It took several long confusing seconds for Sideralis to figure out if he was awake or dreaming once again. He felt Stout moving beside him, lifting herself up, and clambering over him. She dropped down to the floor with a clunk. He felt his insides twisting up and gurgling. He wondered how she seemed to know when his bowels or his bladder needed relief. He felt her soft touch against him.

“Did you have pleasant dreams this time?” Stout asked as she tucked a bedpan beneath him and settled him over it.

“I saw Luna… I… I went to her somehow. I kept popping in and out of dreams… other ponies’ dreams. I…” Sideralis fell silent. He strained to turn his head so he could see Stout again. He felt stronger somehow, it wasn’t quite as difficult to turn his head. “I think I was inside of Fluttershy’s dream. She was bathing you and another little filly in the tub. You… something… something about drinking out of a toilet.”

“Ah, Mustang Sally. She was feral.” A wistful expression appeared on Stout’s face. “After the invasion, Twilight Sparkle prowled the borderlands, trying to save whom she could. I was found, along with others. Later, Mustang was found, also along with others. Twilight cleared out the borderlands and now, the lands south of Equestria keep their borders guarded. Nopony goes north and nothing heading south is allowed to cross the border without full inspection.”

“How did Queen Mariposa get so strong? I mean, how did she manage to take over Equestria? Where did she find the strength? The parasites… everything… I don’t understand how she did it.” Sideralis let out a sigh of relief once his bladder emptied.

“We don’t know,” Stout replied. “Twilight has been studying the worms and the parasites. They’re… odd. Magical. Dangerous.”

“So I saw… Rarity’s body kept moving after it was decapitated.”

Stout let out a low whinny of disgust. “I’ve heard stories. I haven’t actually seen anything with my own eyes, but I’ve heard stories. Some of the ponies who go down and fight… like the ponies that got you out for example… they’ve talked about how some of the infected are being used as guards in the cities. They’re very dangerous.” The husky earth pony mare shuddered. “Mjölna killed one by burning it to death. It left her troubled.”

“I think I’m hungry.” As Sideralis spoke, his stomach gurgled.

“Good. I’m going to drag you into the shower. You’re kinda stinky. You sweat a lot in your sleep and you’ve got a killer case of wingpit funk going on.” Stout chuckled. “After a nice shower, I’ll feed you some nice, tasty, filling mush.”

Warmth blossomed over Sideralis’ cheeks.

“We need to find a pegasus that will groom you and preen your feathers that won’t think it’s creepy,” Stout said.

“Why would it be creepy?” Sideralis asked.

“Well, with adult pegasi, preening wings is something of a sexual activity. It can be seen as foreplay. It’s very intimate.” Stout pulled the bedpan out and poured it down the receptacle. “You’re looking pretty scruffy though and I don’t like that. It makes me look like I’ve failed in my duties.”

“You’ve been incredible… I don’t even know how to begin thanking you,” Sideralis said.

Stout, chuckling, looked Sideralis in the eye. “Oh… I have ideas… but you don’t need to worry about that now… today, I think I am going to see if I can get you walking.”

The therapy room was long and rather narrow. There were all kinds of cushions piled up at both ends, round balls sat in wire mesh bins, there were strange hooks, straps, and harnesses hanging from the ceiling. There were windows along one wall, but they were covered over in sheet metal. Ducts and piping covered the ceiling, running the length of the room.

“I’m going to try you out at one sixteenth gravity. I might be pushing it. Usually, we start out at one thirty secondth gravity, but I think you’ll manage.” Stout smiled up at Sideralis and her ears perked forwards.

“I don’t understand.” Sideralis shook his head.

“I am going to set my telekinesis projector to allow you to have one sixteenth of your actual weight on your hooves. I’ll brace your legs and hold up your body. I’ll keep you upright and all you’ll need to do is move forwards. Usually, it takes about ninety days or more of hardcore rehab to get to one sixteenth… but you’ve already shown signs of amazing strength. For you, you just need control.”

Nodding, Sideralis felt his legs stiffen, as if he was wearing invisible leg braces. He could feel equal pressure pushing in on all sides and he could feel his weight pushing down. He looked at Stout, suddenly feeling a little scared about tumbling down upon his face.

It felt strange to be standing on his hooves. Strange, but nice. All things considered, this was great. He had been showered, brushed, and he had done a good job of eating. All he needed was somepony to preen his wings, which looked awful.

