Chapter 1: A New Friend? [Edited]

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The town of Ponyville was certainly in a busy state today as pony trotted about to complete their tasks, and fulfill their jobs. However there was one pony, or specifically a foal, that wasn’t out and about like the others. Down at Carousel Boutique poor little Sweetie Belle was all by her lonesome for the day, and why is that? both of her best friends were unable to play or hang out with her today, or even for the next few days. Apple Bloom was too busy down at her family’s farm, as she has to stay at the farm as it was Zap Apple season, so her family needs her to help prepare to harvest the apples and then make them into Zap Apple Jam, which was a rare and very valuable jam for the family to sell not only at the Ponyville market but also at other town markets. So the earth pony filly wouldn’t be able to be with Sweetie because of this. As for the unicorns friend Scootaloo, the pegasus filly was staying at her aunt’s house in Greenwood due to some issues at her house, which was a bit of a bad termite probably, so she wouldn’t be back for a few more days until the bugs were gone. As well as repairing any part of the house that was damaged, and ensure no further infestations would be possible.

So Sweetie Belle was left all by her lonesome in her room at her sisters store, as she laid on the floor trying to figure out what she should do today. She briefly thought about going to see if other foals wanted to play with her, but the little unicorn wasn’t really well-acquainted with any pony else from her class as she mostly stuck by her friends. Sweetie thought that maybe she could hang out with her sister but lately Rarity has been very busy with work, so she decided to not get in her sisters way, or accidently cause problems that might take up Rarity’s time to clean up.

“UGH! I’m so bored, there’s nothing to do!” Sweetie Belle bemoaned as she pushes herself across the floor while her face scrunches up in a rather sour mood being unable to think of something to do today. From across the hall where her sisters room was Rarity peaked her head out of her own room and looked down at her sister through her open door.

“Sweetie Belle? What in Equestria are you doing?” the older mare asked.

“I’m bored.” The filly simply retorted as she continued her sliding across the ground, trying to at least find semblance of fun in her action. But it wasn’t working. Rarity stepped out into the hall way as she began to speak.

“Sweetie Belle if you’re really that bored why don’t you go out and find something to do, or maybe find your friends to play with?” Rarity says as she telekinetically places her newest creations on a few of her poniequins in her room.

“But there’s nothing to do today. Especially with my friends either too busy with work, or being out of town for a few days.” Sweetie stated as she ceased her sliding and started rolling around before stopping and looking up over to her sister and decided to take a shot in the dark.

“Do you need help with anything Rarity?” the filly asked in which the older mare shook her head before responding.

“Not at the—.” Rarity began talking before she stopped and developed a thoughtful look on her face, before she looked over her shoulder back into her room.

“Actually, could you run & do a quick errand for me?”

“Sure!” Sweetie says excitedly as she hoped to her hooves finally being able to do something, as for Rarity she smiled before she begin explaining what she needed the little sister to do.

“I need a few fabrics from Stitch Works fabric’s shop to finish some of my designs. I need one that’s Rosey Red, Violet Purple and…” Rarity tapped her chin as she runs through the inventory of fabric colors she has in her head.

“Oh yes! And I also need a Golden Yellow.”

Sweetie Belle quickly levitated a piece of paper and a quill from her desk and swiftly wrote down the colors that Rarity had just listed off. Once the filly had the colors written down, Rarity summoned a small pouch of bits from her room and hoofed it to her sister who took the pouch and placed it, and the list, into her nearby saddlebags which were then strapped to her. Leaving the boutique with renewed childish vigor to do something, the little filly made her way down the shops flight of stairs and outside, where she then rounded around the building and grabbed the red wagon that she and the other members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders use for their antics, and headed out to fulfill the task that her older sister has entrusted to her. Trotting through the busy streets of Ponyville Sweetie Belle hummed a little tune to herself as she makes her way to the fabric store, and as she goes about her task she spies a few of her other classmates from school, one of which was Twist who was out with her mom, Button Mash was as usual at the town’s arcade trying to beat a few of his friends high scores on one of the games, and a few other foals that she only knows by name and sight.

As she continues to make her way through the town, the filly spotted a pair of foals that she knows all-to-well and tried to not make herself visible to them, and decides to take a longer route to the shop. The last thing that she needed was to be harassed by Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara for whatever petty little thing they could come up with, and then try to bully or belittle her.

It took an extra few minutes but eventually the determined little filly finally reached her destination, Stitch Works Fabrics and Swatches. the filly parked the little wagon she’s been towing along beside the shops door and headed inside, where upon entering the shop there were a few other ponies trotting about, aside from the receptionist & the owner, and they all appeared to be mostly browsing rather than looking for anything to buy. Taking the list out from her saddlebags Sweetie Belle set out to look for the fabrics her sister needed, and once she found she carefully levitated them one-by-one to the front counter, as they were too heavy for her to carry all at once. After double checking to make sure she got the right colors, the filly then paid for the fabrics at the counter and brought them outside to the wagon, with help from the receptionist.

