Join the Flotilla 66%
There was definitely a part of Twilight that reveled in the idea of staying back to stick it to the forces arrayed against them. The Hunger had cost her so much--had nearly devoured her civilization whole, and somehow finding a way to stop it had a deeply personal appeal. If Equestria wasn't in her hooves, and it was just her and her friends left, she might've done it.
But they weren't alone. Over a hundred thousand creatures were frozen on the Canterlot, all depending on her Twilight had to think of them first, and personal satisfaction second. Besides, the races in the Flotilla have probably thought of everything we could come up with. And if not, we can work with them when we arrive to stop Hunger for good. It isn't a war we have to win right now.
The Canterlot had its own little war to win. Twilight was more than a little surprised to learn that it had already been fighting that war, while she was distracted with other issues.
Do the inheritors change their minds? Yes
"I know I should've talked to you about it more, Twilight," Pinkie explained. "I've been down in that cell... I guess whenever I was bored? I dunno." She bounced past the hospital bed, far closer to her usual energy than she'd been around Twilight in some time. "But it seemed like they could use a little affection. What pony doesn't feel better after a party?"
You had a party with the ponies who tried to murder me. She resisted showing her indignance.
"I know you can't just trust them right away, and I think the inheritors know that too," Pinkie continued. "But between Applejack and me, I think they're really coming around. They had no idea what we went through to get here. The more they know about us, the less reason they have to be afraid."
It made a simple kind of sense. Twilight wished she could put the Inheritors right back to work, since they knew more about the modified Canterlot than basically anypony. Every report she read included some strange jury-rig. None seemed malicious, but each one was another setback to getting the station fully functional again. Having 'local' talent on every team was going to be critical to safely restoring the station.
It took a little while, but eventually she was back on her hooves. She passed through the station slowly, her horn constantly alert to magical danger. Even if every conspirator they knew of was in prison, she couldn't shake the impression that there might be others. The Canterlot just didn't seem like a safe place anymore.
Now that she wasn't exploring it for the first time from behind her space suit, the signs of decay were everywhere. Great promenades of crystal and metal had been stripped for parts, leaving only bare walkways and safety rails. Fountains once filled with fish had run dry, and the many gardens and orchards were barren and lifeless. Twilight could remember a time from her own foalhood, where this station had been self-sufficient, importing only luxuries like zap-apples and the occasional spare parts. But from what she'd seen, the creatures maintaining the station now lived only on a thin slime of algae. And 'lived' was used loosely, given their frail bodies and poor constitutions. Eked out a desperate survival, more like. Which was part of the reason she was leaving the hospital to speak to the pony who ran it, rather than just talking in her office.
With the Canterlot's life support systems fully restored, parts of the station were now accessible that had been under vacuum for many years. Twilight stepped through an airlock into one such, up the steps to the princess’s castle. The square was now entirely dominated with stacked cryosleep caskets, with only a single narrow aisle between them. She made her way up the steps to the palace gates, pushing them gently open. Caskets blocked the view of the ancient stained-glass windows. Some of those might still show her own accomplishments--but she couldn't get a good view. Besides, they weren't as important as the reason she was here.
Fluttershy stood at the foot of the ancient thrones, looking up at the empty seats like a supplicant before their god. She turned as Twilight neared, probably hearing her hoofsteps.
"You wanted to talk in here?" Twilight asked, eyebrows raised. "Not a... painless place for a conversation." But no matter what happened, she was not going to let one of her crewmembers see her cry.
"I asked Applejack where we could go that we wouldn't be overheard. It had to be somewhere the survivors hadn't modified. Apparently they kept the palace totally empty, so... no modifications. Superstitions. Are you afraid of the ghosts of old alicorns?"
Yes. But the ghosts live in my mind, not in this old castle. She was already seeing them. Princess Celestia stood beside her younger self near one wall. Through the barrier of caskets flashing green and yellow the ruler of Equestria taught her Twilight's first shield spell. There on an upper-story balcony was where a young twilight had curled up with her books, whenever Celestia brought her here to see the solar court. Mostly she read her book, the court had always been too boring. "What don't you want anypony to know?"
