Part 1: >>710658

Part 2: >>758235

Side Story 1: >>770689

Side Story 2: >>771358

Side Story 3: >>795562

Side Story 4: >>You are here

Part 3: >>953923

Part 4: >>TBA

One moment you were peacefully asleep under the warmth of the afternoon sun with nothing but the soft ambience of nature to keep you company.

The next moment you were choking.

Still half asleep you thrashed around and pawed at your mouth, wrenching whatever it was that had jammed it’s way past your teeth free. You snapped your eyes open to see what had been jammed into your mouth and it wasn’t until the little charcoal face that stared back grinned sheepishly like a kid caught digging in the cookie jar that you remembered where you were and why.

“That’s… uh… quite a… gag reflex…” the little thing said nervously as you held her just tight enough in your hand that she couldn’t escape. You continued to frown and, realizing her mane was still stuck between your clenched teeth, spat it out dramatically which made the little creature flinch and frightfully wrap her tail around your wrist. Her grin widened, “Can’t blame a gal for trying, right? Right?” She writhed around in your grip and, seeing that your glare hadn’t faltered, she crossed her little hooves with a scoff, “Oh, like you wouldn’t have done the exact same thing!”

Your scowl waivered. “Shove myself down a huge creature’s throat as it slept?” you said, “No, thanks.”

“Why not? It… hey, can you let go already?” she said as she squirmed once more. With a moment’s hesitation you sat her down on your chest and she scurried to your stomach and rested her head on it. “It’s warm…” she said wistfully, “it’s soft… safe… dark… You don’t have to do anything! All you have to do is get comfy, and eat and sleep and relax while they do all the work!”

Little freeloader, you thought to yourself. Even with that thought in mind though you found yourself smiling; she really did make sitting in a stomach sound like paradise on earth.

“But then you get the jerks!”

“The jerks?”

“Yeah. I swear, the stuff some ponies put through their bodies? Can’t believe it. Extra salt this, extra spice that, and have you ever heard of the gluten-free diet? Yeesh!”

“Yeah,” you said amid laughter, “Yeah, we have that gluten-free thing where I’m from too.”

“Where are you from?” she said as she nestled into your shirt to make something of a nest out of it, getting nice and comfortable as if she expected a long story, “I’ve… never seen anything like you before.”

You leaned back against the tree and told her your story. You filled her in on how you weren’t even sure where your home was in relation to this place, and that you had no clue how you got here or how to get back. She seemed to listen to your tale with quite a bit of interest so you continued on, telling her about friends and family that you had, what kind of place it was you lived in, and the kinds of things you did in your free time.

“Wow…” she said softly, “Wish I lived in a place like that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Ponies eat the best stuff, but they don’t play fair anymore.”

“What do you mean?” you asked.

“The last pony I tried to live in?” said the little creature, sounding genuinely transgressed and waggling her little hoof as she spoke, “This purple nerd? She cheated! Flat-out cheated! She just… abracadabra’d me right out of her belly like it was nothing! How is that fair?! And then… then she wanted to… study me…”

“Yikes,” you said, feeling quite a bit of pity for the little thing as she told her story, “What kind of study?”

“I didn’t stick around to find out. I ran ‘till I was exhausted and managed to get into a house.” She looked up at you as her ears drooped and a look of sheer terror overtook her features, “and I ended up in… the thing. You know… I… I think I’m done with ponies for a while,” she said as she flashed a longing look toward the pond.

“Ready to go, then?”

She nodded and you cupped your hands for her to climb into, and carried her to the shore. You went down on one knee and dipped your hands into the cool water for her to swim away. “Hey, hold on,” she said, “Before you do, hold me up to your face?”

“Nice try.”

“Come on”, she said with a sly smile, “You really think I could force my way in?”

You thought about it for a moment and did as she asked, making a point to not let on that you were clenching your teeth as you held her up to your face. She rested her head against your cheek and did her best to hug your comparably huge head, and you ‘hugged’ her back by resting your hand against her back and gently holding her tighter. You felt her tiny lips give you a quick peck on the cheek and she quickly pulled away with a very faint blush. “No one’s ever, you know, looked out for me before,” she said shyly, “Thanks.”

Before you could respond she hopped from your hand and vanished beneath a tiny splash in the pond, with the last you saw of her being a faint dark blur that vanished into the depths. You sat down on the shore and looked out over the water for a few minutes, reflecting on how much stranger the past couple of days had been than usual, before brushing yourself off and beginning the slow walk back to your house.

So consider this whole thing a side-story of the whole Cuddlhu story. Since it works either way, feel free to consider it canon with the rest or not.

She’ll be back