Author's Note

Warning, this story contains mild spoilers.
PS: Stupid author should have put this sooner

A Quest for Cat Treats

Authors:
Dustchu
Flygirlll26262
A collab between two friends.
We own nothing except our OC's, the plot, the universe, and the master key to hell.

An orange coated, red maned pegasus, flew through the sky towards Ponyville, her curled mane being pushed back by the wind. A cat sat in a saddle bag on her back, enjoying the wind against her face, while a spectral cat floated alongside the pegasus. “Don’t worry Emerald, we’ll get you that food~” The pegasus’ sing song voice chiming in the wind. The cat in her bag meowed back, and the town they were looking for came into view through the clouds. “Look, we’re already almost there~” She tilted her wings to descend at a nice and easy angle, and made a gentle landing.

Upon landing, the pegasus trotted over to a building with a cupcake sign on the front. “Ooo~ Maybe they have some food, I’m pretty famished,” She looked at the ghost cat that circled around her head. She then entered the building and looked around, seeing all the different pies and cakes everywhere on display. The smell of baked goods filled the bakery with various ranging from cinnamon, apples, and other smells.

The sounds of pots and pans clanging together sounded from the back, and anyone with a trained eye could potentially make out a pink blur zipping back and forth. But they wouldn’t have had the time to do so, as the pink blur stopped in mid air, eyes locked on the pegasus who entered the shop. A sudden drawn out gasp left the pink pony’s mouth before she darted over to the pegasus with speed fit for a Wonderbolt, stopping just short of touching noses and skidding on the floor. Once she stopped however, her body started springing back and forth, and one could hear a comical noise emitting from her before she came to a stop.

“You’re new in town aren’t ya!” She asked, smiling brightly.

Looking at the pink earth pony with surprise, she stared for a second, then smiled, “Yup~ I’m here to get a snack, then try to find something for Emerald here~” The pegasus pointed at the cat in the saddle bag, who then meowed followed by the mare's ghost cat laying on the top of her head.

Pinkie’s nose twitched, followed by her eyebrow going up and down a few times. “Nose twitch, eyebrow acting funny...” She gasped again, “There’s a ghost!” She cried, bolting off and leaving a trail of smoke in her wake. She vanished upstairs, only to come back down wielding a red vacuum cleaner that read Poltergust 3000 on it, and wearing a green shirt and blue overalls, with a green hat with the letter L on it. “Where are you ghosty goo!”

“Wait! I have a pet ghost!” The pegasus cried out, trying to stop the crazy pink pony. “Don’t hurt my buddy!” Her wings flared out in panic, as the ghost cat hid behind the wings.

The pink pony made an ‘o’ face, then smiled. “Well why didn’t you say so in the first place!” She ripped off the clothes and the device before throwing them off screen… yeah… off screen. “Silly filly~”

The pegasus let out a small sigh of relief, her wings relaxing back into place, “I-I would’ve, but you didn’t really give me a chance~” The pegasus awkwardly chuckled.

The pink pony laughed, ending it in a snort. “My bad! Have a cupcake~” Quick as a flash, she shoved a Red Velvet cupcake into the Pegasus’ mouth. “I’m Pinkie PIe! Nice to meet you!”

The pegasus chewed up the cupcake, smiling and murmuring, “Mmm, red velvet…” After the cupcake was swallowed, she held out a hoof and smiled back, “I’m Firefly, nice to meet you as well~ And you’ve met Emerald, and here’s Ghost.” The ghost cat flew in front of Pinkie pie, “I named him before he became a ghost, so I guess it works out,” Firefly laughed.

Pinkie nodded happily, glad that the young mare enjoyed the cupcake. “Nice to meet you Emerald!” She then looked right into Ghost’s eyes, “and you too Ghost!” She smiled brightly, despite no one else being able to see said ghost cat except for Firefly and Pinkie. “Did you say you wanted to find something for little Emerald?” She asked, tilting her head.

Firefly nodded, “Why yes I did~” As she looked back at Emerald happily.

Pinkie bounced up and down, saying, “I know just the place!”

