We don't go to Sub-Level Five

by RadBunny

Chapter Thirteen: Numbers and concerns

Twilight massaged her forehead with a hoof. Today was definitely a migraine day.

Not only was Stylus Protractor being uncooperative, but the obnoxious company owner was also dragging in an army of lawyers along with the entire board of directors countering things individually. Of course, Twilight could simply bypass usual legal proceedings, but the current headache would be worth it.

All of this is based on the testimony of one pony…
Well, not exactly.

The amount of raw data, pictures, files, and statements that Flask Heat had provided on a sizeable flash drive was nothing short of a condemnation worthy of the history books. There was no way out of the oncoming storm, and Stylus likely knew it. His exact words and video, in many cases, were, to the effect of; “The Princess can bite my flank. There’s no trail to follow, we’re in the clear.”

And that wasn’t counting the atrocities that violated the rights of every pony, dragon, and pretty much every other species under the sun. The experiments, the outright murder, unethical programs…Twilight had only seen a glimpse of it and it had made the Alicorn’s stomach turn.

Lawyers or not, she was going to nail every creature responsible to a legal (and perhaps literal) wall. All six owners and the entire board of directors at the very least were guilty, but to what extent she wasn’t entirely sure.

But the numbers of deceased individuals over the years, the deals to known terrorist factions; it was monumental, and the reason she had placed a nigh-unbreakable tracking spell on Stylus and any other flight risks as she could.

Twilight was going to enjoy this ‘trial’ far more than she should. The simple laying out of such blatant horrors was almost overwhelming. Celestia and Luna may even visit to watch if they wanted some excitement. She hadn’t even told Stylus the details of what the data exposed; only that they had enough to make a ‘fairly solid’ case.

Flask Heat, however, was an anxious mess, staying in the castle under guard until the trial began. To that end, it wouldn’t be much of a trial; more like a televised execution of this company and its political, financial, and social holdings. She had assured him that they would not get away with it, and she planned on reading the file over more in-depth later.

Twilight didn’t miss how Flask Heat’s name was on quite a few of the files he had given her, a significant number. The simple act of self-implication was an odd thing indeed; he hadn’t shown any signs of wanting to run. The files themselves had a few inconsistencies, but the Princess could overlook that for now. A few blips in data weren’t an issue when there were decades of resources to sift through.

However, all of that had to wait. There was now an individual who was set to see the Princess, and she had to be composed for one of her subjects.

Apparently, he had been rather insistent.

“Send him in,” she called out to one of the guards, the door opening and a brightly-colored hippogriff trotting in. Bright blues, orange, and dark green feathers spotted his upper body and flank, anxious brown gaze looking around as he made his way to sit down in front of the throne.

Despite decades of curating a less-fearsome image that had haunted the ruling individuals in one way or another, a Princess was a Princess, and an Alicorn at that. There was almost always an inherent fear for many.

“What can I do for you…Gabbro, was it?” Twilight asked kindly.

“I- erm, Sorry, Princess. I’m a bit new to all this. Y’know. Talking to royalty,” the hippogriff admitted.

“No worries. Despite my horn and wings, I’m still a pretty regular pony. I’m just curious what has you so concerned. My reports state you’ve visited around five police stations and the local emergency office?” she asked.

Gabbro nodded, his brow furrowing at that.
“Yes, and none of them were helpful. The company representatives blew off my concern saying ‘oh, he’s probably safe.’ But I was hoping you could be more helpful,” he said, “my friend has been missing for over four days, and nobody knows what happened! The news is barely even covering it.”

That made Twilight’s ears perk up even more, the mention of a company making a distant alarm bell in her mind ring. A missing pony and event that wasn’t being covered? Had her intelligence network missed something? A bad meeting with one of the reclusive tribes perhaps?

“I am not sure how much help I can be for a missing pony, but I’m more than happy to try,” Twilight said calmly, “but what is it that the news isn’t mentioning?”

“The explosion!” Gabbro said, then wincing at his curt tone, “sorry, Princess, nobody seems to know. The factory my friend works at just blew up, and nobody can tell me if he’s alive! I can’t even visit the site since it’s so remote!”

Now the alarm bells began to ring full force in Twilight’s mind at that.

“Where did your friend work? What is his name?”

“The Stairway Company manufacturing and testing plant,” Gabbro said immediately, “his name is Astral Sentinel.”

