“I know you’re tired and all, and it has been a really busy day, but I wanna go to the Rainbow Chapel,” Rainbow Dash said to Sideralis as they flew in the direction of home. “Pretty please, big guy?” Reaching out, she patted Sideralis on the neck and felt the clunk of metal beneath her hoof.

Sideralis, who was gliding along and using an updraft to keep him airborne, nodded but said nothing. He turned his head to look at Stout and Fluttershy. Fluttershy was hanging on to Stout, but had her own wings out so she could feel the breeze as Stout flew. He looked around and wondered where Mustang had gone. She had started off this journey home with them, but then had flown off.

Flying felt natural now. Sideralis hadn’t been doing it very long, but it felt as though he had been doing it his whole life. He had knowledge of the wind, of updrafts, he knew things that he didn’t remember learning. It was just there inside of his head. He knew how his targeting system worked. He knew how to operate the beam weapons that had been mounted on his wings earlier. He had discovered that he had deadly accuracy and could burn his name into the wall with no effort.

For some reason, this bothered him. At first, it had been exciting, it was cool, it was neat. Super neato scifi weapons, just like in the movies or in comic books. But after discovering he was proficient in their use, he started to feel uncomfortable. The excitement wore off and became something else.

Fear.

It began to sink into his mind that the entire time he was asleep, he had not only been upgraded and made better, but he had also been filled with knowledge. Terrible knowledge. He knew how to fire the digester cannons in beautiful, perfect, parabolic arcs, the blobs of acid hitting his targets with flawless precision.

Had Sideralis been a more clever, more educated pony, he might have realised that life was the sum of one’s experiences and what one learned from them. But he was not a clever, more educated pony, so he was unable to express what he was feeling. Sideralis’ life had been largely artificial. He hadn’t had many experiences that he had learned from. He just woke up from long periods of sleep with strange knowledge and memories in his head. Sideralis had not lived.

“Hey, big guy, we’re losing altitude,” Rainbow Dash said as she squeezed her hind legs against Sideralis’ barrel and patted him on the neck. “I know it’s easy to zone out when you’re flying, but you have a passenger!”

Flapping his wings, Sideralis pulled up. Maredina was ahead and farmland was below. The monorail tracks were visible. Off in the distance, he could see the ocean on the horizon. The sun would be setting in a few more hours. Sideralis wondered what it would be like to follow the sun as it raced towards the horizon.

The Rainbow Chapel was dim, lit by candles, and had a few ponies in attendance. Rainbow Dash was the first to enter, with Sideralis just behind her, Fluttershy behind him, and Stout bringing up the rear. Sideralis saw ponies turning to look at Rainbow Dash. He heard soft whispers, a few ponies pointed, and he saw hopeful expressions. Ponies were looking at him as well.

Eyes on the candles, Rainbow Dash walked through the room, heading for an empty spot in the corner. She moved without speaking, her hooves making faint clicks upon the floor. Sideralis followed her, still looking at those who were watching them. When Rainbow Dash sat down, Sideralis sat down beside her, Fluttershy sat down on the other side of Rainbow Dash, and Stout sat down next to Sideralis.

Bowing her head, Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and sat in silence for a few minutes. Sideralis, not quite knowing what to do in this place, also sat in silence, but looking around and pony watching. Fluttershy reached out a foreleg and draped it over Rainbow Dash’s withers. Using her horn to project a field of telekinesis, Stout lit up a candle and placed it in the rack.

“I don’t know what I’m doing here,” Rainbow Dash whispered in a strained voice. “I don’t know what these ponies expect from me. I’m not an alicorn… I could understand if ponies made chapels to pay their respects to an alicorn, but I’m just a pegasus.” The rainbow maned pegasus mare shook her head, her eyes now half opened, revealing rose coloured irises. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I don’t know what’s expected of me. I don’t even understand how all of these ponies believe in me.”

“Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said in a low, soft, reassuring voice, “your story is legend. You made the rainboom happen. Without realising it, you brought a group of friends together. You touched all of our lives. Equestria gained a princess and after all of our adventures, after all we endured together, after all we accomplished, Equestria entered a golden age. So many ponies witnessed your rainboom that day. Now, they tell stories about it. It is a symbol of hope for them, Rainbow Dash.”

The sky blue pegasus closed her eyes once more, squeezing them shut, and a few tears trailed down her cheeks. She leaned over, getting closer to Fluttershy, and sniffled and she fought to hold back her sobs.

