//------------------------------// // Chapter Forty Three: Static // Story: We don't go to Sub-Level Five // by RadBunny //------------------------------// “First reviews are coming in,” the mare reported from the communications station. Twilight grinned, her eyes darting over the dozen papers levitated in front of her before looking at one of the crystal displays. “Perfect. Pull them up on the main screen as they come.” The Princess already knew what they were going to say. Her research and more in-depth intelligence teams had already surveyed the population’s initial reactions. In short, Twilight’s plan was a slam dunk. The carefully-crafted story of two ponies running for their lives had been drafted and re-drafted multiple times. A combination of audiobook-like narratives and re-created security footage from the silo. They had managed to extract bits and pieces from the cameras, but nothing concrete. It’s enough to tell a story. Good versus evil, two heroes and a villain. And none of it is a lie. Omissions, of course. But the core events are as true as we can make them. It was almost irrelevant that there wasn’t any video of Sassi or Astral, just still photos Flask had on file. There certainly wasn’t any footage inside the facility after the lockout due to the jamming signals. But the fact that it was all real and happening now was enough. No extra dramatization outside of a few things here and there; just raw events. Creatures loved their drama, and Twilight had just given them the newest one on prime-time viewing across multiple channels for free. The Company was backed into a shrinking corner, all assets being frantically shuttled from nation to nation as the populations and rulers turned against them. First Equestria, then the Gryphons, Dragons, Kirins, and then the Yaks. With the episodes planned to track Sassi and Astral’s progress on a basic level, Twilight had a feeling this would swing the public favor to a landslide, regardless of politics or species. Yet it was worrying that they couldn’t see how the two were doing. The jamming was still surrounding the silos, and any attempts to contact Vial and his group were met with silence. The latter bit of information had Flask rather worried. As the reports began to file in, Twilight scanned over one of the documents with a critical eye. There was another matter she had to address sooner rather than later. On decrypting the hard drive that Flask had created, there had been initial errors. That wouldn’t have been suspicious, not at first. But Twilight had spotted a pattern. She’d meet with Flask in the next few days to confirm it. But whenever Sassi was mentioned, there were a lot of corrupted files. A suspicious number of corrupted files. He had wanted to hide something, and while it looked little more than an advanced search-and-delete function, Flask had done so rather well. She sensed no ill will from the pony, however. He had been helpful beyond measure, so Twilight had a feeling it was all for a good reason. At this point with no contact, all they could do was wait and hope. After a few moments, Sassi was the first to pull away. It was with clear reluctance, and Astral took no offense. “A bit much?” he asked softly, the mare replying with a nod. “Just a bit. And…” she shook her head. “I’ll tell you later.” Her words seemed a bit odd, a complete disconnect from the previously affectionate and shy tone. “Ok. Well, I guess we need to go? I wish we could stay here longer.” “We probably should get moving,” she agreed with a rather fierce pout, one that made Astral laugh. “Wow. You’ll make the flowers wilt with that one!” he crowed, Sassi glaring at him and struggling not to smile. The two cleaned up their meals, putting their helmets back on as well as their weapons. Astral noted how Sassi carefully removed the woven circlet and put it in one of her saddlebags. “There should just be office floors after this,” she remarked, the two heading back to the elevators after resetting the switches. “Since we’re nocturnal, the Skitters may be asleep, or at least be a bit sluggish. I don’t know if they do sleep, but I recommend we stop for the day before visiting a certain Queen.” “Oh, right. That,” Astral muttered, “Yeah, if it’s a trap I’d rather have it be after I have some sleep.” “It’ll make our trip a bit longer, but I don’t want to chance it. We’ll get within a few floors and then lockdown for the day. I want to give your body a chance to recover from the detox as well,” Sassi explained as the elevator dropped another two floors. “I appreciate it.” As the doors opened, the two ponies nodded to each other. A destroyed office greeted them, but no sign of Skitters or Spiders. Unfortunately, there were leftovers. “Is that a good thing?” Astral asked, gesturing to the severed Skitter arm. “Considering that it’s not a gunshot that did that, I’d say so,” Sassi muttered, looking at the limb. “Maybe there is a civil war among the Skitters. That would be a good thing for us.” Astral’s eyes were drawn to the barcode on the arm, the stallion letting out a huff. “Another original I guess? You said the barcodes mean it was grown here?” Sassi nodded once at that. “Exactly. Anything in the Silos with a barcode means it grew up in a vat of fluid. That code is old, so it’s definitely an original skitter. Or, was. I don’t really know how far back those experiments go, or how long they live. Everything was already long in motion when I got brought up to speed.” “Well, if that’s all that we find of them, I’ll rest a bit easier,” the stallion muttered. “Agreed. Now, let’s get this done,” Sassi said, her clipped tone returning. “Lead on.” The rest of the floor was uneventful, along with the next few stops that spanned the rest of the night. Most of them had only destroyed office partitions to greet the pair, no more body parts to be seen. One floor had once been a lab, but other than some blood-covered walls there hadn’t been signs of anything. The vents had clanked a few times on each of the floors they visited, and Astral had a feeling