There was a soft sound near the door, the mare spinning to aim the miniguns-
A familiar armored figure sat still, head tilted to the side curiously. A blue magical glow surrounded a massive pallet of supplies behind them, the object carefully being set inside the room without seemingly much effort
Seeing Sassi stare, the individual removed their helmet slowly. The light violet unicorn brushed a messy, dark-blue mane out of their eyes and glanced up to Sassi. If she had to guess, they were around the same age.
“You’re a unicorn?” Sassi asked cautiously, the guns still not quite fully trained on the pony now. “Do you work for the company?”
The stallion looked up, and his curious eyes met Sassi’s. Her heart thudded in her ears. There was nothing but rage in their depths for a moment. What made the mare’s guns start to rise was the intensity of it all. There wasn’t any control in the unicorn’s gaze he looked almost through Sassi.
His eyes themselves made the mare pause for a split second. While the majority of the iris was pitch black, there was a kaleidoscope of colors within them. Striations of primary colors radiated out from their grey pupils like spokes on a wheel. The light-blue flames around the unicorn never ceased; and it was only then that Sassi realized that even with the helmet removed, there was still metal adorning the unicorn’s head. A massive magical lock was latched firmly around their horn.
“Work for them?” he growled, “No. I intend to burn them all,” the unicorn growled, last words warping with a deeper inflection as the magic restrictor started to glow a dull orange under the stress. “Same question for you.”
It wasn’t a request, and Sassi bristled at being talked to so abruptly. But their situation wasn’t exactly normal.
“I used to, but I never had a choice. Now that I’m free? I’ll happily lend you some fuel to burn it,” Sassi said firmly. “This company certainly deserves it,” the mare paused, “so, are we on the same side?”
The unicorn blinked, nodding once.
“I believe so,” he mused cautiously. “I imagine you have a few more questions.”
“How about names first? I’m Sassi Satin,” the mare said calmly, sitting down and lowering the guns.
A weak smile slid onto the unicorn’s face, the stallion mirroring the mare as he sat down.
“Yes, I thought so. I’ve heard about you. I had to be sure your goals weren’t with the company,” he explained, Sassi nodding in understanding. “My name…” he paused, brow furrowing. “Well, it’s not ‘Five’. My name used to be or is Arcane Flare. I guess I’d better get used to being called that again.”
“Used to be?”
The unicorn’s demeanor abruptly shifted for a moment. He seemed to shrink as if expecting to be struck. A deep breath and he looked up, struggling to keep his expression stable. The entire room seemed to flex as if a giant hand was squeezing it. But then it was gone.
“I didn’t grow up here. I was taken. After my RASP modifications stabilized, the company did what they always do to creatures they can’t control but don’t want to lose.”
A few more deep breaths and Sassi had the eerie feeling that she was looking into a mirror, a past reflection of herself.
“They locked me up and threw away the key. I think it’s been five years since I spoke with a friendly face,” Arcane said softly. His expression morphed rapidly, and Sassi saw some fangs lengthen, poking out from his upper lip as the unicorn snarled, eyes glowing a sinister maroon. The flames around the pony intensified as if someone was turning a camping stove up to maximum. The bulbs on the RASP armor glowed a blinding white, the metal starting to sag.
“I’ll kill every-” His words cut off, the unicorn’s eyes widening as he struggled to breathe. The air itself seemed to thicken as Sassi’s armor let out a warning chime. Arcane winced as he pressed a hoof to his temple, the atmosphere returning to normal.
“Sorry. I’m, look. You’re the first ponies I’ve talked to since everything happened. The first normal ones. Before that, I didn’t talk much for those years. I was called ‘Five’. I wasn’t treated…” the stallion ran out of words, his head shaking. Sassi’s sharp eyes picked out his limbs starting to tremble.
“It’s ok, Arcane. I get it.”
“Do you?” Arcane’s voice abruptly dropped a few octaves, a familiar snarl twitching onto his face. The unicorn shook his head, pulling his gaze away from Sassi as if held by invisible strings.
“No, you would know, wouldn’t you?” he muttered to himself. “Just, perhaps we’ll talk again later.” There was a brief pause, the blue flames flaring up again. “You haven’t seen the Director of this Silo, by any chance? I tried to locate him when it all went crazy. He’s the first who has to pay.”
Sassi shuddered, Arcane’s ears perking up.
“Oh, we met briefly.”
“He escaped, didn’t he?” Arcane growled in frustration.
“He’s dead. Very dead.”
The unicorn blinked, Sassi gesturing towards her special-somepony. Even thinking those words made her heart flutter.
“That’s Astral Sentinel. He killed Director Split Tie,” Sassi said softly.
A bit of doubt entered Arcane’s odd eyes, the unicorn shaking his head.
“Those guns couldn’t kill the Director.”
“Astral strapped two high-explosive and armor-piercing grenade belts around his neck and torso then threw him down an elevator shaft. That’s after emptying more than a dozen explosive shotgun slugs into him.” Sassi wasn’t able to suppress a grin at seeing the unicorn stare. “That was my reaction too. Even if the Director survived all of that, the silo reactor went critical that same day.”
