“Lemme down!” Sideralis made a few weak kicks inside of his telekinesis bubble to protest his captivity. Much to his relief, Stout set him down upon his hooves. After wobbling a bit, (and with a few tail flicks) Sideralis found his balance. Ahead was grass in a small park; cool, inviting, soft, comforting grass. He teetered forwards, paying no heed to the ponies watching him, and when he reached the patch of grass, he flopped over. Rolling over onto his back, he began to scratch himself while kicking his legs up into the air.

“Oh no, not again,” Fluttershy said in an embarrassed whisper as she turned away.

“Does he need a bath or something?” Twilight asked.

Stout shook her head as she moved closer to Sideralis. “Naw, he just knows what feels good.” Stout lowered herself down to the grass, rolled over, and then began rolling around herself.

“Feels good?” Mustang approached the patch of grass with a slow, uncertain gait, stared for a moment, sniffed, and then toppled over. Much to her surprise, it did feel good. She rolled, kicking her legs, arching her back so her croup and her withers could rub against the grass. “Oh, this does feel good… why haven’t I been doing this before?”

“Stop that… ponies are going to think you are infested… that you have parasites… fleas… bugs… creepy crawly things on your skin… all of you… stop that!” Twilight turned her head away and looked at Fluttershy. “Make them stop… please?”

“How?” Fluttershy squeaked in reply. “Don’t turn around Twilight, Sideralis gets… excited.”

“Applejack used to roll in the grass,” Apple Bloom said as she too flopped over into the patch of greenery. She rolled over, wiggled her backside, and then began to rub herself against the grass beside Mustang.

“Mjölna, don’t you dare!” Twilight stared at her most trusted companion with her surviving eye wide. Too late, as Twilight spoke Mjölna dumped herself over to see what the big deal was. She stared, watching as the entire lot of them kicked, rolled, snorted, and Twilight’s ears pinned back against her head as somepony farted.

Stunned, Twilight Sparkle stood there and adjusted her eyepatch for the lack of anything better to do. She looked around and saw that other ponies were staring, wide eyed, some of them looked confused, others looked disgusted, but a few were laughing.

“Granny Smith and Big Mac both used to roll around in the grass when it was wet with morning dew,” Apple Bloom said as her custard yellow pelt became stained with green grass. “This feels really nice… why’d we stop doing this?”

“Because we survived a parasitic pandemic and now grass rolling is a sign of sickness, contagion, and infestation,” Stout replied, offering up her opinion. “Screw what other ponies think, this feels good. I feel like a pony again and less like a machine.”

“A crowd is gathering, I don’t like this.” Twilight glanced around at the growing crowd, she guessed that the large gathering of ponies that had come to watch the hanging were now dispersing. Much to Twilight’s surprise, she heard laughter. While some ponies were scowling about what they saw, the growing crowd seemed to find the sight of the night blue alicorn rolling in the grass to be comical.

Rolling over onto his stomach, Sideralis kicked and struggled to stand up, a task that he was unable to do on his own. It was Mustang who helped him, turning on her telekinesis projector, lifting him, and then setting him on his hooves so he could balance.

He looked at the crowd that was looking at him, stuck out his wings, and gave them a flap, shaking loose strands of grass. He gave the ponies a sheepish grin. There were so many faces, some sad, some smiling, but still somehow looking sad, these were ponies that had endured a tragedy.

“Hi.” Sideralis’ ears pivoted forwards. “I think I recognise some of you from the chapel.” He looked at a very familiar pink filly. “I know I recognise you… Pinkie Puff, right?”

“You remembered my name,” the filly said, a bashful smile spreading over her muzzle. “I was worried about you… you fell down and went boom after making Princess Celestia appear.”

Sideralis found himself amused by the filly’s faint lisp. Pwincess Cewestwea. It was endearing and heart warming. The filly’s mother had tears welling up in her eyes. “I suppose I did… I don’t remember,” Sideralis paused for a moment as he stood on trembling legs, “my memory of that night isn’t so great. So how are you doing?”

“I’m happy because I can be outside to play again,” the filly replied.

“I suppose things got scary.” Sideralis gave himself a shake, sending blades of grass flying everywhere, and then sat down in the grass. “I like coming to the park too.”

“Things got really scary,” Pinkie Puff said, “there were airships overhead and there were soldiers in the street, and ponies were fighting and a whole bunch of ponies died because some bad ponies did bad things.”

“Yeah, I suppose they did.” Sideralis’ head made a slow nod as the filly slipped away from her mother and approached. He watched as the filly sat down a short distance away from him. The crowd had formed a circle around him, and most were keeping a respectful distance. “I just had to deal with the ponies who did bad things… it made me sad… I did something I really didn’t want to do, but I felt like it needed to be done.”

“Like brushing your teeth before bed?” Pinkie Puff asked.

