Napalm struggled to open the cupboard doors with his hooves. The lack of fingers was really hard to get used to, and he began to wonder how the ponies could function without them. After getting the door open, he sighed at the sight of more animal food.
"Ugh, doesn't any of this stuff come in a cardboard box?" Napalm said to himself. "Stupid ponies."
Napalm had spent the better part of an hour searching Fluttershy's cottage for any cardboard lying around. All he could find was animal chow and leftover confetti from the party. Napalm yawned, realizing how late it was. He didn't need Fluttershy to know he was going through her things, so he waited until after bedtime.
A fire was crackling in the living room, shielding the inside from the cold night. Napalm stared down at the base of the fireplace where Hobbes was sleeping. Fluttershy had curled up in a ball lying next to his tummy, and they slept peacefully together by the warm flames. The sight was enough to make Napalm's heart melt.
"Aw, they look cute sleeping together..." he said to himself without thinking. "Wait, no! Cute is gross! Who am I, Susie Derkins? Yuck!"
Napalm punished himself mentally for thinking like a girl as he jumped up onto the couch. He got as comfortable as he could and fell asleep quickly.
Despite being in another world, Napalm's internal clock was on human world time. That's why he suddenly burst up from his bed with excitement.
"YEAH! IT'S SATURDAY!" he screamed, waking up Hobbes and Fluttershy.
"AAH! What's going on?" Fluttershy squealed as she hid behind Hobbes.
"Oops." replied Napalm. "I forgot you guys were sleeping."
Hobbes let out a deep yawn while stretching across the floor. "Ugh, can't a tiger get his morning snooze in?"
"Oh my, what time is it?" Fluttershy asked while rubbing her eyes. Her eyes caught the clock. "Six o-clock? Wow, your tribe must wake up early Napalm."
"Uh yeah, I guess I'm just used to it. Sorry about that."
"It's all right, I have to feed the animals anyways. What are you two going to do today?"
"Well..." started Hobbes. "I was thinking of taking a long nap, and-"
"Actually, we were going to explore the town since we're new here." Napalm interrupted, receiving a glance from Hobbes.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea!" Fluttershy replied. "Be sure to visit Twilight later. She wants to know more about you."
"Yeah, no problem!" Napalm lied. He had no intention of going to Twilight's place. 'We have to avoid her as much as possible. Too many questions, and she'll see past my lies. Our cover will be blown.'
Outside, the morning sun was beginning rise in the sky. Many of Fluttershy's animals were already up and about, waiting to be fed. Napalm and Hobbes set off down the path towards town, but Napalm's attention was to the forest behind the cottage.
These trees were much darker, and stood more menacingly than the others. Just looking at the treeline sent a chill down Napalm's spine.
"That forest sure looks creepy, doesn't it Hobbes?" he stated.
"If talking ponies exist here, I don't want to know what lives in there." Hobbes replied.
"Probably some three-legged tentacle monster with large fangs and razor-sharp claws." Napalm held his forelegs out in front of him and barred his teeth for effect. "It probably sneaks into the town at night and snatches up ponies while they're asleep."
"Well, whatever it is that lives in there, I don't want to find out. Monsters give me the willies."
"Relax Hobbes, I doubt there's any cardboard in the middle of the woods. Let's see if we can find a dumpster or something."
They eventually made it into town, and Napalm quickly scanned the alleyways for any cardboard left for recycling. As they searched, Napalm realized something.
"Hey Hobbes, why are we here?" he asked.
"Because you got us stranded here." Hobbes answered.
"No, I mean, why did the wormhole drop us of here?"
"How should I know? Does it matter?"
"Well, the transporter takes you to where you want to go, from reading certain neural receptors in your brain. A world full of ponies and happiness would be the last place I'd want to go. Why on Earth would the transporter send us here when I had a set destination? We can't place the blame on the safeguards, either. The safeguards were only meant to protect the cardboard box, its mechanisms, and its travelers and suplies during the trip. We still should of materialized at our original world."
"Maybe you subconsciously like ponies!" Hobbes teased.
"WHAT? Maybe you'd subconsciously like a knuckle sandwich!" Napalm shook his foreleg in front of Hobbes.
"Ha! Ponies don't even have knuckles!"
"Oh, you think you're so smart now, do you?"
