Staring out the window of the speeding monorail, Sideralis watched as the countryside passed. He couldn’t see much, but his daytime vision was getting a little better. He saw lots of green, but could not make out distinct details. Mustang was sitting across from him, and Twilight was beside her. Stout was sitting next to him.

Mustang was chewing gum, smacking her lips and going at it with great enthusiasm, much to Twilight’s annoyance. The car was filled with the sweet scent of bubblegum, a smell that made Sideralis think of school and his many memories of the place. His many false memories of school… all triggered by a scent that he had never actually smelled while he was in said school. His entire life was nothing but falsehood.

It was troubling, knowing that all of your experiences, all of your memories, the entire summary of your life was all a well manufactured lie. Scents that caused him to associate with certain memories… all of it programming.

“Maredina is now Equestrian soil… the Saddle Arabians gave us a whole city…”

Sideralis barely even heard Twilight Sparkle’s words. He continued to stare out at the city, thinking about how he, Stout, and Mustang were not so different. He was programmed to. He had knowledge that had been dumped into his brain. How did he know how to read? When had he learned how to speak? Somehow, the entirety of his false experiences still had real elements to them. Why? Did knowing how to read somehow help break down his mind? Was it done to make him more submissive somehow? What had been the point, the purpose? And what of his experiences before? The stuff he couldn’t remember? The stuff that had been… erased. What had been done to him before? Had he been tortured?

Darling, don’t think about that, lest you begin to remember, please?

“An entire city for us to call our home… I can’t believe they would do such a generous thing… I’m having trouble taking it all in. In moments like these, I am reminded of Rarity. I miss her. You know, I haven’t had a nightmare about her in quite some time…” Twilight spoke in a distracted way, as if she was thinking out loud.

Facing his own distractions, Sideralis could not even begin to figure out how to put everything he was feeling into words. What would Doctor Withers say? What helpful advice would she have? Double your medication and do an assignment. Find a filly, fall in love. Love. Go and work on trying to love your mother. Go and work on trying to love your father. Do your therapy assignments and work on loving your parents. Love. Not only was Doctor Withers working on wearing down his will, but she had been trying to coax a better meal out of him. Sideralis jerked his head away from the window when Mustang popped her gum loud enough to make everypony’s ears perk up.

“Still having nightmares though.” Twilight Sparkle leveled her stony stare upon Sideralis and felt irked that he didn’t even notice. She noticed that he was distracted. The lights were on, but nopony was home. His head turned to stare back out the window.

Synthetic. Sideralis cringed at the word. He was synthetic. He thought about Stout and becoming like her. He wanted to be like her. He had a synthetic life, he had synthetic memories, what he needed now was a synthetic body. A mechanical body that would match his synthetic mind, filled with artificial experiences. He could start over… a new body. A new body to go with his new mind, a mind that sprang into existence six months ago, a new collection of memories after the old batch had been wiped. He would embrace his synthetic nature.

It was strange, feeling as though one was in the wrong body, but Sideralis was feeling it now. For whatever reason, he wanted what Stout and Mustang had; he would make it his own. This body was a clone, something made without permission, but, becoming something else, something more, that was a choice. He would finally have a say in his own life, over his own body, the outside would match the inside. It would make him real.

“You go racing towards your destiny, undaunted, fearless… you do well, Starry One.”

Sideralis blinked and looked at the pony speaking to him. An alicorn. White. Beautiful. She had a tree for a cutie mark. Her wings had silvery white feathers. Her eyes were strange, shifting colours, red, blue, orange, green, a shade of dark purple, and then purple-pink. Her mane flowed in the same colours as her eyes, ever changing, blowing in an invisible breeze.

He was dreaming; he must have dozed off. There was soft forest loam beneath his hooves. A cool wet smell filled the air. He breathed deep, taking it in, it felt good. He was tempted to drop and roll.

“Who are you?” Sideralis asked.

“I do not have a name,” the alicorn replied. “Nor do I have a shape, either. I have appeared to you in a form that you would understand. I have wanted to meet you for quite some time.”

“Meet me? Why?” Sideralis looked around at the trees, they were covered in little green vines, leaves that glistened with moisture twinkled in the rays of golden sunlight that pierced through the canopy of trees.

“You are the catalyst of an epoch.” The alicorn mare smiled.

“I don’t understand.” Sideralis looked at the strange mare, his wings fluttering.

“When things need to happen, alicorns usually appear. When unicorn magic began to grow weaker, affecting the movement of the heavens, Celestia and Luna appeared. When Love needed a body, Cadance appeared. When Friendship needed a voice in the world, Twilight Sparkle manifested.”

“And me… why am I here?” Sideralis asked.

“Follow me,” the mare replied, stepping away.

Doing as he was bid, Sideralis followed after the strange mare, following her through the living forest. Birds chirped. Bugs buzzed. And Sideralis, he pranced, taking advantage of the fact that he had full control over his body while he was dreaming. He walked with his tail flagged, streaming out behind him, his head high, bouncing with a light step as he trod upon the spongy loam.

The mare came to a halt beside a pool of water. Sideralis pranced up beside her, smiling, cheerful, and then looked at the water. It looked cool and refreshing, inviting, wonderful. Sideralis wanted to throw himself into it.

“Have a drink,” the mare said, extending her wing and pointing at the pool.

“Sure, why not… go drinking from strange ponds in dreams… seems reasonable.”

The mare laughed, making a musical sound, her eyes wide and merry. “Laughter… the element that so few understand. It is your gift, you know. It is what makes you special and well suited to the task ahead.”

Sideralis lowered his head and kicked his front legs out to the sides, lowering himself down for a drink. He stopped, his nose inches from the water, he could see himself, but he also saw other things. The pool was full of moving images.

