The sunlight left Sideralis feeling weak, weird, and dizzy. He managed though, sitting outside the apartment building, waiting with Stout for Twilight Sparkle and the others to arrive. He and Stout sat beside some ornate wooden flower boxes, filled with soft brown dirt, some bugs, and a bunch of flowers that Sideralis did not know. They were pink, yellow, purple, blue, and all of them had little faces on them, silly little faces.

Sideralis was tempted to eat one; why, he didn’t know. Perhaps horse reasons.

Last night, he had dreamed of Luna, he had been a foal again, and she had held him, cuddled him, sang lullabies to him, she had tried to make him feel better, and had apologised for the pain that her sister had caused, telling him that it was not intentional.

Before waking, Luna had left him with a warning; not all ponies were good.

Hearing Luna tell him this had left him a little sad and out of sorts. He wanted to believe that ponies were good, that ponies were like Stout, or Mjölna, or Fluttershy. Mjölna was a little gruff perhaps, but she was good. He watched a carriage go past, seated in the carriage were two Saddle Arabians and the carriage was being pulled by several earth ponies. They all looked happy, both the Saddle Arabians and the earth ponies. The carriage was loaded down with crates, boxes, and other things covered in brown paper. Distracted, Sideralis watched it go, passing from his field of vision and becoming a fuzzy, indistinct shape.

“Prince Sideralis,” a musical voice said, the words almost sang like a song.

Turning his head, he watched as a pair approached. He felt Stout shift beside him. There was a mare, an earth pony, and a stallion, a pegasus. The mare was a soft shade of pink, her mane was light green contrasted with strands of brilliant blue. She was smiling, looking quite happy. At her side, a tall, slender pegasus walked with her, matching her movements. He was a dark shade of tan, the colour of fertile soil after being rained upon, and his mane was almost the same shade of blue as Sideralis.

“Hello,” Sideralis replied, greeting his visitors. He heard Stout beside him say the same; she sounded friendly, but worried.

“You don’t know me… but I’m a lot like you.” The mare, who trembled somewhat as she moved, sat down on the sidewalk not far away from Sideralis. “I grew up in the Unity Web and I was one of the lucky ones that Twilight Sparkle was able to wake up. My name is Lavender Gem, and I am named after a type of grapefruit.” Her eyes twinkled with merriment as she spoke her name. “My companion here is Halcyon. He’s been with me since my awakening.”

Hearing Lavender’s words, Sideralis focused his eyes on the pair. Companion? Like Stout was his companion? He turned his head just enough to see Stout and then looked at the pair once more.

“Halcyon was your companion?” Sideralis asked, feeling somewhat confused, “did it bother you that he was male and you were helpless?”

The mare burst into laughter while her companion remained silent. She leaned against the pegasus, her eyes closed, laughing, her whole body shaking. After getting her laughter out of her system, Lavender Gem took a deep breath, chuckled a bit more, and then got herself under control. “He was selected because we were compatible personality types. He was gentle, kind, and attentive. If anything, he was in danger from me… he was always right there by my side, in the bed with me, feeding me, looking after me, he spent months with me, glued to my side, and once I was able to start moving on my own, I was in quite a mood, if you know what I mean.” Lavender gave Sideralis a wink.

Beside her, the pegasus nodded.

“Halcyon used it against me, the big brute.” Lavender’s face became pouty and she gave her companion a glare. “He used his affection as a reward for therapy goals. If I wanted a kiss I had to work for it. I had to learn how to feed myself, how to move, how to walk… he made me chase after him. I had to catch him if I wanted to have him. He tortured me.”

“What can I say,” Halcyon muttered.

“I still have problems… I have a mild neurological condition and I get the shakes when I get excited, but everything I am, the fact that I recovered, I owe it all to him.” Lavender leaned her head over, pressed her muzzle to Halcyon’s cheek, and gave him a loud, slurpy kiss.

“So the compatible personality thing worked?” Sideralis asked.

“Some of us who wake up, we find our best friends, or lifelong companions, but most of us find our soulmates. After we wake up, we’re so helpless… it is in those moments that bonds are formed. Queen Chrysalis says it’s like a consolation prize for having spent most of our life asleep, we’re saved the trouble of having to go out and find true love. We get to wake up and it is right there waiting for us. Makes it easier to transition. It’s nice waking up beside your perfect, most compatible companion each day and facing the sorts of challenges that we face together. I couldn’t have done it without him.”

