The Misfits

by Cyber System

Chapter 2: Welcome to Ponyville

The Misfits were confused as they entered the town to see nopony there.

Dusty spoke up after glancing around. "Did they see us and evacuate already?"

Cyber shook his head. "Celestia just rose the sun, everypony's just getting up or something. Look there's one now," Cyber pointed to a pink mare with poofy hair and balloon cutie mark, who was staring at them as they approached her. Cyber extended a hand to shake. "Greetings, my name is Cyber-" he was cut off as she sprung up into the air, let out a loud gasping noise, then fled away in a blur. "-System? That was weird."

"Did Fang show her his teeth?" said Dusty.

Fang shook his head. "I had my muzzle shut ever since we came in here, wherever here is."

"Maybe somepony else can tell us," said Mixy, looking around before spying another mare, this time foam green and a unicorn, sitting on a bench in an odd, upright position, reading a book.

Mixy pointed to the pony. "There's one."

Cyber approached her. "Excuse me, we're new here, what's this town's name?"

The unicorn didn't leave her gaze from the book, but still responded. "Ponyville."

Cyber looked at the book she was reading. "'Mythical Creatures and More'? I haven't read that version before."

"Really? Twilight has all the versions."

The mare got Dusty's attention. "Twilight? As in Princess Twilight?"

The mare lifted her head up from the book. "Yeah, if you want, she lives in the library right over theuuuuuuhhhhhhh..." her jaw dropped the moment she laid her eyes on Cyber, who facepalmed.

"Ugh, not again, I hate it when that happens," he said.

Fang stepped up to the mare. "Look, could you just show us where Princess Twilight is? We've been through a lot and just need a place to stay for a while without all of... this," the mare didn't speak, nor did she lift her gaze from Cyber as she slowly lifted her hoof up and point to a large tree.

"Er... thanks," Cyber said as the four followed the green unicorn's direction.

Dusty moved up to Cyber's ear. "Looks like she's got a crush on you," he teased, making Cyber back off.

"What are you talking about? She probably never saw misfits before."

"Sure it's that, and I'm Princess Celestia," he joked. "You must have a crush on her too, right?"

"What? No! She was just shocked, just like that pink pony before."

Fang spoke up. "I don't know, did you see the look in her eyes? They looked pretty lovey-dovey to me."

"How would you know that?" Cyber replied.

"I saw the same glow when Dusty heard the name Rainbow-"

"Fang, shut up, I thought I told you that was from hatred," Dusty snapped.

Mixy and Cyber joined in this time. "Right," they all laughed as they became out of earshot from the mare they were just talking to moments ago.

"Hands..." she mumbled to herself. "...He has hands-- I gotta tell Bon-Bon."

---

Bon-Bon just finished handing a cake to a customer as she waved goodbye to him. "Thank you, come again!" the stallion nodded and began to walk out the door with the pastry on his back before being intercepted and pushed down by Lyra, Bon-Bon's possibly insane, yet loveable, human obsessed roommate.

Lyra ran in front of her roommate screaming, "BON-BON!" as the cream colored earth pony facehoofed at whatever shenanigan Lyra got into this time while the stallion picked himself and the cake up and left grumbling.

"Lyra, for the last time, I told you there are no humans in the Everfree Forest."

Lyra shook her head frantically before speaking in rapid, excited, indistinct gibberish before she was shut up by Bon-Bon's hoof in her mouth.

"Lyra! Calm down and talk slowly, please?" Lyra nodded before Bon-Bon removed her hoof, then Lyra took a deep breath.

"Ok, so this morning I was reading my favorite book, and then this new pony comes along and, well, he's got hands!" Bon-Bon gave an unimpressed look.

"Lyra, I think this human obsession of yours is getting to your head."

"What, no! He had hands, I'm serious!"

"Lyra, I know we're best friends and all, and I will support you in anything you do, but if this has something to do with your 'human research' I would rather have you leave me out of it."

