Sirius stayed near Wind Rider's house and redirected ponies who came to it. He met a familiar face — Coral. Other than that, there wasn't anyone for some time.

"I'm going to get my brother back." Sirius heard a voice behind him. He turned around swiftly and saw Sweetwater. The colt was standing in the doorway, glaring at the former human.

"And then beat him up?" Sirius asked with a growl in his voice.

"That's better for him." Sweetwater snorted but didn't come out of the house. "And you better stay out of my way."

"Are you threatening me?" Sirius' nostrils flared as he lowered his head. His body tensed and prepared to spring into action. No one could threaten him and come out of it unscathed either physically or mentally.

"I'm warning you." the colt replied.

"Here is my warning — hurt my friends, and I will remove your horn." the former human growled. "The changeling queen tried to take my friends away. She has no horn anymore. She was much more powerful than someone like you will ever be." Sirius inhaled deeply. He wished he brought a weapon. "You are nothing compared to those I defeated. I don't fear the likes of you."

Sweetwater's eyes widened in fear. He knew Sirius was aggressive but he didn't expect such a threat. He retreated inside the house and closed the front door.

Sirius just snorted. He liked putting people such as Sweetwater back in place. The former human showed dominance. Not the fake one many people liked to show but the real one, the one that couldn't be challenged without consequences. Sirius wasn't afraid of hurting other people even if it meant crippling them for the rest of their lives. He knew he could get in big trouble or even jail or prison for doing something like this but he didn't like laws anyway. He did what he did based on his own experience and what was happening around him at the time. If crippling someone meant safety, he would do it regardless of what distanced from reality lawmakers say.

During his stay near the house, he redirected another few ponies, both of whom he knew: they were twins, Coffee Mug and Coffee Bean. They were surprised to see Sirius again but understood what he said about party being held at another house.

Just to make sure, Sirius stayed for a few more minutes. Seeing no other pony going to the house, he headed back to his mansion.

He didn't notice a glare coming from one of the windows in the house.

Once Sirius returned, he immediately saw that everything was already starting as everyone assembled. Wave Rider, Iclyn, Coral, Anastasia, and the twins were in the living room.

"...I don't really know." the small colt replied to someone's question, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "I, uh, didn't really think everything through... Oh, hi Sirius!" he waved awkwardly at the former human. "I, um, trying to figure out what to start with."

Sirius looked at the colt and saw the bruise on the side of his muzzle. He mentally flinched, knowing that Wave didn't have a very good time with his brother. At least the former human managed to help him.

"I remember that we started everything with hide-n-seek." Sirius replied. "I think it would be a good idea to do the same."

"Yeah! None of us knows this place. It'll be fun!" one of the twins commented.

"I guess so..." Wave Rider nodded. "So, um, I'll count to, uh, fifty. Is that okay, everypony?"

Everyone but Anastasia nodded. Once Sirius quickly explained everything to her, she nodded as well. And thus, everyone searched for a place to hide among the wast space of the mansion.

"And don't lock the doors, okay?" Wave yelled, pausing the counting for a second. A collective 'Yes' satisfied him and he returned to counting. "Seven, eight..."

Sirius didn't really know where to hide. As big as his mansion was, there wasn't a place to hide.

Suddenly, an idea hit him. He proceeded into the sports hall. Once inside, he looked at the baskets for basketball. They had wooden shield he could hide behind if he could climb up there. Furtunately, there was a stack of mats near one of the baskets. If he could just hop onto the stack, getting behind the shield wouldn't be a problem.

He walked up to the mats and looked up. He would most likely fall if he tried to climb it up the more obvious way. Instead, he jumped and used his magic to propel himself upwards. He landed on the top mat successfully. Then, he carefully got behind the wooden shield. Thankfully, there was plenty of space to stand on. The shield was pretty big and hid him almost completely, he only had to hide his head.

Anastasia hid underneath the bed of Sirius and Iclyn. It wasn't the best spot but she couldn't find anything better by the time Wave Rider started searching. She could only hope he won't find her first. She didn't know where others went either.

She listened carefully to her surroundings. It seemed like Wave Rider was still on the first floor. She sighed and relaxed. The place underneath the bed was quite comfortable as it didn't have any dust whatsoever. She could rest for a bit and wait to be found.

The girl didn't know what to think of other ponies she'd recently met. She couldn't even talk to them properly. At least their company was nice and she especially liked the younger twins. They were joyful and full of energy like many kids were in their age. Anastasia felt good about being a child again even if just for a few hours. She didn't have to think about education or job, she could be careless as she once used to be.

Her parents were rather strict in that regard and made sure she was getting excellent marks at school. Anastasia wanted to have fun but more often than not she had to study in fear of disappointing her parents and being grounded. She planned on moving somewhere else once she started university but her parents forbade her. They told her that she needed to study first.

Anastasia wanted to return to her family but the time without their almost constant watch felt nice in a strange way. She was all by herself, no one made her do anything. Sirius was rather light on her, ponies she met seemed very nice to be around with. Excluding Sweetwater, but he wasn't the one she was going to meet anyway. He looked like a worse example of strictness than her own parents. Anastasia was never abused by either father or mother and she felt sorry for Wave Rider. She couldn't imagine how it was to live with someone like Sweetwater.

