bother paying Snowbell any mind, but she followed along and realized it was her turn. 

“I-I…” Snowbell slowly began, “I-I’ve set out on a journey to find a spring… one that will end this grim winter for the good of everyone in the land.” After finishing her sentence, Snowbell paused for a moment and seemingly looked at herself in a mixture of shock and surprise. Ralsei clapped his paws together in applause upon hearing Snowbell’s sentence. 

“See, Snowbell?” he congratulated, “You talked. You expressed yourself. We knew you could do it!”

“How sincere! On the nice list you all go!” the Gnome on the Throne celebrated. 

“Guard the stories I must. But who will guard you?” Nutcase Crasher asked. 

“Dah/noh-lah!” Fluffby clucked. 

* Noelle used Silver Bells!

Through her discomfort, Noelle held her staff close before casting it away from her and allowing the small bells on the end to jingle. After the sound was made, a pair of silver bells appeared in a flash of light in the air just above the battle box. They rocked back and forth, allowing their clappers to meet their respective bell lips and give several high-pitched clangs and dongs. The resounding sound waves slowed all incoming enemy attacks cast within the battle box. Much to their surprise, there was an additional helping hand this time as the attacks came. A smiling figure cast a green series of plentiful and tasty treats that granted healing to whatever they touched. The soul dodged the pair of marching boots and descending bird with ease as it also divulged the tossed candy. While the health was not needed, it was still appreciated. 

TP 80% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII         |

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* The Gnome on the Throne seems satisfied, but Fluffby and Nutcase Crasher are not. 

                                                                                  |Act| - Kris - Nutcase Crasher

                                                                                     Ballet                       🧡Item

                                                                                     Sing-Along

                                                                                  |Spare| - Susie

                                                                                     Fluffby                                           Nutcase Crasher

                                                                                🧡Gnome on the Throne

                                                                                  |Summon| - Noelle

                                                                                     Silver Bells                               🧡Red-Nosed Reindeer (-35% TP)

                                                                                     Let it Snow

                                                                                  |Defend| - Ralsei, Snowbell

* You gave Nutcase Crasher some dark salsa (©Lancer Corp.) to eat and await his response!

* Susie spared the Gnome on the Throne!

“Oh, I want some public opinions,” Lancer could be heard yelling from the sidelines, “How’s the salsa? Homemade and Lancer stewed!” 

“Yuck! You call that food? I’ll chomp your friends instead!” Nutcase Crasher squabbled. 

“Wee-tee/kah/way-loh!” Fluffby chirped. 

* Noelle used Red-Nosed Reindeer!

At the clinking sound of the bells on the end of Noelle’s staff, a glowing reindeer emerged in a flash of red light. Its nose glowed a scarlet red that lit the rest of its body and caught the attention of both enemies. As it trotted across the battle box, the attacks of the enemies homed in on its glowing nose rather than the soul. This was quite fortunate, as the following attacks would have proved to be a significant challenge to avoid. The attacks from the bird were like the ones prior, but the attacks from the other was far worse. The reindeer was stomped at, shot at, and chomped at relentlessly. At the end of the turn, Lancer slouched over after hearing the criticism of his recipe. The mouth on his stomach seemed to be mouthing something to itself in frustration. 

TP 45% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII                        |

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* Nutcase Crasher finds the salsa distasteful. 

                                                                                  |Enchant| - Snowbell

                                                                                     Talk                         🧡Sugar Crash (-40% TP)

                                                                                     Slippery Slips               Beautiful Peace

                                                                                  |Defend| - Kris, Susie, Ralsei, Noelle

* Snowbell used Sugar Crash on Nutcase Crasher!

After closing her eyes and whispering a few words under her breath, Snowbell held her crook upwards at the air. Near the top of it, an apple that dripped with green liquid as though it were taken from a mucky swamp hovered in the air. In the blink of an eye, it was surrounded by multiple red puffs of partially transparent smoke. Several bags of sugar soon materialized and emptied themselves over the apple until it had nothing but a dazzling white texture. The apple then rotated around in the hovering smoke as the red puffs became opaquer. Within a moment, the smoke faded, leaving a shiny, sugary, candy apple hovering in the air. The Fun Gang stared at it in confusion. 

“What the hell is thi-” Susie began to question. Before she could finish her statement, Snowbell cast her crook in a downwards motion and the apple launched itself into Nutcase Crasher’s violently chomping mouth. After crunching up the apple, his bites and movements became less and less fierce. Everyone watched as his eyes began to close and he soon fell asleep in the snow beneath him. Susie promptly closed her mouth, asked no questions, and intentionally avoided eye contact with Snowbell for the next few turns. Ralsei slowly turned to face Snowbell with a slightly troubled look on his face. 

“What was in that apple?” he nervously asked. To his surprise, it was not Snowbell who responded. 

“You don’t want to know…” Noelle answered. 

* Nutcase Crasher fell asleep! 

* Nutcase Crasher’s attack dropped!

* Nutcase Crasher’s defense dropped! 

“Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” - Nutcase Crasher snored. 

“Dah/noh-lah!” Fluffby clucked. 

While the bird performed its same ordeal, the silhouette of a sleeping soldier could be seen at the bottom of the battle box. 

TP 05% |III                                           |

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* Nutcase Crasher sleeps soundly while Fluffby babbles on. 

                                                                                  |Act| - Fluffby

                                                                                     (Noelle) Hug                (Ralsei) Sing

                                                                                 🧡Dance                         Ignore

                                                                                  |Magic| - Ralsei

                                                                                 🧡Pacify                          Heal Prayer

                                                                                  |Defend| - Susie, Noelle, Snowbell

* Kris danced around for Fluffby!

* Ralsei cast Pacify on Nutcase Crasher!

“What are we supposed to do for this nut?” Susie called out, pointing her hand open in the direction of Fluffby, “Does anyone understand the gibberish she’s saying?” Everyone looked at one another, but the blank looks that everyone had on told them all the same answer. The small ballet-like dance that Kris had performed did seemingly nothing for the enemy. 

“Doo-moh may-lah kah” Fluffby squawked. 

“What do we do?” Snowbell asked as she turned to Kris. Avoiding the bird’s attacks was down to a science, but the issue now was deciding what to do. Susie shook her head and said the first thing that came to mind. 

“Just try everything until something works,” she recommended. Kris looked over at Susie and then to Noelle. 

“Let’s try this,” they said. Noelle cringed as she knew what she was about to be told to do. 

TP 100% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII|

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* Fluffby is now repeating itself and clucking its beak with odd sounds. 

                                                                                  |Act| - Fluffby

                                                                                 🧡(Noelle) Hug                 (Ralsei) Sing

                                                                                     Dance                           Ignore

                                                                                  |Defend| - Susie, Ralsei, Snowbell

* Noelle nervously approached and hugged Fluffby!

As Noelle slowly hugged Fluffby, it began to jitter faster, flash its eyes, and make several fast clicking sounds with its beak. After holding her arms around the fluffy darkner long enough, she let go and yelped slightly as she scurried back over to her friends. 

“Aw,” Snowbell denoted, “you two looked really cute together.” Noelle’s face sunk as she glared at Snowbell upon hearing this. 

“Dah-kah-oo-nye!” Fluffby acknowledges. 

Although it still attacked, the bird silhouette seemed happier than before. 

“I think that did it!” Ralsei exclaimed. 

TP 100% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII|

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* Fluffby seems thankful for the hug. 

                                                                                  |Spare| - Noelle

                                                                                 🧡Fluffby

* Noelle spared Fluffby!

* You won!

* Got 0 EXP and 250 D$

“W-Wow,” Snowbell remarked, watching the darkners they had just spared carry the still sleeping Nutcase Crasher away, “we… we really did it.”

“I told you we could, and without taking any damage either. I told you we could count on Kris,” Ralsei assured her, “Not only that, but you brought yourself to say what you felt. That shouldn’t be forgotten.” Snowbell put a hoof on her arm as she looked to Ralsei. 

“Y-Yeah,” she acknowledged, “I-I did, didn’t I?” Kris nodded their head as Ralsei clapped his paws. Lancer dragged his feet in the snow as he rejoined everyone. 

“I can’t believe that!” he proclaimed, the mouth on his stomach grimacing, “Even with the extra scarlet leaves and stump sap, people still don’t like my salsa.” Susie put a hand on Lancer’s shoulder as she squatted down next to him. 

“If anyone passes up your food, then that’s on them,” she stated, “You know that I’ll always enjoy whatever you can make.” Lancer looked at Susie for a moment and then waved his hand by his side. 

“Yeah, you’re right,” he affirmed, “That soft hat’s taste was probably staler than Lesser Dad’s pickled roux.” As the two continued on, Kris approached Noelle who was still standing a little farther away than the rest of the group. She looked at Kris but said nothing, turning to face the distance instead with her ears drooping slightly. With no change in her appearance, Kris began to walk back towards the others. 

“Kris…” Noelle spoke somberly. Kris turned back around to see Noelle still facing the same way, but clearly wanting to say something. “I… I do know what this all is.” Kris turned their head slightly upon hearing Noelle admit this. 

“What is it?” they asked. Noelle lowered her head and put her hoofs together in front of herself. 

“I… I can’t say.” she responded. Kris continued to look at Noelle until she eventually let out a deep breath and slowly turned around. “Just… please, Kris… If Susie realizes what this is… things won’t be good for me… or for her…” Kris faced Noelle for a moment before nodding their head and looking towards the blizzard which was now in the close distance. They turned back to Noelle to see her close her eyes and give a slow nod of acknowledgement. 

The Fun Gang headed towards the blizzard until they eventually entered within its encompassing winds. It seemed darker inside and the depth that each of them could see within was slimmed by a mess of snow, gust, and fog. It was snowing there, yet it seemed even worse than the kind on the ground from before. The breeze was fierce, and it left a feeling that stung each of their skins when it blew on a place touched by snow. Several of them had begun to shiver the further they traveled. 

“Snowbell,” Kris muttered through their chattering teeth, “do you recognize this?” Snowbell did not look as afflicted by the cold as the rest of them, but she still covered her face with her arms to block out the blowing snow. She lifted her arms to get a look around. 

“We should be nearing the outer fields and lands now,” she called out, “but I don’t know exactly where we are.” Susie, who was holding a shivering Lancer in her arms, groaned like a foghorn. 

“So you’re telling us that we’re gonna freeze out here?” she hollered. 

“I…” Snowbell yelled through the onslaught of falling snow, “I-I think if we keep going, we should eventually find some kind of shelter. Either that or we’ll get past this stor-”

Ching!

As Snowbell was speaking, a large, stellar plate snowflake fell hard onto the ground within a foot in front of her. She gasped and jolted back at the sight, for it was almost half as large as she was. Everyone else stopped as well and began looking around. Another one then landed and stuck about halfway out of the snow a few feet from Kris. It was followed by several rough blocks of hail that began to crash on the ground around them. Noelle looked at Kris now with a different expression of fear upon her face. 

“Uh, Kris,” she hastily uttered, “I think we should start running. Now!” 

As the five quickened their pace, more and more snowflakes and chunks of hail began falling to the ground. Within a moment, the soul surfaced from within Kris as they pressed forward with the others. While they tried to avoid the falling hail and snowflakes, the thick fog, snow, and strong winds made it nearly impossible for any of them to see anything. They changed directions several times to try to steer away from the eye of the storm, but the projectiles continued to rain down with no indication stopping. Everyone grimaced in pain as the soul was struck by several hail bits and snowflakes. 

“Gah! Damn it, Kris!” Susie barked, “We need to get the hell out of here and take cover somewhere out of the open!” Several of them looked all around but saw nothing. 

“Just keep moving,” Noelle directed, “If we stop, then we’ll either f-freeze or get buried alive!” After hearing this statement, Snowbell could not keep herself quiet any longer. 

“I’m so sorry!” she cried, “If it wasn’t for my pointless dreams and pursuits, none of this would have happened!” 

“N-No… no!” Noelle yelled, “This… this isn’t your fault, Snowbell… If there’s anyone to blame… it’s me.” 

“What?” Ralsei called out. Lancer and Susie shared faces of confusion and concern. 

“This… all this land… the myth… the winter… the spring… even Snowbell…” Noelle fretted, “It’s all because of me.” As everyone halted momentarily in shock at Noelle, Kris could faintly see something in the near distance. 

“There!” Kris called to the others, pointing ahead, “Some kind of structure!” With no time to waste, they hurried over to the bulky silhouette in the near distance. Upon nearing it, the structure appeared to be a rough stone arrangement made of large bricks. The bricks were a dark gray in color and looked as though they had been partially chipped away at in the past. The structure seemed to slowly curve in shape all around itself, but it was difficult to tell how far or long it truly was. They piled against the cold wall, trying to stay as close to it as possible to avoid the still raining projectiles, wind, and snow. 

“Phew!” Ralsei panted, “The snowstorm can’t get us here!” Within a moment of speaking his words, a large hailstone blew from his side and smacked right into him. It knocked him off his feet and sent him flying several feet away, landing roughly in the coarse snow on the ground. As he stood up, dazed from the hit, Kris realized that they could not stay there either. After helping Ralsei back to his feet, Kris pointed around the structure. 

“Follow the wall,” they spoke, “See if it leads anywhere.” Sticking close to one another, the five carefully navigated along the wall, staying as close to it and one another as possible. Several much larger snowflakes and chunks of hail crashed onto the top of the wall just above them, making them quicken their pace. After what felt to them like an endless repeating loop of bricks, a part of the structure stuck out a bit differently from the rest. It stuck out in a somewhat straight line. Additionally, it appeared very different from the rest of the structure, as if it was made out of something else entirely. Unlike the dark gray bricks, the walls ahead appeared shiny, smooth, and silver with slight folds and indents scattered about it. Hugging the side of it until they reached its end, they found an opening that led inside. 

“In here!” Kris urged the others. The five hastily piled into the opening. Several of them tumbled over and fell to the hard, cool ground, shivering as they did so. While they were still cold inside, it was far better than being out in the blizzard. After getting their bearings, they looked around and realized that the opening was larger than they had thought. It curved in a semicircular shape that opened after a short straight path leading into a much larger area. Upon getting a better look, the structure appeared to be some sort of a cave. Several of them looked at one another for their next course of action. 

“M-Maybe we s-s-should wait out the s-s-storm in here f-for now,” Ralsei shivered out as he tried to fold his scarf and robe around himself. 

“Y-Yeah,” Susie quivered, shaking as she still held Lancer, “and maybe move further away from the opening. It’s still freakin’ freezing out there.” 

Kris led the way as they traveled a bit further into the cave-like structure. They did not leave the entrance out of sight to ensure that they would not lose their way. Although it was dark, there was just enough light shining from the entrance to make out some general formations within. They could see a small little track with a cart beside it deeper within, indicating to them that this was more of a mine than a cave. Additionally, there were odd, slightly glowing stones that stuck out from the walls at irregular angles. They stared at them, wondering if they were crystals of some sort. With closer inspection, they turned out not to be crystals but rather chunky stones of varying colors. After being put back on the ground by Susie, Lancer approached and touched one of the light blue stones with his hand. To his surprise, his hand became quite powdery with the same color. He gave a high-pitched chuckle as he began to draw over one of the nearby walls with the powder on his hand. 

“Heh, it’s like giving Lesser Dad unwanted face paints if he was a wall,” he snickered. 

While Lancer had clearly got his mind off the cold with his drawing skills, the others mostly settled down to take in what had happened. Kris, Susie, and Ralsei all sat in a small circle while Noelle and Snowbell sat away from them at two opposite ends of one another. While Noelle was still shaking slightly from the cold, it was obvious to the others that something besides the temperature was hurting both. Kris, Susie, and Ralsei looked at one another for several moments. Each had the same thoughts, but they wondered which of them was going to approach Noelle or Snowbell first. To the surprise of Kris and Ralsei, Susie got to her feet and walked over towards Noelle. She was crouching against the wall on the opposite end of the mine. Upon seeing Susie approaching, her chattering buck teeth clenched down on her mouth in angst. Susie stopped in front of her and, much to Noelle’s unease, looked her directly in the eyes. 

“Noelle,” she started, “what did you mean out there when you said that this is all because of you?” Noelle clenched the ground around her with her hooves as she closed her eyes tightly. 

“E-Exactly what I said,” she croaked, “All this is because of what I d-did.” Susie, who was still shuddering slightly from the chill in the air, crouched down and got to Noelle’s level. 

“How?” she asked, “What did you do?” Noelle opened her eyes and looked at Susie, but she still could not bring herself to say everything. 

“I-I… I lied,” she muttered, “and you were r-right about how b-bad I am at it… and I d-don’t want to do it anymore.” Susie continued to look at Noelle as she covered her eyes with her hooves. 

“Well, that’s obvious from what you said before and how you look now,” she confirmed, gesturing Noelle’s physical state with her hand, “but that doesn’t answer my question.” Noelle’s lip began to twitch, as she knew she needed to say something. She also knew that it needed to be honest. A deep, jittery breath escaped Noelle’s mouth as she took her hooves off her eyes and looked at Susie’s. 

“I… I…” she choked, “I wrote all this.” 

“What?” Susie responded with a taken back look on her face. 

“W-Well, I guess technically not all of it, but…” Noelle uttered, “Snowbell… her land… her powers… and some… other t-things… I wrote it all out.” Noelle wrapped her hooves around her legs as she put her face into them. 

“None of us care what you wrote, Noelle,” Susie stated, “What matters to us is that you are with us and that you feel like yourself.” Noelle kept her head in her knees as Susie put a still slightly quivering arm behind her head. “I’m not the right person to tell you this kind of stuff, Noelle. But you’ve got to pull yourself together and get over whatever it is that you wrote.” Susie pushed herself back to her feet and stepped back. “I’ll give you some space.” As she began walking back over to Kris and Ralsei, Noelle picked her head up from her knees and looked over to Susie. 

“No,” she spoke, “y-you are the right person to tell me this kind of stuff, Susie.” Susie turned back around and saw Noelle looking her way. Not wanting to pursue any potential implications of Noelle’s statement in front of the others, she simply gave a firm nod and continued back to Kris and Ralsei. Once within a few feet of them, she turned around and looked in Snowbell’s direction. She was crouched down like Noelle but sat a bit closer to the entrance of the mine. 

“What should we say to her?” Susie inquired. Kris and Ralsei both got to their feet and additionally looked over at Snowbell. 

“Let’s see what’s wrong, first,” Ralsei decided. Kris nodded in accord and began walking over to Snowbell. As the three approached her, she did not look away like Noelle had. Instead, she looked them directly in the eyes. 

“I’m sorry,” she lamented, “I caused you all this pain and trouble.” 

“No, no!” Ralsei consoled with his paws open in front of him, “That’s not your fault. That was on us that we got a little hurt out there.” Snowbell shook her head. 

“What kind of princess puts her friends in danger like that?” she whispered as she faced towards the ground, “Not a mindful one.”

“Snowbell… even if you feel that it is your fault, I forgive you,” Ralsei urged, “And I’m sure that the others do as well.” He turned to Kris and Susie. 

“We get scraped up all the time,” Susie remarked, “That’s nothing new to us.” She turned to Kris who then looked down at Snowbell. 

“We forgive you,” they said. Snowbell continued to face the ground as she moved a hoof to the top of her leg. 

“Even if you all forgive me,” she grieved, “that doesn’t mean that I can forgive myself.” The three looked down at Snowbell, unsure of what to say. “Please, just… leave me be.” 

Kris, Susie, and Ralsei looked at Snowbell for another moment and then to each other. Feeling that it was best to oblige Snowbell’s request, they headed back over to where they were sitting before. They looked towards the entrance to the mine and saw that the blizzard was still rampant outside. 

“Perhaps we should stay in here for now,” Ralsei proposed, “At least until the blizzard clears up.” Susie looked over to Kris who simply nodded in confirmation. 

“Yes,” they said, “we’ll do that.” As the three each looked at one another, Lancer popped himself up in the middle of them. 

“Hey, clowns!” he yelled, “Take a look at what I drew!” He pointed over to the wall next to a patch of several of the multicolored stones. Marked upon it was a crudely made jail cell with an overly round version of King sitting inside. Lancer stood above it, holding a sign that read “Dad Jail.” Three little figures stood around the cage holding their weapons high. One was blue with a sword, another was purple with an axe, and one was green with a toothpaste tube. Ralsei’s face slouched slightly upon seeing his weapon. 

“Looks accurate,” Susie chuckled. As she looked at the drawing, she remembered the last time that they had fought King. She looked back to Noelle who was still crouched down at the other side of the mine. “Just one thing’s missing.” Susie stood up and touched one of the yellow stones sticking out from the wall. She walked over to the drawing and added an additional figure holding a staff beside the rest of them. “There, now it’s true.” Lancer turned his head as he looked at the addition to the drawing while his stomach mouth stuck out its tongue, perplexed. He jumped slightly upon realizing what it was. 

“Oh, I forgot to put Gingerbread Girl on there,” he realized. He looked over and saw Noelle still sitting at the opposite end of the mine. “Is she gonna come over here?” Kris, Susie, and Ralsei looked over and saw the same thing that they saw before. 

“She’ll be alright,” Susie commented, “Just a bit stuck over something is all.” As the four sat there, a chilly breeze blew in from the entrance, causing the teeth in Lancer’s stomach mouth to start chattering again. 

“M-Man, it sure is still c-cold in here,” Lancer uttered, “Even for a tough guy like me.” The four of them could see their breath with each bit of air that they let out. Susie clenched both her arms, as did Kris and Ralsei. She looked over at Lancer, who was visibly starting to shiver. She knelt against the wall and brought him to her side. 

“Come on,” she comforted, “If we’re gonna freeze, then we’re gonna freeze together.” Lancer gave a small smile as he leaned against Susie. Ralsei looked over at the two as both he and Kris shook from the cold on the ground. 

“Perhaps we should all gather together,” he advised, “We can all share warmth that way.” He crouched down and leaned against Susie from the other side. Kris additionally knelt against the wall and sat beside Lancer, pinning him between themselves and Susie. Lancer looked over and saw Noelle shaking slightly from the cold against the wall on the other side. 

“What about Snowpoff Girl?” Lancer asked. They looked over and saw Noelle clenching herself as she continued to shake from the cold. While her clothing was more fit for winter than the rest of them, it did not protect against extremely cold environments such as this. She crouched there with shaky breath as she closed her eyes and tried to think of something to distract herself. No matter how hard she tried, she could not stop thinking about how cold it was or how they were all in this position because of what she had written. 

“It’s because of you,” she thought to herself, “They are here and you are here… all because of what you wro-” Before she could finish her thought, Noelle felt something roughly grab her from underneath the arms and pick her up. 

“H-Hey!” she yelped in surprise, “W-What-”

“Just because you’re embarrassed that you made a princess version of yourself doesn’t mean that we should all have to freeze our asses off because of it,” Susie asserted, “And you shouldn’t have to suffer because of it either.” Despite her instinctive blushes, it took Noelle a moment to realize that Susie was carrying her over her shoulder. 

“S-Susie…” Noelle muttered, her face turning red from a mixture of cold and fluster. 

“I don’t want to hear any more about how you think this is all your fault or how you are stuck up over some dumb thing you wrote,” Susie interrupted, “I just want you to sit down with the rest of us so that none of us freeze to death.” Susie gently placed Noelle down between her and Ralsei as she returned to her spot next to Lancer. He looked over to Noelle with a smile across both his mouths and then to Snowbell who, much like Noelle before, was crouching against the opposite wall. 