"But-"

"No, I don't care. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work. Let me know when you can talk to me without mentioning humans, or at least when you stop overreacting whenever you hear that word," Bon-Bon trotted to the kitchen, grumbling things like 'stupid humans' and 'next thing you know you'll be claiming you were born a human'. Lyra opened her mouth to argue, but couldn't find the words and instead just stormed to her bedroom.

---

The Misfits came close to a large tree as Fang teased Dusty "Mare-lover!"

Dusty sneered. "Fang..." he growled.

"Rainbow-hugger!"

"Fang, shut up."

"Aw, come on, you know you want her, Dusty."

"How about instead I remind you about Silver Wind?"

Fang's smile disappeared. "This conversation is over."

Dusty made a mischievous smile. "Gladly."

Mixy was confused. "Who's Silver Wind?"

Cyber observed the tree with curiosity. "Some mare Fang had his eyes on back in Saddle Arabia, he took her out on a date, did not end well, but he's still head over hooves for her. Anyway, with that aside, did that mare point us in the right direction?"

"This is where she pointed. So, a tree, Princess Twilight lives in a tree," said Dusty, confused.

"That's a major safety hazard during a thunderstorm, and termites, and fire, but I digress, when did we start judging?" Cyber knocked on the door, which was answered by a short, purple and green lizard, followed by a few minutes of staring from both parties.

A voice came from inside. "Spike! Who is it?" then a lavender alicorn came into view, she gave disapproving look at the lizard. "Spike, stop staring at them," she turned her attention to the misfits. "I'm sorry for my assistant, he doesn't usually- woah."

Cyber broke from his trance. "It's alright, we get that look a lot. We're the ones who should apologize for staring, we never saw a dragon before."

Dusty spoke up. "Yes we have."

"Okay, yes we have, but not one this young."

"Right, so come on in," she said as Cyber and the rest of the misfits followed her inside. "Spike, could you get us some refreshments, please?"

"Uh, sure, Twilight," Spike said. Without taking his eyes off of the Misfits, he left into the kitchen.

"So, what can I help you with?" asked the lavender alicorn.

"Well, allow us to introduce ourselves, I am Cyber System, and this is Fang, Dusty, and Mixy. Together, we are The Misfits," Cyber introduced.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle, and not to be rude or anything, but what are those?" Twilight gestured to Cyber's robotic arms.

"These? They're robotic arms I invented, why do you ask?"

"It's just that, you're a unicorn, why do you have those?"

"I can't use magic."

Twilight almost gasped with surprise. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You heard me correctly, I can't use magic. I was struck by lightning and suffered brain damage," Cyber tapped his head for emphasis as Twilight placed a hoof over her mouth.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry."

"Ah, don't be, the lack of magic invited me to a bright, technological path, as you can see," Cyber pointed to his cutie mark, Spike looked at it in curiosity after coming in with cups of tea.

"What is it?" Spike asked as Twilight took a cup of tea with her magic.

"It's a motherboard, a technological device which can provide almost limitless amounts of coding and control that is capable of controlling even the most complex of systems, ranging from sizes exceptionally miniscule, to approximately as large as a house."

Dusty came between them and took a cup for himself. "Sorry about that, princess, Cyber sometimes lets his brains get ahead of him and starts speaking in science."

"It's alright, Dusty, I understand him."

An owl nearby spoke. "Hoo."

Fang looked at the owl. "Cyber."

"Hoo," the owl repeated.

"Cyber," Fang repeated, annoyed.

"Hoo," the owl said again before Fang growled and bared his teeth, making the owl fly away, hooting in fear as he perched onto Twilight.

"Woah, I never saw anypony scare Owlowiscious like that," Twilight said, amazed.

"Oh, it's probably because I'm carnivorous," Fang opened his mouth and pointed at his sharp teeth, which Twilight looked at with the very rare look of awe and wonder.

