Let Node run the ships 81%
It really was a no-brainer for Twilight. Of course, she didn’t want to leave Spike feeling like he wasn’t getting his opinions respected, but ultimately practicality had to trump all else.
“You’ll be there,” Twilight said flatly. “Your help has been instrumental in getting us this far. Won’t we be using a Signaler technology to reach a Signaler fleet?”
“Well…” she shrugged, a gesture that somehow still made sense even with all those arms. “Yes. Assuming your sails keep working, we’re not likely to run into anything other than the problems we bring with us. Highway destroys anything that gets too close, that’s the entire point. A few grams at relativistic speed can take out a starship without a shield. A few kilograms, and there aren’t many shields I know of that can survive more than one hit. Trusting to the Highway for protection is a given. It will keep your ships supplied with as much energy as you want. It’s up to us to somehow turn that into stability over the long-term.”
“We slept the last time we took a long trip,” Twilight muttered, pawing unhappily at her desk. “Maybe we should do that again. But my sense from talking to the ponies of Canterlot is they don’t want to go anywhere near one. I know my friends don’t. Their lives are right here, right now. We’ve been frozen long enough, and the last time we almost missed the end of the world. There’s no promise that we ever even wake up if we build more caskets now.”
Node rose, pocketing the little device from the table. “I’m not qualified to tell you ponies how to run your lives. You’ll have to find your own way, or… maybe explode before we get to the Flotilla. Anything’s possible.”
Twilight groaned. Hopefully Spike doesn’t explode when I tell him the bad news.
Can Spike react professionally to the news? Critical yes.
As it turned out, Twilight’s real mistake was in trusting Node’s interpretation of Spike’s attitude. “Yeah, I had a feeling you were going to want her to take the job,” Spike said, as soon as Node was gone. “I’d rather it be me, but… her reasons are better than mine. Though you should know, Node isn’t really built to run a station. Whatever happened to me was an… amalgamation of the Equinox’s purpose, and my own brain. Node is an individual, and nothing will change that.
There was nothing fast about transferring Node over—apparently, she had to build an entire system to let her control the other ships, since she couldn’t trust anything from the ruins not to have ‘suspect programming through centuries of cosmic ray exposure and vacuum rot.’ Eventually one of their tugboats brought something big enough and structurally intact enough to hold atmosphere, and Node declared it the ‘core’ of her new station.
Weeks of construction passed, and Twilight awaited reports from Fluttershy with grim certainty of their results. Ponies were getting weaker all the time; it was only a matter of time before they lost somepony.
Do ponies die in the meantime? Critical yes.
That time came just a few days later. Fluttershy floated into her office wearing a threadbare jacket smelling sharply of antiseptic, and Twilight knew what she was going to say before she opened her mouth.
“You should know how many lives your decision cost, Captain,” she said flatly, pushing a clipboard towards her. Twilight took it in her magic, looking grim.
It was even worse news than she’d been expecting. Not one death over the last week, but twenty-nine. A smattering of those were shiprats, the rest newly awakened creatures who hadn’t been able to regain their strength. “You didn’t mention this sooner?” She kept her voice as neutral as she could. “You didn’t need to wait for our weekly report, Fluttershy. My office is always open for something this important.”
“Is it?” Fluttershy retreated a few steps, glancing once at the door. “I already told you we had to leave now, what else could I say? I didn’t have time to waste on something that wouldn’t help them. Speaking of which… there are eight ponies in critical condition right now. You might be interested in their names.”
You should’ve told me this sooner. Twilight’s attention was focused mostly on gathering materials for their sister station, along with every supply her miners could bring back. She really should’ve kept a closer eye on this.
Twilight flipped to the next page and found one name standing out from all the others.
Is Sunset Shimmer one of the dead?
She rose from her desk. “We don’t have enough magical experts like her. Equestria can’t afford to lose her.”
“It’s too late to leave,” Fluttershy said grimly. “Even if we were in the highway right now, the effects are too gradual. We’re talking whole-body immune failure, captain. That kind of damage doesn’t just heal, even for strong earth ponies. Unicorns don’t stand a chance”
Twilight stomped past her, simulating enough gravity to walk. It was still second nature, even somewhere she’d never had to do it before. “You’ve been offering the alternate treatment method to these ponies?” she asked. “All twenty-nine?”
“They all refused,” Fluttershy said. She kept up, drifting through the air like a ghost on pale yellow wings. “I gave them all the information to make informed consent.”