“What about other Snowpoff Girl?” Lancer additionally asked. Susie picked her head up, as it had begun to drop slightly from exhaustion. Snowbell was sitting where she had been before and showed no signs of shivering or serious reactions to the cold. 

“She asked us to leave her be,” Susie whispered, “And besides, she lives in this kind of weather. She’ll be okay.” While Lancer looked at Snowbell for a little bit longer, he began to lose her as he soon found himself falling asleep. The rest of the group additionally followed suit, all except Noelle. She would have fallen asleep as well, but the sudden dropping of Susie’s sleepy head onto her lap interrupted her doze. Her face turned slightly red, unsure of what to do at first. After looking at her for a moment, she placed an arm around Susie’s shoulder, closed her eyes, and formed a gentle smile on her face. 

“Maybe this won’t be so bad after all,” Noelle wondered as her eyes slowly closed shut. 

Chapter Text

The harsh winds and rough blowing snow still ran rampant as time went on. While the raining snowflakes and chunks of hail stopped, the rest of the storm seemingly persisted. If anything, some aspects of it seemed to have gotten worse. With the mine now a distance away, Snowbell covered her face partially with her cloak as she traveled far out, back into the blizzard. She was normally unaffected by the temperatures in the land, but she found that the snow now bit like an insect whenever it made contact. The path on which she followed ran in multiple directions and began to descend what looked like a small hill. Her sight was just as hindered by the storm as it was previously, and Snowbell could hardly see where she was stepping. She faced the ground, both to try to shield her face and because her guilt had weighted it downwards. 

“I told them to leave me… and they listened,” she muttered to herself, “They didn’t deserve to go through this… but I do.” She looked down the winding path to see that it just kept going. There were additionally boreal-looking trees that began to come into sight along the sides of the descending road. Snowbell had never recalled seeing trees like these before or even heard of the existence of such things in this land. “I don’t even know where I am anymore…” 

The further Snowbell walked, the coarser the snow both on the ground and in the air became. A strange feeling of dread began to additionally grow in the air the further that Snowbell navigated. She stopped and looked all around her, now unable to tell where she had come from, for the path that she had just walked had disappeared in the continuously falling snow. She started to shake from both the cold and anxiety of the situation. “T-This isn’t good… oh heavens. I-I don’t… I’m l-los-”

Stomp!

Snowbell snapped around to her right, as there was a loud stomping sound in the close distance. She stood still, staring in the direction of the sound. There was nothing else though. Just the sound of the continuously howling, snowy winds that blew like apparitions through the empty paths and past the towering trees. Her eyes moved around the trees in the distance but saw nothing. She rubbed her face with a hoof as she felt her throat tightening and lips starting to twitch. “I-I don’t have friends because of this…” she said, starting to feel something forming in both her eyes, “A-All because of my stupid-”

“Dreams,” a gargled, high-pitched voice finished for her. Snowbell’s heart stopped upon hearing the voice but beat hard upon hearing the sound that accompanied the voice. 

Crack-Snap-Crash!

Snowbell felt the ground beneath her shake so hard that she lost her balance and fell over into the rigid snow beneath her. She picked her head up to see that a large tree had fallen over where she just previously was, blocking off the way she had come from. She had almost forgotten about the voice that had spoken until she was reminded of it by what she saw at the end of the tree. The end of the tree was splintered and slashed as though something had ripped right through the bark and trunk. It did not take Snowbell long to realize what it was that had done this. A long, thin, creased claw rested on the end of the trunk. It had a yellow, rough, callus-looking texture and attached to the end of it was a set of four curved, black talons that looked sharper than honed broadswords. As her eyes slowly moved up the leg, her ears were met with another sound. 

“No matter how many pointless adventures you’re a part of,” the same voice from before breathed, “you will always be alone. And you always be mine!” 

Snowbell did not have time to finish looking at the rest of the figure, for a large, curved beak many times her own size opened itself in front of her. Inside rested what looked like hundreds of sticky spines on both the top and bottom parts of the beak. A high-pitched cry that sounded other worldly met Snowbell’s ears as she let out a scream. The sound was so loud that Snowbell could hear her own ears ringing from the intensity of it. She promptly crawled backward and pushed herself to her feet. As she took a step back, she could feel her hoof on the ground lose elevation from the ground, as it must have dropped off. She gasped and yelled as she fell backwards and tumbled down the rugged slope. She eventually slid from a slight drop off where she felt herself land hard into something pointy. 

Snowbell cried out in pain as she looked around. She had fallen directly into the center of what looked like an icy thorn bush. As Snowbell tried to free herself, she found that she was caught not only by her cloak, but also by her fur and skin on the sharp thorns that stuck out from the bush. Every movement that she made gave a tearing pain throughout various points of her body as she struggled to get out. Her heart felt like it was going to pound out of her chest after hearing the crashing of something on the top of the slope she had just fallen from. She looked up to see the dark silhouette of a great bird-like creature staring down at her. Several glowing red eyes faced her from the dark and she yelped in pain to get free of the thorn bush. 

“You wanted me to leave you alone,” the voice hissed down at her, “And now that you're alone, you’re hopeless.” 

After finishing their statement, Snowbell realized that the icy thorns had started moving independent of her struggling. They seemed to be trying to trap her even more. Snowbell screamed in pain as she forcibly tore herself through the bush to escape. She felt several cuts dig themselves all over her arms, legs, and face as she did so. Several shreds of her cloak ripped off and remained impaled on various thorns in the bush, which still seemed to be slowly reaching out in her direction, trying to snag her again. Snowbell hastily crawled away before getting to her feet. She started to sprint blindly through the still falling snow. 

“You don’t look like the second most beautiful creature in all the land anymore,” the perched figure spat out, “You look like a long-gone princess that escaped the ground.” 

As Snowbell panted from her sprints, she felt something grab onto her leg. She fell face first into the choppy snow, stinging the cuts across her face. She turned around to see that a partially rotted, hoof-like arm had reached itself up from the snow underneath her. It seemed like it was trying to pull her underneath. 

“Join us, Snowbell,” a voice echoed from below her, “Just let it happen. You deserve it.” Snowbell shrieked as she kicked her leg and eventually freed it from the hand’s grip. As she got up and began to run, more and more similar looking arms began to reach up from all over the ground. The voices additionally did not stop. The more that Snowbell heard, the more that she recognized the voices as drowned out tones of her own voice. 

“You don’t know what’s good for yourself, Snowbell.” 

“We’re all happy down here. Happy to be together in our tight-knit little Hell.”

“The fire warms your heart. Let us take you in.” 

“You never expressed yourself. But down here you’ll learn.” 

“Your suffering will bring others joy.”

“You doubted all your life. Now your life doubts your own existence.”

Soon, there were too many hands rising from the ground for Snowbell to avoid them any longer. As she was caught by one, several more than began to latch themselves onto her and pull her into the rough snow. The hands were colder than the air and snow itself and gave a pain by touch that was indescribable, as though they were simultaneously coated in burning acid and dry ice. The snow scraped against her like rugged concrete as she slowly felt herself being pulled underneath. 

“Help!” she cried out in agonized terror, a mixture of sweat and tears sliding down her face, “Someone help!” Snowbell felt a bitter gust of forceful winds pushing her against the ground as the bird-like figure in the dark flew up above her. The glowing eyes looked back down at her as the figure made a final statement. 

“Your precious ‘spring’ is nothing but a fallacy,” it mocked, “All you have is yourself and the parts that you can’t escape.” The figure gave another ear-piercing cry that Snowbell could not cover her ears to hear. As her head sunk within the snow beneath her, she could still see the glow of the figure’s eyes through the now piling up snow above her. The cries and screams seemed like they were getting louder and started coming from all around her. They became so loud that Snowbell could no longer comprehend where she was or what was happening. All she could see were the painful glow of the crimson rays still staring down at her. Within a moment, the screams faded, and Snowbell abruptly sat up from the ground of the mine. 

She gave a short yell before opening her eyes. The red glows that seemed to still be imprinted in her sight started to blend into the slightly glowing stones across from where she sat until they fully took on their colors. A few of the others on the other side of the mine stirred slightly from her small yell but continued to sleep soundly. Snowbell sat tensely on the ground for several moments as sweat poured down her shaking face. After taking several deep breaths, she leaned her head back against the damp wall behind her and released all the tension in her arms and legs. After catching her breath and easing up a bit, she looked down at herself. 

“‘You will always be alone,’” she cited from the creature in her dream. She looked over at Kris, Susie, Ralsei, Noelle, and Lancer who were still sleeping on the other side of the cave. “N-No… I-I have friends… they are right there. And they forgive me. They said so.” After wiping the sweat off her forehead and looking back towards them, she took a moment to take in how close they all really were to one another. Not just physically in that moment, but how much they truly cared about one another. Even without movement or effort from any of them, Snowbell could see it. Susie kept Lancer close in her arms. Ralsei had the slack from his robe covering himself, Noelle, and Susie. Even Kris with their somewhat expressionless face had kept a firm watch over each of them throughout the perils they had endured. Two of them specifically caught Snowbell’s eyes. 

Noelle had slumped over in the night and had her head resting atop Susie’s on her mess of hair. As Snowbell looked at the two, she realized something. It was apparent that the way that Noelle was seemingly hugging Susie with her arms was not something that was done by chance or just for warmth in the cold. Snowbell gripped one hoof with the other as a slight smile crept over her face. She could feel a small ember light inside her heart at the sight of the two together. It was clear to her that there was a care amongst those two that was different than the others. She could not tell if it was mutual between them, but there was care, nonetheless. Care that Snowbell wished she could feel with someone herself. 

She looked toward the entrance of the mine and saw that the blizzard had seemingly cleared up. No longer were there any violent breezes, endless rains of falling snow, or dangerous snowflakes and hail chunks. In fact, the longer that Snowbell looked, it appeared a bit brighter than usual. Not only that, but some of the snow on the ground looked parted. Almost like some spots in it had partially melted. Snowbell got to her feet and rubbed her eyes to make sure that she was not seeing things. She was not, for the snow on the ground looked even more melted after she got a better look at it. Snowbell stepped over one of the glowing stones that stuck out from the wall to the ground and began to approach the mine’s entrance. However, she stopped after only a few steps. 

A large shadow was cast down onto the area just outside the mine and Snowbell could hear the distinct sound of something landing. It did not make a loud sound, but it was clear that it was something large. Snowbell jumped slightly as she saw a large foot or hand of some kind step down just in front of the cave. She could not make out the exact color of the foot or hand due to the shadow of the mine entrance, but whatever it was it appeared to be somewhat dark. She could make out four bulky, yellow claws attached to it that dug into the ground below. 

Snowbell froze in place. She looked over to the others who were still asleep against the wall on the other side of the mine. She could not make up her mind on what to do. Should she stay silent and see if whatever this is passes by or carefully try waking up the others? The two courses of actions danced around Snowbell’s mind for several moments as she continued to look at her sleeping friends. She did not want to wake them up if there was no real danger, as it would be rude. On the other hand, if there was real danger and she did not wake them up, then they would all be in trouble. Snowbell went back and forth with these thoughts in her mind until she decided to turn around and check on what the creature was doing. When she looked back to the entrance to the mine, Snowbell’s heart skipped a beat, and she froze even more. 

Whatever the creature was, it was enormous. Not only that, but it seemed to be sticking its head inside the mine. Snowbell’s heart began pounding as she became fixed in her position out of fear. She could not make out the exact shape or look of it, but the creature appeared to have a massive snoot sticking out from the front of what Snowbell could only assume was its head. The snoot was steadily approaching Snowbell who was still stuck in place. The pupils in her eyes shrunk as the snoot stopped itself within about two feet of her. The snoot alone was a bit taller than she was and seemed locked in her general direction. 

Two nostril slits on the front of it opened slightly and seemed to take in several deep breaths, as though the creature was sniffing the area. After Snowbell felt several puffs of hot breath push against herself, the snoot moved slightly upwards and seemingly faced directly towards Snowbell’s face. The mouth beneath the snoot slowly began to open itself, revealing a row of sharp, yellow, canine-looking teeth on both the top and bottom of the mouth. At this sight, Snowbell could not keep herself quiet any longer and let out a scream that the entire kingdom could hear. This scream caused the mouth of the creature to close slightly and the snoot to stop moving. It additionally woke the others up on the opposing side of the mine. Snowbell fell onto her back and crawled backwards until she backed into the glowing stone that she had previously stepped over. She put her now shaking arms in front of herself and closed her eyes as she cowered against the stone. 

“No! P-Please! D-Don’t eat me!” Snowbell cried out. Although the others all tried getting up in a hurry, Susie ended up knocking over several of them as she did. She summoned her axe and sprinted towards Snowbell, rearing the back end of it up for an initial smacking swing at the threat. Snowbell continued to shake against the glowing stone. To her surprise, she was not being eaten by the creature. She slowly moved her arms away and opened her eyes to see a large pair of yellow, reptilian looking eyes positioned just above the large snoot. They seemingly looked at her in confusion. 

“You?” the creature questioned in a deep, rough voice, “Why would I want to eat someone like y-”

“Get the hell away from her!” Susie yelled, smashing the back end of her axe against the side of the creature’s snoot with a loud clang. The creature bellowed a coarse insult under its breath as it began to retreat its head out of the mine. Susie helped Snowbell to her feet as the rest of the Fun Gang ran over. 

“Snowbell! Are you alright?” Susie checked, leaning down, and helping Snowbell back to her feet. 

“Y-Yeah,” she replied, still a bit shaken up, “I-I’m fine.” Kris, Ralsei, Lancer, and even Noelle additionally checked on Snowbell. They all then looked at the creature which was still moving its head backwards and out of the mine. 

“C’mon! Before it gets away!” Susie demanded. Susie led the way as everyone ran after the beast which now had gotten its head out of the mine. It picked its head up high enough that no one could see what it looked like unless they were also outside the mine. Susie began snapping at the creature part way through exiting the mine. 

“Hey! Long-snout!” Susie insulted, “Next time, think twice before trying to sink your teeth into one of my frien-” But Susie stopped what she was saying. Her eyes widened and pupil slits narrowed at the size of the creature, but more so because of its appearance. Reflected in Susie’s eyes was something that she could not comprehend at first. 

“Damn you!” the creature barked in a tone of voice that Susie knew all too well, “That hurt!” The creature was rubbing the spot on its snoot that Susie had just smacked with one claw while the others dug tensely into the ground. Kris, Lancer, and Ralsei additionally looked up in shock at the creature after running out of the mine. Noelle only needed to take one look at it before she slowly lowered her head into her hooves. Her face began turning so red that blisters filled with embarrassed fluster could have surfaced all over it. Susie’s preparedness for a fight slowly dwindled and contorted itself as though it had been meshed through a cheese grater. She felt a mixed feeling of fear, bafflement, and disgust at what she was looking at. Her stomach lurched while her mind could only think of a single statement. 

“What… the… $#@%…” Susie trembled. 

Snowbell was the last to exit the mine. She cautiously joined the others and looked up at the creature. Her eyes opened wide, but unlike the others they did not reflect fear or disgust, but instead something else. The ember that she had previously felt in her chest upon seeing the care between Noelle and Susie reignited into a scorching flame as though it had been sprayed with a high intensity lighter fluid. Snowbell’s eyes seemingly shined upon looking at what she could only describe as the magnificence that stood before her. Although Snowbell’s heart was still pounding out of her chest, the reason for it began to shift. Nothing within existence could have broken her gaze at that moment in time. In fact, it seemed as though time itself had slowed within Snowbell’s eyes. 

While nobody else could see them, reflected in her eyes were streams of white stars twinkling in front of what Snowbell considered a most graceful being. Her mane, dark brown like the cliffs of a mountainside, blew in the light breeze as though it had been freshly painted and placed within a frame. Her great wings, sharp claws, yellow teeth and eyes, purple skin, freckles, strength, and ferocity. Snowbell could hardly believe that such an incredulously perfect creature could exist. To her, she was a true fallen star from the most unimaginably fetching galaxy in the universe. Never had she seen another being like this. One so elegantly fierce and menacingly angelic. Even at first sight and with an embittered look on her face, Snowbell felt that she was a blessing upon the world. 

“It… it can’t be…” Snowbell proclaimed, the creature of her dreams reflected in her eyes, “Omigosh… it’s… it’s… it’s Spring Dragon.” Kris, Ralsei, and Lancer looked over in a mixture of bafflement and shock once they heard Snowbell’s statement. After rubbing her smacked snoot a few more times, Spring Dragon narrowed her eyes at Susie as her mouth twitched in anger. 

“Little twit! Didn’t anyone ever teach you not to mess with things more than fifty times your size?” she snarled. Spring Dragon brought her head down to Susie’s level and began growling when it was less than a foot in front of her. As her eyes met Susie’s, Susie began to shake. Not in fear of the beast she had pissed off right in front of her, but at the thought of what such a creature’s existence in the dark world must have meant. Before she could say anything else, Spring Dragon picked her head up and looked out in the far distance, as something else had clearly caught her attention. After a few moments, she faced back down towards Susie with a frustrated look strewn across her face. 

“Punks like you aren’t worth my time,” she grumbled, “I’ve got bigger problems to deal with.” She blew a powerful breath of air down at Susie, knocking her onto her back. Susie remained still on the ground, seemingly petrified like Snowbell had been in the mine, albeit for different reasons. Spring Dragon turned herself around and began to take off from the ground into flight. Her wings individually opened to about the size of her own body in length as she kicked off from the ground with each of her four limbs. Each wing was a slightly darker shade of purple between their lined crests compared to the rest of her body. Her dark brown mane ran from the top of her head all the way down to the end of her tail which provided balance during flight. Everyone stared with varied feelings as Spring Dragon flew off into the far distance, melting the snow beneath her with each flap of her wings. 

Snowbell watched, now starting to drool slightly, as she flew off into the distance. Her beauty, grandness, strength, and ferocity had seemingly taken over and infatuated Snowbell’s mind. Snowbell now knew exactly why she had been called the second most beautiful creature in all the land. In her eyes, nothing else could ever compare to the elegance of the creature that she had just seen. Only after Spring Dragon began to disappear out of sight did Snowbell think about talking. 

“W-Wait!” she called out, raising a hoof into the air. She was too late, as Spring Dragon had already faded away the far-off distance. Snowbell paused for a moment before looking at the ground all around her as well as the path through the snow that Spring Dragon had made. One could see the dirt underneath it. Not only that, but just under Snowbell, a small dandelion had started to sprout. She knelt and lightly touched it with her hoof as though it were a priceless treasure. “Wow…” She stood back up and looked out in the direction that Spring Dragon had flown with stars in her eyes. “What a creature…” Realizing that there was no time to waste, she turned to the others, most of whom were still distracted with a variety of feelings and thoughts. 

“Come on!” she urged, waving them over and pointing in the direction that Spring Dragon had flown in, “We’ve got to follow her!” 

While Kris looked up at Snowbell after hearing her statement, Ralsei and Lancer had gone over to check on the other two members of the group. Lancer approached Susie while Ralsei walked over to Noelle. Noelle still had her hooves covering her face while Susie remained motionless on the ground. The two could hear the words from their caregivers, but nothing that either of them heard held any meaning or comfort at that moment. Noelle slowly pried her hooves off her beat red face and looked down at Susie. She remained on the ground as her eyes slowly met Noelle’s. The two looked at one another for a moment before Susie spoke the only words that conveyed any meaning to Noelle at that moment. 

“What… did… you… write…” Susie whimpered. 

Chapter Text

All the time that continuously embodied itself within the dark world would not have been enough for Noelle to explain to Susie why there was a fairy-tale dragon version of herself in the dark world. Likewise, Susie would not have been able to fully comprehend or accept such a thing given all the time in both the light and dark worlds. The two both sat on the ground with a sizable distance between one another as the rest of the group tried to coerce them back to reality. Not the darkest parts of the dark world or the longest time that she had ever gone without eating compared to the psychological trauma that festered within Susie’s mind at that moment. Noelle felt as though her heart and mind had been peeled apart with a slicer and that her secret fantasies had been made into mashed potatoes in front of all her friends. Despite the shared misery of the two, Snowbell continuously jumped with imperativeness as she pointed down the melted snow path and called out to each of them. 

“Come on! What are we waiting for?” she hollered impatiently, “Spring Dragon went that way! If we don’t follow her, it could stay a bitter winter in the land forever!” Ralsei looked over to Snowbell with a conflicted look on his face. He wanted to help her, but after listening to Noelle’s confessions, he understood the severity of the situation for both Noelle and Susie. He faced Noelle and tried to convince her to go with them. 

“I know that this is… difficult for you, Noelle,” he acknowledged, “But I don’t feel that it is fair to Snowbell to have her dream cast away because of this.” Noelle looked up at Ralsei with a lost look strewn across her face. 

“… you really don’t know what embarrassment feels like, do you, Ralsei?” Noelle drawled, her face seemingly drooping more and more by the second, “Let alone to this level…” Ralsei took a step back and ran a paw through the tuft of fluff on the front of his head. 

“No,” he admitted, “I don’t.” He stood there for a moment, trying to think of what he could say to Noelle. He felt like cheering her up was mostly out of the question, so it was more about convincing her to go along with them. He looked over to Snowbell who was still eccentrically pointing in the direction Spring Dragon had flown and then back to Noelle. The shared faces of the two along with Noelle’s admissions suggested a connection between the two. He bent down and looked Noelle in her cobalt eyes. “Noelle, Snowbell is ultimately a part of you. A version that you wrote from your heart onto a page,” Ralsei pleaded, “Please, even if it feels awful, do this for the sake of both yourself and her. Do this to conclude this part of yourself so that you can move on.” 

Noelle twitched at hearing this, for it was an undeniable truth. Snowbell was a part of herself that she had written onto a page and intertwined in a fantasy story. She closed her eyes tightly as she let the hard truth sink in. She opened them moments later and looked over in Snowbell’s direction. When Noelle looked at Snowbell’s eyes, they were shinier and more eccentric than her own for sure, but they were still her eyes. Her face was also still her face, and the desire of her heart was ultimately still a desire of Noelle’s heart when brought to a conclusive end. The ecstatic look in Snowbell’s eyes and the genuine desires she had was something that, when pointed out to her in this way, Noelle simply could not bring herself to ignore. She closed her eyes, let out a shaky sigh, and gave a single nod as her face seemingly swelled from fluster. 

“Fine…” Noelle gave in, “But only to help Snowbell meet her dream. And only that…” Ralsei was surprised at Noelle’s coming around but cast his arms into the air after processing it. 

“Oh, fantastic!” he exclaimed, “I’m sure that Snowbell will forever appreciate your decision, Noelle.” She looked up at him with a look of despair. 

“Don’t remind me,” she begged, “Please.” Ralsei looked over his shoulder and gave a thumbs up to Kris who was standing at the center between Snowbell, Noelle, and Susie’s positions. Ralsei turned to face Susie who Lancer had been talking to. 

“I just don’t get it, Susie. I’ve never seen you get like this,” he recognized, the mouth on his stomach looking perplexed, “And over a big purple jellybean with wings that has your face and hair?” Susie winced at Lancer’s description. 

“Lancer,” Susie muttered, running her hands down her face, “please. Just shut up and leave me be.” The top of Lancer’s head folded slightly downwards from Susie’s statement. He looked down to the ground before he tried saying something else. 

“But what about powdered macaroon over there?” he alleged, pointing over to the still hopping Snowbell, “Are you just gonna leave her?” Susie grabbed her own face with her hands again and pressed down with her claws. 

