//------------------------------// // Chapter 64 // Story: Voyage of the Equinox // by Starscribe //------------------------------// Don’t stop Applejack. Interrogate Apple Bloom for what she knows before moving forward 38% “You shouldn’t do that!” Fluttershy called, from the other side of Apple Bloom’s bed. Much too far away to make a difference. Twilight reached out with her magic, but hesitated. Does Pinkie’s Insight warn her to stop Applejack? No. About 38% of her will was paralyzed with indecision. Just long enough for Applejack to embrace her sister on the cot, brushing away metal fibers as she went. “I’m so glad to see you, sis,” she muttered. “This whole thing… it’s been a real mess. But yer alive, and that’s what matters.” Is Apple Bloom’s condition contagious? Critical yes. This infection requires only physical contact with an infected person to spread. No fluid transfer is required. Is Applejack infected by hugging her sister? Yes. “Get away…” Apple Bloom muttered, her voice weak. She pushed Applejack a few steps away from her with surprising strength. She was an adult Earth Pony. She used to be. Not soon enough. The metal fibers of the cocoon clung to Applejack’s leg where she’d brushed them aside. Twilight could see them wrapping around her leg, digging in deep. “Everypony back!” Twilight yelled, her voice taking on a little of the Royal Canterlot. “Right now! Fluttershy, get back! Node, you’re probably okay. Everypony else, behind me.” As usual lately, Applejack ignored the instruction. She hadn’t even noticed the change. “What’s wrong, sis? Aren’t you happy to see me?” “Course I am…” she croaked, pushing herself upright into a proper sitting position. “That’s why I want ye to get away. What the hay were you thinkin’ getting so close?” Her eyes jerked immediately to her leg. “You’ve got about thirty seconds before it gets into the blood! Is there a… there!” she pointed at the operating table, and Fluttershy’s surgical saw. “Twilight, captain! You can amputate her leg! Do it, or she’ll end up like me! Less… dead than I thought, but… do it!” “That isn’t my choice to make,” Twilight said, lifting into the air and hovering just a little bit closer. She took the saw in her magic, along with the emergency field medicine kit. She might not be a doctor, but she could knock someone out for an emergency surgery. “Applejack, this is your choice. I need my engineer. Do you need your leg?” Will Applejack allow her leg to be amputated? Yes. Applejack nodded, eyes widening with desperation. “Cap, I had no idea—. Family… you know how it is. I haven’t been thinkin’ straight since I woke up on this damn mission.” She looked down at her leg, wincing as the fibers dug in deeper. “Do it.” Twilight pushed out the sea of thoughts with her focused will. Magic coursed through her, pushing her off the ground, melting the textured floor. Time seemed to slow around her as she flew across the room to Applejack. The medical kit exploded as she searched it rapidly, removing the nitrogen needle with “critical painkillers” inside. Fluttershy would do a better job here in every way. She even had a makeshift operating room to do the procedure. But there just wasn’t time. Twilight blasted the needle up against Applejack’s neck, then aimed her horn far enough up Applejack’s leg that there was no more trace of the spindly metal fibers. She could only pray to Celestia it would work. Does the infection get her too fast for Twilight to stop it? No. She didn’t use the saw—that was too slow. Poor Applejack would probably be feeling all of it—she started screaming. Twilight held her rigid in her magic, blasting at the joint with the same focused lance of energy she might’ve used to eviscerate a changeling Interloper that had boarded her ship. Viscera sizzled and popped onto the ground, then the infected leg fell away. Twilight’s surge of power was draining fast—her own body had been badly damaged too, and even a little weakness let the thoughts back in. Those thoughts were now dominated with Applejack’s scream of agony. With her last gasp of strength, she applied a tourniquet to the wound, tightening it with the latch. Then she set Applejack down, some distance away from her severed limb. Fibers continued to lace across it, eating through the floor and the discarded saw. But whatever they were doing, they seemed content to remain in place just like Apple Bloom had done. Twilight didn’t see what happened next. Her energy was finally spent. Not long after she set Applejack down on the ground, she collapsed, and the world turned black. Does Twilight see the hunger in darkness? Yes. There were no restful dreams for Twilight, or even the restful dreamlessness of oblivion. Instead she saw the alien memories play before her in an endless loop. Nonlife swept across the stars, turning planets barren and causing activity on every station and ship to stop. Numbness is peace, it said to her. You will find your way here in time. Join me. It called to her. Does Twilight resist its pull? Yes. No. Not today. She woke up. Twilight was back in camp, in the medical building. Applejack lay on the bed beside her, unconscious and covered with a blanket. Even through it she could make out the obvious absence from her side. And just beside that, Sunset Shimmer’s stasis pod hummed unobtrusively. At least there was no window to see her accusing face. “Captain,” Fluttershy said from beside her, voice sensitive. “No, don’t get up. It’s a miracle you were moving as long as you were. I’ve never seen such serious nerve-damage outside of mind-magic attacks before. I have you on regenerative therapy, but it works best if you rest.” Twilight winced, then lay back in the cot, closing her eyes. “I see Applejack is still alive. And not… metallic.” “Yes,” Fluttershy said. “That butchery you called an amputation saved her life. Spike is working on a prosthetic for her now, should be ready by the time the wound is closed. But she won’t be on her hooves again for a few weeks. And… she’ll never be as strong as she was. Earth pony magic comes through their hooves, you know.” “I know,” Twilight groaned. “What about…” “The mechanical pony,” Fluttershy supplied. “I quarantined her and the entire preservation lab until we get your order. We left her a radio and some rations… not that I think she’ll need them.” And for once, Applejack won’t be able to override me. Not in bed with one less leg. “Alright, Fluttershy. I think…” 1. We should leave Applejack in a medical coma for a bit. She’s become more and more difficult to control ever since we first discovered her sister. We can wake her up once we have a better idea of what’s really going on with Apple Bloom. 2. Tomorrow we’ll have a meeting with Apple Bloom, remotely. Her sister deserves to be part of it, even if she’s in bed. Losing her leg will have taught her all the lessons she needs. 3. Buck it, wake up Sunset right now. I don’t even care anymore. I’m dumping all the pieces out onto the board. We’ll see how they land. 4. The voice of desperation and fatigue suggests Twilight should infect herself with the mechanical virus intentionally. At least then the pain will probably stop. (Certainty 230 required)