//------------------------------// // Chapter 58 // Story: Voyage of the Equinox // by Starscribe //------------------------------// Six Months. 51% Twilight Sparkle adjusted her woven plastic hat under the harsh Proximus sun. Sweat brimmed on her brow, and the smell of dirt filled the air around her like earth pony perfume. She could feel the soreness in her muscles, roughly proportional to how full the wheelbarrow was in front of her. Fresh carrots were piled inside, each one half as big around as her hoof and glittering with moisture. “We ain’t done,” Applejack called from beside her, eyes narrowing slightly. “We rest when the job’s finished, that’s what granny used to say.” Applejack has recovered from all health conditions. She retains a permanent susceptibility to respiratory infection. “Right,” Twilight nodded, then returned to work. It wasn’t just the two of them—Pinkie Pie was here too, though she had no special talent for crops. But that didn’t matter. They were the three with earth pony magic. It didn’t matter that Twilight was the captain, she had magic to contribute to bring in a big harvest. When they were done, Twilight’s haul went into a large wagon with mesh sides, which would shake loose much of the dirt. At least she wouldn’t be the one to wheel it back. “Thanks for helping,” Pinkie said, as she dumped the last of the carrots. “We would’ve taken another few days without you.” Pinkie’s scars were now almost completely hidden by her fur, except in a few patches on her back that probably wouldn’t ever regrow. Her mind was harder to judge, but Twilight hadn’t seen a breakdown from her in months now. Farming was simple, repetitive, and safe. Routine had done wonderful things for her. Pinkie Pie has fully recovered physically. She has made enough mental recovery to function as an ordinary member of the crew, though she retains a weakness to REDACTED “No problem,” Twilight answered. “Sorry I can’t help you get that back for processing, but Rarity and Spike are expecting me. It’s almost…” she glanced briefly down at her watch. “Horsefeathers. Think I’ll teleport.” Applejack’s eyebrows went up. No doubt she could tell the lie. But she didn’t call her on it. “It’s alright, Cap. That’s exactly what I want you to be doing. You think you’ll wake Sunset today?” “Maybe,” she answered, without confidence. Twilight just knew that Sunset would be giving them information she couldn’t ignore. Once she woke up, their recovery time would be over. Maybe her crew was ready. At least they were all together. Twilight closed her eyes, concentrating on camp—and appeared there in a flash of light. They’d dubbed the little settlement “New Ponyville,” mostly because Twilight wasn’t very creative and the rest of her crew didn’t care. Every member of the crew had their own “house,” earthen humps reinforced with composite and equipped with full airlock. There were also more functional buildings, each one built of white plastic fiber panels. Twilight enjoyed the soft springiness of the grass path under her hooves, the landscaping of Equestrian flowers they had planted to give New Ponyville a little more life. The industrial buildings were a little more drab, though Pinkie had talked about painting them if they stayed long enough. Twilight headed straight for the workshop, a structure roughly twice the size of the prospector, stepped into the airlock, and waited for it to cycle. Every building got its air through the best filters they could make, even though they walked around on the surface and didn’t sterilize with each trip. Twilight still wanted to take every precaution. Sunset’s cryo-pod was up against one wall, and that was where Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike were all gathered. They each wore their uniforms, and Spike stared at Twilight’s comparatively dirty outline as she approached. Spike has fully healed all damage. “Right from the field, huh?” She glared in response. “Well, Rarity? Did you finish your spectrographic… whatever you were doing?” Rarity nodded curtly. “Thermoluminescence.” She was wearing a pair of thin glasses far down her nose, and her disapproval at being interrupted was obvious. All three of the screens in front of her were lit up with sensor readings, along with analysis probably processed through the uplink to the Equinox. “I believe I have. I confirmed with other metallic, uh… miscellanea Pinkie excavated, and I triple-checked. The metallic elements were first cast approximately 350 years ago. With… a ten percent margin of error in either direction.” Twilight’s mouth hung open. She blinked, shaking her head slightly to clear it. “Did you…” It would be stupid to ask if Rarity was sure, she’d already said she triple-checked. “You said three hundred fifty years?” “Which is… longer than we ever intended to freeze anypony,” Fluttershy added, as though that were the most important aspect of this development. “We have no idea how bad the cryosickness symptoms will be. It’s possible she won’t even wake up. Or worse, if damage to the more delicate tissues might be… irreversible.” “Those numbers aren’t possible…” Twilight took a step back from them both, glancing between Rarity and Fluttershy. “Our trip was 41 years,” she said stubbornly. “I knew her. She can’t… this doesn’t make sense.” Did you try dating anything of ours?” Rarity nodded. “Unfortunately the information becomes… more troubling.” “I can’t imagine how that could be,” Twilight almost shouted, voice wild. “A pony I knew apparently arrived here before I was even born. Before the first pony ever ventured into space. “Well…” Spike began. “Deposition lines in my scales says what you’d expect. I’m fifty-three. But…” “But the steel in a spare engine manifold we had aboard…” she lowered her voice to a whisper. “It was forged about 400 years ago. Give or take…” “Ten percent,” Twilight interrupted, slumping onto her haunches. “Yes,” Rarity agreed. “As I said, troubling.” Twilight couldn’t sit still. They had to do something. 1. Hold a crew meeting, tell everypony everything, see what ideas everypony has. Six minds are better than one. I need help with this. 2. Wake Sunset. Waiting won’t make her chances any better. All the answers to our questions are right in front of us. [dangerous] 3. Return to the Equinox and rigorously dissect its long-term storage. Equestria wouldn’t be keeping secrets from us. Maybe I can recover some of the data we lost during system entry. 4. Wake Apple Bloom. Applejack has been waiting long enough. She’ll probably mutiny if we keep her waiting for even one more day. [dangerous] 5. Use the Perseverance of Insight. I could really use some Insight right now. [dangerous] (Confidence 215 required)