//------------------------------// // 15. Drive to Survive // Story: My battery is low, and it’s getting dark // by Naughty_Ranko //------------------------------// *** Mission Log: Sol 5211 *** *** AOS – BSN *** *** Message Received (Source: undefined): Your friend’s quick thinking and your deep reserves of alicorn magic probably saved her life, Twilight. *** “But what’s wrong with her?” Twilight asked. “And how can we be sure it doesn’t happen again?” “I simply do not know, Twilight,” the old stallion replied with a long sigh while stroking his beard thoughtfully. Usually, when she was face to face with her idol, he was all she could look at. Not this time, as the Princess kept glancing over the shoulder of Star Swirl the Bearded and into Starlight Glimmer’s room. Starlight was currently resting under the watchful eye of Mage Meadowbrook who had accompanied Star Swirl upon Twilight’s urgent summons. Thanks to an array of salves and poultices provided by the legendary healer, Starlight was now breathing much more easily again, though she remained frighteningly weak, barely able to stand when awake and unable to stay awake for more than half an hour at a time in the first place. Opportunity, Spike and Trixie constantly hovered on the periphery of Starlight’s bedside, seemingly bursting at the seams with anxious energy, ready to do anything and everything in their power to help, yet frustratingly unable to provide much more than minor chores like fluffing pillows or bringing a fresh bowl of water. “How can you not know?” Twilight asked, just as frustrated as her friends. “I’ve asked every doctor in Ponyville to diagnose her. I’ve asked Zecora. Hay, I’ve even brought Celestia here, and even she can’t tell me what’s wrong! You’re my last hope. You’re Star Swirl the Bearded, for pony’s sake! If this is a magical ailment, you must know something about it.” “I’m not sure this is a magical ailment,” Star Swirl admitted, casting a glance into the room himself, “but I’d rather have Mage here to weigh in on what I’ve deduced before I go into details. In the meantime, your reservoir seems to be recovering nicely, as is to be expected from an alicorn that can draw from each of the three wells simultaneously. How is your friend doing?” Twilight grunted in frustration, sitting on her haunches. “Better, I think. Sunset almost drained her own reservoir to dangerous levels yesterday when we repeated the procedure. She’s gone back through the portal for now. She says her magic is recovering slightly better there since her human form doesn’t require as much to function. Sunburst went with her, just to be on the safe side.” “A’ight, out you go now.” They both turned when they heard Mage Meadowbrook’s southern accent as she waved Spike, Trixie and Oppy out of the room. “Trixie does not appreciate being herded,” the blue magician complained. “Out,” Mage repeated in no uncertain terms, “I’ve done what I can for her right now. What she needs now is rest.” “Stay strong, Starlight,” Trixie said to her best friend as she allowed herself to be led out of the room by the healer pony. The ponies and the rover gathered in a half-circle around the two legendary Pillars as Mage Meadowbrook removed her mask. “Well?” Star Swirl asked. “You were right,” she confirmed with a nod. “It’s not a magical affliction. But whatever it is, it keeps draining her reservoir over and over while also saturating her magic to the point it clumps and starts blocking her thaumic pathways.” “Is it a curse?” Trixie asked. “Dark magic? Possession? Changeling venom? What do we need to do to get it out of her system?” “As I said,” Star Swirl repeated. “It’s not a magic affliction. I’ve done a thorough scan with every diagnosis spell and aura sight charm I know. There’s no trace of foreign magic in her system, dark magic or otherwise.” “But then what’s draining her magic?” Twilight asked in frustration. “She is,” Mage Meadowbrook answered simply, “although she’s not aware that she’s doing it.” “What!?” Meadowbrook and Star Swirl locked eyes, and the old stallion nodded. “Do any of you know the term MIR?” Mage waited a moment while Star Swirl’s horn lit up and he conjured the outline of a pony with his magic. When nopony responded to her question, she went on. “I see. Here’s the brief version. MIR stands for Magic Immune Response. Although it’s most pronounced in unicorns, every creature with an internal magic reservoir