Chapter Eighty Eight: The Ball is Rolling
“Thank you for hearing my proposal, Princess Sparkle,” Gold Mint said, the yellow stallion bowing.
“Of course. I was surprised that a mayor requested to see me. Your city has, to my knowledge, had a very peaceful history,” the Alicorn said with a smile. The stallion’s cutie mark, two silver bits each with an emblazoned pony’s head, spoke to Gold’s family legacy. Mainly, building a small, western Equestria town into an upcoming metropolis with forward-thinking policies and a thriving tourist income due to the coastal location.
His proposals had always been courteous and surprisingly thought out. For a politician, the stallion was certainly on the ‘pleasant’ side of the scale. A rarity indeed.
It was a nice break from the constant situation reports and dealing with the slime of the Stairway company.
“I’ve been following the journey of Astral and Sassi, and felt I had to do something,” the mayor said with a huff, stamping a hoof. “I’ve had contact with the company before. I’ve already given the information to the Guards. But I want to see them burn more than anyone.”
Seeing Twilight’s raised eyebrow, the mayor blushed with embarrassment.
“Sorry, Highness. The Company used my wife as ransom years ago to ensure certain locations within my city could act as safe houses. We managed to break free of that situation, but the safehouses remained a leverage point until now. I’m happy to aid the Guard in rooting out that filth. I’ve already given them the exact locations.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear it. Any information is, of course, greatly appreciated.”
“I did want to offer something else,” Gold explained. “Whenever those two escape from that dreadful Silo, there’s some unused property on the edge of the city. A few housing complexes, and an old, abandoned observatory. I heard Astral enjoyed the stars in one of the brief bios on the radio and would be honored if the location was considered for a recuperation site after renovation. Free of charge, of course,” the stallion’s green-tufted ears drooped. “After what they’ve been through, it’s the least I can do. I don’t expect them to offer tours or anything, but it could put the property to good use. That’s all I wanted to offer.”
Twilight bowed her head in thanks, the mayor’s ears perking up.
“I’ll certainly keep it under consideration as one of the many options I’ll present to them. I think a peaceful location such as your city outskirts would be greatly appreciated by them. Thank you, Mayor Mint.”
The pony smiled, trotting off as the next individual was brought it. As far as the first petitioners went, Gold Mint’s proposal set a cheery tune for the rest of the day.
Even with so much evil about, the good ponies still found ways to help.
Astral wasn’t sure how much longer he slept, but it was at least a few hours. The rise and fall of Sassi’s sides against his was strangely comforting. He was unable to get back to sleep, letting out a frustrated mumble.
I’d like to stay all night like this.
The mare yawned, sliding out from under his head. Two tired but affectionate eyes glanced his way, a rare, shy smile on her face.
All night and all day. Even if we can just talk. Away from all of this.
There were a hundred topics Astral wanted to broach. Some rather important ones, others simply out of curiosity. But they all revolved around one thing.
Us.
What would the future look like for them?
I don’t know, but I can’t wait.
A pleasant string was plucked in Astral’s mind; Sassi’s happiness bleeding over the odd hive mind as she scooted forward to give him a brief kiss.
“I wouldn’t mind waking up like this more often,” Astral whispered.
And by that, I mean every night.
“Same here,” was a soft, loving reply. “How are you feeling?”
He couldn’t hide a pained grimace, Sassi frowning at seeing the stallion’s limbs shiver.
“Been better. Took a walk earlier. RASP suggested it.”
“You up for some food? We’ve got some more fresh stuff from Arcane.”
Managing to turn his head, Astral saw the plates of delectable foodstuffs off to the side.
“I wish we could take more of it,” he sighed, “but we can enjoy it while we can. Seems like a lot for just us.”
“I think he just likes making it,” Sassi mused. She briefly explained the project-memory encounter with Arcane. Astral got the distinct sense that it was unsettling to the mare more than she let on.
“Do we even know what he went through?” the stallion mused.
“I have no idea what experiments the Company conducted with chaos magic, but Silo three was a black hole. Very little information and that was saying something,” Sassi replied with a frustrated huff. “I was only here very early in my life, and then dealing with the prisoner blocks most recently.