they were being followed. Sassi had confirmed that, the mare’s sharper hearing picking up something definitely inside the air system. That didn’t make Astral feel much better. After spending a tense while re-wiring a broken control panel to open the door for the elevator relays, the two were back on track to another office floor. They’d bunk down at this one; a good six floors away from the Skitter queen. Sassi had confirmed that should be enough space. ‘Should’ didn’t put Astral’s heart at ease. But she said that this floor was one the mare was extremely familiar with, so that was a plus. “Alright, last floor. We get to the security station and then we can rest. I saw your legs shaking,” Sassi said softly. “You holding up alright?” “I’m ok, but definitely feeling a bit weak,” Astral admitted. “That’s why we’re taking a break. The detox is catching up with you, as I thought. Usually, it wouldn’t be a problem, but most ponies aren’t in your condition.” “I’m not that out of shape,” Astral grumbled, Sassi letting out a titter. “I was referring to the fact you’re extremely stressed. Your adrenals are probably totally shot, and that’ll whack out the rest of your body.” “Didn’t think of that…” “So, let’s get to somewhere safe. Ears up, Astral. Let’s get this done.” “Yes. M’am.” The elevator doors opened and a typical office space spread out as the two exited the lobby. They walked into the entryway of the office space, Sassi placing her hooves in the general place she had done a thousand times before. Years, most of her life of walking this same path, taking these few steps. She knew this floor like the back of her hoof. Sassi took another step onto the tiles and immediately froze. This isn’t right. It was almost a physical pain that made the mare wince, her eyes darting around the empty office for a threat that didn’t exist. Astral looked at her in worry, his gaze on a swivel as he tried to spot what made her so nervous. He wouldn’t see anything, of course, Sassi knew that in an instant. The environment seemed to slow down, her reflexes and thoughts moving at an accelerated pace as her breath quickened. It was just like at the sparring arena, the world going fuzzy. It’s so wrong now. She had been to this floor thousands of times, if not more. Filling out reports, socializing with the office workers, instructing other security guards, and planning various operations. Sassi could almost see the staff all milling about, the routes she would take. How to get to the break room, the conference area to plan a mission. The same paths day in and day out. It had seemed so average, so day to day. A baseline that she understood was an incorrect view of ‘normal’ based on what Flask said, what she saw above ground. But there were never many other frames of reference. But now… It all felt twisted, a life that had been sick and poisoned. None of it had been genuine, let alone real and fulfilling. Every look the ponies had sent her way, every time she was carefully monitored ‘just in case’, even casually being left out of various get-togethers with workers. At the moment, it had been just fine. That was how she was, how life was. She didn’t fit into other creatures’ lives, and she understood why. Sassi had her job, and that had been enough. A general hope that perhaps she could be free, but that was it. Her apartment was a small taste of what Flask had described as a normal life, but that was it. Her world involved three Silo’s and perhaps the wistful dreams of something more. The time above ground was the exception to the norm, not the rule. But that life was now gone. The empty, ruined floor hit that fact home harder than anything else. An entire way of living was erased, the horrible, rotting mess that it was laid open for all to see. Her thoughts spiraled, her breath feeling constricted. In complete contrast to the jungle, Sassi felt herself yanked into a burning pool of memories and fears. It saturated her senses, dulling all of her reflexes with anxiety and horror. She felt her knees crumple, the mare barely catching herself with a hoof. The baseline Sassi had grown up with, accepted, and tried to live within had been wrong. Astral arriving had pushed Sassi’s expectations so far outside her realm of comfort, the mare didn’t know how to feel. There was so much she had missed, so much that was normal, good, and genuine that was lacking in her life. Astral had brought a world with him, a way of life that Sassi had only seen snapshots of. His affectionate touch in the jungle had been so alien, such an incredible departure from what she knew to be normal. And now she had a different baseline, a look at what things should be like. Something like a gentle show of affection; it was something from a world that Sassi had never been fully a part of. It didn’t belong down here. The baseline for what life should be life was now gone, shifted leagues away from what Sassi had ever thought possible. She had tried to think about it at times, wondering what life could be like, should be like. But it was always speculation, filled in with her brief sorties above ground and watching what other ponies did. Now, having Astral, a pony from a world she couldn’t fully understand; it directly clashed with Sassi’s understanding of normal. The hardest part to internalize was that it was a good thing. Sassi knew that much. And yet it hurt to think about. The affectionate glow from their date was gone, replaced by a massive void of painful awareness that couldn’t be filled. Flask was right. This entire place is wrong. “Sassi?!” Astral was immediately at her side, helping her up. Tears ran down Sassi’s cheeks from behind the closed visor as she leaned on his shoulder out of necessity. This is what normal creatures do. They help each other. She wanted so much to embrace the idea, to dive headfirst into this new baseline, this new way of living life. It had been so close in the jungle, looking at her reflection in the mirror. But it was too much, and they were still stuck down here. Something then pierced Sassi’s