Hunt and destroy with all resources 47%
“You don’t have a choice,” Rainbow said, hacking and coughing. Whatever had happened to her during the creature’s brief attack, it was slowing her down. There were burns on the front of her armor, most concentrated near her head, and her rifle’s capacitors had all exploded. The suit seemed to have protected the rest of her from that explosion. “We have to bring it down. Once that thing gets into the buckin’ ruins, it’s gone. No way it doesn’t know we have a ship. It has to come back before we leave.”
They were all gathered near the front of the camp—all those who were part of the defense, anyway. Pinkie was there beside Twilight, along with rainbow, Rarity, and the three mechanical ponies. Spike had remained back to control the guns.
“Okay,” Twilight said. “But not you, Rainbow. No, don’t even try. You’re going back to Fluttershy before those injuries get worse. We can stay in touch with us over the radio if there are any orders to give.”
Rainbow looked like she might argue again, until she suddenly flopped sideways, legs scratching at the ground for a few seconds and wings flapping uselessly until she righted herself again. “Yikes, okay. You’re right. I’d be a liability. The rest of you… get that thing. We’ve already got it on the run.”
“Running where it wanted to run,” Pinkie said, unhelpfully.
“We will,” Twilight promised. “Rainbow, back to the Prospector. You can help Spike on backup if you get on your hooves again. But that’s on her orders, not yours. Apple Bloom, Iron Horse, you take point. Let’s go.”
“Right!” Apple Bloom saluted, and Iron Horse imitated her. Together, they galloped off across the Memorial grounds. It was getting dark, but not dark enough that they couldn’t still see the thing retreating along the horizon. Despite its indistinct nature, they could watch it clearly.
And see when it passed out of the Memorial grounds. The transition was instantaneous, as it transformed from a cloud of noxious smoke into an alicorn pony, the one she’d imagined she had seen while it was trapped. The transition was instantiations, like removing the polarizing filter from a lens.
“What the hay was that?” Apple Bloom asked. “Captain, are you seeing this?”
“Sure am,” she said. “Keep following. We’re committed now. One of us wins today.”
The creature didn’t go much further over the border of life. There was a wide entrance cavern leading down, wide enough that several ponies could cross it abreast. It led down into the gloom, and the groaning and shifting weight on the planet-sized metal city.
“Don’t like the look of that,” Pinkie whispered. “No sun, no fun. Bad news.”
“I know,” Twilight said, stopping beside her. “But we don’t have a choice. What if it can find more? Lead them back to us. We can barely fight one.”
“We’re on the right track,” Iron Horse said, adjusting his rifle. “I’ll lead, Captain. I don’t know what this thing is, but if it has anything to do with what happened to me… it deserves some payback.” He galloped down, roaring his rage at the darkness with a mechanical voice.
They followed, more carefully. The walls narrowed almost immediately, and bits of broken machinery soon blocked the path. Twilight light up her horn like a spotlight, illuminating the chamber. But Iron Horse too was gone.
“This is… dusty,” Rarity said. “I don’t see another exit. I believe this is a dead end.”
A blast of static came through the radio—whatever advice Rainbow had been trying to give them was lost to the concrete and steel above their heads.
“Guard the door,” Twilight said. “If something tries to get past you, shield us in. Everypony else, with me.”
Node was soon beside her, with Pinkie on her other side and Apple Bloom in the lead. “I hope you’re right about mechanical creatures being immune to its effects,” Node said. “I’ve grown attached to this body. I don’t believe I would enjoy fabricating another.”
“You suffer for no reason,” said a low voice, rumbling through the room. From the far side, steel snapped, turning molten orange on the edges. “The solution will be shared. It must be. It already has been. The universe is full of misery and only oblivion is the cure.”
“Buck you!” Apple Bloom called. “I’m not afraid of you! You’re just talking big to them because! Try me instead!”
“Okay,” the voice roared. “Let’s test that theory.”
Is Iron Horse corrupted? Yes, and always has been.
There was no dark Alicorn emerging from the shadows—instead, a pony-sized blur burst out of an overturned machine, aiming his rifle squarely for Apple Bloom.
