Twilight flies down for a rescue 38%
Twilight was powerless to help as she galloped through the Equinox, heading straight back to the docking bay. Every second counted, and even an instant takeoff would still make her about fifteen minutes from arriving.
By the time she’d made it into the Prospector, she could hear the panicked shouts coming in over the radio. Rainbow again. “Multiple airborne contacts out of the Memorial. The whole roof just opened! Buck me, there’s so many!”
Twilight smacked down into the pilot’s chair, running through the pre-launch checks in a blur of motion. “I’m on my way!” she called back. “Keep them alive, Rainbow! Keep me apprised!”
“Aye! When I get a chance!” She switched channels. Twilight didn’t take her hooves away from the controls to follow her until she was leaving the Equinox behind, with its three barely-awake ponies as a crew and one frozen stowaway. Nothing better go wrong while we’re gone. But there was no reason to be that worried about the Equinox—she’d been built to survive many decades of hard travel in space, she wasn’t exactly going to crumble to nothing in a few hours.
Twilight burned into the sharpest descent-angle the Prospector’s heat shields could handle, then switched her radio into ‘universal reception’ mode. It would still transmit on the general channel, but it would overlap the transmissions she received from all channels in one, so she could listen.
Personal radios didn’t have the power to get into orbit, but their base had a repeater antenna. So long as it was still standing, she would be able to hear them.
As soon as she flipped over, she heard automatic turrets. “They’re physical,” Rarity’s voice, coming from the same control room spike had been using before. “Yes, it’s bringing them down. Or… wait. How many of these things are there?”
Are the turrets an effective defense? No.
“You don’t want the answer to that,” Node responded. “Sonar suggests several thousand contacts, with more streaming from the interior. Your tracking software is throwing overflow errors. Attempting to compensate.”
Rainbow’s voice cut through the static. “We can hunker down or we can run. How good is your shield, Rarity? Can you hold them off until the captain arrives?”
Does Rarity have the magic to shield the base from an attack like this? No.
“I could buy you five minutes,” Rarity said. “And that’s assuming we all packed into one of the buildings. I can’t shield a whole base like Twilight.”
“I don’t mean to be a bother,” Apple Bloom this time. “But they’re starting to fly past the turrets. There’s just too many to shoot at all at once!”
Rainbow’s voice again, this time sounding clearer. She’d switched channels to the general high band again. “Captain, please advise. We don’t have the hardware to defend our base. We’ve got thousands of airborne contacts. Mechanical, a little like the ones you and Applejack saw. Any ideas?”
Twilight gritted her teeth, biting back her frustration. If she’d been there, she could’ve shielded the base for fifteen minutes. But she had to tell them something.
1. Hunker down as best you can. Grab a turret, use your shields, everything. Hold out.
2. Apple Bloom is mechanical, maybe they’ll ignore her. Send her into the memorial and try to shut them down.
3. Run for the city, and prepare for extraction there instead.
4. Pinkie suggests the contingency would be useful. Maybe if it was connected to bigger power source it might be able to stop them somehow.
(Certainty 230 required)
Well, shit.
Rarity just said they can't hunker down for long, for 1 is out.
Applebloom might be ignored, but there's no reason to believe she can find a shutdown switch for these, if there even is one.
3 looks like our best bet. Make a break for it, and then have Twilight pull off a daring escape. Not the best plan, but the best we're given.
4, as much as we're inclined to trust Pinkie's pinkie-isms, just seems like too much of a gamble.
I vote 3.
The poll may be putting its faith in
Blast HardcheesePinkie Sense, but retreating seems like the wisest move at this point. They're outnumbered and outgunned, and it's not like Twilight has much left in the tank herself.Just before the final wave of creatures, droids, drones and zenowhatsits clashed they all broke out in a song and dance number...
Pinkie!
It's all I could think of at the time
🎵 Spike take me now 💕 🏩 🎶
where?
None of the options aside from 3 are viable. Rarity can't hold out for long, Applebloom might not find any shutdown switch even if there is one, and Pinkie....well, as I've said before, we can't keep relying on her.
I choose two, for no better reason than doing something is better than running away.
Don't know if we have time to run at this point. Let's trust Pinkie.
We must trust in the pink one. She is never wrong.
All in on the Pink one. That's going to get us in trouble eventually, but hopefully not this time.
The contingency seemed meant as a place to live in, not a prison. If we stuck them in there... then what? I doubt they'd just shut down. Away from whatever activated them they might just go berserk or explode. It'd be crazy to try to use it for it's intended purpose then. I mean I guess we could just use it as THE PRISON ORB. But if we go that way then we GO that way, it'd be very hard to go backsies.