“Start by lifting your left front leg, get your balance, and then lift your right hind leg. You’ll have your right front leg on the ground and your left hind leg. You’ll feel a wobble, but don’t be scared, I’ll keep you upright. Drop your left front leg in front of you. Then comes the scary part… lift your right front leg and move it forward… you’ll be balancing on your left legs when this happens and it can be super scary at first. If you start to panic, say something, and let me help you before you have a panic attack. We don’t want a spooked alicorn wrecking the therapy room. Now, while you are balanced on your left legs, you bring your right hind leg forward, put it down in the middle point of your two left legs. After that, the left rear leg is lifted, and as you are doing that, you’ll be putting down your right front leg. Lift the left front, put down the rear left, and then you just follow these steps again. Don’t worry, I’ll guide your legs through the steps with little nudges at first to make it easier.”

“Sounds… easy,” Sideralis grumbled.

“Sarcasm… wonderful. You’re showing signs of mental recovery.” Stout smiled and her single orange eye glittered in the soft lights of the therapy room.

Closing his eyes, Sideralis tried to think of everything Stout had just said. He was overwhelmed by the enormity of his instructions and couldn’t remember anything. He felt a nudge on his left leg and with a great deal of effort, he pulled his hoof up from the floor. He felt his whole body quiver from the strain. For a moment, he felt as though he was going to fall, but Stout’s magic surrounded him and kept him upright.

“That’s amazing… you can do it… come on!” Stout said, cheering Sideralis on.

“I just lifted my hoof.” Sideralis opened his eyes.

“Yes, I know… do you know how difficult that can be? Now keep moving!” Stout’s smile vanished and her face took on a hard expression.

Left hoof forward, then lift right hind leg. Sideralis felt his muscles clench as he tried to balance diagonally. He was terrified of falling over and the room around him seemed to spin in his vision. He closed his eyes to make the crazy feeling of vertigo go away. Instead of focusing on moving his legs, he stopped trying to think about it. He heard Luna’s voice, his mother’s voice in his head. Follow your instincts. He knew how to walk in dreams just fine. He could walk, trot, canter, and gallop. He focused and ignored the little nudges in his legs to get them moving. He allowed his mind to slip away and he thought of the feeling of Luna’s nose touching him all over… sniffing him, he thought of the scent of mullberries. He zoned out.

His eyes still closed, Sideralis jerked forwards as his legs fell into motion. He did not hear the gasp that came from Stout. His balance went off, causing his wings to unfurl on their own, whipping out from his sides with great speed and force.

Sideralis’ long legs fell into an unsteady, wobbling gait and he moved forwards with his wings out, flapping around to keep his balance. He opened his eyes and for the first time, he really got a feeling for his size.

“Stout?” Sideralis said as he came to a wobbling stop. He sucked in a deep breath.

“Yeah?” Stout looked up at Sideralis.

“How tall am I?” Sideralis asked. The ground seemed very, very far away from what he was used to. He used to be a rather small earth pony colt, and now, now he was a giant.

“Not counting your horn, you’re a hair over sixty inches,” Stout replied.

“And how tall are you?” Sideralis closed his eyes again before the feeling of vertigo consumed him.

“I’m a big mare, forty four inches at the ear.” Stout let out a snort. “Enough chat, get your ginormous rear in gear, you gigantic goofball.”

Sideralis stumbled forwards, his legs figuring out what to do on their own. He took halting steps forward. “Any mare bigger than you?”

Humouring Sideralis, Stout saw that he was walking, so she decided to keep talking. “Mjölna is bigger than me by two inches. She can look most stallions right in the eye. She and Twilight Sparkle both are the same height. Why do you want to know?”

“Cause I’m curious… the real world… feels all weird because I’m not the size I used to be,” Sideralis replied. “I feel all wrong and I keep getting dizzy when I look down. I’m too tall.”

“I’m going to turn you around now, don’t freak out.” Stout lifted her foreleg, gave it a shake, and turned Sideralis around so he could walk the length of the room in the other direction. This was progress. He was walking on reduced gravity. Each step he was getting better and a little less herky-jerky.

“At this rate he’ll be walking unassisted in a week or so,” Chrysalis said to Twilight Sparkle as they both watched Sideralis stumble around. “Alicorns. It’s just not fair.” The changeling queen smirked and gave a nod of her head. “Hey, Stout’s checking you out as you strut your stuff.” Chrysalis started to snigger as Sideralis stumbled and flapped his wings to recover. She and Stout exchanged a glance and Chrysalis gave the mare a wink.