“Alright, now that I got Rarity’s fabrics time to head back and show Rarity how well I did!”

Sweetie mused to herself in a very happy and proud moment, as she loaded the wagon with the last of the fabrics and began towing the wagon, which was going to take a bit longer as the wagon was fairly heavy now for the filly to pull along. As she was pulling the wagon her stomach gave a small little growl.

“I guess its getting close to lunch time.” Sweetie murmured to herself as she continued trotting.

“I still have a few bits left over from what Rarity gave me. I don’t think she’ll mind if I get something from Sugarcube Corner or Bonbon’s Candy Shack.” Sweetie aloud as she thought about the idea more.

Several minutes of pondering, and towing, Sweetie continues to trot her way through the town while the fabrics inside the wagon jostled and wobbled a little bit as the red wagon road across the dirt road. The filly soon arrived at the central square of town where she could see both Sugarcube Corner & Bonbon’s Candy Shack, which caused her stomach to grumble a bit more louder this time as the thoughts of sweets and candy came to her. deciding that it would probably be fine Sweetie Belle made her way to Sugarcube Corner for a quick little snack.

Parking the wagon outside the building Sweetie made her way into the shop and was assaulted by the sweet, sweet smells of pies, cakes, donuts, ice creams, cookies, and many more sugary delights. Checking on how many bits were left over from the initial purchase, the filly browsed about a bit looking for anything to snack on, while not using up all of the left over bits. A few moments went by, and Sweetie Belle eventually left the shop and was now carrying a small bag of a dozen assorted cookies, one of which was being chewed on and eaten by the little filly as she continued to drag the wagon of fabrics back to the boutique. Without any more delays or stops Sweetie Belle made it back to her sisters boutique and after parking the wagon in its usual place in the backyard, the little filly opened the backdoor and started floating each swatch of fabric over to the table in the kitchen.

“Rarity! I’m back!” Sweetie Belle called out after she placed the last swatch on the table, and as she did so the sound of hooves coming down the steps could be heard before Rarity came trotting through the kitchen door.

“I got the fabrics you asked for.” the filly said as she gestured to the table.

“Oh Sweetie Belle you’re an absolute doll. Thank you.” Rarity said as she leans down, and gives her sister a kiss on the cheek causing the filly to giggle happily, but the older pony then noticed the bag of cookies that Sweetie was holding suspended in her magical aura. The filly noticed this and looked a little ashamed as she spoke up.

“I used some of the left over bits to by a snack. You don’t mind, do you?” Sweetie asked as she peered up to her sister, only to see Rarity shake her head before giving her a small smile.

“After doing such an excellent job in getting the fabrics I need, I believe your more than earned those cookies.”

Sweetie Belle smiled as she offered one of her treats to her sister, who took it and started to delicately nibble on it. Once the older mare had finished her cookie Rarity then took the swatches in her own magical aura, and headed back out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her work room, leaving Sweetie alone again. But this time the filly wasn’t as defused by boredom prior to her shopping mission, instead the little chore actually gave the filly a nice little boost motivation to go out and search for something to do.

Leaving the boutique behind her the unicorn filly started to travel around town, looking for something to either entertain herself, possibly get her cutie mark, or even find someplace to play. Eventually her aimless wandering through the town brought her to the park where many of the other foals around her age were either playing with each other, or with their families, or even having picnics with said families. As the filly was looking around the park looking for a group of fouls she might be able to play with, something far off in the distance got every ponies attention. Off in the Everfree Forest, every pony in the park could see flashes of blue lights followed by sudden, and very pronounced, booming sounds! More and more of these flashes of lights and booming sounds continued to emit and rupture from the direction of the eerie forest, make most if not all of the ponies in the park to immediately bolt off.

Now most ponies would run away and avoid being even close to the forest after seeing such a thing, especially the parents with their foals and yearlings as they don’t want them being around something potentially dangerous. But for an adventurous and curious filly like Sweetie Belle, her mind was only buzzing with curiosity and questions. So as the other ponies were running out of the park, the little filly made her way to the Everfree forest and as she came closer & closer to the forest, there were a few more bursts of blue light and booming sounds before they stopped as the filly drew near. While Sweetie was a little afraid of the booming sounds, and distant animal cries within the woods, her overall foal curiosity continued to spur her forward until she entered the Everfree, which the little filly then tried to find the sources of the flashes and sounds. But so far as she went deeper and deeper into the thick lining of trees she didn’t see anything, aside from foliage.

“What in Equestria could’ve been causing all those booms?” Sweetie muttered to herself as she rounds a section of thick brushes as she continues in her search.