“Oh great, where is it?” The pegasus smiled and looked at the bouncing pony.

“I’d take you, but Mr. Cake has a big order I need to help with… wait! I know just the pony who could take you!” Pinkie grinned, vanishing in a puff of smoke once more upstairs. It took a few seconds, something crashing, followed by a string of colorful curses from an unknown voice before Pinkie came back downstairs, this time, she had a filly riding on her back who looked like she was put through a wind tunnel. The filly stared at Firefly, hooves gripping onto Pinkie’s body.

Firefly looked at the two curiously, as Emerald meowed again, “Oh, hello~ I’m Firefly.”

The gold colored filly rose an eyebrow at Firefly, pushing her fiery colored mane out of her bright red eyes. “Who the hell are you?”

“She just told you silly!” Pinkie giggled, looking back at Firefly, waiting for her reaction.

Firefly just smiled at the filly, “So, are you a helper of Pinkie’s?”

The filly scoffed, hopping off of Pinkie before landing on the floor with a soft clop of her hooves. The filly barely came up to Firefly’s chest, but she just stared up anyway. “I’m Filly C,” She poked the older mare’s chest, “you best remember that!”

“Of course I will, Filly C~” Firefly looked down at the smaller filly, even crouching down a little to be eye level with her.

“Can you take Firefly to the petshop?” Pinkie asked sweetly, swaying back and forth as an Alligator popped its head out of Pinkie’s mane.

Firefly looked at the alligator with interest, “You have a pet too?”

Pinkie nodded as Gummy blinked an eyelid, then the other as he stared at Firefly with a look that spoke of intense thought and observation. “This is Gummy!” She giggled as the alligator climbed out of Pinkie’s mane and bit down on her nose, and started gnawing on it with his gums. Pinkie only giggled happily, patting him on the head.

Meanwhile, Filly C watched with great disdain, frowning. “I seriously have to take her?” She asked, obviously not wanting to.

Pinkie nodded. “Yep!”

“Don’t wanna.” Filly C pouted, sitting down.

Pinkie gave her a big eyed looked. “Come on, pretty please?”

“Nope.” the filly responded.

“Please~”

“No!”

“I’ll even bake you that special cupcake you like~”

Filly looked up, eyes twinkling before she shot up onto her hooves. “Deal!” She quickly ran towards the back of Firefly, grabbing her tail in her teeth and pulling. “‘Ome on ‘ady! ‘Et’s ‘o!”

Firefly laughed, “Alright, alright, I’m coming. Thank you Pinkie~” She called back to the pink pony, before following Filly C.

As the two got outside, Pinkie ran back into her kitchen as Filly C led the mare to the left of the shop. “The heck you wanna go to a petshop for?” She asked, snorting as she spat out

“I wanna get some treats for Emerald~” Firefly answered happily.

Turning her head back, Filly C chanced a glance at the cat. “Couldn’t you have gone somewhere else?” She questioned, wondering why she would stop in this town. “In case you haven’t heard, this town is one hell of a magnet for trouble.”

Firefly shrugged, “Eh, that’s no big deal, I had heard that the best cat treats were here. And I would do anything for my kitties~” She smiled, shifting her wings into a more comfortable position.

“Kitties? As in more than one? I only see that one.” She pointed at Emerald.

“Oh right, most ponies can’t see you Ghost.” Firefly said, looking at the ghost cat that flew by. “I have a ghost cat as well.”

The little filly rose an eyebrow, “A ghost… cat?” A sigh, followed by a shrug. “Eh, I’ve heard weirder shit.”

“Well, I had raised Ghost when he was a kitten, and when he sadly got sick, he didn’t want to leave me, so after his body gave out, his spirit lived on. Now he won’t leave me alone, the little goob~” Firefly giggled happily, looking at the cat as he tried to rub up against her face.

Suddenly, without warning, the bakery’s front door that they had just left exploded. Prompting both to look behind them to see not only pies, but cakes flying up into the sky. Pegasi who were unlucky enough to fly nearby were pelted by delicious red velvet cakes, scrumptious apple pies, and tasty tangerine tarts. Those that weren’t hit, yelled, “Look out below!”

