//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: The party // Story: The Misfits // by Cyber System //------------------------------// The Misfits followed Twilight, Lyra, and Spike to the library where their surprise was waiting. Not before long the sun began to set and the moon came into clear view in the sky with the library. "Alright, we're here," said Cyber. "What's this surprise about?" "Step inside," Twilight said. Cyber shrugged, then grabbed the knob with one of his mechanical hands, turned it, stepped inside with the other Misfits curious as to why it was dark, and then... "Surprise!" the lights came on and ponies popped out of every possible hiding place, if Cyber didn't have his blood purified the night before, he would've had a heart attack, but he simply was surprised while Fang almost activated his hunter instincts before realizing it was a harmless surprise party by seeing the giant banner that said 'welcome to Ponyville, Misfits!' on it, and under it were four large cakes with miniature sculptures of the misfits on top made of frosting. "This is amazing!" said Dusty as the music was turned on. "Who planned this?" "Pinkie Pie, who else?" answered Twilight. "Pinkie plans the greatest parties in all Equestria," adds Lyra. "Did she make these cakes, too?" asked Dusty, looking at the cake with a frosting sculpture of himself. Twilight nodded. "This is amazing!" said Fang. "Hey, guys look, I'm a cannibal!" he took a large bite out of his sculpture as he the other misfits laughed. "So that's what she needed the info and sculpting knife for," said Mixy. "I must say, the quality on these sculptures is impressive, every detail is correct," said Cyber, inspecting his frosting sculpture while also cutting a piece of cake for himself. "Of course, silly," came Pinkie's voice from some random location next to Cyber. "Why wouldn't I do it for somepony like you?" Cyber nearly dropped his cake out of surprise. "Gah! Pinkie, I swear if you scare me like that over four times a day I will have a heart attack!" "Sorry," Pinkie Pie apologized with a toothy grin and a 'squee'. "Don't mind her, that's just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie," said Twilight. "Although why is there actual sculptures of the misfits instead of what you usually do?" "I just thought for somepony like the Misfits, they needed special cakes for special ponies!" The rest of the night was followed by cake eating, party games that Cyber and Mixy dominated at using their 'special abilities', slight arguing about whether they were cheating or not, Dusty getting sick from eating Fang's cake, which was somehow meat flavored; and Fang entering an extremely high sugar rush and crashed on the couch. "That may have been the best party I've ever attended, nopony even seemed concerned about any of our differences," Cyber said after a majority of the guests left and most of the night has gone by. "Yeah, the 'welcome to Ponyville' parties are always the largest," responded Twilight "So, where's Lyra?" "She crashed next to Fang and Bon-Bon took her home." "Speaking of home, where are we going to stay? I mean we have a cart that unfolds into a house, although come to think of it we haven't seen it ever since we came in." Pinkie bounced around between them and spoke in a sing-song voice. "I helped with that!" She said. "I put your house in an empty lot near the center of Ponyville." Cyber opened his mouth to argue, but closed his mouth and simply blamed it on 'Pinkie logic'. "Well then, I will be heading there with Fang, could you tell the other Misfits where we're going?" "Okey-dokey-lokey, Cyber!" Pinkie said as she bounced off. Cyber trotted over to Fang, who was deep asleep. "Fang, Fang, come on," he nudged his carnivorous friend. "Marine... Don't want another fish..." Fang muttered before drifting asleep again, making Cyber roll his eyes and pick up Fang in his arms before heading out. After a while of trotting through Ponyville with Fang in his arms, he found the house they were staying in for a while. The cart was one of Cyber's favorite inventions, providing easy camping supplies for single night times, and instant household appliances for several day stays. The only downsides were the occasional need to refill the water tanks and the rather cramped small size, but Cyber works on that daily in his lab, which is also an adaption for the cart. Cyber opened the door to find everything just the way it was last time the house was in use. "Strange, sometimes things are out of place or disturbed or-" he inturrupted his own train of thought by shaking his head. "Pinkie logic, just blame it on Pinkie logic." Cyber trotted to the upstairs of the house, found Fang's room, then place the carnivore on his bed, making him start to move in a running motion on his sleep. 