Go look for the others to help first (except Node)43%
Spike was in the cockpit of an Apollyn fighter. It didn’t matter that none of the interceptor craft had ever been built for a dragon, and that his claws should’ve bene clumsy on the controls meant for hooves. It didn’t matter, because Spike was under attack.
The metal of Spike’s fighter screamed as he passed into the cone of a Changeling Entropic Accelerator. Armor plates bent and strained as complex alloys decomposed into their constituent parts. His claws fumbled at the controls, searching for his shield—then the field reached his reaction chamber, and liquid fire in his fuel-canister ruptured into the cockpit. He exploded in a spectacular fireball, silently venting gasses into space.
Spike was in the cockpit of an Apollyn fighter. Sirens filled his ears, resolving more quickly than they might’ve the time this happened. ‘Multiple contacts detected. Enemy firing solution detected. Pilot should perform evasive maneuvers!”
He took in the tactical display—two dozen red marks behind him, and only one blue streak not far away. Ahead of him was massive outline of Canterlot Orbital Station. Ten million lives were all packed into that incredible feat of engineering—ponies living under artificial gravity, with a spell holding in their atmosphere.
A spell the changelings meant to shatter, killing anyone without access to an airlock, and separating the city’s population for harvest. Spike rested his claws on the controls, letting his eyes lose focus as he took in the little red dots. He knew from personal experience just how terrifyingly accurate this was. Thousands of pony ships had been deployed when the battle started. But as it neared its end, only three remained.
Metal screamed as Spike’s ship began to tear itself apart. He attempted a roll, trying to dodge out of the Entropic Accelerator. But the maneuver came too little too late, and his left wing sheared right off. With only one tactical thruster he began to spin in painful loops, smashed against his acceleration netting until the changelings fired again, and he exploded properly.
Spike was in the cockpit of an Apollyn fighter. Spike didn’t think this time, he just moved, pulling on his new library of tactical maneuvers. He pulled into a series of twisting, backward loops, relying on the gravity-spells inside his cockpit to keep him from turning into purple goo. He rolled into position behind his first attacker, then released all the stored inertia of his dodge. The changeling interceptor tore right down the middle instantly, releasing fuel and pilot alike into the void.
But there were a dozen others, all suddenly focusing on him, pulling away from the only other blue speck in his vision.
“Ap-Spark, this is Ap-Pris. What the buck are you doing in my sim?”
“Rainbow?” Spike opened a channel. “Is that you?”
A few seconds to break concentration was too long. The instant three enemy fighters had a targeting solution, Spike’s fighter tore itself apart, and he died in space.
Spike was in the cockpit of an Apollyn fighter. A single glance told him the combat had reset exactly to where it began. He duplicated his maneuver from the time before, then moved immediately into a wide arc up through the ecliptic. This moved him out of the way of the station below them—it would’ve meant mission failure if he let them focus on Canterlot for too long. It would mean the death for thousands—millions. But there was no one there. “It’s me, Rainbow. And I need your help.”
Despite the flashes of fire and debris as ships died around them, Rainbow sounded almost cheerful. Thank Celestia you took this seriously when it was real. “What’s up?”
“You know where we are?” Spike didn’t take his claws from the joysticks this time. He moved from one maneuver to another, like a textbook areal demonstration. Unlike during the real event, these ships were far more concerned with killing him than the station below. Beat you to it. What is dead can never die.
“Flight simulation computer in some kinda… incredibly-advanced city. My best guess is that the Contingency time traveled us way back in time. Maybe this is how the city started?”
Rainbow’s fighter rocketed below them, leaving a glowing trail behind her. Where Spike moved like a program from one maneuver to the next, she danced. Rainbow’s fighter was no different than any other Apollyn, but she moved nothing like he did. She twisted and weaved and changed direction abruptly, turning each course-correction into an attack that left another changeling fighter shattered.
How many times did you practice this? “That’s…” arguing would be pointless, particularly with a pony like Rainbow who couldn’t understand the technical ramifications. “Close. Twilight sent me in here to bring you all back. But I’m having trouble with Applejack. I was hoping to get everybody together, then maybe use a little peer pressure to help her leave?”
Will Rainbow leave? Critical yes.
“End simulation,” Rainbow said.
Abruptly, the cockpit above spike went black. The realistic simulation of motion faded, and a mock-airlock hissed. The sturdy ceiling lifted out of his way, and Spike rolled onto a polished floor.
They were inside, but the architecture sure was familiar. It was the city, all-right.
A few meters away, Rainbow emerged from her own cockpit, landing on all fours. At least she wasn’t wearing one of those weird exoskeletons that Applejack had been using—just an acceleration suit, the way a real Apollyn pilot might. “I’m not sure what you mean about getting us together. I’ve been alone in this city for… a while. I just thought… I would stay busy, you know?”
“And see if you could win the most important battle in recent history on your own?”
She grinned.
Rainbow’s flight skill increases to 6. Rainbow’s tactical skill increases to 5.
“I could’ve done it. I mean, I couldn’t have then. But I could’ve then if I knew what I know…” she trailed off. “You get it.”
He nodded. From the way she’d been flying, Spike believed it. “Well, you’re not… separate, exactly. You ended up in separate, uh… sections. But I can move us around with any console. Those, on the wall there? I can use that.”
“That’s what Node said,” Rainbow whispered, going suddenly solemn. “It was more flying with her. But then she went to go find the others and…” she trailed off. “I thought she must’ve been wrong.”
Nope. Spike had to make a split-second decision.
1. Investigate the Contingency system to discover what has happened to Node.
2. Save Rarity.
3. Attempt to contact Twilight to examine the system externally.
(Certainty 210 required)