> Cnideria - Fluttershys New Friend
>  by TP Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It all began on a sunny day, as Fluttershy was trotting along the seashore and singling quietly and softly to herself. After meeting up with a friendly family of seals, she had decided to take a relaxing trot along the shore to feel the warmth of the sun combined with the gentle breeze from the ocean. It was still early in the morning, so nopony else was around except herself and the seals she had already left. After an hour or so, she was considering turning back and return to Ponyville, when she suddenly heard a quiet voice.
"Um... Excuse me..." the voice said.

Fluttershy looked around to see who had spoken, but could not see anypony.

She heard the voice again.

"Down here. Do you.. have any.. water? Please?"

Fluttershy looked down and saw a small seapony mare lying on the sand.
But it looked different from the seaponies Fluttershy knew about.
This one was smaller, blue, and a bit transparent. She could see the sand beneath trhough its body as it lay there. Her head was covered in thick strands of pink mane that almost looked a bit like earthworms. With much effort, the small creature lifted her fin and once again asked,
"...Water?"

Fluttershy reacted quickly and pulled out her waterbottle from her saddlebag.
"Oh my, yes of course! Here you go. You poor creature, what happened to you? Are you hurt?!" she said and asked, as she poured some of the water over the creature slowly.
The small pony-like creature immediately moisturized when she got the water poured on her,
and a few seconds later she had literally absorbed the water into her body.
"ahh! THANK YOU!" she said as she stood up on her tailfin and started stretching her body and fins, as if she'd been napping. "I'm okay by the way, but a few more minutes and it might not have ended so happily!"
She looked up at Fluttershy and extended her right fin, "Name's Cnideria! It's nice to meet a pony to save my life."
Fluttershy blushed and gave a shy smile as she extended her own hoof toward Cniderias fin,
and gently shook it. "I'm Fluttershy. It's nice to meet you as well, Cnideria." 
Cnideria grinned widely, and Fluttershys smile went from shy to a more warm and friendly one, and then shifted again to a curious expression. "Uhm.. If you don't mind me asking..
What kind of pony, or pony-like creature are you? I don't think I've ever seen anypony like you before, and I know most creatures.. If that's not too personal of course, you don't have to answer unless you want to.."

Cnideria giggled a little in response, and started turning around, showing Fluttershy her entire body. "I'm a Jellyfish Pony. I can swim, I'm see-trhough, and... thing like that. Oh, and we're quite rare in these waters, we Jellies come from far down south, we're here visiting!"
Fluttershy smiled at the little ponys enthusiasm. "But if you're basically a jellyfish, shouldn't you avoid direct sunlight? What happened? Why were you lying here on the beach several hooflenghts from the water?" She asked, sounding both curious and a bit worried.

Cnideria smiled carelessly.
"Funny story, actually! I saw a couple of ponies sun tanning and thought it looked like fun,
so I crawled up and wanted to try it myself too!"
Fluttershy was surprised by the sheer stupidity of it all, but being the Element of Kindness and all, she just smiled awkwardly. "Well, next time you better remember Sun Screen. And always have some water with you, and stay closer to the waterline so you can crawl back."
Cnideria giggled, "Yeah" Why didn't I think of that before...? Thank you!"
She crawled closer to Fluttershy. "I wish we could talk a bit longer.. I'd invite you to my place, but.. it's too far away, and you can't breathe underwater.."

Fluttershy gave a gentle smile, and let Cnideria climb up on her hoof so she could lift her up and look her closer in the eyes. "You know.. I could bring you back home to my place..
if you're okay with that of course.. I've invited some friends over, and I'm sure they would all like to meet you."
Cnideria bounced with excitement on Fluttershys hoof, reminding her a bit of Pinkie Pie.
"That's an amazing idea! I love meeting new ponies! Of course I'll go!" She smiled brightly 
and rolled her eyes daydreaming. "I can't wait to meet them! We'll have so much fun and they're all gonna love me and I'm gonna love all of them and we're all gonna be friends!"