Astral sighed, briefly filling in Sassi on the general topics he had spoken with Arcane on his walk.
“He seemed more at ease, and I feel like we can trust him,” he concluded. “Your thoughts?”
Sassi paused for a few moments at that question but nodded.
“I agree. I feel he’s on our side. I’ve seen no ill will from him. But he’s erratic.”
“With chaos magic, that’s understandable.”
“And I don’t know how much that is a part of him. So guarded friendship,” she then grinned, “or a guarded siblinghood, as you put it. RASP siblings. I never would have thought of that, but a good way of putting it.” Scrunching up her face, Sassi tried to hold back a laugh. “Maybe could use work on the phrasing since I love to kiss you. Siblings….ew.”
Astral let out a pained laugh at her words, munching on some fruit that Sassi brought over.
“Hey, it was a spur-of-the-moment thing! And the overall point still stands. What’s in the supply crates, by the way?”
“Things that you need to try on if you can stand.”
A frustrated grunt was Astral’s answer, Sassi helping him off the medical bed. Surprisingly, the stallion was able to stand despite his shaking limbs.
“Well, this is progress!” he said rather proudly. “Minimal assistance from the suit!”
A nuzzle on the cheek was the stallion’s reward, Astral not able to resist uttering a soft, happy hum.
“I like cuddly Sassi,” he mused, A gentle poke on the shoulder was her reply.
“And I like cuddly Astral. But let’s see if some of this gear fits you,” she replied, pulling out various items. “We’ve got a new helmet for you since I need to use the one matching your armor for the miniguns.”
“Makes sense.”
“There’re some cut-down shotguns for you, that’d probably be best since it doesn’t require as much aiming. Explosive shotshells.”
“Mmm. That sounds like a good idea. Wish I could aim though,” Astral mused, catching a glimpse of some of the ammo. “Whoaaaaaa. Those are some sizeable cartridges!”
“You’re drooling.”
“I am not.”
Astral’s pout was too adorable for Sassi to contain a giggle.
“Well, you can have one of the shotguns, the other side of your armor can be some storage, and my flamethrower. It still has almost all of its fuel left. We can throw in your meds and medical supplies, along with some rations. I’ll take some extra too, along with the two miniguns that your reactor can recharge.”
“The reactor powered by your love?”
Astral was treated to Sassi’s face turning bright pink, her eyes not meeting his briefly.
“Have I ever mentioned how absolutely romantic that is? We should write a book about all of this. Best. Romance. Novel. Ever,” he added.
“I-you…” All Sassi could do was glare for a few moments before scrunching up her muzzle with a frustrated “Hmmmf.”
“Am I wrong?”
“No.”
Her pout softened on getting a brief kiss on the nose from Astral.
“You do realize I love the fact we can bond looking over weapons, right?”
The playful glint in Sassi’s eye returned, the mare giving his shoulder a light shove.
“Well, likewise. But let’s get through this gear lovercolt.”
“Faaaair enough.”
Sassi withdrew four items, slotting two of them on her wings and then his.
“Huh. Only heard about these once from Flask.”
“Wing covers?”
Extending an appendage, Sassi grinned as energy filled between the metal, the covers mirroring her wing’s anatomy.
“Armored wing covers with energy shields to cover the webbing areas. Basically, deployable shelter. Not so great for flying, but we could use the protection.”
“Neat!”
It was a bit of a hassle to put them on Astral’s wings, but he finally managed, making sure they fit before removing them. He was lying down most of the time, after all.
“So, shotgun and flame-thrower for me, armor, older helmet, and then you’ll have the miniguns? Both of us stock up on supplies, and we should be good?”
“That about covers it.”
Astral looked back at the reactor, a familiar smirk dawning on his face.
“And of course, the reactor needs to be refueled now and again.”
The mare couldn’t help but smile, grumbling as Astral leaned over to kiss Sassi on the nose.
“You being a romantic is going to take some getting used to,” she added, eyes widening as his ears drooped ever so slightly. “In a very, very good way.”
