//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7: Seeking guidance 
// Story: The Misfits 
// by Cyber System 
//------------------------------//

The next morning, Lieutenant Storm Chaser was the first to wake up out of the rest of his pegasus troop, though it was small, they have covered most of the ocean looking for this 'tribe of meat eating earth ponies' that Celestia told them to find. However they have been looking for two days straight before stopping on a small island to rest for the night. Storm Chaser woke up the rest of his soldiers.

"Wake up, stallions!" he barked, the ponies around him gradually and groggily. "We've got a tribe to find, there are lives at stake!"

"But Lieutenant, we've been searching for two days, maybe it's fake," complained Thunder Smack

"Negative, soldier! Celestia would never lie to us."

"What about Discord?" suggested Wind Rider, Storm Chaser thought it over.

"Plausible suggestion. Very well, we shall search one last day, then return to Celestia for confirmation and rest, now let's move!"

The soldiers saluted. "Sir, yes, sir!" and with that, they took off into the sky, completely unaware of the aquamarine mare that watched them from under the water.

'They're searching for a tribe of carnivorous ponies?' she thought. 'Are they talking about the predators? I have to tell Xanthos and Trident.'





Solar Eclipse woke up to the smell of smoke. 'Is something burning?' he thought before relaxing a little. 'Oh yeah, I'm the one who's burning.' shortly Eclipse got up from his bed, gaining a strong feeling of nostalgia from what he remembered back as a colt, only for all those memories to trace their way towards Breezie and what he did to her, causing his body to flare up before cooling down again. 'Why can't I get her out of my mind? Every time I think of my foalhood, I end up thinking about her, then what I did, then I have to struggle to keep things from lighting on fire because of my anger, not just toward Whirlwind, but toward myself too, I miss you so much.'

Eclipse's emotional rambling was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Come in," Eclipse called before a nursemare came in.

"Solar Eclipse, your breakfast is ready," she said.

"Alright, tell Celestia I'll be there in a bit," Eclipse replied getting up from his new fireproof bed and stretching as the nursemare left. Shortly his mane regained its flaming effect as he stepped outside his room, where he was face to face with Moonlight Shadow.

"Morning, Moonlight," said Eclipse.

"Hi," Moonlight replied, then left.

"Well that was a nice conversation," Eclipse muttered sarcastically before following her and trying again. "So, do you sleep in that cloak?"

"Yes."

"Do you ever take it off?"

"No."

"Even if it's dirty?"

"Shadows prevent it from filth and wearing."

"Is that why you never take it off?"

"That's personal," Moonlight simply replied, then awkward silence.

"So... um, how about this weather?" Eclipse awkwardly said, Moonlight wasn't impressed.

"Why are you so determined in talking to me?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

Eclipse sighed. "Fine, if you insist. A long time ago, Celestia found me as a foal, alone. She couldn't leave me there, so she looked around for somepony that would take me in, however while some simply refused, others would be horrified by how I burn everything and everyone I touch, so she took me in as her own-"

"Skip to the real reason," Moonlight rudely interrupted, as Eclipse resisted catching on fire again.

"Anyway," he continued, "some time later, when I was a colt, I wanted nothing more than to make friends, so while Celestia was teaching her new student, who's name escapes me, Sunset something, whatever. Anyway, while she was teaching Sunset what's-her-face, I was in Hoofington trying to make friends. That was when I met Breezie..."

"I didn't ask for names."

Eclipse's skin grew hotter from rage. "Unless you want that cloak of yours turned into ash, I suggest you stop rudely interrupting me."

Moonlight rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"Now, as I was saying, I met this pegasus named Breeze Blower, and we were the best of friends, we did everything together, played, talked, even joked together. Her dad always had a close eye on me, but it never seemed to matter, until I got a little too close to her."

"Are you saying that you-" she was interrupted when Eclipse shot her an angry look, his eyes almost literally burning with anger.

"NO! I'M NOT, YOU-!" Eclipse cut himself off by taking a deep breath and calming down. "No, I don't mean that, I mean that I literally got too close, as in she touched me and got burned. And as it turns out her mom died from a murder some time ago, which made her dad enter 'over-protective mode' and seeing how I am able to hurt him and his daughter made him turn up the protection. He called me a freak, a monster, and he didn't want anything to do with me and Breezie being together. 