---

Astral wasn’t sure what disturbed him more. The fact he was able to sleep, or the nightmares. Continually running from one of those Skitters down an endless hallway.

Waking up with a groan, the Thestral flopped out of bed. The previous day he had pretty much just crashed, walking for a bit on a treadmill in the spare room. To say Sassi had a nice apartment was an understatement. There was a huge supply room and even a workout room!

That was nice to at least be able to move. Sassi had been busy watching the cameras and making supply runs…whatever that entailed. The stallion occasionally watched the cameras with her at times, the mare explaining the goings-on in each of the levels. Oddly, her voice was clipped and professional in the station, but immediately flipped to her easy-going self when back in the apartment.

To that end, she had been very blunt when he had started to suggest he tag along during a moment of camera-watching.

“You are in no condition to run across a room, let alone from some freaky experiments,” she had said in that odd, no-nonsense, and curt tone of hers, “you stay here, rest, and recover. I’ll be back within an hour or two.”

And so she had, towing a massive sled of boxes and supplies.
He had been able to at least help unload it into the supply closet; the room quickly being lined with the containers.

Judging from the dimmed lights, she was still asleep. Astral walked around the living room, pausing on seeing the pictures. He hadn’t examined them closely until yesterday, but there were quite a few of Sassi and Flask.

How does she know him? He mused. They were all taken within the past few years; perhaps colleagues? Astral did notice how there were about five picture hooks that didn’t have any frames hanging from them; an odd thing to keep on a wall.

That would hardly be the oddest thing about this situation.

Deciding to take a bit of initiative, Astral made a fresh fruit-smoothie blend and stowed it. Just that action alone felt so odd, something so normal amid the absolute kerfuffle of a situation they were in. But he was the ‘designated’ cook, after all.

The door opened with a smooth *thud* Sassi striding in towing a pile of boxes on a crude sled.

“Another stash of FRE’s!” she proclaimed happily, pulling off her helmet as the door sealed shut behind her.

“I still have no idea what those are,” Astral admitted, the mare letting out a cheery laugh. She seemed to have two moods; drill instructor or commander, and, well, ‘genuine’. It was clear she was used to having fellow guards over, or maybe that’s just how she was?

“Oh! They may have been called something else in the Guard. They’re ‘Foods, Ready to Eat,” Sassi explained. “Some ponies say it’s three lies in one, but I think they’re delicious.”

“Well, maybe I’ll try one. But it’d be a shame to waste the fresh fruit smoothie I made.”

Snagging the offered glass happily, Sassi shed her armor after downing it, nodding in approval.
“Not bad. Definitely better than my concoction. I once tried mixing kale with the fruit to be healthier.”

“Oh no.”

“Oh no indeed. I used way too much,” she said, sticking out her tongue, “it was awful, but healthy apparently. Not worth it.”

Astral found himself smiling at that, Sassi’s upbeat attitude rather infectious.

“Sassi, I did have a question, if that’s alright?” he asked, the mare waving to him as she flopped onto the couch.

“Shoot.”

“Do you mean to be stricter when out and about? I just noticed you’re a lot different here than when you’re outside the apartment; even in the security monitoring station.”

She leaned up and blinked, fluffy ears flickering as the mare then let out a soft “ooooh.”

“Riiight. Yeah. Ok, that makes sense,” she mused, “Work mode and relax mode. I kind of had to separate the two. Considering how serious my work was, I had to act, well, kind of like a senior officer. All work and no play.” She then gestured to the apartment. “This is my home. I get to leave that mostly at the door.”

“That makes sense, and sounds fairly healthy actually,” Astral admitted, “thank you for explaining. It was almost like I was talking to a different pony at times.”

“You were, for all intents and purposes,” Sassi said, “I don’t even realize how intense I can get during a crisis when giving or executing orders. So, sorry in advance, or for the past.”

“No apology necessary. You yelling at me is what made me move.”

She let out a huff at that.
“Huh. Fair point.”

Despite relaxing on the couch, Astral could almost feel Sassi’s gaze on him every now and again. She clearly was more relaxed, but there was something about her when he was around. A slight edge, just a wall outside of the normal ‘I don’t know you’ sort of social behavior.

Then again, their situation was hardly normal, and she definitely didn’t know him, so that was fair enough.