"I don't have to think that. Tigers are naturally gifted." Hobbes crossed his arms with pride.
"I'll show you a gift!"
Napalm leaped onto Hobbes, and tried to hit him with his hooves. Hobbes attempted to claw him in response, and the chaos created a dust cloud as they fought. They insulted one another between blows.
"Flea bag!"
"Moron!"
"Pea brain!"
The two were too busy fighting that they didn't notice the group of fillies watching them. A yellow earth pony with a red mane and a bow tie spoke first.
"Um, what are ya'll doin'?" she asked with a southern accent.
They stopped fighting, and both Napalm and Hobbes were covered with dirt and scratches. Alongside the yellow filly was an orange pegasus with a purple mane, and a white unicorn with a light purple mane with streaks of violet.
"Oh, uh, sometimes Hobbes and I wrestle to test our physical strength. It's a common practice in our tribe." Napalm answered.
"That's right!" The pegasus exclaimed. "You're the jungle boy and the talking tiger!"
"DON'T call me that."
"I'm Scootaloo." the pegasus greeted.
"I'm Applebloom." stated the earth pony.
"And I'm Sweetiebelle." said the unicorn.
"And my name is Ca- Napalm, not jungle boy. And this is Hobbes."
"What? You mean I can't introduce myself?" Hobbes whined.
"Nice to meet ya'll!" said Applebloom. "What kind of cutie marks do you get in your tribe?"
"Yeah, do you have really cool ones?" asked Scootaloo.
"You don't have your cutie mark yet!" stated Sweetebelle. "Maybe you can become a Cutie Mark Crusader!"
"A Cutie Mark what?" Napalm tilted his head.
"A CUTIE MARK CRUSADER!" all three fillies yelled as they jumped into the air. Napalm and Hobbes covered their ears in response.
"We're a group of ponies without cutie marks on a quest to well, find our cutie marks!" said Scootaloo.
"We've been trying forever to find our special talents!" exclaimed Applebloom. "I heard that you were on a quest to find yours too! We could all work together!"
The last thing on Napalm's mind was to hang around with a group of girls trying to find their magic butt tattoo. Human or pony, girls were still gross.
"Aw, Hobbes is so warm and fuzzy!" stated Sweetiebelle as she hugged Hobbes' chest.
"Crusading?" said Hobbes, hugging the filly back. "That sounds like fun! I wanna be a crusader too!"
"WHAT?!" Napalm shrieked.
"All right!" said Scootaloo. "C'mon! We were going to find our cutie marks in pulling pranks!"
"I don't know, we could get in a lot of trouble." Applebloom replied.
"There's nothing wrong with a couple of harmless pranks!" stated Sweetiebelle. "Pinkie Pie does them all the time!"
"Napalm and I pull pranks all the time back home!" said Hobbes.
"Hobbes, shut up!" objected Napalm.
"Really? That's so cool!" beamed Scootaloo. "Can you teach us any cool pranks?"
"Hold on, I need to speak with my tiger."
Napalm pulled Hobbes away from earshot.
"What is wrong with you Hobbes? Hanging out with the ponies will only slow down our progress! Not to mention, they're girls! Gross, slimy, girls!"
"Come on Napalm! Doesn't crusading sound like fun?"
"They're only doing it for their magic butt tattoos! You can't even get one!"
Hobbes sneered. "You're just jealous because I'm such a hit with the ladies."
"Maybe you're just stupid!"
"Well, maybe you're just a lump of gravy!"
"I'll give you a lump to worry about!"
Again, Napalm leaped on Hobbes, biting his ear. Hobbes clawed away at his attacker, and another cloud of dust formed around them. Applebloom, Sweetiebelle, and Scootaloo watched in more confusion.
"Um, I thought we was gonna find our cutie marks in pullin' pranks, not wrestling." stated Applebloom.
Eventually, Hobbes pinned Napalm to the ground, growling. He struggled to move, but he was no match for the tiger's strength.
"All right, FINE. We'll go crusading with them. Happy now?" said Napalm, defeated.
"Oh boy!" beamed Hobbes. "So what are we gonna do first?" he asked the crusaders.
"Well, we don't really know any kinds of pranks." admitted Scootaloo. "We were hoping you could help us."
Napalm wiggled his way out of Hobbe's grasp, with ideas forming in his head.
"Do you girls have any balloons?"