//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Return to Ponyville // Story: The Misfits // by Cyber System //------------------------------// The rest of the hour and lunch were so uneventful that it was nearly forgotten by the time they got on the train to travel back to Ponyville. "So, just a quick question, Eclipse," began Twilight as she and the Misfits took their seats not too far from each other. "What sort of emotions trigger your flames?" Eclipse thought for a moment. "Mostly ones like surprise, fear, too much happiness, and excitement, but they're most active with anger and annoyance. Saddness seems to cool me down." "So, you need to keep calm?" "I guess, but I've learned to control flames, so I should be able to stop any fires before they cause too much damage." "Also, why does your heat become most active with anger?" Eclipse shrugged. "I dunno, I guess for the other emotions it's just a defensive instinct or accidental effect." "Interesting," she turned to Moonlight Shadow. "And as for you, Moonlight, how long have you had those dark powers?" "As long as I remember," Moonlight said simply. "And why do you wear that cloak?" "It keeps me from being noticed." "But nopony knows what kind of pony you are, or what your cutie mark is, why would you keep it a secret?" Moonlight narrowed her eyes at Twilight. "That's personal and none of your business." "Oookaay," Twilight said, backing off the subject as she could hear the train whistle and then take off. "So, Twilight, what's on the agenda once we get to Ponyville?" asked Cyber. "Actually, I was more wondering what do you think we should do once we get back." Cyber opened his mouth to speak, but closed it and thought for a moment. "I haven't thought of it yet, I guess we'll be wandering Equestria again looking for misfits." "How about this, maybe you could stay in Ponyville for a while until the ships are finished so Celestia knows where you are to tell you." "I don't know, there are a lot of ponies with need of help, they could need us." "Don't worry about it. Besides, it will give Moonlight and Eclipse a chance to get used to being around other ponies, and don't forget about Lyra." Cyber shrugged. "I guess, what do you guys think?" "I'm cool with staying in Ponyville for a while," said Mixy. "You seem to be close to Lyra, so I'll do you a favor and bite the bullet with Rainbow Crash," said Dusty. "I want to have the guards know where we are if it means I get to see my tribe again," said Fang. "Alright," Cyber said. "I guess it will give me some time to work on my experiments anyway." Dust Devil returned home from his shift as a weather pony, he had to fly to the earth since that was where they had to move ever since his son, Dusty became afraid of heights. But it was a small price to pay for the dirt brown pegasus with dark brown mane and eyes and a dust devil cutie mark. "Honey, Sandy, I'm home!" he announced as his daughter, Sandy came into view. Sandy, his youngest child, was a sandy yellow colored pegasus with light brown mane and eyes and a sand castle cutie mark. "Hey, Dad," she said. "Hey, Sandy, where's your mother?" "She's running errands, is there any word from Dusty?" it didn't concern Dust Devil much, it was normal for a filly her age to look up to her older brother. Dust Devil shook his head. "No, your brother's still with Cyber." "Alright," Sandy said sullenly, she really missed Dusty, he missed a lot ever since he left, Sandy getting her cutie mark, her best friend, even Dust Devil's promotion. So many events without Dusty because he and Cyber left to find other ponies who needed help. But Dust Devil did like Cyber, he gave Dusty a friend when he had trouble, he can still remember the days when it all happened... "Dusty! Dusty, where are you?!" Dust Devil called out on the ground with his wife and daughter, after several days of searching for his son. He felt like he may have a chance at finally finding Dusty after seeing the sonic rainboom two days ago. "I thought that the sonic rainboom was a sign," said Prancer. "It is, I know it, just keep looking, he has to be here somewhere." "Mommy? Daddy? The ground is shaking," said Sandy at a very young age with no cutie mark. Her parents trotted up to her, noticing too that something was moving under the ground, then shortly a small lump emerged from the ground, which grew, and grew, until it broke and revealed a beige pegasus colt, who shielded his eyes from the blinding light, then as he got used to the light, he looked at the couple and filly with great