Lin the alp-luachra.

Lollipop had never been so happy to see the wooden door bearing the numbers 1219 in her life. She had done it, twenty-eight days in the wilderness without backing out, and now she was 5,000 notes, richer.

Lollipop opened the door to her small house and stepped inside, then locking it when she entered. She already knew what she was going to do, TV and a cake, but first there was a different she had to take care of something else.

In the two weeks, Lollipop and Lin met they haven't really talked ever cense there first meeting. A large amount of that could be contributed to the fact that, even though Lin could hear Lollipop, Lollipop couldn’t hear Lin. Every now and then Lollipop would, by some miracle, here a small unintelligible muffled fragment of a word. That's not to say no conversation was had, they were just more one-sided using the tried and true method of: tap once for yes and twice for no, along with the added thrice for mabby and four times for-- I don’t know.

If lollipop was going to have a roommate, she wanted to talk to her first. Lollipop patted her stomach to get Lin’s attention, earning her a small wiggle as Lin shifted to a better position. Lollipop then started to speak.

“Hey, can you come out for a second?”

Nothing, except a few hesitant shifts, responded to her.

“Don’t worry.” Lollipop started, “I’ll let you back in, I just want to talk for a bit.”

There was another period of hesitation, but after a little bit, Lollipop, felt something making its way up here throat. It was a strange sensation somewhat akin to that feeling you get before puking, but in this case, Lollipop could feel the small hooves grabbing pushing into the sides of her esophagus allowing the creature to crawl up. After about five seconds, Lin pushed a hoove out the top of Lollipops throat.

Lin tried to come up to fast and ended up triggering Lollipop’s gag reflex, after a little bit, and a lot of coughing, Lin was ejected, quite forcefully, out of Lollipop and onto the hardwood floor.

Lin made a small *SQUEAK!* before hitting the floor with an audible smack, and one simple word.

“Ow…”

Lollipop, after recovering from her fit, looked down at the alp-luachra as she began to feel a small sense of worry for Lin’s well being.

“Are you ok?” Lollipop asked, her voice embedded with the hint of worry mentioned before.
“Ya,” Lin groaned as she began to pull herself back to her Hooves. “It just-”

Lin was cut off by her surroundings, she new ponies liked to decorate their houses, but she didn't even begin to understand what half of this stuff was, or why a pony would find it appealing to have in their house. Probably the most strange was the large black picture that was over the fireplace.

“-Hurts a little…” Lin finished trailing off at the end as the looked at her new surrounding, “Lollipop,” She continued. “What part of Equestria is this?”

Lollipop was a little shocked here Lin ask that. What she not from here? how did she get here?

“Umm, were not in Equestria. This is Uflana.”

Lin stared back with back with a mix of surprise and confusion.

“What- where is that?”

“It's- um…” Lollipop thought for a few seconds thinking about how to best explain to the poor creature before getting an idea. Lollipop pulled out the aptly named “Book of Nature” from her saddlebag, which she had neglected to take off, and turned to the last page. On the last two pages was a map of the world, Equis, and provided her with what she needed. Lollipop set the book down in front of Lin, with the bottom facing the alp-luachra, and began.

“OK,” Lollipop said placing a hoof on her motherland. “This is Equestria.” Lollipop then slid her hoof across the page. “And over here is Uflana.”

Lin stared at the page in shock, she may not be able to read, however, she did know how to look at pictures, and from this one, she wasn't in a different part of Equestria, she was on a different continent entirely. Before Lin could get out anything, Lollipop began speaking again.

“Now the only question I have is, how the heck did you get to hear.” Lin’s lips moved silently for a little bit bill she blurted out.

“I- I don’t know! I was in a pond when I saw this giant, shiny, white pony with huge wings on its sides. I- I walked up to it to get a closer look, but I got my hoof stuck in these holes in its leg. I tried to pull my hoof out, but then its wings made this loud sound and I was flying, then I passed out. When I woke up, I was in that forest.”

Now it was Lollipop who wore the shocked face, this thing tried to climb onto, what Lollipop could only assume was, a plane pony, got stuck, passed out, fell into the forest, survived, and was now living in her stomach. Lollipop stared at Lin with shock returning to her senses.

“Are you… OK?” Lin asked, concerned by Lollipops silents.

“I'm- I'm fine, that was just… a lot to take in is all.”

The two remained silent for a little longer before Lin broke the ice.

“You said you wanted to talk?”

“Ya,” replied Lollipop. “I just thought if we're going to be living together, we should probably have a little bit of communication.”

“OK,” Lin said. “Can I start?” She asked.

“Um, sure.” Lollipop stated, giving Lin the clerics to start, so she did.

“What's that?” Lin asked, pointing a small, black, hoof at the object in question.

