This was, quite possibly, the greatest real day in Sideralis’ life. He had woken up in a body not in the slightest bit crippled or held back by weakness. He had flown. He had laughed. He had enjoyed himself and had a good time. He had eaten a nice meal. And, without a doubt, he was falling in love with a mare that already loved him, for reasons he could not understand or explain.

Stout, who he had always thought as being pretty, now had both of her eyes, and with them, she had the ability to draw him in. When he looked into her bright orange eyes, he had trouble looking away. So far, the only distraction was the heads up display that appeared if he stared at something for a while.

He didn’t know where they were going, but he followed Stout as they walked through the city, smiling at the other ponies as they passed, sometimes waving, trying to be friendly and outgoing. The sun was setting and a cool breeze was blowing in from the ocean.

“Queen Chrysalis, fancy meeting you here… or were you looking for us?” Stout looked up at the much taller changeling queen, a half smirk, half smile upon her face. “Sideralis is doing fine, so far I haven’t noticed any problems. He’s adjusting far better than expectations.”

“Expectations?” Sideralis asked. He blinked, looked at Stout, and then turned to face Chrysalis. “Hello… I’m kinda surprised I didn’t see you when I woke up… I keep thinking there should have been tests and stuff before I left.”

The tall changeling stood taller, lifting her head to her full height, but she wasn’t as tall as Sideralis. She looked upwards, peering into Sideralis’ eyes, her expression one of kind curiousity. “We wanted this to be as easy as possible on you. We wanted you to wake up with those you were most familiar with and spend time with them. We thought it would be easier this way, given your psychological makeup. Tomorrow, you’ll be coming back and we’ll do a whole battery of tests… that is if you are up for it.”

“Yeah… I’m up for it,” Sideralis replied.

“I thought you might be. Twilight was worried about you and how you would adjust. I had a theory that because you spent your life in a pod with a false body, you would deal with this better than a pony that had to sort out the transitional issues. There is a lot of psychology at work here, well, there is usually, but you’re a bit of a blank slate.” Queen Chrysalis stepped forwards, examining Sideralis, looking at him, checking him over. “Any type of change can be difficult, even a change that you want… dealing with a new body type is not a new psychological issue… as it turns out, a lot of the same psychology that applies to ponies who get sex changes also applies to ponies that get implants or cybernetic upgrades.” Chrysalis paused, stepped back, and looked Sideralis in the eye. “Or those that are upgraded to a combat ready chassis and made into a cybernetic weapon for the good of ponykind.”

“Have there been many implants?” Sideralis asked.

“A few. Some ponies, their bones were so ruined in some places that the treatments didn’t work or didn’t help very much. We’re rebuilding them a piece at a time, if necessary. Eyes are a common replacement, but so are bones and even whole organs,” Chrysalis replied.

“About my eyes,” Sideralis blinked a few times, feeling strange, but was unable to put his hoof on why, “something seems off about them, and it isn’t just the funny messages that pop up in my vision.”

“I was wondering if you would notice that.” Chrysalis smiled, revealing fangs and a mouthful of pointy teeth. “Eyeballs are soft squishy bits. Too easy to damage in combat. I had to… fortify them. The ocular socket has been reinforced a great deal and the eye was covered in a clear chitin covering. A special liquid fills the space between the eye and the armor plating. It protects the eye and keeps it moist. You don’t actually have eyelids anymore, what you are experiencing is a well crafted bit of illusion designed to simulate blinking. The visible eye that you see, like on Stout for example, doesn’t actually look like what you are seeing. But the illusion makes it look nice and pretty for other ponies to look at. The truth is, you could take a ballistic projectile traveling at the speed of sound right in the eye and suffer very little damage.”

Sideralis blinked and then realised that he wasn’t blinking, he no longer had eyelids, which was somewhat disconcerting. “That’s… amazing…”

“You are amazing. You’re my best piece of work… I took everything I had learned and I dumped it into you. I took everything I learned from Stout, who was my most advanced creation, and I made it even better when I remade you. I made you bigger, stronger, more durable… your alicorn body allowed me to do things that I was unable to do with the others. Twilight says that you will be instrumental to our war efforts, and I agree.” Chrysalis gave Sideralis a self satisfied smile, looking very pleased with herself and her efforts. “Any questions?”

“Just, uh, one, but I was too embarrassed to ask Stout about it earlier—”

“I’m guessing that you are wondering about your missing male sex organs.” Chrysalis’ grin widened as Sideralis squirmed and her ears perked as Stout began tittering.

“Yeah, I kinda noticed that something was missing, but I didn’t want to panic, at least not until I got home. I don’t know how I didn’t notice earlier.” Sideralis, after he was done speaking, let out an embarrassed wicker.