"That's, amazing! I've never known a mutation like this could happen, you must be one of a kind."

"Well, I'm not, and it's not mutation, it's evolution, the first of my clan was stranded on a deserted island with hardly any plantlife, but plenty of meat, then one thing led to another, and now there is a whole tribe of carnivorous earth ponies with hunting instincts like 'life radar' and 'camouflage' and other cool abilities used for hunting."

"But, how did you get here if you grew up on an island?"

"Well, my parents and I wanted to see what else was out there besides what was on the island, so we were given a boat and we set sail, only for a storm to hit and we shipwrecked off the coast of Seaddle, where I met Cyber, while my parents stayed by the shore."

"And nopony else came with you?" Fang shook his head.

"Like I said, there was barely any plantlife, so what was left only built a boat large enough for three ponies and a supply of food, which we had to sacrifice shortly after the famine struck us."

Twilight's eyes grew wide with concern. "A famine?" Fang nodded.

"Yeah, there was enough meat but it's not permanent, and we can't plant it in the ground like you plant eaters do, that's why I need Princess Celestia more than anything. All my family has to do is supply my tribe with food other than the sparce amount of fish supplying to us from a friend of ours, and even fish aren't found everywhere like flowers and grass."

"Wow, Fang, I had no idea that there are lives in danger."

"Nopony else does either, every time I try to tell them, they run away in fear or call me a monster once they see my teeth. Some ponies can be so paranoid."

"I remember when things were like that around here," Twilight sipped from the tea with Fang, who immediately spat it back out from dsigust.

"That was disgusting, what kind of tea is this?"

"Herbal tea," Spike answered as Fang tried to get the taste off his tongue.

Mixy moved up to Spike. "Uh, Spike? Plants make Fang sick."

"Woah, sorry."

"It's alright," Fang said. "It's not the first time somepony gave me plants. Once it was intentionally put in to try to poison me."

"You can't get around without somepony giving you the evil eye, can you?" Spike asked.

Mixy shook her head. "It's what makes us Misfits, though."

"Speaking of which, what makes you and Dusty misfits?" Twilight asked, taking another sip from her cup as Dusty and Mixy exchange looks, as though having a silent argument over which one was going to tell their back story first.

Dusty sighed. "Alright I'll do it, better get it over with," he faced Twilight. "So, pretty much here's how my story goes: I grew up in Cloudsdale, like most other pegasi, but a few things about me were different, I was interested in the ground, I had unusually strong legs, and I barely even tried to fly, and it all started when I met a certain pegasus mare who shall not be named. She was the first to tease me about my lack of flight, and she even dared me to try to fly, only I failed, miserably, and I was sent falling, falling, nopony to help me as I felt terrified by my upcoming death, screaming for help, nopony around, and then, and then..." Dusty started twitching and hyperventilating as the images of the event flashed in his mind.

"Dusty, are you ok?" asked Twilight.

"Falling... screaming... no... no, no no nonono falling, falling!" Dusty started to panic and sweat, and it was clear of that as Cyber placed a hand on Dusty's shoulder.

"Dusty, Dusty, calm down, you're not falling, get a hold of yourself," Cyber comforted Dusty, who gradually calmed down from his panic attack.

"Sorry, sometimes that event can get to me," Dusty says before taking a deep breath. "Anyway, to make a long and terrifying story short, I crashed into the earth, buried underground in a cave, the only lights came from the hole I just made, nopony was around and I was alone, stuck under there for several days."

"Weren't you scared?"

"To be honest, I wasn't nearly half as scared underground as I was when I was falling, but I managed to survive until some kind of explosion caused a cave in, blocking out all traces of light and cutting the cave's sized less than half afterwards. I was completely trapped, but soon I did what any other young colt would do if they were alone in the dark with no room: I threw a tantrum. But by banging on the stone walls I found out I could dig through it like pudding, so that's how I got out. And when I finally saw the light of day, I found my parents, who tirelessly were searching for me after the cave-in, and I found out I earned my cutie mark.

