"Alright, let's see... is this everything you wanted?"

"Hmm." The stallion across the counter looked down at where a variety of sculpted plastic pieces lay—put together, they were for making repairs to the vanity outer shell of a hovercraft. "Yeah, that looks to be everything." He levitated a small plastic card in front of him. "How much will that run me?"

Cotton Fluff looked down at the pile, running up a mental tally as she went through each piece. "Looks like... 55 credits. Actually, you've got a bundle so I'll take a few off, leaving you at 50 credits."

The stallion blinked. "Seriously? Lady, I thought this was gonna be, like, 90 or more. You sure you're counting right?"

Cotton Fluff grinned. "Of course. I mean, I do accept tips, but that's the base price, yes."

"Huh. Yeah, I'll throw ya another 10 credits, Ms. Fluff," the stallion said, dropping his card in the mare's outstretched hoof. "Dunno where I'd be without your help, to be honest—all the bigger places closed shops ages ago. I'm lucky I heard about this place from a buddy o' mine... otherwise, I'd probably be running a couple thousand credits for a new bike."

Cotton Fluff nodded and smiled as she ran his card through her little machine and punched in the amount, not bothering to mention that the repair he was making was only cosmetic and that his hovercraft would work just fine without it. She beckoned for him to press the button to approve the purchase amount. Then, once he had replaced his card in a pocket and swept the plastic pieces into a tote bag, the stallion took off. Cotton Fluff was left only a moment to exhale in relief before the next customers stepped up. Except, at first, she didn't see anypony. Then, the mare looked down.

Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration—the young ponies in front of her weren't that short. But she still was confused briefly before she saw a green-grey unicorn colt to the left and a yellow pegasus filly to the right, standing earnestly in line. Cotton Fluff could have sworn something about these ponies seemed familiar, but she wasn't quite sure what.

"Erm... next," she said awkwardly.

"Hello!" the filly said cheerily, taking a step forward up to the counter. "How are you this morning?"

"I'm... quite fine, thank you," she replied. "What do you ponies need today?"

The filly reached back into her saddlebag and pulled out a small scrap of paper that she placed delicately on the counter. "Just the items written underneath your name, please."

Cotton Fluff pulled the paper across the counter and saw that there was a list scrawled in messy blue ballpoint handwriting—not unreadable, but a little bit of a challenge all the same. Her eyes scanned the page until she found her own name underlined and then a list underneath—a jumbled, kind of unorganised list—with a variety of parts used for spacecraft engine repair.

"All these parts are pretty darn specialised," Cotton Fluff noted.

"It's alright if you don't have them," the colt said in a high voice. "We can probably find somewhere else—ow!" The filly had just elbowed him in the side. "Ungh... what gives?"

"C'mon, Kevin, don't be silly." The filly turned back to the counter. "You can help us, can't you, Ms. Fluff?"

Cotton Fluff couldn't help but snicker. "Yes, yes, I was just messing with you. These parts are pretty specialised—and that's why you won't find 'em anywhere else besides Fluff's Stuff. Not even if you looked."

Kevin raised an eyebrow. "Where do you get them from, then?"

Cotton Fluff winked. "Trade secret, kid." The brown-coated mare turned to face the shelves that lined the walls of her booth and the two young ponies watched as she looked around. "Hm... it's just as I suspected."

"What?" Flight asked.

"Well, I did say I have the parts, and that's true," Cotton said, turning back to the coutner. "I do have them... just not here. The specialty parts I've got in my office, 'cause I usually do those by mail order. But don't fret! I'll have 'em here for you bright and early tomorrow morning to pick up."

"Er, tomorrow morning?" the filly asked, frowning. "Is there any way we could get them sooner? Like, erm, today?"

"Uhhhh..." Cotton Fluff looked taken aback. "Maybe? Lemme check how much they're worth." The mare pulled out a clipboard from below the counter and flipped through the pages, spending a minute finding where the serial numbers matched up and then following the row across the page to see the price. Once she was halfway through the list, she stopped and looked up with an odd expression.

"No?" Kevin said. "C'mon, Flight, we'll call Doc Zed and figure something out." He started to turn, when Cotton Fluff nearly leaped out from behind the counter.

"No, no! Wait! Nnngh..."

"Huh?"

"Kids," Cotton Fluff said, leaning over the counter. "I can very much afford to shut down the stand for a little while so we can go get those parts for you." She hoofed the paper back across the counter for Flight to take. "Let's get out of here, before I change my mind."

Flight and Kevin watched as Cotton Fluff pulled on a little string by one of the posts and a velvet curtain covered the entire area with the counter as well as the door, with a little sign on the front that read "Closed". The mare popped out of the velvet-covered doorway a moment later. "Vamonos!" she said, skipping forward into the crowd.

Kevin looked to Flight. "How much are those parts gonna cost?"

Flight gulped. "I have no idea. Let's... go?"

"...yes, let's."