//------------------------------//
// Chapter 119 
// Story: Voyage of the Equinox 
// by Starscribe 
//------------------------------//



Try to win them over. 38%



The stakes were so incredibly high. But in the end, Twilight couldn't fight her nature. It was tempting to banish the problem completely, considering the absurdity of attacking the princess, the only Alicorn these ponies had left. The one whose crew had just saved them. But she resisted. She couldn't leave them in prison forever, when they were the ones who knew the Canterlot as it was better than any of her own ponies. That kind of expertise couldn't be easily replaced.

But Twilight wouldn't have any part of that herself, not anytime soon. Once she'd given the instruction, it was back into oblivion for her, and the darkness that hungered for the end of all ponies.

Eventually she satisfied Fluttershy that she wasn't about to keel over and die, and her crew was finally gathered. Still in her stupid medical room, but Twilight would have to take what she could get. At least Fluttershy wasn't keeping her asleep, and she wasn't seeing more strange visions from the personifications of forces bent on destroying all life.

Even Node and Apple Bloom had made a return, lurking near the back of the private hospital room. Easy to justify when an attempt had already been made on Twilight's life.

"It's stupid not to be harsh with them," Rainbow said, as soon as the meeting had begun. "They sabotaged our new..." she flicked a wing. "The big fabricator, whatever it is. Canterlot is already barely holding together as it is. How long before they do something that sends the rest of us to Tartarus? How long before we lose structure?"

"I'm not going to let them out," Twilight said, exasperation heavy in her voice. "Listen, everypony. I need to tell you what I saw. I wasn't just unconscious--the weapon they hit me with let me... see things. It was so incredibly clear, I know it was more than just a hallucination."

She told them. Even with the days or maybe weeks since she'd seen the little vision, she could remember everything in perfect detail. The empty state of Equestria, the offer she'd refused. She could still describe the flowers and the trash on the floor, if she had to.

Eventually she finished, and she settled back against the hospital bed, letting the weight of everything she'd said settle on the room. Even without mind-reading, she could sense the worry. At least some of her crew probably thought she was losing her mind. Maybe they were right to fear.

"I'm not sure what difference this all makes, dear," Rarity said. "Even assuming... for the sake of this discussion, that everything you just said truly happened in some abstract sense. What changes for Canterlot as a result? We still make the same repairs, the same plans. We still try to survive in the same way."

There was only one set of eyes that wasn't overflowing with incredulity. Node cleared her throat, moving forward with oversized steps. She was easily the tallest creature in the room, and would probably be bigger than everything but a minotaur. Not that Twilight had seen any of those aboard the Canterlot. "There are stories of offers like that. The first one came to a king who flew deep into dead space, protected by shields you can't imagine. Others have come to other great figures over the years, whose nature and species you wouldn't understand. It makes sense one would eventually come to you. I am... grateful that you refused it."

"Of anyone who could accept this story, you weren't the one I'd expect," Sunset muttered. "You're always so... materialistic, Node. I thought your culture was more advanced in every way."

"We were," she said, shrugging absently. "That's why I know. Apparently the force behind all this is afraid you might actually survive on your own. It doesn't like letting go of anything. It was trying to back you into a corner. If you had accepted... well, it's a good thing you didn't. I'm sure it could do terrible things with an agent of authority like you to control. You might very well have destroyed this ship, or... at least subjugated your entire civilization to a darkness worse than death."

There was a long, awkward silence. Twilight wasn't sure if the other members of her crew were convinced by Node's words. At least Fluttershy had stopped glancing at her drug cabinet, that had to be a good sign.

"So we're winning," Rainbow said. "That's great. That means whatever we're doing, we need to keep doing it."

"Repairs to life support are basically complete," Spike said. Twilight found his artificial body standing near the back of the room, but his face remained entirely unreadable. The nearly-furless aliens didn't express emotion along the same range. "I suggest turning towards the long-term."

"To do what?" Applejack asked. "This is all that's left. You've heard it, same as we all have. No more Equestria. No more star, even. The sleepin' folks on this here rock are the only ponies in the whole universe."

"I can think of at least one possibility," Node said. "We're already in orbit of the... Highway. So why not modify this capital ship of yours, and join the Flotilla? You'll be a primitive fish in a very large sea--but all species on that journey are fighting the same war. They'll welcome you, I know they will."

Applejack shoved her way forward, tapping an impatient plastic hoof on the hospital floor. "There's no need for us to fight. The ones who helped make Equestria knew this might happen. They left us the Contingency, remember? It's peaceful in there, Twi. And ask Node, she'll tell you. It's safe from... from the thing that wants everypony dead. Ain't that what yer people did?"

Node nodded. "They were cowards. But some part of me wishes I'd been a cowards too."

"Or we could stop running," Sunset finished. "This system already had an advanced civilization. Maybe we're not as far from a cure to this thing as every creature thinks. Maybe we should wake everypony up and start colonizing."

Twilight felt instantly like the decision was too big for her. But she was the only waking Alicorn left. Celestia would've trusted her to make the right choice.

1. Try to join the Flotilla.

2. Migrate everyone to the contingency, and conceal it to never be found.

3. Stay and fight the Hunger at any cost.