You were not expecting this.

You weren’t entirely sure what to expect when you heard some odd noises coming from downstairs and went to investigate, but given your current state of affairs you were pretty sure you had seen everything at this point. You had yet to learn how you got here, or where ‘here’ even was, but for the last few weeks you had lived in a town of talking colorful ponies in a world where you were a strange and never-before-heard-of creature. Apparently this world was so rife with unusual creatures that your appearance had barely even piqued the interest of the townsfolk and they had let you live amongst them. One of them, an alleged princess, had made something of a pet project out of you, simultaneously studying you (and likely making sure you weren’t up to no good) while trying to find a way for you to return home. With all of this in mind, you had armed yourself with a broom and steeled yourself against whatever surprise awaited downstairs for you, confident it couldn’t possibly catch you off guard. Even finding the wet mucky trail that lead from the front door and down the hallway, making it appear as if a massive slug had slipped under the door and entered your home, you knew for a fact you would not be surprised.

Of course, you were wrong.

You stood agape in silence, staring at what awaited you at the end of the snail trail, barely even aware of the flash of lightning and heavy deluge of rain beating against the living room window. The sudden crack of thunder didn’t make you flinch or even blink; you were not breaking sight with this thing. In front of the fireplace was a pile of thick viscous sludge, light blue in color, stacked up like an overstuffed bag of trash and constantly oozing wet rivulets of muck like oversized beads of sweat that fell and hit the floor with dull wet splats.

It took a minute to accept the fact, even as you watched the mucky drops begin to move of their own accord, but this stuff was alive.

The wet beads weakly wriggled on the floor, as if stunned by the impact, and groped and oozed their way back to reunite with the whole that didn’t notice. It was too busy holding limb-like pseudopods outward and toward your still burning fire, while the rest seemed focused on holding a crude half-melted shape that, from behind, appeared as if it was trying to mimic a pony.

With fear giving way to curiosity, and the confidence you could outrun this soggy thing that could barely hold together, you quietly slunk forward for a closer look. On the third step you landed on a notoriously creaky floorboard and froze mid-step, having caught the thing’s attention. What sufficed as a neck twisted like taffy to aim what was definitely a pony-shaped face at you and a low gurgling sound bubbled from the creature which, going by the expression it wore on its mono-color face, was one of surprise and terror. Thoughts of panic and fear tore through your head; what if it was aggressive, or acidic, or both? You had seen The Blob and that alone was enough to make you not want to come anywhere near this thing. For an intense timeless stretch there was only the roar of rain beating down on your home as the two alien creatures stared at each other without moving an inch…

Another crack of thunder outside and, as if it had lit a light bulb above your head, the reality of the situation hit you so hard you felt dumb for not realizing it until now. This creature looking like a toy half-melted in the microwave, the wet trail from the door, and the torrential frigid storm outside. It became instantly clear this thing just wanted to get out of the cruel and freezing downpour and near something that was hot and dry. Part of you nagged that it was a bad decision as you raised a hand inoffensively and laid your broom down, but you couldn’t help but feel sorry for it knowing you too would be stranded alone, cold, and afraid in that very same storm had the ponies not given you the benefit of the doubt and given you a place to stay. The thought of its liquid body being pelted by freezing rain and saturated into such a clearly pitiable state made you wonder if it hurt, or worse, if it could die if left out in it too long. You were well aware it was a risk, perhaps even a stupid move, but you also felt as if you owed this alien world the same benefit of the doubt its inhabitants had given you, even if it meant a risk. “The fire’s getting low,” you said softly, as whatever fear you had of this thing was pushed to the back of your mind by simple pity.

Other than the involuntary dripping and oozing of the creature as it tried to hold its shape, it didn’t move. It made another weak gurgling sound but otherwise didn’t react at all.

You picked up a freshly chopped chunk of wood from the bin and it nervously edged away, almost falling apart as it did. “It’s for the fire,” you said, again gesturing inoffensively with your free hand. You took a wide berth around it, wanting to keep out of what you assumed to be its reach just in case, and threw the wood into the fire. You gave it a few good jabs with the poker to stir the flames into a rich, plume of glowing heat which the slime ‘mare’ watched with relief. It, or rather a she from what you could tell, slowly slipped toward the warmth of the fire, moving in a way words could not describe and, while carefully keeping her attention on you, once again reached out for the heat. For a moment the two of you just enjoyed the flame and you decided to break the ice, “So you can’t speak, but can you understand me at least? This is all you wanted, right? Warmth and shelter from this storm?”

The slime mare gave you an odd helpless look and made another weak gurgle, her pseudo lips pulling apart and oozing around as if she was trying to speak, and she instead nodded her head slowly. She looked out the window at the rain beating against the glass and held out what sufficed as an arm, letting you watch as it could barely keep erect and fell apart into the puddle that was her lower body.

“I get it,” you said as another flash of lightning lit up the room. “It’s a hell of a night outside,” you remarked to which she nodded again, “So if you want to wait it out here you can. Just keep the noise down, okay? I have a very busy day tomorrow and need my sleep. And…” you said as you gestured at the mucky trail across your floor, “try not to, you know, make too much more of a mess, okay?”

She looked at the mess she had made and managed a sheepish smile, her ‘pony’ form sinking a bit into the shapeless mass that pooled around her on the floor, and made one final quiet gurgle that almost sounded like it could have been a word.

You laughed a bit at that and left her to her fire, feeling surprisingly confident that this creature was no threat whatsoever. She seemed capable of reason and harmless enough, and perhaps even friendly, leaving you to assume she would warm up and leave the way she came once the rain stopped. “Go ahead and go to sleep with the pony blob downstairs in your house”, you mused to yourself as you climbed into your bed, “so you can be up bright and early to round up some overdue library books for the absurdly powerful winged pony princess of friendship slash librarian.”

Thinking of that, a mass of slime that thought it was a pony being your guest for the night seemed completely mundane by comparison in Equestria, and you had no trouble drifting off to sleep.