The next morning found the cat pony Fluffy Puff relaxing on a street bench as if it were a kind of bed, stretching both her body and her wings on occasion. She had just enjoyed a relaxing nap a while back and was looking forward to exploring her city once more. Sure, she had been over it several times, but there was always something new to find if she looked hard enough.

Max on the other hand was able to get his new apartment key at the time last night and for that he was thankful to a certain cat pony. The next morning looked rather beautiful and sunny and seemed like a perfect for human to go out and explore the city a little more.

As it so happened, he ended up walking by the area where Fluffy was stretching at. When the cat pony noticed him, she seemed to light up right away.

"Max? Hi!" she greeted, sitting up on the bench.

Max looked towards her direction and waved at her, smiling a little as he went towards her. "Oh, hello again, Fluffy."

"What brings you out here on this lovely morning?" the cat pony inquired.

"Well... you said this city is full of surprises, right?" Max said to her then in a humorous manner added. "Let's just say... I'm putting that statement to test..."

"Aha... Well, word of advice then; do NOT visit the pub on Apple Street. It makes terrible drinks," Fluffy Puff told him, making a look of disgust in the process.

"Mhm…” Max gave a seemingly serious nod. "I'll keep that in mind then. So, what were you doing here? Enjoying the beautiful morning?"

"That and stretching a bit," the cat pony explained. "So... where do you want to go today?"

"Well... I still don't know much about the city," Max admitted sheepishly. "You're living here for quite a while, right? What are some good places to see here?"

"Hmm... the park seems like a nice place at this hour," Fluffy suggested. "I can take you there if you'd like."

"Hmm... why not?" Max shrugged with a small smile. "I guess, having a guide will be really helpful."

"Great! Follow me," she said, jumping from the bench and trotting down the sidewalk.

Max nodded and went after her, taking in the sceneries around him before looking at cat pony who was walking ahead of his once again. She seemed to notice his gaze and looked back for a moment with a questioning expression.

"What are you staring at?" she asked him, not sounding offended, but a bit curious.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing... I was just thinking about something... that's all," Max told her with a slightly apologetic tone. "I mean... it's just been a day, and I already made a new friend... it's been a pretty amazing start actually..."

"Heh. It is funny how fate works sometimes," the cat pony admitted, turning back to look ahead at where they were walking.

"True," Max agreed with a nod.

In a while, they soon came across a kind of city park which seemed to be filled with just the right mixture of trees and walkways, and in the distance there was even a set of playground equipment.

"Welcome to the park," Fluffy said, gesturing around.

"It's beautiful," Max said looking around at the scenery.

"You like it, then?" Fluffy asked, looking back to him.

"I do like it," Max nodded with reassurance.

"That's good to hear!" Fluffy cheered. "However, I will give you a bit of a warning... some of the monster ponies like to hang out here, other than my pride, and... it can be awkward sometimes. Not that they're bad, but... well, most of them are a bit lonely..."

Max gave a small nod at this and then made a small chuckle as he jokingly said. "Well, as long as I am not kidnapped or adopted by someone against my will... I will be fine."

"They like to hang out near the trees over there," Fluffy Puff told him, gesturing towards a grove nearby. "One of them particularly likes the shade, especially since she's cold-blooded."

Max gave a small nod at this. "Mhm," before he walked inside the park, but then he suddenly stopped on his tracks before he glanced at her, a small sheepish smile crossing his face. "Well... if you like we both can hang out here for a while."

"If you want. I'm good either way," she shrugged.

"Hmm... then I guess I will be glad to have a friend by my side," he said thoughtfully.

"Alright then," the cat pony nodded, then trotted closer to him and said, "This may sound stupid... but do you have yarn or string on you?"

"I guess," Max gave a small shrug before pulling out a string from his pocket, but wasn't much surprise as she asked for this.

Immediately, her expression changed into one of childlike glee and she started making what sounded like mewing as she started batting at it with one of her hooves. It was ironically cute, even for a pony.

Max giggled and almost squealed as he saw this as even though he was half expecting this, but he didn't know this would this darn cute to look at.

Fluffy batted at it some more, and even laughed aloud as she kept attacking the string. Max chuckled as well and looking at the situations, decided to sit there on the grass as he held the string at a certain height where she carried on batting this and he just kept looking at this.

It was a really adorable to look at, and she looked kinda cute as she was doing this.

"Hey, who said you could entice the kitty cat with her love of string?" a female's voice suddenly spoke up, making Max turn his head to see who had spoken. What he saw was a black pony mare, like an earth pony, but her mane and tail were made of fire, a pair of large horns stood just in front of her ears, and her eyes, while kind and giving an amused expression, looked very much like the eyes of a snake or dragon.

Max was slightly intimidated at first but after noticing her expressions, he couldn't help but instantly gave a sheepish smile, but was a little confused at the moment that what should he say to her statement.

“Uh…”

The monster pony (that much was clear off the bat) gave a chuckle at his confusion.

"It's alright. You're not in trouble. Just glad to see Fluffy Puff having fun," she said, then held out her hoof. "They call me Obsidian Blaze, or Blaze for short. I'm what you'd call an Infernal."

Max looked at her hoof for a couple second before he held his hand out as well for a hand/hoof shake and greeted her, as his confusion was lessened to some extent. "My name's Max. Nice to meet you Blaze."

"Hi Blaze..." Fluffy greeted, still mostly concentrating on the string. Blaze chuckled.

"Hello Fluffy Puff," she said.

"So, you both are friends?" Max asked curiously, even though that much was more than clear.

"Mhm! Known each other for almost nine years now," Blaze nodded. "We met when I first came to live here, and... well, it kinda took off from there."

Eventually, Fluffy stopped batting at the string and got a sheepish smile.

"I... look silly right now, don't I?" she asked while blushing.

"I dunno. I thought it was cute," Blaze spoke up.

"You think anything cat-related is cute," Fluffy pointed out.

"It's true," the Infernal agreed with a shrug. "They're my weakness. But can ya blame me? The closest I ever got to seeing a cat in Tartarus tried to eat me. Emphasis on tried."

Max couldn't help but gave a small chuckle at this. "So... I'm guessing that cats are really dangerous beast back there..."

"Well, what we call cats at least," Blaze admitted, then she said, "Hey, the rest of the gang are by the trees over there."

"Oh... uh, are you sure he can handle them?" Fluffy asked her.

"Come on, Fluffy. You're saying it as if they are gonna shove their tongues down his throat the moment they see him," Blaze chuckled, then added in Max's direction, "Though even if you're into that, you may want to be careful how friendly you get with Angeline; she may take it the wrong way."

Max gave her statement a little thought before nodding in understanding. Even though, it might not sound like the best of the ideas out there but not every day one gets a chance to hangout with a group of monster pony friends and that thought could intrigue anyone who had an adventurous mind like the human boy Max.

"Sure, I'll be careful," he said reassuringly.

"Okay then! I think you'll do fine. Follow me," Blaze said, then started trotting towards the grove.

"Oh boy..." Fluffy groaned slightly, then said with a chuckle, "Well, might as well."

Max gave a small smile as he along with Fluffy went after Blaze towards that tree.

Author's Note

I guess, I'll leave it on that. Next time, more monster ponies.
By the way, Infernal are my own creation.