Sacrifice Applejack’s project. 47%
Twilight didn’t want to tell any of her friends they had to stop working. Each one of the crew had some critical mission to accomplish, or at least they thought they did. But ultimately there was only one pony on the crew she trusted to protect the ship from gravity and wind.
“I get ‘ya, captain,” Applejack said, raising her welding mask with the back of a hoof. There was a strange metal claw-apparatus on her foreleg now, one that folded flat when she walked but extended into interlocking mechanical grippers. Twilight had never seen anything like it in her life, though the design reminded her of those little drone things that had attacked the camp while she was in orbit. Only this one was clearly something Applejack had made.
“I can do it. If Spike says we can, anyway. There’s, uh… maybe a mite of compromise to be made in a situation like that. What we’ve done to reinforce is one thing, but… we need more metal, it can’t come from nowhere.”
1. Scrap the Prospector. We’re all in on the Equinox now that Spike is inside it.
2. Scrap the storage bays. Huge empty space, lots of steel to work with. If we have to haul cargo again, we can tow it or something.
3. Find an asteroid near Proximus C and mine. That distress call didn’t seem that urgent, right? A few months of metal refining and we don’t have to give up anything. [Applejack keeps her full repair project after all, at the cost of two months.]
Once her decision was made, she sent Applejack on her way. The Farmpony had seemed subtly changed since her time in the Contingency, but Twilight hadn’t confronted her about it. Twilight would probably be just as disoriented herself if she got sucked up into a ball or something.
Travel resumed, with each of her ponies returning to their work. Each had their own mission to complete, and their own goal to achieve. Twilight remained especially attentive to Sunset Shimmer, who had refused to sacrifice her magic on the altar of better chances of survival, no matter how broken her body seemed.
Does Sunset Survive? Yes.
It was a very near thing. More than once Sunset was rushed into the medical bay, for Fluttershy and Node to work with a combination of Equestrian medical science and Node’s bizarre suggestions. They cleared clogged arteries, cut necrotic tissue, replaced damaged organs. As the trip went on, Sunset grew stronger. Her body finally started healing into the mechanical leg-grafts, sealing around them as she’d meant to.
Finally, she could walk around again under full gravity without strain, and Twilight started seeing her at work on other parts of the ship. Mostly that meant she was with Apple Bloom.
Project completion status before arrival:
Node/Spike's Project = INCOMPLETE
Rarity's Project= COMPLETE
Rainbow's Project = INCOMPLETE
Apple Bloom's Project = COMPLETE
Twilight finally intruded on them as they neared their destination, stooping low as she entered the isolated workshop. The air was heavy with the smells of plastic and metal from a fabrication machine. A pattern crystal was slotted into place even as she spoke, and metal extruded through the air into the shape of beams and joints. Twilight didn’t have to wonder what it might be, because there were several of them skittering along the floors, the walls.
She squealed, raising a shield around herself as one stopped right in front of her.
A spiderlike metal creature, not as tall as her knees, with tiny tools on the end of each leg, and a pivoting sensor module on top. Mostly plastic, with little bits of metal.
“Oh, captain!” Apple Bloom emerged from beside a large gray box, which hummed quietly even now. “I was going to call you tomorrow, but you’re here now. I thought you might want to see this.”
Twilight waited another moment, but the little robot didn’t attack. Finally she lowered her shield, glancing around the room. There were just over a dozen of them in the relatively small space, most of which were gathered around the large box. Even as she watched, one curled up and climbed up inside, vanishing from sight. “So what am I seeing, exactly?”
“We stole them from the signalers,” Sunset Shimmer said, standing just by the doorway. “They call them Anytaskers, but our design isn’t nearly as smart.”
“Fixit spiders,” Apple Bloom supplied. “Beautiful, ain’t they? They can weld, seal, cut, bend… in or out of atmosphere. And with Spike in control of the Equinox, I figure he might want some tools for keeping things running that don’t rely on ponies much. Automation for the little stuff, leaving us for the big stuff.”
“It’s innovative,” Spike’s voice said, from the nearby wall. “Good. Not every member of the crew was so successful. Node and I are encountering… setbacks. But I’m thrilled to have this option for remote control, even if I’d prefer to just have a body.”
“It’s remarkable,” Twilight said. “I assume they aren’t vulnerable to going crazy on us with Spike in control? Won’t attack us like the flying ones did on Proximus B?”
“No,” Apple Bloom said. “It’s our circuit, not theirs. Without this control box here, they just sit quietly. No danger to anypony.”
“Good.”
Equinox gains: Drones (Repair: 3)
Twilight found similar frustration from Rainbow Dash as she walked through the weapons room. While Rainbow had clearly been close to getting one of their torpedo bays working again, she just didn’t quite have the engineering acumen to get there in time. Twilight wasn’t about to ask somepony else to stop their own important work because Rainbow thought that was the right idea. They’d be unarmed, again.
But at least they wouldn’t be defenseless. Rarity had built an impressive apparatus, just one floor down from the reactor. The shield crystal, several thaumic capacitor banks, and a large Signaler-design processor bank. Even with nothing going on, the central crystal glowed and spun, twisting at random as the ship decelerated towards their destination.
“And the best part is, no intervention is required. That’s rather the point, since it activates for such short times. No reactor at the scale of the Equinox could generate enough power to effectively protect the ship. But most of that capacity is wasted when there are not threats. Engage a shield exactly when it’s needed, and now we’re talking about something we can achieve. We have achieved.
Twilight took another look at her spell diagram, nodding in approval. “It’s incredible work. When we bring this back to Equ—right.”
“We’ll get back,” Rarity muttered, touching her lightly on the shoulder. “We’ve made it this far thanks to you, captain. Don’t give up now.”
(Certainty 200 required)