The sensation of looking into a mirror hit Sassi again, this time much harder. Arcane’s eyes cleared for the briefest of moments. There wasn’t any rage, no anger, or desperation. A simple shock, and then a deep, buried vulnerability. A thankful relief.
You weren’t broken by this place either, were you?
“Then I owe your friend many thanks,” Arcane muttered. “That leaves only one pony left who escaped retribution. I’ll worry about that later.”
“Making sure someone’s dead?”
Arcane’s expression darkened, the teal unicorn nodding once.
“The director of this Silo. Split Tie was over the entire facility. There were secondary positions, underlings. This one happened to be my handler.”
“You don’t need to explain.”
Sassi’s words seemed to physically shock the unicorn. He stared as if not understanding. That’s when she realized it.
He’s not used to being given options. Of being treated like a pony.
“Do you have any spare RASP armor? I could use an upgrade,” Sassi asked, switching the topic.
“I have some other prototypes that were stored here, yes. I can get those to you later,” the unicorn said, clearly in thought. “I can also bring you some fresh food if you’re not afraid that I’d poison it.”
“Fresh food? Thank you, that’d be quite nice.”
Another look, this one making Sassi’s heart genuinely twinge in pity.
Creatures shouldn’t be so surprised when thanked.
“I don’t want to pester you. Just, thank you again for helping us.”
Another almost confused look, and then the breaking through of another emotion in the unicorn’s odd eyes.
Happiness.
“It was my pleasure,” he said slowly, standing back up. With a wince, the unicorn’s body pulsed with magic, the suppressor on his horn abruptly melting to slag that pooled onto the floor with a soft *plop*. The abruptness was startling as if the restrictor had been made of butter and placed next to a furnace. “Sorry, one moment.”
Smoothly opening one of the metal containers on his armor, Arcane retrieved another suppressor and promptly affixed it, letting out a sigh of relief.
“Plenty of time for questions later,” he muttered, nodding once before trotting off. “I’ll also deliver some additional weapons to you with the food.”
As the door closed, Sassi couldn’t help but smile. Odd, unbalanced, and troubled, their new friend at first glance, appeared to be something these Silos tried their hardest to kill.
A good pony.
Astral let out a murmur, yawning and immediately regretting the gesture as pain shot through his body. The world was dark, and he was more annoyed than scared. As long as Sassi was nearby, he knew he’d be safe.
That was a significant comfort. Speaking of…
“Sassi?” he called out softly. A beautiful, warm sensation on his lips confirmed that the mare was right at his side, the stallion kissing her back.
“I can’t see. Again. But I assume that’s you rather than our new friend. I doubt they’re that good of a kisser. I might need another example to make sure though.”
An amused, soft giggle was Sassi’s reply, along with a much longer kiss. The Thestral stretched a webbed wing over Astral’s side as she settled down next to him. His armor had been removed aside from the medical device, and it was surprisingly pleasant to feel something other than the padded suit against his fur. Feeling her sides rise and fall against his was just another bonus, and it nearly lulled Astral back into sleep.
“He’ll be back later. Learned a bit about him,” Sassi explained, nuzzling into Astral’s mane and working up towards his ears. Her touch made him sigh, the Thestral able to forget their horrifying situation for just a few moments. Sassi seemed to pick up on this, instead simply running a hoof through his ears for a few long moments before relaying what she had found out about Arcane Flare.
“He was stuck here too. And at least he’s on our side,” Astral mused.
“I’m still not sure what to make of him. The RASP armor shows he’s a magical powerhouse. It saturates all of the sensors. And that’s with him wearing a suppressor.”
“Modifications probably boosted that too.”
“Makes sense. But he blasted that thing?”
“I have no idea how a unicorn could utilize that much power, but I have an idea,” Sassi muttered, Astral letting out a curious huff. “The RASP armor warned me about chaos magic being detected. The warning cropped up a few more times since then.
“Chaos magic? So, a friend of Discord?”
“I don’t know. As far as I remember, no chaos experiments ever succeeded down here. But obviously, there’s a lot more to him than meets the eye. But as it stands, we can take new friends when we can get them.”
“Mmmhmmm.”
Between Sassi’s ear massage and her wing acting as a very effective blanket, Astral was getting heavily tempted by sleep, despite his interest.
“I just woke up, but this is really comfy,” he muttered. “Don’t want to leave you alone again though.”
“Well, Arcane said he’d bring us some fresh food.”
“Oh?”
Sassi nodded into his mane, Astral letting out a sigh.
“Well, I need to stay awake then. Fresh anything, even if frozen, sounds decent. It’d be nice to taste something other than black tar.” A smirk slid onto Astral’s face. “Well, I won’t complain about your lips though.”
A soft *eep* made the stallion chuckle, a frustrated grumble coming from the mare who was busy burying her muzzle into his mane.
“You gave me the green light to flirt.”
A muffled groan of agreement made Astral chuckle again, but the stallion winced in pain.
“Ow. Worth it,” he gasped.
A soft chime sounded from the main door, and Sassi sat up with an annoyed huff. Her immediate reaction was to aim the guns, but the mare relented and lowered the weapons.
Enemies usually didn’t announce their arrival.
