Context

Day 55

“Stop fidgeting.” Dr. Wayworth said to Verde. The mare came in to get herself checked out for her physical in order to get the proper documentation to go to Earth. The doctor needed to draw blood from Verde to test it, however, the cold steel table she was on did not help her attempts to stay still.

“Look, if you do not stop moving, I’ll have to draw blood from your neck.” The doctor spoke, pulling back the needle from Verde. Verde honestly expected a quick check up, check for heartbeat, check the ears, ect. But they wanted samples of everything... everything.

“Alright, there you go...” Wayworth said as she saw Verde’s leg stop moving. With a pinprick and a slight flinch, the procedure was underway. Verde looked away from the doctor, preferring not to see the sight of her own blood in a vial.

“Good, we’re done. Now we need to talk about what you should be expecting the day of your journey. You need to understand that this is just a preliminary, you will be given one more medical evaluation on the day of your trip at the neo equinox. It’s just to check to see if you are currently sick and to make sure that you’re healthy enough to travel” the doctor spoke while extracting the needle.

“Also I’ll need you to come back next week so I can tell you how your blood work looks.” Wayworth finished while putting the vial down on the counter of the examination room.

“So do you have any questions for me?” she asked Verde.

“Um, not really...” Verde said getting up from her prone position.

“Send in Jason when you’re out there, I have some things I need to talk to him about.” Wayworth stated offhandedly as she filled out some papers.

“Sure...” Verde replied, feeling a little woozy. Opening the door, she walked down the strangely narrow hallway, turning at the door to the waiting room. Pushing the door open, she saw Jason sitting there by himself, reading his glass tablet thing.

“Doc wants you love.” Verde spoke aloud, hoping to get Jason’s attention.

“She does?” he asked, looking up.

“Yeah, she didn’t say why though.” Verde finished, pulling up to him.

“Also, don’t call me love in public, no pet names...” Jason whispered, nearing a hiss to Verde.

“Sorry...” Verde trailed off with a huff. She hadn’t seen anyone in the waiting room who would pick up on their relationship. Infact, Jason had her agreed on a story: that she was simply an old friend who needed a second opinion from a different doctor about her current health, and he pulled some strings to get Wayworth to see her.

Getting up, Jason left his tablet with Verde and moved to the door she just came from. Opening the door, he looked back at the mare, who smiled at him. He gave what seemed an strange smile, as if trying to reply he was happy too, but something seemed off with his eyes. Turning to the door, he disappeared and Verde began the waiting game.

=

Verde got bored quickly. it seemed like hours had passed and there was no sign of Jason. Curious, she trotted over to the door between the waiting room and the rest of the compound and poked her head out. It was a much larger hallway, the one that her mate lead her down to see Wayworth. She had seen very little of the compound besides the gate and lobby.

Well he is taking his sweet time, maybe a little exploration is in order... Verde thought to herself. Trotting out the door, she moved away from the lobby that they had passed. Alot of the rooms had glass walls at her right, with a bunch of covered walls, wooden with the color of brown eggs to her left. Moving quickly, she saw a glass room with a azul unicorn standing at the head of a oblong circular table with a few humans and other ponies, seemingly listening to her. Deciding to take a chance, she perked one of her green ears against the glass and tried to listen in.

“And with that, we have determined that all on site pegasi not flying on survey missions will not be permitted to fly outside the immediate airzone of the base as long as we are in Trottington county lines. In addition, the local Apple family residence has recently made allegations that our presence here, 14 miles away from their property, has adversely affected their Zap Apple harvest. I would like our botany and equestrian earths studies team to work together to prepare a document outlining how our press...” was all Verde tuned in to listen to , growing bored of the pony’s monotone voice and subject.

Moving on, she took a right at the next possible turn to find some stairs. Walking up them, she ascended to the second level of the building. The hallways had not changed one bit, but she noticed that the office doors were gone, with a bunch of labs and large rooms replacing them. She saw a sign pointing to a ‘computer lab’ and another sign pointing towards ‘Landscape Survey Department’. Having little interest in computers, she moved towards the Landscape Survey’s direction, finding more signs like ‘Laser testing’ and ‘Server room’.

Perhaps server room meant that there was servants to serve food, and I’m getting a bit peckish... Verde thought to herself as she pushed the door open. She was greeted with loud humming, almost overwhelming her ears. Folding her ears to try and cease the loud ambiance, she left the room as quickly as she could, rolling out the door. Whatever was in that room, it wasn’t food.

“VERDE!” a familiar voice cried out. Popping her head up, she saw Jason moving towards her, her ears still ringing from the overtly loud hum of the room. She said nothing, while she was still dazed, she wanted to give the impression that she was just fine. And she would be fine, she just needed a few moments to get her bearings.

