When Sideralis walked, things creaked and popped in his legs. His balance was poor. His heads up display alerted him to multiple critical failures in his systems. He still had no skin in all of the places that had not been covered by his high altitude protective gear, but parts of him had been covered over with the green mesh that hurried the growth of new skin.

He stepped out onto the deck and looked around. Beside him, Ratchet hovered, looking as worried as a changeling could look. Ratchet had disobeyed the direct orders of his queen, and had instead followed the orders that Sideralis had given him.

Upon waking, Sideralis had demanded to be made flightworthy and functional enough for combat. All other repairs, like skin, were considered non-essential. So Ratchet had fixed what was absolutely necessary.

After having a good look around the deck, Sideralis extended his wings, testing them, and making sure that his mounted weapons were secured. He had the big weapon pods installed now, put into place by Ratchet. The digester cannons, the spine batons, and the heavy beam projectors. Ratchet had modified the beam projectors a little, changing them to rapid fire, but doing so at the cost of raw power. There was a brilliant flash of magenta and Sideralis realised that there was about to be a contest of wills with Princess Twilight Sparkle.

“And just where do you think you are going?” Twilight demanded. She looked up at Sideralis and felt nauseous just looking at him. Most of his body didn’t have skin. Muscles were missing. Bits of his endoskeleton were jutting out. His appearance was pure nightmare fuel and Twilight couldn’t even imagine how much pain he might be in if his nociperception regulation system was turned off.

“I have a job to finish,” Sideralis replied. “Get out of my way, Twilight.”

“NO!” Twilight bellowed as she brought herself up to her full height and stuck her wings out to make herself look as large as possible. “I’m ordering you to go back in for repairs!”

“No, Twilight, I’m sorry, but I cannot follow that order. There is something I must do.”

Looking up, Twilight felt tears rising up, and she hated herself for crying in front of everypony. “I’m ordering you to get repaired! Please… please don’t do this… PLEASE!”

“Sorry, Twilight… no inhibitors, no protocols to make me obey, I cannot do as you ask. Please do not make this difficult.”

Twilight felt the first tears rolling down her cheeks. “I can’t even hug you… I’m too scared… you have no skin and you can see parts of your bones sticking out… please don’t go.”

Twilight watched as Sideralis inhaled. Some of his larger scabs split open and blood oozed out, but not much. Powerful coagulation agents kept him from bleeding too much in this state. Each tear that slipped out was agony, the pain in her eyes and her tear ducts was too much to bear.

“Sideralis, stand down! That’s an order!” Twilight said, her words more begging than command. “Mjölna, take him out. Put him down, Mjölna, we can’t have him destroying what is left of himself.” Twilight saw Sideralis look at Mjölna and then back at her.

“I’m sorry, Princess, you know I am loyal to you, I would follow you into Tartarus, but I cannot do as you ask,” Mjölna said, her words gritty and soft spoken.

Twilight Sparkle came to the slow conclusion that Mjölna was going to leave her. She recoiled, feeling betrayed. Her best friend, her loyal guard, her longtime companion, a pony that she loved. She looked at Mjölna through burning eyes that were flooded with tears.

There was a flash of green on the deck and Twilight knew that Chrysalis had arrived. She stood, staring at Mjölna, feeling her heart breaking. Mjölna wasn’t in good shape either. So much damage had been done.

“Ratchet, you little botfly, you had better have a damn good explanation as to why Sideralis is not in his rack!” Queen Chrysalis shouted.

“Sorry, my Queen, but he gave me a command and I chose to follow him,” Ratchet replied.

“Look here, you little horsefly, there are going to be words later!” Chrysalis turned and looked at Sideralis. “You… get back in your rack and I’ll be gentle. Don’t make me tell you twice.”

“You don’t have to listen to her,” Ratchet said in a low voice, speaking into the mutilated remains of Sideralis’ ear.

“Ratchet! What has gotten into you? We’re all one! One mind, one voice, a united hive in times of trouble… you little… why I oughta… I can’t even talk right I’m so angry! How could you do this?” Queen Chrysalis sputtered and her wings buzzed at her sides in irritation.

Hearing the scraping of claws, Twilight looked over at Spike, who was now on deck. Spike looked worried, afraid, and she saw the draconic intelligence in his eyes when he looked at her. She glanced around and her gaze fell upon Ratchet. Twilight had a sudden epiphany.

Without knowing how she knew, she understood Ratchet’s place in the bigger scheme of things. She looked back over at Spike. Dependable, reliable Spike. Her Number One Assistant. Her protector. Her guardian. Spike, the dragon she could always count on. Spike, who almost always did what he was told. Twilight realised that with a command, Spike would probably put Sideralis back into his rack and that Sideralis probably wouldn’t fight back too much.

Staring at Ratchet, she understood the purpose of the tiny changeling. A steadfast, trusted assistant that could always be counted on. It was a strange hunch, but it was a feeling too strong to ignore. Twilight felt more tears slipping out and she looked at Spike. Unable to bear it any longer, she lunged forwards, not caring that Sideralis didn’t have skin at the moment. She reared up on her hind legs, wrapped her forelegs around his battered neck, mindful of the protrusions of metal that were sticking out. She ignored the horror that lurked in the back of her mind.

“Do what you must do, my friend… and then come back,” Twilight said as she clung to Sideralis’ body, which had suffered terrible damage in all of the recent fighting and his trip up to the top of the sky. “Spike?”