"It's about your decision. Taking the Canterlot to the Flotilla, joining Node's survivors... I wanted to remind you of what that would mean. Or maybe tell you for the first time, if you haven't thought about it."
Her eyebrows went up. "I've thought about an awful lot. But I'm listening."
"I don't know exactly how this highway works... but it can't break physics, right? That means acceleration gravity. The survivors on this station aren't going to be able to cope, Captain. I know we're probably months away... we've got mining to do, a dozen different things to fix I don't even understand. I just want to put this in your mind, so we can start figuring out a solution now."
"What do you mean they can't cope?" Twilight asked. Even speaking quietly, her voice echoed in the empty castle. Did she have the courage to walk up and visit her dead mentor's quarters? "Be precise."
"The survivors have lived in zero gravity their whole life. They abandoned navy protocol... well, their grandparents probably abandoned it. Their hearts are small, their lungs are weak, their bones are brittle. Now... Earth Pony magic is probably enough for them to adapt. They'll wish they were dead, but if we've got enough drugs, they'll make it. The others... won't. A few weeks at full gravity, and they'll start dying. Gruesome, terrible deaths. I just... wanted you to be thinking about what to do. It's not just broken station we have to fix. There are broken creatures too."
Twilight could see a few solutions.
1. Prepare to distribute the mechanical conversion to all non-earth ponies. Distributing that much will be insanely dangerous, but Fluttershy can probably come up with something. Being mechanical might not be ideal, but being dead is worse.
2. Gradually swap out ponies on ice with ponies who can't survive the gravity. We don't have any space for new pods, but there's probably thousands of skilled creatures frozen. Plenty of room for all the survivors, and we can build up a crew as we go.
3. Construct a new habitat with magic and technology to counter acceleration gravity, for all the survivors to eventually live in. Sure building new modules takes time, but the Canterlot was always made for it. The cost in energy and supplies is worth remaining united as a civilization.
First vote in and I voted Purge.
The scary thing is that, to me, there is no bad option among the choices of what we could pick.
The new habitat lets them be gradually be rehabilitated over a few generations.
Swapping them out allows newer ponies with older, possibly forgotten knowledge to join the crew to help rebuild Canterlot.
Conversion... is a short term solution that will probably come with long term issues (or short term issues) But a large population of converted would possibly help integration with the fleet.
Purge wouldn't be horrible either, getting rid of the population least likely to adapt and most likely to cause civil unrest.
I had to go with habitat because it seems like the pony choice, it also creates a new space faring variant of ponies that in the long run may be as important to them for space life as pegasi were for planetary life.
A tough one... I personally like the habitat option best, switching out for healthier crew next, and android conversion after that. Purging the current crew is something I oppose, so it gets no consideration whatsoever.
Disappointing.
At least that is good news. Good work, Pinkie.
Fluttershy makes good points about this plan to join the flotilla.
Hmn. 1 is right out, that's a terrible idea. 2 would probably restart the inheritor rebellion, so I'm thinking 3.
Rolling for insanity.....
......20! HYPER-HEURISTIC MODE ACTIVATED!
For the first option, we have no guarantee that they'll accept such a conversion or even listen to Twilight when she explains their circumstance. Just suggesting it alone could cause major problems. It would eliminate all risks of gravity-caused deaths.
As for the second option, I like this one the best. It does not involve constructing a habitat (Which would take both time, materials, and effort) or forcing conversion on a populace that in all likelyhood will not take it that easily.
The third option would also work, but like I said above, it would take time and effort to build it. Going with the second uses what we already have on hand: That is, ponies that can survive increased gravity.
