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Psi had been searching for almost three days straight this time, constantly scanning with eye, nose, and ears for any sign of her egg whatsoever. She needed to keep an eye open just in case her egg was traveling, too. On this occasion, she was flying from Coltsboro to Fillydelphia, the longest journey she had taken yet.  She flew over the dense forest, which eventually turned into a prairie. She would stop at every major city for a few days to commission ponies to search for her.

It had been over a month since Psi had gone looking for her egg. It wouldn't hatch for another year at most, so she had until then to find the egg, else she would probably never find her kin.

Psi wasn't stupid: she looked in places that made sense: black market hubs, odd shops, etc. She knew that whoever stole her egg wasn't going to try and eat it—no, it would be sold to a wealthy stallion for a great sum of money as some sort of trophy. The pony would kill the dragon inside, to make sure it never hatches.

It truly disgusted Psi that ponies could take the eggs of dragons, fertilized or not, and trade it like an item, knowing the being inside was just as intelligent as themselves. She knew that most dragons didn't care for their young, but that did not excuse this behavior. She also understood that there should not be a double standard, either. Dragons who kept ponies as pets sickened her as well, and if any of her pony friends were held up by dragons, she would try just as hard to get them back.

Regardless, finding her egg was not as trivial as it may sound; she was a dragon after all, and employing ponies to go into shady areas and look for an egg was a difficult task in itself. Not to mention the fact that there were very many illegal markets around Equestria.

She, of course, could ask ponies who already knew her, which she did, but they had lives of their own, and Psi could not expect them to drop everything for her to follow her around Equestria.

And all this was assuming that her precious egg was even in Equestria.

The chance that her egg wasn't in Equestria was beyond her concern. She needed to sift through her first needle stack before she could consider leaving to look in foreign markets, but her chances of getting to do that were quite slim. Equestria was one of the largest countries in the world, after all.

Okay, I need to find a few ponies to help me, or even a changeling, if I'm really lucky, she thought as she flew toward Fillydelphia, one of the oldest cities in Equestria. It didn't have nearly as many tall buildings as Manehattan, but it was still a sight to behold, if only for it's very confusing layout of oddly angled streets and beautiful, intricately designed, buildings.

When she finally landed, it was in a hollow high in a plains area cliff. This is nice; it's very close to the road, she thought. In the middle of the field, there was a rather steep, seemingly random hill that separated the higher area from the lower area and spanned to just before the horizon, with small, rocky, cliffs in some areas. The path went along side the hill, making camping in a hollow quite convenient.

In the distance, the sun was setting over the city, making silhouettes of the buildings, making a lovely cityscape Psi had not not yet seen before.

After she had gotten settled into her temporary residence, she went out hunting before dark.

The next morning, Psi got up a little later than she would have liked to, getting a good night's rest instead. It wasn't long past dawn, so Psi didn't kick herself too much.

She sat down, next to the road, waiting to ask anypony that happened to pass by. Okay Psi, don't threaten anypony, it's not their fault.

It was only ten minutes before a pony came around the corner. “Mam, could yo-” before she could finish, the frightened beige coated, yellow maned, pony was dashing off in the direction she came, shouting “Dragon! Dragon!”.

“No! Please!” Psi called back to the mare; it was no use, she did not stop.

On the fifth pony that came past, Psi again asked, “Sir... could you do something for m-” Psi realized the stallion was completely paralyzed in fear.  “Sir.... Please....” The stallion said nothing. “Please!” Psi yelled. “Just say something at least! Please!” Psi couldn't take it anymore. After being stoic and relentless for over a month, she wanted to be done. She wanted to let it all out, although in front of another was not the time she preferred to do it.

Psi tear ducts burst finally. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes and built up enough to stream down her scaly face. She was done bottling her emotions. She didn't want to be done, but she was. She was done being stoic, at least for the moment. It was almost comical to Psi when she thought about it later, as dragon tears were actually thought to have some mystical abilities, but Psi could tell anyone otherwise: all her's brought her were pain and embarrassment.

“Please, Sir...” she mumbled with her snout stuck into the dirt. “Please...” Psi had no grasp. She was sure the pony was gone at this point—which she would have preferred to be the case—so she was just talking to herself at this point.

Psi wallowed more in her sorrow before her train of thought brought her back to the memories of her egg and a new wave of sadness rushed over her. She wanted to be a mother. She almost questioned her search, thinking that she could just take another's egg, and raise it as her own. She quickly pushed away these thoughts. She couldn't just steal somedragon's egg like they stole hers. It was not right. She cried to herself louder, unable to cope.

Meanwhile, the stallion was broken from his fear-trance and was now staring at the sulking dragon in wonderment. Dragons can.... cry? They... have feelings? What? I mean, I guess it makes sense, come to think of it, but I always thought that they were just... beasts, he thought, bemused. “Uhm... m...”

Psi continued being sad, not even realizing that the other pony was talking to her.

The stallion said nothing, but eventually piped up again, doubting his own sanity for trying to ask a dragon what they were crying about, “Uhm.”

The redish-pink dragon took notice of the pony and looked up with watery eyes, not saying anything. To the pony, it looked as if Psi was giving him puppy eyes, if that was even possible for a giant lizard.

What the stallion was about to say went against intuition, popular philosophy, and everything his mother had told him: “You said... that... you needed help?”

Psi's eyes brightened slightly. “Y-yes! C-Can you?”

The pony responded, not knowing what he was getting himself into, “I... I don't know. I guess I can try.”

Psi swooped at the pony with her paws to pull him into a hug, to which the stallion felt very uncomfortable about.

Psi let go of the pony and said with sad eyes, “My egg... it was stolen from me by looters and I think it's somewhere on the black market.... It a long shot, but... it's the only thing I have. I... I... need you to go into the hubs in Fillydelphia and look for it.... I know it's a lot to ask so you don't have to....” Her brows leaned slightly outward as she said this.

“I... I will try.”

“Thank you! I'm sorry if I guilt tripped you, please forgive me. I've just been looking for so long and I just... I... couldn't take it anymore... I swear I didn't want to do it with another watching...”

“H-hey, don't feel bad. I understand that it's probably really hard for you. It's okay, serious.”

Psi made a small smile. “Thank you. You don't understand how much this means to me. Thank you.”

The pony trotted off after getting instructions on where the underground shops were and what her egg looked like. It did not matter though. The pony never wanted anything to do with dragons. I'm going to forget that ever happened, he thought as he trotted off towards the city. To think, a dragon had asked him to look for her egg. It was like having a bird ask where it's favorite necklace was: it just didn't happen. Had Celestia cast a spell that made dragons caring all of the sudden?

Psi was pleased that she had found somepony to look for her. But she could not stop there. She needed more, and so, she waited.