He saw Stout and himself. She had wings and a horn. She looked different. He looked different. He had wings, but they were mechanical looking, like Stout. Strange wings, with metallic looking blades for feathers. He was bigger, bulkier, lumpier, like Stout.

But what made him stare were the line of foals prancing behind him and Stout. They too, were lumpy, oversized, bulky, heavy with muscles. One of them had wings, the others did not. One had a horn. And one, one appeared to be an earth pony.

“They’ve been modified,” Sideralis said, his lips almost touching the surface of the water. “That one has mechanical wings just like Stout and I do in the water.”

“They have not been modified, they were born that way,” the strange mare replied, lowering her head down beside Sideralis’. “You see before you the birth of a new tribe.”

“What?” Sideralis sucked in a deep breath, his sides expanding like bellows. “How?”

“A new age and a new era approaches. New technologies emerge. We race towards an uncertain future. A new tribe of ponies is now beginning to emerge.” The mare touched the water with her nose, and the images changed.

Sideralis saw a group of earth ponies, they looked frightened, afraid, they moved together in a herd, relying on the safety of numbers. The image shifted and Sideralis saw crude cultivation. Farms. The earth ponies had grown plants.

“In the beginning, they endured. Somehow, the earth ponies planted the seeds of equine civilisation. They did the impossible. In a world that was hostile to them, they clung to life and they persisted, and it was like this for a very, very long time.” The mare lifted her head a little, smiling, and as she blinked her strange, ever shifting eyes, the image in the water changed again.

Sideralis could see pegasi now. Some of the ponies had wings, but they were few in number. The pegasi kept watch over the earth ponies and moved clouds around, they were changing the weather to help the crops grow. Some of the pegasi fought with monsters that tried to eat the ponies.

“Thus began the age of civilisation. Cities began to form. Ponies stayed put, living in one place, tilling the land, and with the appearance of wings on some ponies, those ponies began to manage the weather and keep their earth based counterparts safe.” The mare reached out her wing and touched the water, causing the image to shift again.

Unicorns. Sideralis saw horns on some of the ponies. As he watched, a unicorn zapped a manticore that was trying to gobble a pegasus. With unicorns came organisation and construction. The unicorns built walls, lifting heavy blocks of stone. Fortifications grew, moving in fast forward, in a blur. Towers were built. Castles. Walls.

“The alicorns began to appear… Celestia and Luna were not the first, but they are the ones that most little ponies know and love. Civilisation expanded and grew… with the introduction of each new tribe, a new epoch began. And now, we witness the birth of a new tribe, the tribe that will usher in the era of technology. Your descendants, like the earth ponies, the pegasi, and the unicorns before them, will be uniquely suited to adapting to the new era.”

“So… Stout and I are going to have foals and they’re going to be born with cybernetics?” Sideralis blinked, trying to internalise this somehow.

“Organic mechanical technology.” The mare lifted her head away from the water. “You have to come to me, Sideralis. I will make all of this possible. You and your descendents will rebuild Equestria. The old must be cleared away to make way for the new. You and yours will not only be capable of great destruction, but also of great construction. You and your kind will make cities grow in the same way that earth ponies make plants grow. You will know the city, its health, its needs, what it needs to continue growing, very much like how earth ponies commune with plants. Your hooves will be rooted on blacktop, upon concrete, upon steel girders, and you will feel the life of the city. You will build soaring towers in much the same way that unicorns did, gleaming structures of glass, steel, and concrete. Your kind will be the city keepers, the protectors, the guardians, you will build homes, you will keep the little ponies safe, secure, and happy. You will be the constructors of the new era.”

“Why us?” Sideralis asked.

“Because, somepony has to,” the mare replied, now looking sad. “There were great cities in Equestria, wonderful cities, but growth was out of control… much harm was being done. There is much that goes into the management of a city. It was not being done very well. Pollution was a problem, there were water issues, food issues, housing, shelter, transportation, distribution of resources, the technology raced ahead, but the ponies were ill equipped to deal with everything as the technological epoch approached. There was no balance, there was no careful, cautious, cultivated growth.” The mare looked Sideralis in the eye. “You and your kind will grow cities in the same way that earth ponies grow orchards.”

“Wait… that is how Mariposa wormed her way into Equestria, isn’t it?” Sideralis asked.

The mare nodded, looking hurt. “Untreated sewage became breeding grounds for her. The water system for the big cities, poorly managed at best, became a means to deliver parasites. Those who lived in large cities and towns were hit the hardest by the plagues. Poor sanitation aided Mariposa’s efforts. Some parts of Equestria were thoroughly modern, other places were little more than crude settlements. Ponyville had thatched roofs, places where fleas, mites, and other parasites made their home. The quaint provincial stylings of Ponyville proved to be part of its downfall. The sewage system that drained out into a river was a key factor in its own demise. Mariposa saw weakness and she exploited it.”

The water rippled and the images changed again, returning to a happy looking Sideralis and Stout running through a field of green grass together, little foals running behind them. The ponies shrank, becoming small, and in the background, a city appeared. It was neat, orderly, the buildings were uniform, with the largest in the middle and everything becoming smaller as the city radiated outwards. The city was beautiful, gleaming in the light.

“You never did have a drink,” the mare said.

“Oh.” Sideralis lowered his head a little more, until his lips touched the water. It was cold, so very cold. He shivered, the cold traveling through his body. He opened his mouth and took a drink. The water was cold going down this throat.

Beside him, the strange alicorn mare began to laugh, and then, much to Sideralis’ surprise, he was shoved into the ice cold water. It was cold, freezing, and the strange mare’s laughter echoed in his ears.

“No one ever expects the Element of Laughter,” the mare said, still laughing as Sideralis flopped around in the water, now soaked and shivering.

Author's Notes:

Next chapter: the vault.