As she moved through the thick brushes of the forest Sweetie Belle came upon a small clearing, but as she entered the clearing her attention was quickly drawn away from the trees, bushes, and the scattered pieces of wood, and over to a small purple, purple…something. The little filly trotted up to the small thing and started to give it a good look over to see what it was. The object was some sort of small creature that had a light purple top, and a darker purple bottom with a small ring of green dots separating the two purple halves, and a pair of what look like antenna on its round body. But the filly quickly noticed that the little creature was covered in bruises and small cuts, and its little murmurs of pain caused the filly to feel bad for the cute little creature.

“Oh you poor little thing!” Sweetie said with a tone of sadness in her voice as she then reached out to the little creature, and when it opened its little eyes it looked terrified as it looked up to her and tried back away from the filly.

“No, no, no its okay! I’m not going to hurt you.” the filly said in a calm voice as she tried to reassure the little creature, although it didn’t seem to fully trust Sweetie, yet it was too weak to try to do anything and collapsed to the ground.

“There, there.” Sweetie said as she brings the little creature into her forelegs.

“It’s going to be okay.” Using her magic the little unicorn reached into her cookie bag and plucked one of them from the bag and offered it to the creature.

“Here eat this.” The little squishy creature looked at the cookie, gave it a small sniff, before taking a small bite. But after that bite the creature ate the cookie whole.

“There we go.” Sweetie said as she gently pets the creatures head feeling how soft and jelly-like its body was, while it murmured more calming as it sat in the fillies lap.

“I should probably take you to Fluttershy’s, she’ll be able to help you get better.” The filly commented as she levitates another cookie to the creature, who ate it in manageable bites, instead of wolfing it down in one gulp. Sweetie then placed the creature back onto the ground, causing it to look at her with confusion, before the little filly levitated it up onto her back.

“Now let’s go see if—”

Sweetie was cut off as she heard something rattle behind her, which caused her to ‘eep’ loudly and take a few steps back. Turning to look behind her the little unicorn saw all of the scattered pieces of wood, branches, and other forest materials around the clearing to start faintly glow green. Then in a sudden burst of motion they all gathered around in four separate piles, and that is when Sweetie Belle started to feel a sense of dread come over her as she saw the piles of debris start to form a shape. Soon all of the forest materials formed four large timberwolves, and all of them looked over to where Sweetie Belle was and began marching over towards her, meanwhile the poor little filly was cowering in fear as she looked at the wooden canines as they approached her, snarling and baring their sharp wooden fangs.

But before the timberwolves got any closer, or before Sweetie Belle could finally move, the little creature on Sweetie’s back leapt off her and tackled the closest timberwolf right in the face. But it’s attack didn’t amount to much, except for stopping the wolf and shoving it a few inches backwards. After the creature made its attack it was swatted away by the wolf it just tackled, and was knocked to the side.

“No!” Sweetie shouted as she reached out for the little creature, causing the timberwolves to return their attention to her.

She quickly grabbed the biggest branch closest to her and held it in front of her, while trying to show no fear, which was an attempt at futility as the poor foal was shaking quite a lot. One of the wolves snapped its jaws at the frighten filly causing her to swing the branch wildly, but it was yanked out of her magical aura by one of the other wolves, before it was absorbed into its body.

The filly backed away from the wolves but stumbled as she tripped over her own hooves, causing the wolves to lunge at her with claws and teeth bared! Sweetie shrieked as the wolves closed in on her, but the wolves stopped as a barrage of bubbles collided with them, and actually caused them to be knocked off to the side a little making the timberwolves to miss the filly. After the barrage of bubbles scattered about the wolves and Sweetie turned to look where the bubbles came from, and found that the little creature was the source as a few bubbles floated around it. It’s body then started to be covered by what looked like wisps of smoke as a bigger and more solid bubble formed in its open mouth. The wolves then growled before they all charged at the small creature, causing Sweetie Belle to get to her hooves and try to gallop to the creature, but again she trips over her hooves. But that’s when the little pony saw something incredible!

Time seemed to have slowed down as Sweetie watched as the wolves closed in on the creature, who was still surrounded by the strange wisps of smoke and generating a bigger bubble in its mouth. But just as the wolves were a mere feet from the creature, claws and fangs readied to deliver their strikes, the wisps of smoke around the small creature vanished. Then almost in an instant the bubble in its mouth shrunk, before rapidly expanding and erupting into something that turned into what Sweetie could only recognized as a giant magical blue blast! The beam of energy rocketed from the creature and slammed right into the wolves, causing sap to burst from their muzzles and then the rest of their bodies as they were being launched several feet away, before they shattered the wolves bodies and scattering their remains all over the small clearing. With some being launched into the tree line, and even tearing up a small collection of trees.

