A full month have passed since Chloe and Aylene met the spirits of Jack (Chloe's grandfather) and Wild Berry (Aylene's father) in their shared dream, as well as since they learned thanks to them about the past and early lives of Yigal, Gilad and Ezra, how did they got their animal companions, and even how they actually arrived in Equestria in the first place, and as for Chloe herself, it was now 54 months (4 years and 6 months) since she herself first arrived in Equestria, and as for Aylene, it was now 42 years (3 years and 6 months) since she became Chloe's beloved Pegasus pony sister, and now they're both very glad to know the real truth they didn't knew until just a month ago about their worst enemies' past.
One day, Chloe and Aylene went outside the royal castle to meet their best centaur friend, Stephan, who is now living in Ponyville with his twin baby siblings (Andy and Zoey), and it seems he's doing quite fine, but the only thing that's still terrorizing his mind was none other than his abusive father, Howard, who will stop at nothing until he finds him and the twins and takes them back home with him, but then he suddenly snapped out from his terrible thoughts when two familiar voices of his two best friends called for him, and when Stephan went to the door to opened it, he saw Chloe and Aylene looking at him with happy smiles, and seeing them again made Stephan happy again, especially because they will never let his father take him away and/or abuse him or the twins ever again.
Then, Chloe asked Stephan "Do you wanna come with us and play?", and Stephan said "Yeah, sure.", and so he came out of his new house in Ponyville and went to the meadow to play and have fun with his two best friends, but an hour later, he sat down under the tree with a face which showed a bit of depression since he felt deep inside himself that his days of being abused by his father weren't over until his father is either imprisoned or even dead, and when Chloe and Aylene noticed the sudden change in their centaur friend, Aylene trotted up to him and once she stopped in front of the bit depressed centaur, she then asked him "What's wrong, Stephan?", and then she added "What's troubling your mind today?", and Stephan said with a hint of sadness mixed with a bit of depression in his voice "Maybe I was wrong when I saved you and Chloe from Yigal, Gilad and Ezra when I first met you two long ago.", but then Chloe ran up to him, and when she reached him, she then asked and said "What are you saying?", and then Stephan sighed and said "Maybe I'm no such thing as a good centaur after all.".
However, Chloe placed her hand on his shoulder and then she said "Oh no, that not true, Stephan. You're not a bad centaur, and you will never be as cruel and/or as heartless as your father. You had a good mother whom you don't want to crush because she was been a kind centaur, or may I say centauress too.", and then Aylene added "Chloe's right, Stephan. We both already know you as a good centaur, and you even proved that to us when you first saved us twice on that same day long ago, and that's because you received from mother before she died a big, kind, caring and loving heart. We all already know you're a good centaur. All of us.".
However, the voice of Howard suddenly said evilly deep inside Stephan's head "No, no, no, no, no! Don't listen to that sort of nonsense these two so-called friends of yours are just saying! You're never and you never will be a good centaur, Stephan! Because your my eldest son whom I always need for the most, these human girl and Pegasus pony weren't and will never be your true friends! These two so-called friends of yours were just using you to make you destroy yourself against your will! But under my lessons, as well as Lord Tirek's, once you meet him when we go to Tartarus, you will learn to attack, harass, and maybe even kill everything you see in front of your eyes! By the way, son, if you think Celestia was trying to make sure you're safe away from me, then guess what - you're dead wrong! She might be kind for you now, but when you're least expect, she will banish you to Tartarus as she knows there are no such things as good centaurs! You can't trust anyone, and as a matter of fact, everyone knows that deep inside, you're evil just like me! Dump these Chloe and Aylene behind you and come back home to me, and I will promise you that you will have much more better friends that were from your OWN KIND, much unlike all of these filthy ponies and their pathetic non-pony allies whom you think were your friends, but no! They're not! The only creatures in this world who would truly like you and would want to be your friends were evil centaurs like me!".