“I know that he was inside of my head while I was dreaming.” Twilight looked away from Sideralis and up at Chrysalis. “Princess Celestia contacted me not long after I woke up. It only lasted a short while. The plan is proceeding. She wants Sideralis recognised as a prince. She says that it is fitting… Equestria faces its darkest hour… she talked about symbolism… me being Princess Twilight and my time of rule has come as the sun has set upon Equestria, our twilight hour. Now, there is a star to light our way. I didn’t understand everything she was saying. She keeps being cryptic.”

“She wants you to think,” Chrysalis replied. “If she just gave you the answers or clear instructions, you wouldn’t engage that big brain of yours and think. And that would be a disaster for all of us.”

“I suppose so,” Twilight said in a small voice as Sideralis was turned about so he could continue walking in the other direction.

“I know so.” Chrysalis let out a laugh. “Sideralis is our navigation star. No doubt, he’ll have that smug alicorn moral superiourity and he’ll begin spouting platitudes about maintaining our goodness and our virtue.”

“Did you ever actually know Luna? I mean really know Luna?” Twilight asked.

“I know that Luna was a worthy enemy,” Chrysalis replied.

“Luna took a very different approach to ruling than Celestia. They were as different as night and day. Celestia stayed in Canterlot and she kept the whole country running like a perfectly machined mechanical watch. Luna went out at night and wrestled owlbears for sport.” Twilight blinked away tears from her surviving eye and shook her head. She stared at the wall and focused upon the rivets. Mjölna had rebuilt almost everything and the perfectly aligned rivets were her signature. “Luna was kind and shy, but she was also quick to anger, impatient, and she played the most horrible pranks you could imagine.”

“Loudmouth was shy?” Chrysalis rolled her eyes.

“Really, she was.” Twilight, missing those she loved, sniffled. She felt Chrysalis bump up against her and she looked up at her friend.

“We’re going to rescue them. We’re going to fix this. Twilight, try not to worry too much. Just focus on what you can do and keep making plans for what you hope to do, and trust that Celestia has a few more gambits to play.” Chrysalis lifted her hoof and pointed at Sideralis. “Help came. It cost us, but he’s proof that Celestia is still running the show. Mariposa might be cunning, but she’s no Celestia.”

“I’m not Celestia either,” Twilight said in a low, raspy, pain filled whisper.

“Look here, Twilight Snarkle, you can’t go beating yourself up for those ponies who died. Before this is over, a whole lot more ponies are going to die. They knew what they were getting into. They made a choice. Those deaths matter, they mean something.” Chrysalis took a deep breath and shook her head. “You need some downtime. When we get to Saddle Arabia, I’m assuming command for a while and you are going to get your head screwed on straight, okay?” Chrysalis began her mental preparations for the argument to come.

“Okay.”

Deflating, the changeling queen stared down at her little purple nemesis. okay? “You feeling alright?”

“I’m not okay, but I’ll manage. I… really do need a break. Breaking Sideralis out of the vault… now that the elation has worn off, I don’t know how I feel. I just feel tired and worn down. It was hard seeing what has become of Las Pegasus. It’s all green goop and biostructures.”

Chrysalis thought about making a joke about improvements, but was too worried about her friend to do so. She slumped and said nothing that might be hurtful. “Twilight, you aren’t going to make it to Saddle Arabia… don’t make me relieve you of active command. Go and… and… I dunno… do something to make yourself feel better. Go and teach little unicorn colts and fillies how to make magic.”

“That’s actually a really good idea. I haven’t done that in a while,” Twilight replied, her ears perking upwards from their droopy position. “I could go and help Sweetie Belle teach magic kindergarten.” A smile spread over Twilight’s scarred face.

“Sideralis is going to be the biggest colt in that class,” Chrysalis said, hoping to make Twilight laugh. Much to Chrysalis’ relief, she heard a soft chuckle from her friend. The changeling queen relaxed a bit, glad to hear Twilight’s laughter.

Sore all over, Sideralis collapsed in a heap. He had been ran through the shower again after his intense therapy session. He lay in a pile of cushions in a strange room that he was unfamiliar with. His stomach rumbled. He was hungry again. His legs ached and burned. He looked around, trying to see what he could of his surroundings. This was a small room. Along the wall, in his field of vision, there were three bunks stacked over one another. There were photos in wooden frames on the walls, but he couldn’t make them out. His vision was too fuzzy. The air smelled of lavender soap.

“Oh my… oh my.”