It took them twenty minutes or so to reach medical, and another few more for Twilight to find what she was looking for. Tucked away in one of the storage closets was the ‘biohazard isolation’, where samples floated in little magical fields instead of resting on cubbies. Twilight snatched one in her magic, already tearing at the seal.
“What are you doing?” Fluttershy asked, though of course she must’ve known exactly what it was for.
Twilight stomped along the hallway, searching for the door with a familiar name, then practically kicked it down.
There was the unicorn in question, with a dozen tubes connected to her body and implants in ways that looked downright agonizing.
She twitched as Twilight came in, turning her head slightly to face the door. To Twilight’s surprise, she even managed to speak—a low croak that she could barely understand. “Come to say your… goodbyes?” Sunset asked. “I don’t… blame you, Twilight. I… saw the same models. Must… prepare for the trip. Equestria matters more than… saving any one of us.”
…No.
“It does,” Twilight agreed. Fluttershy made to stop her, and Twilight answered with a withering glare. She tore the protective cap off one of Sunset’s IVs—it didn’t really matter which one. This wasn’t medicine, exactly. She gripped it firmly, then injected the sample. “You might feel some discomfort, Sunset. Expect it to last… for a while. But Equestria isn’t finished with you yet.”
1. “Treatment is no longer optional for any of the other critical patients either. Save them, Fluttershy. That’s an order.”
2. “And you’ll be the last pony who has to go through this. We’re suspending all mining operations and preparing to leave.”
Great chapter - thanks Starscribe!
On the decision: They are way overdue to leave - how much longer do they want to wait? How much longer would they be able to afford to wait, before the cost is greater than the gains...
As many times as I see that picture, IMO it still looks like Twilight has underwear on her head
Told ya so.
Coin flip...
Result: Start the converstion.
Wow, that response made me SO HACKED at Fluttershy. What she said and the way she said it equated to this for me: “I dont care that you have the weight of our entire civilization on your shoulders. You didn't do what I said, and so I decided that meant you wouldnt care, and so I didnt bother telling you about the deaths a few days earlier. Next time maybe youll listen to me.” Also, the fact she had to tell Twilight NOW that this immunity failure is a death sentence before they are even dead, regardless of distance, says she DIDNT TELL TWILIGHT THAT BEFORE. Things may have been able to be done, but the way this is presented makes it seem as if Fluttershy childishly sulked about not getting her way and is now trying to lay all the guilt on Twilight. That just super hacks me off.
I may be overemotional on this. If someone has a counterargument, please share. Maybe she made arguments in those weekly meetings that Twilight ignored, although I can’t see Twilight rebuking her for waiting a few days if she had just been warned some were on the last verge of death a week prior. Right now all I can see is a doctor who had months with her patients not even making a further effort to fight for them because SHE decided that Twilight’s door was metaphorically closed. Twilight may have to bear the brunt of this burden, but you cant lay it all on her if youre acting like that, Doc.
PHEW okay, vent over. XD; I get too worked up over stories sometimes.
10139697
She said that if we stayed, ponies would die. We stayed, ponies died. Telling Twilight that ponies were dying wouldn't change anything aside from possibly convincing her to leave before they had finished collecting enough to have that sister station set up, which would mean that those who died (though of a lower count) would've died for nothing.
Now we've got enough for that station to do something. It's not as good as it could be, but we're out of time.
10139754
Very valid points, but they only more implicate Fluttershy for being so coarsely like “Here are the ponies that died for your decision.” Her wording is bluntly accusatory. If she actually accepted that Twilight had to do what she was doing in order to ensure the majority survived, she wouldnt have reason to act this way. It just frustrates me, like come on the entire situation is crap in a basket but guilt-tripping your already deeply burdened leader to vent your own feelings isnt gonna help.
I agree, lets get out of here.
Forcing conversions won't help anyone gather resources, it'll just make a bunch of justifiably angry cyber ponies who would most likely lash out at Twilight and co.
Equestria needs more time before it's ready to leave, and forced conversion is how you get Cybermen and Borg. I cannot condone either of these options, and because of that, I abstain my vote.
I am not suprised Twilight did what she did. She lost Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and yes even Spike. She has lost too much to lose another friend. No, now she is going to pull up her Princess pants and do what needs doing to keep the Ponys alive.
They can damn her afterwords.
I vote we take off, I'm glad Sunset still lives.
