Her stallion was dozing but slowly waking up. Sassi busied herself with both snacking on some still somewhat-fresh food and organizing their supplies. If they had to leave within a day, she wanted as much ammunition and life-sustaining material shoved into their saddlebags.
Her attention was diverted after the mare heard a grumble, Astral shifting this way and that. Apparently, he was now awake.
“Stupid. Leg,” he growled. “Move!”
“Astral?”
He managed to lift his head, the stallion letting out a huff.
“Hey, Sassi. That’s you moving around there? I figured. I was just trying to move. My body still isn’t responding. I’m sick of lying down.”
“Then let’s go for a walk,” Sassi proclaimed, “just lean on me then.”
Flopping off the bed, Astral almost managed to stand up. Thankfully, Sassi was there to catch him as he leaned over.
“Thanks, Sas,” he sighed. “So, what’s the situation? And also, what’s with the reactor?”
For a split second, Sassi had the thought to not tell Astral everything.
But he doesn’t deserve that. That’s not how we are.
“Let’s find out. AI? Scan Astral for how stable he is. Can the extra healing crystals be removed?”
A few moments passed before the helmet chimed; Sassi having clipped the item to hang from her armor. The text projected itself above the device.
‘Scan complete. Primary user vitals have been stabilized. Permanent removal of external healing crystals is possible within 48 hours. Set timer?’
“Do it. Let me know when we can take them off.”
As a small counter appeared before being hidden, Sassi caught herself as a leg refused to lift for a few moments.
I never noticed the creeping exhaustion…
“We’ll need to shut off the reactor. Once tonight, and then again in a day or so. The emotional drain on me is constant. I just never noticed it until I stumbled,” she explained. “There’s an issue with an internal seal. The temperature is rising and making it so it keeps draining me. Basically, it’s overheating from constant use. The AI says we can remove the external crystals on your armor within two days. That’ll reduce the drain and increase the time between shutdowns. The healing crystals that are attached to you can take over.”
“Then we shut it off right now,” Astral growled. “Not worth hurting you.”
She smiled, pausing to give Astral a kiss.
“That’s sweet, but that brings us to the other issue,” the mare explained, trying not to get distracted by the happy grin on her stallion’s face. “We need to leave within a day. Another creature is starting to breach the doors. Number Two. Whatever it is. I’ve never heard of it, but Arcane said it’s some sort of mastermind of all the fonies, the spores; it’s all connected.”
Sassi elaborated on the other topics Arcane had covered, and Astral stayed quiet as they meandered slowly down the hall. The poor guy sounded like he had been through Tartarus and back. And yet there was a lot they still didn’t know.
But I know enough to trust him. He’s unstable, but I don’t blame him.
Maybe I’m too trusting, but after the Case, I’m tired of not trusting. He doesn’t give off any red flags.
…well, none that normally I’d look for.
“Pity he can’t take us with him, but from what I know about chaos magic, that’s probably for the better,” Astral mused, “maybe he could tag along with us?”
“I’ll ask. It’s not a bad idea. He’s a powerhouse, and we could use his help. Probably a better chance than his teleporting idea,” she agreed. “He mentioned the exit path that was dangerous and didn’t recommend us exploring, but to be careful if we had to.”
“I assume we’re going there?”
His special somepony smirked, nodding as they walked.
“You know me well. We’ll just peek to see how bad it is. We won’t get too close if you can’t walk well. If it’s something we need to prepare for; best know about it now.”
“I think I can walk if I have to. And Arcane wouldn’t let there be any active dangers here. Maybe it’s a big gap in the floor or something.”
“That was my thought. It sounded like he was hiding something, but didn’t want to hide it. Hard to explain.”
Astral nodded, a previous thought abruptly catching up to him. The stallion’s movements slowed, fluffy ears perking up as a smile refused to leave his face.
My special-somepony.
“Astral?” Sassi asked, a concerned gaze drifting his way.
