It took the rest of the day to cross the waters, which was full of singing, games, and bonding. Then as the day began to close, Predator Island became near, and Fang could barely contain himself as his home got closer, and closer. Soon the village itself was visible on the large island, which Twilight compared to being over twice the size of The Crystal Empire, with the village being just larger than Canterlot, and only a short trot away from the shore as they docked.
"Fang, you weren't kidding," Twilight said as her hooves touched the rocky island. "This terrain couldn't grow grass even if it wanted to, and where are all the animals?"
"We ate them all," Diomedes answered.
"But what kind of animals were there?"
Diomedes shrugged. "I dunno, we're survivors, we eat animals, not study them."
"But those animals could have been one of a kind!"
"Well, what are you gonna do now?" Diomedes smiled as Twilight rolled her eyes and groaned, then noticed Fang going near the water.
"Fang, what are you doing?" she asked.
"Just calling a friend," Fang answered before putting his face in the water, saying something, then taking it out. "I think you will like her, Twilight."
"Who?" Twilight asked before she and The Misfits noticed something in the water, moving too fast to know what it was before it approached the shore and leaped out of the water and at Fang, now showing as an aquamarine mare with a large fish tail for hind legs.
"Fang! You're back! I knew you would! I knew it! Knew it! Knew- *gasp* can't breathe!" Fang chuckled as he put the mare that was hugging him back in the water. "Thank you!"
"I take it you're Marine?" Cyber asked.
Marine smiled and nodded. "Yep! Princess Marine, at your service."
"You're a princess too?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah! Does that mean you are royalty too?"
"Sort of? I'm a princess but I don't rule over anything. My brother's married to Cadence though."
"I thought you were a princess, you've got a horn and wings, are you Celestia's daughter? What's your name?"
"No, but I used to be her personal student, and I'm Twilight Sparkle."
"So she was a teacher and a princess. Hm, you mainlanders are weird."
"Yeah, I know," Fang agreed. "Also, meet my friends, The Misfits," Fang introduced each of The Misfits to his hippocampus friend. "This is Cyber System, Solar Eclipse, Moonlight Shadow, Dusty, Pixel Berry, and Mixy."
"Are you a princess too?" Marine asked Mixy, who giggled.
"No, I'm a changeling hybrid."
Marine had no idea what she said, but still smiled. "What's a changeling?"
"I'll explain later, Marine," Fang said. "Doesn't Xanthos have an event planned today?"
"Oh, right, come on! And take that meat with you."
Using a bit of magic, the group was able to take all crates of meat and follow Marine along the shore. Soon they reached the village after Fang helped Marine inside her tank along the east side of the island, where already they encountered Celestia, Luna, Xanthos, and Trident at the village entrance.
"It's about time you got here," Celestia said.
Xanthos looked at the crates of meat. "And you brought... meat..." he began drooling before Luna broke him out of his food induced trance by nudging him. "Huh? Oh right, let's head to the village center, predators are waiting."
Fang followed Xanthos to the center of the tribe, where The Misfits, Twilight, Fang's parents, and all leaders stepped onto the stage used for tribal meetings. "Where is everypony?" asked Twilight.
"They are either in their houses or somewhere on the island, hold on," Xanthos said before he cleared his throat and let out a loud, almost roaring noise that brought all the predators there, and it was clear all of them waited in anticipation for Xanthos' words.
"My fellow predators," he began. "Today is a day where we rejoice, thanks to our hero right here, we now have food to last us for many years and the famine is now officially over!"
Trident poked his head from his tank to all the guests. "You might want to cover your ears," he said before an extremely loud uproar of cheering and yelling broke out.
"SILENCE!" Luna boomed in her Royal Canterlot Voice, which was somehow loud enough to quiet the predators, though many were obviously twitching with excitement. "Xanthos, you may continue," Luna said to Xanthos.
"Er... right, now if Podargos would say his speech."
Podargos smiled. "Actually, father, I think that Fang would like to say a few things."
Fang winced as Podargos gestured him to step up and say a speech. Fang looked at his parents and friends, all of them telling him to go on, so Fang took a deep breath and stepped up.