has it. Star Swirl?” “Indeed,” the wizard said as he took over the explanation and added what looked like a half-filled tank to the illusion of his pony diagram. “It is basically our body’s natural defense against sickness and injury, and it isn’t necessary to consciously cast any directed spell for it to act, though in this case that’s part of the problem. Most pegasi and earth ponies aren’t even aware of their reservoir and thaumic channels most of the time. Even to unicorns, they only tend to think of thaumic pathways as a way to bring their magic up to their horn when casting a spell. But they’re much more than that.” “Imagine cutting yourself,” Meadowbrook took over again as she walked forward and brought her hoof across Star Swirl’s illusion in a slashing motion. The wizard added a red stripe to the illusory pony’s hoof. “The MIR will detect the damage and direct some of your internal magic via thaumic pathways towards the injury, aiding the tissue in mending itself.” “That is why ponies tend to heal faster and can handle more physical trauma than species with less internal magic like griffons,” Star Swirl added while connecting the reservoir in his drawing with the red stripe via a path of light. He illustrated the reservoir slightly decreasing while the cut vanished. “Right,” Mage Meadowbrook went on. “What seems to be happening in your friend’s case is that her MIR has gone into overdrive for some reason. It seems like it has been drawing steadily from her reservoir for weeks now, and it keeps drawing as if her body was constantly being assaulted from all sides.” Star Swirl added several pathways to the diagram, leading to all corners of the body where angry red spots pulsated, and showed the tank rapidly running dry. “It’s drawing so much that her body can’t refill her reservoir fast enough anymore. Normally the reservoir refills naturally over time, but now the draw is outpacing the intake. What’s more,” he went on as he added circles to some of the pathways in his diagram, “whatever is contaminating her body has started contaminating her magic as well. The magic is trying to bind the foreign contaminant to expel it, but it begins to clump together as it gets overly saturated which leads to the clogging of the thaumic pathways your friend Sunset detected.” “Even worse,” Meadowbrook added, “as the thaumic pathways get clogged up, her body has a harder time transporting the magic to where it needs to be, drawing on and depleting her reservoir even faster to compensate.” The room was silent until Spike posted the question nopony wanted to ask. “What happens when Starlight’s magic is fully depleted?” “Then she won’t have any further defense against whatever is attacking her body,” Star Swirl informed him gravely. Mage Meadowbrook likewise had a grim expression on her face. “And from what we’ve seen, it won’t take long to finish its work, whatever it is.” “And then what?” Trixie demanded in a pitch higher than her normal voice and with her eyes wide as saucers. “She dies!?” She looked around the silent room in the hopes that anyone would contradict her conclusion. Nopony did. “Buck that!” she screamed, wheeling on Twilight. “We can keep feeding her magic from other unicorns, right? Right? Trixie volunteers! Take as much as you need!” A glimmer of hope shone in Twilight’s eyes as Trixie shook her. “Right, that’s right.” She licked her lips as she thought. “We can just keep doing what Sunset and I have been doing for the last two days, clearing her thaumic pathways and refilling her reservoir by imitating her aura. At least until we’ve figured out a more permanent solution.” “Unfortunately, we can’t,” Star Swirl said in a sad tone while shaking his head. “Not indefinitely.” Trixie whirled around and stared at him with murder in her eyes. “Why not? Are you going to stop me from helping my best friend? Is that what you’re saying? Just try and stop me, old-timer!” “That’s not what he’s saying, honey,” Mage Meadowbrook cut in as Star Swirl backed away from the angry stage magician. “The solution your friend Sunset came up with was nothing short of brilliant, really, especially given the pressure she was under to act. But it’s only a stopgap measure. Since this isn’t her own magic, Starlight’s body will eventually start to build up a resistance to the foreign magic and stop refilling her reservoir altogether. We may be able to repeat the process once