“We have a connection.”
Twilight’s mouth narrowed into a smirk. Despite assurances that there was ‘no way it could be done’ by the Stairway company, they had found a way to relay a crude series of instructions to the trapped scientists. It seems that the facility jamming signals weren’t as bulletproof as the Company claimed.
“Let’s proceed then. Time to let those ponies know they’re not alone down there. The primary objective is to confirm who is alive and needing rescue. Are all exits secured?”
“At least the ones we know about,” the team leader said, the unicorn examining a clipboard in front of them, the throne room conveniently empty for this very purpose. “The company is reluctant to disclose some of the exits, but they have no legal room to stand on. Nothing has come out of the exits as well, for better or worse.”
“Assign additional guards to each exit as it is revealed then. This will be a process as we drag it out of them. They have very little to gain but everything to lose it would seem. Carry on,” Twilight mused, hoof tapping in thought.
She had put out a notice to Astral’s parents; the two of them would be meeting with her within the next day or two. As to what she’d say, the Princess wasn’t sure, hence wanting to get some form of communication established for certain.
The last thing she wanted to do was inform them that their son was alive when in fact, he was not.
While the Company was dragging its hooves, multiple nations were pressuring them into cooperation. Unfortunately, and potentially more troubling, the Gryphon Empire had been subdued in their response.
While now one of the closest allies of Equestria under Emperor Ironclaw, the silence of the Empire was a warning flag indeed. Considering Tanzil, the Emperor, was a close friend of Twilight’s, the odd response worried the Princess far more than she let on. He had been absent for their usual talks for the past few months. Other than missing being able to talk openly with a close friend, the lack of more substantial communications simply added to Twilight’s concern.
The storm continued to brew, and yet all they could do was wait.
Sassi tapped the treadmill controls, stepping off and stretching with a relieved sigh. After not moving for so long, it felt fantastic to walk, jog, and gallop again. All in all, the mare felt a good eighty percent, and that was improving by the hour. She could just zone out and run. No thoughts, no worries until she stopped.
Right on cue, a twinge of rare anxiety plucked at Sassi’s heart as she made her way out of the exercise room. She wasn’t sure what Astral would be reading. She trusted him, or at least, she wanted to trust him.
At least she could identify why she was nervous. It wasn’t the content; it was what he’d think of her if he read something.
Judging from the stallion being curled up on the couch, whatever he read hadn’t been good.
“Hey, you ok, Astral?” she asked, gently nudging his shoulder with a hoof.
The stallion shook his head.
“Not really,” he admitted, “the search engine was too effective in describing some of the projects. Sorry about the mess in the sink.”
“Oh.”
Poor guy.
She sat down at that, ears flattening.
“Kind of a shock, yeah?” she asked softly, “I’m so desensitized to it that I forget how normal ponies react.” The mare then smiled weakly, waving a hoof towards him. “It’s another reason I like you. You’re not part of this world, even if you’re here temporarily.”
Sassi was surprised she was able to vocalize her feelings without stuttering. It confirmed, in a way, what she already knew. Astral had no preconceptions about her, part of what made the current situation a bit stressful.
Astral managed a smile, the stallion sitting up.
“And yet I’m a part of it regardless,” he admitted, “what made me sick was reading that the Company liked me. They’ve killed a hundred thousand creatures, and I helped them a ton. They thought my performance was fantastic. I was going to be an ‘essential’ employee within a year!” He stared at her in utter shock. “They even had a deadly booby-trap in my workstation!”
“There’s a lot you didn’t know, Astral. You can’t hold yourself to what you didn’t know,” she explained, “the Company has hidden from rulers and nations. It certainly could hide stuff from you.”
“Yet that only makes me feel a bit better,” he admitted, Sassi nodding knowingly. “But I’m glad I now know, and I got a general idea of how deep a hole this company deserves,” he said, gesturing to the printed-out papers on the table. “Something did come up I wanted to ask you about. I didn’t further search, but I am a bit curious.”
“Oh?” Sassi asked, not able to prevent her posture from straightening, a twinge tugging in her chest.
“You can check my searches. I didn’t pry into anything of yours intentionally,” he said.
The simple reassurance made the twinge melt away; a very odd feeling indeed.
“I was searching to see to make sure the Company didn’t start any foal experiments while I worked there. The computer said it was permanently suspended after a double murder that you committed.”
Oh. Those two.
Sassi snorted at that, her eyes darting away. She didn’t know how he’d react.
“Dr. Centrifuge and Slide, right?”
“Those were the names. I wanted to ask you instead of searching for who they were. I promised to not pry into your matters, after all.”