His ears perked up again. Come to think of it, Astral hadn’t really elaborated on all of that. Having to suppress and ignore ideas, and activities he enjoyed, all because of a future he never thought would happen. Yet now…
The door chimed, Sassi giving him a final nuzzle before turning to look. Arcane paused, an odd, shimmering armor covering his frame before vanishing.
“We may have a problem,” the unicorn stated gravely, eyes looking over the two Thestrals. “You’ll have to move by the end of tomorrow. It’s not safe anymore.”
“What changed?” Sassi asked, putting on the extra minigun and her helmet as Arcane shook his head.
“That won’t do you any good right now. I can show you if you want. The security doors are being compromised by Number Two,” the unicorn said flatly.
Sassi frowned, taking a few steps-
The mare barely caught herself before falling flat on her face.
“Sassi?” Astral asked, voice tinged with worry.
“I’m fine. Just, my legs didn’t want to work. Feel rather heavy. Must have slept wrong,” the mare muttered, Arcane watching the pair with a furrowed brow.
Sassi’s helmet flashed with a disturbingly lengthy explanation and alert in her HUD.
‘Warning. Changeling dynamo temperature seals compromised. Increase in temperature detected with sensitive components. Significant emotional drain monitoring subroutine delay detected. Stand by…delay corrected.
Attention, immediate action required. Emotional buffer systems decreasing in efficiency at a linear rate. Continued draw of emotion will negatively affect emotion source.
Recommendation: Confirm primary user medical status and evaluate removal of additional healing crystals to slow temperature increase. Caution; this may be a temporary measure.
Essential course of action (Maximum delay, 24 hr): Shut down changeling dynamos to allow stabilization of temperature. Permanent damage to energy source and reactor components will ensue if dynamos are not shut down to stabilize temperatures within twenty-four hours.’
“What is it?” Astral asked, Sassi frowning. While she trusted Arcane to a point, there were some things she’d prefer not to explain unless she had to.
“Something with the reactor. I’ll check this out and then work on it,” Sassi explained. She felt a hum of worry in the back of her mind; Astral wasn’t buying it.
“This won’t take long,” Arcane interjected, tossing his head.
“I’ll be here,” Astral sighed.
Sassi followed Arcane out the door, the unicorn clad in both a horn restrictor and odd bracelets on his limbs made from the same material.
As they walked down the hallway towards the security doors, it was Arcane who broke the silence.
“You’re being drained, aren’t you?” he asked calmly, Sassi’s eyes narrowing.
“How did you…?”
The unicorn tapped his metal-encased horn with a sad smile.
“It’s easy enough to sense. Access to chaos magic broadens my senses even with restrictors. It’s simple to see energy flowing from you into the reactor; I saw it when we first met. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what kind of energy, especially considering how much you care for each other.”
Turning a corner, Arcane then stopped, his brow furrowed in thought.
“Being drained like that can leave you an emotionless husk if you let it go too far. I assume the RASP systems will shut down before that. But is Astral worth that to you?”
“Always,” was Sassi’s immediate answer without even thinking. Her response seemed to spark a bit of amusement in the other pony, but there was some genuine confusion behind his gaze.
They continued walking to the doors. The first opened, and Arcane gestured to some stressed points on the second door.
“The metal is being worn away here. These are the locking mechanisms. I doubt this is Two’s direct work, but rather his minions.”
“Fony’s?”
“Fo-what?”
Sassi snorted, shaking her head.
“Sorry. Short for fungus pony. Freaky creations I saw before meeting up with you.”
“Ah. Those,” Arcane said softly. “In a word? Yes. You must have passed by the spores. They’re all connected.”
“How so?”
“It’s a modified pathogen. I don’t know what it is, but my chaos magic can keep it at bay. It infects organic tissue, and Two can control the creations. Create organic matter into something else, spread the spores, and so forth. But mainly it shapes them into mutants.”
“Twenty-Eight could too.”
“I’m not surprised. I think the pathogen was once used as a binding agent in early experiments. So they have a rudimentary hive mind. Two is the oldest, and has the most control. Twenty-Eight stuck to its territory until Silo Two detonated.”