or twice yet, but it will get less effective with each application until it stops being useful at all.” Star Swirl nodded. “And either way, it’s merely fighting the symptoms. What we need to figure out is the reason why the MIR is draining her magic in the first place. What’s her body fighting? There has to be a cause. Eliminate that root cause, and her body will stop draining all her magic in order to stay alive.” “Well, how do we find out?” Trixie demanded. The room was plunged into silence yet again, and Trixie went from face to face in search for answers, until her gaze fell on Opportunity. Her eyes narrowed, her pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks. “It’s him.” “What?” Oppy seemed as confused as the rest of the group as they watched the blue unicorn approach the rover. “It has to be you. It has to be. This all started when she brought you here.” Trixie swatted the rover’s frontside with her hoof. Trixie continued to advance, giving the rover blow after blow with increasing strength. “You’re killing her!” “Opportunity no hurt Starlight,” the rover said, raising its arm in defense and trying to back away from the furious unicorn. “Starlight friend. Opportunity never hurt Starlight.” “A likely story!” “Trixie, stop it!” As the rover ran out of room to back away, Twilight intervened, physically restraining Trixie. “It’s not his fault!” “It has to be!” Trixie retorted, then rounded on Opportunity once more. “What did you do to her!? You’re the only one who was with her when she collapsed! WHAT DID YOU DO!?” “Little help here,” Twilight requested with a grunt. Spike inserted himself between Trixie and Opportunity, attempting to push the increasingly irate unicorn back. “Trixie, listen to what you’re saying. Do you even hear yourself? You know Oppy would never do anything to hurt Starlight!” “THEN MAYBE HE’S NOT DOING IT ON PURPOSE! BUT IT HAS TO BE HIM, OR SOMETHING HE BROUGHT WITH HIM!” “Then what about me?” Spike pointed out. “I’ve been with him almost as much as Starlight, and I haven’t gotten sick.” But Trixie had gone beyond the reach of rational arguments at this point. “GET OUT OF TRIXIE’S WA… ungh!?” She stopped mid-sentence, looking over her shoulder at the still glowing horn of Star Swirl the Bearded who had fired off a weak paralysis spell. “No,” she protested weakly as she sank to the floor between Twilight’s hooves. “I’m sorry, Trixie,” the alicorn said in a soothing voice. She gave the old wizard a grateful nod before turning her attention back to Trixie. His intervention had likely prevented Trixie from doing something she would end up regretting later. “I know you’re upset right now. I know you don’t actually mean what you’re saying.” Opportunity reached out towards her as well. “Trixie.” “No!” With what little strength she had left, Trixie swatted away the robotic arm that had reached out to comfort her and lifted her chin. She stared at the rover with nothing but hatred in her eyes. “It HAS to be you!” Then her expression gradually changed, and the holy fury that had taken hold of her earlier was replaced by despair and tears began to fall in large drops. “It HAS to be you! Don’t you understand? It has to be … Cause if it isn’t, we don’t know what it is … then we can’t … and that means Starlight will …” She couldn’t bring herself to finish the thought. Cursing her own uselessness, she buried her face in Twilight’s fur and began to cry in earnest. Nobody said anything. Nobody moved, aside from Twilight who every now and then gently took to stroking Trixie’s mane as the magician cried herself out, her heart-breaking sobs remaining the only source of sound in the room for a long time. At the edge of the solar system, another probe soared, having passed Pluto and exploring the unseen mysteries of the Kuiper Belt, hibernating most of the time. When the unexpected start-up command arrived, New Horizons took a look around. The former planet named for the god of the underworld was no longer visible and the mysterious object known as Ultima Thule not yet in sight. But there was another request from home as the probe continued to cruise around the very edge of our home system. *** AOS – DSN (relayed via JUNO-Direct) *** *** Message Received (Source: JPL): EXEC SP UPDATE *** *** Serendipity Protocol Activated: Downloading Software Updates *** *** Relaying Message *** Opportunity sat motionless in the dark, standing silent vigil over