Her eyes darted over to look at him with a rather astonished gaze, a tired but relieved expression on Sassi’s face. Warmth bloomed in her chest, Sassi shaking her head in surprise.
“You are something else, Astral,” she muttered, “I can explain that matter simply.”
Sitting up a bit straighter, Sassi took a deep breath to calm herself.
“Dr. Centrifuge was the leader in foal experimentation,” she began, “he was a monster in every sense of the word. He oversaw a short part of my modification. While not a direct part of my program, other projects reported he didn’t use anesthetic…because he either didn’t care or enjoyed screams. Any type of experimentation you can imagine they conducted, well, they never involved sexual stuff. Not out of morality, but just because it wasn’t ever a concern of theirs, thankfully. But that was who they were. Monsters in every sense of the word.”
Astral’s stomach rose into his throat, all color draining from his face. His eyes narrowed briefly on seeing Sassi’s face twitch as she spoke, her left forelimb rubbing her right nervously.
She couldn’t hide the memories. Even mentioning those two things made the mare’s skin crawl.
“Dr. Slide was his apprentice, supposed to continue where Centrifuge left off and was taught everything he knew. The two of them had been ejected from the Company due to their extreme measures. It was too much even for the creeps here to tolerate, along with many other organizations. I found out they were visiting for research purposes and decided to put an end to it,” Sassi continued firmly.
“I traded one of the prisoners for a computer program that would immobilize the elevators and cut the power to cameras. It was easy to ambush the two and put a dozen explosive shotgun slugs into each of them. There wasn’t much left when the bodies were found later. No amount of magical reanimation could fix them. I made sure of that.”
Astral could only stare.
“Nobody could definitively prove it was me, but everyone knew. That’s why the penance was only three months of home confinement outside of my work,” Sassi said with a dismissive wave of her hoof, “nobody liked them. The Owners saw the Doctors as a blight on their record, as well as a high risk. They didn’t bother with anything other than a cursory investigation, even though they could have easily discovered it was me. I guess I did them a favor in a way. But I certainly don’t regret it. They canceled almost all of my above-surface expeditions soon after that.”
Sassi’s chest tightened as she finished speaking. She had figured that Astral would run across something, but being judged for killing ponies wasn’t even a consideration. Everyone here knew she had. Confronting someone who didn’t know that abruptly filled the mare to the brim with anxiety.
That was something Sassi recognized she was completely unequipped to deal with. In almost every interaction underground, the mare couldn’t have cared less what co-workers or others thought. She had a job, and she did it well. But now…
Would he hate her for it? Ponies didn’t kill. That was something Flask had tried to help Sassi understand, the view above ground versus below.
He didn’t say anything for a few moments, Astral finally sighing.
“Well, good riddance to utter trash then,” he muttered, “that explains that.”
Ears flattening, Sassi found herself unable to look at Astral.
“I know killing isn’t something common above ground,” she said slowly, “so, I’m not entirely sure how that factors into your view of me.”
The stallion was quiet, eyes slowly looking over to the table. He didn’t say anything for a few moments, clearly in thought.
“Sassi, the more you open up to me, the more and more I understand that you were hurt, badly,” Astral finally said softly. “You’re still hurting in ways I can’t imagine. So, I can’t judge you based on a life that is so alien and painful to me,” he looked up at her, a slight but sincere smile on his face, wings shrugging. “All I can do is try to understand it, to be a good friend. I just wish I could do more. You deserve that at the very least.”
The emotional lump in Sassi’s throat abruptly popped, tears welling up in her eyes. This pony really had no idea how much he already had done.
“I didn’t print out the leaders of the company so I could shake their hoof,” Astral continued, “I don’t intend on letting them get away with this. I can’t say exactly what I’ll do, but I’m not about to judge you for getting rid of two very evil ponies. I’m still processing how such creatures could exist. I’m just glad there are two less.”
Sassi tried to not sniffle, but due to sensitive bat-pony hearing, that was a moot point. Astral still had that kind, genuinely concerned smile on his face, the one that punctured through her usual ‘business only’ demeanor.
“You thought I’d judge you, huh?”
Sassi shrugged, the mare getting better control of her emotions for the time being. The fact she was continuing to open up made Astral oddly happy. It was like getting to meet a brand-new pony, an opposite one from the confident mare who had saved his rear repeatedly. This Sassi almost seemed ‘normal,’ even if the things she had experienced weren’t.
I wonder if she knows that?