heart that she didn’t expect, something that made the mare actually wish for a brief moment that they could stay underground forever. I’m so scared. Her mind was so muddled, so conflicted that her usual training was muted and dulled. Sassi felt her hooves shaking. Astral would find out, likely within the next day or two. Either by her admittance or by the scientists. The two opposing worlds would clash, and she didn’t know which would prevail. “Sassi, we need to move!” Astral’s stern voice snapped her out of it, the stallion pushing her along as he watched their backs. His guns tracked along an air duct; a faint rattling being heard. Following the signs hanging from the roof, the two made it to a small metal door embedded off one of the side hallways. Pushing it open and making sure it was clear, Astral slid the door shut after Sassi staggered through, heavy locks being engaged around the entire entrance. The security room was a simple but decently spacious one; some servers, screens, and a computer terminal. A small, familiar empty weapons locker stood by the door next to a plush chair and couch. Thankfully, the checkpoint entrance had multiple locks, and the door itself was fairly thick metal. It could likely hold off a determined Skitter for at least a few minutes. Taking off his helmet, Astral looked over his friend worryingly. “Ok, now we’re safe. Sassi, what’s going on?! Are you hurt?” All she could do was remove her helmet, the mare shaking her head. The stallion was blurry in her vision, tears streaming down Sassi’s cheeks. She couldn’t even put words to the emotions clouding her mind. The unwavering concern in Astral’s voice both helped punch through her thoughts and yet caused more to stir up. There wasn’t a single ounce of fear in the stallion’s eyes, only concern and… There was something else in his eyes, something that the mare had stopped trying to look for, something she had stopped trying to hope for. “I can’t think,” she managed to say, ears flat against her skull. The barriers in her mind were crumbling, worn away by years of abuse and constant doubt. Training could only take her so far, and there wasn’t anything she could draw upon that fit. This wasn’t the time or the place for any of this, and that just added to the slight sobs that now wracked the mare’s barrel. She was supposed to be stronger than this. It was so much easier before. Why does he have to care? “What can I do to help?” Those few words made Sassi hang her head, partially in shame. She shouldn’t be breaking like this; more than twice within a single day. But none of her training, none of her experience mattered with this current challenge. She didn’t know how to solve it. “Well, I’m right here if you need me,” Astral said slowly, Sassi not having responded. “This is as good of a place as any to rest. Probably should get out of this armor. The door is certainly secure enough.” A numb nod was all Sassi could muster, fear injecting itself into her mind even as she methodically slid out of the restrictive armored suit. Will he hate me when he finds out? Will he leave me, just like everyone else did? That thought nearly broke the mare’s tentative hold against a complete breakdown. That was the crux of it. It wasn’t the facts, any of that. It all was whether the first genuine friend and stallion she had grown close to would hate her, toss a friendship to the wind and leave her with nothing. It had happened before plenty of times, at least with friends. Those thoughts had been a splinter in Sassi’s mind the entire day. He’d find out either when they met up with Vial, or she’d have to tell him tomorrow. Astral wouldn’t hate me. Sassi wished she could believe that without a doubt. But over twenty years of opposing views poisoned the flower of hope that was barely hanging on in her heart. Now that she had a friend, somepony to care about, the fear of losing that was nearly all-encompassing. It’d be so much easier if you didn’t care. Part of me wishes I didn’t. I wish I could kill off that part faster. There’s so much I want. I hate that it gives me shivers. Something that should be lovely, good… I have to try. I can’t keep living like before. I have to let myself want things, be ok with it. She looked at Astral, the stallion walking up next to her. Making sure he wasn’t moving too fast, Astral carefully wrapped her up in a hug. The mare’s scarred body relaxed immediately as her hind legs gave out. The tears started up again, the mental battle inside Sassi’s mind making her head pound. There was too much. Too many variables and not enough ways to describe it all. I thought I had no more tears left. After the training, after everything. But first the jungle, now this? As she cried, it all seemed to fade into the background. The smell of freshly fallen leaves made Sassi’s thoughts slow to a pleasant hum. His simple embrace made the tears fall faster, the stallion’s strong, steady heartbeat humming in her ears. How much Sassi wanted this, to have Astral never let go. How many years had she needed this? To be able to cry, to feel like a normal pony? To feel like someone cared? Her chest warmed, and the mare felt herself inexplicably relax. It was just a flicker, but Sassi felt like herself for the briefest moment. Like a normal pony, one who could be weak from time to time. This wasn’t like their date. She needed him right now, and that was ok. And he’s still here. After everything we’ve been through, he’s still here. Previously tainted by doubt and fear, the comforting thought seemed far more likely as Astral held her tight. Sassi let herself cry. The simple moments of support that he gave, such as this, were so much more valuable than Sassi could have imagined. Even being able to physically lean on somepony and know they wanted to be there was something fairly alien to the mare. There weren’t any unwanted advances, just a simple touch that held her close. But as Astral hugged her, a single thought cemented itself against the storm of doubts as he rocked her back and forth. He’ll still be here.