Sometime later, I insisted on staying on Fluttershy’s couch while she sleeps in her bed that night. I thought the couch would not be as comfortable as the bed and mentally braced myself.

I was wrong. The couch feels good. This won’t be too bad after all.

If it wasn’t for that darn pox.

The red spots were gone, but I still had a stuffy nose and blurred eyes. It did make my voice sound cooler, though. Doesn’t mean it’ll let me sleep, though.

I sighed.

My mind drifts everywhere and ponders on my very existence in this place. Questions flood my mind like water. Why am I here? How am I here? Did someone bring me for a purpose? Do I have a mission? Can I get back home? What’ll it take to get home? Is it actually possible I’ll be stuck in this sugarbowl for the rest of my life? What will my family think? Do they think I’m dead, or otherwise disappeared? Will I have to settle down here?

Oh, no...

Will I have to deal with a lovesick pony? How would I even...?

Before I got too far into that particular train of thought, though, the front door opened, letting in some light from the moon. A cloaked figure-- no, pony walked in, apparently looking for something. Something under the hood glowed, and the door closed, again flooding the room with darkness, aside from the moonlight that filtered through the drapes. I decided to have a little fun with the interloper.

“In the dark. My favorite.”

The pony seized up and looked frantically for me. In frantic search, however, the hood fell off, and I saw that it was none other than Lyra Heartstrings.

Or whatever her name is, but eh.

“You must not know who I am.”

I snuck off the couch and approached her, using the dark to cloak my advance.

“If you did...”

I made a silly face and outstretched my arms in a play-scare manner.

“...then you’d know what I can do to you.”

I entered the light filtering through the draped window. She finally saw me, and her jaw dropped.

“Boo.”

She ran off in a wordless scream. She nearly slammed the door in her hasty departure. I looked up the stairs, but when nothing came down to investigate, I settled down on the couch again, chuckling to myself. I probably shouldn’t have done that, but... eh. My mind’s not really in the right place right now.

I wonder what fried fish marinated in custard tastes like.

...

Nope. No.

That train of thought derailed, I went to sleep.

“...ood morn... epyhead.”

I woke up to see a smiling Fluttershy.

Man, that’s pretty.

...

Wait. That came out wrong.

Yeah.

Wait she’s talking to me better pay attention before she expects a response--

“—so how does that sound?”

Nuts.

I nervously smiled and nodded, hoping that it’ll come out okay.

“Good. Stay here, and I’ll go to the market for groceries.”

Oh. And there’s her saddlebags on her. Right.

“Okay, Fluttershy. By the way, you’re still best pony.”

She giggles then leaves.

Alone again... wait.

I listened for any signs of life. Suffice it to say, there wasn’t any.

Alone again.... naturally.

As I hummed the tune in my head, my eyes closed and I fell asleep.

Meanwhile, at Ponyville Market

Fluttershy was going through her monthly trip to the market. Haggling prices and making great deals, she enjoys being assertive with the shop owners now and again but remembers not to go overboard. She does not enjoy being that other Fluttershy.

She shakes herself from that thought and continues on her trip. Having checked off the last on her list, and with some extra bits from saving and haggling, Fluttershy decides to treat herself to a milkshake at one of the newer cafes that were becoming a trend.

“Welcome to Queen’s Dairy! How can I help you?”

Like this one. This place was run by cows, but they seem to cook everything in grease. A bovine in a little outfit had greeted Fluttershy and was awaiting her order.

“Yes, um. I’d like a vanilla shake.”

“That’ll be 4 bits, dear Fluttershy.”

She paid up, and moments later, she received a (disturbingly) fresh vanilla milkshake.

Fluttershy took a place at one of the outside tables, and began to enjoy her treat, when she was met by a certain unicorn.

“Fluttershy! Thank goodness you’re okay!”

Fluttershy looked up and saw someone she didn’t expect to meet but greeted her all the same.

“What’s the matter, Harpstrings?”

“There’s a big ol’ monster in your house! It stands 8 feet tall, breathes fire, and has claws that can rip through castles!”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow at that but continues to drink. Being in Ponyville where mares panic at the drop of a hat does getting a little used to. Harpstrings continues.

