(Narrated by Paradox)
Twilight flickered open her eyes.
"Oh, good," I said. I had been busy browsing among the books while she was unconscious from having fainted. It was amazing how stupid some of the ponies that wrote these books were. I mean, what kind of self-respecting creature would write a book called "Dusk" about a vampony that sparkled and a sappy mare named Belle Swallow? Vamponies don't sparkle!
My attention was brought back to the matter at hoof as Twilight yawned.
"How long was I out?" She asked me.
"Long enough for me to realize 'Stephanie Neigher' is an idiot..." I mumbled.
She didn't seem to hear me, and instead of responding, asked another question. "Uh...did you really say, earlier, that you were FROM Miasma?"
"Yep."
"Oh." She seemed befuddled for a moment, before her expression changed. She jumped up and ran to me. "YOU'RE FROM ANOTHER DIMENSION?!" She grinned.
"....yes?" I said, unsure of what direction this was taking.
"THIS. IS. THE BEST THING EEEVVVEER!" Twilight yelled in my face, her grin now at an almost creepy size as she grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me.
I groaned inwardly. Great, and just when I thought I was done running...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
FlutterShy smiled. She had jut finished feeding all her animals, and now she was about to prepare a nice, relaxing cup of tea. Suddenly, she was distracted by a pounding on the door.
She quickly moved to answer it, and was shocked when she saw a panting, blue earth-pony stallion outside. She considered hiding under the couch, but the stallion had already come inside and slammed the door shut behind him in the time it took her to react.
"umm....hi?" She said, cowering slightly as the stranger gasped for breath.
"Oh..uh, hi. Sorry, kinda rude of me to barge in like that, but I had a crazy pony after me and I was trying to lose her." The stallion said, panting.
"Um...okay." FlutterShy said timidly, still unsure what to make of the situation.
The stallion walked over to the door and peered outside. "Good, I finally lost her." He said, cracking a slight smile. "Oh, right. Name's Paradox, what's yours?" He told her, extending a hoof.
"It's...Fluttershy..." She said as she hid behind her pink hair.
The stallion, Paradox, face-hoofed. "Element of Kindness. Great, I'm sure Twilight will find me here."
Fluttershy looked up in shock. "T..twilight? But I thought you said you were running from a c..crazy-pony..." She stuttered.
"Yeah, well, she may be sane at first, but tell her that you're from another plane of existence? BAM, crazy-pony." Paradox chuckled.
"...another...p..plane of e..existence?!" FlutterShy squeaked.
"Yeah, kinda hard to believe, huh? But yeah, Twilight kinda went crazy from excitement. So that's why I'm here, hiding from her."
"Oh...I...see.." FlutterShy said, now even more confused.
They stared at each other awkwardly for about half a minute.
"Er...yeah." Paradox said, trying to break the silence.
FlutterShy just hid behind her mane again.
Suddenly, Paradox cried out. "Aagh!" The stallion pressed a hoof against his head, and sat down with a bump on the floor. "My...head..." he said through gritted teeth.
FlutterShy immediately sprang into action, lifting Paradox onto a couch by the side of the room and, grabbing a wet towel, pressed it on his head.
"Oh my! A..are you alright?" She said, surprised at the stallion's sudden pain.
"Er...yeah..." Paradox said, clenching his teeth as his head throbbed with pain. "I think...I think that I'm not reacting well to taking a more 'physical' form..."
"Oh, my! Th..that doesn't sound very good." FlutterShy sympathized as she set about preparing a soothing mixture of herbs and tea.
"Yep.." Paradox sighed.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
(Narrated by Paradox)
Finally, after two cups of the herbal tea that FlutterShy had stirred up for me, my headache had finally ceased. FlutterShy was sitting on a couch opposite me, and was sipping daintily from a cup of tea.
"So...um...where are you from?" She said in a quiet voice.
"Miasma. Probably never heard of it." I answered her.
"Oh, you're from Miasma?" She said, curiousness momentarily overriding her natural timidity.
"Yeah...how do you know about it?" I said, equally curious.
"Oh, well, animals have a strong connection to Miasma, so..."
"Yes, I know, but what does that have to do with anything?"
"Um...I can...kinda speak to animals..." She said in her gentle voice.
"Really? That's incredible!" I told her. I was genuinely surprised, in the old days of Equis many ponies could speak to animals, but barely any possessed that gift nowadays.
"Oh...uhm..thank you."
"No problem."
"So...how did you end up here?" She seemed less shy now that she knew I was from the place her animal friends had talked about.
"Well, long story. In short, I'm the Miasmian in charge of Equis. Discord somehow found a way to bring me here and strip me of my connection to Miasma, so that he could take control of Equis."
FlutterShy gasped. "But he reformed!" She cried out in shock.
"Yeah, no." I told her bluntly.
"B...but I reformed him myself..." Her lip trembled and tears welled up in her eyes. "He...he said he was my friend...I trusted him...are you sure you're not wrong?"
I felt sorely tempted to tell her, No, Discord was still her friend, everything was going to be okay. I sighed. Better she hear the truth. "I'm sure." I told her.
"It's not true!" She shouted as she suddenly glared at me with her tear-filled eyes. "It can't be! You. Are. LYING!"
I sighed. So much for that approach.
"I never want to see you again." She snarled at me as she tried to hide her hurt at what I had told her. "Get. Out. Of. My. House!"
I sighed as I trotted to the door. "Bye."
She slammed the door behind me.
Great, I needed to convince ponies that Discord was a threat and I was good, and what did I go and do? I broke a mare's heart by telling her that her friend had tricked her, ran from what was probably my best hope in finding a way back to Miasma merely because she had been over-eager in asking me questions, probably convinced three little fillies that I hate them by running from them when they were trying to be friendly, and had absolutely no place to stay during the fast-approaching night.
I sighed dejectedly as I flopped down on the ground. I may have been care-taker of Equis, but I was awful at being a pony.