Iron Horse. He had Apple Bloom dead to rights, with the energy weapon aimed directly at her head.
Sweet Celestia.
Iron Horse fires with a lethal close-range attack. Miss
Apple Bloom was stunned, but she was also fast. She dropped, and the air above her lit up with charged plasma. At the same time, Pinkie raised her own rifle, took aim, and fired.
Hit? Yes
The robot-pony’s torso exploded at the hit, plastic melting and dense power-cylinder spraying sparks. The rifle fell to the ground with a clatter, and was still.
Twilight heard the roar from further into the cavern, and saw a shape emerge. “A waste! Your survival is a conundrum! The H̤̤̰͚̪̟͉͛̓ͪ͂U̷̝͖͆͋ͅN̙̱͉͇̼͈̠G̱̫͉̲͇̤̒̈́͘Ẹ̼̳͓̱̐ͧ̇̅ͨ͟R̡̫͛͐̀ ͇̺̹̻̖͓̅̽ͯ́̾will find you like it found me!” Then he charged, straight at Twilight.
It attacks Twilight. Hit for 3 lethal damage.
She felt the strange presence in her mind again, and this time her shield couldn’t go up soon enough. She smelled burning flesh and charred mane as it attacked her, through internal wounds that were still delicate and newly healed.
Can she keep fighting through the pain? Yes.
But Twilight didn’t drop her rifle. She still had two shots left. She fired both of them in quick succession at the creature, as it drew closer and closer.
Twilight takes aim. Critical success.
She wasn’t the only one to be shooting. She smelled ozone in the air, and her eyes washed white with energy. She could hear Apple Bloom screaming in animistic anger, as she emptied her entire rifle.
By the time they were done, there was nothing left between them but an oily residue.
Time blurred for Twilight, and she wasn’t aware of much of anything else that happened down in the tunnel. Next thing she knew she was back out in open air, and Rainbow’s voice was in her ear, asking for orders. Through her delirium, Twilight made her decision.
1. Gather evidence from the two corpses and try to figure out what this damn thing was.
2. Send a team of non-injured ponies to get the Crystal Heart.
3. We’re done here. Withdraw from the planet with all valuables.
(Certainty 235 required)
Do one. Gather some evidence and figure it out THEN go for the crystal heart. I wouldn't be Supprised of the corrupted thing was what was left of either cadence or flurry heart considering the presence of the crystal heart there
I don’t see why 1 and 2 can’t be done at the same time.
That being said...
SPIKE IS HUNGRY
I'm not opposed to any of these options, but I think that while we're here, we should try and learn from the corpses. Option 1 for now, but I think they ought to start packing up.
These secret options...."Spike Is Hungry Too"....how the hell do you even get type that effect....
Christ these dice...not punishing bad decisions and rewarding recklessness as usual. I think Twilight should absolutely not study the remains. At all. Just because it is a corpse doesn't mean it can't lead to HUNGER. Though going after the heart almost sounds like a worse idea. Lots injured pones already, Fluttershy won't keep rolling well forever. Study the damn things but let Node do the thing while Twi does the metal pone.
How about, we STOP TESTING FATE, and get the hell out of dodge, and away from this death trap. We already lost Iron thanks to the choice to hunt it down, let's stop lingering, and get out before something ELSE finds us. Like, you know, that giant freaking robot worm from earlier that is still out there.
Recovering the remains to study them should be a priority, the Heart should stay were it is... Should
9550500
It won't happen if people don't vote for it.
"Study the remains" - Am I the only one concerned that bringing the remains back for study might be a bad idea? In horror movies, just because something seems to be dead doesn't mean that it is dead. For all we know, Twilight or whoever else could be studying the remains and the monster suddenly comes back to life and does something horrible...
After going back to the chapter where the Crystal Heart was discovered and reading that paragraph, I question whether retrieving the Crystal Heart is a good idea. Especially when the words "predatory call of frustration" are used.