Filly C groaned, “Fffffffffffffuuuu-!” She didn’t get to finish as she was, unfortunately made a casualty by an Apple pie baked into a cake.

Firefly began to laugh, looking at the now pie covered filly. The pegasus then flew over to the bakery, wanting to make sure everyone was okay, “You all okay in there?”

Gummy was floating on a pie tin, his unblinking eyes staring at Firefly as Pinkie floated on a wooden door. “I’m fine!” She said, as a massive amount of cake mix and treats began to float out of the bakery. Then an explosion rocked the ground, followed by Pinkie getting pied. “Still fine!”

Firefly quickly took flight, getting out of the way of the batter and treats, “Where did that explosion come from?” She asked more to herself, but was still loud enough to be heard.

Filly C sat on the ground, wiping the baked food off of her face. “Ugh, she needs to stop trying to make a cannon that shoots pies.”

“Who does?” Firefly looked at Filly C from the sky, her wings flapping lazily.

“Pinkie Pie!” Filly told her, shaking her body and sending giblets of food flying. “Ever since she got that idea from Tipo, ugh!” Looking behind her, Filly blinked her eyes to clear her vision.

Firefly smiled, and looked back into the shop, “You sure you’re okay Pinkie?”

“Yep!” Another explosion, “I got this! You two can continue with the story now!”

Firefly looked confused, then shrugged, and flew back over to Filly C, helping her wipe some pie off of her back. “There ya are, Filly C~”

Shaking her body once more, Filly C started forward, “yea yea, thanks, let’s move please~” She said, moving behind Firefly to push her forward. “Preferably away from the crazy pink pony!”

“Okay, okay,” Firefly then thought of something devious, and suddenly flew up, having Filly C fall forward. She giggled, and landed back beside the filly, and helped her up.

Trying not to blow a fuse, Filly C kept moving forward. The two made their way through the town, passing by friendly ponies who waved at the pegasus and unicorn with smiles.

“Wow, everyone is so smiley here! It’s quite different from Canterlot~” Firefly smiled brightly and waved back to everyone who waved to her.

“That’s how this town is,” Filly commented, hiding behind her bangs and keeping her gaze forward. “Everyone’s all friendly like, Celestia’s little project for equality between the three pony races.” She scoffed.

“Is there anything wrong with that?” Firefly asked, genuinely curious on this filly’s point of view on the subject. Personally, she loved it.

Filly C leveled her gaze at the pegasus, not stopping her stride as she began speaking, “Sure it seems nice, but like my uncle says. Behind every smile, there’s a sneer.” She told her, “The one time a zebra comes into town, everyone flips their shit and hides. Same thing with the Minotaur, and a Griffon!” She scoffed again, “most of Ponyville’s residents are racist bigots, pony only assholes if you know what I mean. Like those stuck up fuckers in Canterlot that are all about Unicorn supremacy.”

Firefly frowned a little, “W-well, it takes a while to get used to change, I’m sure you know that. And for some ponies, it can take longer than others. I’ve personally never met any other race besides ponies, so I don’t know how they might act. I know everyone’s different, even within their own race, so I’m sure most of them are very nice~” Firefly’s smile returned.

“Whatever you say,” Filly C conceded, not entirely believing her but otherwise not disagreeing. Eventually the two crossed town and eventually came upon the pet shop, where a cloaked zebra was just leaving with full saddle bags.

“Thank you Filly C, I hope we do meet again in the future,” Firefly said, nodding to the filly.

Filly C just shrugged, “knowing my luck, we probably will.” Turning around, FIlly C headed back to the bakery, waving a hoof behind her. “Don’t get killed and stuff!” She said, walking off down the road.

Firefly then walked over to the entrance of the pet shop, then watched as Ghost floated over to the cloaked zebra, and float in front of her eyes. “Ghost, come back over here!” Firefly trotted over to the ghost cat, then smiled at the zebra, “Hello~”

The zebra turned to the pony, smiling as her eyes drifted to the ghost cat. “Hmmm, a spirit is near, dare I ask, is it yours that is here?” She asked Firefly.

