//------------------------------//
// Chapter 81 
// Story: Voyage of the Equinox 
// by Starscribe 
//------------------------------//



Coach Spike and have him retake the Equinox. 47%



Spike scratched uselessly at the medical bulkhead, widening the grooves he was making along the lock. Had this been simple steel, he would have been though it hours ago. But they’d built the Equinox to last, and that meant its most important parts could endure anything. Including dragon claws, apparently.

“Don’t bother, Spike,” Fluttershy said, voice weak. “You heard what she said. We can leave the Equinox as soon as it’s about to crash. She’ll take us with her on the escape pod.”

“I won’t let her do that,” Spike said. He didn’t turn around, didn’t stop carving. IT was no use, but he had to do something. “This is my ship as much as Twilight’s I’m not going to lose it while I’m in command.”

“Spike… nopony blames you for this,” Fluttershy said. “I’m not sure anypony is responsible for—”

But Spike didn’t hear what she said next, because something was traveling up his throat. He felt the flames begin involuntarily, the same way they always did. Except that he hadn’t experienced this is over forty years. Magical scrolls were a quaint novelty in a world of radio. Their only real advantage was integrity, since only a pony who he’d given some of his dragonfire could send to him.

It wasn’t an elegant scroll with a stamp and red ribbon that appeared in his claw, but a large blueprint roll, hastily sealed and with something dark red soaking into part of the paper.

It was blood. Twilight had powered this spell with the most potent thing an Alicorn could use. Even magical defenses wouldn’t have stopped it.

Spike stopped clawing at the door, catching the roll as it materialized and turning to face Fluttershy.

“Princess C-Celes—”

“No!” Spike rolled his eyes. “If Celestia was going to start sending us things again, why would she use the blueprints to Node’s artificial legs as writing paper?”

“Oh.”

Spike chose an empty patch of floor, rolling out the plans. They had already destroyed the only camera, so he didn’t have to worry about Cozy Glow seeing them. She was confident in her knowledge that they were trapped. And until very recently, she had been right.



Spike,

There is only one creature who can get the Equinox back—you. After running the numbers on the Prospector’s computer, I can tell you that you have until about 21:00 before the orbital decay becomes critical. If you can shut the thrusters down before that point, our orbit will remain stable for several days. If the Equinox continues to fall after that, you have an additional four hours, until 1:00 hours tomorrow, to reverse thrusters and pull out of the dive. At that point, only the engines could reverse our fall, and obviously repairing them would take too long.

You heard Cozy’s ultimatum, if I make any attempt to board, she will vent the air and kill both of you. This demand is not entirely empty—there is an emergency airlock in medical for loading directly into the medical bay after an emergency. While you continue with what I outline below, Fluttershy needs to sabotage the mechanism according to this diagram. When she says she can’t do it, remind her that airlocks are designed to stay shut rather than open and that I know she can do it.

As for you, Spike, your mission will be much more difficult. It involves great personal risk, and if you choose not to take it, I will not think less of you. You’ve already made me proud with your performance on this mission. I could not hope for a better second officer.

Even if we stop the thrusters from making us lose orbit, so long as Cozy Glow remains aboard, there are a dozen ways she could destroy the Equinox if she has the technical skill. She is your main target—you must subdue or kill her. The first is preferable, but don’t hesitate to do the second if she leaves you no other choice.

First, there is a single section of medical that can’t be manually sealed—medical waste disposal. It travels to an incinerator that would not harm you even if it was running, which it likely isn’t given the emergency status of our reactor.

Once you arrive at waste processing, you will be only a deck below central computer. Travel there, and perform a restore from the crystalline backup stored there. During this process, all computer control will be locked out for the 48-hours or so required to perform the restore.

Once this is done, it should be safe for me to board the Equinox and help you. But even if I cannot join you in time, you should be more than an equal for whatever Cozy has prepared. Find her, retake the Equinox.

Spike, I don’t mean to alarm you, but there is a real chance that if we wait for Cozy Glow to complete her plan, that all our friends will die. After sending this message, I’m going to do my best to hook them into life support, to keep them alive while they wait for Fluttershy. There is no guarantee that I’ll succeed. 

No matter what happens, know that I love you Spike. You were the best little brother a pony could ask for.

-Twilight. 



“Wow,” Fluttershy muttered, staring down at the scroll. “She really thought this all out, didn’t she?”

“You know Twilight,” Spike answered. It was either laugh or cry—so he laughed, tears streaming down his eyes. The future of the Equinox—any chance that they would ever see their home again—rested on him.

It was his choice to make.

1. Attempt Twilight’s plan. [dangerous]
2. Retake the ship another way instead, chancing dragon resistance to hard vacuum and a biohazard suit to spacewalk to another entrance. [dangerous]
3. Wake Sunset Shimmer and use her unicorn magic to try and retake the ship. [dangerous]
4. Do nothing and let Cozy carry out her plan.

(Certainty 225 required)