“Your rainboom is every bit as important as Princess Celestia raising the sun or Princess Luna raising the moon. It was a miraculous sign. You did something amazing, Rainbow Dash, and ponies want to have hope again. They want to see that rainboom.”

“But what if I can’t give it to them?” Rainbow Dash breathed, her words little more than a scratchy whisper. She buried her face into Fluttershy’s neck and tried to hide, unable to hold everything in any longer.

“Oh, you will, Rainbow Dash, you will.” Fluttershy wrapped her wing around the sobbing pegasus clinging to her. “I believe in you. Because of you, I found my cutie mark and my purpose in life. Somehow, you’ll pull through and the magic will happen again.”

Feeling a shove, Sideralis turned and looked at Stout, who was pressing her hoof into his side. Stout was looking up at him, and he saw her mouth the words, “Do something to make her feel better, you goof.”

Turning his head, Sideralis looked down upon the two smaller pegasi beside him. Little ponies. Little little ponies. Little ponies that he had strong feelings for. Fluttershy had her wing around Rainbow, but Sideralis wasn’t sure if he should do that. His wings were metal. They were heavy. Sideralis’ lips pressed together. He needed to let Rainbow know that he cared.

Bowing his head down, he pressed his nose into Rainbow Dash’s neck, just below her ear, inhaled, and then snorted, blasting out a great deal of air. Much to his surprise, Rainbow Dash responded, jerking away, her body tensing, and then she started giggling.

“That tickles!” Rainbow clung to Fluttershy as she laughed. “You jerk, I’m trying to have a cry over here. What didja have to go and do that for?” The little blue pegasus turned her head and focused her rose coloured eyes upon Sideralis. Reaching out one foreleg, she touched his face, her hoof coming to rest against his cheek. “Thanks, big guy… I was starting to feel sorry for myself.”

“You going to be okay?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yeah, I think so…” Rainbow Dash replied, “I just want to spend a little more time here, if that’s okay. I like it here.”

“What are we doing for dinner?” Stout asked.

“Um…” Fluttershy stood in front of the apartment building, looking at Stout, and then glanced upwards, her eyes focusing skywards.

“Um?” Stout narrowed her eyes and waited for some kind of real reply.

“Twilight asked us to come to dinner tonight,” Fluttershy replied.

“No!” Rainbow Dash stomped her hoof. “Ugh, things will be weird.”

“Rainbow Dash, she’s your friend. Both of you just need to get over it. A misunderstanding happened and that’s not a reason to distance yourself from your dear friend.” Fluttershy’s eyes darted downwards and focused on Rainbow Dash, who looked away, unable to meet Fluttershy’s gaze.

“Fine… I’ll go to dinner.” Rainbow Dash, who looked more than a little pouty, lifted her head and stared upwards, squinting her eyes to see the top of the apartment tower. “Maybe Spike and I can talk about comic books.”

“We need to see if we can find Mustang. She was invited too. Come on, all of you, let’s go home and get ready.” Fluttershy prodded Rainbow Dash to get her moving and glanced at Stout. “You okay, Stout? You seem distracted.”

Stout nodded. “I just have a lot on my mind, it’s nothing to worry about.”

Twilight Sparkle’s penthouse apartment was enormous. It had to be, because Spike was living with her. It had high ceilings and massive doors that opened up onto a balcony so Spike could come and go as he pleased. Sideralis stopped and wondered how Spike dealt with the tight confines of The Ouroboros. Twilight had a collection of tapestries hanging on the walls, some paintings of ponies that Sideralis didn’t know, and there was a massive black piano upon a raised dais. Papers were everywhere, in piles, along with scattered books.

“Move it,” Mustang said as she gave Sideralis a hearty shove to move him out of the way. “Some ponies… standing in front of a door. Sheesh.” Mustang sauntered away and made herself at home, tossing herself down upon a reinforced and somewhat scorched looking sofa.

Sniffing, Sideralis smelled something good, but he had no idea what it was. Spike was in the kitchen, the big dragon was trying to deal with kitchen utensils that seemed far too small for him. Twilight was getting comfortable in a chair, holding a glass that was filled with a blue liquid and ice cubes. He watched as Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash climbed into a big overstuffed chair together.

“Have a seat, Sideralis. It’s been a long day for all of us. Before we head off to what’s certain to be a fight, I wanted us to spend some time together,” Twilight Sparkle said as she gestured at a couch.