After the timberwolves were decimated, along with a few of the trees, Sweetie Belle turned to look at the small creature as the beam of magic died down before completely fading away. Once the attack had subsided the little creature looked over to Sweetie, gave her a tired smile, before it then collapsed to the floor and appeared to have passed out.

“Oh no!” Sweetie shouted before she quickly got to her hooves and galloped over to the creature.

Reaching the creature the filly then checked it over but only saw that it had a big bruise on its head from where the wolf smacked it with its paw, and just how visibly tired it was. Not wasting any time Sweetie placed the creature back on her back and then raced off towards the exit of the Everfree, after bursting out of the forest the filly decided to take the creature to Fluttershy. Hoping that the pegasus could help her little protector that tried to save her.

Chapter 2: A Friend Named, Bubblegum [Edited]

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Sweetie Belle galloped as fast as she could through the town so she could take the little creature from the forest to Fluttershy’s cottage, which was on the outskirts on the other side of town, yet while she was galloping away the filly heard various ponies talk about the flashing blue lights and the explosive booms. Naturally many of them are scared and worried that something dangerous was going down in the forest, while there were some that were more curious about what was going on. Though Sweetie Belle knew exactly what happened in the forest and what caused all the commotion, right now she was focused on helping the little creature.

After a non-stop gallop through the town and a stretch of land outside the town, Sweetie Belle eventually reached her destination, and began knocking on the pegasus door. A moment later the door slowly opened, and the filly was shown a little bit of Fluttershy’s face, who as usual looked a little startled by the sudden visit.

“Hi Fluttershy. I’m sorry for dropping by so suddenly, but I need your help.” Sweetie Belle said as she turned to present the little creature, that’s when the filly saw a worried look come over the shy mare’s face before the door burst open.

“Oh my goodness! Sweetie Belle what happened?!” Fluttershy asked worriedly as she not only looked the small creature over but also the filly.

“The poor thing was attacked by timberwolves. So I brought it here to see if you can help it.” the filly explained to the older mare.

“Of course, bring it inside and I’ll see what I can do for it.” The pegasus stood off to the side to let the filly trot in with the injured creature.

Once inside Fluttershy guided Sweetie to the couch in the main living room, where the creature was gently placed on to where the pegasus began to examine its wounds and other injuries. After the quick little examination Fluttershy flew off to a nearby cabinet in the room, and started to scavenge around for medical patches and ointments to help with the injuries, when she had what she needed the mare went back to the couch and began applying the ointment she got on the more severe wounds, before placing a few medical patches on the spots she treated. Thankfully none of the wounds were to severe or damaging that were life-threatening, but the pegasus still treated the little creature with care, and not just it but also Sweetie Belle to ensure she wasn’t injured. Luckily the filly wasn’t hurt or bared any injuries.

“There we go. That should do it.” the pegasus says as she gently places the last patch on the creature, who began to stir from its state of unconsciousness gurgling as it’s body flattened slightly. This act caused the filly & the mare to look more concerned.

“Fluttershy it still looks pretty bad.” Sweetie says as she pets the poor creature gently on the head, but that’s when the filly noticed something about the little thing. It wasn’t as smooth and moist as it was when she first found it.

“Fluttershy, can you get a wet towel?” the filly asked the mare.

“Um. Sure, but why?” Fluttershy asked as she tilted her head in a perplexed manner.

“When I first found the little guy its body was more shinier and moist, but now it looks so, dried out.” Fluttershy then looked at the small squishy creature and indeed noticed that its body did indeed look more dried out than it was a moment ago.

“I’ll be right back!”

The pegasus then flew off to a different part of the cottage, where the filly heard the sound of a faucet running. As Sweetie waited for Fluttershy to return she noticed that a few of the other animals had gathered around the couch, and were inspecting the new creature in the cottage. Some have hopped up onto the couch to get a really good look at the newcomer, while others to simply gathered around the couch to look at the creature. A minute later Fluttershy came back into the living room with a damp towel in her hooves, which she begins to use to rub down the creature, and as the pegasus wiped the damp towel over it the creature seems to become more shinier and begins to become more aware of its surroundings. And eventually more livelier.

“It looks like it’s getting better now!” Sweetie said as she saw the creature look over to her after Fluttershy finished wiping it down.

“Hi there little guy. How do you feel?” the little creature garbled in a cheerful manner and even flexed its little antenna’s on its head to show that it was much better.

“It does look like it’s doing a lot better.” Fluttershy says as she places the towel down on the table next to the couch, as she does so the little creature looked over to her as she gave a pleasant smile in return.

“Hello there little one. My name is Fluttershy, what’s your name?” the mare asks quizzically as she looks at the little creature with intrigued eyes. The creature garbled some more, but strangely to both the mare and the filly, Fluttershy wasn’t able to understand it.

