"So, Marine, didn't you say something about sirens being a part of hippocampus legend?" asked Twilight.
Marine nodded. "Yeah, I've heard stories about sirens in ancient books, apparently most of them were stopped by hippocampus warriors, probably because hippocampi are the only ones immune to a siren's hypnotic melodies."
Spike recognized the name. "Hey, didn't we meet sirens at-oof!" Twilight stopped him by sharply nudging him. "What?" he asked confused before getting the message. "Oh, uh, nevermind."
"What?" asked Lyra.
"It's nothing," Twilight said. "He's just talking about this dream he had."
"You sure?" Lyra seemed unconvinced.
Cyber looked at Twilight before getting the message as well. "Some dreams appear to be so real that even when the dreamer wakes up, they sometimes are unable to tell whether they are still dreaming or not, and on rare occasions the dreamer can believe that reality is a dream and get mixed up," Cyber smiled, trying to provide as much scientific evidence to keep Lyra from entering 'human crazy mode' by hearing about the portal.
Lyra scratched her head in thought. "Clockwork, is this true?" she asked.
Clockwork nodded. "Certainly, there have been numerous recordings where ponies who thought reality was just a dream and vise-versa. Some of those who mistook reality for a dream have done some rather odd things out of belief they're in a lucid dream."
Lyra seemed mildly confused at what Clockwork said, but it seemed to have worked after she shrugged. "Alright," she said. Twilight, Spike, and Cyber silently sighed with relief while Marine had absolutely no idea what was going on, but shrugged it off.
"So, Twilight," Marine said. "If you want, I can get somepony to bring you some hippocampus books sometime."
"That's very nice of you, but no thanks, I already have some being delivered, I guess it just takes a while to copy books, even waterproof ones."
Marine shrugged. "I guess, maybe the materials aren't found on land or something, I don't know, I'm not a book maker."
"Which reminds me, what does your cutie mark mean?" asked Twilight. "Laa-Mohr said that Saddle Arabian ponies have jobs regardless of cutie marks and Fang said that cutie mark determines easier skills, what do cutie marks mean for hippocampi?"
Marine looked at her cutie mark, which was an open clam revealing a pearl inside, the she looked at Twilight and shrugged. "We honestly don't really care, hippocampi are so easy going that we just do whatever strikes our fancy without much care."
"Well, clams are known to be rather hideous on the outside. However when a pearl is revealed within them, it creates a beautiful sight," Clockwork explained.
"So, I guess that means that you may seem hard or something that you have yet to explore what the world has to offer," Lyra said.
Marine shrugged. "I guess that makes sense, I've always wanted to walk on the mainland ever since I met Fang, so I guess that makes me a pearl in an oyster's shell or something."
"But would that make Fang the clam and you the pearl? Then again, I doubt that the symbolism of a cutie mark is that literal, especially for a hippocampus. Then again, that would bring into question the connection between the interpretation of a cutie mark and its importance depending on different cultures. So by that logic, hippocampi would see them as-"
Marine cut him off. "Yeesh, I'm starting to think me and Spike are the only non-eggheads here."
"Uh, that's 'Spike and I', Marine," Twilight corrected the hippocampus princess. "Use your grammar correctly."
"Thanks for proving my point," Marine said, everypony laughed.
At Canterlot Castle, Celestia continued to have an uncomfortable and worried look on her face that has remained for some time.
Luna quickly noticed. "Sister? Is something wrong? You do not look well."
"I am not entirely sure, Luna," Celestia answered. "I think there is something coming soon, but I am not certain yet."
"Perhaps it is just nothing and it could just be the stress, sometimes even a princess needs some rest and relaxation."
Celestia considered it. "You're right, I'm probably just worrying about nothing."
Luna nodded in agreement as a very mischievous and annoying voice rang through the area. "Quite right, my dear Celestia, stress can really mess up one's concentration and self-esteem," the princesses were half suspicious and half annoyed to see the spirit of chaos and disharmony, Discord.
"Discord, what are you doing here?" asked Celestia.
"I just came to let you know about something Fluttershy told me, did you know that The Misfits are back in Ponyville? I find rather exciting, maybe I can bring up a bit of chaos with those two introvert ponies, or ponies and a satyr... whatever, I'm just going to mess with them."
"If that is the case then why aren't you down in Ponyville with them?" asked Luna, half hoping it would get him to leave.
The spirit of chaos shrugged. "I don't know, just bored I guess, also I couldn't help but overhear about Celestia's little stress problem."