'Well, I know what I'll try to make soon' he thought as he wondered what carnivores dream about, then trotted to his own room, which was decorated with all sorts of technology and electricity. Cyber then lay on his bed and fell asleep almost instantly. Moonlight Shadow wandered around a world, her world, her world where she could be without being feared. It was lonely, but she didn't care, it's what she wanted, though even this made her wonder its purpose. She made everything out of darkness and shadow, which was plentiful in this place, which she called the shadow realm, she could enter and exit the realm as long as she touched her shadow. She walked past her shadow buildings, if they were in the overworld they would be physical entities made from the shadows of others, it was complicated to tell the difference between the shadow and real realm, so Moonlight never thought deep into it, because even if she did know and understand, what would be the point? Further understanding the powers that made ponies run away? It was like her opinion on adding citizens to her "shadow town": useless. Moonlight Shadow let out a depressing sigh before seeing a black figure fly in from the white sky. Since everything in the real realm gained a negative contrast when viewed from the shadow realm, the figure was obviously Celestia. "What happened to leaving me alone?" muttered Moonlight. "Whatever, let's get this over with." She then phased back into the real realm to talk with the sun princess. "Hello, Moonlight, it's been quite a long time since we saw each other, wasn't it?" Celestia said. "Cut the icebreakers and get to the point," Moonlight Shadow replied. "Very well then, I believe my sister told you about some ponies you might want to see," "Don't tell me that you're going to do it too, are you?" "No, The Misfits won't be here for another couple days, I simply want to invite you to Canterlot, you haven't eaten in months, aren't you hungry?" "The shadows provide my nourishment, besides, what's the point of leaving?" "The same as staying here the rest of your life," Moonlight thought this over, then shrugged. "Fine, if it will help you leave me alone or whatever." Celestia smiled. "Alright then, hold on tight," Celestia's horn lit up, then Moonlight was coated in a white glow that made her wince before she was teleported away. 'That went by easier than I thought,' Celestia thought. 'I hope Luna is having the same amount of luck with Eclipse.' Cyber slept peacefully on his stomach, then as the sunlight shined through the window he started to stir in his sleep, which caused a rare event to occur: Cyber's unconscious yet active mind triggered his mechanical arms to move and somehow literally slap him out of his slumber. "Gah!" he shouted in pain as his hand, ironically the one that slapped him, rubbed the pain center on his face. "Dang it, I thought I stopped doing that, at least they woke me up in the morning this time," he stood up and streatched a little before trotting downstairs to the kitchen to cook breakfast, only to see Mixy beat him. "Morning!" Mixy said, using her magic to place pancakes onto a plate that she handed to Cyber. "Good morning, Mixy," Cyber replied. "How'd you sleep?" "Barely, Dusty and I filled up on a lot of that cake last night, which is in the fridge just so you know. Also that stuff can cause weird dreams if you eat it before sleeping, I dreamt that some weird dirt monster ate Equestria before spitting it out and doing it again." "Weird," Cyber agreed as he poured some syrup on his pancakes to start eating. "And speaking of filling upon sugar, is Fang up yet?" Mixy nodded. "Yeah, he and Dusty already left to see what Applejack said about having the best apples in Equestria." "Why Fang?" Mixy shrugged. "He was bored and you were asleep, I guess." "Alright, well I'll be in my lab if you need me." "Working on something new?" "Nah, just tinkering, I haven't come up with anything that could be of dire use at the moment." "Alright, good luck!" Mixy said as Cyber left into his lab, then she mentally hit herself. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid!' she thought. 