Everything is going to hell in a handbasket. Twilight is injured, Rainbow is injured, and Iron Horse is dead. I hope the crew makes it out of this without something horrible happening.
9550467
It's called the Zalgo Text Generator.
Life ain't easy. Never give up. Option Two is my vote.
Per ardua ad astra!
You want ardua, you got it. Anything worth having is worth fighting for.
I say leave the crystal heart alone. It seems like it was left as is intentionally to me. In fact I suspect it's the source of the greenery and possibly the fertility of the ground near the monument. It also seemed dangerous but contained to it's own area. It's true it could easily prove useful as a resource, but in this case I feel like we'd be tempting fate a bit too much and possibly doing more harm.
Leaving feels high on the list, but we always do well to study what we can when we can.
The remains may be contagious...
I really don't see why we couldn't do 1 and 2 at the same time. That said, I vote an autoposy's more important.
Also damn it Iron Horse. Good thing I lose last vote and we didn't send JUST Iron Horse and Applebloom.
And oh DAMN IT what's up with Spike hungering?!
9550595
Good point, but the crystal heart may have simply been powering the containment. With nothing to contain, everything may autonomously shutdown.
Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait WAIT
We're not playing XCOM
Going for insanity roll....18.
I say we study the remains, but I don't see why we can't do both Option 1 and then Option 2. Perhaps next time?
9550705
Huh.
Crap.
Thank you dice, talk about XCOM level aiming.
Thank you dice!
That went better than it had any right to. 1, we need to know what is going on if possible, so let's not walk away from the available intel.
Edit: I'm definitely now a tiny bit concerned about Spike, but that choice is losing handily.
Well. Not the option I wanted, but it went about as well as it could have. Remember, Iron Horse's loyalty was determined several chapters ago, in a roll that was never revealed to us until now.
Now? While I am tempted to better understand what the heck that entity was, some knowledge is more trouble than it's worth. The Verdant Heart, however, might help reduce the risk. Get a sense of what it's doing and can do, and maybe we can come back to the Grease Smear Formerly Known as Antagonist.
Or we'll have all the more reason to get off this rock. Either or.
9550705
Clearly not. One of the good guys lived because of that miss.
9550777
Best Comment
I choose option 1.
I'll bet one of these creatures is the reason for Pinkie and Twilights' problems during cryo-sleep. There are probably more, which means you need counter measures. Find out all you can, develop a way to fight, then load the remains into a probe and launch it into the nearest star. They also seemed connected to the void/hungry evil world ender. You need to know more.
P.S.- Maybe Cozy Glow is corrupted as well, but it may be time to try getting answers from her as well. I'd probably do that after speaking with Sunset though.
Well shit.
9550518
(I was merely trying to do something a little different with my comments. They don't interact with the story unless the author chooses to include them - never mind.)
9550705
THE TRUTH REVEALED! Voyage of the Equinox was X-COM all along!
...seriously, first we get crazy point-blank misses in a fight with an alien monstrosity, and now we're about to go study its corpse. X-COM!
Wow, that went bad. But it also shows another terrifying possibility that I see some here might have missed. If Iron Horse was already compromised, then becoming a machine life is no guaranty of safety. Which might possibly mean that the signalers were consumed by the Hunger even after this extreme measure was implemented. Heck the nano machines that attacked Applebloom's team probably were infested by there influence. The Squid! Where is Applejack's infested leg!?!
First off, I'm not voting for that autopsy. I am not reliving the Thing in this story. (Especially the chest opening thing where the guy gets his arms eaten in a chest mouth.) But before we leave we should do a full account of things we might need. Seeing as the Signalers solution is looking sketchy, why don't we take the Crystal heart and try to make a super purification spell to do what this civilization failed to do or possibly failed to save themselves from. Get that heart!
"Spike is hungry too" is an option???
Why would we choose hunger?
We need to determine what our mission is.
Simply returning to Equus now won't provide any information.
We know that there was some sort of time travel shenanigans; we might be in some sort of loop that needs to be closed.
We don't know anything of value to report back to Equestria yet.
We don't know how/why the crystal heart, or any of this, got set up.