All the predators looked at Fang hopefully, they looked at him as if he was their hero. "Well, gosh..." he started. "I don't know what to say, but I don't really need all this attention. I mean, I understand I just saved an entire species from extinction, but I couldn't have done it without Cyber System, right here!" Cyber waved at the predators, who cheered again as Cyber stepped up. "Not to mention my best friend in all Equestria, Dusty!" Dusty stepped up. "And of course, Mixy, Solar Eclipse, Moonlight Shadow, and even though we just met two to three days ago, Pixel Berry!" Only Mixy and Eclipse stepped up as Mixy whispered something to Fang, who blushed. "I would also like to apologize to Moonlight and Pixel for putting them in the spotlight... my bad," he chuckled nervously.
Trident faced Fang. "Well, we all understand, Fang, now onto a few questions, why did you volunteer to be sent to the mainland in the first place?"
"Well, nopony would volunteer for it, and I knew that if action wasn't taken, this whole tribe could be killed out, and I didn't want that to happen."
"So you would rather die than have this tribe suffer?" Luna asked.
"If it means that this tribe will stay on Equestria until the end of time, yes."
"Now onto the real question," Podargos said. "What will you do now that your duty has been fulfilled?"
Fang was about to answer before closing his mouth. "Honestly, I have no idea, I've had my goals set on saving the tribe I don't know."
"I'll tell you what he's gonna do," Cyber said. "He's going to do what he's done before meeting Celestia and travel Equestria, looking for misfits with each of his friends by his side."
"Is that what you want?" asked Podargos.
Fang chuckled. "What can I say? I'm a misfit, it's what I do."
"If you insist..." Xanthos turned to Fang's parents. "And what about you?"
"I think we'll just stay here while our son does his little misfit business," answered Diomedes.
"Very well, but before any of this can be done, we shall feast for the first time in years!"
Clockwork went over the plans for the construction of the expansions when a knock came from the door.
"Coming!" Clockwork called out as he opened the door, seeing a grey pegasus mare with crossed eyes and a package.
"I got a package of scrap metal and other electro stuff for... Clockwork?"
Clockwork recognized the face within his databanks. "That's me... Ditzy 'Derpy' Doo. Um... which would you prefer to be called?"
"Either is fine!" Derpy answered, handing him the large package, which Clockwork took before Derpy held out a clipboard with a few documents. "Sign here, please!" Clockwork signed it using an attachment in his hoof, then Derpy waved and left.
"Let's see..." Clockwork said as he opened the package, obviously for Cyber, but he needed it to start on the house's renovations. Cyber was indeed a genius with this kind of subject, he even modified the house to open up in certain areas to allow expansion, but the expansion was all in the user. Fortunately being a robot, Clockwork could work non-stop all day and night and not get the slightest tired, and now with the materials, he immediately got to work.
Laa-Mohr trotted across the plains, he would take the train, but the last time he did it broke down, so he had to go on hoof. He was only a mile or two away from Canterlot. 'This walk is troublesome, but I have no other option, I hope these 'Misfits' will have some way to break my curse, or at least manage to withstand it. Especially after what happened back in Saddle Arabia...'
Laa-Mohr noticed deep despair in Caliph, his foster father and the Vizier to the Sultan of Saddle Arabia. "Caliph, what's going on? Is there something wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing, Laa-Mohr, I just... need to speak with the Sultan right now. I'll be back." Caliph left out the door of the room to the Sultan's throne room. Laa-Mohr pondered what this could mean for him, lately across not just in Saddle Arabia, but all across the area there have been plagues, locust swarms, famines and disasters of all kinds. Normally citizens would accuse themselves of their wrongdoings, but what made things outside his favor was the fact that it all happened the day he got his cutie mark, which didn't appear after he performed a task, all he did was wake up to a new famine and there it was on his flank, which much to his dismay was the Saddle Arabian eye of misfortune, which according to Saddle Arabian belief causes bad luck and disasters to fall upon anypony who so much as comes near the one who bears the eye.
He had to know, he had to see what they were talking about. Swiftly he slid out of the door and into the throne room unseen, but was able to hear Caliph and the Sultan perfectly.
"You know what you must do," the Sultan said.
"I know, but I don't want to, it could hurt him forever."