“It can! It... it can shoot these weird little spikes from its head that can pierce through two Guardsponies! Its eyes stare into your very soul! Its booming voice can shake the very foundations of Canterlot! It—”

Harpstrings was interrupted by a yellow hoof as Fluttershy finished her drink. She puts down the now empty plastic cup and says,

“Didn’t I tell you not to snoop around my house?”

Harpstring’s eyes go wide, and she slowly nods. Fluttershy sighed, retracted her hoof, and says,

“What happened?”

Harpstrings grins nervously, then says,

“I thought I would take a look at that visitor of yours. Twilight made it sound too fascinating to pass up.”

Now, this was surprising to Fluttershy. She had dealt with the shenanigans with the more... panicky ponies, but she didn’t think that a minty-green unicorn lyre player would not have much to do with the violet librarian unicorn. The sensation of surprise passed, but Harpstrings continued.

“So I snuck in your house in the middle of the night.”

Fluttershy faked a surprised gasp and said,

“You snuck into my house without being invited in?”

Heartstrings became that much more uneasy since she did confess to sneaking into someone’s house in the middle of the night.

“Yeah. Sorry about that, but it really did scare me.”

Fluttershy sighed, then said,

“He is a very unfortunate creature to have caught the pony-pox. When you woke him in the middle of the night, he might’ve made some scary sounds in his dizziness.”

Fluttershy facehoofed, but calmed down enough to say,

“If you want, we could go visit him. Hopefully, he’ll be coherent.”

Harpstrings’ disposition instantly lifted, and she nodded vigorously, a goofy grin on her face. The two set off together and talked as they walked, getting to know each other better.

Meanwhile

zzzzz

Yeh spin meh roight round babeh roight round

zzzzz

Fluttershy and Harpstrings approached the door to the cottage, but it was only at the door did they realize something was wrong. Strange noises were coming from inside. Thumping and critter chanting could be heard. Fluttershy began to panic, and opened the door.

What lay inside was quite a sight. Fluttershy’s animals had a very disoriented, bound and gagged, and blindfolded Ty in a cauldron and were spinning him around with a giant mixing stick. Angel Bunny seemed to be the leader of the posse, including possums, other bunnies, and other assorted mammals who stood up to the “big, mean man”, as Angel would call Ty.

Ty was slightly out of it for the moment, but the way the animals were hounding him were sure to wake him up. Fluttershy did the only thing she thought of doing.

Pleading the animals to stop.

Whas goin on?

//Bootup initiated.
//Intercepted audio: Play?
>>y

“Now, now, there. No need to harm him... more.”

//Identified audio source: Fluttershy.
//ALERT: SITUATION UNUSUAL.
//CAUSE OF CONCERN: LACK OF VISIONARY FUNCTIONS, RESTRAINED MOVEMENT, MOUTH GAGGED.
//ALERT: SITUATION DANGEROUS
//AUDIO LOGS SUGGEST PHYSICAL INJURY TO PERSON
//PRELIMINARY SCANS INDICATE DANGEROUS SCENARIO
//DEFAULTING TO EMERGENCY PANIC MODE IN
//3
//2
//1.
>>objective: escape.

Ty seemed to quickly gain an understanding of his surroundings and start to flail about in panic. Fluttershy started to worry, as did Harpstrings. The cauldron fell over, spilling Ty out, and he busted out of his thin string restraints. Fluttershy had moved to calm down the rioting critters, and Harpstrings had moved to tend to Ty. She was the first thing Ty saw when he removed his dripping gag/blindfold.

I removed my blindfold after almost comically breaking the bindings, and I saw Lyra’s rather inquisitive face, and I yelped in surprise, causing her to also shout. I bolted to the door and made a getaway, snagging my hat from the hatrack as I did so.

The shock of the scenario came back in full force. I was running aimlessly and half-heartedly, and so I tripped and nearly busted my nose again.

Ow.

As I nursed my nose, a thought came to me.

This is real for me. My nose hurts again, I’m in Equestria, and some cartoon pastel ponies are chasing me.

As a follow-up on that last thought, I noticed that Fluttershy and Lyra(?) had indeed taken up the chase. As I wasn’t accustomed to this, I got on my feet again, and the chase from earlier in my adventures began anew. As I and my thoughts raced, I soon realized that the chasers from the earlier misadventure had been recast as my pursuers in the epic,
Ponies Chase Man 2: A Sequel

This is still too weird for me.

Author's Note

Just as weird as this