Dusty continued to dig through the earth, just to relax, nothing else. He always enjoyed seeing how deep he could go.
'I'd like to see Rainbow Crash beat me in digging,' he thought. 'It would do her good to do something other than fly and sit on her butt all day, maybe even- GAAH!' he fell into a large cavern in the center a small pool of water.
Dusty stood up as he rubbed his head, then he looked around since his eyes already adjusted to the darkness from the previous digging, he admired the cavern formation. Though there was something off, he felt kinda uncomfortable, in fact it might have reminded him of the cave he was trapped in...
Dusty started quivering and sweating as he entered a flashback...
"Hey, Dusty, what's going on?" asked Rainbow Dash as a foal, flying next to Dusty, who sat down on a cloud.
"Leave me alone, Rainbow Dash, if you want my lunch money I don't have any," Dusty responded.
"Woah, take it easy, I just came to check on you, you didn't show up to flight school again."
"You're wasting your time, I'm not going, I don't like it."
"Really? What makes you say that?"
"Because I just don't!"
"No, I think it's because you can't fly."
Dusty tried to hide his blush with his wing. "I can fly, I'm a pegasus! I just need to mature, that's what my mom told me."
"Nnnope, I still don't think you can."
"I can too!"
"Prove it," Rainbow sneered at him as Dusty started flapping his wings as hard as he could, only flying a few inches in the air before falling back down.
"There! See? I can fly!"
"Hmm, nope, I'm not convinced, I've seen all pegasi do that, even your sister can do better and she's several years younger."
"Well, that's what I can do, what do you want me to do?"
"I don't know..." Rainbow looked around for anything to give her an idea. "How about jump off of Cloudsdale?"
Dusty stiffened as he felt worried. "What?"
"There's the edge, just jump and don't fall, like this:" Rainbow demonstrated it by jumping off the cloud, staying afloat with ease. "Unless you're chicken."
Normally Dusty wouldn't give in to peer pressure, but this time he would make an exception, he looked off the edge, swallowed his fear, then jumped and tried to flap as much and as hard as he could, managing to stay in the air.
Rainbow clapped her hooves as she landed. "Looks like you're not so flightless after all."
"See?..." Dusty sputtered, using most of his energy to stay alive. "I... told you... I... I..." that was when he started dropping. "Uh-oh," after that, Dusty fell down, barely able to breathe or say anything, too afraid to even try using his wings, all he could do was scream. Then he crashed, once the dust cleared he could see the cave around him, nearly dark, with only a small hole at the top that he fell in, which he could see Rainbow through.
"Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash, over here!" The cyan pegasus didn't respond from that far away, instead she just shook her head then left. "No, Rainbow, don't leave me alone! Don't leave me! Don't... leave me..." Rainbow was already gone, there was nopony, nopony to help him, not a single soul in the cave, he was something much worse than falling, he was alone. He was scared, hurt, in the dark, and alone. No matter what happened, nopony heard his screams or crying, Dusty began to feel like he would never be found.
"AAAAAAAAAHH!" Dusty returned to reality screaming, sweating, and almost crying. He was alone again, and though he was underground, he was as scared as anypony could be that nopony would find him. Quickly he began to dig through the walls, not even being surrounded by dirt calmed him down. Soon he found the surface, seeing the sun's rays, but still nopony around, he didn't want to be alone, he started panicking at the same time Rainbow Dash came up to him.
"Hey, Dusty," Rainbow said as she noticed Dusty's panic attack. "Wanna- woah, Dusty, are you alright?"
Dusty turned around and saw her, but Rainbow was not to be seen after a flashback like that.
"RRAAAAAINBOOOOW CRAAAAASH!" he yelled, trying to hit the cyan pegasus with all his might.
"Woah! Dusty, what's the matter with you?" Rainbow asked, keeping out of Dusty's reach until he calmed down.
"Sorry, Rainbow Crash, I just had a flashback, those are not pretty."
"A flashback? Of what?"
"That day you dared me to fly off of Cloudsdale."
Rainbow looked at him in confusion. "I don't get it, you weren't falling, why are you suddenly acting like I'm telling you to jump from the highest cloud in Equestria?"
Dusty sighed. "Rainbow, I need to tell you something important."
"Don't tell me, you have a crush don't you? No? Did you found out who has a crush on you?"
"No, Rainbow, this is serious! I'm trying to tell you that I'm not just scared of heights!"
"Really?"
Dusty nodded and wiped his eyebrows. "Yeah, I'm not just scared of heights, I have something else, Cyber called it... mellotosis? No, Macromania? No... whatever, I don't like being alone!"
"So, you're scared of heights and being alone?" Rainbow assumed.
Dusty shrugged and nodded. "Pretty much, I don't know why, but every time I crash into a cave, I start panicking, I feel like nopony will find me and I'll be alone for the rest of my life, and technically it's your fault."