Sassi sat down with a frown, the second security door sealing shut.
“So, what do we do?”
Arcane didn’t answer immediately.
“I’m leaving, or at least, I hope to,” he explained. “I’ve created a dozen capacitor crystals farther down the hall and saturated them with my magic. I’ve had to teach myself teleportation, as chaos magic usually messes up the spell. If all goes well, I’ll be transported out of here.”
“Can you take us with you?”
A sad smile was Arcane’s only reply for a few moments, the unicorn shaking his head.
“No. I don’t even know if I’ll survive. With anything above low-level spells, my control is fleeting at best. You’d be torn apart by chaos magic. And I can’t make a path for you to the surface or exit either. I might end up just vaporizing this entire Silo, you included.” his ears flattened.
“I want to help, but anything I try will make it harder for you to escape at best. At worse, you’d be killed. I won’t have mor-” he stopped, taking a few deep breaths. “I can’t help you that way. You all must leave before I try my spell. The capacitors will likely detonate and destroy this entire area; I’ve set them up to at least. That’ll slow down Two. But you can get a head start before it gets to the prisoner block.”
Sassi shivered at that thought. It wasn’t a pleasant plan to venture near there.
“If Two gets to the convicts, even if they’re dead bodies, it’ll have all the raw organic material it needs to create even more minions. You need to get well ahead of it before that happens. There are a few out-of-control floors and testing areas between us and the prison block,” Arcane continued.
She was a bit thrown off by how forward and open the unicorn was being, but he didn’t seem to be lying.
May as well phrase that.
“You’re being awfully open and helpful, Arcane. You’ll have to forgive my skepticism,” Sassi admitted.
A shrug was his reply, the unicorn not meeting her gaze.
“So, I guess, why help us so much?”
Her question prompted an instinctual response from Arcane, his mouth setting into a firm line, the unicorn seeming to draw into himself ever so slightly.
“I’ve no reason not to,” he said slowly. “You’re the first kind ponies I’ve talked to in years,” the stallion continued in a soft, almost whisper. “And it feels nice to help someone. It’s why I agreed to be trained by the Company originally. I just never realized I was signing my soul away.”
“Well, know it’s appreciated. Maybe we can show you some good places to eat once we’re all out of here,” Sassi mused.
That promoted a look of utter confusion from Arcane as if Sassi had just suggested the sky was actually an ocean held aloft by the breaths of apple trees. Yet there was that flicker, that fire of hope deep in his eyes.
“I’d like that,” he finally said. “Both of you being so kind is off-putting. I never expected it.”
“You’ve done nothing to deserve anything but our kindness, oddities and all,” Sassi said gently. “Besides, Astral’s offer still stands. RASP siblings. Even if it makes me dating Astral sounds…weird.”
That joke earned a tentative smile from Arcane.
“Well, first things first. We only have another day or two. I wouldn’t rely on the inner door for long. It’s thinner than the main one,” the Unicorn explained.
“Then we’ll get things sorted soon.”
As they walked back, Arcane piped up again. Sassi got the feeling that before everything, he was a rather approachable pony. But that feature had been long since beaten down. Astral seemed to have unlocked a bit more of the unicorn’s personality, as it were.
Or simply gained his trust. Arcane came off as a bit more guarded around her regardless.
“The RASP reactor is heating up. You may want to shut it down. Being drained of emotions is likely not going to cause permanent damage if you monitor things, but it’ll impact your combat efficiency, and future efforts to fuel the reactor,” he advised. “If you keep draining past the safeguards, it could permanently damage you. I only read a bit about the dynamos when I was being fitted for a prototype suit years ago.”
“RASP told me as much. I’ll shut it off today, and then on one of those haywire floors up ahead. The capacitors blowing will give us a brief reprieve.”
Arcane nodded, seeming content with the plan. He then stopped on their way back, eyes drifting to the floor.
“Sassi? Was it worth it?” he asked slowly, almost childishly. It was as if he was expecting Sassi to lash out at his words. The stallion’s demeanor was confused as if struggling to stay present.
