Life. Life had a funny way of not going as planned. Life could be full of all sorts of surprises—Sideralis’ life had only had a few surprises, but they had been important, momentous surprises. Like right now, as he smashed face first into a brick wall, he was very surprised by his own durability, the surprising lack of pain that he felt as the side of his face was smashed into the rough bricks and the flesh along his cheek was abraded away through cruel friction. And that was only the initial impact, something that lasted only a fraction of a second, after which, the rest of his body joined his face against the bricks. There was the screech of metal as his wing ground against the masonry and he lost flesh along the left side of his body in different places.

Recovering, Sideralis rose on wobbling mechanical legs, a large section of his face missing, revealing biomesh armor and the mechanical underpinnings beneath his flesh. A wide bloody smear and deep gouges in the wall remained as testimony of his stunning impact against the bricks.

Turning, he launched himself back into the fray, never once giving thought to his own safety. He advanced upon the smooze, if it could be called that, rose up into a bipedal stance, and began firing heavy blasts from the projectors in his front hooves at the almost pony shaped purple blob standing in the street.

Never in his life had he ever felt as helpless as he did right now, not even when he had been pulled from the pod and was as impotent as a newborn in bed. His blasts did nothing—the pulses burned a hole through the smooze which closed in seconds. He fought to keep it distracted, away from Mjölna, who was trying to pull Apple Bloom away from the combat. The dreadful purple ooze had gotten ahold of Apple Bloom and had ripped the C/Equine mare’s left front leg right out of the socket.

Gritting his teeth in anger, Sideralis drew closer, while trying to keep enough distance. He watched as long sticky tentacles snaked out from the almost pony shaped body and tried to grab the others. Stout kept up lateral movement while firing. Mustang, armed with a flamethrower just like Mjölna’s, turned loose a gout of flame upon the horrendous purple monstrosity, which did nothing. Scootaloo peppered the smooze from the air, blasting it with rapidfire bolts that should have reduced the creature to cinders.

It was all for naught.

The smoozy ooze changed shape, becoming a blob, condensing its body. It wasn’t very big, at least it didn’t appear to be, and Sideralis suspected that it was hollow inside when it was in its much larger pony form. He got lucky and blasted away a long slimy tendril, which flopped to the ground. After a moment, the severed tendril slithered back to the blob and rejoined the body.

The vicious, viscous ooze seemed unstoppable. Sideralis didn’t know how to deal with his foe, and instructions from Mjölna had been few. Mjölna had Apple Bloom and her severed leg a good distance away now. Sideralis knew that Apple Bloom could be repaired, Mustang had lost a leg and they had grafted it back on, but that didn’t stop him from worrying. He bellowed with rage and kept up the heavy fire, hoping to blast a few pieces off of the smooze and slow it down, since he couldn’t seem to do anything else.

As Scootaloo made another strafing run, a group of tentacles shot upwards. Sideralis tried to shoot them, so did the others, and Scootaloo made an evasive maneuver. She feinted, acting as if she was going to go one way, and then went another. The smoozy creature, anticipating this, had its tentacles right where Scootaloo intended to go.

Before Sideralis or the others had a chance to react, the tentacles surrounded Scootaloo’s body, crushing her, and then, with a horrific screech of metal, it began pulling one of Scootaloo’s wings off, doing so slowly, cruelly, as Sideralis, Mustang, and Stout watched, helpless.

“NO!” Scootaloo screamed as the sound of rending metal filled the air. Her small, frail body thrashed against her restraints, but it was to no avail. Sparks flew and electrical connections sizzled as her right wing was torn free from its mount.

Stunned, a look of horror on her face, Scootaloo could do nothing as she was hurled down onto the rubble strewn street. Her body crumpled from the impact, her other wing collapsing, and her four legs twisted into odd angles as she hit the ground with terrific force.

Mustang, shrieking a siren wail of rage, stumbled forwards to reclaim Scootaloo’s body before further harm could be done. Stout followed, the two sisters moving together as one. Sideralis, still bipedal, pushed forwards, unloading blast after useless blast into the purple slime, not knowing what else to do.

More tendrils sprouted, slimy acid tentacles that burned away hair and flesh on contact. Sideralis was wary of them, but he made himself a target, hoping to give Stout and Mustang enough time to assist Scootaloo.

Far too many things happened all at once. The tendrils let go of Scootaloo and lunged for Stout. One of them managed to wrap around Stout’s neck, and right away its acid touch burned her, smoke rose as her hair and flesh began to dissolve from the creature’s horrific touch.

Mustang, thinking quickly, formed a telekinetic blade that protruded from the end of her hoof. With a downward chop, she cut Stout free, and then using her telekinesis projector, she flung both Scootaloo and her sister Stout free from the horrendous purple menace.

It was a foolish move. The remaining tentacles converged upon Mustang, seizing her. She tried blasting, shooting them as they came, and tried to get away, but she was dragged back. Throwing himself forwards, Sideralis tried to help Mustang, and then he too, felt the burning touch of the acidic tentacles as they began to wrap around his body.

As strong as he was, and he was strong, he wasn’t powerful enough to fight back. The tentacles wrapped around his body, drew tight, and he felt his wings being crushed against his sides. He could smell the acidic tang of the runny goop that the smooze oozed. Smoke rose from his body as his flesh began to dissolve from the smooze creature’s vile touch.

