Astral woke up with a wince. His entire body ached, back-left limb more than anything. Then again, he had dozed off in a storeroom and then run with a mare on his back the day before.
His eyes blinked lazily, the lights in the living room automatically having clicked on to a low, standby level. It was nice having another Thestral as a running-for-our-lives roommate. The lights were always at just the right brightness, and there weren’t any extremely loud sounds (like alarms) that would hurt his ears. But if the clock was right….
Slept through the entire day and part of the night.
Gaze immediately drifting over to Sassi, he noted how the IV bag was empty. She was still sleeping peacefully at least.
After getting up with another wince, Astral moved his stiff limbs slowly, gathering a few supplies to place on the kitchen table. Painkillers and some muscle hot-cold cream for him, and a new sterilized bandage for Sassi. He didn’t want to wake her up with making a smoothie, but he set the required ingredients aside just in case.
Almost as an afterthought, Astral meandered to the bathroom to smooth down the usual mane-fluff, noting the bags under his eyes despite the ten hours of sleep. He was exhausted, so today was definitely a ‘do absolutely nothing’ day.
The emotional weight of the pell-mell retreat from Silo One was still settling in. Another minute and both of them would have been buried. Oddly, it wasn’t as shocking of a revelation as it would have been a week or two ago. The stallion still felt a thrill of pride at how well he had done. No freezing, just acting. The raging fire in his mind had cooled off, leaving an exhausted void.
And yet the situation was oddly normal. He had seen and experienced odder things than a controlled demolition in his brief time here. The usual nerves and anxiety were present but at subdued levels.
Astral wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad thing that he was getting used to the deadly weirdness in this place, at least to an extent.
The stallion realized he had been zoning out for a few minutes, finally shaking his head and making his way back to the sofa. He flopped down and tried to get somewhat comfortable. While not hungry, taking painkillers on an empty stomach was a horrid idea.
A certain mare yawned, ears flicking as she slowly woke up. Astral almost laughed as a thought rose into his mind.
How could a mare be simultaneously intimidating and adorable? True, Sassi couldn’t move now, but she could likely still incapacitate him with a single hoof somehow…while still sleeping. He wasn’t about to call her adorable to her face just yet. He had a feeling she’d hit him on the shoulder which could dislocate it.
Yet she wasn’t nearly as scary as when they first met. Seeing that there was a vulnerable pony behind the hardened military front was rather interesting. It added an air of mystery, and Astral was wondering how much he’d learn about both sides of this mare. There was a lot more to Sassi than he originally thought. A side that was more akin to a standoffish comic book superhero…and then something else.
“Hey, Astral,” Sassi muttered, blinking owlishly as she yawned. The stallion felt something flutter in his chest as she looked his way. For a brief moment, there wasn’t the usually guarded glint in her eyes, just a simple, friendly, and attractive warmth.
“Hey, Sassi. Looks like we’re both still alive. I’ll take that as a win,” he replied, the mare chuckling.
“Yep. I can move my hooves a bit, even stand up, but I’ve got zero strength. Another day and I should be back to normal though,” she explained, then frowning. “No more injections needed, but as a heads up, I’ll probably crash today, a rebound from the doze of antivenom.” The mare disconnected the IV injection port with a simple movement of her hoof.
Astral simply shrugged at that, getting up with a wince as he made his way over to the blender.
“Well, sounds like it’s a smoothie day. Along with not moving much at all. I tweaked my back leg, so we’ll both be on relaxation duty.”
“No arguments here,” Sassi replied, ears then flattening as a slight bit of pink colored her cheeks out of either embarrassment, annoyance, or both. “Erm, if I could borrow you for a minute though? I can stand, but walking is out of my reach for now.”
Astral nodded, pausing his blending duties as Sassi slid off the couch, wobbling on her four hooves.
“Much better,” she sighed, Astral supporting her as she semi-walked down the hall to the bathroom. “Just being able to move is great. I woke up a few hours ago and just stood up for like, twenty minutes.”
A short trip to the bathroom, and Astral waited outside to then resume his role of acting as an extra set of legs for the mare, Sassi shaking her head as they returned to the couch.
“Seriously, Astral. Thank you,” she said in a rather subdued tone. “I know I said it before, but it’s still so weird for me. I’ve never had to rely on someone like this outside of Flask. But he’s my dad, so that’s different. This is a bit of an adjustment in a lot of w-ways.” The last few words seemed to waver slightly, but Astral didn’t pay that any mind.
“No big deal,” Astral said happily, then returning to his blending station. “I had to help out my siblings when they got sick at times. My dad cannot be in the same room as a throwing-up filly. If he did, then you’d get two ponies vomiting everywhere. He only made that mistake once.”
Sassi let out an amused snort at that.
A short time later, Astral delivered the long-awaited smoothie to Sassi’s grasp, settling down on the couch with his own meal.
“So, this stuff isn’t new to me,” he explained further. “I mean, I helped take care of my youngest sibling when my parents weren’t home. Feed them, all that stuff. Obviously, it’s a bit different here, but the concept is the same. Just making someone else comfortable.”