“Well that’s a first?”

“What’s wrong?” Sweetie Belle asked the older pony.

“I couldn’t understand what it just said.” Fluttershy retorted as she looked at the filly.

“But can’t you communicate with all animals?” the filly questioned as she thought that the pegasus could speak with any animal. Regardless of what it was.

“It’s more complicated than that Sweetie. It’s more of understanding the emotions and feelings an animal gives off, rather than understanding the noises they make.” The filly seems to have some understanding of what Fluttershy was saying.

“Well aside from not understanding it, do you know what it is?” the filly asked though the pegasus shook her head.

“I’ve never seen anything like this creature before, not even in some of the books I have on wild life.” That’s when an idea came to the pegasus’s mind.

“But maybe Twilight knows what it is. She knows a lot more about a whole bunch of stuff than I do, and she might have a book about more exotic creatures than I have.”

“That’s a great idea.” Sweetie says excitedly as she looks at the little creature.

“But first, we gotta call you something. I can’t just call you a creature all the time, and I don’t think slug is a good name.” The creature garbled, seemingly trying to say something, but its words were lost in translation to the filly or pegasus. Sweetie then began tapping a hoof on the floor as she was trying to figure out a good name for the creature. Looking back at the little thing, she looked it over to try and get some inspiration, and after looking at the colors of its body an idea came to her.

“How does, Bubblegum sound?” Sweetie Belle said with a small smile, to which the creature was silent for a moment, before it garbled in what sounded like a very cheerful tone.

“I think he likes it.” Fluttershy commented as the creature hopped in place a few times.

“Alrighty then Bubblegum, wanna go for a ride?” Bubblegum then hopped off the couch and onto Sweetie’s back, with a display of surprising dexterity. Thanking Fluttershy for helping the creature, the little unicorn left the cottage and headed back to Ponyville.

Leaving Fluttershy’s cottage behind the pair made their way through the outskirts of the town, before the re-entered the town where the filly began making her way to the Golden Oaks Library. while trotting through the town the pair passed by pony after pony who were all looking at the unusual pair as they trotted pass, though most of the attention was directed at Bubblegum as none of them had seen anything like it before. Which was a natural response. As for Bubblegum itself the filly occasionally turned to look at it, and saw that it was looking at everything with curious eyes as they trotted about.

“Sweetie Belle!” the little fillies ears perked up as a familiar voice calls out to her. Looking around the unicorn spotted the source of the voice and found Apple Bloom trotting about with her grandmare Granny Smith, with the filly waving at Sweetie.

“Apple Bloom, what are you doing here? I thought you were busy with Zap Apple season?” Sweetie asked her friend as the unicorn trotted over to the earth pony filly.

“We are. I’m just helping Granny get some stuff to help with the jam making.” Apple Bloom elaborated but as she was talking the yellow filly took notice of Bubblegum sitting on Sweetie’s back, who gurgled at the filly and waved with an antenna.

“Uh, Sweetie, you uh…got something on your back.”

“Oh this is my new friend. I’ve named it Bubblegum.” Sweetie explained as she then turned her body so that her friend was able to get a better look at Bubblegum.

“But what is it?” the apple filly asked as she just looked at the small creature.

“I’m actually on my way to the library to see if Twilight knows. I asked Fluttershy if she knows what Bubblegum is, but she doesn’t know.” Apple Bloom continues to look at the unusual little creature before a small smile graces her muzzle.

“Well whatever it is, it certainly is cute.” Apple Bloom says as she pats Bubblegum on the head, which caused the little creature to garble happily.

The two fillies continued to talk for a bit more, but the apple filly eventually had to return to her duties when her grandmare called out to her. After the little meet up with her friend, and ensure to see each other again soon after the Zap Apple season had concluded, Sweetie Belle continued to make her way to the Golden Oaks library. several more minutes go by, and Sweetie & Bubblegum have made it to their destination, where upon reaching the large tree structure the filly entered only to have an explosion wrack her ears, and cloud of smoke to blast in both Sweetie Belle’s and Bubblegum’s face! Both filly & creature coughed out little puffs of smoke as they tried to fan the smoke away, while Bubblegum shakes its body of any soot that also covered it.

From inside the library the filly could hear the two occupants of the library coughing as well, with one of them occasionally sneezing and creating small puffs of green fire from a different room. The filly then waded her way through the smoke that was thankfully getting thinner, as it was wafting out of the open door and windows that could be heard being open, until the library was smoke free. Though that still left the soot and mess that came from whatever caused the explosion, with the library’s custodian and assistant standing by a table.

“Well. That could’ve gone better.” the familiar violet unicorn of the pair as she coughed out the last bit of smoke plaguing her.

