“Sideralis, I’m having some second thoughts. I’m having some doubts. I’m thinking that we should head back to Maredina, back to Cyclops, and study this phenomenon.” Twilight Sparkle, who appeared to be out of sorts, looked up at Sideralis, who was having a special gel sprayed on his side to regrow his shredded skin.

Letting out a snort of frustration, Sideralis stomped his hoof, which startled poor Ratchet, who was now, without a doubt, Sideralis’ favoured repair drone. His hoof striking the biosteel floor plate rang out like a bell.

“We have an opportunity to learn something here, Sideralis.” Twilight looked over at Chrysalis and Mjölna for support.

“Twilight, you don’t get it.” Sideralis turned his head and watched as Ratchet began stapling patches of temporary flesh onto his leg, a strange greenish mesh material that would be absorbed. “Weren’t you listening to a word I said?”

“I listened to everything,” Twilight replied.

“No.” Sideralis turned his head back around and focused his mutilated face upon Twilight. “We’re infected. I’m infected. You’re infected. Queen Chrysalis over there, she is infected. Mjölna is infected. This ship is infected. We can’t go back, we’ll infect Maredina.”

“We have quarantine spells,” Twilight said to Sideralis. “We’ve scanned everything… there are no signs of parasites of any kind—”

Sideralis let out an angry, frustrated snort, followed by a bellowing wicker. “Twilight, this isn’t a worm or something you can see under a microscope… The Spirit of Harmony said that this is a magical infection… it’s infected the quarantine spells. It infects everything that interacts with it! It infects everything and then tries to break it down! It’s infected the hivemind swarm tech of we C/Equines and The Ouroboros. The changelings on board are all infected, because the infection was spread by thought. Don’t you get it?”

“But that… that doesn’t… but no…” Twilight stammered. “Are you trying to tell me that we have some kind of magical self replicating, self repurposing… virus?” Twilight shook her head and a faint glimmer of understanding appeared in her eyes. “That’s not possible.”

“It is now. This is the alchemy of chaos. Self structuring, self repurposing, it infects through vision, through thought, through contact, the smooze infection finds a way to infect everything around it. Everything on this ship is going to start to see behaviour changes. It will be slow, gradual, but the changes will happen. Our judgment will be impaired. We’ll begin to doubt ourselves. We’ll begin to doubt each other. We will begin to second guess our own decisions and the decisions of others—”

“Like me doubting your claims and wanting a second opinion at Cyclops… it’s the infection trying to get me to travel back and infect everything, isn’t it?” Twilight stepped away from Sideralis, now finally understanding what was going on.

“So this smoozy ooze creature isn’t even the real threat, it is just an agent of infection. Exposure to it, even if you survive the encounter and walk away from it, doesn’t mean you’ve survived the encounter unscathed. Enough smooze will take you over bodily, we saw that with the infected that we blasted apart, the smooze crawled out of them, but just contact with this smoozy ooze will leave behind a… a… uh”—Mjölna paused and tried to think of the right words to say— “a magical residue that is in itself an infection of sorts, which then begins to replicate itself, repurpose itself, while trying to infect everything so it can cause chaos. It is a cybernetic virus… a computer virus? It can infect our crystalline computers?”

Her face contorting with concentration, Mjölna pulled a cigar out of a case, stuck it into the corner of her mouth, lifted her hoof, and set it on fire with a burst of flame from the torch integrated into her leg. She inhaled, filling her biomechanical lungs with smoke, held it, closed her eyes, gave thought to everything said, and then let the smoke out in a long, slow exhale.

“We’re fucked,” Mjölna said in a matter-of-fact sort of way as she opened her eyes.

Twilight, who appeared a little annoyed by Mjölna’s cigar, nodded. “It appears that way. So what do we do, Mjölna?” Twilight turned to look at Chrysalis. “What do we do, Chrysalis?”

“How do we fight a virus that is spread through vision and thought?” Chrysalis asked.

“The Spirit of Harmony wants to upgrade we C/Equines and the changelings with an antivirus. She says that it will work, but she needs us there, with her, wherever she is. She’s sent me a patch through the aethernet, the magical system of communications she is establishing through the ley lines, but it is a temporary patch and it only affects Mjölna, Stout, and myself.”

“And you need to touch horns with me to transfer the patch file?” Mjölna puffed her cigar and looked at Sideralis. “You woke up smart… that scares me a little.”