"I appreciate your concern, but it is nothing to worry about. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take a bath to help relieve my nerves," and with that, the sun princess left as Luna turned to Discord.
"Do you really think that there is nothing to worry about?" she asked.
Discord shrugged. "If this is a threat, why are we keeping this a secret from Celestia?"
"We're not, I just want to be sure that this isn't what I think it is."
"Do you mean..." he sharply looked around. "...Malgama?" Discord whispered, obvious worry in his tone.
Luna nodded. "If this disturbance continues to grow and Malgama is the cause of it, then Equestria is in grave danger. Until then, let us hope that it is indeed nothing."
"But why aren't we telling Celestia about our concern?"
"Celestia fears Malgama's power more than anypony, the last time we thought Malgama attacked she held a lockdown all across Equestria, and the last thing any of us want is another fifty year false alarm. It's better if we let Celestia tell us first or we have proof, then we'll know for sure."
"Very well then, I'll be with The Misfits if you need me," and with a snap of his eagle talon, Discord teleprted away in a quick flash of light.
Meanwhile, Malgama watched as his only beam of light flickered from a stampede of creatures trampled over it, or at least something, he couldn't tell what it was due to sound being blocked out from the surface. He sighed in his mind. 'If only I wasn't so deep underground whatever's up there might have broken the ceiling,' he thought. 'Which brings up a question, if I'm so deep underground, how did that light get here? Augh! I'm too weak to think about complex situations, let alone remember them. Perhaps once I get out of here I can- wait, is that...?' he heard several tapping sounds from above.
'This better not be another pebble,' shortly, a small seed emerged from the light source, so fresh, so full of life, if only he could touch it to absorb it. 'Yes! Come on... come on...' in a matter of moments, the seed fell and hit the ground... several feet away from him. 'No! That's the third time this century that happened, if only I had just a small amount of energy even a small sprout or a leaf will have enough energy let me merge with it and get out of here to start my uprising and the mergelings will rule! Oh well, all I can do now is wait and store energy for later, if I can, anyway. Darkness, light, and life energy are the other half of our combination along with elements, with light and life energy letting us have a full transformation and gain the powers of whatever else we merge with, if we absorbed life energy we end up killing something, but who really cares?' he mentally sighed to himself. 'I'm talking to myself, this isolation has finally gotten to my head. No matter, once I get out of here it'll all be worth it, and nothing can stop us once we do!'
Laa-Mohr trotted about during a relaxing walk when he found Pixel Berry on a hill, laying down and listening to her music. He approached his satyr friend when she spoke up.
"Hey, Laa-Mohr."
"How did you know I was here?" Laa-Mohr asked, sitting down next to her.
"The sound's only coming out one speaker," she answered as she removed her headphones. "So, what's up?"
"Not much, currently I'm just bored, so I decided to walk around for a while until Pinkie's party starts."
"Yeah, same here, I'm just laying here, listening to my music."
"I can understand, even though a vacation is needed for relaxation, I can't seem to find a single activity to do."
"Well, I just hang out with Moonlight when I have nothing to do."
"You seem to have built up a strong relationship with her."
"Moonlight Shadow? Yeah, we're good friends, we've been that way ever since we met. Why are you concerned?"
"This is Moonlight we're talking about, the mare who could hit you on the head with your own shadow if you so much as ask her what her eye color is. How did you become friends with Moonlight the first day you met?"
Pixel shrugged. "We have similar pasts, Moonlight and I spent our foalhoods alone with nopony to look up to. It's kinda like you and Eclipse, both of you are orphans but adopted by a royal before being sent away for the protection of everypony much to said royal's regret."
Laa-Mohr stared with awe. "That's quite an observation, I never thought of that, how did you figure that out?"
"Moonlight told me."
"Of course, so do you know where Eclipse is?"
Pixel searched through her memory. "Last time I saw him he was back at the house doing something with Dusty and Fang."
"Thank you," Laa-Mohr said as he trotted away.
Pixel waited a while before speaking up. "Okay, he's gone," in response, Moonlight rose up from Pixel's shadow.
Moonlight trotted next to her friend and sat down. "You know, just because I'm in the shadow realm, doesn't mean I can't see anything."
Pixel shrugged. "I had no idea, so how was it?"
"I didn't feel what you described as 'fun', perhaps I was doing it incorrectly."
"No, you were doing it right, you just gotta do it in the right place, maybe it helps if you jump out and surprise them, especially on Nightmare Night."