“Yes, Twilight?” Spike blinked and his long, curved claws tapped upon the deck as the dragon expelled his nervous energy.

“Spike, go with them.” Twilight let go of Sideralis and slipped down on all fours once more. She looked up at her Number One Assistant. “Spike, I'm trusting you with Mjölna and Sideralis, both of them are very dear to me… just like you are. Please see that they finish their task and come back to us.”

Twilight watched as Spike’s right claws clenched into a fist and then were pounded over his heart. She saw his jaw clench as his nostrils flared. A little curl of smoke rose from his nose.

“I am coming,” Ratchet said, summoning as much courage as he could muster. “My Queen, I am sorry, but your voice has grown dim in my ears. Something has changed.”

Intrigued, Twilight glanced at Chrysalis and saw that the changeling queen was trying to figure out what was going on. Twilight was almost overcome by emotion, so much had changed. So much had happened. Tensions were so high right now.

“Ratchet, as much as I don’t want to put you in danger, I know that I need you,” Sideralis said.

Spike, his claws clicking upon the deck, looked at Sideralis, then Chrysalis, and then his gaze settled upon Twilight. “Tell Sweetie Belle that I’ll be back, I promise. She’ll be pissed that I left without telling her, but she’s teaching class. See that she is comforted.”

“I will, Spike.” Twilight felt a lump growing in her throat and had a terrible fear that she would never see her friends ever again. Sideralis, an alicorn, was connected to the universe in ways that Twilight did not understand, and something was pushing him. Mjölna, her most faithful guard, seemed to be caught up in this as well. She looked up at Ratchet. Out of all of them, the little drone had to be the most courageous, the bravest out of them all. He had defied his queen, but more than that, the teeny tiny little repair drone was putting himself into mortal danger. Ratchet wasn’t much bigger than a yearling foal. To be so small, yet willing to go into such danger.

“Can you fly?” Mjölna asked as she looked up at the badly damaged C/Equine beside her. “Just looking at you, I’m getting all kinds of critical failure warnings.”

“I continue to function,” Sideralis replied in a low voice. “This body still has power and Ratchet has restored basic functionality as I have requested. I can do what needs to be done.”

Stomping over, Captain Blossomforth came to a halt near Sideralis, snapped to attention, and then raised her wing in salute. “Alicorn speed!”

Her hooves heavy, Twilight Sparkle stepped aside, one of the most physically difficult things she had ever done. Her body felt heavy and a strange numbness was creeping over her. She moved beside Captain Blossomforth, stood at attention, and she too, raised her wing in salute. As she stood there saluting, Ratchet made a last minute check on the weapon pods mounted on Sideralis’ wings.

As Twilight stood there, transfixed, watching as Sideralis prepared himself, she was startled by the sounds of whalesong. It was haunting, melancholy, and sad. The gasbag above her made strange burbling sounds and flashed with soft bioluminescence.

Scowling, Queen Chrysalis looked at Ratchet, but said nothing. The changeling queen stepped aside, getting out of the way. She gave Sideralis a bittersweet smile and then waved goodbye with her hoof.

As the melancholy whalesong continued, the companions departed. Mjölna was first, leaping over the deck rail, and then vanishing from view. Spike went next, spreading his wings wide, leaping, and then catching wind so he could glide. Sideralis and Ratchet departed together, with Sideralis not so much leaping over the rail as he did stumble and fall over.

Not one pony present laughed as their prince fell over the edge.

Twilight, who worried if he would return, felt more tears coming. She did not know how this would end.

Sideralis, who had suffered a rough landing, was now being checked over by Ratchet after his crash. His landing, if one could call it that, had been a stumbling affair that had come to an end after Sideralis had smashed through the wall of a small store. One had to look for the good in things though—the store had a selection of cigars for sale.

Mjölna, now smoking a long, fat stogie, stared at the abyssal maw of the nearby tunnel. She knew with nothing having been said that Sideralis planned to go into the darkness. She didn’t know what they were going to encounter in there, but she supposed that it would be bad. Maybe worse than bad.

Spike was watching their surroundings, his trapezoidal shaped head darting around. Spike was nervous, that much was obvious. His claws picked at the cobblestones and his tail darted around. Smoke curled around his lips as he bared his teeth at the unseen danger all around him.

Grunting, Mjölna reached up and bonked herself in the head a few times with her hoof. She scowled, her lip curling back from her teeth, and then muttered, “Stupid system corruption is messing up my heads up display.”

“Spike?”

“Yes, Sideralis?” Spike turned and looked at the alicorn addressing him.

“Be real careful if we run into those eyeball abominations. They explode if you burn them even just a little bit.” There was a clunk as Ratchet worked on Sideralis’ wing and the C/Equine turned to look to see what was being fixed. By the looks of it, a snapped support strut was being bonded back into place. He looked back at Spike. “Down in the tunnels, those explosions are going to be pretty bad. I doubt the fire will hurt you, but be careful, Spike.”

“I will,” Spike replied as he turned to look at the tunnel entrance.

“Are we ready to go?” Mjölna asked.

“I think we are,” Sideralis replied.

Together, the four companions headed for the tunnel entrance, ready to go into the darkness, not knowing what they would face…

Author's Notes:

Hello darkness my old friend...