Then, Stephan heard his father's evil voice laughing evilly deep inside his mind, and this caused Stephan to turn away from Chloe and Aylene and clutch at his own head with his human arms and hands, as he then started to whimper and sob as he didn't know if he should stay friend with Chloe and Aylene or betray them and join his father's evil side. Then, Chloe approached Stephan and then she asked "Stephan, what's wrong?", as she tried to place her hand and touch him on the shoulder, but then Stephan cried "Leave me alone! You're not my friends! I should've known better than to save your lives! Centaurs were evil creatures, and so am I!", and when Chloe and Aylene heard what he said, the two gasped in shock before Aylene then asked "What are you talking about?", and then Stephan cried "Centaurs were evil creatures who steal magic from other creatures and could potentially kill them if necessary!", but then Chloe said "You aren't evil, Stephan! We're your friends and we won't let you go back to that abusive monster who is none than your own father!", but then Stephan cried "You're both lying to me! You're trying to keep me away from my father so YOU can have the right, pleasure and honor to destroy me!", but then Aylene cried "We don't want to destroy you! We're your friends, and you belong with us!", but then Stephan cried "No! I'm nothing more than a vicious monster who can and maybe even will bring harm to anyone I see with my eyes!", but then Chloe said "You're not a vicious monster, Stephan! And we both really like and love you for the most because we're your friends!", but then Stephan stood back up on his hooves and then he turned tail and tried to buck at Chloe and Aylene, but the two quickly managed to get out of the way, and then Stephan yelled at them "Now you both see what a REAL centaur always does! Now stay away from me or I'll buck at you both again! Goodbye, Chloe and Aylene, you're no longer my friends I thought you were!", but then Chloe and Aylene went up to him and placed a hand and a hoof on both of his human shoulders and then Chloe cried "Please, don't go, Stephan!", and then Aylene added and begged "We all want you to stay!", but then Stephan smacked their hand and hoof away from his shoulders and then he said "Nobody really likes me or cares about me, and so are you two! My father was right all along! Goodbye, Chloe and Aylene!", and then he turned and started to gallop away from Chloe and Aylene with tears of sadness and pain forming and rolling down his eyes and trailing behind him, and after a few minutes of galloping away, Stephan disappeared from Chloe and Aylene's eyesights, but he kept galloping away forward, towards the horizon.
Then, Chloe said "We gotta go back and tell everybody what just happened!", and then Aylene added "You're right, Stephan suddenly snapped at us and ran away!", and then Chloe said "Let's go and tell mother Celestia, aunt Luna, Twilight and her friends, and Shujaa and Kenai!", and then Aylene added "Let's go!", and then the two ran and galloped back towards Ponyville to tell their friends about Stephan's sudden outburst and runaway.
About two hours later, Twilight and her friends, Kenai, Bluebell, Aron, Linda, the triplets (Egbert, Shelly and Yoko), the baby Beartaurs (Kayden and Tallulah), and the twins (Andy and Zoey) all gathered in the royal castle all together, and they're all shocked, as well as Celestia, Luna and Shujaa to know that Stephan actually snapped and ran away from his new home, and so they all decided to go all together and search for him, find him, persuade him that he's indeed a good centaur and take him with them back home.
Meanwhile, Stephan have managed to gallop so far way to the horizon that he eventually collapsed down to the ground as he found out he got lost, and so he lied down on the ground, hungry and thristy, but then he suddenly heard the noise of some water, and when he slowly moved his head to the right, he saw he actually collapsed near a big lake, and so Stephan started to desperately crawl with all strength left in him towards the big lake with clear and clean water, and after a few minutes of crawling and struggling, Stephan finally managed to get to the lake and then he started to drink from it to restore his strength he spent when he galloped away from Chloe and Aylene, as well as from his home back in Ponyville.
When he was done drinking from the lake, Stephan raised his upper human body up, but still sat down on his horse haunches, because he was so tired after galloping really fast like he just already did for the first time in his entire life. Stephan kept sitting down in front of the lake and looked down at his own reflection in the water, but then he snapped and splashed at his own reflection by kicking with his right horse foreleg and hoof, and then he cried "Centaurs like me are evil! I hate myself!", but then a female voice said to him "Don't say that about yourself, darling.", and when Stephan heard the female voice talking to him, he stood back up on his hooves and looked everywhere to see and find who's talking to him at the moment, but then when he looked up, he saw an adult centauress with red hair and tail, beautiful blue eyes and lower body and legs of a gray mare, and when Stephan saw how she looked like, he quickly recognized who is the centauress before he asked in shock "Mother?!", and then he added "Is that you?! How are you here?!", and then Stephan's mother said "I came here to see you and tell you that you're not evil like that excuse whom you call your own father, Stephan.".
