Astral knew he had a choice to make. He could reveal he knew, or…
There was only one other option, and it was the one Astral went with. With Sassi hurt or otherwise incapacitated, he had to get the trust of this unicorn. Hopefully, that would let them escape. To what end, Astral wasn’t sure. But revealing that he knew the horrors of this place might just earn him a bullet to the head.
Patience it is.
“And you are?” Astral managed to say. The rage nearly made his voice growl, but he managed to cough and look at the unicorn curiously.
“Director Split Tie. So, lower your gun,” Split said, the pleasant demeanor now on a knife’s edge. “Now.”
“How do I know that?” Astral countered with a genuine snarl. “I’ve just been through Tartarus and back! I’m not about to get shot by you lot because you claim to be some boss! For all I know, those freaks can shapeshift!”
As Astral had hoped, Split rolled his eyes and produced a formal ID in his magical grip.
“Satisfied?” Split asked, a faint poisonous tone dripping into his utterance.
Now came the hard part.
Astral flipped his visor up, immediately lowering the gun with a sigh of relief.
“Director Tie? Oh, thank the stars,” the Thestral panted, looking at Split with what he hoped was a passible look of thanks. “That means you can get us out of here. I didn’t think-I’ve been…it’s good to see you, Sir.”
The unicorn’s demeanor abruptly became as pleasant as pleasant could be.
“Well, it’s quite nice to meet you too. And you are Astral Sentinel, correct?” Split asked.
Astral nodded.
“Correct, Sir. I was the security guard at one of the topside entrances. It’s been a nightmare ever since things went crazy. Thankfully Sassi saved my hide and got us down here. Took us a while, but we made it.” He then walked back over and gestured to the still-immobile mare. “I think she’s hurt, Sir. Can we get her inside? Maybe the scientists know what’s wrong? I don’t think she got bitten by those things.”
It was remarkably easy for Astral to sound genuine with his words. A few weeks ago, such comments would have been sincere. All he had to do was not let the disgust overcome the logic and the need to sort things out.
“Sassi? Oh, Astral, you have no idea what she, or rather It is, do you?” Split chuckled, walking over and patting Sassi’s shoulder.
Astral had to stop himself from putting the targeting reticle on Split’s head, instead taking a deep breath.
“What do you mean?” he asked, ears drooping. “She’s a Thestral like me, and my friend. I owe her my life. What’s wrong with her?” He added a bit of a tearful tone to the last few words.
Not a lie, so there’s that.
That was when Astral saw Vial, the teal unicorn matching the picture in the database back at Sassi’s apartment. The pony’s eyes were wide in abrupt fear, his head shaking back and forth from behind the other two guards. He tapped something on a large datapad strapped to his forearm, but then relented and shook his head again. Vial subtly kicked a long cable behind an open access panel to hide it, the end matching a port on his gauntlet.
A few other ponies in lab coats cowered behind him, none of them daring to raise their heads.
Astral made sure his eyes met Vial’s; he had seen.
They’re scared.
“Sassi isn’t even a name, Astral. It’s a designation,” Split explained, then stood in front of the mare. “Relay callsign and purpose,” he ordered, Sassi snapping to attention as she flipped up her visor, then saluting.
“Super Augmented Strike Soldier Initial Five, Codename, Sassi,” the mare recited, “Secondary Adjusted, Tertiary Infantry Number One, Codename, Satin. Purpose; await orders from valid spell-ID verified users.”
“Augmented what?” Astral asked, an icy spike jabbing into his heart at seeing the mare’s expressionless face.
“It’s an experiment, Astral,” Split sighed, gesturing to Sassi. “Grown and programmed by the company. Some things went awry early on, but at least the command spell worked. The blasted thing was being indulged far too much. And as I suspected, Flask removed the control chip. Traitor. At least that hivemind research paid off as a magical backup,” Split growled to himself. “Whether he knew about it or not…it doesn’t matter now.”
“Command spell? Control chip? So, she’s like…a robot?” Astral asked, playing dumb.
It was remarkably easy for him, for better or worse. But the thought of a computer chip forcing Sassi to the Company’s will nearly made him lose focus, the rage frothing.
“Unfortunately, no. I can explain later, but what matters is that you are here and It kept you safe. Now It can do the same for us and get us all out of here,” Split sighed. “Let’s go, Sassi. Follow us.”
“Yes, Sir.”
The group moved down the interlocks, waiting as the next series of decontamination procedures cycled.