“I really don’t give a single $%@& about that princess’s dreams right now,” she retorted hopelessly, “All I want to do is die. Die and have my memory wiped of everything that we just went through.” Lancer looked at Susie concerned and then back to the ground again. He slumped down onto his bottom and faced away from Susie, sticking out his tongue from both his mouth and stomach mouth. It was at that moment that the bag of chips opened over his head and he looked back at Susie with an idea. 

“Alright, Susie, I’ll leave you be,” he informed her, hiding a smirk on his face as he turned around, “I guess I’ll just have to be the one on the team who kicks the bad clowns’ behinds if things get out of hand.” Susie moved her hands down to her snoot as her eyes snapped over in Lancer’s direction. 

“W-What?” she questioned. Lancer started walking away and cast an arm into the air with fake pompous as he did so. 

“No, no. You stay down there, Susie,” he pretended, the stomach on his mouth holding back laughter, “I see that your way too washed up to terrorize any more bad guys.” Even through her now pebble sized composure, Susie could not believe what she was being told. 

“Now hold on just a second!” she demanded, getting to her knees. 

“It’s all good, Susie,” Lancer assured her, waving his hand again in her direction, “I know you're mean and tough and purple. But I guess you’re just not mean and tough and purple enough to hold up through something like this.” Susie got her feet, marched over to Lancer, picked him up, and spun him around. 

“Nobody in this @#%$ squad kicks ass better than I do!” she barked, “And something like this won’t stop that!” A smile formed over both Lancer’s mouths as he looked Susie in the eyes. 

“So, you’re gonna help us go with macaroon then?” he inquired. Susie had a slight spasm at hearing Lancer’s question. 

“W-Well…” Susie responded, her eyes looking away from Lancer, “I-I never said that I woul-”

“Well, then I guess this clown’s too worn-out over the look of a flying jellybean,” Lancer called out to the others, pointing towards Susie, “We’ll just have to go and help out the princess on our ow-”

“No! Something like this isn’t gonna hold me back from what I do best!” Susie fumed at Lancer, “I’ll help you on this stupid quest! And none of you will ever remember me sitting on the ground before, got it?” 

“Clear as Rudinn diamonds,” Lancer replied. He turned towards Kris, Snowbell, Ralsei, and Noelle, who were starting to group up near the melted snow path. “Hey clowns, Susie’s coming with us too!” Susie dropped Lancer as one of her eyes began to twitch. Not only did she realize what she had just agreed to, but also that Lancer had just played her more than the two of them had played Kris and Ralsei for fools with their thrash machine. Susie lowered her head, clenched her fists, and began to stomp her way over slowly and begrudgingly to the rest of the group. Ralsei looked pleased at her. 

“I’m so glad you decided to help as well, Susie,” he praised, “I know that it must be hard.” 

“Shut up,” Susie complained, not picking up her head or looking in anyone’s general direction, “Let’s just… go…” Snowbell looked in awe at each of them before casting her arms into the air with joy. 

“Oh, hooray!” she cheered, “Then let’s go!” 

As Kris began to lead the way, they noticed a bright light shining a bit outside the cave. It had been obscured by the previously raging blizzard, so it was almost impossible to see before. They reached their hands out and could feel something sweep throughout them. 

‘Amongst the present angst and chagrin, the tale must continue. The power of suspiciously comparable purple beasts shines within you.’ 

Once their health had been fully restored, Kris led the group down the path of melted snow. As the five traveled, Snowbell was acting as though it were the happiest day in the world, despite how Noelle and Susie were clearly feeling. Snowbell was constantly humming pleasantly to herself, skipping a part of the time, and talking about various things that she liked or enjoyed. 

“Did I mention before that my favorite color is purple?” Snowbell mysteriously brought up, “Just like the color of the lights on my one bracelet. Just here.” She pointed to the bracelet on her right arm that had yellow and purple lights attached to it as she continued to whimsically move her head left and right. As they traveled further, she continued to bring up rather odd things. “Even though there were never any around due to the cold, lizards and dragons are also my favorite kind of creature.” The more that Snowbell talked, the lower and lower both Noelle and Susie’s heads seemed to drop from a mixture of discomfort, embarrassment, and dread. After traveling a bit, a trio of thin, chain looking darkners clinked their way onto the path. 

As the Fun Gang fought Rein-Link, Snow-Link, and Pine-Link, several things became clear. While Snowbell was in a much better mood, she still struggled with talking and expressing herself. Additionally, both Noelle and Susie’s abilities were noticeably off. Noelle’s Red-Nosed Reindeer summoned a barely glowing red fawn that did little to distract the enemies’ attacks. Likewise, her Let It Snow summon conjured a miniscule snowflake which shattered when struck by an enemy attack, providing no defense for anyone at all. When acting proved to be somewhat unsuccessful, Susie’s Rude Buster magic launched a shaky projectile that did even less damage than Susie’s normal attacks would have. After enough back and forth acts and attacks, the three links joined themselves together to form the Taiga-Team. 

Once they were linked together, more options opened. Thanks to Kris, they were able to trick the links into overlapping one another until they became entangled. Forming a chain-like knot prevented further movement and attacks, allowing them to be pacified. As the Fun Gang continued down the path, such a fight brought concerns to Ralsei. He adjusted his glasses as he turned to face both Noelle and Susie first. 

“That wasn’t good, back there,” he noted, “If we need to fight a more threatening opponent, then we’d best not falter like that again.” Both Noelle and Susie faced downwards as the two continued to walk a decent distance away from one another. Their responses additionally did little to address the problem. 

“I-I’m sorry, just…” Noelle shuddered, her face glowing like a Christmas light, “I-I don’t think that I’ll ever b-be completely over this…” 

“I can do better, but…” Susie murmured, “you don't know what it’s like to feel like this… and know this… and… damn it, this is all so screwed up…” Ralsei looked away, unsure of what could be done about the whole situation. He looked over to Kris and moved a bit faster to catch up with them. 

“Kris, we can’t have another fight like that one if we’re up against something much worse than that,” Ralsei whispered, “What should we do about those two?” Kris looked at the two dragging their feet behind them and then back to Ralsei. They could sense something before them that offered two possibilities. 

                                                                  🧡Separate the Two                              Make the Two Bond

                                                                      Separate the Two                          🧡Make the Two Bond

Before Kris could choose what to do, however, Ralsei interjected. “Wait! I might have an idea.” Kris stared at him as he slowed his pace to allow Noelle and Susie to catch up. He looked at the two of them and started to say what he was thinking. 

“Look, I know that the two of you don’t want to be near one another because of all this,” he accepted, “But if you two can look past that and work with one another, then we hopefully won’t have another case like before.” He had hoped for a response, but the two continued walking silently. They had certainly heard him, but neither felt compelled to respond or that anything could really help in a time like this. A concerned look crept over Ralsei’s face as he tried to think of a way for the two to start looking past it all. In a moment, he spoke the first thing that he thought of. “For a start, why don’t you two try holding hands with each oth-”

“No!” both abruptly interrupted. Neither of them picked up their heads to speak as they continued to walk. Ralsei looked down upon hearing the idea shot down so suddenly, but he could see why. He thought to himself about something that could help with this but also not jump-the-gun too fast. 

“Well, could you at least try walking next to one another at about the same distance as the rest of us?” he asked, “Could you do that?” Susie groaned and Noelle whimpered upon hearing the recommendation. Ralsei saw that the two were still not happy about the idea, but neither of them had directly said “no” to it. He approached and then guided Noelle by her shoulders closer to Susie and the rest of the group. Noelle could feel her heart plummeting the closer that she got to Susie. He let go and looked back at the two. It was not much, but it was a start to hopefully improving upon things. 

Kris stopped in front of an odd statue-looking bit of architecture that stood just beside the path. As everyone looked at it, it held a sign on the top that read “Cross-Country Crossroads” with two golden, winged shoes facing in opposite directions. Underneath the shoe pointing in the direction that they had come from read “Aluminigloo Mine.” The one that pointed in the direction that they were heading read “Advent Mountain.” Snowbell jumped up and down excitedly as the rest of the Fun Gang looked at her. 

“‘Advent Mountain,’” she read from the sign, “That must be where Spring Dragon went.” She turned to the rest of them with a face that practically screamed the word “crush.” “I’ve heard of that mountain, but never seen it myself,” she remarked. She opened her eyes to see the rest of the Fun Gang continuing to just stare at her as well as Noelle and Susie with their heads still hanging low. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s keep moving.”

As they continued towards the supposed mountain, Ralsei saw Snowbell still playfully humming to herself as they walked. It was clear to everyone that seeing Spring Dragon had drastically picked up her mood, but their previous battle indicated that she still struggled to express herself. He wondered if anything could be done about the problem she appeared to have. Twice now Snowbell was unable to bring herself to talk or effectively express her thoughts or feelings about opponents to them. He put a paw to his head, brainstorming what could be done. However, his fluffy string of morale and conversation boosting thoughts were interrupted by a strange looking figure that walked onto the path in front of them. 

He looked like a hunched over, fluffy green bean pod with brown socks and a face more sour than dark lemons. A tuft of fur sagged over the front of his lime of a head as it slowly turned itself in their direction. His pomegranate-like eyes halted upon Noelle and Snowbell in particular. They seemed to specifically focus on Noelle’s festive-looking dark world outfit and Snowbell’s cheerfulness. As he listened to Snowbell’s humming, his poorly kept teeth began to grate against one another as his eye began to twitch. Kris halted everyone as they looked on at the strange darkner. Snowbell continued to happily chant to herself and wave her head left and right as they stopped. Visual steam could be seen over the green darkner’s head as he began to shake at the sight of Snowbell’s humming. 

“You carolers sing, and sing, and sing, sing, sing, sing…” he grumbled, “Noise… noise. Noise. Noise!” He clenched his fists together as he angrily beamed at everyone across from himself. “I wanted to stop that cursed holiday from coming. I failed, and now must listen to your dreadful singing and humming. But now, I think I’ll just stop you and all the others with festive cheer too!” He placed his fuzzy fingers to his mouth and gave a loud whistle. “Snacks! Be ready to fight and not fall on your backs!” Within a few seconds, what looked to the Fun Gang like a sort of brown dog began to run over from the distance. As it got closer, they realized that it appeared to be a bunch of small gingerbread people attached to one another in the shape of a dog. After running to the green darkner’s side, they popped themselves off of one another and rallied behind him. The green darkner began to form a smile that seemingly outgrew the size of his own face as the tuft of fur on his head twisted into the shape of devil-like horns. 

“No more with your all fun and cheer holiday shtick. That’ll be a good grouchy kick!” Ralsei looked over to Noelle, Susie, and then Snowbell, unsure if they were ready for a fight like this. He realized that they had no choice at this point, as they had a battle in front of them whether they liked it or not. Kris, Susie, and Noelle summoned their weapons while Snowbell and Ralsei readied theirs. Lancer jumped to the sidelines and called out in a fitting manner of speech. 

“This clown’s greener than kiwi chips and dip. Give him a good clappin’ and I’m sure he’ll slip.”

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|                                                                                                          |

|                                                   🧡                                                   |

|                                                                                                          |

|                                                                                                          |

|                                                                                                          |

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TP 0% |                                              |

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* Bah Humbug! The Grouch and Snacks have a hole for everyone already dug!

“Be careful with what you choose, Kris,” Ralsei warned, putting a paw up in caution, “I don’t think we’re completely over the problems from the last fight.” Kris looked over to Noelle and Susie and saw the two's heads still hanging lower than a weight on a worn-out wire. They nodded and faced the opponents. The Grouch repeatedly folded his fingers on top of one another as he looked over in malice. Snacks gave high-pitched laughs to one another as they seemingly mocked the Fun Gang amongst themselves. 

TP 0% |                                              |

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

                                                                                  |Act| - Kris

                                                                                 🧡Check                            Mope

                                                                                     Cheer

                                                                                  |Defend| - Susie, Ralsei, Noelle, Snowbell

* The Grouch and Snacks’ empathy have fallen apart. 

* Perhaps the Grouch’s pity could grow or maybe his heart. 

“What should I do if you carolers don’t flee… I know, I’ll hang each one of you on a tree!” the Grouch cackled. Snacks laugh along in shrill harmony. 

As everyone except Kris defended, the soul entered the battle box. A group of small, gingerbread looking white silhouettes held hands in a circle around the soul as they danced around the box. The sound waves from each of their taunts shot from all sides of the circle all the while a Grouch-like silhouette tossed several heavy bags and sacks down at the soul. While the large bags were avoided and some extra TP was gained, the soul was struck several times by the traveling sound waves from the gingerbread circle around it. Each member of the Fun Gang gasped and grunted in pain as health was deducted from each of them for every hit. 

“Ow, that hurt,” Snowbell winced, “I didn’t think something like this would happen…”

“We need to think of something to do, but we’ve got to do something to help avoid these attacks first,” Ralsei noted, “Something that doesn’t use Noelle or Susie’s abilities.” Both Noelle and Susie glanced at him after hearing his statement, but neither said anything since they knew he was right. Ralsei thought about what they could do to potentially pacify the enemies and left the dodging up to Kris. Kris faced the enemies and picked their hand back up as they viewed their options. 

TP 71% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII              |

                                                        49/90              76/110                 36/70                  46/80                      46/80

Kris HP |III   |    Susie HP |IIII  |    Ralsei HP |III   |    Noelle HP |III   |    Snowbell HP |III   |

* He’s a mean one, Mr. Grouch. He’s come to-fight and-steal!

                                                                                  |Enchant| - Snowbell

                                                                                      Talk                                      Sugar Crash

                                                                                  🧡Slippery Slips (-25% TP)        Beautiful Peace

                                                                                  |Defend| - Kris, Susie, Ralsei, Noelle

“When I’m finished with you, all of you will cry-cry-cry. Hearing that will boost my spirits as high as the sky,” the Grouch promised. Snacks nodded their head and gave several taunting motions with their arms. 

* Snowbell used Slippery Slips!

Snowbell muttered several words under her breath and then cast the end of her crook into the air. A forge of fire and ice formed within the air and seemingly smelted something right before everyone’s eyes. A pair of ice-looking slippers the color of a melting icecap emerged from the steam of the forge and hovered in the air. The Fun Gang stared at the strange pair of fantasy-looking slippers floating in the air. 

“Um, Snowbell,” Ralsei started, “How are these going to help u-” The ends of both heels on the slippers seemingly sharpened themselves to a point, giving off a loud slashing sound as they did so. Ralsei stopped talking as the heels then snapped off and attached themselves to the bottom of each slipper, making an odd-looking pair of ice skates. They flung themselves underneath the soul as if bounded by a magnetic force as the background of the battle box seemingly turned to ice. The soul gave a fast-moving circular skate around the box as the Fun Gang watched on. 

* Your speed and grazing potential boosted!

As they again defended, the Grouch-like silhouette began grabbing handfuls of gingerbread-looking figures and tossing them at the soul. Thanks to Snowbell’s enchantment, the soul slid, dashed, and skated around each of them with ease, netting in significantly more TP with close calls than what normally would have been possible. After returning to the battle menu, Ralsei looked up abruptly at the enemies with a revelation in his eyes. 

“I think I have an idea on what we can do,” he informed Kris. However, as he looked over in Snowbell’s direction, he paused for a moment. Turning to Noelle and Susie, he closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. “I’m sorry for this, Noelle, Susie.” The two picked their heads up slightly in slight concern and faced him. 

“W-What do you mean?” Noelle nervously asked. 

“This better not be anything stupid or… ” Susie hesitated, her eyes starting to widen slightly as a thought crossed her mind, “wait. You’re not thinking what I think you are, are you? Please say ‘no’ to that.” Ralsei flinched slightly at Susie’s request and simply turned his head back in Snowbell’s direction, awaiting Kris’s command. 

TP 100% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII|

                                                        49/90              76/110                 36/70                  46/80                      46/80

Kris HP |III   |    Susie HP |IIII  |    Ralsei HP |III   |    Noelle HP |III   |    Snowbell HP |III   |

* He’s as kindly as the King. He’s as soft as stainless steel. Mr Grouch!

                                                                                  |Act| - Kris

                                                                                     Check                                                      Mope

                                                                                 🧡Ralsei’s Idea (Snowbell, Ralsei)                 Cheer

                                                                                  |Defend| - Susie, Noelle

“Uh, Snowbell,” Ralsei called out, “There’s something we’re going to need you to do.” 

“Oh, o-okay,” she replied sweetly, “What is it?” Ralsei closed his eyes and grimaced slightly as he looked over at Noelle and Susie in nonverbal apology. He gulped as he faced Snowbell and spoke what he had in mind. 

“Snowbell…” Ralsei brought himself to utter, “We need you to talk to the opponents… about how you feel about Spring Dragon.” Noelle and Susie’s eyes both seemingly bulged out of their heads as the two snapped to Ralsei with a look of incomprehensible disbelief and revulsion. 

“What?” they both yelled at Ralsei, “No!” Snowbell looked at the two of them and then to Ralsei as her cheeks began to turn a shade of red like that of how Noelle’s face had looked for the past while. She lowered her head as she shook it back and forth. 

“They’re right,” she agreed, “I can’t talk about that… not even in front of people that aren’t her…” Despite both Noelle and Susie’s death stares, Ralsei continued to reason with Snowbell. 

“It’s obvious that you want to talk about it based on what you were bringing up on the way here,” Ralsei explained, “And don’t you want to express yourself to her?” Snowbell looked as though she had two faces when she understood Ralsei’s statement. 

“W-Well… yes, but…” she began. 

“Then take this as an opportunity to practice expressing your feelings,” he interjected, “Don’t think about any inability to do it or worry of messing up. There’s no repercussions here for mis-speaking. And don’t overthink it like we all did with the door knocker.” Snowbell put her hooves to her mouth as she pondered Ralsei’s claims with a split mind and heart. As Ralsei regretfully turned to Noelle and Susie, the two looked more like cursed spirits now than heroes of light. 

“Why…” Noelle whimpered, putting her shaking hooves in front of herself in incredulity, “I don’t even s-see how this could help…” 

“Are you out of your mind?” Susie bellowed as her jaw twitched uncontrollably, “You absolute weirdo!” Ralsei frowned as he put a paw to his fluffy head, knowing that he at least owed the two his thought process with the questionable idea. 

“Look, his heart doesn’t seem like it’s completely there. Or maybe it’s too small for him to realize what he’s doing,” Ralsei testified, pointing over to the Grouch, “If he sees how much the one that frustrated him cares for someone else, then maybe his heart will grow, and we can end this fight.” Noelle and Susie looked at Ralsei like they were both about to throw their respective weapons at him. 

“I think I’d prefer to just die than have to listen to that,” Susie denounced, the pupil slits in her eyes now shaking. 

“Omigosh…” Noelle uttered, her voice increasing in pitch as she talked on, “you don’t have any idea how this feels for either of us, do you?” Ralsei closed his eyes and clenched his paws as he turned back to Snowbell, hoping and praying that his idea would work and that she could bring herself to talk despite the discouragement. 

“Five carolers, all lined up in a row. How repugnant, you’ll be the first to go!” the Grouch seethed. Snacks stacked on top of one another and formed a hand that made a rather rude gesture towards the Fun Gang. 

While Snowbell continued to stutter quietly to herself, the soul again entered the battle box. Various rows and columns of gingerbread silhouettes ran across the box as the soul dogged around and followed through the various formations. At the end of the oncoming gingerbread figures stood the silhouette of a Christmas looking tree. Before long, a hand gripping a tool of some kind crept into the box from the side. After pulling the trigger on the tool, a large beam of flames shot out the end of the tool and burned down the tree with the soul just barely dodging out of the way in time. Susie would have remarked about the flamethrower, but she was still too appalled by Ralsei’s idea to make any note of it. As they returned to the battle menu, Susie stared at Kris with a look as dreadful as death while Noelle shook her hoofs in Kris’s direction more frantically than a bouncing Lancer filled with sugar. 

TP 100% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII|

                                                        49/90              76/110                 36/70                  46/80                      46/80

Kris HP |III   |    Susie HP |IIII  |    Ralsei HP |III   |    Noelle HP |III   |    Snowbell HP |III   |

* He’s a toxic waste mixed gravy spread on a good meal!

                                                                                  |Enchant| - Snowbell

                                                                                 🧡Talk                                        Sugar Crash

                                                                                     Slippery Slips                          Beautiful Peace

                                                                                  |Magic| - Ralsei

                                                                                     Pacify                                 🧡Heal Prayer (-32% TP)

                                                                                  |Defend| - Kris, Susie, Noelle

* Ralsei cast Heal Prayer on Snowbell

                                                                                         46/80                                          80/80

Snowbell HP |III   |   +35      →      Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* You ordered Snowbell to talk about her feelings in front of the enemies!

“I-I don’t know w-what to s-say,” Snowbell stuttered, looking over to Kris and Ralsei, “These aren’t things that I talk about in the open like this.” 

“Just say whatever comes to your heart when you think about Spring Dragon, Snowbell,” Ralsei instructed, “None of us will look at you differently. And you don’t have anything to mess up here.” Ralsei looked over at Noelle and Susie once he finished speaking and saw the two still glaring at him. He knew that his second statement would likely not be true for everyone, but he needed to encourage Snowbell anyway if they were going to get through the battle. Snowbell shook slightly as she continued to look at Ralsei and then to the enemies in front of her. 

“W-Well, um… Spring Dragon… she’s as beautiful as…” Snowbell tried to express, “Oh, I can’t s-say these things while looking at them!” Snowbell gestured towards the imposing enemies standing before them and put her hoofs in front of her face. 

“Then don’t look at them,” Ralsei recommended, “Close your eyes and imagine just Spring Dragon, and nothing else.” Snowbell’s eyes dashed to Ralsei and then back to the enemies as both Noelle and Susie’s dignities simultaneously started to scrunch up. After a second, Snowbell slowly closed her eyes and began to clear her mind of everything. Everything other than Spring Dragon. As Snowbell watched the magnificent creature from within her mind, she could feel her heart starting to pound with a warmness that she imagined a spring would provide. From there, she put into words as best she could what her heart felt. 

“Spring Dragon,” Snowbell uttered softly aloud, “if there was any one creature in the world that I could have the privilege to spend time with, it would be you.” 

“Yes,” Ralsei whispered to himself, giving a closed paw pull towards himself. He looked over at the Grouch to see if there was any effect. 

“So, you have feelings for another, but I do not care. These mean nothing to me; I’ll never be spared!” the Grouch spouted. Snacks nodded each of their heads to go along with the Grouch’s statement. 

The Grouch and Snacks specifically targeted Snowbell to teach her a lesson after hearing her speak out while the others defended. In the battle box, a Grouch-like figure hopped aboard a sleigh being pulled by a hoard of gingerbread-looking silhouettes. The sleigh dashed all around the box as the figure riding the sleigh cracked a whip-like object at the gingerbread silhouettes. The whip was additionally cracked at the soul several times when it slid by. While the soul dodged most of the attacks, the last crack of the whip struck the soul, damaging Snowbell in the process. 

“Ergh,” Snowbell gasped when she was hit by the Grouch’s attack. She began to open her eyes after grasping her cloak until Ralsei stopped her. 

“Keep your eyes closed, Snowbell,” Ralsei insisted, “and don’t think about any of this. Just think about Spring Dragon. Only Spring Dragon.” Snowbell shook for a moment before keeping her eyes closed and getting back to her thoughts. Noelle had her hooves covering both her ears while she held her weapon. Susie was additionally dragging a hand down her face in misery. “Snowbell needs to express more to convince him…” Ralsei remarked. On the sidelines, Lancer looked like he was about to burst into hysterical laughter at Snowbell’s expressions but seeing Susie’s face made him keep it to himself. 