"I could've just let it go and find some other way, but I got mad instead, setting everything on fire, including over half of Hoofington, several ponies died. Even..." Eclipse tried to hold back a tear. "...Even Breezie, that was when I got out of control, torching everything that tried to stop me. Celestia knew that the only thing to do was send me where I can calm down and learn to control my flames. She sent me to the sun, where I remembered Breezie with the help of Luna, then reconsidered everything, I spent years being mad at everything I thought was trying to keep me from Breezie, when I was really mad at myself, so I'm trying to make friends again, for her sake."

"Wow, that was more sappy than it should have been," Moonlight said. Then Eclipse lost it as his hooves and mane caught ablaze while he faced Moonlight Shadow.

Eclipse breathed heavily through his clenched teeth. "You know, I have put up with ponies who call me names, made fun of me, even thought of me as a monster, but I have never, not in my entire life, have met a pony so dull, so inconsiderate, so rude, and just so... so... so heartless! You don't even know what it's like to lose your best friend in an accident you caused. I'd bet you have never even had a friend before, AND DON'T SAY THE SHADOWS ARE YOUR ONLY COMPANION!" Eclipse yelled as the patch of shadow under Moonlight started to move and materialize into a giant pillar which hit Eclipse in the jaw.

"You may have had your friend taken away from you, but at least you had a friend, I was an outcast my entire life!" Moonlight yelled, hints of strong negative emotions within her eyes. "I spent my foalhood alone, hungry, nopony to love or accept as family, I was lucky to have my sanity intact because I hardly knew who I was, I knew nothing about myself, nothing but my ability to control shadows and darkness with a thought. But it only made things worse for wanting to fit in with other ponies in society, which I already failed at in the first place, so I thought everypony knew who I was and took their word for it, and still I don't know who I am, so there! Are you happy now? Now leave me alone!" Eclipse just watched as the shadow pillar melted into the ground and back under Moonlight, who seeped into the shadow like it was a portal. The shadow still remained, and it started moving away, but Eclipse made no attempt to follow it, instead he just huffed and continued on his way to join Celestia and Luna for breakfast, thinking about the tone that Moonlight spoke in as he calmed down.

'I may not know much about you, Moonlight,' he thought. 'But that last thing you told me showed something about you, you can feel sadness.'





Lyra and Cyber looked at the many blueprints that Cyber had. Each one was laid out in front of them and displayed all sorts of different designs and sketches.

"You drew all these yourself?" asked Lyra.

Cyber nodded. "Yep, every single one of them."

"How do you do it?"

"Well, I just look at an object, wonder how it works, think about what can cause it to work, and then bam! It comes to my mind as a blueprint that I can copy down."

"Is that how you built your arms?"

"Well, like most other projects, some are done mostly by trial-and-error if I don't have all of the required measurments, but it always turns out perfect in the end."

"Any projects you need help with?"

"I have two, actually," Cyber rummaged through the pile of blueprints, setting each to the side until only two remained: one with an equine robot and the other a pair of wings. "I am currently working on a set of wings that could be used by unicorns and earth ponies, though I am missing certain calculations. The wings only provide forward momentum, they don't work for all body weights, and there's still the threat involving the afterburners causing fires."

Lyra thought about it for a moment. "Maybe you could use a motion detector inside the wings, I've always seen pegasi arch themselves in a vertical position when hovering."

Cyber thought about it for a moment. "And with an added sensor that detects minor muscle movement, it could be adjusted to alter it's power level and allow the user to hover, slow down, speed up, and stop. Why didn't I think of it before? Lyra, you're a genius!"

"Well, I dabbled a bit with certain muscle detecting machines for a bit," Lyra admitted.

"Tried to make a human hand for yourself?" Cyber guessed while writing down Lyra's new addition to the wings on the blueprint.

Lyra nodded. "Yeah, it didn't work out so well, even if it did it's nothing compared to yours. To be honest it was just a device you put over your hooves. In hindsight, it wasn't really much of a good idea at the time, and Bon-Bon knew it, she tried to tell me but I never listen to her."