“Everything is still there… I didn’t want you getting hurt in battle. It’s been tucked up inside of you, I had to do a little bioengineering. I made a cooling system for your testicles to keep them at an ideal temperature, and everything gets pulled inside of you and then the orifice gets closed off with a specialised sphincter. The design was based on male dragon cloacas… when you need to go, just, uh, activate your breeding protocols or your urination protocols and everything will make an appearance.”

“Um, thank you.” Sideralis, after a moment, began to laugh, joining Stout. It was funny, even if it was awkward. He was going to have to spend some time in private later figuring out where everything was and how it worked.

“As much as I would like to stay and chat, I’m going to leave you two alone. Have a nice night, both of you. Come out to Cyclops in the morning, if you don’t mind.” Queen Chrysalis looked down at Stout and gave the mare a saucy wink. “Nice night for romance.”

Stout backed a step away. “Chrysalis, don’t make this creepy…”

The moon was beginning to rise in the distance, on the edge of the world where the ocean met the sky. Waves crashed against the sandy beach and the scent of the salty air was strong in Sideralis’ nose. In the distance, a boat was steaming along through the water, making its way to the harbour.

Maredina was a great shining jewel on the edge of the sea. Sideralis could see it all clearly now, his vision perfect, and he took in every detail. The harbour and the airship docks appeared to be busy places, even as the day turned to night.

Beneath his hooves, the sand was soft, giving way beneath his weight. Sideralis was enjoying himself and he looked up at the stars overhead, glancing up at his namesake. His ears perked forwards and he thought of Princess Luna and of Princess Celestia. He felt funny having a nice time while they both suffered. It was an odd thought for him, but it put things into perspective. He had a duty.

“Stout, I’ve been asleep for most of my life… now I want to do something… do you know when we’re going to go off and do something? Do some fighting? I want to get started.” Sideralis looked down at the mare walking by his side.

“I have no idea, sorry,” Stout replied. “Sid… I know it feels like it’s only been a day for you… but for me, it’s been a real long time… I’ve been waiting for a long time to have you back. This is real nice, having you here with me right now.”

Sideralis felt a peculiar feeling after hearing Stout’s words.

“I know there is a big fight coming. I know we have ponies to rescue and so much work to do. I’m not keen on fighting, even though I know I can… but before all of that starts, I just want to spend some time with you… happy times… before we’re belly deep in bodies and blood.”

“Will I know how to fight?” Sideralis asked as he turned to watch the moon rising.

“Yes, Sideralis, you will know how to fight. You’ve been given extensive combat routines based upon the substantial knowledge network about combat that Chrysalis has developed based upon her own experiences in combat and the fighting that her many drones have witnessed and experienced.” Stout let out a sigh and sat down in warm sand, not caring about sand in delicate places or in her tail.

“You seem bothered by this.” Sideralis sat down beside Stout, parking his big behind in the sand. He kicked out his hind legs and got comfortable.

“I’m a nurse… I could be a doctor if I wanted to be, but I wanted to be a nurse. I like saving lives… I don’t like taking them. I’m still real bothered by what happened eight months ago during the uprising. I did things that made me unhappy. I’m still bothered by them. I’m a weapon that doesn’t want to fight.” Stout leaned over against Sideralis, her head resting against his side, the much larger alicorn towered over her, even sitting down.

“So if we have to get into a fight, focus on being a nurse,” Sideralis said to Stout, “just keep us patched up so we can keep fighting.” He gave Stout a reassuring nudge. “I don’t know if I’ll be good in a fight… I don’t like violence… I felt sick when everything bad started to happen. I’m certain that each of us will find what we do best and we’ll all manage somehow.”

“Maybe… but there are six of us… six… we’re the heavies… we’re supposed to bear the brunt of the heavy combat… I’d feel better if there were more of us… Mustang is probably our best fighter. Mjölna has lots of experience, she’s walked into some tight situations with Twilight and walked out again. She and Apple Bloom both are getting info dumped with a knowledge of demolitions and explosives. And Scootaloo… I don’t even know where to begin with her… she’s experimental. She’s a combat chassis, but an ultralight one, built for speed… there are just so few of us and so much is expected. Twilight seems to think that we’ll be enough to make a difference, but I just don’t know.” Stout shook her head, her ears drooping, and she heaved a sigh. “With six of us, I don’t know that I could just step out of combat and function solely as a nurse.”

“Now that you’ve brought it up, I don’t quite know how the six of us are supposed to take on a changeling army and win,” Sideralis said, quite enjoying the feeling of Stout up against him. She was warm and her touch excited him. He stared out at the waves rolling up on the beach and felt Stout’s ear twitch against him.