Sideralis stared, not quite certain how to respond to that.

“Sometimes you gotta do things you don’t like,” Pinkie Puff said to Sideralis, “sometimes they’re really awful things, like brushing your teeth before bed. Then you have to lay in bed with the funny toothpaste taste in your mouth.”

“Yes, I suppose I can see your point.” As Sideralis spoke, Mustang sat down beside him. He glanced at her and saw that she was smiling. He turned to look at her, watching her as she watched the filly, Mustang, covered in grass stains, looked happy. He noticed her cutie mark, six stars, each in a different colour. How odd, Sideralis thought to himself. He looked back at the filly when he heard her lispy, squeaky voice again.

“You’re really nice… most big shot grown ups think I’m a waste of time… I get ignored a lot. Ponies say I talk too much.” Pinkie Puff turned and looked at Stout, who was now sitting on the other side of Sideralis, opposite from Mustang. “I tried talking to the mayor, I got ignored. Once tried talking to some important Saddle Arabian… he sneered at me… he was rude, so rude.”

“Pinkie Puff—”

Ignoring her mother, Pinkie Puff looked up at Sideralis. “I’m not bothering you, am I?”

“No…” Sideralis looked around, all too aware that ponies were watching his every move and hanging on his every word. He saw Twilight standing a few yards away, watching him, Fluttershy at her side. “Look, I’m a little out of sorts, I don’t know how to feel after what I was a part of. A bunch of ponies are staring at me, so I feel really uncomfortable. It is almost as if everypony is expecting something from me. So if I seem a little off, it isn’t because of you, I’m just feeling awkward.”

“Mommy got all tongue tied after I saw her and Daddy wrestling with each other. There was a lot of moaning and she had Daddy pinned down… I jumped up on the bed to count Daddy out—”

“Pinkie Puff!”

Mustang fell over, laughing, collapsing onto Sideralis, almost knocking him over, slamming him into Stout, who braced herself to keep herself from falling over. Mjölna was chuckling as well and Sideralis found himself smiling.

“Come on, it is time to go home, Pinkie Puff.”

“Awwww… I was just getting to know a handsome prince… you’re not fun at all.” Pouting, her lip protruding, Pinkie Puff got up and went to her mother’s side. “It’s funny when you and Daddy wrestle… you both make funny faces at each other.”

“Goodbye, Pinkie Puff… thank you for making me feel better,” Sideralis said as he raised his hoof and waved. It was difficult to move with Mustang attempting to crush him and Stout having to hold him up.

“Sorry to break this up, but Prince Sideralis really must be getting home. Fluttershy here tells me that he needs plenty of liquids and rest after everything that happened.” Twilight smiled at the crowd and watched as Pinkie Puff and her mother walked away together, the mare looking mortified after what her filly had said.

“Goodbye, ponies.” Sideralis continued to wave. “It was nice seeing you… I’m really sorry that things got so rough. I’ll try to make them better even though I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Back in the apartment, having just had a nice shower after coming home, Sideralis flung himself down into the pillow pit in the middle of the living room floor. Fluttershy and Stout were in the kitchen, the rattle of pots and pans filled the air. Mustang was sitting on a large cushion and she was reading a comic book, much to Sideralis’ surprise.

“Mustang?” Sideralis spoke in a low voice, hesitant about speaking to Mustang with Fluttershy and Stout around.

“What?” Mustang lowered her comic book and peered at Sideralis over the top edge.

Sideralis glanced towards the kitchen; Stout and Fluttershy were busy. Stout was peeling potatoes and Fluttershy was doing something in a mixing bowl. He looked up at Mustang. “Are you happy being what you are?”

The mare snorted when she heard Sideralis’ words, her blue eye rolled, and then she folded up her comic book. She tossed it aside on the floor beside her cushion and stared down at Sideralis. “I used to be.” Mustang lowered her voice, but her words came out forceful. “When I was a filly, there was all this talk about how I was going to save ponies. How I was going to fight and save Equestria. Back then, I felt like I had this wonderful purpose.”

“So what happened?” Sideralis spread out his wings and got comfortable in the pillow pile. He could see that Mustang looked agitated. Something heavy clunked in the kitchen.

“I grew up. Things changed. The more metal that got added to me, the more things changed. Ponies stopped treating me like I was this brave filly doing some noble act and instead started treating me like I was a machine. My feelings about stuff became less and less important. I guess I got a little defiant… I stopped cooperating when I got treated like a machine… and that didn’t do at all… at that point, too much time and too many resources had been invested into me.” Mustang closed her eye and hung her head, letting out a long, discontented sigh.

Sideralis waited.