"What's so fun about fear?"
"I don't know, it's like a prank; it's kinda cruel, but it's just for fun and laughs."
"I guess..." Moonlight said sullenly and flat.
This made Pixel notice something. "Hey, wait a minute, have you even laughed before?"
Moonlight thought about it. "No, no I have not."
"Not even a chuckle, or a giggle? Never in your life?"
Moonlight shook her head. "No, never."
Pixel frowned. "Now that's just sad, everypony has to laugh sometime."
"I haven't, never in my entire life."
"What about smiled?"
"That, I have done, back when I was first enrolled as a misfit."
"Alright then, I know what we need to do, we need to get you to laugh," Pixel said.
"As long as this doesn't make you obsessed," Moonlight replied.
"How many has he gone through?" Fang asked.
"He'a already gone through three whole slushies," Dusty answered.
The two watched as Solar Eclipse downed his fourth slushie and belching loudly.
"How do you feel?" asked Dusty.
"Not even the slightest-" Eclipse said before he winced and clutched his head. "AaaaAAAAAGH! Is this what a brain freeze feels like?"
"May I ask what it is you are doing?" Dusty and Fang turned their heads to see Laa-Mohr, which made them groan.
"Argh, Laa-Mohr, you ruined it!" Dusty said.
"What did I do?" Laa-Mohr asked as he watched Eclipse rub his temples.
"We tried to do an experiment to see if Eclipse could get a brain freeze, apparently he can, but only when you're around," Fang answered.
"I apologize for my inconvenient arrival, I had no knowledge of this."
"It's alright," Dusty said. "We'll just ask Cyber or Clockwork or something."
Eclipse finally broke from his brain freeze and stood up. "Well, that's something I don't want to go through again," he said. "So, what's up, Laa-Mohr?"
"I was wondering if there is something that I could do with you."
"Well, right now, nothing," said Fang.
"What is Mixy doing?" Dusty asked.
"I think she's with the Cutie Mark Crusaders," replied Eclipse.
"What about Marine?"
"Twilight." Fang said.
"Actually, I don't think we got to see Twilight's castle yet." Laa-Mohr said.
"You think we should go check it out? Maybe get Marine?" Dusty suggested.
"Sure," Eclipse said.
"Alright, let's go," Fang said as the four misfits left.
"And what sort of propulsion would you need to use?" asked Twilight as the group discussed about Cyber's invention.
"Well, originally I planned on using jet propulsion, but then I thought about it resulting in not just pollution from smoke, but also a fire hazard," Cyber said.
"Maybe you could use propellers like a helicopter," Lyra suggested.
Clockwork shook his head. "At the RPM most helicopter propellers rotate at, it would become a major safety hazard."
"What about water?"
"That would require a constant supply to continually pump into the main module," Cyber answered.
Spike turned to Marine. "Do you have any idea what they're talking about?"
"Not a clue," Marine replied. "I'm about to die from boredom, why can't-" suddenly a knock at the door. "Finally, I got it."
Marine trotted to the front door and answered it, smiling at who it was. "Hey, guys! You do not know how glad I am to see you, come on!"
Marine let Dusty, Laa-Mohr, Eclipse and Fang inside, then they followed Marine to where their friends were.
"Hey, guys," Cyber said. "We were just talking about some artificial wings we were planning on making."
"Wings?" Laa-Mohr asked, confused.
"Basically once they're built, everypony will get a chance to have the same point of view as a pegasus and fly." Clockwork said.
"Why would anypony want to fly?" asked Dusty. "It's just moving around in the air and doing show-off tricks, and not to mention the threat of..." he shuddered. "...falling."
"Well, some ponies would say the same thing about digging," Clockwork said. "It's dirty, you can't see anything, and going too deep will kill you from subterranean pressure and heat."
"Well, at least you could stop yourself while you're digging."
"We'll take care of everything that needs to be fixed," Twilight said. "Anyway, what brings you here?"
"Nothing, we're just bored, we thought you had something to do," Eclipse answered.
"Well, unless you know about aerodynamics, I'm afraid you came to the wrong location," Cyber replied.
"Perhaps Mixy has an activity to do until Pinkie's party," Clockwork suggested.
"Can I come with you?" Marine asked, "I'm getting tired of hearing words I don't understand."
"Sure, but first, can I use your bathroom?" Eclipse asked.
"I'll show you where it is," said Spike. "Follow me."