And, am I correct in thinking that there are three ships worth of crew/crashed on this planet? Sunset the sole survivor from hers, and cozy/apple bloom/others from the third?
I think that what we need is for healing / recovering the injured / getting information from the survivors of the other expeditions.
Hey starscribe, what Zalgo text generator are you using for your corrupted text? I’ve never seen one able to do those curves dashes inbetween characters before.
Edit: typo
9551277
I'm using http://www.eeemo.net/
9551191
At least. 1 The Equinox, 2 AB and Iron Horse's ship, 3 Sunset's ship, and 4? Cozy Glow's ship, which may or may not be the Equinox.
9550520
I agree with you. . . it really, REALLY looks like the Crystal Heart is a focal point for HUNGER, or possibly that the focal point simply took the form of the CH based on drawing on memories from the Equestrians it's consumed.
In honour of the opening of season 9 (all those villains, especially Grogar) I hereby vote for number 4 (it's in the strawpoll).
None are happy choices. That's not good...
Too bad for him, we had high hopes. Question is, how does that reflect upon the rest?
Probably. But one question remains: Who.
I voted to study the remains.
That should be the quickest way to get answers. We can still get the heart and leave later.
And no, Spike isn't H̜͕͇͞u̼̗̹̳͎n̴̹̩̳͇̥͙̘gr̫̩̲̣̙͡y.
May have found a typo:
Shouldn't it be "his" orders? Or who is ordering?
9551279
How are you getting it to do the curved dashes between letters?
S̪p̩̪̱̥̠i͍k̶͙̣̫e͢ ̛̹̥̱̼I̪͔ś͈̭͔̺̤͉̖ ̴̫̻͇̙H̜͕͇͞u̼̗̹̳͎n̴̹̩̳͇̥͙̘gr̫̩̲̣̙͡y ̹̮̥̳͇̻̯T̥̠͚̠͈o̻̤o̧̭̹͇͔̬
Like the dash between the r and y in hungry
9551980
Ohh, this is interesting.
Can I include images here?
No. Darn.
snag.gy/aYodCP.jpg
has what it looks like in the comments, with Comic Sans as primary (lacking a lot of unicode), and another font as secondary with the unicode.
snag.gy/fAZwxt.jpg
Is what it looks like here, with *only* that normal font (different sets of requested fonts between the story and the comments.)
Still: It looks to me like it is a curved arc modifier on the top of the "y", much like the tilde in Spanish on top of the "n", just wider than a character (So, automatic negative kerning? Or a glyph that doesn't modify the kerning even as it exceeds the bounding box? Can you imagine deliberately running into adjacent letters with that?)
Also, is "kerning" the proper word for adjusting the spacing of letters in print? I thought it was, but my browser is calling it a redlined mis-spelling.
ugh. "redlined" and "mis-spelling" are redlines.
Know your enemy
Y'all need to stop with the insanity I could argue that since twighlight s hunger has been brought back down to 0 then it shouldn't even be possible to attract it's ire without direct intervention like the borgacorn
9551382
Y'all need to reread. She and her splinter cell got her on board in secret when the ship launched. She was refitting ( or preparing to launch her coup) when she was discovered by apple butt and twighlight. When she realized her cover was blown when the trap was triggered in the cargo section she blew open the hangar doors to try to escape in the prospector that had been RECENTLY FABRICATED at that point.
9552213
9551406
It's not impossible that the Equinox was boarded mid-flight and Cozy Glow was inserted covertly. Spike was awakened out of hibernation by the initial (still unknown) damage to the Equinox, meaning whoever or whatever caused it could have theoretically had free reign of the ship up until that point.
Supporting this theory is Twilight's assertion that infiltration prior to launch would have been ridiculously difficult. The eyes of an entire nation--three princesses, numerous agencies and departments, and countless individual ponies (not to mention a literal god of chaos who fawns over his friend and I'm sure said his lengthy goodbyes)--were all focused, nay, heavily invested in the outcome of this launch. Cozy's slippery, sure, but is she good enough to slip past all of them?