TP 100% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII|

                                                        49/90              76/110                 36/70                  46/80                      37/80

Kris HP |III   |    Susie HP |IIII  |    Ralsei HP |III   |    Noelle HP |III   |    Snowbell HP |III   |

* He’s a darkner, Mr. Grouch. His stocking’s full of coal!

                                                                                  |Enchant| - Snowbell

                                                                                 🧡Talk                                          Sugar Crash

                                                                                     Slippery Slips                            Beautiful Peace

                                                                                  |Magic| - Ralsei

                                                                                     Pacify                                   🧡Heal Prayer (-32% TP)

                                                                                  |Defend| - Kris, Susie, Noelle

* Ralsei cast Heal Prayer on Snowbell

                                                                                         37/80                                           72/80

Snowbell HP |III   |   +35      →      Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* You ordered Snowbell to talk about her feelings in front of the enemies!

“Spring Dragon…” Snowbell hesitated, “You’re the purple lavender that I wish to see grow in my land. I would never let you wilt, no matter the most cruel or dangerous winter…” Noelle and Susie simultaneously groaned upon hearing Snowbell’s feelings. Ralsei nervously looked at the two and then to the Grouch. 

“You… you cannot love a dragon. You’re a reindeer and she’d leave you as lagan,” the Grouch asserted slowly. Snacks looked at the Grouch strangely and muttered a few things amongst themselves. 

Despite the Grouch’s statement, something seemed off with his next attack. When the soul entered the battle box, a Grouch-like silhouette slithered about it but seemingly moved out of the way of the soul a few times when it otherwise would have hit it. Several gingerbread-figures sat to the sides and stared at the Grouch-like one. Upon returning to the menu, Ralsei looked over to Kris with a confident look on his face. 

“It’s working,” he mentioned with a paw thumb up, “Snowbell just needs to express more.” Noelle and Susie looked like they wanted to be purged from reality after hearing Ralsei’s claim. 

TP 100% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII|

                                                        49/90              76/110                 36/70                  46/80                      72/80

Kris HP |III   |    Susie HP |IIII  |    Ralsei HP |III   |    Noelle HP |III   |    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* He attacks a precious soul. And to shatter it is his goal, Mr. Grouch!

                                                                                  |Enchant| - Snowbell

                                                                                 🧡Talk                                          Sugar Crash

                                                                                     Slippery Slips                            Beautiful Peace

                                                                                  |Magic| - Ralsei

                                                                                     Pacify                                   🧡Heal Prayer (-32% TP)

                                                                                  |Defend| - Kris, Susie, Noelle

* Ralsei cast Heal Prayer on Himself

                                                                                         36/70                                      70/70

Ralsei HP |III   |   +35      →      Ralsei HP |IIIIII|

* You ordered Snowbell to talk about her feelings in front of the enemies!

“I… I want to fly with you, Spring Dragon,” Snowbell wished, “That way you don’t have to be alone anymore…” After Snowbell spoke, everyone could see something visibly changing with the Grouch. A small heart could be seen emerging from his chest that began to beat faster and faster. 

“I… I don’t believe my eyes. Your words… they make my heart grow in size,” the Grouch announced in shock. Snacks looked at one another, unsure of what to do. 

In the battle box, there were no Grouch or Gingerbread-like figures or silhouettes, just a white heart-silhouette in the center that repeatedly beat. Waves emanated from it with each beat that the soul dodged with ease. While most of the Fun Gang opted to continually defend, it proved to not be particularly needed other than to keep their TP high. Upon returning to the menu, Ralsei faced Snowbell with a look of reassurance. 

“That’s it, Snowbell!” Ralsei cheered, “Keep it up!” However, Snowbell seemingly did not hear him, as she kept her eyes closed and became so concentrated on her own thoughts. 

TP 100% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII|

                                                        49/90              76/110                 70/70                  46/80                      72/80

Kris HP |III   |    Susie HP |IIII  |    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |III   |    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* Instead of hugging you, I’d rather smooch a vinegar coated six-and-a-half-foot mole!

                                                                                  |Enchant| - Snowbell

                                                                                 🧡Talk                                          Sugar Crash

                                                                                     Slippery Slips                            Beautiful Peace

                                                                                  |Magic| - Ralsei

                                                                                     Pacify                                   🧡Heal Prayer (-32% TP)

                                                                                  |Defend| - Kris, Susie, Noelle

* Ralsei cast Heal Prayer on Kris

                                                                                         49/90                                   84/90

Kris HP |III   |   +35      →      Kris HP |IIIIII|

* You ordered Snowbell to talk about her feelings in front of the enemies!

“Whenever I see you… no, whenever I think of you,” Snowbell confessed, “my heart beats faster than butterflies flap their wings and it grows warm like a yule log fire burning in a small, well kept place. You aren’t like anyone else to me…” Noelle crouched down to the ground, put her arms around her legs, and began to inanely speak to herself under her breath as Snowbell spoke. Susie remained standing but her stomach began to churn the more she heard. Ralsei carefully watched the two in addition to the Grouch. 

“How could I commit such crimes? My heart, its size must have grown three times,” the Grouch observed in disbelief. Snacks faced the Fun Gang and then back to the Grouch, looking apprehensive to fight. 

As everyone except Snowbell defended, the soul again entered the battle box. The waves bouncing from the still beating heart inside were much faster. They were so fast that the soul was barely able to dodge many of the flying surges. After narrowly evading the onslaught of heartbeat waves, they returned to the menu once again. 

“One more expression should do it,” Ralsei pointed out despite Noelle and Susie’s mutual distress. 

TP 100% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII|

                                                        84/90              76/110                 70/70                  46/80                      72/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIII  |    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |III   |    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* But something is changing in Mr. Grouch. Something beating just over a knoll!

                                                                                  |Enchant| - Snowbell

                                                                                 🧡Talk                                          Sugar Crash

                                                                                     Slippery Slips                            Beautiful Peace

                                                                                  |Magic| - Ralsei

                                                                                     Pacify                                   🧡Heal Prayer (-32% TP)

                                                                                  |Defend| - Kris, Susie, Noelle

* Ralsei cast Heal Prayer on Noelle

                                                                                         46/80                                       80/80

Noelle HP |III   |   +35      →      Noelle HP |IIIIII|

* You ordered Snowbell to talk about her feelings in front of the enemies!

“Spring Dragon… I… I… I’m in love with you,” Snowbell admitted, “And I can’t think of anyone else since I first laid eyes upon you just a little earlier, and… I know this is sudden, but… are you one for… kissing…?” Susie looked as though she was about to seize up and start vomiting. While she knew that Noelle liked her, she never imagined that there was a part of Noelle that was anything like what Snowbell just said. Noelle put her hooves over her head as her mouth uncontrollably twitched from embarrassment on a level that the dark world had never seen. Ralsei tore his eyes away from the suffering two next to him and faced back towards the opponents. 

“Maybe you carolers aren’t so bad, for your care is true and I can only feel glad,” the Grouch empathized. He formed as kind a smile as his teeth could allow as he waved his hand back, signaling Snacks to stop attacking. 

In the battle box, the heart now beat green waves that healed the Fun Gang whenever the soul touched them. After each contacted a wave, a word appeared in a burst of empathy. “Care,” “Love,” “Help,” and “Mercy” were amongst the many words seen. These continued until everyone’s health was fully refilled before returning to the menu. 

TP 100% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII|

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* His face grows soft, for his heart has been made whole!

                                                                                  |Spare| - Ralsei

                                                                                 🧡The Grouch

* Ralsei spared the Grouch!

* You won!

* Got 0 EXP and 320 D$

After Kris, Susie, and Noelle’s weapons faded, the Grouch looked like a changed darkner. No longer was the tuft of fur on his head sagged with crotchety, but instead with understanding. He knelt and seemingly instructed Snacks to go on ahead of him as he approached the Fun Gang. His red eyes did not light up with anger or despise like before. They lit up with care and sympathy for the one he had heard speak. He looked over to Snowbell who had just opened her eyes. 

“Perhaps I was wrong about carolers like you,” he apologized, “You can be loud, but you showed me how much you can care. Who would have knew?” Snowbell began to turn red, realizing that she had said everything in front of not only the Grouch but also the rest of the Fun Gang. 

“O-Oh, uh, eheh…” Snowbell murmured, putting a hoof behind her head, “I-I guess I do… l-like her… eheh…” 

“Of course, you do, and my heart you struck,” the Grouch appreciated, “But off I must go. With talking to your Dragon love, I wish you all the luck.” With a toothy smile and wave of his hand, the Grouch headed away and into a different land. Snowbell continued to turn red, particularly around her cheeks as she comprehended the fact that she had brought herself to express how she felt the way she did. While Ralsei was both pleased and happy for Snowbell, he realized that he had not heard the end of what he had gotten Snowbell to say. As he slowly turned around to face Noelle and Susie, the two were both shaking uncontrollably. Ralsei could not tell if it was from anger, embarrassment, disgust, or a mixture of all of them. With any of those outcomes, he knew this would likely not be good for him. 

“Ralsei… why…” Noelle whined, her entire face drooping as she spoke, “what did we ever do to you to deserve this…” Noelle’s hooves seemingly stuck themselves to her face as though they were bounded by magnets. Susie walked over to Ralsei with both her arms spasming in front of her. 

“You…” Susie breathed, grabbing Ralsei around his arms and lifting him off the ground, “you knew how bad it would be… and you did it anyway…” Ralsei let out a nervous laugh as lines of sweat began forming down his fluffy head. 

“Eheh… we needed to do something to grow his heart…” Ralsei excused, “and I thought, ‘Why not try to help Snowbell at the same time…’” Susie looked as though she was about to permanently remove Ralsei’s arms from his body upon hearing this. 

“By… making… her… fantasize… about… a… version… of… me…” Susie hyperventilated. Ralsei gave another innocent chuckle as Susie began to turn red, shake, and sweat more and more. To his relief, Snowbell approached the two of them and interrupted the scene. 

“I… I didn’t think I could do it,” Snowbell conceded, “But you showed me that I can express myself. Maybe I can even express myself to her if given the chance… thank you, Ralsei.” Ralsei signaled a “you’re welcome” with a shaky thumbs up by his paw as Susie continued to hold him off the ground in a suspended blend of rage, shock, and disturbance. Lancer additionally popped up next to Snowbell. 

“Yeah! You’re the best Snowpoff-Macaroon-Princess of expressive, upfront feelings that I know!” he exclaimed. Noelle cringed at the title while Susie twitched more violently than before. Snowbell did not seem to pay much mind to Susie’s state or Noelle’s state for that matter as her thoughts were still too focused on Spring Dragon. She faced back towards the path that Spring Dragon had flown over. “We should keep moving. Advent Mountain is this way.” 

Kris walked forward and looked at Susie. The look on their face told Susie to put Ralsei down so that they could keep moving. Lancer additionally nudged Susie on the leg and pointed down the path forward. Susie clenched Ralsei for several more seconds before unsteadily setting him back on the ground. She glared at him through his glasses and continued to shake, letting him know that she would never forget about the incident. With Kris leading the way, the three continued along the path of melted snow. While Snowbell seemed like she was now in an even better mood than before, the same could not be said for Noelle or Susie. The two looked as though they had been through Hell within the span of only a few hours. Noelle appeared as though she would fade from existence at any moment while Susie looked like she was about to collapse from unmendable psychological damage. Despite both their physical and mental states, the path went on as did they with the rest of the party. 

Chapter Text

The further the quintet traveled along the trail, the rougher and rockier the terrain seemed to get. Several times, they found themselves taking detours around boulders and rocks too large to climb over. Additionally, they noticed the path beginning to get snowy again with less and less of the ground itself showing. Although the bumpy nature of the land indicated that they were heading the right way, Snowbell began to worry. 

“No, no, no!” Snowbell fretted, her heart sinking by the second, “We can’t lose the path now. Not this close…” She sped up ahead past Kris and inspected all around the area before them. The terrain was completely covered in snow again and it seemed like there were potential roads branching off in various directions. As she tried to look ahead, there was a large draft of mist that obscured everything in the distance. No matter how hard she looked, she could not directly see a mountain down any of the paths because of the mist. Snowbell turned around with panic all over her face. “Uh, w-which way should we go?” 

“Wait, you don’t know this area?” Ralsei questioned. 

“I said before that I’ve never been to Advent Mountain or anywhere this far away from my palace and the field,” Snowbell replied. She continued to look down the various paths that ran in practically all directions, her glossy eyes dashing back and forth between several of them. Kris faced both Noelle and Susie who were again walking at the back end of the group. They both still looked like they were taking a stroll through an endless inferno, but it seemed as though they were getting a bit better with time since the last battle.

“What do you think?” Kris asked the two. They picked their heads up slightly to get a look at the region before them but shrugged their shoulders, just as unsure as the rest of the group. Lancer jumped side-to-side between the paths, looking at each one as he stuck out both his tongues, perplexed. 

“If only I hadn’t tucked my bike to bed so soon,” he groaned, the top of his head slouching and the mouth on his stomach pouting, “I could’ve ridden up and down each of these paths faster than Hathys giving gifts on Valentine's Day…” After stopping to inspect each road for several moments, Snowbell grabbed the frozen heart on the front of her cloak in angst. 

“How could we lose her like this…” she mourned, “and before I could even tell he-”

Crash!

The five snapped around in the northwest direction from where they stood as a loud sound went off in the distance. They froze, unsure of what to make of it, until another crashing sound followed it. Snowbell faced the direction of the sound with a concerned look. 

“That doesn’t sound good…” she muttered, her face draining slightly in color, “Something’s wrong.” She took off ahead of the others on a trail leading in the direction of the sound.

“Snowbell, wait!” Ralsei called out, raising his paw in Snowbell’s direction. However, she did not seem intent on slowing down or stopping. As such, the rest of the Fun Gang quickened their pace in the direction of the sounds to catch up with her. The more they ran, the more sounds they heard and the louder they became. They additionally began to make out what sounded like words faintly echoing in the distance. The words were difficult to understand at first, but as they got closer and closer, a few were distinct enough to understand. They additionally sounded like they were coming from two different individuals. 

“Pitiful… powerless… incompetent… uneducated…” they could hear one voice squawking. 

“Freaking… pompous… scoundrel…” they could hear another voice yelling out. Just as a few of them started to run out of breath, they could see Snowbell just ahead. She seemed to be peering her head over a large rock at something that had to be somewhat close. 

“Snowbell…” Ralsei panted, placing his paws on his knees as he caught his breath, “what is it…?” 

“Shh!” Snowbell whispered, placing a hoof in front of her mouth as she continued to look over the rock. 

“Don’t ‘shh’ us after we had to listen to your vomit-inducing feelings,” Susie scoffed through her downed demeanor, also stopping to catch her breath, “And especially after making us sprint like that to catch up with you!” Snowbell did not appear phased by Susie’s comment, as her attention was homed in on something high up in the air. As the two voices continued to scream at one another, Snowbell looked up through the misty sky towards the top of a large mountain-like structure before her. As she squinted her eyes, she could see the edge of a feathered wing flapping just within sight. 

“Oh no…” she gasped, ducking back behind the rock. Ralsei slowly approached her and peered over the rock himself to see what it was. 

“What is it, Snowb-” he began to say. To his surprise, Snowbell grabbed him by his shoulders and forcefully pulled him back behind the rock before he could see much of anything. They landed roughly in the snow, knocking off both Ralsei’s hat and glasses in the process. 

“Don’t!” she quietly hollered at him, “Are you crazy!” She peered back at the sky above them and could see several puffs of mist being strongly pushed by something large in the distance. 

“Snowbell…” Ralsei uttered in shock. He never imagined Snowbell to act so roughly, not unless it was something truly serious. After putting his pointy hat and glasses back on, he leaned up against the rock as did the rest of the Fun Gang. “What’s gotten into you… what is it?” Snowbell’s ears drooped slightly as she peered over her shoulder and then ducked back down. 

“Winged Winter…” she whimpered, grabbing her cloak shakily in fear. The rest of the Fun Gang looked at Snowbell in awe upon hearing the news. Several of them took glances at the sky in front of the rock, but the mist made it difficult to see anything other than the edge of an occasional flapping feathery wing of some kind. Noelle turned away and began to look just as shaken as Snowbell within several moments. 

“What do we do?” Susie inquired, facing Snowbell. 

“Yeah, I’m not sure if we’ve ever encountered a flying clown like that before,” Lancer warned, both his mouths looking apprehensive in Snowbell’s direction. 

“I… I d-don’t know…” Snowbell shook, “We can’t win against him… at least not like thi-” 

“$@#%” they could hear the rougher of the two yelling voices in the sky cry out. Snowbell’s ears stood up at the statement. 

“That voice…” Snowbell noted, peering back over the rock, “and that… vocabulary…” She investigated the distance and still caught only glimpses of a feathered wing flapping away. For just a moment though, she saw something else. Something that she could barely make out as being purple seemed to drop just under the other flying figure. Another loud crash followed this which shook the ground even down by them. “Spring Dragon!” Snowbell proclaimed, now turning to fully look over the rock. 

“What?” Ralsei stammered, “What’s happening?” As Snowbell looked on and continued to listen to the sounds of the two fighting voices, she realized what was happening. 

“That… Bickering Blue!” Snowbell seethed, her shaking hooves now starting to shake for a different reason, “Spring Dragon needs our help!” Although she hesitated for a moment, the Fun Gang was stunned to see Snowbell vault over the rock and start running ahead again. 

“Snowbell!” all four of the others called out. Once again, with her showing no signs of stopping or slowing down, each of them began to follow in her direction. The closer they got to the sounds in the sky, the more that an enormous looking mountain began to come into sight. While the top was still partially shrouded in mist, the rest of it could mostly be seen. Several openings and walkways jutted out from all over the front of the mountain. Although none of them stopped to count, it looked as though there were twenty-something of them, perhaps twenty-four. While a few of them started to slow down as they looked up the steep slopes, they heard a voice call out to them through the continued crashes and yells from above. 

“Come on!” Snowbell ordered, “We’ve got to hurry!” After catching up with her, Kris led the group into one of the openings at the bottom of the mountain. While it was dim inside, the various openings that were scattered about the mountain let in just enough light for things to be mostly visible. They stopped in the center of a room which split into upwards of eight paths. Each path went in a different direction both vertically and horizontally. As they halted, they felt continued shakes from up above them and could even see some pebbles and chunks of stone breaking off various parts of the mountain around them. 

“Which way do we go?” Ralsei asked. With no time to spare, Snowbell stated the first thing to come to her mind. 

“Just split up!” she demanded, “One person go down each path!” Before anyone could say anything in response, Snowbell charged down the leftmost path, leaving no other options for them to decide upon. “Whoever finds the way that leads to the top, call out to the rest of us!” Kris, Ralsei, Noelle, Susie, and Lancer looked at one another for several moments before one of them broke the silence. 

“Everyone, pick a path,” Kris ordered, “like Snowbell said.” 

With everyone choosing a separate passage to head down, they each took off in a hurry. Every time that one of them went down one way, it seemed like they would end up popping out of another after running along the front of the mountain. Several times, they zipped past one another as they sprinted between the different tunnels. At one point, Noelle thought that she saw Snowbell eating a snow cone as she dashed by. Additionally, Ralsei could have sworn that he had his hat upside down on his head after he left one passage. Kris took their time and walked down one of the paths, enjoying the random cup of hot chocolate that just happened to be resting on the ground inside the tunnel.

“Found my bike!” Lancer cackled aloud as he zoomed down one of the pathways on his flaming bicycle. However, much to his disappointment, he seemingly lost it again after popping out of another passage. Noelle traveled down one path while Susie traveled down another opposite to it. Somehow, they both ended up coming out the same route. Not only that, but there also just happened to be a rather irritable darkner that resided down that path. In a frightened panic, Noelle jumped into Susie’s arms as she sprinted away from the angry, chocolate-looking darkner that bore a fluffy hat, scruffy beard, and jolly demeanor. After entering another tunnel, they seemingly lost the darkner and ended up in separate tunnels from one another altogether. 

The longer they explored each of the paths, the less and less sounds and shakes seemed to come from above them until they completely stopped. As everyone continued to run up and down each passage, they eventually all ran directly into one another. After piling up on the hard floor with a soul, ham sandwich, bag of chips, candy cane, and mini purple dragon momentarily hovering over their dazed heads, Snowbell faced upwards. In her daze, she could see one path that seemingly led higher than the others. Not only that, but her heart beat faster as he looked down that path. While she was unsure of what this was all about, she knew that it was better to trust her heart than her mind at times.

“There!” she called out, pointing a hoof towards the opening. As each of them scrambled off one another and to their feet, Kris led the group towards the opening Snowbell had pointed to. As they exited the cave, there was a large covering of mist just outside it. Snowbell began to shake again slightly, thinking that Winged Winter was still there. However, the thought of him hurting Spring Dragon pushed her past such a fear. As they continued forward through the layers of mist, they eventually walked into a clearing. As they did, each of them looked all around in awe. Ordinarily, what they saw would have been an incredible sight, but it had been poisoned with a bitter chill and cold overcoating. 

A small lake stood before them to their right, but it was completely frozen solid in a block of dark ice. The ground all around the area was covered in what looked like a fresh coating of coarse snow that looked most out-of-place in the area. A small patch of trees that stretched across the perimeter of the lake and partially to the other side of the mountaintop were all covered in the same snow. Additionally, most of them were downed. As the Fun Gang looked at them, they did not look knocked over but more so slashed in half. The trunks were splintered about halfway up and looked as though they had been cut in one clean slice rather than being hacked away at. Snowbell grimaced at the sight, recalling what she had seen in her dream a while earlier. As she looked around for a source of the downed trees, she saw nothing. 

The five of them looked all around but saw no sign of movement or feathered wings anywhere. Snowbell took several steps forward and looked around the area in shock. Even though she had never seen a spring before, she could tell that what this mountaintop previously looked like had to be one. Her mouth began to drop in dismay the more she looked around. Several stone structures that looked timeless were knocked over and broken up across the area. A few of them had what looked like scrawled carvings and markings made across them which only upset Snowbell even more. 

“This is horrible…” she observed, taking in the area around her, “He has no respect or empathy for anyone… or anything…” As she stepped forward, she saw a large mound of snow and crushed stones shake in front of her. She jumped backwards slightly and gripped her crook, ready for a fight. The rest of the Fun Gang followed suit, summoning, and readying their respective weapons in anticipation for a fight. After looking at the snow for a moment, it began to shake more rapidly, but not like it was intending to. Instead, it almost looked like the snow was shivering. Snowbell squinted her eyes for a moment, looking at it a bit uncertain until she saw a great yellow eye pry itself open on the outside layer of snow. Snowbell’s heart dropped and she lowered her weapon in dread when she realized what it was. 

“S-Spring Dragon…” she assumed, taking a step forward and raising a hoof slightly in front of her. 

“Back off!” the purple mouth snapped, breaking through a layer of snow piled on top of it. Snowbell and the others jumped back upon hearing the voice and attitude, but Snowbell looked on as her heart began to melt within her. 

“No…” she trembled, looking at Spring Dragon’s chilled and clearly beaten body, “he did this… he did this to you…” 

“I said back off!” the mouth barked at them again. Snowbell could not bring herself to leave her in a state like this and instead began to step forward. 

“But… we can help y-” she started. 

