“Come to me…”

Sideralis recognised the voice, he had heard it before. He stood on a beach, a strange beach, a different beach than he had shared with Stout earlier. The beach was covered in pebbles and rocks. The waves slapped and crashed against the shore with ear twitching force.

“Come to me, Sideralis…”

Lifting his head, looking around, Sideralis peered into the primordial forest ahead of him. Strange trees and giant ferns blocked his view, and he could see nothing a yard in past the treeline. He had heard this voice before and his ears quivered as he strained to listen.

“The next epoch has begun… you have work to do… and I wish to help you…”

The white alicorn, the one who had a tree for a cutie mark. She was nameless, not actually an alicorn, and Sideralis’ memories of her were vague. It seemed like only yesterday, but it had been over eight months ago. Sideralis felt troubled, he had slept through the beginning of the epoch. That struck him as somehow being worse than being late for school. You needed a pretty good excuse as to why you missed the start of an epoch.

Around him, Sideralis heard laughter, the air was heavy with it, and he found himself smiling. He approached the tree line, his hooves finding purchase upon the slippery pebbles.

“Like a tender blossom, your sense of humour develops. You are not in trouble for missing the start of the epoch,” the voice said from all around Sideralis. “Even now the values that I treasure manifest themselves. Generousity, loyalty, kindness, honesty, laughter, and magic. All of you must come to me, I will make you whole. I will complete you. I will give to you what Chrysalis, the changeling queen, cannot.”

“How do I find you?” Sideralis asked.

“Follow the stars,” the voice replied.

A white unicorn appeared, a familiar face for Sideralis. He smiled at Rarity, glad to see her, but he could not say why. Something about her presence was comforting, familiar, at least now she was more than a voice in his head.

“We must go beyond the mists to a distant land, a land that is undiscovered,” Rarity said as she approached. A soft, loving smile was upon her face. “Strange, I am little more than a memory given life, but I keep finding new purpose. It seems that life is not done with me just yet.”

As Rarity spoke, two more figures stepped out of the trees. One was a bubblegum pink earth pony mare and the other was an orange earth pony mare. Rarity turned to them, glad to see them, and Sideralis watched as a reunion of sorts took place.

“Hiya, hon, it’s been a long time,” the orange mare said to Rarity.

“Hey, if you come and see me, we can have a party!” the pink mare said in a bubbly, jubilant voice to Sideralis. “I think I can still party… I’m not sure anymore.” The pink mare giggled, then snorted, then giggled, then giggle-snorted.

“Pinkie Pie, Applejack… this is a strange meeting… a memory meets two spirits.” Rarity embraced Applejack in a hug and then held on to Pinkie Pie, clinging to her, her barrel heaving as she almost started crying.

“We passed on, Rarity… I’m with my parents now… we’re little more than memories ourselves. The Elements keep a little piece of all those who are worthy to bond with them, a little part of us lives on,” Applejack said as she held Rarity.

“Which is why you need to come and see us!” Pinkie Pie pronked over to Sideralis and bounced around him, looking up at him with a broad smile. “Your mother, Luna, she was once the Element of Laughter, and so was I… a little piece of your mother is waiting for you. It isn’t much, but everypony underestimates the power of laughter. You’re going to need it, yes sirree!”

“You’re gonna need the help of all those who came before you.” Applejack let go of Rarity and approached Sideralis. “There is a lot of hard work to be done. You got a big fight ahead. You’re going to need all of the help that you can get, which is why you have to come to us, and soon.” Applejack craned her head back and looked up. “You’re a big one… what’s the weather like up there?”

Sideralis found himself laughing, he liked the orange mare, but his laughter was tinged with sadness. She was dead, gone, little more than a memory given some semblance of life. She seemed kind, loving, and full of fun, both of the mares appeared that way, and both seemed like the kind of ponies that Sideralis would have liked to know.

“When you wake up, remember, laughter is the best medicine,” Pinkie Pie said to Sideralis. “You’re going to encounter a bit of a friendship problem… I think you’ll find a way to deal with it.”

“What?” Confused, Sideralis blinked a few times, not certain he understood what was being said. The pink mare was laughing now, she bubbled with laughter, and Sideralis found himself laughing along with her, nervous laughter.

“Wake up, silly… and you’ll see!” Pinkie Pie replied with a giggle-snort.

The sound of two low voices arguing, both of them almost whispers, greeted Sideralis’ ears as he awoke. Stout… and… Mustang? What was she doing in the bed? He kept his eyes closed and remained still, laying on his belly, his head propped up on several pillows with soft, warm, wonderful flannel pillowcases.

“Just what do you think you are doing?” Stout asked, her voice an almost angry whisper.

“I got lonely,” Mustang replied.

“I don’t believe that for a second… I know what you are up to—”

“And just what am I up to?”

“Same thing you have always done, ever since we were both foals… back then, you stole my toys and beat me up… now, you’re after Sid—”

“I am not,” Mustang hissed.

“Oh yes you are, I’ve seen the way you look at him and the way you act when you’re around him… don’t you even deny it… I’m not stupid.” Stout’s breathy whispering now had a fierce tone to it.

“Stout, I don’t even know where to begin, but that is just not true… I’m lonesome… I miss you and I—”

“You miss me… horseshit!” Stout’s voice was a little louder now.

Sideralis, not knowing what else to do, continued to act as though he was asleep.

“Really… I miss how we were… we were friends… we were close, you and I… for the longest time, you were the only friend I had, and then you stopped being my friend—”

“You became a real bitch, you treated mom like dirt, and you attacked everypony that got close to you!” Stout gritted her teeth, scowling, she snorted, and then continued, “Even as a foal you were real hard to be nice to… you were a mean little cuss.”