“After that, sometimes, things were done against my will. I was being obstinate. I was being uncooperative… I had so much time and resources poured into my very existence and me saying ‘no’ didn’t matter… I had inhibitors installed and I was made to do stuff… you know, if they just would have treated me like a pony, I would have cooperated. I would have made it easy for them.” Mustang shook her head. “I guess making them work for it and making them force me was the only control I had over the situation. I wanted to do the right thing… I just wanted to be respected.”

“Sounds like all those ponies that talk about you being angry or having rage issues haven’t really told me both sides of the story,” Sideralis said in a low voice, almost whispering. He suspected that Stout could hear everything being said and he waited for her to cut into the conversation, expecting her to say something at any moment.

“I’m more than a tool or a weapon. I still don’t know what it is exactly that I want for myself. I want to be free again… I feel so trapped… I don’t like it.” Mustang fell over on the cushion she was sitting on and laid out on her side. She shook her head, looking confused.

“You grew up feral, I suppose being free means a lot to you.” Sideralis hoped that what he had just said was not offensive. He felt worried and hoped that Mustang wouldn’t be angry. He didn’t know any other way of saying it. “I still want to help you… not just you, but all of you. I don’t agree with what has been done. I just don’t know how to deal with it.”

Eye closed, Mustang rubbed the side of her face against the cushion she was sprawled upon. “When I was a bit younger, not quite a mare…” Mustang’s voice dropped down to an almost inaudible whisper. “One of the lab technicians locked down my body because I was being a pain… he then started whispering in my ear about how he was going to put me in my place and teach me a lesson… teach me to be submissive… he almost did something to me and I couldn’t move… I was paralysed… he was on my back and he was getting ready to do something awful when Chrysalis and Doctor Gizmo walked in.”

After a struggle to lift his head, Sideralis turned and looked in the direction of the kitchen. After staring at Stout and Fluttershy, he turned back towards Mustang. He tried to say something several times, but failed to make the words come out.

“He was caught. He got punished. He was removed from his job.” Mustang took a deep breath. “But I was still the one with the problem. I was still the one with the bad attitude. It was quietly suggested by several ponies that I had brought that little incident upon myself… after that… there was just no point in behaving. I was just so angry—”

“I’m sorry.”

Sideralis almost lept out of his skin, his wings flapping in alarm. Somehow, Fluttershy was right beside him, appearing as if by magic, arriving without a sound or revealing her presence.

“I’m so sorry… I still feel bad about that, Mustang. I’m still angry about what was said about you. But you… you didn’t help the situation none. You continued to misbehave, you continued to make everything worse, and because you wouldn’t control yourself, we had to do something to make you behave so that others would feel safe.”

“And what about my safety? I had some creepy lab tech paralyse me and almost use those safety measures to hurt me… nopony was thinking about keeping me safe… or what about the time I was put into surgery and upgraded, but my nociperception regulators were left on… I could feel them cutting me open and moving around my guts but I couldn’t do anything… I was stuck that way for the entire surgery—”

“That was an accident!” Fluttershy snapped.

“Was it?” Mustang spat, lifting her head and looking angry. “You still want to believe that, even after it happened again for a second time? Still want to believe in the good in ponies, don’t you, Mother… you believe in the good of every pony but me, isn’t that right… I’m just an angry little foal with a bad temper, right?”

“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy squeaked.

“Hey, you don’t speak to Mama like that!” Stout shouted from the kitchen.

“CUT IT OUT!”

Sideralis voice cut through the tension like a thundercrack. Fluttershy fell over and curled up into a ball, trembling on the floor. Mustang stared wide eyed. Stout dropped a big metal mixing bowl onto the floor in the kitchen.

In close quarters, the Royal Canterlot Voice was the ultimate weapon against squabbling ponies. Smaller, lesser ponies had an instinctual reaction to the bellowed commands, which was why the voice had fallen out of favour long ago. Sideralis, like his mother, Luna, had never received the message that the voice was frowned upon.

“Mustang, give your mother a hug.” Sideralis glared at Mustang, trying to look as intimidating as possible.

Sulking, submissive, Mustang slid off of her cushion, crawled along the floor on her belly, and pulled the weeping yellow mare into a gentle embrace, her eye never once losing focus on Sideralis. Mustang pulled Fluttershy closer, cradling her, and kissed away a few tears that were falling down Fluttershy’s cheeks.

“Now say you’re sorry.” Sideralis squinted at Mustang, his ears pitching forwards.

“Mama, I’m sorry… I’m just angry… but I’m not angry with you… it just comes out and I’m real sorry,” Mustang said.

“Mustang, baby, I’m sorry too… for everything… it’s so hard for me to talk about… I want to believe that ponies are good, but all the things that have happened… it makes it so difficult… I’m so sorry… so, so sorry!”

Not feeling happy at all, Sideralis really wanted to have a long talk with Twilight Sparkle.

Author's Notes:

Coming soon... surgical horror.