"And if he stays here he could hurt our entire city with his curse. He must leave."
"But, Sultan, there must be another way!"
"I understand you care for the colt, and many of us do too, but if he isn't gone by the end of the month, he may cause disasters far greater than what he is causing now and make it impossible for us to survive them."
"If that is so then I shall go with him!"
"No, I cannot bear it if you were injured or killed because of that colt. Besides, the curse only affects others not him, if he is alone we would be safe."
"But the world is dangerous, is it truly wise to have him go out in the open all by himself?"
"I don't know, but now is not the time, you must tell Laa-Mohr that he must leave Saddle Arabia, and never return."
"But Sultan-" Caliph tried to say but was interrupted.
"No 'but's, you must go tell Laa-Mohr and escort him... or I will do it myself."
There was a period of silence before Caliph sighed. "I... I understand... I'll... go tell him... but I won't like it... and neither will he."
Laa-Mohr quickly ran back in his room, trying to hide the deep sadness he felt to make it look like he wasn't there.
"Laa-Mohr... I need to speak with you..."
"What is it?" Laa-Mohr asked, noticing his voice was cracking.
"I know you were there..."
"How?"
"Several servants slipped on a bar of soap before I got here, so do you know what I said?" Laa-Mohr nodded as tears welled up in his eyes. "Good, now I don't have to explain it twice.
"You don't really want to send me away, do you?" Laa-Mohr asked.
Tears started to emerge from Caliph's eyes as well. "Of course I don't, I would rather sit through these disasters than watch you leave forever."
"But... I love you... you can't send me away!"
"I love you too, but I don't have an other choice," Caliph hugged his adopted son. "I'm so sorry."
Tears were forming in Laa-Moor's eyes even as he broke from his daydream, he couldn't take it anymore.
'I don't understand! Why must I live alone? I have already contracted a dark side to my personality from the shunning and isolation. Fortunately I have been able to control it, but what will happen if I fail and my dark side breaks loose again? What do I do, what do I-'
"Hey, look out!"
Laa-Mohr's thoughts were interrupted by a grey pegasus mare crashing into him. Getting up on his hooves, he saw the pegasus had some bubbles for a cutie mark, and bright yellow eyes, just like him, but were crossed.
"Sorry," the mare said. "Sometimes I can barely see a darn thing with my condition," she pointed to her eyes.
"It's alright, I understand," Laa-Mohr replied.
"Really? What caused you trouble?"
"I would rather not talk about it."
"Why?"
"I... just don't want to."
"Alright, I'm Ditzy Doo, but you can just call me Derpy."
"I'm Laa-Mohr."
"Are you from Saddle Arabia?"
"Yes, but I didn't... fit in as you could say."
"I understand, this one time I-" Derpy stopped and winced, shortly her eyes started to twitch.
'She's going to become blind, isn't she?' Laa-Mohr thought as Derpy closed her eyes and shook her head, when she opened them, her eyes were completely straight like a normal pony.
"That was weird," she said. "Well, I gotta go, nice meeting you Laa-Mohr!" she said as she flew off, leaving Laa-Mohr shocked.
"That was weird," he said to himself. "My curse never did something good for anypony, and just when I thought I understood it," Laa-Mohr then trotted on his way.
As the other ponies enjoyed the celebration feast, Cyber had a nice chat with Marine.
"You know, Fang talked a lot about you," Cyber said.
Marine smiled. "He did?"
"Well, mostly in his sleep, but yes."
Marine stopped smiling, but ended up laughing. "Would that be considered funny, or creepy?"
"Depends how you look at it."
"I wish I could have gone with him, but I can't leave the water without suffocating, it's no fair!"
"I'm sorry to hear that, I would help you if I could, but I don't know... wait... I do!"
Marine pressed against the glass of her tank in anticipation. "What, what is it?"
"Wait, hold on, move your body a little, like a land-dweller standing."
Marine had no idea what he was doing but obeyed. "Cyber what are you doing?"
"Designing you some legs," Cyber replied as he sketched out the invention in his mind.
"Are you saying I could..."
"Yep, once I finish it, you might be able to walk on land."
"But... I can't breathe on land!"