Starlight’s fitful sleep while being careful not to move and thus disturb her rest. “Oppy,” she mumbled in her sleep while tossing and turning, “hold on. I’m gonna save you.” The rover reached out, pulling the blanket back up to her chin. The dresser next to her bed held a bowl of cold water with a washcloth, right next to the jewelry box that held Starlight’s favorite possession. Oppy took the wet cloth and gingerly placed it atop Starlight’s forehead, and she slowly settled back down. The door creaked and Oppy turned to see the light from the candle that was being carried by a small dragon in a nightcap. “How’s she doing?” Spike asked softly. “Same.” He drew closer, patting Starlight’s hoof lightly with his claw before turning back to Opportunity. “And how are you doing? I can take over for you here if you want.” “No,” Oppy replied. “Spike go sleep. Opportunity stay. No need sleep. Watch over Starlight instead.” Spike sighed. “You know, about what Trixie said earlier.” He paused. Opportunity did not respond, choosing to keep his eyes focused on Starlight. “You know that she didn’t mean it, right? She’s just … scared and hurting and … you know. It’s not your fault.” “Spike, is that you?” Starlight’s voice made both of them instantly focus on her. “Hey, look who’s up,” Spike said with fake cheeriness in his voice, “how are you feeling, Starlight?” Her eyes were open, though unfocused, moving between Spike, Oppy and various spots in the distance seemingly at random. “It’s so dark. Why is it dark? Why am I in bed?” she asked, slurring some of the words. “You’ve been sick,” Spike replied, swallowing the lump in his throat, “you fell down during the Running of the Leaves, remember?” “Oh,” Starlight said simply, giving a small smile. “Maybe now Twilight will get off my back about this exercise stuff.” She brought her hoof to her chest, pawing at it. Then she began struggling against the blanket, twisting this way and that to look to either side. “What’s wrong?” Spike asked, fighting to keep the alarm from registering in his voice. “My necklace,” Starlight mumbled. “I can’t find my necklace. Where is it?” “Is right here,” Opportunity said, opening the lid of the jewelry box, picking up the necklace with its claw and holding it up for her. “My necklace!” She grabbed the object and held it to her chest with a sigh of relief. Laying back down, she placed it on the mattress next to her. “I had a dream … that I lost it … I’m glad it’s safe.” Her eyelids grew heavy once more as she watched the object with a smile on her face, and she drifted back to sleep before long. Opportunity returned the necklace to its place on the dresser while Spike readjusted Starlight’s blanket once more. The dragon watched his friend’s sleeping face for a while longer. He turned toward Oppy to say something, but thought better of it. Wordlessly, he made a fist and lightly touched it against the rover’s arm before leaving the room quietly. Once again, silent darkness engulfed the room. Nopony in the Castle of Friendship found any peaceful rest amidst their shared concerns that night, least of all the little rover who had come to call this place home over the last few months. Of course, he didn’t need sleep in the traditional sense, so instead he did what insomniacs in any universe tend to do, and mulled over past events. *** Accessing Logs *** *** Sol 5113 (Source: Starlight): I got you. It’s gonna be okay now. *** *** Sol 5134 (Source: Spike): Twilight’s out cold from pulling that all-nighter. You don’t look so hot yourself, Starlight. *** *** Sol 5161 (Source: Starlight): Oppy! (wheezing) There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you. *** *** Sol 5172 (Source: MB): WARNING - Radioisotope source decayed, instrument offline due to command override *** *** Sol 5172 (Source: Starlight): Thank you, Oppy. I’ll treasure it always. *** *** Sol 5175 (Source: Starlight): I haven’t slept this well in ages. *** *** Conclusion: Subject Starlight in nominal health until Sol 5175 *** *** Accessing Logs *** *** Sol 5175 (Source: Derpy): She’s been feeling a little under the weather today. Something about a headache. *** *** Sol 5175 (Source: Starlight): It’s the gift you gave me. I had Jewel set it into a necklace for me. This way, I can always keep it close to my heart. *** *** Sol 5209 (Source: Twilight): Besides, I think the exercise might do you some good. You’re not looking so well