"Do we really need to go through this again?"
Dusty shook his head. "Nah, I'm still getting over that panic attack, but I just need to ask you something. Back after I hit the ground, I saw you through the hole I made from crashing, I tried calling for you but you just shook your head and left. Why?"
"Wait... you saw me?" Rainbow said. "I didn't know, I tried looking for you but I couldn't find you and told your parents what happened."
"Really?" Rainbow nodded. "Wow, I guess I never looked close enough to get a good enough opinion for you," the two smiled at each other. "So... what's this about somepony having a crush on me?"
"Like I'm gonna tell you."
"Come on."
"Nope, not telling you."
"How about we settle this in a race?"
Rainbow looked with interest. "I'm listening."
"First one to Ponyville wins."
"Deal!" Rainbow said as they immediately took off towards Ponyville.
Pinkie, Marine, and Clockwork stared intensely at each other, waiting for someone to blink.
Clockwork was the first to speak. "You do know that I'm a robot and can stare at you all day, right?"
Marine nodded. "Yeah, we know, this just pretty much turned into a more 'who can stare the longest' contest."
"But isn't that what a staring contest is?"
Pinkie shrugged. "I dunno, probably, but I'm bored. What do you two wanna do?"
"Perhaps we could run a diagnosis on the neurotically aspects of Pinkie's unusual ability to predict upcoming calamities with specific combinations of various body irritations," Clockwork said, making the mares confused.
"The who-zit and what-zit now?" Marine asked.
"All I heard was 'blah, blah, blah, science, science, science, something'," Pinkie responded.
"Yeah," Marine got an idea. "Hey, you're smart, how about we find out how Pinkie's Pinkie Sense works."
"But that's what I just said," Clockwork replied. "And maybe at some other time when Lyra and Cyber are not working with each other."
"You mean on one of their 'dates'?" Pinkie said suggestively.
"I don't see how fruit could relate to them working."
Marine facehoofed. "Clockwork, a date is also where-"
"I know what a date is," Clockwork interrupted, "I'm just trying to make my point that Cyber and Lyra did not design me for romance."
"Hold it!" Pinkie shouted. "There's a fruit called a date?"
Clockwork nodded. "I don't know the exact details but I do know that there are various recipes that include dates and that Laa-Mohr may be able to get some."
"Ooh, I should make a note!" Pinkie then reached into her poofy mane, pilled out a pencil and note pad and began scribbling. "Ask... Laa-Mohr... about... dates... fruit..." then she put it back in her mane and smiled at Clockwork and Marine, both were confused.
"How'd she do that?" Marine asked.
Clockwork's eyes flashed briefely and his head twitched. "I'm getting glitches just by thinking about it."
"Ooh! That reminds me," Pinkie said. "There's something I wanted to try out. Clockwork, you have backup memory, right?"
Clockwork nodded. "I suppose so, why?"
"Because this sentence is false!"
"What's that supposed to-" Clockwork was interrupted by his eyes widening and his head sparking and popping before he shut down and fell over.
"How'd that happen?" Marine asked.
Pinkie shrugged. "I don't know, I heard that's what happens when you say that to robots and I wanted to be sure."
"I think you broke him," Marine said as Clockwork came back online.
"I'm fine, I just never thought I would have to deal with a paradox and initiated emergency shutdown, but please don't do that again."
"Okay!" Pinkie said with a grin.
The pineapple stallion continued on his way, not knowing where he is going or why, he just knew he needed to run. He continued running until he heard something, something deep and growling, he didn't know what it was but it was scary.
Large creatures made of wood approached him as he tried to get away. Then he stepped in a puddle again, feeling more pieces of him fall apart. The stallion was stuck between a rock and a hard place within a forest. Something hit the creature making it look in another direction before running away. Then a striped pony was in view, waving a stick with a glowing thing on one end around. Then she dropped it and faced the pineapple stallion.
"You sir, do not be afraid, for fire drives the timberwolves away," she said.
The stallion didn't understand, he just looked at the mare with fear, only the puddle behind him stopped his retreat.
"Excuse me, why do you just stay? Can you hear what I am trying to say?"
Still a worried look, he looked at the glowing stick, if the creatures were scared of it, and he was scared of the creatures, he thinks he should be more scared of it.
The mare spoke again this time slower. "If you wish to protect yourself from the beasts, then I will take you where you should be."
She moved closer, and the stallion moved further away, until he was just barely touching the puddle, he didn't want to lose more pieces of himself, but he also didn't want to be wherever this stranger was going either. Once she was close enough, the stallion took his chance and ran past the mare, much to her confusion, then after staying away from the glowing stick, he ran deeper into the forest, leaving the mare confused.
Fang and Fluttershy were sitting together, enjoying a picnic while getting to know each other.