love as he recognized who they were as much as they recognized him. It was Dusty. "Mom? Dad?" Dusty asked as they became much clearer to him, shortly all Dust Devil, Prancer, and Dusty could do is hug each other. "We were so worried!" said Prancer, about to cry of happiness now that her son was back. "What happened?" asked Dust Devil. "It's a long story, Dad, I'll tell you later." "Mommy, Daddy, look!" exclaimed Sandy, pointing to Dusty's flank, which now had a shovel and pickaxe crossing over each other. "My cutie mark..." said Dusty in awe. "His special talent... is digging?" asked Dust Devil, confused. "Yeah! Watch this!" Dusty broke from the hug and started pounding at the ground, within seconds he dug into the earth and popped back out a few meters away. "But... he's a pegasus, pegasi are supposed to fly, not dig!" said Dust Devil. "Oh, let him dig," said Prancer. "Nopony said cutie marks were supposed to make sense, now hop on, Dusty, I'm going to make your favorite dinner tonight," Prancer gestured toward her back and Dusty started to come, but he stopped, looked shocked, then backed away slowly, quivering and shaking his head. "Is there something wrong?" asked Prancer. "I'm scared... I don't wanna fall again," Dusty replied. "Dusty, there's nothing to be afraid of, you're a pegasus, you won't fall," said Dust Devil, but Dusty shook his head again. "No, too scary." "Dusty please-" Prancer started to say. "Don't worry, I got this," Dust Devil said. "Dusty, I want you to close your eyes and keep thinking 'the cloud is hard,' and no matter what, just keep your eyes closed and keep thinking that so you won't fall, you can do that, right?" Dusty hesitated before nodding and obeyed his father, closing his eyes, whispering 'the cloud is hard' under his breath. Dust Devil grabbed Dusty and slowly started to fly upward towards Cloudsdale. Soon they made it to the pegasus homeland. Dust Devil landed on Cloudsdale and gradually placed his son on the clouds, who was still whispering the phrase. Carefully Dusty's hooves touched the cloud, then Dust Devil let go. Then Dusty slipped straight through. "DUSTY!" shouted Dust Devil as he started chasing after his son, who opened his eyes to see what was going on, then started to panic before trying again with the phrase, hoping that he would be saved. The speed from both pegasi caused winds on the ground to pick up a cloud of dust, which quite miraculously made Dusty land safely. Prancer's breathing lowered as she calmed down from the heart attack she almost had, clutching Sandy to the point where she could barely breathe. Then Dust Devil came down and went into the dust cloud... before coming out again coughing. "There's too much dust, I can't get in," he said. "Dusty! Are you in there?!" called out Sandy into the cloud. A small, terrified voice came out. "Yes." Shortly Dusty emerged from the Cloud... from the top, much like a pegasus would from a normal cloud. ... Dust Devil has received news from the psychiatrist that Dusty can't walk on clouds anymore, though strangely he could walk on and breathe dust clouds. Those weren't all that surprised Dust Devil, but also the doctor told him that Dusty is now severely acrophobic, and no known therapy could break him out of it. Already he and Prancer moved into a new house in Fillydelphia, and Dusty tried to make friends, but instead was teased. Dust Devil didn't know what to do now, but he tried what he could to make Dusty feel better. "Hey, why don't we go outside to the park, maybe get some ice cream, what do you say to that?" Dust Devil suggested to his son, who spent most of his time in his room or with Sandy since he couldn't make any friends. "Yeah, sure, I guess," Dusty replied before him and his dad trotted out the door and they were at the park just sitting on a bench while Dust Devil read the paper and Dusty just slumped down, dangling his hoof off the side of the bench. "Excuse me sir," spoke up a voice. "I hate to get into business I'm not supposed to be in, but why is your son depressed?" "He can't make any friends, why do you say-" he was stopped when he saw who he was talking to, a blue unicorn colt around Dusty's age with metal... things that came out of his back and moved like limbs. "Why do I say what?" the colt asked. "Nevermind, who are you?" "My name is Cyber System, nice to meet you." "I'm Dust Devil, this is my son, Dusty." "Just get it over with," said Dusty. "Get what over with?" asked Cyber. "The teasing, the mocking, just do it." "Why in the wide world of Equestria would