Standing up, she wobbled a bit while trying to walk to Jason, her ears still ringing. She could feel his hands grasp the sides of her shoulders as he pulled himself in close.

“Verde, you don’t look so well, come on, lets get you back to Doc-” Jason was interrupted.

“I’m fine sweetie, just give me a few moments...” Verde spoke with a slight wobble. Jason didn’t let go.

“Do you mind if I pick you up? I’ll take you to the break room and ge-” Jason tried to help again.

“I’M fine...” Verde proudly spoke. “I’ll follow you.”

Nodding, Jason let go and motioned her to follow. After a few steps, the dazed pony got her bearings and followed her mate. She followed him back down stairs, almost tripping as she descended. Jason always made it a point to point which direction they were about to turn to, as if thinking she needed time to shift her weight.

They entered a small slice of the building, somewhere she missed and tried to help her sit down on the pony/human stool.

“Don’t patronize me!” she yelled as Jason tried to help her sit down. This was embarrassing, needing help from her stallion to do anything. Lowering her head, she realized her hearing was getting better as she could hear a faucet pour water in front of the soft hum of a freezer and scratching of Jason getting her some ice.

Putting the cup of water down in front of Verde, she grabbed it and took a sip. He took a seat in front of Verde and remained silent, letting her control the pace of the non existent conversation they were having.

Verde could feel her own ear’s unfolding, exhausted from protecting her hearing for so long. She was calmer now, the cool water sliding down relaxed her.It took her a few moments but she realized that she yelled at Jason a few times during his attempts at... rescuing her.

“Coming to my rescue again huh... I thought it was the mare that was supposed to save the stallion...” Verde chuckled, trying to show Jason she was more at ease. Looking up, he looked worried.

“Where I come from, its the guy who is supposed to save the girl, but frankly you just looked stunned, nothing that needed actual saving...” Jason teetered off.

Verde took another sip of water, letting it all sink in. In between the blood tests, the Doctor poking her everywhere, and a surprise of the Server Room, her attempts at asserting her marehood constantly fell short of her expectation.

“New hire?” A new voice surprised both Jason and Verde. “See you just found out about the bigoted dicks next door to us, don’t worry it took us all by surprise, I’m Steve.”

The huge human towered over the sitting couple, his hand outstretched.

“Put your hoof in his hand, handshakes are standard human greeting.” Jason softly hissed at Verde. Following his instruction, she felt the tall, dark man’s rough hand with her hoof, to which he grasped it and shook it up and down a few times.

Steve let go and moved towards the ice box. Grabbing a soft glass bottle, he came to the table that Jason and her were sitting at and joined them.

“So, stuck at orientation again? Don’t tell me, Jerry is out again.” Steve chuckled, twisting the top of the bottle off before chugging the brownish substance.

“Steve, this is Verde.” Jason spoke, introducing Verde.

“Ah, good to meet you, let me guess, PR department? With that cutie mark, I can’t see what else you could do around here.” Steve burped.

“Guess Gentlemen for Mares didn’t take you...” Jason muttered.

“Fuck them, they said that I don’t ‘pay attention to the customer’” Steve bemoaned.

“I told you that it wasn’t JUST a fuck service...” Jason responded.

Verde just stood there, realizing she was listening to Jason and Steve discuss this in any kind of formal setting.

“Oh shit, I forgot to finish signing off on the GUZ reports, I’ll be back.” Steve rose up, jogging quickly from the room.

Jason and Verde just sat there, taking a few moments for the entire affair to sink in.

“He’s really...” Verde began.

“Sloppy.” Jason finished.

“Is he the kind of people you work with all day?” Verde asked Jason, looking at him.

“No, he is the exception. Most of everyone here is professional... he is just young and pissed he won’t get paid to rut.” Jason coughed out.

“So... how are you doing?” Verde asked, moving her hoof to Jason’s hand.

“Your earlier outburst was... surreal, but other then Surprise Steve, I’m doing well...” Jason answered.

“Hey, you and I, tonight we need to have a look at where we are going to live.” Jason said.

“Oh, really? I thought you were going to handle it.” Verde replied, while she trusted Jason on choosing where she lived, it was generally the Lead Mare’s job to dictate where a herd nests.

“I got some advice... that I should let you participate more in any major decisions...” Jason snorted, looking away.

“Apparently, the contents of what a man would do and what a mare does in a relationship... intersect... frequently...” he finished.

“Well... you’re very mareish for a stallion.” Verde giggled. Jason started to crack up a little too. The stress of the day started leaking away from the statement that Verde spoke.

Verde leaned over to give Jason a kiss. Taking a moment, he kissed back, reassuring her that they were going to be fine.

“Oh the things I’m going to do to you when we get home love-” Verde spoke sultry, licking her lips as a familiar voice interrupted her.

“Over your dead body, huh?”