Fang started to eat his food when he started talking. "Thanks again for setting this up, Fluttershy."
Fluttershy smiled. "It's not a problem, Fang, I thought that this would be a good opportunity for us to understand each other more."
"Speaking of that, you aren't still scared of me, are you?"
"What? Oh, of course not!" Fang wasn't convinced. "Well, maybe a little," still not convinced. Fluttershy slumped down in shame. "Yes..."
Fang smiled. "It's alright, I'm used to it."
"I can tell, it must be awful having ponies run away from you because of a misunderstanding."
"It's common for us misfits, but you're the only one who's ever tried to get over their fear of predators."
Fluttershy smiled as she put together her food. "I had my doubts but once I heard about who you are and your tribe being in a famine, I knew I had to do something."
"You know they're not in a famine anymore, right?"
"I know, but I just feel awful about how I treated you when we first met."
"You didn't treat me like anything, you just stood there keeping your distance until Pinkie came in."
"But I could've at least made a good first impression."
"I'm the one who made the impression."
"Which I reacted poorly too."
"By not running away?" Fang said.
Fluttershy giggled. "I guess you got me there, but I'm serious that I should've reacted better. I thought you were some monster, but really you were just a sweet, innocent, meat-eating animal, just more pony-like," she then started to scratch Fang behind his ears, much to his confusion.
"Uh, Fluttershy? You know that still makes me a pony, right?"
Fluttershy stopped scratching and went back to her plate as she tried to hide herself out of embarrassment. "Oh, sorry."
"It's fine," Fang replied as he took a bite from his meat.
"Anyway, if you need anything, just let me know."
Fang swallowed the food before saying, "Tell me where you got this meat, it's delicious!"
"Oh, I just got it from some of my animals' leftover breakfast, I knew they wouldn't mind."
"Huh," Fang said with a shrug before smiling, then Fluttershy smiled too.
Then Discord appeared next to them floating in a director's chair while wearing a director's hat and holding a megaphone.
"Good, now kiss!" Discord said through the megaphone, surprising the two ponies as Fluttershy turned bright red and tried to hide herself while Fang turned to Discord in a battle-ready stance as he growled.
"Discord!" Fang said out of annoyance.
"Cut!" Discord said as he got off the chair and wrapped an arm around Fang. "Honestly, Fang, if you're gonna do it right, you gotta kiss her."
"I'm not kissing Fluttershy."
"Of course, you're right, why put two mares in your heart when only one is suitable? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge," Fang was confused. "You know, the fish mare."
"Marine? I don't have a crush on her."
"That's what you say now but in the future, you'll know that you were meant to be," Discord held his lion paw and eagle talon up to Fang, showing two sock puppets barely resembling Fang and Marine.
"Oh, Fang, I love you so much!" Discord said in a high pitched voice, making the Marine sock puppet talk.
"I love you too, Marine!" Discord said in a deep, gruff voice, making the Fang sock puppet talk, then he proceeded to make the two kiss.
"And who knows," Discord added in his normal voice. "Maybe you two will be standing at the altar..." he put up a wedding scene with the puppets. "Where after that you'll be making a bunch of meat-eating, water-breathing babies..." then he held up several tiny puppets that made high pitched noises before Discord threw them all away. "What do you say to that?"
"I say 'go away before I bite that smile off your face'."
"How about this?" Discord grabbed his head and turned it upside down, then pointed at it. "See? No smile," Fang just clenched his teeth on Discord's upside-down head and tore it off, making Discord reach into his head stump and pull out his normal head, now pouting.
"Everyone's a critic," Discord said.
"I've waited so long to do that," Fang said after he spat out Discord's previous head.
Fluttershy finally spoke up. "Um, Discord, if it isn't too much trouble, could you please stop? I think you're making him uncomfortable."
"No, not uncomfortable, just very annoyed and wanting to chew off the rest of him."
Discord shrugged in response, completely unfazed by Fang's threat. "Well, I don't want to be somepony's chew toy, so, I'll just leave you two alone to possibly fall in love and cause drama," and with that, Discord teleported away while also just barely dodging Fang again.
"Don't mind him, Fang, once you get to know him, Discord is actually very sweet," Fluttershy said.
"Are we talking about the same Discord?" Fang asked.
"Oh, don't be so hard on him, maybe you could get to know Discord like you are with me."
"I appreciate the offer, but the last thing I want is to be turned into some kind of toy."
"I'm sure he won't do that."
Fang rolled his eyes as he returned to his spot. "If you say so."
Twilight tried to enjoy dinner with Mirror Shard, and she also tried all she can to resist asking the countless amount of questions she had. But if she was going to earn his trust, she had to respect him.
Finally it was the Changeling that broke the silence. "So, Mixy, how's it coming with Cyber?"