I do that?" "Dusty fell off of Cloudsdale and has been scared of heights ever since," Dust Devil explained, "it caused him to become teased and he's having a very hard time fitting in." Cyber just stared. "I am intrigued by your story but I still don't have a reason to mock you." Dusty's head perked up. "You won't make fun of me?" Cyber shook his head. "Of course not, I was teased and picked on myself, I have no magic, I'm a total braniac, and I've got these!" he started waving his extra limbs around for show and emphasis. "But none of that stopped me, in fact I was looking for ponies that want to be accepted as who they are." "What do you mean?" asked Dusty. "I mean do you want to be the first member of The Misfits?" Dusty jumped off the bench. "That sounds great!" he exclaimed. "Hey, my dad and I are gonna get ice cream later, you wanna come?" "Sure!" said Cyber. "Dad?" Dust Devil broke from his daydream by the sound of Sandy's voice. "Are you alright?" "Hm? Yeah, I'm fine, just got caught up in old memories." "Oh, alright," Sandy replied before returning to what she was doing. The Misfits and Twilight stepped off the the train to be greeted by Twilight's five friends and Lyra. "Yay! They're back!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, bouncing around them. "Now I'll get started on the 'welcome back to Ponyville' party, ooh! But who are those two with her? Are they new. That means I'll have to plan two parties, one for returning to Ponyville and another for coming to Ponyville for the first time, yay!" Twilight stopped Pinkie. "Pinkie, I don't think these two want a party just yet," she said. "Aww, why not?" Pinkie complained. "They just got here after being alone for a long time and don't want anything extreme for the next few days." "How long were they gone?" asked Applejack. "I've been away ever since I was a colt, I'm Solar Eclipse by the way." "I've only been gone for a couple months," Moonlight added. "I'm Moonlight Shadow." "Excuse me, Ms. Shadow, must you wear that hood over yourself?" said Rarity to Moonlight. "It's very blank, no style on it and nopony can see your face, well except for those eyes, it's rather creepy." "Well get used to it, it's not coming off," replied Moonlight. "Eh, don't mind her, Rarity, she just needs to get used to being with other ponies," said Cyber. "Forget the hood," said Rainbow Dash. "Does anypony smell something burning?" "Sorry, that's me," answered Eclipse. "I start smoking when I'm nervous." Applejack was confused. "You start... smoking?" "I heard about that," said Lyra. "It was this thing that humans would do, it makes them feel good but it's really unhealthy," that just caused more confusion. "How about I show you what I mean, away from a crowd?" suggested Eclipse. "Hold on," spoke up Fang. "First I have to say something to Fluttershy," this made Fluttershy wince and try to hide behind Pinkie Pie, who had the expression of confusion, but utter enjoyment for no known reason. "M-m-me? R-r-really?" asked Fluttershy, shaking in fear Fang nodded. "Discord told me about what you think of me. You're scared, aren't you?" Fluttershy hesitated before she nodded. "I want to tell you that you don't have to be. Look I'm sorry that I ate that squirrel but I had no idea how much you cared for it. If I knew otherwise I wouldn't have done it, but now I do and won't do that again, honest, and you don't have to worry about me, if anything you should be worried about Eclipse." "Hey! I'm right here!" Eclipse growled, making his skin grow hotter before stopping when he saw Pinkie roasting marshmallows on him to make s'mores. "Anyway," Fang continued. "Again, I'm really sorry, could you forgive me?" Fluttershy hesitated. "Actually, I'm the one who should be sorry, I was too shy and scared to ask why you did it. And I guess I was a bit worried that you would eat my friend Angel, he's a rabbit. Anyway, after Spike told me about your tribe being in a famine, I thought about what else could you do. So if I forgive you, could you forgive me?" Fang smiled. "Of course." "Yay! Forgiveness!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie as she bounced around the two. "Now there's just one last thing that needs forgiving," said Twilight, looking at Dusty. "Nice try, Twilight," Dusty replied. "But I see no reason to forgive Rainbow Crash for trauma." "What are you talking about?" asked Moonlight. "I'll explain later, Moonlight," said Cyber. "Why don't you and Eclipse have Twilight and her friends show you around? I've got some renovations to do."