"Anyway, I can't tell you the joy we felt when my family was reunited, but I also can't tell you the embarrassment my parents must've felt once their pegasus son climbed out of the ground with a digging cutie mark and refusing to go back to Cloudsdale because he was scared of falling. I can't even walk on normal clouds anymore after that, but I make up for it after I found out I can walk on and breathe in clouds of dust," Dusty lay down and sipped from his tea, relieved that he finished telling his unique, yet terrifying story.

Mixy walked to Twilight. "I suppose it's my turn, but promise me that you won't freak out."

"Why would we freak out?" said Spike.

"Well, I am..." she hesitated and looked at Cyber, who gestured to get on with it before she took a deep breath. "I'm a changeling hybrid," she finally said, then expected screaming or gasping, but instead Spike just broke out laughing while Twilight was unsure whether to believe her or not.

"That's a good one, ha ha, a changeling hybrid, yeah right."

"Actually, Spike, I think she's serious."

"Twilight, come on, we know what changelings are, why in Equestria would they tie the knot with a pony just to raise a foal?"

"Tie the knot with a pony just to raise a foal?" Mixy echoed in Spike's voice, which got the little drake's attention.

"Uh, did you say that?" Spike turned around towards Mixy to see her coat has turned purple and her mane turned a different shade of green, somewhat like a strange, ponified version of Spike.

"I don't know, what do you think?" Mixy continued in Spike's voice.

"That's really creepy, can you please stop that?"

Mixy's coat changed to beige and her voice matched Dusty's. "How about now?"

"Okay, okay, I believe you, just don't use somepony else's voice, it's really weird."

Mixy giggled in her normal voice as her coat returned to near black. "I love doing that."

"An actual changeling hybrid," Twilight said, with several mixed emotions. "How is this possible?"

"I dunno, Mom and Dad never actually told me how they met, all I know is they met, dated for a while, got married, Dad found out he was feeding off his own love but decided to stay once he found out true love is much better than artificial love, then Mom found out about Dad's 'origin' after I was born, and despite being run out of town and Dad becoming a wanted fugitive, they stayed together because they loved each other."

"Are your parents still around?" Twilight asked, hopefully, then was filled with excitement as Mixy nodded.

"Not sure exactly where they are right now, but if they still use the seasonal houses, they should be near Las Pegasus by now." Mixy gave a toothy smile as Twilight nodded with understanding.

"I must say, those were very interesting stories," Twilight said.

Dusty interjected, "Some better than others."

"Maybe you all could meet my friends sometime, Cyber."

"That would be great, perhaps at dinner, and thanks for the tea. We'll be on our way now, see you later," Cyber gave a polite bow and trotted out of the library followed by the rest of the misfits.

Spike walked up to Twilight after the misfits left. "Should we tell Celestia about them?"

Twilight nodded. "If what Fang says is true, we need to help out, take a note." Spike left before returning shortly with a quill and some paper, ready for Twilight to begin as she cleared her throat. "Dear Princess Celestia, just recently I ran into a group of special ponies who call themselves 'The Misfits'. One of them has come to my attention in need of desperate help. His name is Fang, who is a part of a tribe of carnivorous ponies that are in the midst of a great famine, I hope that you can help them. Yours truly, Twilight Sparkle." Spike finished and within seconds he rolled it up and exhaled green flames at it, the ashes flew through the air, out the window, and on its way to Canterlot.

---

Lyra played her lyre in her room, the gentle melody soothed the anger and annoyance right out of her. Perhaps she was a bit forceful on Bon-Bon with her human studies, but that stallion she met this morning just made her want to tell somepony right there. Now Lyra really wanted to meet him, know his name, then if he does enjoy humans as much as she did, then she could spend her studies with him and Bon-Bon won't have to worry about Lyra barging in claiming she may or may not have seen a human, it's a win-win!