“The Spirit of Harmony said that we are now in dire circumstances. She is taking drastic measures to ensure that all life on this world doesn’t come to an end.” Sideralis looked over at Ratchet, who was now working on a wing joint that had been damaged. Sideralis had a big flight ahead of him… perhaps the most important flight he would ever make in his life. His wings needed to be in top condition if possible.

“The aethernet.” Twilight rubbed her chin with her hoof. “Reminds me of the internet that existed in the world beyond the mirror. Funny how technology progresses in parallels.”

“Twilight, can you contact Sunset Shimmer and ask her what she knows about things that infect computers?” Mjölna asked.

“No.” Chrysalis said, shaking her head. “No contacting Sunset.”

“Why not?” Twilight asked, sounding irritated.

“What if we send the infection from this side of the mirror to the other? What if we infect their world with this smooze virus?” Queen Chrysalis let heave a frustrated sigh. “We’re on our own now. No more contact with Maredina. We go dark. We find a way to deal with the smooze and then it is my recommendation that we get Sideralis to follow the stars, whatever that means, and we go and visit this Spirit of Harmony to see if she can purge our systems.”

“No more contact… cut off from friends… no messages sent to those we love to let them know that we’re okay…” Twilight’s words were pained and her sides heaved from her heavy breathing as each string of words came out almost as a pant.

It was clear to any watching that Twilight was beginning to panic.

Shuffling along with heavy steps, Sideralis made his way through the warrens of The Ouroborus, not quite sure what to do. He had transferred the patch to Mjölna and Stout. Now, Mjölna was working on a means to launch jellied nitrogen. Stout was getting a few last minute repairs.

Sideralis, who looked pretty rough, was functional enough to do his task. His hind legs were now filled with some kind of solid thruster fuel. He still looked pretty horrible though, and little ponies cringed when they saw him, no doubt feeling sympathy pains from seeing his awful wounds.

Stopping at a door, Sideralis wondered if he should go in. He wondered if Mustang would want to see him. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to see her. The memory was too fresh, too painful, it plagued his mind. He had been forced to watch her endure a nightmare. He ground his teeth together, which caused blue and green sparks to fly out of his mouth and a terrible sound filled the hallway.

Mustang was his friend. Would she ever be able to look at him ever again without thinking about the fact that he had watched this awful thing happen? Would she blame him for not rescuing her? Would she be angry? Would she hate him?

Sideralis’ head thumped up against the biosteel panel that made up the wall. He agonised over his decision, not knowing what to do, not even knowing his own mind, wondering if the infection was influencing his thinking, and he felt powerless. More than anything, he hated feeling helpless and powerless. He couldn’t find his smile. He couldn’t find his laughter.

Darling, she needs you, a familiar voice inside of his head said to him. You will only hurt her even more by distancing yourself from her. She needs you now more than ever. Think about what you’ve learned from your friendship with Rainbow Dash.

Puzzled, confused, Sideralis banged his head into the biosteel plate for a second time. What had he learned? He tried to think about it, but he was far too distracted and in too much pain. He could turn off physical pain, but he couldn’t make this pain go away.

Darling, Rarity’s voice said inside of his head, speaking in a soft, soothing, almost maternal voice, a mare needs a stallion she can trust. Rainbow Dash was absolutely right about that. Mustang Salvation needs a friend. She needs you. Whatever you do, do not abandon her now during her time of greatest need. She loves you, in her own way, but not in the way that Stout loves you. Go to her, Sideralis. What would your mother have you do?

Sideralis lifted his head and blinked. What would his mother have him do? He tried to think about what little he knew of Luna. His mother kept her promises. His mother was dutiful. She was a protector. She was the quiet, subtle aggression that balanced out Celestia’s calm gentleness. Luna was the guardian of dreams, and she nursed ponies back to good mental health after enduring trauma. Sideralis glanced over at the door. Mustang had endured mental trauma.

He didn’t know where he fit into the bigger picture of things. He had no cutie mark. He understood that he might serve a greater purpose someday, but in the interim, where did he fit in? What was his function as an alicorn?

Banging his head into the wall again, he realised that the smooze virus was probably having its way with him. This self doubt was crippling. Shoring up his mental defenses as much as possible, Sideralis forced a smile upon his mangled, mutilated face, opened the door, and forced himself to step through. He had a job to do.

“Mustang?” Sideralis blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted to the dim room. Much to his surprise, Mustang was in a bed and not hanging in a rack like he had been. He felt a pang of regret for destroying his rack, somepony was going to have to repair it. Hesitant, he took a step closer to the bed.

“Sid?” There was a long pause. “Sid, is that you? Come here to me, Sid, I’m all doped up.”

