The Elements of...

The light from the door faded and Fluttershy looked around the little village she had been brought too. She was pleasently surprised at how similar the town was to Ponyville. A soft snow was the only thing that made her believe she wasn't simply back in home, since it was midsummer. Looking around, there weren't many ponies outside walking, but she did see a young grey pegasus filly with a yellow mane blowing bubbles.

She squeaked a little, staring at the small foal as the foal's eyes drifted to follow different bubbles, "D-Ditzy Doo!? But... D-does that mean I'm really in the past? Oh... I hope I don't mess this up..." She kept looking at the filly, and smiled as the filly popped a bubble, a small shine on her side revealing bubbles for a cutie mark. "Wah!" Fluttershy fell to the ground as somepony bumped into her and the second pony started stammering.

"O-Oh, sorry ma'am!" The voice was soft and masculine, and as Fluttershy stood the colt looked her over for any injuries. Fluttershy tried not to back away from the colt's hooves checking her head. Nothing screamed at her bad about the colt, no matter how many times it happened at home. "Y-you're not hurt. Good. I'm sorry again for that. Miss..." The colt stepped back himself and tilted his head.

"F-fluttershy." the mare mumbled. The colt leaned closer and motioned for her to repeat with a hoof. "I-I'm... Fluttershy." She said, a little louder and the colt pulled back with a small smirk.

"Fitting name for you, little Pegasi. My name's Cards. What are you doing here in our little village?" Cards adjusted the hat on his head and laughed.

Fluttershy looked down and hoofed at the ground. "How am I supposed to tell him that I'm here to save somepony. Oh... I wish Princess Celestia told me more." "I..."

"Wait, don't tell me." The other pony smiled and slipped a forest green hoof into a saddle bag, He pulled out a small deck of cards with a rather elaborate backing. Fluttershy couldn't make out the backing as the pony shuffled the deck and pulled out the top card. "Oh, the Thirteenth card.."

Fluttershy tilted her head. "Is that... Equestrian Tarot?" She looked at the card. She had seen a few of these in her time as a model, the fad having been tremendously popular with the mares at that time. Fluttershy had enough readings from one very novice reader, but this pony seemed better. His shuffling and the cards were both impeccable. Cards had slipped the tarot card back into the deck before the blue eyed pegasus could see the design on the face.

"Yep." Cards slipped the deck back into his pack and frowned, looking her over. "You seem a bit lost, ma'am. Why don't you come with me and I'll get you something warm."

"Oh i-it's fine, sir." Fluttershy shook her head and stepped back. "I don't mind. I couldn't possibly let a stranger take care of me."

The purple maned colt pushed his pageboy cap a little higher on his head with a laugh. "Well who am I to let a lovely lady such as yourself stay out in the cold? It'd be cruel." Fluttershy frowned and Cards caught the look on her face . "I live just a house away. If you'd like we can walk right by that filly over there, very conspicuously, if you're worried about me doing anything bad."

Cards walked beside Fluttershy, a little ahead and she caught a glimpse of the colt's cutie mark. The same exact design that was on his deck of Tarot cards. "Oh... Um, Mister Cards?"

"Please, just Cards, Miss Fluttershy." The colt smiled as he pushed open the door. Fluttershy felt the same safe feeling as before and took a deep breath, trying to avoid the shaking in her hooves that being beside a stranger gave her. The small cottage smelt of cinnamon, surprisingly, and the colt pulled a small pie out of the oven. "I didn't expect visitors, so forgive me if it's a little dusty. The house I mean, not the" His smile was warmer than the fireplace beside the door and Fluttershy softly shut it behind her.

"Oh, its not a problem at all, Cards. Please, call me Fluttershy." She swallowed a little, trying to ignore the instinct to just run and hide in her cottage. The colt smiled warmly at her.

"That's a lovely necklace there, Fluttershy." Cards cut a slice of the pie and pushed it to her. "It matches your Cutie Mark."

"Oh, thank you. My friends and I all have one." Fluttershy frowned and looked down. Cards coughed a little, shuffling on his hooves as the room became awkwardly silent.

"You're far from your friends aren't you?" Cards leaned on the table and Fluttershy nodded, taking a small bite of the pie. His tone was softer than hers could ever get.

The pie was soft, and had a sweet filling of apple... Flutershy pushed the pie away and nodded her head. "Y-yes." She seemed to close in on herself as she added, "I don't know when I'll see them again."

Cards brushed her hair out of her face and smiled. "I can be your friend until then."

Fluttershy smiled back, and then she frozed, Cards had moved to the same side of the table as her, but she backed away. "I-I'm sorry, but..."

Cards rubbed the back of his neck. "That's another mare misunderstanding me." He sighed, and pushed the pie over to her. "Eat. I'll explain." Fluttershy stood and moved to the other side of the table, grabbing the plate with her  mouth as Cards spoke. "I'm a nice guy, but mares always think I'm trying to date, or worse." Fluttershy squeaked and stumbled forward, dropping her pie onto her hoof and scalding it. "Horseapples. S-sorry," Some bandages flew to her leg and some burn ointment flew from the restroom. "Drat I didn't think that through..."

"C-cards..." She turned to the pageboy wearing pony, staring at the hat perched on his head as he just kept muttering

"Of course being up and open about somepony's misconceptions would shock you."  Cards continued. "Especially somepony who's so timid as you.

"Cards." Fluttershy said a little louder as the burn medicine was put on her foreleg with a small green glow, matching the boy's coat and eyes.

"And of course I had to do it right after I had already made you uncomfortable. Bah, I have a total hoof in mouth syndrome." The bandages wrapped themselves around the burn and the glow snipped off a little.

"C-cards?"

Cards jerked up. "Oh, sorry. I was having a bit of a-" He stared at the bandages floating in an aura of magic. The aura faded quickly and Cards grabbed a slice of pie. "Lovely pie though wasn't it. I ordered the apples from Ms. Smith over by Sweet Apple Acres and these are definately delicious. enough even without me making the pie. I could never-"

Fluttershy walked over and reached a hoof to his hat, but the stallion jerked away. "Don't be afraid." She said, thinking he seemed more like a frightened rabbit than a pony at that moment. "It's okay." She added softly. Her necklace shined a little, reflected in Card's eyes, and he lets Fluttershy take his hat off.

Fluttershy dropped the hat as her jaw hit the floor. Under his hat, was a horn. One inch long, cracked, shattered, and definately not the way it should've been. Fluttershy backed away, all of her tension with the colt gone. He was just somepony who needed help. "What happened to you?"