Lyra continued playing until her stomach started begging for food, so she packed up the lyre, walked down the stairs, finding her roommate at the counter again.

"Hey," Lyra said, "I just wanted to say sorry about earlier, I was really excited about that stallion."

Bon-Bon smiled. "It's alright, sometimes I just hear the word 'human' one too many times, that's all."

"Alright, so I'm heading to get some lunch, you want anything?"

Bon-Bon shook her head. "No thank you, I'm good, but could you stop by Sweet Apple Acres while you're out there?"

"On it." and with that, Lyra trotted out the door and made her way to the diner, where she was surprised to see Time Turner, and that stallion again, both were laughing.

"And I said, 'that's no witch, that's my mum'!" Time Turner said as both him and that stallion broke out in laughter, anypony that wasn't looking at them were now, though neither of them minded.

"Hoo, Doctor, that was hilarious, it was nice meeting you," said the unnamed blue stallion as Time Turner began to leave.

"Likewise, Cyber, and please, call me Time Turner," and with that, Time Turner left as Lyra took his previous seat and watched the stallion return to his sandwich.

Lyra spoke up. "Hey, I don't think we got a chance to properly meet each other before."

The stallion looked up and swallowed the food in his mouth before speaking. "Oh, it's you! I would've introduced myself but you were too busy being flabbergasted."

"Right, sorry about that, I just never thought I'd see an actual pony with hands."

"Don't be sorry, I get that look everywhere I go, I'm Cyber System," Cyber extended his hand to shake.

"Lyra Heartstrings, nice to meet you," Lyra took the hand with her hoof and resisted the urge to squeal with joy that she was actually touching a real, albeit mechanical human hand. "So, are you an anthropologist, too?" she asked.

Cyber searched his memory for the meaning of the word. "Oh, you mean humans? Not exactly, their existence never really mattered to me. Although, I am intrigued by their culture and machinery. I even saw many, and I mean many uses for their appendages, specifically the hand. It provides dexterous grabbing and partial-precision pointing, much better than magic."

"So, you would rather have hands instead of magic?"

Cyber chuckled. "Actually, I don't just prefer hands over magic, I have hands instead of magic."

Lyra was confused. "I don't get it."

"I mean I have no magic in me, absolutely none, but the scientific knowledge I have instead makes that whole experience worth it," Cyber stated proudly.

"What could do that?"

"Lightning strike."

"That almost makes me want to stand out in the rain to be struck by lightning," Lyra smiled as Cyber broke out laughing.

"I really like you, Lyra, you're weird, observant, but smart, fearless, and foalish at the same time, how do you pull it off?"

"Well, my roommate Bon-Bon said, 'I always have a hard time knowing whether you want to have a normal day, or search every nook and cranny of Equestria for humans' I guess that's what she means by that."

"Could be, and I completely agree with her, you are unpredictable."

"Is that bad?"

"Unpredictable? Bad? I lead a team of alienated ponies with abilities nopony thought were possible, I love unpredictable!" Lyra continued to chat the day away, completely ignoring her complaining stomach as she joyfully listened to Cyber talk about inventions he made and over fifty methods of blowing stuff up while she talked about all the times she thought she saw a human only for it to be a minotaur or a tree or a rock.

Comments

[SpikeThePredator]

This story is good! I approve!

[ShortAttentionSpan]

Don't get me wrong I like it, but the dialogue is so akward and it's hard to read. Same with the previous chapters. Fix the speech and it would make worlds of difference.

[Cyber System]

6476550

Thanks for that, I'll admit the earlier chapters feel more jumbled up compared to the later chapters in my opinion, and dialogue might be one of my weak points, but I'll see what I can to.

On a related note, could you please tell me what makes the dialogue awkward to make it easier to fix? Thank you.

[NorrixtheRipper]

Hmm... I approve!