“I told you that the mixture was off.” a younger member of the duo groaned before another sneeze came out, accompanied by another puff of green fire. “Excuse me.”

“Okay, okay! You were right!” the older pony said in a rather annoyed yet still understandable tone, that’s when the filly saw Twilight look over to her seeing that her face was darken from the soot, except for her eyes as the mare was wearing goggles.

“Oh my goodness! Sweetie Belle, are you alright!” the older unicorn said in shock as she quickly rushed over to the filly and started to check her over.

“I’m fine.” Sweetie coughed as she reassured Twilight. “But what happened here?”

“There was just an accident with some potion making.” Twilight remarked as she removed the goggles from her face before her eyes focused on Bubblegum.

“What in the world is that?” Twilight questioned as she circled around the filly, while Spike waddled over and around to his caretaker, to get a look at the small creature on Sweetie’s back.

“Looks like some kind of large slug.” Spike remarked as he looked at Bubblegum, who didn’t seem to take Spike’s remark to well and blew out a small barrage of bubbles at the small dragon, causing him to sputter and fall flat on his butt.

“What the hay!”

“That’s incredible!” Twilight said excitedly as she looked between Spike & Bubblegum.

“I’ve never seen a slug that could blow bubbles like—” Twilight was cut-off as she too was bombarded with bubbles from Bubblegum, causing her to sputter as the bubbles popped in her face.

“I don’t think Bubblegum likes being called a slug.” Sweetie said as Twilight as she recovers from the bubbly assault, and used her magic to dry herself and Spike off, which helped wipe off the soot from their faces.

“I can see that. But what is it?” the mare asked as she looked back at Bubblegum quizzically.

“I’m not sure, I actually came to see if you know what Bubblegum is.” The filly responded.

Twilight tapped her chin with a hoof for a second, before turning on her hooves and head into the main room of the library, and started searching through the various books lining the shelves. Sweetie Belle, Bubblegum, and Spike followed the mare around as she goes about her book searching, watching the mare pull some books out and either, put them back or skim through them quickly before putting them back. But as the mare goes about searching through the books for a few moments Twilight seems to be stumped.

“Strange. I can’t find anything that even makes a reference to what you’re little friend is Sweetie.” Twilight bemoans as she shelves the last book she had pulled out.

“Really? Well thanks for looking anyway Twilight, sorry for bothering you.” Sweetie Belle says respectfully.

“It’s alright. Though what are you going to do with it?” Twilight asked as she petted Bubblegum on the head, feeling how soft and squishy it was.

“I guess I’ll just take it back to where I found it.” Sweetie sounded a bit unsure about what she just said, as she’s grown rather fond of the little guy.

Thanking Twilight again for taking the time to check to see if she could find out what Bubblegum was, the little filly bid the older pony and little dragon farewell as she left the library, and the duo to begin cleaning the mess they made. Or at least the one Twilight made. As the pair left the library Sweetie Belle made her way through the town, until she came upon the boarder of the Everfree Forest. As she stood before the tree line of the forest, the filly looked over her shoulder at Bubblegum who actually seemed to look a little sad as they were about to part ways. It would seem that the little creature itself was also starting to grow fond of Sweetie.

“Bubblegum?” Sweetie says.

“Do you wanna go back to the forest?” Bubblegum shook its head before nuzzling into Sweetie’s cheek which got a giggle from the filly as she nuzzled back.

“If you want you can come home with me…though I hope Rarity and my parents won’t freak out.” Sweetie said more so to herself before turning around and made her way back to her town, to her sister’s boutique.

Chapter 3: A Challenge Ahead

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Rarity was just staring down at her little sister, and the small squishy slug-like creature perched on her back. when the pair entered the boutique, the fashionista was honestly a little confused on what her little had brought home, in fact she was still unsure what the little creature was. It was generally rather cute looking, but the unicorn was still unsure what to fully make of the small creature.

“…Sweetie Belle. Where did you find this little thing?” the little filly looked a little nervous to answer, but she broke her silence and spoke.

“F-from the, Everfree.”

“WHAT?!” Rarity said in alarm, causing both Sweetie Belle and Bubblegum to recoil from the older ponies sudden pitch in volume. “And what were you doing going to the Everfree Sweetie Belle! It’s dangerous!”

“I know, but I found Bubblegum hurt and—”

“Bubblegum?” Rarity questioned.

“Yeah. I decided to call it Bubblegum because, well, he’s colored like gum.” Rarity looked towards the little creature, who garbled and waved with one of its antenna.

“Be that as it may, Sweetie Belle you know better than to go that forest. What if some kind of monster attacked you.”

“I’m sorry.” The filly said as she lowered her head. Rarity just releases a sigh as she rubs a hoof against her temple.

“So long as you promise to never go there, then everything fine. But you’re still in trouble filly, so for the rest of day, consider yourself grounded.”