“Oh that, It's called a TV” answered Lollipop, “it's like a radio, but it shows you stuff too.” Lin just looked back in confusion. “Watch.” Lollipop picked up Lin and went to the couch across from the TV. She got up on the sofa and sat Lin down next to her. Lollipop, afterward, picked up the oversized hoof held remote from the stand beside the couch, and pressed “on.” After a couple seconds the black was replaced with a constantly moving picture, while at the same time sounds filled the air as a world, seemingly, came to life over the black rectangle that was once within the frames black borders.

Lin leaned in closer, witch help very little given her size, as she stared in amazement and awe at the site before her. The show was one Lollipop had seen before, even considering herself a small fan, about one of those human things, going to failing hotels and attempting to, for lack of a better term, save them. It was still at the opening, and Lollipop had to stop herself from humming the “Hotel hell, hotel hell” as it played. Lin just stared at the new artifact of technology as showed her yet another place she had never seen before, was that also Uflana? She would have to ask Lollipop about it later.

Lin, after some time, turned her attention to a small pad on the table. The object had a strange, shiny, circle on the top right. Even more, cures were that the object looked as if it could be opened like a book, for what purpose, however, she was unsure.

“Hay,” Lin began stealing Lollipop’s attention from the grasp of the TV, “What is that? It looks like a book but, why is it so small?”

Lin extended a hoof to the book like, object. Lollipop followed imaginary line made by the small, black, hoof, only for it to end at her Chromebook.

Lollipop remembered the day she got the laptop, soon after moving to Uflana, she was recommended by ponies and people alike then she should get a computer. Lollipop, being new to Uflana, was hesitant to so quickly buy such a, to her, powerful and complicated piece of advanced tech. When Lollipop expressed these concerns to one of the semesters, they recommended the simple PC to her. After some time she gave in and got a hoof compatible, Samsung Chromebook 4. Lucky she already had an internet set up, due to an earlier persuasion and a smart TV stick she got as a going away gift, so she had everything she needed. The Hoof model was nearly identical to the normal Chromebook 4, say for the “hoof pad” that replaced the keyboard allowing ponies to use it.

Lollipop picked up the strange book an opened it revealing… another TV?

“Um- why do you have two TVs,” asked Lin. Lollipop just smiled and began to explain.

“This isn’t a TV, it's called a computer, watch.”

Lollipop passed a small circle just above the upper right side of the pad. Suddenly the screen lit in a bright white as the same circle that was on outer shell rolled by revealing large letters that Lin still couldn’t read. This then went to an image of, what appeared to be, black frosted glass over various blues and yellows, over the black glass was a box with yet more words, and a pitcher of Lollipop winking and holding her tongue out in some sort of goofy smile. Lin took nodes of a small arrow that moved from the top of the screen to the box as it followed a path a path made by Lollipop’s hoof moving across a smaller pad below the bigger one. After about a second the aro stopped at a small box, inside the larger box, turning in to a narrow pillar. Lollipop taped on the small pad making a flashing line come up on the small box. Lollipop then, satisfied, moved her hooves to the larger pad, and began to make gestures as several dots appeared on the screen only for the glass to go away and several pitchers appear at the bottom of the screen.

Lollipop looked over at Lin and chuckled seeing her expressions bin incredibly simmer to the ones she made the first time she saw a computer.

“Don’t be so amazed yet.” Lollipop requested. “We haven't gotten to the best part.”

Lollipop moved the cursor over the google chrome icon in the dock given the mouse pad a tap. At that moment the window opened revealing the Google home screen. Lollipop looked down at Lin.

“OK,” she started, “Tell me something you like.”

Lin was confused but decided to play along, the alp-luachra thought for a couple seconds before coming to a conclusion.

“Water.” She replied with a satisfied grin.

Lollipop smiled back and begin to make gestures on the large pad again, however this time, inside of making dots, she was making more letters before taping the pad letting the image change once again however only in the box. The image was white, but only for a second, before showing... more words, she should of gest. Lin was annoyed by the constant bombardment of, to her, meaningless letters, but she quickly took note of the pictures of water on the right side of the screen with more words under it.

“What does that say?” Lin asked pointing to said words, witch at her size was difficult.

Lollipop released Lin probably couldn’t see the words witch, from her perspective, had to be a decent distance away. Lollipop sat the computer down expectantly, only to receive another confused glance from Lin. That was when it clicked, English and Equestrian may be the same spoken language, but they had two different alphabets. Lin couldn't read it. Then again, could she even read at all? From some of the things she read later in the book, most of her kind tended to be lacking in the logic department, what if her even knowing how to speak was the exception.

“Can you... read it now?” asked Lollipop in a poor attempt to hide the fact, she was only seeing if Lin could read.

“I don’t know how.” And there was the million note answer, in a box of sadness and annoyance.

“Oh-” Lollipop stayed silent for a couple of seconds, before smiling down at the green and black parasite. “That's OK, I’ll teach you!-- If you want”

Lin looked back at Lollipop, slightly surprised, but still delighted by the offer, as she performed a repeat of her performance when Lollipop agreed to host her.

“THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!”
Lollipop chuckled at the micro mare’s infectious enthusiasm as Lin once again attempted a hug, Lollipop didn’t know if it was a success or failure. Either way, it was cute.