Firefly nodded, “Yeah, he’s mine, don’t worry, he’s no harm to anyone.” She smiled at the zebra.

“I can tell, he is not dangerous,” She chuckled, holding out her hoof, “prey tell, what brings you to a town so prosperous?”

Firefly smiled, “I’m just here because I heard of the best cat treats here~ And Emerald here wanted to try them.” The cat in the saddle bag meowed, and began to loudly purr shortly after.

“I see,” She chuckled again, pointing to the shop. “Look no further than here, for now, I must flee.” She then started off, offering a quick goodbye.

Firefly nodded, “Bye!” She then entered the store, looking around curiously.

The store was filled with different pets and different treats and toys for said pets. Entering the store, she was greeted by a green earth pony, “Hello, welcome to Pets Galore, how may I help you today?”

“I’m here cause I head the best cat treats were here~” Firefly explained, making sure that Emerald wouldn’t leave the saddlebag.

“Of course! We have just that!” The green pony lead the way down an aisle of cat supplies. “Does your cat like crunchy or chewy treats better?”

Firefly thought for a bit, “I believe crunchy.”

The earth pony grabbed a bag of salmon flavored crunchy treats, “Here you are, I’m sure she’ll love these.”

“Thank you so much~” Firefly smiled, then followed the pony back to the counter, “How much do I owe you?”

“15 bits,” The pony smiled as she rung up the treats.

Firefly had to move Emerald out of the way, and grabbed a small coin pouch. She counted out the necessary bits, and set them on the counter. “Again, thank you so much~”

“It’s no problem deary!” The green pony responded, flashing a wink.

Firefly walked out of the store, and opened the bag of treats. Emerald came out of the saddlebag and began to wail loudly, wanting to get her treats. “Calm down you goob~” Firefly lifted a treat out of the bag, and then dropped it into the awaiting mouth of her cat. Emerald chewed it up, and began to purr extremely loudly, and opened her mouth for more. Firefly gave her three more treats before closing the bag up and putting it back into her saddlebag.

As Emerald jumped back into her saddle bag, Firefly looked up and saw a white pegasus flying over head.

“Do you see it yet!” A mare called out, on the ground there were was a unicorn following the pegasus, orange/black mane bobbing along as she trotted forward.

“Nope!” The pegasus yelled, eyes locking onto Firefly’s form before he, to the utter glee of the unicorn, smacked into a bird and lost his control. “AWW SHIT! FUCKING BIRDS!” He bellowed in anger as he ended up crashing down, smacking into the the pet shop roof before sliding down and falling onto the ground, head first near Firefly. “OOF!”

“HAHAHAHAHA!” The unicorn guffawed as she trotted over, tears in her eyes.

Firefly pranced backwards, not wanting to get hit by the falling pegasus. “A-are you okay?!” She asked, her eyes wide in surprise.

The pegasus groaned, sitting up and rubbing his blue/black mane, clearing it of the dirt. “For fuck’s sake,” He cursed as he looked up at the bird, who seemed to be laughing as it flew away. “I’LL GET YOU BACK ONE OF THESE DAYS, CARL!” Shaking his head, he looked towards the other pegasus, “Sorry bout that miss.” He apologized, his voice considerably softer than before as he offered her a heartwarming smile to her.

“It’s okay, I’m just curious as to if you’re okay or not,” The orange furred pegasus looked at him with worry.

Trotting over to the two was the unicorn, who was wiping the tears from her eyes. Metallic leg clanking ever so slightly as she made her way over. “Hehehe, he’s been through worse.”

“True,” He agreed, winking at the pegasus, “I’ll be fine.”

“Oh, okay, that’s good~” Firefly then smiled brightly, and offered him a hoof to help him up.

Returning the smile, he took hold her hoof and stood up, ruffling his larger than normal wings before spreading them, giving them a quick shake to loosen any dirt that may have been caught in between the feathers.

“I’m glad you’re okay though,” Firefly said, then looked between the pegasus and unicorn, “I’m Firefly~”

Smiling again, he held out his hoof. “Nice ta meet ya Firefly, hehe.” He greeted, “I’m Dustchu, welcome to Ponyville.”