recently. *** *** Sol 5211 (Source: Starlight): My necklace! I had a dream … that I lost it … I’m glad it’s safe. *** *** Conclusion: Rapid onset of current symptoms after Sol 5175 *** *** Accessing picture database *** *** Comparing pictures taken of Subject Starlight before and after Sol 5175 *** *** Differences: weight loss, sunken eyes, diminished coat color, necklace *** *** Necklace: Crafted by Jewel Sky *** *** Components: Silver, Gold, Iron, Radioisotope Source MER-B Mössbauer Spectrometer *** *** Conclusion: Radiation dangerous to ponies *** Opportunity’s panoramic camera suddenly snapped over, locking onto the innocuous jewelry box sitting on Starlight’s dresser. He opened it and took out the necklace as if it was a poisonous snake, looking back and forth between it and the sleeping Starlight. “No,” Opportunity vocalized, “no, no, no, no! Trixie right! Opportunity hurt Starlight!” He reached out to touch her, to convey how he felt, but as soon as his own arm came into view of his cameras… *** APXS – WARNING: Radioisotope source decaying, additional processing time required *** Oppy drew his arm back and immediately backed away from the sleeping pony. “No! Opportunity dangerous. Make Starlight sick. Must leave. Must save Starlight.” *** Accessing Logs *** *** Sol 5169 (Source: Cranky): The Everfree? I suppose that one is always an adventure, yes.*** Opportunity grabbed the necklace once more, knocking the jewelry box off the dresser in the process and went for the door. “Oppy?” Starlight’s voice carried through the night, and Opportunity stopped momentarily. “Is alright. Starlight go back to sleep. Opportunity make all better.” “Alright, if you say so,” the sleepy unicorn mumbled weakly and closed her eyes again. The rover resolutely drove on, through the silent halls of Castle Friendship and into Starlight’s workshop. There, he placed the laptop and enchanted bowtie he used to communicate on an empty workbench. Going through every cabinet and drawer, he got together every last bolt, screw and bit of scrap metal that remained of his original instrument arm. He saw a bin in the corner, holding the Martian dust that had been cleaned off the rover during its stay here. A check of previous analysis results told him everything he needed to know. It would have to go as well. Putting all the pieces he’d found into the bin along with the dust, Opportunity grabbed the container and hoisted it onto its back. Oppy looked at the laptop and typed out a final message: *** Opportunity figure it out *** *** Bad metal, bad metal from Opportunity make Starlight sick *** *** Radiation! *** *** Trixie right, all Opportunity fault *** *** tell Trixie sorry, tell Starlight sorry, tell everyone sorry *** *** Opportunity make right *** *** Opportunity take bad metal far away where no can hurt anypony *** *** save Starlight, keep everyone safe *** *** please no follow Opportunity *** *** Opportunity dangerous until get rid of bad metal, place where Opportunity go dangerous *** *** no follow Opportunity, stay safe *** *** goodbye, Opportunity friends *** *** please tell Starlight Opportunity sorry for not keep promise *** *** BSN – LOS *** And then Opportunity drove, first through the dark corridors of Twilight’s castle, then through the empty streets of a silent Ponyville past midnight, and across the dirt roads on the outskirts of town. A dark, foreboding tree line appeared in front of the rover. He did not even slow down as he crossed that threshold and continued to drive on into blackest night and straight towards the heart of the Everfree Forest. On the dividing line towards interstellar space, a spacecraft over 40 years old received the message. The old-timer, with many of its instruments in bad condition, did the calculations requested of it. It had done its duty, visited many worlds, carried a message for those who might one day find it. Now it was pressed into service one last time. Running on fumes and an ever-decreasing electric charge, it had last fired its thrusters a year ago, after a period of inactivity of 37 years. It had worked then, so Voyager-1 would give it the old college try, slowly rotating to point its antenna at the indicated spot in space when the time came. *** AOS – DSN (relayed via NH-Direct) *** *** Message Received (Source: JPL): EXEC SP UPDATE *** *** Serendipity Protocol Activated: Downloading Software Updates *** *** Relaying Message ***