Sweetie Belle emerged, stepping out of the hallway and into the kitchen. She smiled, nodded, and then moved to stand beside Spike, who was stirring something in a large, tall pot.

Moving through the room, Sideralis took a seat upon the sofa that was close to Twilight, and he could not help but notice that Rainbow Dash and Twilight were avoiding eye contact. It made Sideralis feel a little awkward.

Mustang, angling her head, went cross eyed staring at her horn for a moment and then a large illusionary butterfly appeared. It circled around Mustang’s head, its wings fluttering, and Mustang looked pleased as she made the butterfly fly in circles.

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes went wide and she stared. “Mustang, how are you doing that?”

Shrugging, Mustang replied, “I dunno.”

Shaking her head, Twilight watched the butterfly. “That shouldn’t be possible. You have a spell matrix with assigned and programmed spells. How are you doing this?”

The entire apartment rattled as Spike came out of the kitchen to see what was going on. The dragon reached up and scratched his head with his claws, staring at Mustang and her butterfly.

“Is this some kind of glitch?” Twilight, unable to process what she was seeing, blinked a few times and then her eyes went from the butterfly to Mustang. “How are you doing this?”

“A glitch? What are you going to do, try to fix it?” Mustang gave Twilight a wary stare.

“No… this is wonderful… somehow, you’re performing new spells… which means that you learned them somehow,” Twilight said. “This is amazing.”

“I have a couple of spells I can cast. If I watch a unicorn cast a spell, sometimes I can cast it. I don’t know how it works.” Mustang’s cautious expression softened.

“This calls for an experiment.” Twilight jumped down out of her chair, landed on her hooves, and then began to pace around the room. “Something simple, but still somewhat complicated. Something not too hard, but challenging… wait, I know.”

There was a bright magenta flash from Twilight Sparkle’s horn and with a loud poof, Spike the dragon had a mustache. Twilight Sparkle turned to look at Mustang, her face expectant, and she waited.

Spike, reaching up to stroke his mustache, said, “Hello mustache, my old friend.” He smoothed it out, then lowered his head down to Sweetie Belle. “Do I look handsome?”

Covering her mouth, Sweetie Belle stepped away from Spike and laughed.

Her muzzle scrunching with intense concentration, Mustang’s synthetic horn glowed with a piercing blue light. Mustang’s cheeks puffed out and she went cross eyed once more, focusing upon the spire of blue crystal protruding from her forehead.

There was an ominous crackle of energy and sparks flew. Sideralis, waiting, could feel the suspense getting to him. He wanted to see what was going to happen next. There was another loud pop, a shower of sparks, and then Sideralis felt a very peculiar sensation upon his lip, a weird prickly tingle.

Going cross eyed himself, Sideralis looked down at the end of his muzzle, trying to see what was going on, his ears perking forwards.

“Hah!” Mustang gasped. “I did it!”

“That is one majestic mustache,” Spike said as Twilight Sparkle stood staring.

A blue handlebar mustache hung from Sideralis’ lip. He flexed his mouth, causing it to quiver, and with his eyes crossed, he continued to try and get a good look at it. The long, flowing mustache somehow made Sideralis feel more grown up. He felt tough, masculine, he felt capable and ready for any sort of danger. He had a mustache and the confidence that went with it.

“He looks ridiculous too,” Sweetie Belle said.

“You don’t like my mustache?” Spike asked Sweetie Belle in wounded tones.

“How is this possible?” Twilight crossed the room and stood in front of Sideralis so she could examine the mystical mustache of masculinity that had been summoned. “This isn’t possible… you can’t learn new spells with a synthetic horn… there has to be an explanation for this.”

“Spike, I like you just the way you are.” Sweetie Belle, grinning, chortled a bit.

Lifting his head, Sideralis could not help but feel important. With the mustache had come confidence and a powerful feeling of self assurance. He liked the mustache. He flexed his lip and made the long, flowing mustache wiggle.

And then, with a bright magenta flash, it was gone. Sideralis felt his newfound confidence depart him, leaving him with the mustache. His head drooped and he didn’t feel quite so special anymore. Saddened by the loss of his newfound masculinity, Sideralis sighed.

“Okay, Mustang… let’s see you do it again,” Twilight Sparkle said. “And if this works, I’m going to teach you some spells, if you feel like learning.”

“I’d like that a lot,” Mustang replied. “Sid looks a little sad, let’s see if I can give him his mustache back…”

Author's Notes:

Next chapter... heheheheheheheh.