She smiled back at him, shaking his hoof, “You too, Dustchu~”

With a chuckle, he gestured to the unicorn who was standing near them, staring off into space. “This is my friend, Blast Powder.” He told her.

“Nice to meet you too, Blast Powder,” Firefly held out a hoof to the unicorn in front of her.

Blast Powder, however did nothing, only staring off into nothing with a blank look on her face, mouth open slightly in an ‘o’ shape as her eyes glazed over.

Before Firefly could do anything, Emerald jumped up and climbed on top of Firefly’s head, and batted at the bottom of Blast Powder’s mouth, claws retracted.

Dustchu just sat by, looking on as Powder did nothing to stop it, instead she kept staring.

Emerald put her claws out and clawed at her open bottom lip this time, hissing slightly for lack of attention.

Suddenly, Blast Powder’s eyes shot towards Emerald, and before the cat could do anything, Blast Powder stuck her tongue out and licked the cat’s face, dragging her tongue across the cat’s head and making a ‘Nyaaaah’ noise.

Emerald’s back went up as she fluffed up, a hiss escaping her, as she darted back into her saddlebag. Firefly looked at Blast Powder with confusion, then back to Emerald.

“Yeah, she uh… she does that...” Dustchu told Firefly, leaning in next to her ear and whispering to her as Blast Powder looked up into the sky with a dazed look.

“Uh, okay… so uh, earlier I heard Blast shout, did you find it? What are you trying to find?” Firefly asked, trying to change the subject.

Stepping to the side, Dustchu tilted his head slightly as he tapped the ground. “We’re trying to find a little thing that fell from the skies a few days ago when we came into town, think it might be dangerous.” He told her, in a quiet voice as a small group of ponies walked by. “I trust Twilight and all, but… this might be more than she can handle.”

“Princess Twilight asked you to find this object?” Firefly looked at him with wide eyes.

A half shrug. “Sorta, she told us there was something spotted and she wanted us to find it, but I’m worried about what it might be, and I don’t want anyone to get hurt.” He told her, eyes drifting towards the skies to their right where several weather pegasi were moving clouds. Among them, was a cyan colored pegasus, directing them with precise instructions.

“Huh, that looks like fun~” Firefly said, looking up at the pegasi above.

Now focusing on the group of pegasi, he sighed softly through his nostrils. Unknown to him, Powder was now focusing on him, watching his expression intently. “It’s a hard job, managing clouds, but they do it pretty well.” He commented, expression dropping to a subdued one, “takes guts to handle the big stuff...”

“I can imagine that being a hard job,” Firefly looked back at Dustchu, unsure of the expression on his face. “What you thinking Dustchu?”

Blinking, he shook his head before clearing his throat. “N-nothing,” turning to Powder, he said, “we should find that thing.” He turned away, trotting off and leaving Powder with Firefly.

“Huh, that’s odd, but anyways, I’ve got nothing to do, so do you think I can join you?” Firefly asked Blast Powder.

Giving a sad look towards Dustchu, she nodded. “Sure, just… give him some space for a bit, eh?”

“Okay, I can do that~” Firefly smiled, then began to walk towards the direction Dustchu did, but kept her distance. Blast Powder followed her, trotting by her side as they began their search.

After a time, Powder turned her head to the pegasus, “So...”

“Hmm?” Firefly looked towards the unicorn, seeing Ghost floating around out of the corner of her eye.

“Where’re you from? You don’t seem like a Cloudsdale type.” Powder noted, clearing her throat before flaring her magic, the black magical aura surrounding her horn before she retrieved a small box from her mane.

“Nope, not Cloudsdale, I’m actually from Canterlot~” Firefly smiled happily.

“Really?” The unicorn opened the small box, and pulled out a tube from it before popping it in her mouth, putting the box back in her mane before casting a quick fire spell to light the tip of it. “You don’t see many Pegasi out of Canterlot.”

Firefly’s eyes widened, as she pranced away, “U-uh, what’s that?” The pegasus eyed the stick with a little fear.