I forget, why are we building a whole new sister station?
I have finally caught up, and my voice can be heard.
I picked Option 2: Sunset will be the last, and we are pulling everyone back to leave.
I never did like the idea of sacrificing the few to save the many, but as a logical man I understand why such choices are made. Now that ponies are dying we must leave, if only for the sake of morale. This is not to mention the fact that Twilight went against Sunset's wishes. Even if Sunset will understand Twilight's choice is for the apparent greater good, Twilight still forcefully converted her. Twilight's choice will have repercussions with Fluttershy, causing distrust.
In the end though, we have run out of time. Staying further would only mean more deaths, and risking the ones still alive becoming insane due to the HUNGER. We can only pray and hope the resources we have gathered is enough; and make Sunset's sacrifice worth it.
I'm of two minds about this... on the one hand, respecting the wishes to NOT be mechanized under any circumstances is important. On the other... can they really have informed consent without first-hand experience?
They still think death is better after seeing what it's like, fine. Their choice, as inane as it may be. But when the ONLY alternative is death, I can't conciously allow the hint of misunderstanding of the proposition.
10139560
Man really? You know in some doctors have to have signed paper work to not operate on suicide attempts those ponies did not consent to being turned
10139895 first of all:ok that's your right god knows most of us have one time or another. Second off :please go to the discord decisions page scroll through the first quarter or so find were "an ancient evil is now awakened and is hunting for the ponies" scribe has detailed this as NOT the city worm mech,the mechalings,not the sombra,fellow,and not the darkness itself. AN ANCIENT DANGER is HUNTING the ponies if the darkness is closing in then this ANCIENT DANGER is breathing down there necks. Star scribe has been very patient with us having chosen nearly the longest possible time frame I suspect we will still have an encounter as we try to leave but if we stay longer we wont have the forward momentum to physically run away or dodge. The ancient danger is upon us. Please dont choose any more procrastinating decisions
Pack up everything. It's time to get out of Dodge.
On behalf of those who called this...
We told you!
We should take off now, while we still have the chance
Going full fascist aren’t we, Princess. Individual liberty crushed under the heel of ‘the greater good’. Individual’s bodies and the dignity of their deaths aren’t even their own anymore.
#TeamCozy
Thank goodness.
Dammit. We should have left.
We're committed to still being here, so 1 I suppose. We're down a bad path and there's no good way off.
Don't worry about it, and don't feel stressed.
We aren't going anywhere.
And now the question:
Go now or use the special treatement for the sick ones?
(And why isn't there an option like continue preparing, but keep using the traditional medicine?)
10140501
That's slavery my guy. We dont much like slavers in america
10140127
It's deeply hypocritical for Fluttershy to do so, given that the gaslighting guilt trip she just laid on Twilight was clearly a major factor in that decision.
(That, and I'm not sure we can trust that Fluttershy didn't manipulate the initial refusal of consent. Because you can load the dice a LOT when you're informing people, and this version of Fluttershy appears conflict averse to the point where the only way she can make tough moral calls is by manipulating someone else to do it for her in a way that enables her to dump all the blame on them and feel righteous about it.)
Get. Out. Now. Simple as that. No amount of supplies is worth the mounting cost; it's only going to get worse from here.
I get the sense this is some menu where there might've been a third option, had Twilight's sanity and stress been at more reasonable levels. (And OOC, had Starscribe not been under great pressure lately too. Stay safe!)
Voting to leave ASAP rather than do forced conversion. We don't know enough to say how well the Canterlot is stocked for spare materials; it sounded like so far it's been just enough to build sails and get life support and some other systems into yellow. The good news is that "as much energy as you need" point. Presumably between that and magic it's possible to skimp on physical material.
10144654
Fair points all around.
It seems recent decisions have been made that have pushed Twilight and Fluttershy's friendship apart. I wonder if it will get worse.
10143729
Ehhhhhhhh no? By that logic twighlight NEVER would have agreed to mobilize the canterlot she would have digitized every pony immediately and flung us into empty space (no doubt calculating gravity variables of the nearest galaxies and flung us or more likely the spiquenox with the digi world inside him. She have planned for every variable. But she still would have gone through with it if were to valuable to endanger then were to valuable to risk at all and EVERYTHING happening right now is risky fucking business he'll need doesnt even think the sails will work. Life is risk. If what you element was "everyone mortally wounded should be vol untold to live an idealic life in the digiverse... fine I'll take that