Stephan looked at shock to see his own mother landing in front of him and then he went towards her to hug her, but when he tried to hug her, he felt he's actually phasing through her body, and he soon realized she's only a ghost, and therefore she couldn't be touched. Then, Stephan said to his mother "Mother, I'm so sorry, but I don't deserve to be a good centaur like you no more. Father was right. Maybe I should just give up my own life and join you. I failed him and I also failed you too. Maybe Equestria would better off without me.", and then tears of sadness started to form in his eyes as he was about to start to cry, but then he felt his mother's hand wiping away the tears forming in his eyes before he felt her stroking lightly at his cheek and then she said "Shhh, don't say that, darling. You're not evil and I know you will never be like that.", but then Stephan asked as he sniffled a bit "Why can't I touch you, mother? Are you a ghost?", and then Stephan's mother said "Listen to me, my dear Stephan, I'm not dead.", but then Stephan asked her "Really? Then how are you even here? Why is that?", and then he added "I saw that monster Beartaur killing you in front of my eyes by crushing your neck, so why are you even here?", and then the mother centauress said "I may not be in my body anymore, but I still live.", and then she touched with a finger at Stephan's chest and said and added "Here, in your heart.", and then Stephan said to her "Oh, so does that means that you live deep inside me, right?", and then his mother said to him "Yes, darling.", but then she added "And I hope you'll be able to make new friends. I also know about your two best friends whom you left behind you.", and then she asked "Would one be a Pegasus pony and the other would be a human being, wouldn't they?", and when Stephan heard what she said, Stephan said "Yes, these are none other than Chloe and Aylene, but because they're not centaurs like me, I decided to dump them behind me and leave their side before I grow up to become a ferocious adult centaur one day.".
However, Stephan's mother then said "What you've done was wrong. You should've not left them behind you. They are the ones you need for the most, because they are you friends. Your true friends.", and this made Stephan to sniffle again before he said "Yes, mother, you're right, maybe I should go and find them and apologize and say to them I'm sorry I ran away from them like I did.", and then the mother centauress said "Now that's how my real eldest boy should talk.", and then she added "Goodbye, Stephan. I wish you good luck in finding your true friends.", and then she suddenly started to disappear in front of Stephan's eyes, but then he cried "No, wait! Mother, don't go! Please come back! Don't leave me!", but there's nothing he could've done to stop her as she completely disappeared into thin air, and after seeing his mother disappearing and leaving him alone again, Stephan turned back to the lake before lowering down onto his horse haunches and then he started to cry in sadness and pain, because now he's all alone once again.
Meanwhile, Chloe, Aylene and everyone else still searched for him, but they still couldn't find him anywhere, but then Celestia said "We must not give up hopes, every creature! We must find Stephan, and I know that eventually we will! Let's continue searching! We won't atop until we find him!", and then everyone said in unison "Yes, Princess Celestia!" and they continued to search everywhere for Stephan in hopes that eventually they will find him.
After a few hours, nighttime came, but Stephan still stayed close to the lake, but after a few minutes later, he decided to get up on his hooves and leave to search for his friends, find them and apologize for Chloe and Aylene for snapping at them and for running away from them. Meanwhile, everyone returned back to their homes from their search and fell asleep for the night so they can go and search for Stephan again tomorrow in the next morning. Back with Stephan, the teenage male centaur was still searching for his way back home and he was also searching for his friends, but even after searching everywhere, he still couldn't find his way back home, and so he had no choice but to search for someplace where he can sleep for the night, and after a while of searching for someplace good to sleep, Stephan found a big cave and so he decided to go inside it and sleep there. For now, Stephan have someplace where he can sleep for the night, but in the big cave he found, however, he'll find out that he wouldn't be alone for long.