Doing as he was bid, Sideralis stomped to her bedside and dropped his head down close to Mustang. Much to his shock and surprise, he felt Mustang’s bandaged forelegs wrap around his head and neck, and then he felt himself being pulled in. The remains of his ear were pressed up against Mustang’s barrel and he could feel her internal systems thrumming against him.

Her voice was messed up, scratchy, and she didn’t sound like herself. Sideralis knew why. He stood there, no longer sure who or what he was anymore, with Mustang hugging his head to her body. After a moment, Mustang began to shake, and he realised that she was sobbing as she held him.

“He got us both,” Mustang mumbled as she sobbed.

Silent, Sideralis stood there, not knowing what else to do.

“He violated us both… he got us both… he raped you too… I’m so sorry… I’m so sorry!” Mustang stammered as she wailed.

Not knowing how to respond, it was all Sideralis could do to just stand there. He thought about Mustang’s words and didn’t know what to believe, and he couldn’t make sense of what had happened to him.

“I could hear him in my head as I felt him inside of me… he was gloating about hurting you… violating you… he said he was hurting you in the worst way possible…” Mustang squeezed Sideralis’ head a little tighter, pressing it tight to her barrel, and she buried her face against his neck and the back of his skull. For a moment, by accident, their horns brushed against one another. “He got us both.”

“Mustang, I’ll be okay—”

“No, you won’t. I thought I’d be okay too… but all my hurt just made me worse and made me push ponies away… I won’t let that happen to you… I won’t let that happen to you… I can’t let you hurt like I do.” Mustang redoubled her grip and then let out a wordless shriek of grief that echoed through the small room.

“Mustang, I’ll be okay because I have you as a friend. And all of the others.”

There was no reply, only sobbing. Sideralis allowed Mustang to cling to him. He shoved all of the growing self doubt out of his mind and focused on what was real, he focused upon this moment. A sobbing violated mare was clinging to him for comfort, a mare that endured unspeakable abuse and violation. And she was seeking comfort from him. He thought about Rainbow Dash and he also thought about Rarity’s advice to him just minutes ago. A mare needed a stallion she could trust.

“Mustang, I have to go in a little while. I have to neutralise the smooze threat. I give you my word, I’m coming back. I promise… there isn’t a force in this world that could stop me from coming back to you and being by your side as you recover.”

“Sid, don’t go… please don’t go, he’ll hurt you just so he can hurt me again… don’t go,” Mustang said, pleading, begging Sideralis not to go.

“He hurt you and that’s why I have to go. You’re one of my little ponies and I love you. Now I have a job to do.” Sideralis could feel Mustang rubbing his neck, touching him, her forelegs moved up and down, and he wondered if she was taking comfort from the familiar, rather intimate touch. It was the sort of touch that happened between close friends, but Sideralis’ brain had not yet sorted out all of the differences.

“Sid?”

Starting, Sideralis jerked his head free from Mustang’s embrace, turned, and saw Fluttershy in the doorway. He wondered right away about what she had seen when she had entered, how she felt, and what she thought about it. He felt a sense of worry and anxiety creep over him.

“Sideralis, thank you for being here with Mustang. I think she needed you.” Fluttershy stepped forwards. “I’m sorry I had to leave you, baby, but I had to check on your sister. I’m back now, and I’ll stay with you.”

“Where is Rainbow Dash?” Sideralis asked, now worried about another mare that he cared deeply about. “Who is looking after her and keeping her sorted out?”

“Twilight,” Fluttershy replied as she climbed into the bed with Mustang. “If Rainbow needs me, she knows where I am and Twilight can bring her here.”

“I need to go,” Sideralis said in a soft whisper. “I promise I’ll be back. Just like my mother, I will keep my promises. Mustang, I’ll be back.” He paused, thoughtful, and then continued, “I’ll make sure that Stout comes back too. We’ll come back and the four of us can be together.”

“Sideralis, before you go, there are others that need you. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo have both asked about you.” Fluttershy pulled the blanket over herself and Mustang.

Sideralis nodded. “I’ll go and check on them both.”

“Princess Luna would be proud of you, Sideralis,” Fluttershy said in a soft voice. “Keep Stout and Mjölna safe if you can. They are both very dear to me.”

“I will.”

“And Sideralis?”

“Yes?”

“You are very dear to me as well. I almost lost all three of my foals at once today. I almost couldn’t bear it… come back to me, Sideralis.”

“I will.”

Author's Notes:

Next chapter... round two.