// End of chapter 1


> Chapter 2
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"Eeew! She's so.. wet and slimy.." Rarity said as they all gathered around Cnideria,
who was sitting on Fluttershys kitchen table eating some seaweed.
Fluttershy glared at Rarity. "Uhm.. Don't you think that's a bit offensive, Rarity?"
Cnideria took another bite of seaweed and then said, "I think it's a compliment! 
I need water and moist to live, so I like being wet and slimy!"
Rarity barely managed to contain her disgust for the small slimy creature, and instead
chose to back away to a 'safe distance' while smiling awkwardly. "eeh-excuse me, I'm..
just gonna go and.. stand over here instead for no particular reason.."

To keep Cnideria from getting dry, Fluttershy had placed a large glass of water on the table
next to her, big enough for her to climb up and fit inside if she wanted to.

Rainbow Dash smirked and looked at Rarity.
"What's the matter Rarity? Feeling... JELLY-ous of our new friends moist skin?"
Rarity left that question unanswered while Rainbow Dash snickered at her own joke.
She then walked around the table, taking a closer look at Cniderias small transparent body.
"I bet you can swim super fast with those fins, right? Right? I bet you race with swordfish and stuff, huh?"

Cnideria shook her head and waved her mane. "Actually no, not at all. Or I guess I could if I wanted to, but I don't. I usually keep it slow, or even just float along the stream and enjoy the sunlight as I float."

Rainbow Dash blinked a few times and rolled her eyes, and was just about to express
how lame that sounded when she was stopped by Applejacks hoof jammed into her mouth.
"Hold ya horses Dashie. Ah know what yer gonna say, and ya better hold yer muzzle shut before ya say too much."
Cnideria giggled at this display and looked up at the two ponies. "Oh I often say too much, they say. They used to say I say a lot and don't think about what I'm saying and then get in trouble for saying too much or the wrong things. And they say I often lie, but I never do that!
I just have trouble remembering which version is the truth and which one isn't. I often confuse things, I don't have a good memory."
The six ponies looked at each other, a bit puzzled. Fluttershy shrugged and nodded discreetly towards Twilight Sparkle, as a sign for her to break the awkward silence in the room.

Twilight nodded in response, equally discreet and then approached the table.
She leaned in towards Cnideria, who turned her head and looked at Twilight with a smile.
"Well, as the Princess of Ponyville, It is my honour to welcome you here officially as a visitor to our town, and as a pony it is my pleasure to welcome you as our newest friend in our little group here." She smiled warmly at Cnideria, and added, "I am sure we can learn a lot from each other, this will truly be a very educational experience for all of us!"

Cnideria tilted her head and scratched her neck, just sitting silent for almost a full minute
before she said, "Nope, Still can't uderstand half of what you said. But sure, we can learn from each other I'm sure. ...Even though you don't look like you like learning too much."

Rainbow Dash and Applejack burst into laughter, and Twilight blushed heavily upon hearing this. Pinkie Pie joined in the laughter, and started laughing even more than the other two.
"That was super-duper-ultra-funny! Hey guys, I think she makes jokes without even realizing it herself, which is like, super-amazingly awesome!" She said as she started bouncing and pointing at Cnideria. "I bet you make all your fish friends laugh at home where you come from, don't you?!" She said as she stopped bouncing.

Cnideria giggled and bounced a few times herself. 
"Oh, I try to! I love making my friends laugh, and I love my friends, but...
They don't really get my jokes, and I don't know why."
Pinkie bounced again, "Worry not, I get that maaany times, but I have so many jokes,
it's impossible for everypony to understand all of them!"
Suddenly Cnideria started rolling on the table, laughing. Her laugh intensified,
as the ponies all watched with curious eyes. Even Pinkie looked more confused than usual.
"Did I say something funny...? Did I make a joke without realizing it?! Are your funny-skills contagious??" She asked, eyes widening.

Cnideria calmed down and wiped a few tears out of her eyes.
"No.. it's not that... I... She... I'm sorry...I get it now. JELLY-ous! Jelly... jealous...
oh I'm sorry, give me a moment.." She started laughing again as Pinkie Pie looked at her with confusion in her eyes. Twilight facehoofed so hard she made an imprint on her muzzle. "..ow. that hurt.." she whined to herself. Fluttershy just smiled innocently and picked the Jellypony up from the table, and sat her down in the glass. "You need to rehydrate. Oh, and it's getting a bit late, maybe we should get you back to the beach before it gets dark...It is quite a bit to walk all the way back after all." 