'When are you going to tell him? You've known him for years and not once have you told him your feelings towards him, but I guess there's a good reason, Cyber never really was one to look for romance, in fact I'm pretty sure he'd look at a romantic, candlelight scenery in the moonlight the same way he looks at an ordinary restaurant, completely oblivious to the love. Sometimes I wonder if that's the work of the lightning that hit him or if it's just him. Either way, he never looks at things as good or bad, just ordinary, there would have to be something serious about something to change Cyber's opinion about it. But that's why I like him, since the day we met I had a crush on him, but would he be weirded out about it or would he even care? I am so confused, but that might just be what love does to you.' It was at that moment when someone knocked on the door, who turned out to be Lyra. "Hey, Mixy," said Lyra. "Hi, Lyra, what's up?" "I saw smoke coming from your house, is something wrong?" "No, that's just Cyber, he's in his lab, you want to come see?" "Is he working on something important?" "No, he's just tinkering, come on, I've got nothing to do anyway." "Alright, if it's ok with him," Lyra entered and closed the door behind her. "So, where are Fang and Dusty?" "They're out getting apples, now the lab's this way," the two trotted to a door under the stairs, Mixy placed here eye up to a small orb, which scanned her eye before glowing green and the door opened. "What was that?" asked Lyra. "Some kind of security measure Cyber put in, says it's to keep out thieves, but I think he's just being paranoid." the mares walked into the room, gadgets and gizmos were all over the place, and standing next to a large machine wearing goggles and his face in a circuit panel, was Cyber System. "Hey, Cyber," said Lyra, the surprise made Cyber jerk his head up and hit it against the top and yelling in pain as he rubbed his head. "OW! Dang it!" he exclaimed. "Are you alright?" "Yeah, hold on," Cyber turned around and took off his goggles, Lyra could see his face spotted by oil and grease. "Hey Lyra, what brings you here?" "I saw smoke." "Oh, don't worry about that, I just had something blow up in my face again, no big deal." "Right, so does that happen often?" "About every time I tinker, but don't worry, I always have protection." "What is this thing anyway?" asked Mixy, pointing to the machine that Cyber was just working on. "That is a water distillation machine, it takes water vapor from the atmosphere and turns into fresh drinking water." "Does it work?" "Sorta, it has a few bugs that make it take anything from the atmosphere. You know, chemicals, dust, bacteria, etc. And turns all that into a liquid, nasty, so I was just working on-" Cyber was interrupted by the door opening and Dusty coming in. "Hey, Cyber, can I borrow your heat vision goggles?" Dusty asked. "Why?" "I'm playing hide and seek with Fang and these three fillies, but I can't find Fang anywhere, so I was hoping you would be able to help." "You know that you don't need to use heat vision to find Fang, right?" "Yeah, but we were so caught up in the game, neither of us wanted to lose, also the fillies said it might earn them 'detective' cutie marks or something." "Wait," said Lyra. "Are they a small white unicorn, a yellow earth pony with a bow, and an orange pegasus?" "Yeah, how'd you know?" "They're the 'Cutie Mark Crusaiders', Sweetie Bell, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo, they're always trying some crazy shenanigans to earn their cutie mark, so Cyber, don't let them in your lab." "Noted, alright, let's find Fang," Cyber put away the goggles he was wearing and grabbed another pair that had blue lenses and a few circuitry on the sides as he headed out with his friends. Luna just arrived at the sun, using the magic her sister taught her for protection not just from the sun, but also from Solar Eclipse, whom she searched for before it was him who found her. "Welcome back princess, I'll have you know that-" he stopped and noticed Luna as he put on a confused look. "Who are you?" "I am Princess Luna, Celestia's sister." "Oh, yeah, I heard of you, you're that one that got sent to the moon, right? How's it like there? Can't be worse than this place." "Actually, it's not that different," Luna muttered. "Anyway, that is not why I came here, I believe Tia told you-" "About the Misfits, yeah, those band of outcasts that think they're better than others." "And what makes you think that? "Well, why else would they pick a name like 'the Misfits', kinda lame actually. Also why would they all join together? To overthrow you and Celestia?" "Or perhaps to show others like themselves that there is nothing to fear about the outside world?" Eclipse was cornered. "I-- I just-- but--" he stammered. "Eclipse, my sister told me about you, and you seemed to have been such a loving colt, always helping others and doing what's right, I even heard several stories about you playing in the fireplace often, most of the time while it was lit and just play in the flames." "Have you come to talk about me, or my foalhood?" Eclipse hissed. "A little of both, actually. From what I know from Celestia, you always wanted a friend, you even trotted up to the first pony you saw and asked to be their friend. But a lot of them were scared of being burned." "But-- but--" "Eclipse, I may have not known you for very long, but I understand you completely, I know what its like to be feared because of my actions, and if you were to do what I did-" "SHUT UP!" Eclipse shouted as he was covered from head to hoof in fire "JUST SHUT UP! I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANY OF THAT! I DID WHAT I COULD AND LOOK AT WHERE IT GOT ME!... SO SHUT UP AND LEAVE ME ALONE... Just leave me alone." Eclipse ran away from the moon princess, who noticed something else on Solar Eclipse's face. 