Powder raised an eyebrow, “I didn’t put a stick of dynamite in my mouth again and light it did I?” She wondered aloud. Rubbing her head as she pulled it out, spotting it wasn’t an explosive, she put it back in her mouth before inhaling. “Nope, its a smoke, they don’t have those in Canterlot?” She asked as she puffed out some smoke.

“Well, I’m sure the more wealthy ones do, but I was never around those, so I wouldn’t know,” Firefly shrugged, looking relieved, as she moved back over by the unicorn.

The unicorn nodded her head, “Rich jerks, stealing all the good stuff.” She held the cigarette in her magic away from her mouth, puffing out more smoke before using her magic to deftly shape it into a little ship and sent it flying away with a puff of air. “I’ve never been, personally. I’m from up north, like way north out of Equestria, with my sister and them.”

“Oh? That’s cool~” The pegasus smiled, watching as the ship flew away, with interest. The ship then dissipated due to Ghost going through the ship.

“Yep, if you like zero degree weather and blizzards, and all that.” She laughed, which devolved into a coughing fit that resulted in her banging her metal leg against her chest. “Fuck me.”

“A-are you okay?” Firefly looked at her with worried eyes.

Powder waved her prosthetic hoof, “Yeah yeah,” She coughed again, shaking her head before spitting onto the ground to their right away from anyone. “My lungs are just made of crap.”

“They wouldn’t be like that if you stopped smoking.” Dustchu quipped from up ahead, his eyes darting back to look at them both.

“Hey since you’re from up north, I bet it’s easy to, chill out~” Firefly giggled, along with Emerald beginning to purr.

Dustchu shook his head with a chuckle, Powder joining him. “Ohhhohoh,” Dustchu grinned, his blue eyes locking on Firefly’s, “That joke was cold.”

Firefly began to laugh, “Maybe you should take a chill pill.”

“Heheh, I would but I’d probably get frostbite.”

“It seems you’re giving people, the chills!”

“Tends to happen when people give me the cold shoulder.”

“Well, you need to not get cold hooves on me.”

Powder was laughing next to them, but shook her head and said, “Ooooh goddess stop it, you two are horrible!” She snorted and giggled, walking ahead of them. “You two should get a room.”

“These are snow joke, heh?” Firefly giggled, getting in one last one.

Determined to be the one with the last laugh, Dustchu replied to Powder, “Well, we would but we’d probably get snowed in.”

“It may also hail upon us, those weird weather patterns, you know?” Firefly countered.

The male pegasus made to reply, but stopped. “Uuhh… crap… I’m out of puns.”

“Good!” Powder cackled, cigarette clenched between her lips. “You two are horrible.”

“Ha! Ha!” Firefly went up on her hind legs, and kicked her front legs out in victory, her wings going out for balance. “Don’t worry, Dustchu, I’ve beaten everypony with my punny jokes.” She dropped back down onto all four legs again.

A chuckle from the snow white pegasus, “hehehe, alright I concede to you.” He told her, shaking his head as they continued walking.

“So, do we even know what this thing looks like?” Firefly then asked, looking between the two.

A brief moment of silence, which was eventually broken by their leader. “I… have a hunch as to what it looks like,” he told her.

“And what might that be, if you don’t mind me asking of course~” Firefly smiled, looking at him.

“A steel case, about as big as a briefcase.” Dustchu said, eyes darting back and forth to the alleyways of the buildings. “Bulky, chrome colored, probably has an umbrella symbol on the front of it.”

“Okay~” Firefly then spread her wings, seeming to be stretching them out, before curling them back up against her flanks. Ghost decided to rest on top of Dustchu’s head, the pegasus not able to feel the ghost, making Firefly laugh a little.

The sound of wings flapping caught their attention, and upon looking they noticed a light gray mare flying towards them. She landed in front of Dustchu, wings flared outward. The mare was about his height, with a bright yellow/black mane and tail that was spiky, and messy but in a way that made her look good. Down one side of her face was a long braid that reached her chin, and bright yellow eyes locked on his blue ones.