“I… don’t need your help!” Spring Dragon bellowed, breaking several of the top layers of snow off the rest of her body. As she tried to stand, the slashes and bruises that had been made across each of her limbs and body caused her to fall hard back onto the ground. The ground shook slightly from this as the rest of the Fun Gang took another step back. However, Snowbell did not back up. She stood where she was and gazed at the creature before her. Not only was she slashed and bruised all over but one of her wings was additionally torn nearly completely in half. 

“You’re hurt,” she noted, frowning at the various marks all over Spring Dragon’s arms, legs, wings, tail, head, and body. “We can help heal you back t-”

“With all your weapons ready like that?” Spring Dragon censured, looking at each of them gripping their weapons. Her eyes narrowed at Susie in particular. “And the same twit that smacked me before?” Snowbell looked back at the others and realized how bad this likely looked. 

“No, no, no!” Snowbell pleaded, shaking her hooves in front of her, “This isn’t what it looks like! That’s not how it i-”

“I know how it is. I know how it’s always been,” Spring Dragon interrupted, “Just because I am what I am… and I did what I did, you all want to get back at me. It’s only when twits like you stay away from me that anything ever ends up alright.” Snowbell’s eyes looked on in shock at Spring Dragon’s statement.

“No. We’re not here to hurt you,” Snowbell argued, “Why would anyone want to hurt someone as magnificent as yourself?” Spring Dragon’s mouth twitched, appearing angered by Snowbell’s compliment. 

“‘Magnificent?’” she cited, “‘Magnificent?’ Does anything about me look magnificent to you?” She gestured her shaking claws to her seemingly half frozen body. Her mouth continued to twitch as she looked at each of them in an unsatiated rage. “I’ll show you magnificent!” Spring Dragon put out each of her claws and stumbled several times as she stood up on them, ready for a battle. Snowbell appeared completely taken back. 

“Wait! No!” she urged, viciously waving her hooves in front of her, “We don’t want to fight! We want to help!” Spring Dragon spat on the ground just to the side of them as a flame lit in her bludgeoned eyes. 

“Right,” she sarcastically growled, still shivering and struggling to stand up, “then why don’t you show me? Piss off and don’t force me to do another thing that I’ll regret. Then I’ll know if you’re lying or not.” Despite Snowbell’s repeated efforts to prevent a battle, they all had one in front of them, regardless of whether they wanted there to be one. With each of their weapons already active, they swung them in initiation of a battle.

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|                                                                                                          |

|                                                                                                          |

|                                                   🧡                                                   |

|                                                                                                          |

|                                                                                                          |

|                                                                                                          |

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TP 0% |                                              |

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* Spring Dragon weakly readies for a fight!

“This is all wrong!” Snowbell spoke broken heartedly, “How do we convince her that we’re not here to fight?” She looked to the others, but they did not seem to have much of an idea on what to do either. 

“You practiced talking and expressing yourself in that last fight, remember?” Ralsei reminded Snowbell, “Try talking to her and convincing her not to fight. If that doesn’t work, then try expressing how you feel.” Snowbell nervously looked up at the angered Spring Dragon standing before her. 

“O-Okay…” she shakily affirmed.  

TP 0% |                                              |

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

                                                                                  |Enchant| - Snowbell

                                                                                 🧡Talk                                          Sugar Crash

                                                                                     Slippery Slips                            Beautiful Peace

                                                                                  |Defend| - Kris, Susie, Ralsei, Noelle

* You ordered Snowbell to urge Spring Dragon not to fight!

“I-I told you before. We don’t want to fight you,” Snowbell insisted, anxiously looking Spring Dragon in the eyes, “We want to help you.” 

“Your words are ash to me. I know your type. You talk-talk-talk your way to close quarters and then will do me in as soon as I open up to you. You don’t fool me!” Spring Dragon fumed. 

As everyone besides Snowbell defended, the soul entered the battle box. Inside, a pair of white claws slowly and weakly slashed at the soul. While it was clear that Spring Dragon was trying to attack, her attacks made for little challenge to dodge. As a result, a significant amount of TP was built up in addition to the amount added for defending. Lancer looked worriedly over at them from the sidelines, uncertain of exactly what to say or do. Likewise, Kris was uncertain if Noelle or Susie’s abilities in battle had yet improved since their last battle, so they opted to not use them. Fortunately, they did not see much need to with the attacks being thrown their way. 

TP 82% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII         |

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* Spring Dragon does not seem to believe Snowbell’s reasoning!

                                                                                  |Enchant| - Snowbell

                                                                                 🧡Talk                                          Sugar Crash

                                                                                     Slippery Slips                            Beautiful Peace

                                                                                  |Defend| - Kris, Susie, Ralsei, Noelle

* You again ordered Snowbell to urge Spring Dragon not to fight!

“F-Fighting like this isn’t going to help any of us,” Snowbell reasoned, “Please, just let us help heal you.” 

“Nothing that you say will convince me of that. No liars ever hold meaning in anything they say or what any words of reason can offer!” Spring Dragon retorted. 

As the soul again entered the battle box, the white silhouette of a long tail with hair along the top swept its way horizontally across the box. Again and again the tail swayed back and forth. Again, the attacks were easily avoided. As the end of the attack neared, the tail seemingly shook from exhaustion. Spring Dragon herself fell over after ending the attack and needed to stand herself back up again. 

TP 100% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII|

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* Again, Spring Dragon does not seem convinced by Snowbell’s words!

                                                                                  |Enchant| - Snowbell

                                                                                 🧡Talk                                          Sugar Crash

                                                                                     Slippery Slips                            Beautiful Peace

                                                                                  |Defend| - Kris, Susie, Ralsei, Noelle

* For a third time, you ordered Snowbell to urge Spring Dragon not to fight!

“Spring Dragon, p-please! Just listen to me!” Snowbell begged, “We swear to you on our lives that we won’t hurt you!”

“And I say swears all the time. They’re satisfying but almost never mean anything in the long run. Why should I believe that anything you swear would?” Spring Dragon spat. 

In the battle box, the soul was met with a pair of white wing silhouettes that flapped repeatedly. One of the wings looked torn down the center as though it had been slashed with a blade of some kind. The wings flapped so slowly that it was yet again no challenge to avoid them. As the attack ended, Spring Dragon winced in pain and visibly took damage from overexerting herself with the attack. Snowbell gasped at this and raised a hoof towards Spring Dragon. 

“Stop!” Snowbell requested, “You’re just going to hurt yourself more!” Spring Dragon grimaced in pain but did not seem intent to let up fighting. 

“And give in to a group of twits like you?” she retorted, “Like hell I will!” Ralsei looked over to Kris with worry imprinted all over his face, robe, hat, and scarf. 

“Logic and reasoning isn’t working, Kris,” Ralsei noted, “We have to try having Snowbell express herself.” Noelle and Susie both groaned upon hearing this but knew that it was likely worth a try. 

TP 100% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII|

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* Logic and reasoning seem out of the question!

                                                                                  |Enchant| - Snowbell

                                                                                 🧡Talk                                          Sugar Crash

                                                                                     Slippery Slips                            Beautiful Peace

                                                                                  |Defend| - Kris, Susie, Ralsei, Noelle

* You ordered Snowbell to express her feelings to Spring Dragon!

“S-Spring Dragon…” Snowbell slowly mumbled, “I… I want you to know that I’ve always wanted to see you… for as long as I can remember…”

“And now you see me. So, why don’t you and your gang of nitwits piss off!” Spring Dragon snarled. 

Inside the battle box, a white dragon-silhouette repeatedly chomped down at the soul. However, several teeth snapped off as it did so. Additionally, the attack seemingly got slower and slower the longer it went on. When it was finished, Spring Dragon’s head collapsed to the ground and she rubbed her mouth with one of her claws. Again, she visibly took damage from continuing her attacks. 

“Why won’t you just listen? You’re just hurting yourself more and more,” Snowbell whimpered. Spring Dragon picked her head back up with all her strength to try to prove Snowbell wrong. 

“I could never hurt myself more than I already have… or more than I’ve already hurt others…” Spring Dragon asserted.

TP 100% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII|

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* The expression may not have been enough!

                                                                                  |Enchant| - Snowbell

                                                                                 🧡Talk                                          Sugar Crash

                                                                                     Slippery Slips                            Beautiful Peace

                                                                                  |Defend| - Kris, Susie, Ralsei, Noelle

* You ordered Snowbell to express her feelings to Spring Dragon harder!

“What I said before… i-it’s more than that…” Snowbell spoke, placing her hooves together while holding her crook, “As soon as I saw you back at the mine… my heart never before felt what it did when I saw you…”

“It’s called being scared and having your heart pump faster. The whole kingdom could have heard the scream you made. And I wasn’t even trying to be scary!” Spring Dragon blurted. 

Much like the previous ones the following attacks posed no threat. A white dragon-like snoot seemingly tried to blow fire at the soul, but just puffs of ineffective smoke were released. When the attack ended, Spring Dragon seemed short on breath and roughly coughed several times, causing further damage to herself. Snowbell placed her hooves over her face and shook her head back and forth. 

TP 100% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII|

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* The expression was still not enough!

                                                                                  |Enchant| - Snowbell

                                                                                 🧡Talk                                          Sugar Crash

                                                                                     Slippery Slips                            Beautiful Peace

                                                                                  |Defend| - Kris, Susie, Ralsei, Noelle

* You ordered Snowbell to bluntly express exactly what she wants to do with Spring Dragon!

“S-Spring Dragon…” Snowbell slowly choked, “I… I… I want to k-kiss you… and… and I want you to kiss me…”

“…” Spring Dragon said nothing in response, looking more confused than anything as one of her eyes widely stared at Snowbell. 

As Kris prepared to dodge another attack, there was none. There was absolutely nothing in the battle box aside from the soul. As soon as the soul exited the box, Spring Dragon collapsed from her own weight and landed roughly onto the ground. She took more damage and audibly gasped in pain as she did. Despite Noelle and Susie’s mutual discomfort at what Snowbell had said, they along with the others looked at Spring Dragon in panic.

“What do we do?” Ralsei asked the others, “Nothing that Snowbell says is getting through. And if Spring Dragon keeps it up, she’s just going to hurt herself more.” Everyone looked around, but nobody seemed to have any ideas. Snowbell then seemingly remembered something, but she faced the ground for several seconds after recalling it, deep in thought. She placed a hoof over her heart and looked up at Spring Dragon. The terrible state she was in was not who she was, and Snowbell was certain of it. Snowbell closed her eyes and imagined the same Spring Dragon that she had seen from her last battle. After opening them and allowing the Spring Dragon she had in her mind to assimilate with the real one before her, she turned to Kris. 

“Kris…” she spoke, holding her head low and letting out a deep breath before continuing, “my last ability… the one that you didn’t use yet…” Snowbell paused before finishing her statement, closed her eyes, and shook slightly in fear. The image of Spring Dragon still flashed within her sight as she closed her eyes. Her heart then told her what she needed to do. “Use it…” she uttered. The others looked concerningly at Snowbell, particularly Ralsei and Noelle. 

“Wait, what does it do?” Ralsei inquired. 

“Snowbell…” Noelle spoke with genuine care in her eyes, “Do you know what that does…?” Snowbell chose not to answer Ralsei’s question but faced Noelle. After looking her in the eyes for several seconds, she nodded her head once and gripped her crook firmly. Both Ralsei and even Susie looked over to Noelle, wondering what she knew. 

“Well, what does it do?” Ralsei asked again, a nervous look in his eyes. 

“Yeah…” Susie muttered, “Does it do anything… bad?” Noelle looked at the two of them but said nothing. She looked back to Snowbell and saw someone who was ready to give anything for the one she cared about. Remembering that Snowbell was a part of herself written on page, Noelle closed her eyes and spoke what she felt. 

“It will end this battle…” she spoke, “And Snowbell won’t tell Spring Dragon how much she cares… she’ll show it.” Ralsei and Susie looked at Noelle and then at each other, unsure of what to make of the explanation. Snowbell continued to keep her eyes closed and hold her hand over her fast-beating heart.

“Do it…” she told Kris, “now.”   

TP 100% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII|

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* Snowbell is ready for something…

                                                                                  |Enchant| - Snowbell

                                                                                     Talk                                          Sugar Crash

                                                                                     Slippery Slips                        🧡Beautiful Peace (-65% TP)

                                                                                  |Defend| - Kris, Susie, Ralsei, Noelle

* Snowbell used Beautiful Peace!

Snowbell paused for a moment before she softly muttered several words to herself. She raised her crook slowly into the air. Just before reaching its peak in height, a slight buck toothed smile formed on Snowbell's face. A white light on the end of the crook began to glow as everyone watched on. Snowbell slowly began to float in the air as a clear, spherical casing with a glowing white outline slowly elapsed itself around her. The crook in her hooves floated away from them and hovered in front of Snowbell for several moments. 

As it floated idly, several streams of white light began to shine on Snowbell, starting with her hooves on her arms and feet. The light continued along the rest of her body until she was completely covered with it. Everyone besides Snowbell jumped as the long end of the crook sharpened itself to a point. An aura-like stream additionally began to flow from the center of Snowbell’s chest in the direction of Spring Dragon. The sharp end of Snowbell’s crook pointed towards her as it oriented itself to her back. Everyone gasped as the crook struck itself directly through Snowbell’s back and protruded from the front of her chest. 

“Snowbell!” Kris, Ralsei, Susie, and Lancer cried out in shock. Noelle kept her eyes shut, already knowing what was happening. She said nothing, as she knew better than anyone how Snowbell felt and what her heart had told her to do. A stream of white light began to flow from the sharp end of the crook over to Spring Dragon. As it did, Spring Dragon’s health began to fill up with great speed, seemingly healing the cuts and bruises about her body right before everyone’s eyes. Even her torn wing grew new layers of skin over it like it was never touched. Spring Dragon additionally felt stronger and more durable than she normally did. 

Once she was fully healed, the streams of light slowly began to fade as the spherical casing around Snowbell faded. The crook slid itself out of her as she gently floated to the ground. Her crook had its end seemingly filed back down as it placed itself back into her hands. A number could be seen floating above her, indicating the self-damage she had taken in using the ability.

‘-999’

The Fun Gang looked on in shock, unable to say anything. To their surprise, Spring Dragon additionally faced Snowbell in shock. However, the shock for her was not the same. She stared at the motionless body that laid on the ground before her with a feeling that she could not comprehend. She did not know what to make of the feeling, but she felt that it was telling her that what she had done was wrong. 

“W-What…? Why… Why would you… do that… for me…?” Spring Dragon questioned in disbelief. 

As the soul entered the battle box, there was nothing that attacked it. There was just the white silhouette of a dragon staring wistfully at something outside the box. As everyone continued to stare at Snowbell in shock, one more decision had to be made. 

TP 35% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII                                |

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                  -919/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* Spring Dragon seems stronger than ever but no longer seems to want to fight!

                                                                                  |Spare| - Kris

                                                                                 🧡Spring Dragon

* Kris spared Spring Dragon!

* You won!

* Got 0 EXP and 0 D$

Chapter Text

When the battle came to an end, everyone remained where they were in shock. Whenever a battle ended, anyone who had been downed would be brought back to at least one HP. However, this did not make Snowbell’s decision to give herself up like she had any less impactful to everyone standing around her, most of all to Spring Dragon. As Snowbell slowly opened her eyes, she weakly breathed as she held on with just a sliver of health. Her eyes moved around her at all the people staring at her. No one around knew entirely how to break the silence that Snowbell had brought to the air with her selfless enchantment. She coughed a rough cough as she tried to stand up but seemed to have a lingering effect from her enchantment that made her too weak to do so on her own. To the surprise of everyone, it was not Kris, Ralsei, Noelle, Susie, or Lancer who approached Snowbell first. It was Spring Dragon.

She moved over and slipped one of her claws gently underneath Snowbell and lifted her into the air. While Snowbell’s vision was blurry, she could make out the face that stood before her. No longer did it look like a bitter, mauled creature. Instead, it looked exactly like the Spring Dragon that Snowbell had seen when she closed her eyes. The eyes of Spring Dragon herself additionally looked a bit different than they had before. Rather than having thin pupil slits on the front of the yellow orbs, there were instead black ovals. They appeared dilated and more like a cat’s eyes than those of a dragon. As Snowbell saw herself reflected in the great, shiny eyes that looked down at her, she was additionally met with a voice. 

“You gave yourself up for me… even when I continued to senselessly attack you…” Spring Dragon softly spoke, still in a low voice but one that had a certain gentleness to it, “Why…?” Snowbell looked dizzily up at the beautiful creature holding her. 

“Because that’s what people do when they care…” she weakly breathed, “And everyone deserves to be cared for.” Spring Dragon stared at Snowbell like she was a prophet who had descended from Heaven. 

“No one has ever done anything like that for me…” she voiced in amazement, “I… I don’t know what to say…” As the two looked at one another for several more moments, Snowbell spoke on. 

“Sometimes, you don’t need to say anything…” she muttered, “You just need to understand what it is that people do… and why they do it.” Snowbell slowly and shakily raised a hoof into the air in front of her. Spring Dragon looked at it for several moments, unsure what Snowbell was doing at first. Within a moment, she realized what Snowbell had meant with her previous statement. Without knowing entirely what it meant or why she did it, she closed her eyes and leaned her head forward, allowing the front of her snoot to meet Snowbell’s hoof. 

It was a strange feeling between the two of them. One that neither completely comprehended with their minds, but that they did with their hearts. After meeting one another for several seconds, Snowbell lowered her hoof and let it fall back onto Spring Dragon’s claw. Spring Dragon continued looking at her with eyes that now looked like larger versions of Snowbell’s. 

“Is… is there anything that I can do for you…?” Spring Dragon asked, “Anything for me to say thanks?” Snowbell faced Spring Dragon and formed a small smile. 

“Nothing could ever mean more to me than being able to see you in-person… and see you happy,” Snowbell answered. The two continued looking at one another while Kris, Ralsei, Noelle, Susie, and Lancer watched on from the side. Snowbell could see them just within her peripheral vision as she continued looking up. While Noelle and Susie still looked as tortured as ever by the scenario they were witnessing, Ralsei was pointing down at the snow covering the ground around them. Snowbell noticed his signal and recalled what they had originally set out to do. With their original goal in mind, she looked up at the magnificent purple creature before her. “Well… there is something else too…”

“Anything…” Spring Dragon replied, feeling deeply indebted to the one she held, “What can I do for you?” 

“There’s been a terrible winter in my land, as far as I can remember…” Snowbell revealed, “And I’ve always dreamed of seeing a spring there…” She faced longingly at Spring Dragon as she faced longingly back at her. “Could you bless it with one?” 

“Of course,” Spring Dragon agreed, “That’s the least that I can do for you.” Much to Snowbell’s surprise, Spring Dragon lightly placed her atop the mane that ran down her back. It was softer than the most luxurious wool or blanket that Snowbell could ever imagine. 

“W-What?” Snowbell shakily faltered, “W-What are you doing?” Spring Dragon looked out into the misty horizon with a confident look on her face. 

“We’ll fly over your land to make it spring,” she stated. Snowbell looked on in awe at Spring Dragon, unable to believe that she was offering this. 

“B-But…” she started, “I… I-I…”

“The brave ones are not afraid of dragons,” Spring Dragon inserted, “The brave ones ride them.” Snowbell felt like she was living one of her wildest and most fantastical dreams when she heard Spring Dragon’s statement. She turned and examined the misty sky with a look of sheer wonder. She then remembered the ones that helped get her to where she was. 

“C-Could the others come too?” she inquired, “Please. We never would have got here if it wasn’t for them…” Spring Dragon looked down at the rest of the Fun Gang after hearing Snowbell’s statement with a look of uncertainty. She did not pay much attention to Kris, Ralsei, Noelle, or Lancer, as they had mostly just been present without doing anything harmful in her eyes. She paused specifically on Susie and her eyes narrowed at her. She could have sworn that she felt the spot on her snoot that Susie had smacked earlier twinge slightly. “Please…” Snowbell again begged. Although Spring Dragon was clearly not keen on bringing Susie along, she could not bring herself to let down the one who had so willingly given herself up for her. 

“Okay…” she confirmed, “but I don’t want any of them to attack me. Not like that purple twit did before.” She pointed a claw towards Susie as she spoke. Susie grimaced from a mixture of embarrassment and discomfort at having been called out by a dragon version of herself which stemmed from the fantasies of the one standing next to her. Spring Dragon knelt, allowing everyone to join Snowbell on top of her. As Lancer and Ralsei headed over, Kris noticed something glowing beside a nearby pile of rubble. They reached out their hands and could feel something flowing through them. 

‘Although the cold has grown, a new flame has been lit. The power of altruistic self-sacrifice shines within you.’

The instant that they touched the light, Snowbell looked as though she had never been hurt at all. The health of each of them had been fully restored. After walking over to Spring Dragon, Kris began slowly climbing on top to join Snowbell. The size of a large insect to them was about how big they were compared to Spring Dragon. As Kris, Ralsei, and Lancer climbed on, they realized that they were still missing two people. They looked back and saw that Noelle and Susie were both still standing on the ground. 

“Come on, Noelle,” Ralsei called over, waving his paw towards himself, “We can head back to the palace quickly this way as well.” Noelle looked nervously and embarrassedly at Spring Dragon but still could not bring herself to walk over. 

“I-I… uh…” Noelle stammered, “I don’t think I can…” Everyone stared at her as she tried to think of a good lie or excuse. “I… I’m n-not very good with heights,” Noelle lied, “Y-You see, I had a really b-bad experience with them onc-” Spring Dragon let out a fierce breath through her nostril slits that sent two small jets of smoke into the air. Noelle jumped at the sudden sight and sound and seemingly lost all her composure to refuse listening out of fear. “Okay, I think I’m over my fear of heights now. Eheh.” She nervously hurried over to Spring Dragon and began turning red from embarrassment as she climbed on top. She could not comprehend the idea that she was now living the very thing that she wrote into her own fantasy-friend-fiction, and the thought of it only made her turn redder. Everyone then faced Susie who was still on the ground. 

“Climb on, Susie,” Lancer hollered, “It’ll be like riding a magical winged version of yourself with no dark dollar charge!” Susie cringed, closed her eyes, and tensed up upon hearing Lancer’s statement. As she opened her eyes and faced the larger ones of Spring Dragon, she could not bring herself to continue any longer. 

“N-No,” Susie told them, “I… I’m not flying with you on… her…” Spring Dragon again narrowed her eyes at Susie while everyone else looked on. 

“What? Afraid I’m going to knock you off mid-flight?” Spring Dragon scoffed, “As much as I’d love to see you try to fly or get smacked in the face with something metal, I won’t do that.” Susie could feel her composure and dignity reducing in size by the second as though it were being repeatedly crunched up in a compactor. 

“I… I can’t bring myself to put up with this anymore…” she retorted, “If the rest of you want to fly around on the result of Noelle’s disgusting writing… about me… go ahead. But not me. I can’t go along with this $@#% anymore.” Susie clenched her fists as she again closed her eyes and remained where she was. She began to shake from a mixed feeling of disgust, frustration, and discomfort that she could not describe. Noelle covered her face after hearing Susie’s remark about her. While Snowbell was not certain of what Susie had entirely meant by her statement, she could tell that it was not nice. 

“That’s not how you should talk about your friends,” Snowbell politely criticized, “Even if you feel the way you do.” Susie began to shake even more at Snowbell’s statement. She then rose her hand and aggressively swung it downwards in their direction. 