“…okay.” Sweetie said as she made her way to the stairs.

“Hold on Sweetie Belle.” Rarity said as she stopped her sister. “Before you go to your room, you have to let Bubblegum go.”

“But Rarity—”

“No buts!” the mare said. “We don’t know what it is, and if it’s dangerous.”

“Bubblegum isn’t dangerous, I took him to Fluttershy’s cottage, and he was a good creature the whole time.” Bubblegum gargled as he then nuzzled up to Sweetie, and wrapped his antenna as much as he could around the fillies forehead. Rarity gave the little creature one last scrutinizing look before giving out another small sigh.

“Very well, so long as Fluttershy said its safe. But if he causes a mess—”

“I promise to look after him!”

With her word of being a dutiful caretaker for Bubblegum, and ensuring that she will keep him out of trouble, the filly made her way up to the second floor of the boutique, and headed towards her room. upon entering the room, Bubblegum hopped off Sweetie’s back, and started to explore everything in the room. While Sweetie seems to be thinking about something.

“If I’m going to keep you, you’ll need someplace to sleep.” Sweetie muttered to herself as she looked around the room, and seeing Bubblegum looking at the toys that Sweetie has scattered around. “But there’s nothing I can use to make a little bed for you.” the filly just shrugged as she trotted over to Bubblegum.

“I guess you’ll just have to sleep with me in my bed.” jut as Sweetie said that Bubblegum’s stomach started to grumble. “Oh you must be hungry, especially after what happened in the Everfree.”

Sweetie then left her room, and headed back down stairs and trotted to the kitchen, looking for something to feed her new friend. The little creature seemed to like cookies, but the filly didn’t just want to feed it pony food, Bubblegum could get sick. So the unicorn foal began gathering some fruits that she thought Bubblegum might like, and once she got everything, including a glass of water to give her friend, Sweetie made her way backup to her room, where she found Bubblegum wrestling around with one of her old dolls. Once the little wrestling match was over, Sweetie Belle offered the little creature a victory meal of fruits and veggies, which the little creature ate with glee.

“Sweetie Belle.” Rarity’s voice called out from the other side of the door.

“Yes Rarity?” the filly replied, signaling her sister to enter the room.

“I’ll be heading out to get some supplies, now remember, you’re temporally grounded so no leaving the boutique. Understand?”

“Yes Rarity.” The foal said, getting a small smile and a kiss from her sister. The older sibling then left the pair and headed off to do her errands.

~~~~~

Far off to the west of the Everfree forest, if any pony was flying in that area they would see a trio of adolescent dragons flying at great speed. After a few more minutes of flying the trio land on the roof of a crumbling ruins, where the red dragon of the group—Garble—brought out the piece of fabric he was carrying and giving it a few sniffs, before smelling the air itself. And then gaining a big grin on his muzzle.

“We’re close boys!” the dragon says as he tosses the piece of fabric up into the air, and blast’s it with a gust of fire.

“How close are we this time, I’m starting to lose steam from all this flying.” The hefty brown dragon, Smog, grumbled as rubs at his back.

“It just past this forest.” Garble said.

“Alright!” Flask, the skinny purple dragon, said happily. “So what do we do first, torch the town, or make that runt of a dragon pay first?”

“First off we torch the town to flush Spike out, and then we make him watch us burn everything else down!” Garble explained as he lets loose a belch of fire to pump himself up. “And once we burned everything down, then, we’ll take care Spike.”

The other two dragons belched flames to get themselves pumped up, before all three of them took to the sky, and fly towards the east of the forest. And as they flew over the vast expanse of woodland, the three dragons could smell the scent of ponies wafting on the wind, and as they closed in on the edge of the forest they all could see the outline of a town. Once the three dragons reached the town, they all gave each other wicked grins, before flying off into different directions—and began unleashing gouts of fire all over the place! Ponies began screaming and panicking as the dragons set fire to the town!

~~~~~

Sweetie Belle was in the middle playing with Bubblegum when she, and her little friend, started to hear ponies starting to scream outside of the boutique. When the pair ventured to one window, they both saw the town slowly being engulfed in fire! After seeing the flames spreading across the town, Sweetie Belle rushed outside her room, and out the boutique and went off to go and search for her sister. As the filly left the boutique she was quickly followed by Bubblegum, however the little creature wasn’t able to keep up with the filly as she disappears amongst the panicking crowed. But the little fella did his darndest to try and keep up with his friend.

As the foul galloped as fast as her little legs would carry her, the filly would occasional see either a red, purple, or brown dragon fly overhead, and launching waves of fire at anything. Sweetie did see Rainbow Dash try and stop the dragons, but they just ganged up on the mare, and nearly roasted the pegasus with their fire breathes.