Cnideria looked thoughtful for a moment and then nodded, smiling. 
"Yeah. I always forget the time. I think we better go now.. But could you all come along?
I don't want to say goodbye just yet, we can do that when I get back in the ocean."
They all nodded, although Rarity agreed mostly because everypony else was going,
and she didn't want to hurt Cniderias feelings even though she was a slimy wet little creature..
Soon, they had all prepared and was ready to leave, Cnideria tucked in a wet towel so she would keep her body moist on the journey, and carried in Fluttershys saddlebag.
They all left and started walking toward to beach.

// End of chapter 2




> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back at the beach Cnideria stood on the still warm sand, as her new friends gathered around her. Fluttershy smiled and took a step forward. "It was really nice to meet you. I surely hope we'll meet again some day... won't we?"
Cnideria nodded with notable enthusiasm and waved her fins. "Sure thing! I'll do my best to visit here again, Even if I have to walk to Ponyville myself!"
Twilight frowned slightly. "Are you really sure that's a good idea? I mean, walking all the way. It takes us full-sized ponies almost an hour, and for you it would take at least a whole day on your own. And even if you could handle that, what about the sun, or dangerous animals?" 

Cnideria waved her fin giggling. "Nah, don't be silly. I'll do it during winter! The sun won't be so harsh."
Twilight wanted to object, but Rarity poked her and gave her a look that seemed to say "Forget it, It's no use reasoning with her".

Applejack leaned toward the small pony and pointed her hoof at her. "Well, ya better look out for yerself, Sugar cube. It was a pleasure to meet ya."
Cnideria jumped up and hugged Applejacks hoof. "Oh, I'm so glad you like me. I always try to make ponies like me, but for some reason..." Cnideria was unable to finish the sentence 
as Applejack suddenly let out a loud scream in pain, as one of Cniderias mane locks touched her hoof. Cnideria quickly jumped off Applejacks hoof, blushing. Applejack waved her hoof around in the air. "It stings, it STINGS! What in tarnation!?"
Cnideria looked nervously at Applejack and then down at the sand, stroking her own mane.
"I-I'm sorry Applejack! It's my mane, I can't always control it. It's a defence thing, the mane can get 'electric'. You're.. not mad, are you? I'm sorry!"

The other five ponies were all looking at Applejack, who was running around looking desperatly for a way to cool down the hoof to numb the still stinging feeling.
Fluttershy smiled awkwardly at Cnideria. "Oh, I'm sure she's not angry, just a bit shocked.
It wasn't your fault. I'm sure she'd say it's fine, if she wasn't running around in circles right now." Cnideria smiled when she heard this, and slowly started moving toward the water.
"Ooh, That's great! I was afraid she might be angry or something. Anyway, I need to go now.
It was a pleasure meeting you all, my less-transparent friends. And, please tell Applejack the stinging should gradually go away over a two, maybe three-day period. Bye!"
She waved her fin one last time as she moved into the water and let the waves wash her away
out into the open sea. The remaining ponies waved their goodbyes until the could no longer see Cnideria, and then Rainbow Dash turned toward Fluttershy. "Ok, I have to say, that was the most awkward situation ever!" 

Rarity nodded and, as the all walked back toward Ponyville. "I have to agree with Rainbow Dash. Even meeting Pinkies sister was less awkward than this."
Pinkie rubbed her head in confusion. "Wait, what do you mean? Was meeting Maud really THAT...." 
Twilight stepped between them and stopped Pinkie from finishing, smiling awkwardly.
"No, no, it was amazing, you know that. We're great friends now. Rarity just meant,
meeting Cnideria was... different. It's hard to believe somepony could be that.. uh.."

Now Rainbow Dashed interrupted, "...that what? Empty-headed? No-brained? Next to her, even I look like a huge egghead! I swear to Celestia, she's the stupidest pony I've ever..."

Suddenly, something pony-sized and grey came flying fast, crashing straight into Rainbow Dash, hitting her hard enough to send her crashing into a small ditch next to the road.
She shouted loudly, "OH FOR CELESTIAS SAKE, DERPY!!!"

"Muffin...?" The grey pony said.

//The End