"You just need a little... inspiration as it were."

"I can imagine, I don't even know the first thing about neural devices, but I have so much ideas and ways to do them that Bon-Bon says I have to do them somewhere else."

"How many of them involve humans?" Cyber joked as both he and Lyra broke into laughter. "Anyway, so onto this other blueprint, it's a robot that I've been working on for some time now. His name is Clockwork, and building his frame and body is easy, it's his programming that's the hard part."

"What do you mean by that?"

"As best as I can explain, Clockwork has a full flexible body, functioning properties, even a coating of sleek metal that protects him from weather and water, but there's one thing he's missing that all ponies have."

"What? Blood? A brain?" Lyra guessed.

Cyber shook his head. "No, those two are easy to substitute, I'm talking about a heart, emotions. Right now he's just a husk with no life in it. Clockwork will only do what he is programmed to do, with no concern for himself or thought of his own action. In other words he lacks a personality, but I will build Clockwork the first chance I get."

"Well, I know that you can do it, you're the smartest pony I know. Don't give up," Lyra comforted Cyber, who looked at her and smiled before both returned to work on Cyber's unfinished projects. All while completely unaware that they were being watched by a certain changeling hybrid.

'They're awfully close,' Mixy thought. 'But they can't be that close, can they? No, no, they're just friends, I remember back Cyber and I did that to each other, but would that mean Lyra has a crush on him too? No, no, no, no Mixy, you can't demand his love, that would be what a changeling would do, and you're more pony than changeling on the inside. But still, I hope Cyber falls for me.'





Twilight Sparkle brought Fang into the library, ready to document the new species Fang was going to bring to Equestria.

"Thanks again for using your time to be here, Fang," said Twilight.

"Beats sitting around doing nothing," Fang replied

"Can I get you anything? I don't think Owlowiscious would mind giving some of his mice."

"No thanks, mice don't have so much meat on them."

"Alright then," Twilight's horn glowed and a book flew in front of her and opened up. It contained detailed descriptions on pegasi, unicorns, earth ponies, and alicorns, but with a bit of magic, new blank pages emerged in the book as Twilight also got a quill and ink.

"So, Fang, begin and I will write it down."

Fang scratched his chin thought. "Let's see, we call ourselves 'predators' and we always consider ourselves as top of the food chain, but when we are below, we try to find a way to get back on top. Anyway, obviously us predators have razor sharp canines as teeth to easily tear through bone and flesh. Our main focus is survival, so we know how to ration food and water, though we can go weeks without it."

"Also, if I may ask, pegasi use magic to fly, earth ponies use magic for increased strength and stamina, unicorns have magic that can be used for spells, but what can predators use magic for?" asked Twilight.

"From what I've been told by Chief Xanthos, predators can use magic to blend in to our environment, detect life and find what Cyber calls 'approximate landing point' so basically, we can tell when and where birds land after we kill them, that's about it. Our strength and body structure is completely natural, we have to work to get strong."

"And when you sense life, what does it look like?" 

"Think of it like blurry, red blobs. Sometimes I know who it is, sometimes I don't."

"Do you know how that works?"

"Cyber tried explaining it, but I started falling asleep halfway and forgot it."

"So, could you tell me where Spike is?" Fang nodded and closed his eyes while concentrating.

"I think he's downstairs," Fang answered, opening his eyes to see Twilight nod.

"That is amazing, a whole new species and all we had to do was sail across the ocean, which reminds me, who is Xanthos?"

"Xanthos is the chief of the predators, being the strongest, wisest, and most skilled hunter, he watches over all of us, though none of the predators know about Celestia or Luna. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure if they know what unicorns or pegasi are. I hope they're alright."

"Don't worry, Fang, I sent a letter to Celestia. If I know her, she's probably sending a search for them."

"You mean it?"

Twilight nodded. "I've been her personal student for years, I'm sure she'll show kindness towards predators."

"Twilight, thank you, I can't thank you enough for this."

Twilight smiled. "It's the least I can do."