“In a way. Being judged for stuff was pretty common. But not so much for that,” she admitted, “most creatures here knew what I did. Combatting experiments and violent creeps; that required killing more often than not. I had to force myself to not care what they thought of me, and that worked. But now there’s someone who I do care about how they see me,” the mare choked out a half-chuckle, not meeting Astral’s gaze. “This is all new to me, very new. Including caring what other ponies think.”
“Wow. So, a lot to think about, huh?” he asked softly, Sassi nodding. “Well, maybe enough heavy stuff for now?”
Sassi couldn’t help but laugh at that, nodding in agreement. Warmth bloomed in her violet eyes, a genuine, unspoken thankfulness as she glanced his way.
“I did have a question about what I saw on the wall,” he mused, doing his best to change the topic to something a bit nicer. “So, you have multiple degrees?”
Ears perking up, Sassi’s demeanor immediately brightened at the question.
“Yep! Two lower ones, one higher one, depending what terminology you use, and in what kingdom we are talking about,” she said happily. “The lower ones are in Psychology and Biology, the upper one in…Wilderness Expedition.” Her voice hitched on the last one, the mare appearing almost embarrassed. “Didn’t get out and about to test it much. But I want to.”
Stars above she’s smart too. I knew that, but wow.
On looking up, her face abruptly brightened, cheeks flushing on seeing Astral’s surprised face.
“What?”
“Sorry. Just…” he waved a hoof, abruptly not able to look at the amused mare. “That’s really impressive and, well, attractive. Kind of just adds to the things I find amazing about you. What made you want to explore each of those?”
While she was enjoying the increasingly adorable and flustered Thestral in front of her, Sassi managed to wave a hoof at the degrees nonchalantly, hoping the heat on her cheeks settled down a bit.
“Well, Biology since it’s nature and how life works. I found that really cool, learning it outside of the nasty experiments here,” she explained, “Psychology since I just found it neat of how creatures think. And then the Wilderness Expedition one because I just want to go out and explore. Maybe it could lead to a job. Flask said he’d work on seeing if I could have extended above-ground leave,” her ears flattened at that. “That didn’t go over too well, apparently.”
“Hmm. Well, it was smart to have a plan,” he mused, “still really cool you got all that accomplished. And I guess now you get permanent leave?”
She chuckled at that, nodding in agreement. “Well, I had some free time down here. So, I figured, may as well learn!” Sassi happily remarked, ears then flattening briefly as the mare’s brow furrowed. “There is a downside though.”
“Hmm?”
“Psychology,” she said, tapping the side of her head with a hoof. “I know a lot of what I have to work through and why I start acting certain ways. I am logically aware of many of the issues I’m facing. Trauma, the effects of it, why I am reacting to certain things, but it’s just hard to change it. It’s infuriating.”
“Oh, that makes sense. Hard to change when you’re stuck in a certain environment too.”
She looked at him curiously, nodding in agreement.
“To say the least. But then you come along and throw me for a loop.”
“You said to not apologize.”
“I did. But just, ugh,” she muttered, “knowing that I start to think certain ways and that it’s logical, but not how I want to think is a bit hard.” Sassi’s smile then returned, the Thestral shrugging sheepishly. “So, thanks for understanding when I’m a mess at times.”
“Well, you’re welcome. Quite frankly, I wouldn’t think holding one’s hoof for comfort would be out of the norm considering the monsters we face,” Astral mused with a grin. “So, honestly, you haven’t been acting that odd. I’m the one who freezes, after all.”
Her face a bit pink, Sassi gestured to him at that.
“Do you know why you freeze?” she asked, the stallion surprising her with a nod.
“Yep. Figured it out early on with a therapist. Ugh, what did he call it? Psyco…static?”
“Psychosomatic?”
“Ah, that. Duh, Psychology degree,” Astral chuckled, making Sassi beam. “But yeah. That’s what the therapist said, and what I was starting to work through. I freeze because I’m afraid of what I’ll do, which is plain stupid, I know.” His smile softened at that, gaze flickering over to the mare before focusing on the table in front of them. “But having someone not think I’m a monster helps counterbalance that quite a bit. Experiences and a certain pony now make it so it’s not just my internal label, but the opposite. The freezing has been getting less and less.”
“I noticed,” she replied, a sly smirk on her face. “And I’ll repeat it if you need it. You’re not a monster. I’ve seen plenty, such as the Skitters. You’re waaaaay too nice and good look…erm.”
“Hmm, what was that? Sounded like your last word got cut off?” he teased, Sassi glaring at him playfully. The genuine, easy-going, and playful look in her eyes made Astral’s heart flutter.
Before she could reply, however, a monotone voice echoed through the room.
“Personal message waiting for: Sassi Satin. Marked Critical Priority. Please acknowledge.”