“The idea is that we do so much damage that the enemy can’t ignore us and sends everything they have at us. While we’re busy fighting everything, Twilight, a bunch of unicorns, and changeling infiltrators all go in and do whatever it is they need to do while we keep the enemy busy. I’m sure it seems like a brilliant idea to whomever thought this up, but they’re clearly not the one fighting an entire army all at once.” Stout lifted up her foreleg and waved it around in a gesture of exasperation.

“Well shit…” Sideralis, bothered by what Stout had said, didn’t know how else to respond. His brows furrowed and his head dropped down a bit as his ears pinned back against his skull.

Stout snorted and then began to giggle as she elbowed Sideralis in the side. “You’re going to make an awesome prince, just so you know. Just don’t let Fluttershy hear you cursing.”

“Yeah, about that, the whole prince thing—”

“What about it?” Stout craned her head and looked upwards.

“You know how you have some concerns about combat? I have those same sorts of concerns about being a prince… what am I the prince of, exactly? What do I do? How do I help others… I want to help others… really, I’m itching to get started, to do something… but what… how do I fill my mother’s shoes?”

“I dunno, Sid… but I don’t think Princess Luna would want you to fill her shoes, I think she’d want you to find your own shoes to fill,” Stout said as she turned her head to look at the moonlight rippling on the water. “Sure, you’re acting in her stead, and you’ve got to look after the promises that she made, but you’re still your own pony… you’ll have to do things your own way, somehow.”

Looking out at the stars and the moon, Sideralis considered Stout’s words—she was right, of course, he would have to find his own way, his own path, and maybe, just maybe, things would be easier once he found his cutie mark.

“Stout, whatever happened to that other cybernetic pony… I can’t think of his name, I’m sorry.” Sideralis had trouble remembering everything that had happened. His memories were a little hazy.

“Unit 47,” Stout replied, her voice holding more than a little sadness, “he is still being rehabilitated and repaired. He’s real messed up, Marigold’s scientists didn’t do a very good job making him, his bones are all weird and messed up and made of a crystalline compound. Part of his brain is a chunk of crystal. He can’t remember his name or anything about his life. He and the others like him—”

“There’s others?” Sideralis asked, whipping his head around and looking down at Stout. “Others… how many? Are they all in bad shape?”

Stout nodded. “Quite a few of them have died. We did everything we could to save them, we’ve treated them with every bit of compassion and respect they deserve. There’s little more than a dozen that are left, most of them have died… none of them remember anything, none of them know their own names, and all of them have some pretty severe problems. Chrysalis, Doctor Gizmo, and the others are trying to help them, but we have to figure them out first. It’s been rough.” Stout took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and then said, “Fluttershy was with a mare named Unit 12 when she died. There was nothing anypony could do, there was a total systems failure. It left Fluttershy in quite a state.”

“Why not keep them in pods?” Sideralis asked.

“We tried… they’re immune to stasis magic, which makes sense, seeing as how they were designed to fight changelings. They had their own storage pods down in the vault, but all of those were damaged in the explosion.” Stout took another deep breath before she continued, “And before you ask, we found ninety nine storage tanks. Nine rows of eleven pods each.”

“That’s awful,” Sideralis muttered under his breath, feeling shocked, saddened, and angry. His anger surprised him. He felt Stout shift beside him, she was kicking out her legs and changing her sitting position a bit.

“The ones that are left are confused, miserable, and they suffer quite a bit. Things are getting better though, or so Chrysalis says. She’s taking everything she’s learned from you and using it to help them… if you hadn’t been blown up, I suspect that things would be a bit worse… Scootaloo might’ve died, Rainbow Dash would still be in the pod, and I doubt that any of Marigold’s units would have been saved.”

“So… I saved a lot of lives and all I had to do was just be exploded a little bit… I can live with that.” Sideralis felt his anger ease a little and he made himself smile, which made him feel a little better.

“Well, that’s true, I suppose.” Stout laughed, a reluctant laugh, and then she rubbed her cheek against Sideralis. “Don’t you go getting blown up again, you goon… I wanted to die. I was the one that was picking pieces of you up off of the floor.”

“I’m sorry, Stout.”

“Don’t be sorry… just… don’t go getting blown to Tartarus again. You’re a big pony and that means you leave behind a big mess.” Stout’s eyes closed, illusion or not, closing her eyes and pressing against Sideralis brought her comfort.

“Gonna be a big day tomorrow… maybe we should go home,” Sideralis said.

“In a while… for now, I want to keep sitting here, with you, this moon, and this ocean,” Stout replied.

“Okay, Stout, I’m in no hurry.”

Author's Notes:

Testing... testing... and more testing!