“Agh, just… screw all of you,” Susie fumed, “None of you will ever know how this feels… just… I’m just going to walk back to the palace.” Susie turned around and began walking away as everyone else looked on. 

“But it’ll be way faster to fly,” Snowbell called out, “And it would be dangerous to go back out on your own.” 

“Just piss off without me, alright?” Susie demanded as she began to stomp her way back down the mountain more quickly, “And while you’re at it, don’t ever remind me of any of this nonsense ever again!” Everyone watched on as Susie entered back into the mountain from the way that they came. Several of them looked at one another, unsure of what to do. 

“Now what? I don’t think we should leave Susie like this,” Ralsei questioned, “Even if she doesn’t want to directly come with us.” Everyone thought to themselves about what could be done, but they were surprised by the one who seemed to have an idea. As Susie trekked back down the winding paths around the mountain, she began to quietly bicker to herself. 

“This is just… ugh!” she complained, putting her hands over her head as she continued walking, “No form of Hell could ever be worse than everything today…” She exited one of the tunnels and walked around the front of the mountain. “This is gross… Noelle… why would you write something like th-” Before Susie could finish what she was saying, she felt something large roughly and abruptly grab her under the arms and around her chest. Not only that, but she was also being quickly lifted away from the mountain altogether. Susie screamed aloud before blurting out the first thought she had. “What the f-” 

“I don’t care if you hate me or don’t want to come,” Spring Dragon snarled as she gripped Susie with one of her front claws, “We’re not going to hold ourselves up for your slow, stubborn ass.” It took Susie several moments to realize that Spring Dragon had just forcibly grabbed her and that they were flying from the mountaintop towards the field. 

“Look, it’ll be faster this way,” Snowbell yelled down from atop Spring Dragon, “We’ll save much more time.” Susie’s mouth twitched as she thought about how she had just been denied what she thought was perfectly reasonable for her own sanity.

“I-I can’t believe that you… this… this is #%&@!@$#,” she snapped, facing angrily up at Spring Dragon, “Put me down!” Spring Dragon’s eyes looked down to Susie as a smirk crossed her face. 

“Alright,” she obliged, “I’ll let you go.” The pupil slits in Susie’s eyes thinned as she realized how high up off the ground they were. 

“W-Wait, wh-” Susie started. Before she could finish her statement, Spring Dragon had released Susie from her claws and allowed her to start falling. Susie briefly began to scream as she plummeted a few feet before Spring Dragon caught her again with her other claw. Susie continued screaming for several seconds after being caught again. She began to shake as she clung to the claw like a frightened child. 

“That’s what I thought,” Spring Dragon taunted, “Now, stop complaining and put up with me until we’re finished.” Spring Dragon tossed Susie onto her back where she landed face first on her soft mane after flipping once through the air. When she picked up her head, she saw everyone staring at her. She continued to shake, both from the previous short burst of fear but also because everyone had just watched her scream and get overruled by Noelle’s fantasy version of herself. 

“Look, I’m sorry about how startling that might have been, but Spring Dragon’s right,” Snowbell instructed Susie, “This is much faster.” Susie looked at her briefly before folding her arms around her legs and burying her face into them. She started muttering several incomprehensible things about how she wanted to die because of how horribly unreal the whole situation was. Noelle looked on and felt truly bad for Susie. Although she was still red from before, she moved over next to Susie and placed a hoof over her shoulder. It was not out of romance or infatuation, but out of comfort. Although Susie flinched slightly upon feeling the hoof touch her and seeing that it was Noelle, she seemed too shaken up to do anything about it. While Kris, Ralsei, and Lancer additionally went over to console Susie, Snowbell looked on in amazement at the area around them. 

As they exited the mist that surrounded Advent Mountain, she could see so much of the land. Never had she ever been able to have such a great view of all of it. She approached the side of Spring Dragon and looked up at her wings. With every flap that they gave, a set of green and yellow sparkles floated and spread down below them. When Snowbell looked back behind them, she saw that not only had the snow underneath Spring Dragon melted, but something else had also happened. Grass, sprouts, and flowers began popping up all over the land. Snowbell’s eyes shined as she looked down at it. 

“This is incredible…” she praised as she looked on in awe, “You are incredible…” Spring Dragon continued looking ahead as she listened in. 

“I don’t know if I’d call it ‘incredible,’” she denoted, “It’s what I’ve always been able to do. As long as I can remember.” Snowbell brought her gaze away from the land and carefully walked closer to Spring Dragon’s head. 

“What do you remember?” Snowbell asked, “I’ve only ever heard myths and stories about you. What else is there?” Spring Dragon’s eyes dashed back to Snowbell who was resting near her right shoulder, but then faced downwards. 

“What you hear in the stories is all the good there is to say…” she answered, now avoiding eye contact with Snowbell, “The rest is… not something that anyone would want to listen to…” Snowbell tilted her head slightly at Spring Dragon’s statement. 

“Well, I’d be willing to listen,” she offered, “Even if it isn’t about good things.” Spring Dragon’s head dropped slightly as she continued flying. Snowbell watched on as Spring Dragon said nothing. “If you don’t want to talk about it, I understan-”

“No… I can talk,” Spring Dragon interrupted. Snowbell watched on as Spring Dragon closed her eyes and began to breathe in and out in slow, spaced out breaths. “A lot of people… a lot of people in your kingdom… they don’t like me…” Snowbell looked at Spring Dragon confused. 

“Why?” Snowbell inquired, “Why would they have any reason to not like you?” Spring Dragon’s head dropped even lower at Snowbell’s question. 

“Because of what I did…” she answered. Snowbell continued to look at Spring Dragon, unsure of what she could be referring to. 

“What did you do?” she asked. Spring Dragon’s head and stomach twitched slightly. 

“I… I…”  she lamented, “I don’t want to say…” Snowbell faced away, getting the hint that this was something that bothered Spring Dragon a great deal. After a few moments, Snowbell tried bringing something else up to change the subject.

“That’s okay,” she empathized, “How about this: What were you doing in the mine before? When you scared me really bad?” Spring Dragon grimaced and put a claw to her face. 

“That…” she started, “That is also because of the… other thing…” Snowbell shook her hooves in front of her. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she apologized, “I had no idea that they were related.” Both Spring Dragon and Snowbell went silent after the exchange. For several moments, they just looked on as they continued flying over the field. Eventually, Spring Dragon broke the silence. 

“No…” she grumbled, “I’ll… I’ll tell you… You deserve to know what I did.” Snowbell wanted to tell Spring Dragon that it was fine to not say anything, but she felt that this was something on Spring Dragon’s heart that she needed to say. “People don’t like me because… because… because I made them starve.” Snowbell looked at Spring Dragon shocked but let her continue. “Every so often, people from all over the land gather together and have a great feast. They bring all kinds of different foods with them, and they eat away for weeks…” Spring Dragon closed her eyes before continuing to speak. “They said everyone was invited… no matter what they were…” Snowbell began to piece together what happened as Spring Dragon went on. 

“I… I was so hungry that… I… I ate it all…” she continued, “And there was nothing left for any of them afterwards…” Snowbell knelt and placed a hoof on Spring Dragon’s shoulder. 

“Spring Dragon…” she softly comforted. 

“That was their food for the following several weeks… And they watched me eat it…” Spring Dragon went on, “from that point on, they all hated me… and that justifiable resentment turned me sour…” Snowbell’s ears drooped the more she listened. “After being driven away, I watched from afar as they starved for weeks and weeks on end… all because of me…” 

“No…” Snowbell consoled, “You didn’t mean it… that’s not right for them to-”

“It is my fault,” Spring Dragon interjected, “There’s no one else to blame but me.” Snowbell was at a loss for words as she watched the miserable Spring Dragon before her. “Ever since then, I’ve never allowed myself to eat anything that others could find enjoyable… that way no one else would ever have to starve like that again just because I was hungry…” She opened her eyes and looked back towards Snowbell. “In the mine, I wasn’t going to eat you… I was going to eat the glowing stones in there…” Snowbell was unsure of what to say in response to this as Spring Dragon looked back towards the ground below. “Things like that and other junk scattered around the mountain and mine is what I eat… things that nobody would care if someone else were to eat them…” 

Snowbell stayed silent and watched on as Spring Dragon continued. “When I was freezing to death back on the mountain… back at my home… that was as suitable a means of punishment as you could get for me.” Closing her eyes, Spring Dragon again lowered her head. “The creature of spring, nearly frozen to death by the creature of winter…” She paused for a moment. “It… it was fitting that I would have had to suffer that after causing so many innocent people to starve… all because I couldn’t control myself…” Spring Dragon’s hair covered her eyes as she opened them back up in acceptance. “I… I deserved it.”

“No,” Snowbell denied, “you don’t deserve it. You deserve much better than that.” Spring Dragon continued to face the ground and remain silent as Snowbell continued. “I can feel that you’re good and that you want to do good.” This did not seem to pick up Spring Dragon’s mood, so Snowbell shifted the conversation. “What I said back at the mountain… about how I had always dreamed of meeting you… I really meant it.” Spring Dragon started to feel something within her chest growing warm. Not a literal fire, but a fire in another sense. 

“Really?” she asked, still facing towards the ground. 

“I cross my heart and hope to die,” Snowbell confirmed, “I would never lie about something like that.” As the two continued with their conversation, the others began to listen in after coercing Susie into uncovering her face. 

“That feeling you mentioned… the one in your heart…” Spring Dragon brought up, “What did it feel like?” Snowbell placed a hoof over her chest and tried to put into words the feeling. 

“I… I don’t know exactly how to describe it…” she explained, “it’s… it’s sort of like having an ember ignite within it… an ember that starts a fire that calls out the name of another…” Spring Dragon put a claw to her chest as she felt her heart starting to beat faster and faster. 

“That ember-like feeling,” she brought up, “I… I think I feel it right now…” Snowbell placed a hoof on Spring Dragon’s shoulder. 

“Did it just get stronger?” she inquired after her hoof had been on Spring Dragon’s shoulder for several seconds. Spring Dragon paused before saying anything. 

“…yes,” she answered. Snowbell took her hoof off Spring Dragon as the feeling grew stronger inside her as well. Everyone watched on as the two again went silent. Susie was done shaking, but now looked like she had just been hit with a nasty swing of depression. While Noelle still seemed a little off put, she seemed to slowly be getting over her discomfort.

“Snowbell… that last thing you said…” Spring Dragon whispered, “during the battle at the mountain… did you also mean that?” A shot of fluster began to shoot up through Snowbell’s face when she heard the question. She turned to face the others, uncertain of how to respond. Noelle flushed a red as bright as roses and looked downwards, unable to bring herself to say or do anything. Ralsei gave her an encouraging hand gesture that told her to go on. Susie proceeded to punch Ralsei in the shoulder after seeing his encouragement of the whole thing. Snowbell turned back over to Spring Dragon. 

“W-Well…” Snowbell stuttered, “y-yes…?” As Snowbell began shaking slightly, Spring Dragon moved her eyes back towards her. After looking at her for a moment, she turned her head back around, unsure of what to say herself. Snowbell again faced the others and was met with an approving nod from Ralsei, much to Noelle and Susie’s annoyance. Snowbell turned back around and faced Spring Dragon. She stared for a moment before deciding her next action from within her heart. To everyone’s amazement, she began walking over towards Spring Dragon’s head. 

“No…” Susie grimaced, “She isn’t doing what I think she’s doing… is she?” Kris, Ralsei, Noelle, and Lancer looked at Susie and then back to Snowbell. None of them wanted to be the one to say “yes” to Susie’s question, so they remained silent and watched on. Snowbell carefully walked over to the front of Spring Dragon until she was just behind her head. 

“What…” Spring Dragon questioned, “What are you doing…?” Snowbell said nothing and knelt. She closed her eyes and imagined Spring Dragon in front of her again. After seeing her for several moments, Snowbell began to lean her head forward. Susie looked as though she was about to vomit, and Noelle looked like she was about to have hot, flustered steam shoot out her ears as they watched on. Just before Snowbell could meet Spring Dragon’s head, she along with everyone else needed to grab onto Spring Dragon to not fall off. 

Smash!

Something just as large as Spring Dragon ran directly into her from the right-hand side and nearly knocked everyone off. Spring Dragon gasped in pain and surprise at the impact of the hit. As she regained her balance in flight, everyone else regained their bearings on top of her. 

“What the hell was that?” Susie called out. As everyone looked around, they all locked their sights on the large figure now flying just beside Spring Dragon. As Snowbell’s eyes met the great blue figure, fear reflected in them. 

“Oh… no…” she uttered. 

“Oh, yes!” the figure squawked haughtily at her. 

Chapter Text

“So, the lovely Spring Dragon survived with the help of her little love Snowbell. How sweet,” the great blue bird taunted. As everyone looked on, their eyes were met with a creature just as large as Spring Dragon. It was bird-like and dark blue in color with feathers that covered every inch of its body. Four wings, each nearly the same size as Spring Dragon’s, flapped in synchronization as the creature flew in the air. Not only did the wings look capable of conjuring up a hurricane from their gust potential, but with every flap a cloud of dark blue and black sparkles floated down underneath, covering everything they touched in a bitter snow. On the underside of the great bird was connected six legs, thin and callus-looking, each with a set of four talons. The curved, black blades repeatedly opened and clicked themselves as everyone looked on. 

“This is that Bickering Blue clown?” Lancer called over to Snowbell, tilting his head slightly as he looked at the geeky head of the creature. The bird clicked its curved beak in a scoff as its four red eyes homed in on Snowbell. Despite the almost funny-looking twin pairs of glasses that rested vertically in front of the eyes, Snowbell began to shake. 

“‘Bickering Blue?’ Really now?” the creature laughed aloud, tucking the temples of his glasses further into his feathers with one wing, “That unoriginal-a-name and you can’t even say it to my face? Huh, you really are pathetic.” Snowbell’s ears, face, and heart dropped as a look of defeat crept itself across her. Her buck teeth quenched against her lower lip as they began to twitch in both fear and angst. She had never specifically told anyone not to call Winged Winter “Bickering Blue” before this, and now she was paying the price. The blue bird moved his eyes to Spring Dragon. 

“Thought you would give a little joy-ride of thanks to your little speck saviors, did you now?” he noted, “What a generous little purple dragon you are.” Spring Dragon’s mouth twitched as she angrily revealed two rows of sharp teeth to her adversary. 

“You frickin’ runt!” she snarled, “The only reason I lost last time was because you caught me off guard when something else had my attention. Slimy little twit!” Winged Winter’s beak curved upwards in a smirk. 

“Tell me about that ‘something else’ you’re referring to,” he jabbed, pointing one of his wings back in the direction of Advent Mountain, “Did I miss any spots back there?” Spring Dragon began aggressively growling as Winged Winter confidently adjusted his glasses with one wing. “I already beat you once. What makes you think I can’t do it again, grape juice?” Snowbell lowered her head and began muttering inane things to herself. After noticing this, Noelle stood up and clenched her hooves as she faced Winged Winter. 

“I-I’ll tell you why!” she yelled up, “Because we’re here to help this time… bird head!” Winged Winter put a wing to his head and partially lost his balance from laughing so hard. 

“Oh, I’m shaking so hard I might start molting. That insult really got under my feathers,” he jeered, “What’cha going to do? Scold me to death? Pluck out my feathers with your toothpicks?” He gestured towards the weapons that each of them had either summoned or readied. 

“How about we dunk your head in a fryer and see if you reach well-done before the bubbles stop?” Susie barked, “Even as just a character sheet, that freaking nerd still finds ways to piss me off!” Although uncertain of the meaning behind Susie’s character sheet comment, Winged Winter narrowed his eyes at Susie. 

“Yeah, a winged clown is still a clown!” Lancer added, “And it’s time for clown-Thanksgiving!” Winged Winter adjusted several of his feathers simultaneously with his multiple legs and talons as he flew on. 

“Those are some big words coming from the ones who could barely avoid a hail and snowflake storm,” he retorted. Susie’s eyes widened momentarily before narrowing and growing angry. 

“That was you!” she fumed, “You’re why those things were following us around in the blizzard!” Winged Winter chuckled to himself as two of his eyes looked away. 

“I might have had something to do with it,” he teased, “I just couldn’t resist watching the princess and her pack of servants scurry around like vermin trapped in a maze.” As Noelle, Susie, and Lancer looked on embittered while Snowbell did so hopelessly, Ralsei took a different approach. 

“Why are you spreading winter throughout the land?” he called up, “And why are you going out of your way to harm others?” Winged Winter grew a smug expression. 

“Because that’s what I do. Just like how Spring Dragon spreads spring across the land,” he told them, “In a way, I suppose you can say that we’re the yin and yang of the seasons in this land. But in this case, the yin is far superior to the yang.” Spring Dragon clenched her claws as she bitterly continued facing Winged Winter. However, Ralsei still did not seem to understand. 

“But that doesn’t answer my second question. Why are you knowingly hurting others?” he repeated. Winged Winter again chuckled to himself as he continued. 

“Because I can, green worm. There’s no feeling that’s better than knowing you’re at the top of the line,” he chortled, “And the best part: nobody can do anything about it. You can have the best day of your life giving someone else the worst day of theirs.” Ralsei faced him in disbelief. 

“You… you… that’s just… wrong…” he started, growing increasingly more serious as he continued, “This needs to stop!” Ralsei turned to Kris who stared for a moment before giving a firm nod. 

“We’re putting a stop to this. Now,” Kris told Winged Winter. He looked as though he was about to burst out laughing, but he composed himself. 

“Very well. If it’s a fight you want, then it’s a fight you’ll get,” he stated, “You’d better hope that you all have some ability to fly, because it’s a long way down.” He gestured towards the ground with one talon which now looked to be hundreds of feet below them. After Lancer stepped aside, Ralsei called down to Spring Dragon. 

“Spring Dragon, just focus on flying and keeping upright,” he yelled, “We’ll take care of this.” Spring Dragon grumbled slightly, as she wanted to help fight as well. However, she did not want to put any of them at risk, so she nodded her head. With a swing of everyone’s weapons, a battle was initiated.

____________________________________________________________________

|                                                                                                          |

|                                                                                                          |

|                                                                                                          |

|                                                   🧡                                                   |

|                                                                                                          |

|                                                                                                          |

|                                                                                                          |

____________________________________________________________________

TP 0% |                                              |

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* Winged Winter presumptuously flies beside you!

“Time to make this asshole learn some respect!” Susie hollered. Despite the scenario they were all in and how she was feeling before, any representation of Berdly pissed her off enough to get her mind off things. She turned to Snowbell who was anxiously gripping her crook. “Snowbell, you said before that you wouldn’t tell this nerd what you thought of him. Now’s a good time to let him have it!” Snowbell shakily glanced at Susie. 

“B-But he’ll just get angrier!” Snowbell replied, “I-I don’t think that’s a good idea…” 

“Don’t worry about him getting mad,” Susie instructed, “Let yourself get pissed off for once!” Snowbell continued to tightly grip her crook as she nervously looked on. The wind blew roughly against each of them as Spring Dragon continued flying.

TP 0% |                                              |

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

                                                                                  |Enchant| - Snowbell

                                                                                 🧡Talk                                          Sugar Crash

                                                                                     Slippery Slips                            Beautiful Peace

                                                                                  |Defend| - Kris, Susie, Ralsei, Noelle

* You ordered Snowbell to let Winged Winter have it!

“Y-You… you’re a… a… a… oh, I’m not good at this kind of thing!” Snowbell mumbled loudly. 

“And I can’t see what other things you’d be good at either. Maybe you just suck at being a princess,” Winged Winter shamed. 

As everyone else defended, the soul entered the battle box. Inside, a circling white bird silhouette continuously spewed out several chastising and condescending insults. The words themselves were so powerful that they became physical and began flying at the soul. Such words included “Incompetent,” “Shortsighted,” “Dim-witted,” “Pathetic,” “Obtuse,” “Dense,” “Worthless,” “Inane,” “Asinine,” “Fatuous,” “Daft,” “Callow,” “Sophomoric,” “Laughable,” and several others. Although many word-projectiles flew from various angles at the soul, none of them ended up making contact. 

“Snowbell, don’t think too much about anything,” Noelle recommended, “When you overthink things, you slow down and get lost.” 

“Yeah, embrace the frustration inside yourself,” Susie ordered, “From there, just say the first thing that pops into your head.” Snowbell looked over at the two and then back forward. 

“Okay… I-I’ll try,” she confirmed. 

TP 74% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII             |

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* The wind grows fierce as Winged Winter shakes his head patronizingly!

                                                                                  |Enchant| - Snowbell

                                                                                 🧡Talk                                          Sugar Crash

                                                                                     Slippery Slips                          Beautiful Peace

                                                                                  |Summon| - Noelle

                                                                                 🧡Silver Bells (-20% TP)                   Red-Nosed Reindeer

                                                                                     Let it Snow

                                                                                  |Defend| - Kris, Susie, Ralsei

* You ordered Snowbell to tell Winged Winter what she thinks of him!

“You’re… y-you’re not very nice… and… and I t-think you should stop!” Snowbell called out. 

“The only way that I’ll be stopping any time soon is when you learn how to properly insult others. And, by my calculations, that would be a -2% chance,” Winged Winter calculated.

* Noelle used Silver Bells!

With the power and jingling of the bells on Noelle’s staff, a pair of silver bells emerged in the air as everyone else defended. When the soul again entered inside the battle box, a white, beak-like silhouette marked several lines across the battle box as though it were a blueprint. A white bird then soared over the marked lines, dropping damaging feathers that scattered in all directions as it flew by. This would have been lightning fast, but the sound waves from Noelle’s Silver Bells summon slowed it to a much more manageable speed. Again, the attack was avoided.

“Come on, Snowbell!” Susie complained, casting out her arm impatiently, “I want to hear this guy get called what he deserves to get called already!” Although Ralsei was not one for insulting or mean-spirited actions, he turned to Kris. 

“I’d give Snowbell one more shot with this,” he suggested, “If she can’t express herself, we should try something else.” Kris nodded as they raised their hand for their next move. 

TP 100% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII|

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* Winged Winter finds Snowbell’s “insult” more amusing than insulting!

                                                                                  |Enchant| - Snowbell

                                                                                 🧡Talk                                          Sugar Crash

                                                                                     Slippery Slips                            Beautiful Peace

                                                                                  |Summon| - Noelle

                                                                                     Silver Bells                                    Red-Nosed Reindeer

                                                                                 🧡Let it Snow (-50% TP)

                                                                                  |Defend| - Kris, Susie, Ralsei 

* You gave Snowbell one last try to tell off Winged Winter!

“You’re… you’re not cool like your powers suggest… you’re… you’re uncool!” Snowbell tried. 

“I’m not cool or uncool. I’m freezing. And I’ll be freezing all of you alive soon enough!” Winged Winter rebutted. 

* Noelle used Let it Snow!

After casting her staff in front of her, Noelle summoned a large snowflake at the sound of the jingle bells on her staff. Everyone besides her and Snowbell defended as the following attack was entirely blocked by the snowflake like a shield. Winged Winter’s beak began repeatedly jabbing forward as though it were a drill towards the soul. His beak roughly hit against the hard snowflake several times before stopping. He moved a wing to his beak and rubbed it slightly after watching the snowflake fade away once his turn was finished.

“So, you’re just going to block out my attacks like that, huh?” Winged Winter noted, “Very well. Let’s see what you can block with this…” Although he did not immediately do anything, Winged Winter looked as though he had something else in mind for his next turn. 

“Let me have a go at him, Kris!” Susie demanded, “I want to give him a piece of my mind!” Kris nodded as they readied for the next decision. 