Much to Sideralis’ horror, the smooze seemed to have a worse fate in mind for Mustang. His ears perked as Mustang shrieked, she kicked and struggled, but she too, was powerless. Unable to do anything to stop what was happening, Sideralis watched as Mustang’s hind legs were pulled open.

A wordless roar escaped his lips as he thrashed. He tried to extend his wings, hoping that they would slice through the the purple slime that was crushing him. Sideralis, helpless, and now feeling hopeless, could do nothing. Tendrils began wrapping around his neck and Sideralis realised that he could not turn away from what was about to happen.

With a horrible squelch, a purple tentacle stabbed Mustang between her legs, forcing entry, and slithering up inside of her. When Mustang opened her mouth to scream, another tentacle went down her throat. Dreadful smoke rose from her mouth and her crotch as the acid touch of the smooze began to burn her from the inside.

Sideralis came to a horrible realisation—the smooze creature was acting upon their fears. Sideralis feared being helpless more than anything else. Scootaloo was in love with her wings and feared losing them. He had seen her dreams. And Mustang… poor Mustang.

More than than anything, Mustang feared being raped.

Letting out an anguished wail, Sideralis could do nothing as another tentacle forced it’s way into Mustang’s anus, splitting her open, and going deep, its violation the very stuff of nightmares. He could see things writhing just below the flesh of her stomach. It was scrambling her insides, doing things to her that Sideralis could scarcely even imagine.

As Sideralis thrashed against the tentacles that continued to constrict tighter and tighter around his body, he felt himself losing hope. It was almost as if it was being drained out of him. There was nothing he could do, no way he could stop this, there was no way he could save his friend. He was helpless again, powerless, a helpless infant trapped in an adult’s body. His kicks and struggles became weaker as he felt his strength being drained away from him. Mustang’s screams filled his ears, begging him, pleading with him to help her, and there was nothing he could do. His ears rang with the accusations that he was useless, a worthless friend, and how could he let his happen.

Seconds passed that felt like years. Time seemed to move in slow motion. Sideralis watched as the tentacle was jammed further down Mustang’s throat, down deep into her guts, and had he been in any sort of state where he could be thinking, he might have wondered how he was hearing Mustang pleading with him for help, shrieking that he was useless, helpless, the horrible accusations that she was making.

Being helpless was the worst thing in the world, but somehow, being a worthless, horrible, no good friend was even worse. Shame filled Sideralis; he tried to close his eyes and found that he couldn’t. He couldn’t look away. He couldn’t stop watching as the three tentacles in Mustang wormed their way ever deeper.

Broken, Sideralis went still, the last bit of fight he had in him draining away. He would allow the smooze creature to crush him, and then, this would all be over. All of this would go away. The pain would end when Sideralis’ existence came to its brief conclusion. All of this would be over.

A brilliant green flash burned Sideralis eyes and he found himself blinking. He didn’t know what was going on. Something exploded and he felt the force of the blast as it rocked his body. The smooze creature’s grip upon him loosened and Sideralis hung there, suspended by the tentacles still around him, not bothering to fight back.

There was another explosion and Sideralis felt the wash of heat over his body. The concussive force and the heat from the blast burned away quite a bit of his pelt. The tentacles crushing him and sucking the hope out of him liquified, and Sideralis was dumped down to the rubble strewn street. He lay there, helpless, unmoving, not knowing what was going on, hardly even caring at this point. He wanted the end to come. As the last bits of smooze was blasted away from him, his eyes stopped working and all he was left with was the mental image of Mustang being violated.

“Oh fuck, he’s heavy!”

Sideralis felt himself being lifted, but he could not see. Still paralysed, he was unable to move. The voices almost seemed familiar. Nothing flashed in his vision, nothing beeped in his ears, Sideralis felt himself drifting further and further away from himself.

“HEAVE!”

With a lurch, Sideralis felt himself hefted and it became the last thing he was aware of.

“Sid?”

Something beeped in Sideralis’ ear and he could see nothing. After a moment, white letters appeared against the blackness of his vision. The letters started off fuzzy, but came into focus after several long seconds.

NRG (.|........)

Condition status: critical.

Multiple failures detected.

Skinvelope has suffered breach.

Rebooting alicorn avenger directive.

Reboot failed.

Multiple file errors__libary corruption detected ⚠

Shutdown imminent ⚠

“Sid, can you hear me?”

Grey came into Sideralis’ vision, and everything fuzzed over with grey static. He could see nothing and the techno garble that had been scrolling before his eyes vanished. He tried to speak and found that he couldn’t. He struggled against his failing body, trying to do something, anything, he felt his will to fight, but it was a frail thing, nothing more than a spark.

“Sid, this is your pal, Chrysalis… we got everypony. I don’t know if you can hear me, but we got everypony… oh fuck what a mess… half of you are scrapped… SHIT!”

Sideralis ears were filled with the sounds of more swearing and thrashing. There was nothing he could do. The grey static in his vision vanished as his eyes shut down completely. His ears still worked though, and he could hear the sounds of a temper tantrum taking place.

After a few seconds of listening to the thrashing around him, Sideralis’ ears shut down and he was left alone in the dark, with no way to see, no way to speak, no way to hear, and no means to communicate. Drifting into the void, he thought of his mother, Luna, and had the first inkling of what it must have been like to have been shut away and isolated upon the moon.

Author's Notes:

And here we go...