Trotting in with another pallet of gear, Arcane paused, cheeks flushing as he saw the two Thestrals.
“Erm, is this a bad time?” he asked, Sassi shaking her head.
“Huh? No, you’re good.”
“I assume that’s our new friend?” Astral asked, head only loosely angled towards Arcane. “I can’t really see anything.”
Something in Astral’s words made the unicorn freeze, but Sassi felt no animosity, only a sudden shock as Arcane shook it off.
“After-effects of the modifications then. That’ll continue for a while,” Arcane murmured. “And yes. That’d be me.”
He levitated a dozen bags, containers, and other items off the pallet to neatly spread them across the other side of the room. The control the unicorn had, along with raw power was something that made both Sassi’s suspicions and the RASP monitoring systems flash with familiar alerts.
“There’s an older version of the RASP armor in there, along with a newer helmet and repair components. A few saddle cannons to supplement your miniguns, and various rations and medical supplies,” Arcane explained. “They were going to start acclimating creatures to the armor years ago. So, there was an unused supply. Dusty, but it all should be functional and cross-compatible.”
“Well, an enemy wouldn’t give us guns, so that’s nice to hear,” Astral mused. “Nice to sort of meet you, by the way.”
“Likewise. Astral, is it?”
“Yep. That’s me.”
A smile pulled at Arcane’s features, the unicorn then opened a simple container set off to the side. Sassi had to stop herself from letting out a very undignified sound as the most pleasant aroma met her nose.
“Holy stars above that smells good,” Astral sighed. Thankfully, his words covered her feelings too.
“It’s the best I could do with frozen foodstuffs. Fresh frozen, but fresh,” Arcane explained, setting a few plates out on a table to the side. “Fruit pastries, some baked bread, preserved and grilled fruits for snacks, and some juices. I recall Thestrals having a preference for fruits.”
“You baked the bread?” Astral asked as Sassi walked over, examining the food (with a RASP scan of course.)
“Yep. Not too many components left, but it gives me something to do. Haven’t cooked things like this in…a while.” The hesitation in Arcane’s voice was telling, but the unicorn bashfully scuffed the tile with a hoof, eyes not able to meet theirs.
Sassi could barely stop herself from laughing on taking a bite of a pastry.
“This. Is. Awesome,” she sighed. “Thank you, Arcane.”
Another slight freeze, as if the unicorn still was struggling with how to respond. He simply bowed his head, leaving them be. Pausing at the door, a glance at Astral showed confusion behind the stallion’s odd eyes.
“Sassi said you killed the Director. Is that true?” Arcane continued after Astral nodded. “May I ask why? I’m very grateful that you did,” the stallion asked softly.
“He threatened Sassi. I gave him a far quicker death than he deserved,” Astral replied immediately.
Arcane’s brow furrowed.
“This was before the modifications?”
Astral let out a mirthless chuckle, wincing at the action.
“Just before. I got the modifications after. There wasn’t a choice for those, but not in a bad way.”
“How so?”
How Arcane was conversing held Sassi’s interest. There was a yearning, an inquisitive desire in which the stallion seemed to be hanging on Astral’s every word. Why, she wasn’t sure.
“Sassi got captured by a clone of one of the Skitter Queens. The modifications were the only way to get her back, fighting through hundreds of monsters. So, one of the scientists fast-tracked me through the process. I barely got her out and made it to this Silo before the reactor blew.”
Arcane was very, very quiet at that. The unicorn’s gaze drifted to the floor, and then to his hooves. Subtle expressions twitched on his face, the stallion finally shaking his head.
“You did all that for her?” he finally asked.
“Yes. And I’d do it again in a heartbeat, as cruddy as this is.”
Astral couldn’t see the look on Arcane’s face when his gaze lifted, but Sassi felt a genuine stab of pity at the sight. There was complete confusion in the unicorn’s eyes, the pain of somepony desperately trying to understand, knowing logically what made sense. But there was something else. The flicker of something, a flame threatening to be extinguished. It was a look that Sassi had seen many times in a mirror.
Hope.
And then it was gone, Arcane making his way out. It was only then that Sassi got a good look at the unicorn’s cutie mark.
Eight dark-blue arrows radiated out from a single point, the center being a red heart.
The star of Chaos.
It was a symbol most creatures knew well. It represented Discord, after all. But the fact it held a heart in the center was quite odd indeed.
“I’ll leave you two be,” he murmured, letting out a hiss as a magical surge made the restrictor glow. “Don’t mind the foxes, by the way. They’re my friends, and harmless if they say hello.”
“Foxes?” Astral asked, the door then closing. “Well, that was interesting.”
“In a lot of ways. But let’s get some food in us, and look at this armor first.”
“At least I can feed myself this time if you can put the food in front of me.”
Despite the odd exchange previously, Sassi smiled, setting the fresh food out for them to sample.
“You sound a bit miffed even at the smell of fresh food.”
“Well, I don’t get a beautiful mare feeding me this timmmfff!”
Thankfully, a pastry was just the tool to cut off Astral’s statement. The cheeky look in his eyes made Sassi’s cheeks burn with a blush.
It was good to have him back.