Sideralis considered the mare’s words as he turned and looked at Stout. The mare beside him had a soft, warm smile and she was looking at Lavender Gem. Sideralis was unable to read Stout’s expression. Was Stout really his ideal mate? A part of him somewhere in the back of his mind said ‘yes!’ as he jumped up and down while making excited horse noises. He thought about their conversation, his own paranoia, and his heartless words about Stout being programed to love him. It seemed that there was more to this than he knew or understood; Lavender Gem and Halcyon certainly seemed happy with one another. In fact, from the way that Lavender spoke, there were many ponies that had found their soulmate upon waking up.

“We’re going to go to the beach and find seashells,” Halcyon said in a gentle, deep voice.

“Yes, and I suppose we should get going.” Lavender smiled and her eyes glittered with happiness. “Prince Sideralis, we believe in you… we’ve heard the story… Princess Celestia has shown herself to us… there is still hope. With your companion,” Lavender lifted up a hoof and pointed to Stout, “anything is possible.”

Stout stood up, rising to all four hooves, stepped forwards, reached out one foreleg, his tail twitching, and took Lavender into a gentle embrace, pulling the mare close. Sideralis watched, not sure what he was feeling, but he knew what he wanted. He wanted to tell the world to go away, he wanted to crawl back into bed with Stout, he wanted to look into her eye, stare at her face, and he wanted to just be close to her.

And maybe have a root beer or five.

Sideralis found himself in the middle of an impromptu parade of sorts. Spike, who was massive, led the way, walking on all fours, his eyes scanning his surroundings, looking for any sign of trouble. Just behind Spike was Sweetie Belle, who followed the dragon with a pleasant smile upon her face. Beside Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom paced along.

Behind Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, Sideralis and Stout walked together. Sideralis was having some trouble, the sun left him feeling weak and kinda shaky, but he was walking. Sideralis towered over all but Spike. Spike had the unfair advantage of being a dragon.

Bringing up the rear were Twilight Sparkle and Mjölna. The pair talked to one another and laughed as they walked. Mjölna was wearing saddlebags and something clunked inside of them with her every movement.

As they walked down the street, crowds gathered. Ponies and Saddle Arabians alike gathered on the sides of the road to watch and wave. The atmosphere felt festive, vibrant, and happy. Ahead, the large white building where the council meeting would take place loomed. The building was enormous, white, and had beautiful stained glass windows.

Spike, leading the formation, came to a halt. In the street ahead, several dozen pegasi marched in formation, standing shoulder to shoulder, blocking the way to the council building. The big dragon was confused for a moment, and then he scowled, not liking this. Something didn’t feel right. It seemed that Sweetie Belle agreed with him, because she was now at his side, smiling her usual pleasant smile, the smile she wore when teaching kindergarten or when she was causing things around her to explode in dazzling displays of magical violence. Sweetie Belle was almost a dragon, as far as raw destructive power went.

One pegasus landed just ahead of the group, an angry expression upon his face.

“Monsoon… it is not a pleasure to meet you… what is going on?” Twilight Sparkle moved out from behind Spike and Mjölna was glued to her side.

“Miss Sparkle… that little stunt of yours is going to cost you… it is with great pleasure that I must inform you that you are under arrest—”

“By whose authority? Yours?” Twilight’s face contorted into an angry scowl. “And just what do you think gives you that right?”

Beside her, Spike was growling.

“Miss Sparkle, you will address me as King Monsoon. As of this morning, I was made the new king of the pegasi. We’ve had enough of living under the rule of alicorns… we want our sovereignty back… a long time ago… a group of ponies, starving, freezing, almost dead, stumbled into the fabled land of Equestria and fell under the rule of the alicorns. We lost our sovereignty… we lost our tribal leaders. Much was taken from us, and now, we want it back. Equestria is gone, the alicorns are no longer a major world power. Surrender peacefully and we will deal fairly with you.”

“And just what do you think you are going to do to me?” Twilight asked in an icy voice.