“Find it yet?” She asked, her voice almost like Blast Powder’s, but lighter and more tomboyish and less gritty.

He shook his head, much to her dismay. “Nope, you?”

“Nada,” she sighed, folding her wings to her sides before casting a look at the two ponies behind him. “Hey sis!” She then looked at Firefly, then back to Dustchu, then back to her, “finally took my advice and got a girlfriend?”

Firefly’s eyes went wide, “O-oh, n-no! I’m just helping to try and find the thing!” She quickly explained.

The only male of the group sighed heavily, “Fusey, can you not?” He asked, in an almost pleading voice.

Fuse just chuckled, trotting over to the mare and giving her a look over. “Mmm, I won’t lie, she’s kinda cute.” She admitted, “got a boyfriend?” She asked Firefly, a teasing tone to her voice as Powder watched on.

“U-uh, no, I don’t,” Firefly’s orange ears pressed against the back of her head, as she took a small step back from the other Pegasus. Her own orange-red eyes looking on with some fear as well.

Dustchu however came to her rescue, grabbing Fuse with his wing and pulling her aside to have a few choice words with her. Powder made her way over to the mare, patting her on the back.

“Sorry about my sister,” She whispered as Dustchu and Fuse spoke to one another out of earshot of the two.

“Uh… i-it’s okay, just didn’t expect it, that’s all,” Firefly awkwardly laughed it off, her ears returning back to their normal positions.

An understanding nod. “She’s just trying to help Dustchu is all, can’t fault her for that.”

The pegasus shook her head, “Well, it’s nice of her to help him, but why would he need a girlfriend, he seems to have friends~”

Powder bit her lip, putting out her smoke before saying, “It’s… complicated, I shouldn’t tell.” She looked at Dustchu, who was frowning at a dejected looking Fuse. “He might tell you, maybe, if he trusts you that is.”

“Okay~” Firefly smiled, “I won’t force you or him to tell me, so no worries there~” She looked over at the two pegasi, curiously.

After finishing up, both made their way back over, Dustchu nudging Fuse forward. She sighed, looking at Firefly. “I’m sorry for acting like a weirdo.” She said, puffing out her cheek and kicking a small pebble across the ground.

Firefly smiled, “It’s okay~” Emerald then meowed from her saddlebag, and she looked back at the cat, happily.

A thrilling noise sounded, almost a bit too quiet to hear except for those gathered together. And it was coming from Dustchu’s head, specifically his mane. Slowly, a small blue round head popped out, followed by a pair of wings and a pair of big lime green eyes.

Firefly looked at the head and wings with intrigued curiosity, “What’s that?!” She asked, sounding excited.

The little critter popped out of his mane and flew towards the mare, Dustchu chuckled. “Well Firefly, this is my buddy,” He gestured to the small bug, which was bobbing in the air happily. “Navi!”

“D’aawww! He’s so cuuuute~” Firefly cooed happily.

Navi buzzed happily, smiling as he darted around Firefly’s head. Making happy thrilling noises.

Firefly held out a hoof to the little parasprite, while Emerald tried to swat at the bug. “Emerald, sit down.” The cat looked angry, but reluctantly went back into the saddlebag.

Navi landed on Firefly’s hoof with a smile as Dustchu grinned. “Friendly little bugger he is.”

“Shame more people don’t try to keep them as pets, or friends,” Fuse muttered sadly.

“Why’s that?” Firefly asked, as she booped her nose against the parasprites head.

“Parasprites don’t have a good reputation around these parts,” Powder told her, smiling at Navi. “Mostly cause if they eat a bunch of stuff, they reproduce like crazy and can end up destroying entire crops in a night.”

“I still remember how Twilight messed them up, hehe.” Fuse laughed.

Firefly looked at the parasprite with curiosity, “You can do that, little one?” She asked the parasprite.

Dustchu shook his head, “not this one,” The pegasus sat down on his haunches, “He was kept in a lab and experimented on, some ponies in Canterlot,” he spat, venom in his tone, “tried to find a way to kill em all off.”