He recognised that voice. Sideralis struggled to try and lift his head from the cushions, but could not. He did manage to turn his head however. He saw yellow and pink. He heard the soft sound of hooves tapping on a metal floor. Somepony joined him on the cushions, and he knew who.

“Okay Sideralis, don’t make this weird,” Fluttershy said in a demure whisper. “I’m just acting as your nurse, that’s all. Stout really can’t do this job, she’s an earth pony. She’s not the same as we are.” Fluttershy let out an embarrassed squeak and tried to get comfortable on the cushions.

“Ah, middle bunk, how I’ve missed you,” Stout said as she climbed into the middle bunk. She rolled around until she could lay sprawled out on her side and have a good view of Sideralis and Fluttershy on the floor. “Still has the me shaped depression in the mattress. Ah, comfy.”

“Welcome to my private quarters, I do try to keep it inviting. That’s very hard to do when you live on a battleship. Battleships aren’t very inviting places, so it is very difficult to have company over.” Fluttershy coughed and looked around. “As you can see, Stout has claimed her bunk. Isn’t she all adorable tucked away in there?”

Sideralis nodded. This was already weird. He felt a tugging on his wing. Things got even weirder. He felt something wet and tingly. It felt good. Too good. Oh how that felt good. He bit his lip to keep from making a sound or making this any weirder. There was something like… a nibble. It took his breath away. A warm body pressed up against his side and the skeleton melting sensations of pleasure continued.

He felt a stirring between his legs. Things just got too weird. He didn’t know what to say, felt as though he should warn Fluttershy, but how did one mention something like this? His eyes rolled back into his skull and he turned into a puddle of pony on the cushions.

He needed to learn how to preen himself. He could do this for hours. Little nibbles, little bites, little tugs on his feathers, he sucked in air through his nostrils and tried to control his breathing.

“I spent so many hours in this room. Me and Mustang both. This room is home. Something about this room makes me happy,” Stout said as her tail swished and thumped against the bed. “Look, you can still see where I put a dent in the floor with Mustang’s head. And over there, next to the closet, you can see where Mustang slammed me butt first into the wall.”

“I would like to meet Mustang.” Sideralis felt the spine tingling sensation of his wing being preened cease. He closed his eyes and heaved a contented sigh.

“Mustang’s leg has been reattached and she’s being repaired.” Fluttershy wiped her mouth and she gave Sideralis a pat. “You’ll be able to meet her soon. She can be a little moody, but she’s a good pony. Like a lot of other ferals, she’s never fully adjusted.”

“I kinda saw into your head… I saw one of your dreams… I didn’t mean to do so… I can’t help it… but in the dream you were giving Stout and Mustang a bath.” Sideralis opened his eyes. “It was pretty obvious that you love them.”

“Oh my… things just got a little weird.” Fluttershy let out a squeak and cleared her throat. “I was dreaming of my cottage… of Angel. It’s all gone now. I don’t think I’ll ever see it again.”

“Don’t give up hope,” Stout said to Fluttershy.

“I don’t want to talk about it. If it is all the same, I’d rather finish what needs to be done.” Fluttershy, frowning, blinked a few times, her ears twitching, and then lowered her head to finish her task.

“I don’t want to go back to my room.” Sideralis looked into Stout’s surviving eye and tried to look as pathetic as possible, which wasn’t difficult. “I don’t want to just lay there staring at the walls.”

“Feeling hungry?” Stout asked.

“A little. I think.” Sideralis blinked. “I could go for some food. Pudding sounds good.”

“If you don’t want to go back to your room, we could do more therapy time.” Stout’s head bobbed. “Or we could try something else. I dunno what else though.” Stout raised her eyebrow. “The sun is out, so no time on deck. We’re on a flying battleship. There is only so much one can do for recreation.”

“So what do ponies do for fun?” Sideralis asked.

“Oh, well, we drink cider, play cards, there’s a few games we play, combat training, and most ponies shag one another any chance they get for the sake of the greater good.” Stout smiled. “Some ponies also read books and there is an interpretative dance club, but they’re kinda strange.”

“Sounds… kinda boring.” Sideralis’ ears pitched forwards.

“It can be. Until it gets exciting. You’ll know it when it happens.” Stout shrugged.

Author's Notes:

A bit of a leap forward is about to happen.

I hope this was enjoyable. Now, we move on to Saddle Arabia and the story shifts into a higher gear.

Oh, and Sweetie Belle is accounted for.