“Well, it means a lot, so, yeah,” Sassi said, words failing her. The mare occupied herself with downing part of the smoothie with a contented sigh. “Oh, I have missed that. Even if it was just a day. Fresh. Fruit.”
“Yeah, we’re running low,” he admitted, “and some of the fruits are getting almost too ripe. We’ll have to switch to rations within a day or two.”
“Eh, could be worse.”
Sassi then paused, her eyes swiveling towards the stallion.
“What’s your family like?” she asked cautiously. The fact her ears immediately flattened clued Astral into her next question. “I…don’t really know what it’s like to have siblings. So, I guess a better question is, what is it like having a family? Flask is my dad, but he could only do so much.”
Astral looked at her in shock, his ears drooping. He hadn’t thought about that.
“Ok, wow that came out a lot sadder than I meant it to,” Sassi added, but her ears betrayed that her cavalier attitude wasn’t entirely accurate.
“I mean, I can try to explain. It’s…hmm. It’s just a big ball of craziness at times,” he began. “My mom and dad led stuff as best they could. Being senior Night Guards, they always had that ‘scary’ aspect to them, but they rarely raised their voices to us like, ever. My two younger brothers and one sister were a bit more playful than my older sister and brother. I was in-between the hard-liner guard profession and ‘maybe we’ll try something new’ if that makes sense.”
“Huh, yeah it does.”
“It’s nice, honestly. You can let your guard down around them, at least for the most part. At least for my siblings, I was always able to have a listening ear,” Astral explained, “my parents weren’t the most involved, but they kept us out of trouble and generally supported what we wanted to do. Well, at least as long as it was Guard-related. They didn’t take it well if you wanted to try a different, unrelated career. So, when the…I…”
Astral’s voice drifted off, a tightness abruptly gripping his chest. He hadn’t meant to delve into those memories (it had been hard enough with a paid therapist) but now they all came flooding back full force.
“Family isn’t perfect,” he finally said, gaze drifting to the floor and not seeing Sassi’s concerned eyes locked onto him. “It’s a bunch of imperfect ponies trying to help each other and be there for each other during life. Sometimes that works out. Sometimes it doesn’t.”
Sassi was quiet for a time.
“I guess the Case changed stuff? Do you still talk to them?”
Astral clenched his jaw, nodding once.
“Now and again. But nothing like before. I didn’t realize how ‘misguided’ my parents thought I was, having such reservations about joining the guard and liking something they saw as superfluous. The Case kind of just proved them right in a sick way. I don’t think they even realize it,” he added, ears flattening. “I don’t hold it against them, how can I? They got misled just like most other ponies I talked to. So, imperfect ponies trying to do the right thing. In my case, they’re still working on it.”
“I’m sorry, Astral. I didn’t mean to stir up stuff,” Sassi whispered.
“Not your fault. I’m surprised I didn’t realize it would stir stuff up,” he admitted. “It’s a part of me, so I’m not going to hide it. Even if it stinks, it formed who I am, good or bad.”
That seemed to make Sassi think, eyes drifting to the floor.
“But I still love them. I hope maybe they’ll believe me one day. It still hurts most of them didn’t. My younger brother and sister did. Still waiting on the rest of my family,” Astral added.
“It still sounds nice, even with the ups and downs.”
“It is. It just takes getting used to. I kind of have to learn where I fit in this ‘new’ family.”
“That’s a good way of thinking about it.”
Sassi was quiet, her ears then perking up.
“Do you want a family? Like, I guess that’s a personal question, but I definitely don’t have the best measurement of that sort of thing in terms of what ponies talk about,” she admitted. “Well, outside of knowing a few things of what not to talk about, which were usually the topics of conversation among workers here.”
“Eh. It’s a common question one for sure,” he said with a wave of his hoof. “Family in terms of like, kids? That’s what most creatures mean at least. Not for me, I just never really wanted them for various reasons. I’ve got enough siblings that I can be a crazy Uncle if I want. But ‘Family’ in the sense of adding someone to my life, oh, definitely,” he let out a weak chuckle at that, “just haven’t been too successful.”
“Huh. Ponies have different definitions? I guess that makes sense,” she mused. “I guess most just assume family equals kids,” Sassi stuck out her tongue at that. “Yeah, I’ve got waaaaay too much stuff I want to do. I’ve spent my entire life mostly underground. I just want to be free to explore. So, kids were a ‘no’ with an exclamation point. But I never really factored in even having someone else, to be honest. It seemed so…odd at times. Someone who cared that much?”
The mare got quiet at that, very quiet, her gaze locked onto her hooves.
“I guess I never let myself think about it.”
Her eyes then locked onto Astral, the mare seeming to weigh out her next words carefully.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure?” he replied cautiously, not entirely sure what to expect.
“You’ve said it a few times, and I just want to make sure I’m not misinterpreting things.” Her eyes refused to leave Astral, genuine curiosity swimming in their depths, but a familiar, guarded edge now returned.
“The ‘pretty’ and ‘gorgeous’ comments. What do you mean?”