9551191
It's not necessarily time travel shenanigans. They checked the ship and it aged appropriately meaning whatever happened wasn't even related to relativistic speeds like I initially thought was the cause. The ship got from Equestria to this system and during that trip spent enough time doing it that Equestria sent at least one ship looking for them that made the trip faster.
There is evidence that during the trip something happened that woke up Pinkie and she fought off something that damaged her mind and saved Twilight who vaugely recalls being aware during her cryosleep because of an uknown lack of effect of cryosleep in Alicorn's and mentally screaming for help. Spike took dragon naps during the trip but doesn't recall noticing it suddenly being a lot later in the years.
I'm confused about Iron horse, if he was always corrupted then what was that loyalty roll result.... Wait was that a successful roll to remain loyal to the Hunger?! Was that planned or was that a roll too... Now I'm more confused.
9552538 so were throwing movie magic out the window? Context clues can only take us so far before we have to apply fancanon for discrepancies. How does it make sense that the twighlight sparkle princess of being a nerd doesn't have one point in every field for her sheer interest in aquiring knowledge. And that's the least of my examples. Frankly it surprises me that there wasn't a prolouge were as the equanox was taking off there was an attempted assaniation/coup that starscribe left as a cliff hanger... Forever. My point being: ARE YOU saying that the equanox was interdicted mid FTL buy a ship that was AT LEAST as fast as the equanox(I am assuming they had the magitech to stop a ship without ... You know... De-atomizing it. Because if you think it makes any sense that any thing can doc two ships together mid FTL makes more sense AND is more likely then being snuc aboard before hand then your... Just wrong.) AND was ALREADY in league with the Hu∆Ng3¥r Judging by pinkies injuries and hunger level aquired sometime before being woken by twighlight.) That means that a ACTIVELY HOSTILE CREW WITH TOTAL ACCESS TO THE EQUANOX SOME TIME WHILE SPIKE WAS TAKING A MYSTERIOUS 200 YEAR NAP DIDNT JUST THROW THE MANE 6 OUT AN AIR LOCK THEN sure dude go ahead and think that I guess. so what your actually saying is that not only did they bring the ship out of FTL without destroying it. That some how pinkie was freed ALONE giving enough to become functional stoped a boarding enemy force intent on hungerifying everything. Then fought a brain battle with a god damn SKA ( that isn't an acronym a SKA is a race of primordial space night-mares that FEED on Anguish and fear similar to changlings that use a slightly younger ancient evil race to eradicate weaker species to feed on there emotions) cut out a brain tumor herself. Then went back into cryosleep pleasant as you please to wake up nearly over the moon.... .... ....
Oh shit.... Maybre spike was awake helped pinkie fight the Invaders off saved pinkies life but left with a hint of corruption that forces him to forget everything so he can't warn the others. And pinkie is left dramatically un able to recall due to her condition DIOS MIO! man... I hope star scribe reads this has a giant shit eating grin RIGHT NOW.
9550485
I think we were just shown by Iron Horse that becoming a machine life does not guaranty an immunity to things like this. So Twilight going metal might be pointless for that reason....
9552801
I rolled to see if he was corrupted, and he was. By saying "always" I was just indicating that he had been from the moment he first appeared, not suddenly by the shadow creature now.
9553277
I meant the loyalty roll a few chapters ago when he first sees Applebloom it says loyalty roll postponed.
You're rolling now to decide if he was always corrupted but wouldn't that have changed some of his interactions? A roll for a will save I can understand but a roll for character motivation confuses me a little.
one corpse is Iron Horse, the other is who? (I'm dumb)
9553529
It might be Starscribe was letting the story progress naturally before a critical moment could force it. This gives us a potential fear that not only how crafty things like that shadow Alicorn can be but how at any moment an ally can be turned... even a mechanical one. Applebloom never seemed to notice a difference in Iron Horse. This Hunger is really reminding me of the creature from the movie The Thing.
9554252
The shadow creature.
Speaking of X-Com, according to the current poll results 24 people would ally with the aliens.