“If you’re not too tired from the supply runs, I am curious about what you did down here,” Astral asked, flopping down on the sofa. “Like, clearly you lived down here. That just boggles my mind.”

“Eh, it wasn’t that bad,” Sassi said with a dismissive wave, her tone not entirely matching up with the unsure look in her eyes. “I got to go above ground for some assignments and breaks. This place is so big it feels like a city.”

“You’ve been here a while then?” he asked, looking around, “I mean, obviously at least for a while. This place is nice.”

“Astral, let me level with you,” Sassi said with a huff as she sat up, violet eyes locking onto the now very-unsettled stallion. “There’s a lot of stuff concerning working here that is unpleasant, and I’d really rather not dwell on it, let alone be judged for it. Considering I worked for the nightmarish company that caused this mess, that’s bad enough. I also don’t know you terribly well.”

To that, Astral could at least relate, the stallion listening attentively.

“I mean this in the nicest way, but considering our situation…” her ears pinned back, the mare averting her eyes to the floor for a moment, “I’d prefer to talk about some happier stuff. Most of my time working here isn’t an upbeat topic. If necessary, I can explain some things, but I’d like to avoid it, if possible, at least for now.”

It was only a glimpse, but for a moment Astral was looking at a very different side of Sassi. She seemed almost scared, violet eyes no longer being full of confidence and upbeat energy. And then it was gone.

“I get it, I really do,” Astral said, shrugging his webbed wings. “Well, on a happier note, if you’ve lived here for a while, what’s something you want to do when we get out of here?”

That seemed to cheer the other Thestral up immediately, the mare’s eyes lighting up with a familiar, happy glow.

“I’ve actually-” she seemed to catch herself with the exuberant reply, then matching his shrugging gesture, “I’ve got a few things in mind. The first is going to the beach. All that water. Just, whoa,” Sassi said, Astral clearly having hit a passionate note. “Any landscapes like that, where it’s just a huge expanse of something. Water, forests, snow; I want to see it all! And no Skitters to worry about either,” she added. “Not sure I’ll ever be comfortable without a weapon on me, ever, but it’s a start.”

“That sounds like a solid goal. I love camping myself, so I could point you to a few good forest locations,” Astral explained, enjoying that he had found a topic the mare was passionate about.

“That’d be awesome,” she sighed. “I’ve only seen glimpses of places, never had a chance to enjoy it for a while. Always on a time crunch.”

There was a crash from one of the rooms, and Sassi let out a groan as she inspected the supply closet.

“Hey, Astral? We’ve got our work cut out for us. A shelf collapsed. We need to repair it and re-organize this…at least temporarily.”

The work didn’t take that long. Then again, having a mare who could lift the entire shelf was still a shocking sight to the stallion, if not a helpful addition to repairs.

With Sassi going back up to the security station to monitor things, Astral was left with a bit of time to himself. There had been something that caught his eye, merely out of curiosity.

A thick calendar was mounted on the wall, the Thestral trotting over and breezing through the pages out of curiosity. What did someone who worked here have on a calendar?

As his green eyes drifted over the pages, Astral froze.
Wait.

He checked, double-checked, and then triple-checked. It was the same. Coupled with the pictures with Flask on the walls…

Circled in bright red ink and stars, the date ‘March, 24^th,’ was highlighted and noted.

Zero. Three. Twenty-Four. Zero.

The code given to him by Flask, the very numbers that had saved Astral’s life, was Sassi’s birthday.

Author's Note:

HMMMMMMMMMM

Comments

[RadBunny]

10995703

[Oreng Pingvin]

10998539
not funny

[HarpyYoshi]

11414181
Didn't laugh.

[MathBrony173]

I'm reminded a bit of the movie, Eraser, in particular with the company secretly being involved in dealings with terrorists along with other illegal activities. Curious where Heat Flask falls in this. Did he join the company working with Twilight to try to get information about it (kinda like Vanessa Williams' character in the movie) or was he a willing participant who had a change of heart (maybe his adopted daughter)?

In either case, he is certainly going to be the prime target of the company: both legally and maybe physically.

[RadBunny]

11680935
You'll learn a bit more about Flask/what his motivations are for sure!

[Erblorg]

Good friend, best friend.

[Erblorg]

Prediction: Flask was one of the founders of the company and originally it wasn't this evil organization but at some point it strayed from it's original principles and goles.