“I was feral… everything was confusing… I had trouble fitting in and a lot of what you and Fluttershy did didn’t make sense to me… and later, when the changes happened, when you and I were upgraded, things got bad for me. I didn’t know how to deal with it. I was confused, I never meant to hurt you or mom, I was messed up and I didn’t know how to deal with it… I’ve never been good at making friends, I’ve never felt as though I’ve fit in, I still feel like a lost, scared, just out of the wilds feral sometimes and I push others away because… I don’t know why… I guess I don’t like admitting that I need another pony.”

“Horseshit!” Stout’s voice was a whole lot louder. “I ain’t fallin’ for no sympathy act from you!”

“I’m still trying to sort everything out… I want to make things right… I’ll admit I made mistakes—”

“Horseshit!” Stout snapped. “Now you’re just telling me this so I’ll let down my guard, same shit you used to pull when you were a foal and you’d tell me how sorry you were for smashing my head into a wall and when I’d let my guard down, you’d do it again!”

“I’m sorry,” Mustang said, apologising, no longer whispering.

“Fucking horseshit!” Stout shouted, reaching out and giving her sister a shove.

“Hey, that’s not nice.” Sideralis lifted his head and looked at Stout. He saw Stout turning to look at him. She looked furious, and Sideralis began to wonder if she was angry with him. The room was illuminated by the light from Stout’s horn.

“You don’t know her like I do… she’s a lying, manipulative, thieving little shit for brains who did nothing but beat me up and steal my toys… and then made mom feel sorry for her so she got comforted and I got left with lumps on my head!” Stout said to Sideralis, almost shouting. “I’m a feral… waaaah!”

“Yeah, I was like that… that was my excuse and I suppose it still is, but I really am trying to change things… I’m really sorry… you were my only friend and I treated you badly… I was awful to you… I took you for granted because you were my sister and I thought that sisters were supposed to be friends no matter what and I just sort of depended on you putting up with me and I was wrong.” Mustang looked at her sister, her expression pleading, sorrowful, and hurt. One ear was pinned back, the other drooped down against her cheek and she lay on the very edge of the bed, where she had been shoved by her sister, Stout.

“I don’t understand what all of the fighting is about… I mean, I just woke up in bed with not one, but two mares… and I’m awake… and I—” Sideralis’ words trailed off as Stout gave him a murderous stare. He gulped, not at all liking the look that Stout was giving him. Stout was more than a little scary.

From where she lay on the edge of the bed, Mustang began giggling. She covered her mouth with her fetlock, tried to swallow her laughter, and failed. She chortled and the whole bed shook.

“And what is so fuckin’ funny?” Stout demanded.

“I think I’m a lesbian,” Mustang replied, almost choking on her own words as she tried to keep from exploding with laughter. “I mean, I dunno yet, but I find myself looking at mares a lot, which is why I have no interest in Sideralis, other than trying to be his friend.” She looked at Sideralis, grinning, snorting, and said, “Sorry, no threesome with two hot sisters… you’re going to have to live with the disappointment.”

Stout snorted, let out an indignant wicker, and then, much to everypony’s surprise, including her own, she laughed. It was a reluctant laugh at first, but as she continued laughing, it transitioned into easy, happy laughter.

But then, Stout’s laughter stopped. She stared, wide eyed at the yellow pegasus in the doorway. Stout coughed, her ears drooped, and she took on a submissive posture. “Um, how long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough,” Fluttershy replied as Rainbow Dash peeked out from behind her.

“Stout, run… I’ll distract her… I’ll swear a whole bunch and I’ll give her no choice but to scrub my mouth out with soap,” Mustang said to Stout.

“You’d do that for me?” Stout asked.

“Of course, we’re sisters, and I owe you a lot,” Mustang replied, “and I have a lot to make up for.”

“Nopony move.” Fluttershy’s words, quiet, soft, were somehow terrifying.

Sideralis found himself moving, and much to his surprise, a warning message flashed in his vision in bright red letters, DO NOT ANGER FLUTTERSHY! ENABLE BEG FOR MERCY PROTOCOL! WARNING! DANGER! CAUTION! He crawled over the bed and positioned himself behind Stout, trying to hide his much larger body behind the much smaller mare. He ducked his head down and closed his eyes. The yellow pegasus was perhaps, quite possibly, the scariest thing he had ever seen.

“I have two filthy, foul mouthed little fillies and you’ve woken up Rainbow Dash with your arguing… what do you have to say for yourselves?” Fluttershy’s eyes narrowed and there were two loud gulps that could be heard.

“Um, we were sorting out our past issues?” Mustang replied, her voice squeaky with fear. She too, crawled over the bed and pressed up against Stout, knowing that there was safety in numbers.

Fluttershy strode forwards, causing both Stout and Mustang to let out panicked nickers as they cowered in the bed together. Saying nothing, she lept up into the bed, standing near Stout and Mustang. “Both of you are bad!”

Stout dropped her head down to the mattress and whimpered. As she did so, Mustang pulled herself over Stout’s body and tried to shield her. Mustang looked up at her mother with pleading eyes.

“This is all my fault. None of this would have happened if I would have stayed in my own bed. I was lonely and I think I made a mistake. I have no excuses to offer. Stout wouldn’t have been angry, she wouldn’t have cussed, and none of this would have happened if I had just stayed in my own bed. I’m sorry, really, I am very sorry.”

Fluttershy reached out, touched Mustang’s cheek, and her expression softened. “It is good to hear you say that.” Fluttershy folded her legs and laid down beside Mustang. “Now be quiet… both of you. It is time to sleep.” The yellow pegasus looked at Rainbow Dash, who was now standing beside the bed. “There is room for one more… get up here with us.”

“Okay.” Grinning, Rainbow Dash joined the pony pile.