TP 98% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII |

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* Winged Winter’s wings flap faster and his talons clench repeatedly!

                                                                                  |Act| - Kris

                                                                                     Check                                  🧡(Susie) Insult

                                                                                     (Noelle) Dictate                        (Ralsei) Reason

                                                                                  |Summon| - Noelle

                                                                                     Silver Bells                                    Red-Nosed Reindeer

                                                                                 🧡Let it Snow (-50% TP)

                                                                                  |Enchant| - Snowbell

                                                                                     Talk                                          Sugar Crash

                                                                                 🧡Slippery Slips (-25% TP)        Beautiful Peace

                                                                                  |Defend| - Ralsei

* You ordered Susie to say whatever she wants to Winged Winter!

“I’ve seen some nerds and geeks in my time,” Susie remarked, gesturing towards Winged Winter, “But I didn’t know that when you cross those two words together, you’d get a pile of bird #$@% as big as this!”

“…” Winged Winter said nothing in response. His mouth twitched slightly, and his eyes narrowed at Susie upon hearing the statement, but he said nothing. 

* Noelle used Let it Snow!

* Snowbell used Slippery Slips!

With the combined powers of the summon and the enchantment, the soul both gained a pair of ice skates and had a large snowflake appear before it as a shield.

* Your speed and grazing potential boosted!

Susie and Ralsei defended as the soul entered the battle box. To everyone’s surprise, nothing attacked the soul directly this time. Rather than attacking it or the snowflake, several white talons slashed at the side of the battle box until a hole was torn in it. The Fun Gang watched on in confusion until Winged Winter flapped his wings hard outside the battle box and nearly pushed the soul out of it with the resulting wind he had created. A smile crept over his face as he watched each of their faces.

“What!” Noelle yelled, “That’s not fair!” 

“And you think that an ability which nullifies attacks is?” he countered, “All is fair in love and war, Deery.” Kris faced on in shock for a moment before putting their hand back up. 

“We’ve got to try something else,” they said. 

TP 39% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII                              |

                                                        90/90            110/110                 70/70                  80/80                      80/80

Kris HP |IIIIII|    Susie HP |IIIIII|    Ralsei HP |IIIIII|    Noelle HP |IIIIII|    Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* Winged Winter’s wings flap even faster and emanate blue and black sparkles!

                                                                                  |Act| - Kris

                                                                                     Check                                       (Susie) Insult

                                                                                     (Noelle) Dictate                    🧡(Ralsei) Reason

                                                                                  |Enchant| - Snowbell

                                                                                     Talk                                          Sugar Crash

                                                                                 🧡Slippery Slips (-25% TP)        Beautiful Peace

                                                                                  |Defend| - Susie, Noelle 

* You ordered Ralsei to reason with Winged Winter!

“Look, I know that you might oppose Spring Dragon in essence, but we don’t want to fight you like this. Is there anything that we can do for you to stop this?” Ralsei asked. 

“Get blown off and let me watch you fall to a screaming halt. That will end this fight and make me happy,” Winged Winter answered. 

* Snowbell used Slippery Slips!

* Your speed and grazing potential boosted!

Once the soul entered the battle box, Winged Winter began violently flapping his wings. A series of icy winds began to push the soul towards the still gaping hole at the side of the battle box. Additionally, several chunks of hail, snowflakes, and other debris began blowing towards the soul and outside the hole. While the soul did not get near the hole at the side of the box, it was struck with several of the projectiles despite the boost in speed and grazing potential. Each time it was struck, everyone took damage.

“Agh!” Susie grunted, “I’m about ready to give this feathered freak a piece of my mind in another sense!” After everyone regained their bearings, Ralsei additionally faced Kris with a concerned look. 

“We’re running out of options, Kris,” Ralsei noted, “I’m not sure what we should do if nothing else works…” Kris nodded and looked through their options again. 

TP 58% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII                     |

                                                       54/90              81/110                  36/70                  56/80                      44/80

Kris HP |IIII  |    Susie HP |IIII  |    Ralsei HP |III   |    Noelle HP |IIII  |    Snowbell HP |III   |

* Winged Winter looks pleased with his attack’s effectiveness!

                                                                                  |Act| - Kris

                                                                                     Check                                       (Susie) Insult

                                                                                 🧡(Noelle) Dictate                        (Ralsei) Reason

                                                                                  |Magic| - Ralsei

                                                                                     Pacify                                 🧡Heal Prayer (-32% TP)

                                                                                  |Enchant| - Snowbell

                                                                                     Talk                                          Sugar Crash

                                                                                 🧡Slippery Slips (-25% TP)            Beautiful Peace

                                                                                  |Defend| - Susie

* Ralsei cast Heal Prayer on Himself!

                                                                                         36/70                                      70/70

Ralsei HP |III   |   +35      →      Ralsei HP |IIIIII|

* You ordered Noelle to tell Winged Winter what to do!

“I… I created you! I wrote your existence onto a page!” Noelle called out slowly, “Therefore, I command you to stop fighting us!” 

“What? I think I would have known if someone like you created me. Even if that were true, why would I have to listen to your squeaky commands?” Winged Winter rebuked with a look of confusion and hilarity. 

* Snowbell used Slippery Slips!

* Your speed and grazing potential boosted!

As Susie defended, the same kind of attack came again in the battle box. Kris tried dodging them as best they could, but again they could not avoid all the snowflakes, hail, and debris that blew in the strong winds. As the soul was struck, everyone was again hit. 

Despite the damage from the attack and the time that had passed, everyone looked at Noelle with a mixture of confusion and doubt after hearing her previous statement. She put a hoof behind her head as she looked at each of them. 

“Well, it was worth a try…” she uttered, “Why is it that never seems to work?” Susie shook her head and gripped her axe tightly in her hand. 

“Alright, enough running through our options,” Susie snapped, “I’m giving this nerd what he’s got coming to him!” 

TP 25% |IIIIIIIIIIIII                                     |

                                                       34/90               51/110                 52/70                  18/80                      20/80

Kris HP |II    |    Susie HP |III   |    Ralsei HP |IIII  |    Noelle HP |I     |    Snowbell HP |II    |

* Things are not looking good…

                                                                                  |Fight| - Kris, Susie

                                                                                 🧡Winged Winter

                                                                                  |Defend| - Ralsei, Noelle, Snowbell

As the others defended, Kris and Susie struck at Winged Winter with both their weapons. After being caught off guard by the attacks, Winged Winter narrowed his eyes at them. 

“So, you’re finished with words now, are you?” he accused, “Fine. I can adapt to that.”

The same attack as before was repeated with gusts of wind pushing the soul towards the hole in the box. After having used the same attack for three turns in a row, Kris was now able to dodge each of the projectiles even without the help of a movement enhancer. However, at the end of the attack, Winged Winter flew backwards a decent way. 

“What’s this?” Susie yelled out, “Are you scared?” 

“In your dreams, mini dragon,” Winged Winter scoffed, “I’m simply ensuring that your physical attacks will no longer reach.” Susie looked over to Kris and reared up her axe. 

“You know what to use, Kris,” she confidently asserted. 

TP 84% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII        |

                                                       34/90               51/110                 52/70                  18/80                      20/80

Kris HP |II    |    Susie HP |III   |    Ralsei HP |IIII  |    Noelle HP |I     |    Snowbell HP |II    |

* Winged Winter has distanced himself!

                                                                                  |Magic| - Susie

                                                                                 🧡Rude Buster (-50% TP)

                                                                                  |Magic| - Ralsei

                                                                                     Pacify                                 🧡Heal Prayer (-32% TP)

                                                                                  |Defend| - Kris, Noelle, Snowbell

* Ralsei cast Heal Prayer on Snowbell!

                                                                                         20/80                                           55/80

Snowbell HP |II    |   +35      →      Snowbell HP |IIIIII|

* Susie used Rude Buster!

After swinging her axe from the ground up, Susie sent an elemental jet of strength from the end of her axe. The shot soared and directly collided with Winged Winter. One of his glasses cracked slightly from the hit. After feeling the crack with one of his wings, he angrily faced towards the Fun Gang. 

“Insignificant insects! Have a taste of some of these!” Winged Winter squawked. 

Once the soul entered the battle box, Winged Winter targeted Susie, Kris, and Noelle specifically. He began summoning several small, bird shaped snow and ice figures all around himself. Within a moment, they began launching themselves towards the soul. They each exploded and gave off high-pitched bird-like cries on impact, dealing significant damage to the soul and everyone targeted. So much damage was dealt that all three of the targets were knocked down. 

“Gah!” Kris, Susie, and Noelle cried out as they each fell over. Snowbell looked shakily at each of them. 

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no…” she repeated anxiously to herself. Ralsei glanced at her and tried to calm her down. 

“It’s okay, Snowbell. I can heal them,” he consoled, “And we have items too, if we need.” 

TP 56% |IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII                      |

                                                     -33/90             -14/110                 52/70                 -25/80                      55/80

Kris HP |      |    Susie HP |      |    Ralsei HP |IIII  |    Noelle HP |      |    Snowbell HP |IIII  |

* Winged Winter is looking to finish things!

                                                                                  |Magic| - Ralsei

                                                                                     Pacify                                 🧡Heal Prayer (-32% TP)

                                                                                  |Item| - Snowbell

                                                                                 🧡Revive Mint

Before any of them could finish their actions, Winged Winter soared directly towards each of them with an impatient look through his cracked glasses lens.

“Enough of this,” he snarled, “Time to fly!” As he drew near, Ralsei was still in the process of casting heal prayer. As such, his eyes were closed, and he was unaware that Winged Winter was fast approaching. On the other hand, Snowbell saw him coming and grabbed onto Spring Dragon’s mane, bracing for the impact. 

“Ralsei, watch out!” she screamed. The instant that Ralsei opened his eyes, Winged Winter swept over Spring Dragon with his talons, scratching Spring Dragon and knocking everyone besides Snowbell directly off as well. 

“Agh!” Spring Dragon grunted, “Little sh-” Spring Dragon stopped mid-sentence as she saw everyone falling off. “No!” she cried out. In a sudden panic, she dove and grabbed each one of them as best she could. Kris, Susie, Ralsei, and Lancer were each caught with a separate claw while she grabbed Noelle by her hood with her mouth. Each one of them was in panic from the sudden hit and fall, catching their breaths and staring down at the far away ground. Winged Winter flew down and drew closer to Spring Dragon with a smile across his beak.

“What’s the matter?” he taunted, “Too many variables for you to comprehend?” Spring Dragon wanted to say something in response, but she was too busy trying to keep a grip on everyone at once. Snowbell remained on top of Spring Dragon, looking on in fear at Winged Winter beside her. He held open each of his talons in front of himself as he drew closer and closer from Spring Dragon’s right-hand side. “So, ends the tale of Princess Snowbell and her pitiful friends,” he narrated, “And the only one who will be around to tell the tale will be Winged Winter.” 

After listening to his statement, Snowbell froze. Not out of fear or because she did not know what to say, but since it seemed like time around her had once again slowed. She could hear her heart pounding with every second as she looked around herself. Spring Dragon struggled to keep everyone from falling as Winged Winter was about to put an end to all of them. All six sets of his talons were ready to slice the creature that stood before him to bits. She faced him with eyes that no longer had dreamy stars or a gentle sparkle within them. Her hoofs clenched together as she could feel her heart beating faster and faster. She additionally felt herself growing warm, but not warm from care or affection. It was more of a burning heat that could have melted all the snow in the kingdom. 

“You… you…” Snowbell started, “you… freaking feather-brained turkey!” As Winged Winter flew nearer, Snowbell got up and began to sprint towards him. She ran up Spring Dragon’s still flapping wing and leapt off the side of it once it was at its peak. She landed atop Winged Winter’s beak just in front of his face and grabbed onto several of his feathers with both hooves. “Get away from my friends!” Winged Winter stopped moving towards Spring Dragon and began swatting at Snowbell with several of his wings. 

“Irrelevant digit! Get off!” he yelled. Despite his efforts, Snowbell was too small for him to easily hit and his feathers provided no grip for him to grab onto her either. He repeatedly swept his wings over Snowbell, unable to touch her, as she began to pull on several of his feathers. “Agh! Stupid… uneducated… reindeer!” 

As Winged Winter was distracted with Snowbell, Spring Dragon could see Snowbell’s palace coming up in the close distance. To ensure the safety of everyone, she began flying down to the ground. Just before she lost her grip on several of them, she set everyone down. 

“Are you all okay?” she checked. While several of them looked shaken and still a bit beat up from the fight, they nodded their heads in confirmation. The loud noise echoing from above caused Spring Dragon to face away from them and back up to the sky. 

“Little shipment of plucking cricks!” Winged Winter cried out as Snowbell plucked out two of his feathers, “Why… won’t… you… fall!” He began swinging his head all around in various directions while flapping his wings like a little bird throwing a tantrum. Through the intensity of the situation, Snowbell felt that she needed to say something. Something definitive. 

“I… Princess Snowbell… order that you will never hurt anyone in this kingdom ever again!” Snowbell yelled as loud as she could, “And that is final!” After finishing her statement, she closed a hoof and punched underneath one of Winged Winter’s glasses, hitting him directly in the eye. He screamed in pain as he made a quick, jostling movement to cover his eye. In his movement, Snowbell lost her one-hoofed grip and began to fall. 

As she plummeted towards the ground, she looked up at the squawking bird in front of her. She had done it. She had given him what he had coming to him. She had finally put the one who had caused her and her friends so much harm in his place. As she closed her eyes, a buck tooth smile formed across her face amongst the flowing air pressing all around her. In the darkness, she saw Spring Dragon. The one that her heart called to like no other. She was ready to accept her fate, knowing that she and her friends would at least be safe. 

To her surprise, she felt something close itself around her and the speed of the air around her slowly coming to a halt. As she opened her eyes, she could see the same creature that she had just previously seen with her eyes shut. A look around her told her that Spring Dragon had caught her mid-fall and was now landing to the ground. After laying her on a patch of grass, Spring Dragon looked into her eyes as did she with hers. 

“Are you alright?” Spring Dragon asked. Snowbell hesitated for a moment, taking the time to look into Spring Dragon’s eyes. Although Snowbell knew it was cheesy, she said the first thing her heart instructed.

“Not without you, I wouldn’t be,” Snowbell answered. However, their eye contact was short lived, as something loud again sounded from the sky. 

“Complete waste of royalty!” Winged Winter bickered as he tried to wipe his punched eye, “This is statistically impossible!” As Spring Dragon turned her head to face Winged Winter, her eyes narrowed and pupils thinned. Her mouth twitched as two thick jets of smoke rose from her nostril slits. Without hesitation, she flew back up into the sky and charged right towards Winged Winter. As soon as he finished rubbing his eye, Spring Dragon grabbed him by two of his wings and began slashing at him with her two free claws. 

“You’re the worst $#@% in the entire kingdom!” she roared as she slashed several feathers off him. Winged Winter cried out in pain as he began flapping his two free wings at Spring Dragon’s head and slashing with his six sets of talons. 

“And you’re the most repulsively illiterate creature ever to be conceived!” he yelled back. The Fun Gang watched on as the two fought one another in the sky. Several clouds began forming above them as they went back and forth. Bolts and ice-looking lightning began shooting out of one side while beaming hot rays of light fire shot out the other. The faces of the two were equally as spite filled.

“The time… of winter… will never… end!” Winged Winter squawked in Spring Dragon’s face, “I… have… the… intelligence… to… adapt!” Spring Dragon said nothing in response at first as she realized something about him along with what he said. His attacks from his wings were having little to no effect on her at all. All his attack power was at his beak and feet. She smiled at him as she let go of one wing and moved her claw around each of his slashing feet. He paused, unsure of what to do at first. Spring Dragon watched his confidence slowly fade away as she stared him directly in his eyes.

“Oh, I think it will,” Spring Dragon spoke confidently, “Because spring just adapted to counter its opposing season.” Spring Dragon brought Winged Winter towards the ground as he gave off a loud yelp. After moving her other claw to his legs, she slammed him face first into a freshly made spring puddle and then turned him around. Keeping one claw gripped around his legs, she did not slash at his face. Instead, she chose to punch it. With each punch, a different lens on his glasses cracked or broke completely. While he was already dazed, she smacked him hard across the face with her tail and then repeatedly slammed his face into the same puddle as before. The smoke pouring from her nostrils began to grow more and more intensive as Winged Winter’s eyes began to grow smaller and smaller. 

“By order of Princess Snowbell and the will of her kingdom,” she snarled as her mouth began to glow an orange red color more and more, “I, Spring Dragon, hereby banish you from it. Once and for all!” At the end of her statement, Spring Dragon released a large fireball from her mouth that exploded against Winged Winter, singeing off most of his feathers and sending him flying at high speeds into the horizon. As everyone watched on, one last word could be heard from his bickering beak as he disappeared into the far-off distance.

“Amour!” 

Chapter Text

Spring Dragon flew in place for several moments, staring bitterly into the distance where she had sent Winged Winter. With no signs of him anywhere in sight, she realized that he would not be coming back anytime soon. She eased up and landed on the soft ground. No longer was the ground around them covered in a miserable snow with a cold dread lingering through the air. Instead, there was a warm pleasantness accompanied by an ensemble of vibrantly bright and cheerful colors. 

While there were a few places about the field that had not been made spring, all around where Spring Dragon had flown grew grass as green as emeralds and an array of flowers with every color in a rainbow. Many other plants and bits of greenery additionally began to grow and sprout up all over. Spring Dragon turned to the ones around her, some of which were still lying on the ground. She approached Snowbell, who was awestruck by not only the new environment around her, but also by everything that had just happened. 

“What you did up there… that was very brave… and selfless,” Spring Dragon noted, “I… I never thought that someone as small as you could do something like that against someone as colossal as Winter… or for someone as large as me.” Snowbell responded not with what her mind thought, but what her heart spoke. 

“I’m sure you would have done the same for me,” she replied, “I… I never could have done that without seeing you first.” As the two continued with one another, the others began to pick themselves up. Those with hair or fluff were a mess after the fall and intensity of the situation. Additionally, several of them were still a bit beat up from the previous fight. Through this, they managed to muster up enough energy to pick themselves up. 

“Ugh…” Susie groaned, placing a hand to her head, “I think heights are going to join roller coasters on my list of things that I never want to experience ever again…” As Noelle shakily stood up and attempted to straighten out her hair, she additionally remarked about the situation. 

“Yeah, that was… something,” she agreed. As Ralsei stood up and shook himself around to settle down his puffed fluff, he looked at the area all around them. 

“That could have gone a bit smoother, but Snowbell stood up to Winged Winter,” he acknowledged, “And look. It’s spring.” As everyone took a moment to look around, the colors popped out at them both in the sense of vibrance and contrast but also because several things were still growing and sprouting all around them. 

“Yeah,” Kris said, gazing at the popping patches of flowers and vegetation, “spring.” Lancer bounced to his feet and ran over to a patch of multicolored irises and cyan hydrangea. 

“Springy sprouts, your right!” he remarked, taking a moment to smell each of them, “I wonder what dad would think if we decorated Dad Jail with these.” After each of them took in their surroundings, they faced Snowbell and Spring Dragon. The two were still talking with one another, but it seemed like they were getting closer and closer to one another the more that they talked. 

“This… this is a dream come true…” Snowbell said, looking all around her and then back to Spring Dragon, “But nothing compares to you.” Spring Dragon looked as though she did not entirely know how to take flattery like this, but her increasingly ovular pupils looked on at Snowbell. 

“I… I think I can say the same about you…” Spring Dragon expressed, “Princess Snowbell.” Snowbell looked a little taken back by Spring Dragon calling her by that title. 

“You can just call me ‘Snowbell,’” she offered, “I know that I enforced my position when I snapped at Winter, but being a princess doesn’t change who I am.” 

“Hmm,” Spring Dragon thought aloud, feeling the same warmth from before growing within her heart, “I guess… being a dragon doesn’t really change who I am either.” Her eyes dashed to the distance where Winged Winter had been sent off to and then back to Snowbell. A toothy smirk formed across her face. “I imagine that telling off that loser like you did must have been one of the most satisfying things you could ever do.” While Snowbell’s mind told her to simply agree with Spring Dragon’s statement, her heart directed her response in a different direction. 

“We should never be afraid to express how we feel about others,” she responded, “Be it telling off those who are jerks or letting those that we care about know how much we care.” After Snowbell finished her words, the warmth in Spring Dragon’s heart became mutual between Snowbell and her. Snowbell placed a hoof over her chest as she momentarily looked down to it. She picked her head up and looked back into Spring Dragon’s gleaming eyes. “Spring Dragon… that feeling that we talked about before… do you feel it right now?” Spring Dragon did not hesitate in her response. 

“Like never before,” she answered. The two continued looking at one another for several more moments before Snowbell nervously spoke aloud the next thing on her heart. 

“That feeling… it’s… it’s telling me to do what I last spoke on the mountaintop…” she started, “Spring Dragon… will… will you accept it…?” Spring Dragon placed a claw over her own chest and faced on at Snowbell. She looked on for several moments before giving her answer. 

“Yes…” she returned. The two looked on at one another for a moment before they both closed their eyes and slowly started to lean forward. As everyone watched on, Susie looked like she wanted a hundred bricks to be simultaneously dropped on her head at once. She began to twitch, unable to bear watching what she knew the two before her were about to do. She tried to close her eyes, but before her vision was entirely blocked out, she saw Snowbell meet Spring Dragon’s snoot. As she did, the ice surrounding the small heart on the front of her cloak collar melted away, allowing the heart previously frozen within to gleam a bright gold color that matched the new environment. Two jets of smoke additionally left Spring Dragon’s nostrils and momentarily joined together in the shape of a heart before parting away in the air. Susie started shaking when she comprehended that she did not close her eyes quick enough to avoid witnessing the sight. 

“No…” she muttered to herself as she continued to shake, “#$@%… I will never be able to unsee this…” Despite Susie’s clear suffering, Kris looked on without saying much of anything. On the other hand, Ralsei placed his paws together. 

“Aw,” he remarked aloud, “Isn’t that so sweet.” Susie’s mouth twitched as she hunched over slightly at Ralsei’s statement. Lancer put a hand on Susie’s shoulder as he additionally looked on. 

“Wow,” he uttered, the mouth on his stomach putting on a smug smile, “I wonder if this is telling of something.” 

“Shut up, man!” Susie snapped at him, unable to completely express her distress in the situation. After shaking at him for a moment, Susie lowered her head and obscured her eyes with her hair. Noelle stood to Susie’s left-hand side and, much like Kris, said nothing. However, she was redder than the most powerful, Red-Nosed Reindeer summon that she could ever conjure up in battle. After everything up until that moment, Noelle knew that the level of embarrassment she endured through the journey changed her. However, she had mostly come to accept that she had nothing left to hide in what she had written. As she bowed her head and closed her eyes to collect her thoughts, her left ear moved slightly at the sound of something. 

Noelle faced down to her left and saw a plant giving off little sputtering sounds as it began to sprout from the ground. It had a thin stem and grew quite tall, reaching more than a foot over Noelle’s head. She watched on as several thinner stems spanned out more and more over her head. A slew of white berries then began to grow across them. It took Noelle a moment to realize what the plant was, and she froze up when she did. It was a mistletoe. 

At first, Noelle said nothing and opted to stand tensely where she was. As she turned back to Snowbell and Spring Dragon, the two had brought their faces slightly apart from one another and were gazing into each other’s eyes. Noelle then felt something within her own heart. Something strange. It almost felt like a little nudge. A nudge that was nudging her to her right. As she turned to her right, she realized that Susie was also standing underneath the mistletoe. 