“Rarity!” Sweetie screamed as she looked for her sister, dodging burning debris, and ponies that were galloping in fright and terror.

“Rarity! Where are you?!”

“Sweetie Belle?!” the filly heard her sisters voice cry out through the screams and wails of the other ponies. And when she looked to where her sisters voice came from, and found the mare galloping towards her. “What are you doing out here, it’s dangerous?!”

“I came to see if your alright.” The filly said worriedly as she nuzzled into her sisters legs.

“It’s alright Sweetie I’m fine, but we need to—AGH!” Rarity screamed as a gust of fire struck the ground close to her, and her sister, scaring both ponies as they collapsed to their side. Recovering from their sudden collapse the two sisters looked to where the fire struck the ground, only to see a tall red dragon stand before them.

“AH-HA! I thought I recognized you!” the dragon said in a gravely voice. “You were one of three ponies that managed to give me the slip with Spike.”

“Your that ruffian that was going to attack Spike when he wouldn’t smash that phoenix egg.”

“That’s right, and now I get to get some sweet revenge!” The dragon reared back and readied to unleash a flurry of fire.

Rarity quickly threw herself over her sister to block the incoming fire that would surely roast her alive, but the fire never came, instead, both ponies heard the dragon grunt in annoyance. When they looked towards the dragon they saw a few bubbles splash into his face, before seeing Bubblegum come darting out of the corner of their view, and tackle the red dragon. And actually managed to stumble the red dragon. Before the dragon could retaliate, after recovering from the tackle, Bubblegum unleashed another barrage of bubbles at the dragon, causing him to block the attack with his wings.

“Cut that out you little slug!” the dragon roared as he used his tail to smack Bubblegum away, sending the small creature flying a few feet.

“Bubblegum!” Sweet cried out as the small creature got back up from the throw, but the red dragon unleashed a gout of fire at Bubblegum to try and roast the little creature, but he countered the fiery attack with another barrage of bubbles.

“Hey Garble, what you doing?” the sisters looked up and saw the other two dragons touch down a few feet from them. the red dragon ceased his fire breathing, and used his wing to block the bubbles as he spoke.

“This little thing is getting in my way, help me roast it!”

“No!” Sweetie screamed as the other two dragons joined Garble into trying to burn Bubblegum. And with all three dragons unleashing their fire breaths at once, they burned through the bubbles and just bathed the poor creature in fire! “Bubblegum!” the filly cried out as she was about to run over to her friend, but was stopped by her sister.

“No Sweetie, there’s nothing you can do!” Rarity said as she held her sister.

“Alright, now that little slug is taken care of, time to pick up where we started.

Garbled turned towards Rarity and Sweetie, where he and his two buds readied to blast them with fire. But they stopped when they, and the sisters noticed something out of the corner of their eyes. Looking towards where Bubblegum was burned, all of them saw that the little creature was alive! Burnt fairly well, but still alive, and had this red glow outlining his body while the fire swirled around him. turning their attention back to the creature, the three dragons unleashed another flurry of fire streams at Bubblegum, who seemed to be enduring the scorching flames as the red glow outlining him grew intensity.

“UGH! Forget the fire, just rip the thing to shreds!” Garble roared as he and the other two dragons readied their claws.

But just as the dragons readied their claws, and before the sisters could try and do anything themselves, they watched as Bubblegum garbled to itself before opening his mouth…where a glowing white sphere appeared. Then as the dragons were about to hack and slash at the poor creature, Rarity and Sweetie Belle watched as the ball of light in Bubblegum’s mouth exploded, and turned into a massive beam of white energy! The blast was so powerful that the ponies, and any nearby debris was knocked to the closest buildings, while three dragons were engulfed in the white blast and sent flying through the air, and far off into the vast distance. After the blast of energy had died down, the two unicorns turned to look at Bubblegum seeing the poor thing pant, before it collapsed to its side.

“Bubblegum!” Sweetie said as she rushed over to her brave little friend, and wrapped him into her hooves. “Rarity, he’s hurt really bad, we have to do something.” The filly said as she started to tear up.

“Don’t worry Sweetie, we’ll get him to the hospital so they can look after him.”

And with that, the older mare wrapped up her sister and Bubblegum in her magical aura, and placed the two on her back and began galloping through the burning town. Which thankfully was being taken care of by the pegasi after returning with a bunch of rain clouds, and started to create a massive downpour to put out the fires, while other ponies grabbed buckets and filled them with water to aide in extinguishing the fire. Hopefully Ponyville has seen the last of those three dragons, and that Bubblegum wasn’t to badly hurt while saving his friend and her sister.

Sweetie Belle & Bubblegum

by NinjaMare

Chapter 1: A New Friend? [Edited]

Chapter 2: A Friend Named, Bubblegum [Edited]

Chapter 3: A Challenge Ahead