I voted for swapping, but I think it would have to be voluntary. It could be scary going into cryo when you know the ponies in there have been there for hundreds of years, although the promise of release as soon as they reach the flotilla might be good. It just seems good to get healthy ponies involved. Then again, ponies have to recoup after being in cryo, so who knows how long that might take. I cant change my vote but I can see the habitat being the best option.
3 seems best since that would help future generations re-acclimate to normal gravity. The first option would probably be a dice roll away to shit failure, and option 2 would no doubt restart a riot. (And the current ponies are the ones who know the jury rigged Canterlot best right now. Plus we'd probably not have enough meds for the ponies that have to be thawed.)
I believe the best way oa action is to switch the inheritors with the frozen crew (on a voluntary basis to avoid riots).
This way we solve the original problem and additional gain healthy, skilled crewmembers (assuming waking them from cryo sleep works).
Once we reached the flotilla we can look for a more permanent solution, like building the habitat.
I’d like to see them switched out. Once that is done, you not only get healthy crew, but ones without some strange spacer traditions that make them occasionally want to kill you.
It should be offered as voluntary to help mitigate the risk of riots. It should also be delivered in a room that can be vented easily. Just In case they get uppity. The dice came out in our favor, but it wasn’t good odds. Be open and honest about why you want them to switch out for their own good, and be ready to space them if they get violent again.
Switch them out. The floatilla will be able to fix them better than the equestrians and they won't have to look over their shoulders all the time. Plus the cryo ponies will know more since it won't be dialuted by generations. Lastly they don't have time to make a whole new magic area and what if something went wrong enroute?
I think the best long-term solution is to build the habitat
I don't see how a habitat would work. Unless we leave them behind they're still going to need to be accelerated. Unless we have inertial dampeners or something?
If they're stuck in the habitat then they can't help maintain the main station anyway. Might as well swap them out with healthy ponies.
Swap them out. The ponies in cryo are not only better prepared for full gravity, they will know things from the source that the survivors won't. Plus they are more likely to remember twilight and thus less likely to stab them in the back
P U R G E. Nah just swap them how they ain't sick
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You're getting downvoates on your comment, but one day a Hunger option is gonna win this stupid poll. :P
switching willing ones out with frozen crew could probably be a great help in constructing a habitat for the rest, as well as preparing the Canterlot for the journey overall.
Rotating the frozen for non frozen ponies just seems like the most sensible option.
It can be optional at first, but it will have to become mandatory for all non earth ponies before they accelerate. Those that refuse would just drain resources till they died.. so honestly then a purge option would be a good idea if they still refuse.
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Once they reach the flotilla they wouldn't need the habitats as the acceleration would be over.
Just let them swim in water. Water isn't very compress able and if it weren't so massive (pun unintended) it would be used as cushion.
Voluntary switch seems like the more prudent decision.
It brings in new blood with ancient knowledge of the original systems, while also keeping some of the current jury-rigged experts awake.
Later on, when they have flotilla resources they can build the habitat if it's required.
The flotilla races may have treatments.
Conversion sounds like a good option, since we haven't seen a substantial downside to it yet and it should be possible to at least preserve pony genetics to recreate any "lost" subspecies eventually.
Twilight could even set up some kind of "conversion bureau"!
Swapping out the frozen ponies for others sounds like a bad idea, because we've seen that even with good medical care and the right drugs, a cryo trip leaves the patient in terrible shape for weeks. Now we're talking about doing revival on a massive scale for ponies who've been in the pods for centuries, with woefully inadequate supplies and probably barely-working hardware. If you're worried about the morale effects of conversion, consider what happens when half or more of the unfrozen are just dead and the rest just feel dead.
Building a new high-tech habitat sounds like a great idea, given a huge and well equipped civilization with plenty of time and resources like what we don't have here!
Had to pick 'Build Habitat' on the sole fact that the Zero G ponies already showed... unease, towards Applebloom current body. And I doubt they be willing to hop into any of the freezers, seeing how their grandparents choose to remain on deck and keep working on keeping Canterlot going.
So... this flotilla... they're searching for that 13th colony?