“If you come along peacefully, you and Sideralis both will be exiled, along with any who choose to follow you. Perhaps you two can make your own legitimate tribe and have little alicorns together… I really don’t care. But you are done. As of right now, project Rainbow Revival has been disbanded. All military assets you currently control, like the three you are presently with, are to be surrendered so they can be recycled—”

“They’re ponies! You can’t just recycle them!” Twilight snapped.

“Yes, we can. We already have that troublemaker at Cyclops ready for processing. These… synthetic ponies are far too much a danger to allow for their continued existence.” Monsoon shook his head. “Please, surrender, and we will let you live. As much as I would like to see you hang for personal reasons, I would like to resolve this without violence.”

Sideralis blinked once. When he opened his eyes, he saw three little red bullseyes, all focused upon Monsoon. He glanced around. Stout, Mjölna, and Apple Bloom all had forelegs pointing at the pegasus calling himself king. All three bullseyes overlapped, each of them highlighting an area right between his eyes. Sideralis, having seen what Mjölna’s weapons could do, knew that the pegasus was mere moments away from having his head turned into a fine red mist.

“No!” Sideralis shouted, his voice pleading, “don’t kill him… we can’t start fighting one another… we can’t start killing one another!”

“This one speaks with wisdom… Twilight Sparkle, it is time for you to step down, the rule of the alicorns is over. Equestria is no more. It is time for the war to end and for ponies to move on,” Monsoon said in a steady voice. “You have led us to ruination and your insane dreams of reclaiming Equestria have bled us dry. We have nothing. It is time for us to admit defeat, walk away, and try to create some sort of life for ourselves.”

“I will deal with you later, Monsoon.” Twilight’s horn glowed for a moment and a shield spell wrapped around herself, Mjölna, Stout, Apple Bloom, and Sideralis. “Spike… do as Prince Sideralis commands… subdue these ponies but do not kill them, if you can.”

“Oh, I can do that… Sweetie?” Spike grinned, showing far too many teeth.

“You never told me that today was going to turn into one of these sorts of dates!” Sweetie Belle’s horn began to glow. “Class is in session… time for all of you to go to school!”

“No killing!” Sideralis begged as he felt himself being lifted.

Flapping her wings, Twilight rose into the air, carrying with her three C/Equines and one helpless alicorn, all held aloft in her magic. Spike lept forwards, cat-like, bowling into the group of gathered pegasi, slamming into them, slapping them with his tail as he body checked them en masse.

Looking down, Sideralis watched as the street below erupted into violence, his heart in his throat. He didn’t understand what was going on. He couldn’t figure out why they were fighting when Equestria had enemies. They needed to be together. None of this made sense.

“We need to go and rescue Mustang!” Stout shouted.

“I hope it isn’t too late,” Apple Bloom said in a worried voice.

“All of you are heavy!” Twilight Sparkle flapped her wings as she fought to gain altitude. “Really, really heavy… we need to do more research into ultralight composites!”

“Are we bringing Sid to Cyclops with us?” Stout asked.

“Well, how else do we keep him safe?” Twilight replied.

“Oh fuck everything, we’ve got company incoming!” Apple Bloom pointed with her hoof towards the distant horizon. A swarm of fliers approached and what appeared to be several airships. “Twilight, can your shield spell hold up to cannonfire?”

“Only for a few shots!” Twilight turned in the air and then began to head in the direction of Cyclops Science and Research Center. “If worst comes to worst, I’ll drop the three of you down to the ground with Sideralis… you need to make sure that he lives, get him out of the city… get him to safety… and don’t worry about me... if… if this comes down to that.”

“Understood,” Mjölna replied, raising her foreleg in a salute.

“Mjölna, you are the most loyal friend a pony could ask for… Rainbow Dash would be proud! If something happens, please, see that you show Sideralis the same loyalty as you have given me.”

“Yes, of course, Twilight… anything that you command.”

“No no no!” Sideralis cried, shaking his head. “We stick together… I can’t lead ponies! I don’t know what I’m doing! Twilight, you can’t…”

“I really hope that it doesn’t come down to that,” Twilight said after Sideralis’ words trailed off.

Author's Notes:

Next chapter... well, it should be pretty obvious what happens next chapter.