“Hey, don’t mention it.” Lollipop began, “I’m a pony, and ponies help friends.”

Lin halted at that comment, then preceded to look up at Lollipop. “Friends?”

“Oh come on,” Lollipop chuckled, “please don’t tell me you don’t know what a friend is?”

“No, no it’s not that,” said Lin calming Lollipop's worries. “It’s just- my kind are more… isolated, most of us don’t even learn how to talk, it’s just-” she stopped her micro rant for a second unable to find the words, before giving up and resigning herself to snuggle into Lollipop’s soft, cream-colored, fur with a smile.

“-Friend.”

Lollipop couldn’t help but smile, the site was just too cute. Then she realized something with Lin being too close to her nose, while Lin may be incredibly cute, the smell of two weeks relaxing in gastric juices, was not.

“Um, LIn, can you get off me. Not that I don't enjoy this but… you’ve been in my gut for two weeks, and you kinda smell like it.”

Lollipop learned something then, red is fairly visible on black.
So Lin, in all of her smelliness, accepted just to sit next to her friend and watch the black pic...TV.
Lollipop had eaten nothing but wild berries for the past two weeks, and her stomach finally decided it wanted something more substantial. From the depths of the fleshy cavern came to a feral growl, of course, this got Lollipops attention.

“Gosh,” Said Lollipop. “I’m famished.” She then looked over at Lin, who was rather impressed by the growl, and asked, “How about you?”

As if on cue Lin gave off a growl of her own, albeit one significantly cuter.

“I’ll take that as a yes!” Lollipop stated. “So, do you like sweets?”

Lin just smiled and quickly nodded.

“Perfect! Cuz you’re looking at the best sweets maker in all of Uflana.” Of course, best in the world went to Pinkie Pie, but she could live with number one in Uflana.

“How about we make some cake!”

It wasn't big, or grammarians, but the nice cake in front of them was enough to feed a pony and a third, which was who it needed to feed. Alp-luachras love sugar, and this thing practically bled it, from the chocolate icing in between both layers of ultra sweet red velvet, to the caramelized cream cheese icing, and even the sugar frost on top. This thing was a sweet tooth’s wet dream and neither mare could wait to dig in, however, something had to be taken care of first.

Lin looked at Lollipop expectantly, but Lollipop just stared back confused. Then, she remembered. Lin was a fun mare to be around, so fun that for a moment, Lollipop had forgotten that Lin was, in fact, a parasite, and if she wanted to eat, there was only one place she could do it.

“Well,” said lollipop with an artificial smile, “I guess it’s time for you to go back in.”

Lin noticed a hint of sadness in Lollipop’s voice, Lin, being, obviously concerned, couldn’t help but inquire as to its existing.

“Lollipop, what's wrong?”

Lollipop just sighed knowing she couldn't hide it.

“I- I just wished we could have talked longer, is all.”

Lin gave Lollipop a small, sympathetic, smile.

“Come on, don’t be so down. I can still hear you, it's just... difficult to respond.”

Lollipop let out a single chuckle in the form of a snort.

“I know, I just, really enjoy talking with you.”

“Hay,” Lin started putting a hoof on Lollipop. “Don’t worry, we’ll make this work. You’re a pony, and ponies help their friends. Right?”

Lollipop gave Lin a week, but genuine smile.

“RIght.”

And with that, Lollipop opened her mouth and lowered down stuff for Lin to hop in. Just like before, having Lin crawl down her throat was a was a strange experience, but once she was settled in, Lollipop couldn't even tell she was there. Now the only thing that was left, was to see how good their friendship tasted.

Lollipop was right, it was a good cake.

“Good night, Lin.” Lollipop wished as she tucked herself into bed. The response Lollipop got was a small hoof rubbing her stomach from the inside making her, for what seemed like the hundredth time that night, chuckle.

As Lollipop turned she thought, how would she teach Lin to read, how would they communicate? Lollipop knew she had to go looking for a spot to put her sweetshop tomorrow, and thus wouldn’t have time to let Lin out.

Lollipop eventually decided it was just best to sleep on it. So she closed her eyes and, slowly, Lollipop fell into a deep slumber.

Lin was not asleep, however, at least not yet. Instead, she listened to the functions of her friend's body as her friend's rest slowly centralized them into a familiar melody only amplified by the sweet smell of red velvet that permeated all around her. In a host, an alp-luachra looks for a couple of things, but in Lollipop, Lin found something else, yes she had all the makings of an ideal host, but she also had something extra. Inside Lollipop, she felt like no madder what happened, Lollipop would be there for her, she didn’t need to worry about getting caught, or what her host would do to her if they got her. Lin was in a new world of which she was only beginning to understand, a new world of advanced technology and wonders, not even a filly could dream up, but as long as she was with Lollipop, Lin was OK. Lin just smiled and nuzzled her self into the soft stomach wall, lulled to sleep by the soft, gentle beating of her friend's hart.