Vial casually bumped up against Astral, forelimb angling to show him the datapad on the scientist’s forelimb, a simple message shining on it.
‘You’ll have two minutes. Save her.’
The message was then gone, the pony meandering back to the other scientists.
As they went into the final chamber, one of the unicorn guards let out a chuckle, his hoof tracing down Sassi’s flank.
Astral’s thoughts simply vanished. There were no coherent words, ideas, or plans. Within a split second, the Thestral had smashed his armored hoof across the other stallion’s jaw, shoving the shotgun barrel into the other stallion’s mouth with a snarl.
“WHOA WHOA WHOA!” Split cried out, gesturing to the other Guard to lower his pistol. “Astral! What’s going on?”
“Don’t. Touch. Her,” Astral growled at the unicorn, the Guard on the receiving end of the gun seeming surprisingly carefree about the entire ordeal.
“Astral, I’d rather not order Sassi to shoot you. Please don’t kill one of my guards, I’d rather have us all leave here intact,” Split sighed. “Now, Astral.”
With a reluctant step back, Astral released the stallion who obediently took his place back next to Split.
“Are we going to have a problem?” Split asked, Astral looking at him in confusion.
“Huh? No, Sir. I’m just defending my friend,” he explained. “Is that a problem, Sir?”
Split gestured to Sassi with a sigh.
“It’s not your friend, Astral. It’s programmed to be friendly. You are simply a means to an end. In this case, to restore order to the Silos. If I ordered it to, I could have Sassi kill everyone.”
“W-what?”
Split smiled in pity as Astral’s ears drooped.
“I know it’s a shock, but we are real ponies. It is not. Look.”
Split casually drew his pistol in a magical grip from the side-holster on his saddle.
“Sassi. Do not move. Confirm command.”
“Command confirmed,” the mare said.
Pointing his pistol at Sassi’s head, Split waggled the weapon back and forth. It took everything Astral had to not empty his entire magazine into the unicorn.
“See? I could kill it right now. Totally immobilized. A shame the experiment was ruined even further, it appears, by that traitor. At least the command spell is intact,” Split muttered. “So, Astral, as you can see, Sassi is an automaton. Looks like a pony, acts like a pony…but isn’t a pony. Now, do jumping jacks, Sassi.”
The mare did so, Split chuckling.
“Perfectly obedient. These two are similar to her, the same batch,” Split said, gesturing to the two guards. “Not even close to her level, and while they’re more obedient than intelligent, they do their job well.” He turned to the two waiting Unicorns. “Isn’t that right, chaps?”
“Yes, Director,” they replied in unison.
They’re modified?!
At least that answered Astral’s question about why the other two stallions seemed ‘off’. There hadn’t been any other option other than to play along. Astral wasn’t in any condition to fight, let alone against two modified ponies.
Split finally ordered Sassi to stop after a few moments.
“It would have done those jumping jacks until it keeled over and died.”
Astral put on the abject picture of misery; ears drooping, head down as his shoulders slumped.
“But…she’s my friend,” he whimpered, Split walking over and gently patting his shoulder.
“I know it’s a shock, but now that It’s here, we can all get out of there. We’ll get back to Company headquarters, and you’ll have a very cushy job for the rest of your life. Retire early and live on an island maybe?”
Astral perked his ears up at that, a hopeful look on his face.
“Really?”
Split nodded, stowing the pistol and gesturing to the other ponies.
“Of course! This has been a nightmare. As long as you let us clean things up and work with the governments to make sure this never happens again, you’ll never have to worry about bits again. It’s the least we can do.”
Astral nodded eagerly at that.
“Oh, yeah. Going to the press would be pretty stupid, huh?” he mused. “All that panic, why would anyone do that?” he asked curiously, the group moving onto the next set of doors.
“For bits. And then they’d cause a panic, more ponies would die, and it’d be even a bigger mess than before. We’ll discuss that all more once we get back to the main room, ok?” Split explained, then let out a hiss.
“The command spell. I’d better fix that,” he muttered. “Sassi, fro-”
As they walked through the next door, it abruptly slammed shut. The lights began to flicker, Sassi and Astral trapped on one side of the door, the rest of the ponies stuck ahead of them.
Split was yelling at the scientists, all of them cowering as the unicorn drew what looked like a detonator and waved it in their faces. Vial raised a hoof, gesturing to his pad frantically and shaking his head. His answer apparently satisfied Split, who turned away with a frown.
Vial’s eyes met Astral’s, and the unicorn's message surged to the fore.
You’ll have two minutes. Save her.