Astral abruptly vomited up a ball of what appeared to be black tar, the stallion spitting out the remnants as he recoiled in horror. Another ball of nightmarish ooze was promptly spat out as the taste settled in.
“Oh, what in Tartarus’s name is…that’s awful!” he gagged, eyes widening as the tar began to fizzle and steam on the floor. “It’s on my tongue! It’s all over!”
“Better out than in your bloodstream,” Sassi explained as Astral spat out another glob. “It has to come out one of two ways. Trust me, this is the much preferred one.”
“I’ll *gag* bet,” Astral managed to say, sitting on the floor and shuddering. “So…I’m good? I don’t feel that great.”
Sassi gestured to the monitors in the observation station.
“Scans say you’re clean. But your body will take some time to adjust. You just underwent the equivalent of a few weeks of detox treatment in…a few minutes. It’s a shock to anyone’s system, let alone an unmodified pony who is already stressed. The system needs to recharge here, but if we find another station it may be a good idea to send you through again just to make sure.”
“F-fantastic,” he shuddered, “can’t wait.”
“Can you stand? We need to get moving. This place isn’t secure.”
Her clipped tone refusing any argument, Astral nodded. He buckled on his armor and saddlebags with Sassi’s help. The two of them made their way back to the elevators. Astral immediately flopped down to sit inside the enclosure as the doors closed.
“Ok, need a minute. Whoa. Legs are jelly,” he panted. Sassi was immediately at his side. Her visor flipped up again as a pair of concerned eyes looked the stallion over. The mare’s demeanor was a polar opposite from a moment ago, worry leaking from every pore. Astral felt his heart skip a beat as her eyes met his, genuine affection swimming in their depths.
“I’m not surprised, that treatment is a doozy even for me,” she said softly, sitting down next to him. “Sorry about earlier. We just had to get out of there.”
Waving her off, Astral managed a shrug.
“You being calm helped me focus and move. So, no apology is necessary. There’s a time and place for the military mare, and I appreciate it. Thank you for getting me through that. I was nearly panicking.”
She was quiet at that, Sassi finally shaking her head.
“Well, I have a lot of training with that sort of thing. But it also helped me stay calm. I was scared.”
Astral glanced over to her, the previously-stoic mare not meeting his gaze. She had spoken the last sentence almost as if Sassi was trying to understand it herself.
“Huh?” was all he could say.
“Why wouldn’t I be? I had no idea what that goop would do to you, if the decontamination would even work. I didn’t…” her words drifted off, Sassi sighing. “I miss when things were simpler.”
“Starting to lose me there, Sassi,” he admitted, Astral still struggling to catch up from ‘I nearly died to slime’ to ‘very concerned super-mare is here.’
“I’m not used to caring about ponies. Not this much, not even close. I’ve lost ponies I knew loads of times. That was just how it was down here. It got easy, losing coworkers to experiments, accidents, and such. But never someone I cared for. Not like…” her voice trailed off, but Astral got the gist, and it made a familiar warmth glow in his chest.
The stallion wasn’t sure if he should be flattered or apologize. Or maybe both.
“And I know you’re thinking of apologizing, so don’t,” she added, a bit of playfulness entering her expression.
“You’re starting to know me rather well. It’s selfish, but it’s nice to have someone worry. That entire experience was not my favorite,” Astral admitted. “Especially that decontaminating slime.”
“The slime?”
The elevator had long since stopped at the next floor but Sassi had kept the doors closed. Astral appreciated the break.
“It’s a sensation thing,” he explained. “Just, that texture has always freaked me out. Completely illogical, I know. But it just makes me want to run screaming into the nearest body of water. Never had to deal with it outside rare cases.”
“I’m surprised you stayed as composed as you did.”
“Well, my limbs were shaking and I nearly had a panic attack. But at least that’s all over.”
Nodding at that, Sassi looked over in concern as Astral took a few deep breaths, the stallion shivering slightly.
“Mind if I borrow your shoulder?” he asked. “I don’t want to be too-”
His cautionary words cut off as Sassi scooted closer with an immediate nod. Astral rested his armored head against her shoulder pads thankfully.
“Still have the chills?”
Astral nodded, taking a few deep breaths.
“Feels like I’m coming off having the feather flu. Or whatever the equivalent is for Thestrals. We always just called it the same thing.”
“It should pass fairly soon. We can’t stay here too long though,” Sassi warned.
“Pity. You’re comfy even with the armor.”
A soft, amused huff was Sassi’s reply.
“We’ll give it a few minutes and then keep going. Think you’re up for that?” she asked.
“I’ll manage. Not sure if I trust my hooves if we need to run, but I can walk easily enough.”
The two were silent for a few moments after that, Sassi finally speaking up.
“I’m just glad you’re ok, Astral,” she whispered, leaning her helmeted head against his briefly.
Her caring tone was so juxtaposed against the previously strict, drill-instructor-like mannerisms that it threw Astral for a bit of a loop. He was getting used to Sassi switching back and forth, but she hadn’t ever sounded so genuine before. Each interaction seemed to be peeling away another layer of this curious mare.
It was one of many peeks Astral was getting, and he was continually reminded that there was somepony underneath it all, somepony very different than his first impression. From how Sassi was acting around him at an increasing rate, Sassi was a lot more sensitive and caring than anyone would initially assume.
“Well, all thanks to you,” he finally replied, shaking himself out of the torrent of thoughts. “And it’s not my best day. We barely leave the apartment and I get covered in toxic goop.”
“Not one of your best moments, no,” she said, a soft laugh putting Astral’s heart at ease. He wasn’t sure how that could be so calming.
“Well, what’s next?”
Sassi sat up a bit straighter with a sigh.
“We open the elevator doors and flip some switches. This level might be pretty weird though,” she admitted.”
“Weird being…?”
“It’s one of the magical labs. If we’re lucky, the anti-gravity spells they were working on didn’t trigger or warp.”
As the two stood back up again, Astral nodded as Sassi opened the doors.
Unfortunately, judging by how they were greeted by floating books, clipboards, and rubble, the pair were very, very unlucky.