Firefly’s ears went back against her head as she looked away from the little parasprite. “I’m sorry…” she whispered, before gently nosing the parasprite off of her hoof, then put her hoof down.

“Should have seen Dustchu when he heard about it,” Powder chimed in, nudging Firefly gently. “He was so pissed, I thought he was going to set the lab on fire.”

A dry chuckle from the pegasus. “I contemplated it, actually.”

Firefly murmured to herself, “good thing I ran away from home…”

“Heheh, it’s not your fault they did it,” Fuse told her, as Navi landed on her nose, as if to say it was cool and she shouldn’t worry about it.

Firefly gave a small sad smile, happy that Navi didn’t know of her past.

“I FOUND A SHINY!” BP cried suddenly, giggling madly as she spun around in an alleyway near them. The mare having wandered off shortly after Navi landed on the pegasus’ nose.

Firefly tried to look to where the cry came from, but couldn’t see past the parasprite on her nose, “Huh? What is it?”

Dustchu and Fuse looked over as Navi perched himself on Firefly’s head, BP spun herself out of the alleyway with a large steel case in her magic. “Shiny shiny shiny~”

“You found it!” Dustchu cried, grinning as he galloped over to her.

Firefly followed after Dustchu, trying to make sure that Navi didn’t go flying off her head. “I wonder what’s in it…”

As the three made their way over, Dustchu had taken the case from BP, much to her dismay as she pouted, and placed it on the ground carefully. His hooves shook slightly, and his blue eyes blinked as he eyed the umbrella symbol on the case. To anyone else, it would have looked odd, given its size and material, as well as the symbol.

But he knew... exactly what it was

“What is it, Dustchu?” Firefly asked, having caught up to the stallion.

Fuse and BP backed off to one side as he slowly felt around the sides, eventually finding a sort of release. Once he hit it, there was a loud snap-hiss noise as the case lid slowly opened up. And inside, there were four containers, made of glass with metal caps on the ends, and inside of each one, were two intersecting lines of a bright blue going from top to bottom in a twisting circular pattern.

Dustchu sucked in a breath sharply, hoof trembling as he quickly closed the case. Slamming it shut and placing his hooves on the lid in a way one would do if they were scared something would escape.

“What was that?!” Firefly asked with fascination deep in her voice, her eyes sparkling slightly.

Shaking slightly, he turned to look at the mare standing beside him. And if anyone looked him straight in the eyes, they would have seen many things, but out of all of them was one that stood out… fear. “Something… that in the wrong hooves, could very well destroy this world.” He uttered darkly, his mind flashing back to the past as he shook.

Firefly’s ears pressed against her head upon hearing that, “B-but how? I don’t understand…”

Dustchu didn’t answer, instead only standing up and throwing the chest on his withers before quickly trotting away. Fuse and Powder watched him go, standing by FIrefly’s side with somewhat troubled looks on their faces.

“What was that about?” Firefly looked confused, unsure of what to think.

“He’s… he’s had some tough times, kid,” Powder told her, pulling another cigarette out and hoofing one over to her sister.

“Oh…” Firefly watched him trot away, wanting to go after him, but thinking against it.

“We should go after him, make sure nothing goes wrong with the Princess.” Fuse told her sister. The latter nodded and followed after her friend, Fuse waited and turned towards Firefly as Navi fluttered between the two. “Hey, uh… thanks for, helping and talking to him.” She said, “I appreciate you helping him out.”

“Well, I try to help everypony out, but do you mind if I hang around a bit more? I’m interested as to where this will go. But I mean, if you can’t, I understand,” Firefly gave a fake cheery smile, trying to not look bummed.

“Ehh, sure I guess.” Fuse shrugged, “you don’t have to.” She said, flaring her wings as Blast Powder winked away, disappearing in a puff of black smoke.

The fake smile turned into a real one, as she prepared to take off with Fuse, looking excited, “Thank you~”

With a grin, Fuse took off as Navi perched himself in Firefly’s mane, settling in so he wouldn’t end up being thrown out by their flying. The orange pegasus flew after Fuse, after making sure Navi was good, easily able to catch up with the other Pegasus.