Running is the only thing that fully makes sense. Hunkering down sounds very dangerous and unlikely to go without a hitch or four. Sending AB may work or it may not... and even if it did she's going to get pretty dang sore at us for constantly using her like a soulless tool to save our butts at some point. It's one thing when you know or at least have evidence, it's another when you keep (literally) rolling the dice and hoping she's safe.
We need a base they said, we shouldn't leave they said.
Gotta say none of these options are appealing. This is what happens when you FIGHT THE BIG SCARY MONSTER BEFORE YOU'RE READY guys.
The only option that even has a prayer of success is betting everything on the contingency. If we're not gonna use it now, when the hell are we?
9572124
.... you mean... you beat the monster? That's what happens? Because we beat the monster. This was more of a random thing that happened after space surgery. And also went bad by chance before we got back.
Pinkies Judgement is invaluable. Option 4.
ALWAYS TRUST THE PINK
Who thought it was a good idea to send her down there! :/
Isn't the contingency device.... Pinkie is speaking from hunger again, isn't she?
This is the first time I’ve voted against Pinkie. Node couldn’t be affected by the Contingency. AB will likely not be able to use it either. I see it as more likely to cause ABs death from being abandoned than even the option to send her out on her own.
Ponka suggestion
With 3, will they be outrun?
With 2, will it come down to an immunity roll?
With 1, how many rolls will it take before the crew is all dead and/or all mechs like Apple Bloom?
With 4, will it actually work? And if it does, will it work as intended?
I've never been more convinced that 2/3 of the crew is going to go down than I am this chapter. (Then again, I said that not too long ago for two back-to-back chapters, and everypony rolled critical. So who knows?)
We really needed not to get fucked all at once. If we go with the contingency we lose a good ending for this run. Though we may have a couple more. This is an RPG please don't use the mysterious and epic item for a ZONE CHALLENGE. YES THIS IS DANGEROUS but now is not the time to be expending quest items. Run to the city I beg you
3.
Make a run for it, while the base defenses are still able to slow them down. The orb is meant as a sanctuary/refuge for large populations to escape the void. We don't know the intentions of these drones or what their objectives are, so hunkering down and/or sending AB has a high chance of blowing up in our faces. Running now seems like the best choice out of those present.
Unless the drones aren't hostile to biological entities... and even then Node and AB would be kinda screwed, wouldn't they?
9572611
They're not going to use it to escape into, they're weaponizing it. Read the choice over again. "stop them somehow".
Using a colloquialism such as this represents an … interesting character development for Node.
9572731
Well, it's not necessarily going to be irretrievably expended. It'll just, you know, be infested with weird dangerous monsters.
I don't want to over-rely on Pinkie, but this particular suggestion seems to be something worth doing: none of the other options are particularly good and it doesn't smell to me like the sort of thing that would be very susceptible to betrayal via whatever was corrupting her mind.
9573216
Someone in the Discord corrected me as well. I still don’t think it’s that grand of a choice and worry it’ll just suck them all in. Thanks for setting me straight though, I’m not as opposed to it as I was.
(That moment when you actually look closer at the name and realize the poster /is/ they one who corrected you on Discord. 🤦♂️)
9573501
Just keeping it clear wherever one may read it comments XD
When doubt trust in auntie pinkie pie
9572731
What are you blabbering about? This is a story.
9574787
Have u like .. read the authors notes on this story.?? Why do you think every chapter ends with a vote? TLDR means while the writer controls the direction all important decisions are made in an RPG style dice roll system. Every good thing has been Critical positives every injury has been a failure or a failed Dodge. When you caste a vote the writer doesn't determine how he wants them to happen( he has been rather frustrated with our good fortune) when this decisionS have consequences those are determined by apple bot which can be found at the star pub discord. I recommend reading through it is fun. If.. perhaps you already knew these things. And we're merely being critical of my comment then I guess that's just your a opinion
9573216
if you think " stop them some how" makes more sense then retreat to the city outskirts to get an immediate pick up from sparkle. Thats.... Just non-sense yes they very well may be injured escaping. But at least they will be escaping. If they are hostile which it seems they are. Then setting up a device we don't understand relying on an Idea by an individual so far out side of her field she is suggesting this while wobbling her hooves back and forth saying "maybe a good thing will happen" fuck off. If we fail any step of this process while notactually knowing what to do. Someone dies and that's a fact. If there not actively hostile then leaving is optimal and what we were doing any way.
9574867
Someone read one remark and ignored the context of prior comments. I am in fact in favor of retreat. I was merely correcting someone, indicating that Pinkie's suggestion is to weaponize the orb, not use it as a way to evacuate the crew.
You really ramble, yourself, I've noticed. So at least make an effort to understand what others are saying.
9575111
Ah I see.. sorry :-)
It's frustrating having like 200 other readers being part of the vote but not part of the community by not commenting on these chapters. I guess some people just want to see the world burn.