I love those eyes.
“Sorry. Just, it’s sappy.”
“I like sappy. I especially like when you’re sappy.”
The stallion grumbled, feeling a bit of heat on his cheeks. He wanted to tell her why this was so difficult.
I can’t just unlearn years of forcibly ignoring things. But I can try.
“I just was thinking. It’s silly.”
“I also like it when you’re silly.”
“I’m not going to win on that, am I?”
A cheerful smile was the mare’s response.
“Nope!”
Astral leaned his head over, resting against Sassi’s.
“I just haven’t mentally referred to you as my special somepony until now,” he explained, ears then drooping. “Told you it was silly…”
A soft sniffle caught his attention. Evidently, Sassi didn’t think it was silly in the slightest, the mare’s eyes damp as she smiled.
“I think it’s s-sweet,” she managed to say. “I’ve had a few moments like that too.”
“Then here’s to many more?” Astral suggested, the warmth welling up in the stallion’s chest making his throat start to close with emotion. This fantastic mare had risked her life for him a dozen times over.
And I for her.
We’re still here, thanks to each other.
“I could cheers to that,” she giggled, bumping his shoulder with hers. “Let’s check out this exit though. Random hallways aren’t the most romantic destination, after all.”
“Eh. I’d make it work.”
The grin Sassi sent his way made Astral laugh softly. How he loved that smile.
The two traversed the halls, finding out they were rather extensive. It was a basic layout with a few branches here and there leading to supply rooms and general maintenance areas.
The large hallway in front of them, however, was obviously the exit. A massive security door was at the far end. The rooms on their left appeared to be heavily damaged, and an odd glass-type wall was on their right. The hall itself had the appearance of a gymnasium, strangely enough.
“This is an odd set up,” Astral muttered, now able to stand on all four limbs. The walking had done him some good, and he’d take the chance to walk if the reactor was going to shut down temporarily later.
“Agreed. But I think I know what this is.”
The trepidation in Sassi’s voice immediately clued Astral in, especially since the mare reached over to tap the glass on the right gently.
“Observation room,” she explained. “And those rooms are cells.”
Astral’s heart sank.
“This is a testing area?”
“Holding area, testing, and observation. They had variations of this for high-risk experiments.”
The two ventured down the hall; Sassi putting on the RASP helmet and having it scan for any traps. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary in that respect, only the draw of power to the light.
There were five rooms. The first four held nothing; empty. The interiors were lined with odd, cream-colored padding. There was a bed, desk, toilet area, and small entertainment center. Ultimately, a small apartment within. Yet cameras were in every corner of the room, and there were exposed electronics from some torn-out sections of the ceiling and walls.
“High-security cells? Monitoring the experiments every hour of the day?” Astral asked, Sassi nodding.
“I even didn’t have it this bad. I could at least have my privacy. This sort of setup would be for the worst prisoners or unstable experiments, and that’d be temporary. It’d take a lot of personnel to monitor someone like this, let alone multiple around the clock”
Nodding in agreement, Astral’s nerves kicked into overdrive as Sassi rounded the final corner for the fifth cell. The edges around the door were blackened and burned. The strangest thing, however, was that embers still smoldered on the metal.
“Astral.”
The stallion took a peek inside, and more dots immediately connected themselves into a web. The fifth cell was burned to a crisp. More than that, however, was that every part of the room was constantly moving. It was always being destroyed by being pulled apart, smashed together, or simply burned silently.
The AI let out a warning chime; Sassi making sure the two of them didn’t step over the threshold.
‘Warning. Chaos field detected.’
There was another sight the two Thestrals couldn’t ignore. To their right, were the remnants of two ponies.
There wasn’t anything left of the unicorns but blackened bones. The individuals had been impaled onto rebar, and their horns cut from their skulls and rammed through the center of their chests.
A voice then drew their attention, the deep tones making the air itself vibrate.
“I warned you to not come here yet.”