"Found you!"

The girl exclaimed something and jumped in place, hitting her head against the bed.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Wave Rider said with worry. "I, uh, didn't mean to scare you."

Anastasia groaned and rubbed her head. It wasn't that bad but it wasn't that good either, obviously. She would be fine in a few minutes at most.

"Here, let me help you." the colt said and used his magic to bring Anastasia from under the bed. "I, uh, will go to search for others."

With that being said, he disappeared from the room, leaving the girl alone. She didn't understand most of what he had said and thus had no idea where he went. She made a conclusion that he went to search for other ponies. Anastasia decided to go downstairs and grab a snack in the meantime.

There were seven rounds of hide-n-seek, allowing everyone to be the searcher. It was pretty fun since there were many places around the mansion to hide in and no one was left dissatisfied with how the rounds went. After the end of the game, everyone assembled back in the living room and sat on the sofa.

"Uh, everypony, I have an idea." Wave Rider spoke as he stood in front of others. His nervousness showed as he didn't look anyone in the eyes and tried to stay focused on the floor. "Um, there's a game 'Never have I ever'. I guess we can play that."

Everyone agreed with his suggestion and no questions were asked. Even Sirius knew what that game was supposed to be. He was unsocial but it didn't mean he didn't play different games with Anastasia. Mostly, she was the one initiating them but he enjoyed them nevertheless.

"So, uh, I have some chocolate beans." Wave Rider levitated a bag of them to himself. "We need just... seven bowls. Each of us will have, um, twenty beans. If the, uh, statement that is spoke is true, you eat a bean. The one who has the least of them by the end of the game loses."

Sirius got seven plates for the game — unfortunately, he couldn't find bowls of suitable size. And soon, the game began with one of the twins starting it.

"Never have I ever stumbled on a plain surface." Coffee Bean said. His sister and Wave Rider ate the beans.

"Never have I never... Ugh!" Coffee Mug grunted as everyone shared a chuckle. "Never. Have. I. Ever. Spoken this sentence right." Everyone excluding herself and Sirius ate a bean.

"Never have I ever... fought ponies. Uh, physically." Wave Rider said. Sirius was the only one who ate a bean.

"Never have I ever learned just one language." Sirius responded, getting anyone but himself and Anastasia to eat a bean.

"Never have I ever..." Coral paused for a moment. "Had sex."

Once Sirius translated the sentence to Anastasia, the girl frowned.

"Is it even appropriate? The twins look too young for this." she asked Sirius.

"I think it is." he shrugged and ate a bean. Soon after, Iclyn followed. Everyone else 'aww'ed at the two and then the game continued.

In the end, Sirius was the one with the least amount of chocolate beans on his plate. As it turned out, he did a lot of things. However, it wasn't clear if everyone wanted him to lose on purpose.

"So, there is a punishment for losing!" Wave Rider declared as his confidence grew. It looked like his friends were enjoying the party alongside him and it made him feel good. "Let me find this thing..." he looked into his saddlebags that he brought. He didn't have much personal belongings in the first place but his saddlebags were still rather big. A sleeping bag was tightly packed in one of them, too. Soon, he pulled out a bag of real beans and a few plastic straws. "We'll shoot this beans at you, Sirius!"

The former human didn't mind it much. After all, it was just a game for all participants to have fun. He liked the idea of the loser getting a punishment and it so happened that he had lost the game. It didn't mean anything and thus he was still satisfied with the outcome.

He looked at Wave Rider and saw how joyful the colt became. Away from his home and brother, he seemed lively. He liked the attention he was getting and the fun he was having judging by a wide and happy smile on his bright face.

Sirius wouldn't mind such an addition to mansion's population. It was empty and quiet with just only him and Iclyn, and the addition of Anastasia and Wave Rider made everything much more comfortable. The colt could also provide company for the girl and help her learn the language, too. Sirius wanted Anastasia to be happy and thus he had nothing against her getting friends and maybe a special someone. He knew it would be a long way for her to become close to even one pony but he was sure she would be able to find her own happiness in Equestria.

Maybe she would have to leave at some point, Sirius didn't know. He was uncertain about Luna's promise to help Anastasia find a way back home. He wished his friend the best nevertheless.

Wave Rider felt happy inside. He was appreciated and cared for by his friends. They were having fun alongside him, and he was very grateful for what Sirius had done for him even though the two didn't know much about each-other. The colt began to saw him as a better brother he never had. Sirius even looked close to Wave Rider himself, making the two look like real brothers. While the two were different in many ways, Wave was sure he would find more comfort with Sirius than he did with Sweetwater.

However, his father would certainly come for him. Wave Rider didn't know what to do about it but he hoped it would turn for the better. He had the protection of his friends, including Sirius, a person he didn't know much. While Sirius was aggressive, Wave Rider still saw him as a good person and someone to turn to in the times of trouble.

Maybe it was a new page in colt's life. He hoped it would mean something more than just not seeing his brother and living at his friend's spacious mansion.

He felt like he would be a great friend, just like others were to him.

Author's Notes:

Sirius' circle of friends is growing and he helps them out along the way.