"That won't be much of a problem, I'll just have Twilight use a spell or something, or make a mask full of water, or just put a fish bowl on your head," Marine looked at him with confusion. "You'll see what I mean."
"Cyber... do you mean it?"
"Anything for the best friend of a misfit."
"So, I'm going to be a misfit?"
"Yes... and no. You don't have the desire to fit in, more like the desire to wander around Equestria, which we do, but your water reliability keeps you restrained from doing so. So you're not exactly a misfit Misfit, but you can become a part of The Misfits, although you're not treated like a misfit. Does that make sense?"
Marine stared at him, confused, her eyebrow raised and her mouth agape. She was only able to reply with, "Uhhh...." as she tried to decipher what he just said.
Cyber swatted his hand to dismiss the subject. "Nevermind, misfit's more of title anyway. I'll just get to the point and say I'll find a way to have you walk on land."
Marine smiled, but it was short lived after a brief period of thought. "I don't know what to say... thank you, but can I talk with my dad about this?"
Cyber smiled and nodded. "Of course!"
An awkward silence followed as Marine looked at the edges of her immobile tank for emphasis on her predicament. She spoke up after Cyber still didn't understand after some seconds, "Um... a little help?"
Cyber blushed at his negligence and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh right, right."
Trident looked at his daughter in shock. "You want to... what?"
"I want to go on land, Dad. Cyber said he'd build me a device that let's me do it, then I can finally be with Fang for real."
Trident floated around in his tank in thought. "Are you sure you want this? You are a princess."
"And what does being a princess have to do with living on land? I want to do this."
Trident thought more deeply. "Let me talk with your mother and brother first, then we will decide."
Fang looked at all the predators as they danced and ate until they threw up, pondering on what to do.
"You have saved the tribe and are declared a hero amongst your kind..." he heard Podargos' voice behind him. "...Why aren't you joining in the celebration?"
"I don't know, Podargos, I'm just wondering what I'm going to be doing now that my goal is complete."
"I'm sure you'll find a way. These 'misfits' that you have brought along with you have certainly proved their worth and are welcome here anytime."
"Thanks, but why doesn't your father declare this? He's the chief."
"Perhaps, but my father is growing old and I have been given more privileges. I feel as though my time to be declared chief is near, but I did not come to discuss this, I came to ask you of your next goal."
"You know, I think I'm happy the way I am now. I'm a misfit who shows Equestria that we should not be feared."
Podargos smiled. "You truly are one of a kind, Fang. I have never seen a predator more thoughtful or considerate as you, which makes me feel happy about building a statue of you in your name."
"Really? A statue?"
"It's the least we could do for a predator who saved his species from starvation."
"Wow, I don't know what to say."
"Then don't say anything, instead just dig in, there's plenty now."
Both predators smiled and nodded before trotting to the buffet.
The celebration lasted for hours, so long that it continued through the night before predators started dropping asleep from excess eating and exhaustion, then when there were too few predators left to enjoy, Fang took The Misfits in his old house, which has been taken care of during their departure.
However later that night, Pixel couldn't sleep, so she just stood at the shore and looked at the horizon in wonder.
'These predators and hippocampi accept me as a satyr,' she thought. 'Why isn't everypony like that?'
She jumped once Moonlight's voice came from behind her. "You are full of confusion, why is that?"
"Moonlight, you scared me, but... how did you know about my confusion?"
"I can sense negative emotions. Now, tell me what is confusing you."
"It's just... these predators and hippocampi don't care whether I'm a satyr or a pony, or some freak, and they're so nice when I show myself to them, but when I show myself to other ponies, they run away like I'm some kind of alien trying to abduct them or something. Why aren't they like these predators? Why are the ones who are the most vicious to prey the most gentle to whatever's different?"
"Sometimes you can't change other ponies' minds, but in the full view I don't actually know. What I can see from everything I have experienced is these predators seem as though they believe whatever is out there, due to them not knowing what's on the mainland, especially since they had a famine that could have ended their race, leaving them willing to accept anything."
"I see, you are very wise, Moonlight."
"I know... but that is all I will share... for now."
"I understand... so what do you think of the hippocampi?"
"They are certainly unique, but why is it that they dwell with the predators and not the rest of Equestria?"
"Some things nopony can answer, Moonlight."