She continued to stand there, unsure of what to do. She knew what her heart was telling her to do, but she did not know if she could bring herself to do it. She watched Snowbell and Spring Dragon giggle to one another as they mutually turned slightly red in their faces. Seeing the joy and happiness in Snowbell’s face made Noelle want to follow her heart just like how Snowbell had. Noelle stood there for several more moments, repeatedly telling herself that it is now or never in her head before saying anything. Eventually, she brought herself to act. 

“Susie…” Noelle quietly uttered. Susie slowly turned to her with an indescribably tragic look on her face. 

“What…?” she responded. Noelle looked Susie in the eyes for several seconds before doing anything. Even though Susie was completely traumatized by what Noelle had created, she was still the same Susie to Noelle. Noelle slowly pointed a hoof at the mistletoe above the two as she looked on. When Susie gazed up at it, Noelle took a moment to fully look at her crush. Rough, strong, rash, impulsive, short-tempered, brave, and loyal was what Noelle saw her as. She had her problems and shortcomings, but to Noelle she was about as perfect a person as she could think of by comparison to herself. 

As Susie stared up at the plant above her, Noelle took her hands with her hooves. This startled Susie slightly, as she snapped back to Noelle as she felt her hooves close around her hands. Noelle’s cobalt blue eyes gleamed with sincerity as she looked on into Susie’s topaz yellow eyes. While the two were just about as different as could be both in personality and appearance, Noelle cared not about this. After a moment, she closed her eyes and began to slowly lean forward. Just as Noelle thought she was about to do what she had always dreamed of doing, she felt Susie’s hands slip away from her own. When she opened her eyes, she saw that Susie had taken a step back with a look of discomfort and uncertainty. 

“N-No… I…” Susie started, “Noelle… I’m… I’m not the kind of person for that…” Noelle stood there for several seconds as she processed Susie’s statement. Once she understood it, she quickly turned away and placed a hoof behind her head. She chuckled shakily to herself as a deep blush formed on both her cheeks. 

“Oh, haha…” she uttered, “S-Sorry… I… I got a little carried away there…” After glancing at Noelle, Susie lowered her head, covered her eyes with her hair, and began to walk away. Noelle looked back over at Snowbell and Spring Dragon to see the two leaning their heads against one another with what Noelle could only describe as happy looks on both their faces. The embers within both their hearts had turned to flames that now shined images of one another through the continued blaze. Noelle smiled slightly as she felt her own heart warm from the sight. Unfortunately, her heart also felt a bit empty as she watched on as though it were missing something. 

After Snowbell and Spring Dragon again brought their heads apart from one another, Snowbell noticed what looked like a butterfly flying on the ground beside her. She held out a hoof as it flew in her direction. When it landed on it, Snowbell looked at it like it was something from another world. She eventually held up her hand and allowed it to fly away. However, after only a few seconds into its flight a yellow dragonfly flew by and ate it in one bite. 

Snowbell jumped slightly at the sight and sighed disappointedly, her ears drooping. The dragonfly landed on the front of Spring Dragon’s snoot and began making several buzzing sounds. Spring Dragon snorted and emitted a puff of smoke from her nostrils to send the dragonfly off. As her and Snowbell watched it fly off, Snowbell put a hoof on her opposite arm. 

“I’m sorry about your home, Spring Dragon,” she empathized, “I wish we could have gotten there sooner than we did.” Spring Dragon shook her head. 

“It doesn’t matter. All that I care about is that we kicked Winged Squinter’s ass,” she replied. Snowbell smiled and laughed after hearing this. She continued looking on at the now great spring land around her. She wanted to thank Spring Dragon more, but she was uncertain if what she had in mind was enough to thoroughly do so. She placed her hooves together as she looked longingly at Spring Dragon. 

“I… I’ll understand completely if you don’t want to… or if you want to go back and fix Advent Mountain, but…” she began, “if you would like to, you can stay here for as long as you want.” Spring Dragon looked over in the direction of Advent Mountain for several moments before she slowly turned back to Snowbell. 

“You know… I might just take you up on that offer,” Spring Dragon accepted, “Thank you.” As Snowbell looked at her own reflection in Spring Dragon’s great eyes, she felt her own growing more and more mellow.  

“Anything for someone like you,” she responded. Snowbell looked at a few bits of miscellaneous badges, coins, and junk that had been previously buried in snow. She then recalled what Spring Dragon had told her during their flight. “And I’ll make sure that you never have to eat any more junk ever again. You deserve to eat proper food just as much as anyone else does, especially after helping to fight off Winter,” she added, “If anyone has anything to say otherwise about it, then they’ll be dealing with the new Snowbell!” Spring Dragon stared at Snowbell for several seconds. She wanted to say, “thank you,” but those words could not express the level of thanks that felt she owed to Snowbell. She brought her snoot down to Snowbell and gave her the gentlest peck on the cheek that she could. Snowbell froze for several seconds before slowly raising a hoof to the spot that Spring Dragon had met. Her face lit up like a Christmas display and formed the most genuine smile she had ever made. 

As the two’s hearts continued to call out each other’s names, Susie realized that their journey had to be nearing completion by the point they were at. A happy ending that was this corny had to mean that things were nearing a close. She looked all around but did not see anything that resembled a dark fountain anywhere in sight. When she thought about it, she did not see any traces of one in any of the places they had traveled. 

“Alright, does anyone know how to get the hell out of here?” Susie blurted through the moment, “We’ve got to get back to the light world.” Kris looked at Susie and then walked over to Snowbell. 

“Do you have a dark fountain here?” Kris asked. 

“Oh, yes!” Snowbell quickly answered, “There’s one just within the inner courtyard of my palace. It just needs to be opened up.” Susie snapped around to Snowbell upon hearing this. 

“Wait, so you’re telling me that there was a way out right where we started and that we could have left way sooner?” Susie barked loudly at Snowbell, “And we went through all this crap when we could’ve just left straight away?” Snowbell turned her head slightly at Susie before responding. 

“You wouldn’t have believed me,” she returned, “And besides, didn’t you learn something from this whole adventure?” Susie stared tensely at Snowbell for several seconds as one of her eyes began to twitch. 

“You all suck,” she stated as she slumped away. As Ralsei watched Susie miserably and angrily stomp away, he raised a paw to his fluffy chin. 

“Wait, why is there a dark fountain here? I thought that there were only supposed to be six worlds? Also, there were no missing people or objects here either,” he questioned as he began to look more perplexed, “I know we helped Snowbell and the land, but what did we really do or get from all of this?” Kris looked over to Snowbell and Spring Dragon who were now taking turns booping one another’s snoots with their hooves or claws. 

“Just because,” Kris answered with a shrug. As everyone began heading towards Snowbell’s palace, Kris touched the same light they had previously touched that stood just outside it. 

‘While some may feel different, a happy ending is present in the air. The power of true reindeer and dragon love shines within you.’

They approached the star-shaped walls before Snowbell opened the doors by uttering the words of a password aloud. 

“Holiday Heaven,” Snowbell spoke. After she finished her words, the doors opened inwards. Susie looked miserably at Noelle who turned red in the face for probably the hundredth time. As they all walked into the inner courtyard, they were met with a large, ovular ice-skating looking floor. Underneath it, they could see the energy of a dark fountain contained. “Wait here for a minute, please,” Snowbell requested, “There’s a reflective light at the top of my palace that will melt the ice. I just have to go angle it properly.” 

“No need,” Spring Dragon chimed in, “I’ll take care of it.” As everyone watched on, Spring Dragon waved her wings repeatedly at the ice, sending a cavalcade of green and yellow sparkles towards it. Within seconds, the ice melted away and the fountain erupted into the sky. They watched the vertical blue and black streams for several moments before saying their goodbyes. 

“I’m happy that we could help, Snowbell,” Ralsei asserted, “And I’m happy for both you and Spring Dragon.” Snowbell and Spring Dragon smiled and nodded at his statement. 

“Thank you,” Snowbell acknowledged, “We never could have done all this without you.”

“Yeah! But be sure to tell some of your people that they’ve got bad taste!” Lancer called out, “One of them said that my salsa was awful!” Snowbell chuckled slightly as she looked at Lancer with a bit of disbelief. 

“I… suppose I could arrange that,” she replied. She turned to Kris who gave the shortest but most to the point answer. 

“Thank you,” they said, “for saving and enlightening us.” Susie grimaced at the second half of Kris’s remark, but Snowbell looked happy. 

“I owe you so much more than that,” she spoke, “but you’re welcome.” 

“That was nothing. Thank you for helping to fight off that bickering snot of a bird,” Spring Dragon replied. Snowbell and Spring Dragon both faced Susie. She looked like she was ready to jump right into the dark fountain, but she knew that she could not without Kris also entering. 

“This… it…” Susie muttered, “no, screw it. I… I have nothing to say…” Snowbell and Spring Dragon looked at Susie disappointedly before looking at Noelle last. She faced away at first but snapped out of it after telling herself that it was all done and over with. 

“Snowbell… Spring Dragon… I’m happy that you’re both happy,” Noelle concluded. The two both smiled at Noelle’s response. Snowbell looked at Noelle for a moment and then to Susie, lining up a few dots from their adventure. 

“And I hope that you can end up happy with someone else as well,” Snowbell responded, looking back and forth between Noelle and Susie. Noelle gave the dark world one last blush after Snowbell’s statement. 

“Me too. Sometimes, it’s making that first sudden move which makes all the difference,” Spring Dragon mentored. Noelle nodded her head after a moment and turned towards the dark fountain. Kris, Ralsei, Noelle, Susie, and Lancer each lined up in front of it. Kris gripped Ralsei’s hand while Susie’s gripped Lancer’s. As darkners, traveling back to the light world required Ralsei and Lancer to keep physical contact with lightners to ensure their respective objects would not get lost. They each turned around and gave a final wave of goodbye to Snowbell and Spring Dragon, all except Susie. Instead, she stood there pouting over how much she wanted to forget everything that she had just experienced. 

While Snowbell looked on at each of them happily, Spring Dragon stopped at Susie. She stared at her blankly. To her, she had been an annoyance and stick in the mud practically the entire time. Once they finished waving, they turned back around and faced the fountain. As they began to step forward to enter it, Spring Dragon roughly pushed Susie into it with her tail. As soon as her and the others entered, the fountain turned a vibrant, glowing rainbow color all throughout. 

“Oops,” Spring Dragon pretended, “My tail must have slipped.” Snowbell put her hooves to her hips and looked at Spring Dragon. 

“Was that really necessary?” she scolded. 

“No,” Spring Dragon answered honestly, “but it was satisfying anyway.”

Chapter Text

A bright flash of light encompassed Kris, Noelle, and Susie as they traveled between the light and dark worlds. When the flash eased, things again went dark and it became nearly impossible to see anything in the room. The lightbulb on the ceiling had burst just before they entered the dark world and Noelle’s laptop must have closed itself, so opening the blinds were the best option for brightening up the room. Due to Spring Dragon’s prior push, Susie tripped over her own feet as she came back from the dark world. In her stumble, she knocked over something that yelped out loud. As she fell forward after losing her balance, Susie felt her face press up against something soft and warm. Immediately following her fall, Kris located and opened the blinds, allowing the sun’s morning light to enter and brighten up the room. 

As they looked around the room, they saw that several things still looked about the same as before. The floor was littered with little gingerbread cookies and pages with various writings and doodles made all over them. The furry green plushy now had a smile on its face but most of the other toys and knick-knacks looked about the same. However, there was one sight that Kris never thought that they would see. Kris figured from what they saw that in her stumble, Susie had accidentally knocked over Noelle and then landed on top of her. This was not what surprised Kris. It was not until the eyes of both Noelle and Susie met that either of the two realized that their lips had additionally met for several seconds. 

Susie gasped and yelled out loud after frantically prying her lips off Noelle’s. Susie stood up and began to hysterically look all around her to make sure that no one saw what she had just accidentally been a part of. Noelle remained on the floor as her face began to turn as red as half the squares on her checkered sweater. Her eyes slowly moved towards Susie after she processed what the two of them just had. It was not a kiss but more of a full-on smooch, albeit by accident. Kris continued standing by the window with Ralsei’s junior jumble page gripped in one hand as they watched the panic-induced fireworks going off before them. 

“N-No! No! We-we-we-we didn’t just do that,” Susie sputtered as she shook her hands and Lancer’s playing card repeatedly in front of her, “That-that wasn’t… That wasn’t-” 

“That…” Noelle inserted, “was heaven…” Noelle’s statement seemed to shake up Susie even more, as she brought both her hands to her face and began to anxiously bite at her claws with her teeth. As she looked about the room, she began to bite faster and faster as her anxiety continuously increased. Her mood was not improved by the “Dragon Blazers III” video game case sitting underneath Noelle’s desk, as it acted as a nice reminder of everything she had just gone through. Additionally, when Susie gazed at the slew of spilled gingerbread cookies still scattered about the floor, she paused for a moment. She noticed a strangely familiar taste in her mouth and quickly covered it with her hands. She glanced at Noelle and hurried out of the room after realizing what it must have been. Kris stared momentarily at the now open door to Noelle’s room before turning to Noelle herself. 

“Well, that sort of just happened,” Kris said, “And I didn’t even hardly participate in any of that.” Kris additionally proceeded to leave the room to allow Noelle to collect her thoughts. She remained on the floor, facing towards the ceiling for several more moments as her heart pounded out of her chest. When she eventually sat up, she placed a hoof to her face which was as red as a tomato. She glanced around her room and then pinched herself slightly on the arm to ensure that she was not dreaming or imagining anything. To her surprise, she was not. 

She stood up and looked down at the mess across the floor. The uneaten gingerbread cookies were now stale and the various pages from her notebook still laid scattered about the room. The various character sheets with writings and doodles of Spring Dragon, Snowbell, Winged Winter, and the long-lost tale they were a part of had finally been divulged to others aside from Noelle. Noelle would have picked them all up and put them aside, but she felt that checking on Kris and Susie downstairs was a higher priority, especially considering now they both knew about all of it. As Noelle passed by her window, the morning light shining inside indicated that they had been in the dark world long enough to pass through the entire night and into the morning the following day. Her mother looked like she had again left for work at the town hall and her sister must have been out spending time with friends. 

Noelle closed her evergreen door and began walking downstairs. The further she walked, the clearer and clearer the watery sound of her kitchen sink running became. She was certain that she had not left it running the night prior and that her mother and sister would not have left it running unattended either. As she reached the ground floor and turned the corner, she was met with a rather peculiar sight. Kris was standing at the center of the kitchen staring at Susie. She appeared to be repeatedly washing off her mouth in the sink. Noelle entered the kitchen and turned her face in confusion. 

“No…” Susie sputtered through the running water, “it-it won’t go away…” 

“What won’t?” Noelle asked. Susie slowly turned her head towards Noelle. Her face sagged so low that it looked as though it was about to fall completely off her head. Her eyes were wide, pupils were thin, breathing was fast, and movements were uncontrollably shaky. 

“The smell and… taste…” Susie bellowed, “of Christmas cookies.” Although uncertain of what Susie was referring to at first, Noelle began glowing a red that could have lit up a foggy Christmas night when she realized what it was. Susie had not eaten any of the gingerbread cookies she had made. Aside from Kris, Noelle was the only other one who had. Putting two and two together with what had just happened, if Noelle had a fluster meter, it would have broken through the top entirely. Susie eventually stopped the running water and turned around with a soaked, still dripping face. Lancer’s card was now resting in her front jacket pocket, indicating that Susie had tucked it away on her way down the stairs. Kris continued to watch the show playing out before them as Susie looked Noelle right in the eyes. 

“This… this is just between us. All right?” she uttered, “If anyone at school ever knew…” Susie shut her eyes and shuddered at the thought of anyone besides the three of them knowing about what she had just been a part of. Additionally, everything else that they had just been a part of began flowing back into Susie’s mind as well. “We will never speak of this again. And you will never write anything else like that ever again. Right?” Susie demanded Noelle. She looked at her for a moment before finally performing what Susie had previously said she would never be able to. 

“Right,” Noelle successfully lied with a straight face. Susie grabbed a hand towel hanging from one of the cabinet handles and began wiping her face with it. 

“Good…” Susie desperately muttered through the towel, believing Noelle’s statement, “this… this is the worst day of my life…” After tossing the towel on the counter and obscuring her eyes with her hair, Susie slowly walked out of the kitchen and to the living room. She slowly sat down on the ornament-red couch to get a breather from everything she had just been through and put her hands to her face. Kris followed moments later and sat down on a pine-green armchair across from Susie. Noelle entered last and stood awkwardly for several moments before sitting down on the last armchair which bore a blue motif. They sat there silently, each looking down at the floor and taking in everything that had happened over the past several hours. Susie eventually took her hands off her face but continued facing down. 

“So… we, uh, never finished the project for school, huh?” Noelle tried bringing up to break the silence. Neither Kris nor Susie responded, as the project from the night prior was clearly the last thing on their minds. Noelle sighed as she ran a hoof through her blond hair. “Kris… Susie… I’m sorry you had to go through all this… All because of my sick imagination…” She glanced up at the two, but again, neither said a word. “You can excuse yourselves whenever you’d like. I… I don’t want to hold you up any more than I already have…” 

Kris looked at Noelle and then to Susie to see if there was any kind of a response. After seeing and hearing nothing, they stood up and began to walk out of the room. Although some may have found this kind of action to be rude, this was not abnormal for Kris. At the same time, no one knew what was normal for Kris in recent times either. As they opened the front door, they looked back and left Noelle a parting message. 

“It wasn’t for us to see,” they sympathized, “It wasn’t your fault.” They quietly closed the door behind them and began walking back to their home, leaving Noelle and Susie in the living room. The two remained where they were without a sound or movement for minutes at a time. With everything they went through, they had both changed and looked at one another differently from how they did the night prior. They had additionally both endured an onslaught of twisted around emotions and feelings that they never imagined they would need to experience. 

While it was almost unbearable back in the dark world, Noelle was starting to recover from her embarrassment and fluster eruption. By the end of their trip to the dark world, she steadily began to accept that what was done was done and what was seen was seen. As she glanced at Susie, she could not tell if she was going to get any better, as she was very different than herself. Her feelings, experiences, and means of coping were additionally different from her own. She also knew that their unintentional smooch likely did nothing but worsen Susie’s already crippled dignity. 

“Susie…” Noelle started, “did… did that… kiss… really bother you that much?” Susie remained silent and continued looking down as Noelle awaited a response. Noelle put her head down and wanted Susie to be honest. “Please… tell me the truth. I will understand.” No response was sent Noelle’s way as Susie continued to look like she was almost in a coma of sorts. After hearing no answer for several moments, Noelle stood up. She then sorrowfully spoke the next thing on her heart. “If you don’t want to be partners anymore… or if you never want to see me ever again… I understand.” Noelle began walking towards the stairs to begin miserably cleaning up her room. Just as she passed through the living room entrance, a sound met both her ears. 

“I… guess it didn’t… kill me…” Susie quietly responded. Noelle’s heart skipped a beat at hearing Susie’s voice and even more so at her response. She turned around in shock and could feel her face growing warm from redness. “Again… all of this… this is between us and only us…” Susie slowly added, “All right?” Noelle looked on for several seconds before giving a response. 

“I promise, I won’t tell anyone,” Noelle swore, “After today… no one else will ever know.” Noelle continued to the stairs as Susie finally got to her feet. Her head still hung low as she slowly walked over to the front door. When Noelle reached the top of the stairs, she could hear the front door opening. She gazed down the stairs to see Susie stopped at the entrance. Susie shook her head as she slowly picked it up and looked outside. She ran a hand down the side of her face before exiting. While Noelle was unsure if she had imagined it, she could have sworn that she heard what sounded like the slightest chuckle from Susie just before she closed the door behind her. 

Noelle continued back up to her room and opened the door. Inside sat the same things as before. Figuring she needed to start somewhere, Noelle began cleaning things off the floor. While she was in the middle of picking up the stale gingerbread cookies, she noticed something was notably different. The carpet in her bedroom which previously had a powdered snow design facing upwards had changed. Specifically, the carpet must have somehow flipped itself over to its alternate season design on its back while they were in the dark world. A design marked all over with green grass, spring flowers, butterflies, dragonflies, and a bright sun now faced upwards. Noelle knelt and touched the carpet, wondering how it could have flipped. Just within her peripheral vision, she could see the character sheets marked all over with doodles Snowbell and Spring Dragon resting just beside the carpet. 

Noelle dropped the cookies from her hooves and instead picked up the torn-out notebook sheets. She looked at each of them for several moments, taking in for a second time both her own doodles and what she had previously written. Snowbell and Spring Dragon in the dark world looked exactly like how she had drawn them on each of the sheets. Additionally, the story that she wrote had generally played out point for point with what happened as they explored the dark world. While there were some differences, the main ideas of everything remained intact. Noelle picked her head up and looked all around her room. Many of the things around her had become intertwined with what she had written and made for quite its own story in the process. 

Noelle walked around and grabbed each of the remaining pages from the floor. When she held up the page containing doodles and writings for Winged Winter, her eyes narrowed. The smug, four eyed expression on his face alone was still enough to get under her fur, even though she was the one who had created him. She cast the page aside, not wanting to pay such a loser of a creation any more mind than she already had. As she again read through the other pages, her eyes shined with reflection on all that had happened. Upon reaching the end page, just like in the dark world, Snowbell and Spring Dragon looked happy together in a final doodle she had drawn. However, Noelle realized that she had never directly written a conclusive end to the tale. She took a pencil that sat on her desk and began to write in an end for the two individuals that she had both created and helped to meet their happy ending. 

“Although it is unclear how the lives of some others may play out, the fires in the hearts of both Snowbell Princess and Spring Dragon would forever melt away any cold that would hinder the desires of their hearts. With everyone in the kingdom gathering to celebrate the newfound spring, Snowbell presented Spring Dragon with a great tiara of her own made of pure yellow and purple gemstones. From that moment on, she was crowned as Queen Spring Dragon, one who would rule alongside Snowbell until death did them part. Soon after, their feelings for one another were additionally made clear to all the kingdom. Snowbell took Spring Dragon’s snoot with her hooves and presented her a kiss with love so warm and powerful that no winter could ever set foot near their land ever again. Under the rainbow of spring, the kingdom gave a round of applause as the two lived happily ever after. 

The End.”

Chapter Text

The KingofKrispyness made this awesome drawing of Winged Winter and Spring Dragon. KingofKrispyness has made many other incredible drawings as well, so be sure to check them out on tumblr if you would like to see more.

This is a small drawing that I made depicting Snowbell, Spring Dragon, and what opposed the two of them.

I also made this drawing of Winged Winter.

This drawing was created during a funny game of Tee KO (Jackbox Party Pack 3) on Lynxgriffin's Discord server. This shirt basically sums up the entire story in one image. The slogan was written by Lynxgriffin and the art was drawn by Juliacán. 

Metelius/Metarooni additionally made two great redraws of the shirt.

No matter how much I try, I can't escape the consequences of writing this story!

Melissa Troubls/m3lls, the creator of some of the original drawings that inspired this story, has made several amazing drawings based on the story (they have only posted one directly though). Melissa made many other incredible drawings, so please check them out on tumblr if you are interested in seeing more.

These doodles were made by Juliacán when I was first going through the ideas for the story over voice chat on Lynxgriffin's Discord server. Julia has made some awesome drawings, so please check them out on tumblr if you would like to see more.