Mixy blushed. "Wh-what do you mean?"
"I know young love when I see it, and the moment you became a misfit you were brimming with it."
"Oh, um, well, there was some problems and-"
"Mixy got jealous," Twilight said.
"With what?" Dandelion asked.
"Well, there's this mare that Cyber hangs out with a lot, they have so much in common that they seemed perfect," Mixy explained.
"Then what happened?"
"Well," Mixy continued, "I got really confused as to what I should do, like 'should I tell him or will he just turn me down?' Or 'will he still like me or does he have the same feelings?' even 'does he even know or is this all just pointless?' it was really hard to know."
"I see, I had the same problem after you were born, I couldn't tell if I should go back and raise you or go to Chrysalis and the hive?"
"How'd you break out?"
"All I did was look into your eyes and I remembered how strong a father's love is."
"So how does this 'confusion' thing work anyway?" Twilight asked seeing that now was the opportunity to get some info she wanted.
"Well, Changelings feed off of love and if they feel love themselves, they are pretty much using something that is... unique, so to speak. Though honestly I can't really explain it, just think of it as a 'right of passage' that all changelings need to go through to gain independence from the hive."
Twilight nodded in understanding as she tried to remember what he said.
"Do you think that Chrysalis will be reformed?" Mixy asked.
"I hope so, dear, I hope so."
That evening, Eclipse, Pixel, Moonlight, and the CMC watched as Laa-Mohr held his scimitar in a battle-ready stance, facing a few equally armed dummies as if they were his mortal enemies. Then Laa-Mohr charged at the fake ponies with quick reflexes as the mannequins seemed to react with counters. Laa-Mohr quickly dodged the nearest attacks, reacting with swift reflexes.
Shortly, the cursed swords-stallion clashed his blade against the others, managing to get all blades hitting each other. Laa-Mohr crawled away while his opponents were distracted, then easily cut a deep gash in each of their chests while also dodging attacks. Each of the dummies froze and slumped forward as though they were dead.
The CMC started cheering as Laa-Mohr put down his scimitar.
"That was awesome, Laa-Mohr!" Scootaloo said. "You think you could teach us how to do those moves?"
"Yeah!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "Maybe we could get swordfightin' cutie marks!"
Laa-Mohr chuckled. "I understand your excitement, but this is more dangerous than you think. There's a reason why ponies like you aren't allowed to have weapons such as these. Especially with me around you could accidentally cut yourselves just by holding it, or worse, lose a limb," Pixel and the CMC were shocked at that last one.
Eclipse looked at him with mild confusion and shock. "Lose a limb? Don't you think that's a little much, I thought your curse was weakened."
"My curse is still uncontrollable," he explained, "I'm still trying to understand the full lengths of it since Zecora helped me, all I know is it can't take another pony's life."
Sweetie Belle inspected the dummies to see how they work, but ended up getting hit in the face after one suddenly reacted to her presence. "Ow, my eye!" she exclaimed.
"But I do know it can do that," Laa-Mohr added.
"I will inspect the damage," Moonlight said as she looked at Sweetie Belle, who's eye already turning black and swollen. "A black eye, Rarity will not be happy."
"Can't you just take it away or something?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"I control darkness and shadows, not injuries."
"Ooh, sorry about that," Laa-Mohr said.
"It's alright, but how am I going to explain it to Rarity?"
"Just tell her the truth," Pixel said. "I'll take you home to make sure she doesn't yell at you too much."
"It is getting late," Eclipse said. "I'll take Apple Bloom home.
"Then I shall escort Scootaloo," Moonlight said.
Laa-Mohr nodded to his friends as they all separated. "Then I shall meet you all back home."
"Alright, thanks again for that awesome sword fighting," Scootaloo said.
"No problem, just don't get into any trouble."
Lyra came home to find Bon-Bon already made dinner.
"Had a nice date with Cyber?" Bon-Bon asked.
"It wasn't a date, we were just working on an invention Cyber was planning," Lyra replied.
"Sure it wasn't, when are you going to find out you have feelings for each other?"
"We don't, we're just friends."
"That's what you said last time."
"This time I really mean it, we aren't falling in love."
Bon-Bon shrugged as she knew Lyra wasn't going to submit. "Sure, whatever, but I wouldn't be surprised if you two are dating by the end of the year."
"And what makes you think we are going to fall in love?"
"Well, you two are smart, you like to work together, and this has been the longest since I heard you mention the word 'human'."
Lyra bit into her food, fuming but also thinking. She wanted to argue but couldn't find the right words, instead she just wolfed down the rest of her food and said, "I'm going to bed." then she trotted to her room, wondering and worrying if she really has grown attached to Cyber. She immediately shook the thought away, knowing that if she had a crush on him, he would have one on her, and the only thing he crushes are mineral samples in his lab.