“Was what worth it?”
He waved towards the medical center.
“Waiting for someone like Astral. I know what you went through, at least what the files say. Was going through all of that…does having him make it worth it?” The unicorn’s eyes met Sassi’s for the briefest moment, and the mare felt her chest clench.
He’s afraid.
Sassi had seen the look many times in a mirror. A terror that couldn’t be explained to anyone unless they had been there. Overwhelming fear that the life you lived was all the world had to offer.
That a life of pain is all you have.
All that you deserve.
A warmth bubbled up in Sassi’s chest, the mare unable to keep a smile from her face.
“I didn’t know for a while. I never thought anything would be worth it. But now I can say yes. Absolutely.”
An emotion tried to claw its way out of the depths of Arcane’s gaze, the unicorn staying quiet as he thought over her words.
“He’s lucky to have you,” he finally said.
“We’re lucky to have each other. We wouldn’t have gotten this far otherwise.”
The ghost of a smile dawned on Arcane’s face, the stallion nodding as the two began walking again. Sassi peeled off towards the medical bay, Arcane waving a hoof.
“I should have said this earlier, but you’re free to explore around. I have my private quarters and there are storage rooms across the hall from that. You already found the lounge outside my room,” he explained. The unicorn’s face darkened briefly. “The halls farthest from here, to the east on your compass, are along the path you’ll take to exit. I wouldn’t recommend going there just yet. The area is damaged. If you must, just be careful.”
He then trotted off, Sassi making a mental note to definitely check out the exit path. Arcane clearly was not mentioning everything; it was like he was purposefully making it a mystery.
But first, Astral.
More developments indeed 
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A stray thought occured to me: the Company dead on arrival the day it had to cement Astral, seems like it supposedly had a bigger failure than the Skitter Queen overruning the two Silos.
Kinda like Black Mesa with their unexplained unproportionate military response and the alien threat that they have been experimenting.
I feel like Silo three houses an SCP. If it was SCP 87, it would fit into the name of the Company too.
Or it probably houses Discord's ex, based off the official MLP comics
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It's certainly good ground for a crossover for sure.
But...counterpoint.
What if there's something worse
They're going to come out as celebrities.
😏
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I blame you.
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My work is complete, lol.
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I'm convinced that this entire story has been leading up to this one moment in time. Arcane to me represents that figure of questions and assurance.
Let me explain. Sassi had her fair share of skepticism behind how Astral felt and what his true intentions were. It has been countlessly repeated in these past few chapters that Sassi feels like she is looking into a mirror when she sees Arcane. Her own doubts and worries, fearful of what power she has and whether or not she can trust those around her. Astral represents that feeling of hope. Something that far too many times is repeated throughout this book. A sense of hope that everything will be okay.
Arcane Flare's own actions show that he is confused because this has been his home for far too long. He never wanted to be there. He was used and experimented on because of his power, and now, he's fearful of what could happen. That's how chaos works. Look at his name and I can bet that is not on purpose!
What does all this mean? Idk, but what I am hoping happens is that Arcane lives and learns to control the magic he has, which is a big "what if?" scenario. Sassi finally sets her mind free and lives to explore a future that was once promised to her. She'll see her adoptive father again, and it'll be that whole "I'm so proud of you" moment you feel after graduating or a wedding. And Astral? I expect it to be a rough ending within Silo Three, but he'll eventually break free with Sassi to the surface. Idk how long it will take, due to therapy and the like (I remember Cure For A Toxin), but eventually, he'll reunite with his parents briefly and feel a sense of relief that his past can be erased due to foul play. Sassi and Astral will live out their lives together, however long that will be, and somewhere in there, I expect Doctor Borealis and Toxic Shield to make another appearance.
I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THAT!! Astral goes through physical therapy with the help of the good hippogriff doctor. And Toxic Shield can lead the LLO to find those two Thestral's and help them get to safety.
It's all just a theory.....A BOOK THEORY! Aaaaaand, close.
It’s a great success, I love the story. You’ve become rich authors I see.
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There's a Friendship is Witchcraft joke that's too perfect to make here. IYKYK