'Was he... Crying?' she thought as she left to Canterlot to give the pyrokinetic unicorn some space. Althewhile Solar Eclipse was trying to fight back the tears on his face, but failing miserably and stomping on the sun's surface in rage. "Stupid Luna, stupid Celestia, stupid ponies!" he shouted. "Who needs friends? I don't, I don't even want some, not anymore, not after what happened that one time," tears started streaming down his face, which was now free of fire as he fell into a flashback. "Hi! I'm Solar Eclipse, would you like to be friends?" a young Solar Eclipse approached a small group of ponies around his age, who backed away slightly. The only one willing to stop and say something was an earth pony colt, who awkwardly rubbed his leg. "Um... Yeah uh... Sorry, kid. We can't talk right now." "No, wait! Look what I can do!" Eclipse jumped up in the air, as he landed a giant ring of fire emerged around him and came dangerously close to the other ponies, who backed away even more. "And this," Eclipse said happily as he picked up a leaf with his magic, then touched it against his skin. Instantly the leaf caught on fire and burned away. "Pretty cool, huh?" Eclipse held out his hoof, but did not get the result he expected. "This foal's nuts!" one said. "Don't touch him!" shouted another. "Don't get near me, you freak!" shouted the third before all three ran away, leaving behind Solar Eclipse depressed and slumping down. "Why does nopony want to be my friend?" he said, almost about to cry. "I'll be your friend," said a sweet, gentle voice. "Who are you?" Eclipse looked at the speaker, a bright orange pegasus filly around his age. "My name is Breeze Blower, but you can call me Breezie, everypony does." "Alright, so you aren't scared of me?" Breezie shook her head. "Why would I be scared? Your powers are cool!" "You think so?" "Yeah! You wanna go play?" "Sure!" ... "Breezie, get away from him," said Whirlwind, an elderly, grey pegasus stallion. "No, Daddy, he's my friend." "He's dangerous, get away from him." "I'm not dangerous!" Eclipse firmly said. "Zip it! You hurt my daughter, stay away!" "It was an honest mistake, he didn't mean to burn me, he can't control it!" "I don't care, he will hurt all of us if he doesn't leave!" "He will hurt all of us if you don't calm down!" Breezie argued "No! I already lost your mother, I'm not losing you to this freak!" "I am not a freak!" Eclipse shouted, already the air around them started to get warmer. "Yes you are! Your a freak made from fire and you must be finished." "No! I won't! Your daughter's a good friend and I won't let some old stallion get in the way!" their rage blinded them from the ongoing events as objects started catching on fire. "Daddy...? Eclipse...?" Breezie tried to warn them. "I am not keeping her from friends! I am keeping her safe from freaks like you!" "Daddy? Eclipse?" "I told you already-" Eclipse started to say. "Daddy! Eclipse!" Breezie dashed toward the door before it caught on fire as well. "I. AM NOT. A. FREAK!" Eclipse began to be covered in fire until... Crash! "AAAAAaaahh!" Breezie screamed in pain as burning planks of wood crashed onto her, gaining the attention of both stallions, both of them ran toward the pile. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" Eclipse shouted as he removed the wooden planks with his magic, eventually coming to his friend, laying singed in a puddle of blood, completely lifeless. "Nnnoooooooo!" Eclipse turned to Whirlwind, who was too stunned to acknowledge Eclipse. "You did this! This is all your fault! You didn't let Breezie be my friend and now she's gone! And it's all. your. FAULT!" flames erupted from every which way, burning everything in their path. What happened next, was known as the Great Fire of Hoofington. Eclipse broke out of his memory, still crying. 'Breezie, you were the only one who understood me,' he thought. 'Why did you have to die? Why you, it's all your dad's fault, he didn't let you play with me and now he too died in the same fire... Which I caused because I couldn't control my anger. Maybe it's not his fault you're dead, maybe it's mine. I wish you were still here so I can tell you how sorry I am.'