Scrap the Weapons
Waking from stasis was a painful process. Twilight remembered the awful discomfort she’d felt after a few training freezes. But now it was real, and she had to watch chunks of her mane crumble away from her face into the water washed of her pod. Her veins burned, and she knew a slurry of chemistry and spells blasted her from the inside.
How long have we been moving?
As the light gradually came up in her tiny pod, she watched the water draining away carry an awful lot of purple fur.
The pod finally opened, coolant gasses hissing around her and filling the stasis bay with fog. Her eyes didn’t want to focus, and they couldn’t. Not for hours, if she remembered her last time well enough. Even so, she could make out a purple blob above her, with little bits of gleaming white reflecting the amber status lights.
“Twilight… Twilight, say something! You look… ugh. No offence.” His voice sounded deeper, and each word came haltingly. “Celestia don’t let her be burned.”
“I’m n-not,” she croaked, though after just waking up that would be hard to believe. Particularly for a dragon, whose physiology wouldn’t allow him to ever experience the sensation himself. She held up one of her legs, and lifting it felt like she was lifting up Equestria’s sun with the raw might of magic alone. “Think I’m not. Can take… a few hours. Do we have a few hours?”
“I, uh… I think so,” Spike said. “We aren’t… exploding or anything.”
“Great.” Twilight couldn’t get out of the cot under her own power—that meant they were accelerating. But none of the technical details mattered to Twilight right now. She was barely even aware of Spike’s claws wrapping her in a fluffy towel, then helping her into a wheelchair and rolling her out.
I’d be the first one up. None of my friends are awake yet. Even in her addled post-thaw state, Twilight was conscious of the disarray of the ship around her. Numerous wall panels had been opened, and in many cases it looked as though elements from within had been stripped and moved. A layer of thick marker covered many of the surfaces, along with notes scrawled in Spike’s dense printing. Screens were cracked, or hung loose from their mountings, with displays that occasionally flickered when she tried to look at them.
“Take these,” Spike whispered, holding a little cup right in front of her mouth. Thaw pills. They would help her body repair the damage it had suffered during her long freeze. Until her friends woke up, she would hold the record for the longest-frozen pony alive.
She swallowed, careful not to chew and taste the awful flavor of the drugs. A few felt hard against her teeth—the little enchanted crystals that were the thaumochemical portion. Outside her field, but just as important.
Spike took her to the habitation deck, which meant a difficult ramp engineward. “Tell me…” Twilight muttered, finding the words came a little more easily to her now. “Tell me we made it. You didn’t wake me up to… die in space.” Some part of her wanted to die, with the way her muscles throbbed and her head was splitting. I only need a week or two of rehab. It’ll pass.
“We made it,” Spike said. “I got you… maybe a little earlier than we planned… but not that much earlier. We’re in the Proximus system. There were… some complications…” his voice got high again for a few seconds, words tripping over themselves as he went through a long list of system failures and retrofits that would’ve been trying even for their chief engineer. But Twilight was in no place to understand them all, and so she just waved him away with one wing. It responded sluggishly, and the feathers had gone bone-white.
I bet I look like a lab specimen. Like I just came out of formaldehyde. That wasn’t entirely divorced from the truth. “Save all that,” Twilight said. “My brain isn’t… quite ready to cope with it all.”
The bedrooms on the Equinox were surprisingly spacious, not the tiny cabins she was used to from the ships that could do atmosphere and space-travel both. It was mass that was at a premium, and making a room just a little wider wasn’t so hard. But the sheets felt hard, and even moved onto the current “floor” the mattress felt lackluster against her back at best. But considering how sore she was, she probably would’ve been uncomfortable even on the softest Equestrian cloud.
There was a little window, and her eyes would focus enough to let her look out at the sky. Some primitive part of her expected they would already be in orbit of their destination—but no, they were still decelerating.
“There’s one thing that can’t wait,” Spike said, once he’d settled her into the bed, and replaced her damp towel with some dry quilts. Some of them had other names sewn into them—bedding meant for the other crew members.
“It’s important we get an answer now. We’ve been suffering a cascading series of system failures since…” and Spike devolved into technical terms that Twilight wasn’t able to understand.
But his voice came back into focus a few seconds later. “Cryogenics was one of the systems effected. I’m not sure how much you know about how it works…”
“They’re solid-state,” Twilight remembered. “Almost… immune to damage. Right?”
“Each pod is, yes,” Spike said. He sounded so mature, so confident at a time when Twilight was vulnerable. How much did you grow up? “The theory is, if anything goes wrong, we can let ponies sleep longer, make repairs, wake them up later. Well, before the biochem printer went down, I managed to make enough revitalizer for two ponies. You’re one… we only have enough for one more. I need you to decide who it is.”
- Rainbow Dash (Climatology, Military Trained)
- Fluttershy (Medicine, Linguist)
- Applejack (Engineering, Hydroponics)
- Pinkie Pie (Geology, Insight)
- Rarity (Physics, EVA Expert)
(Confidence 125 required)
Oh hey, I got first vote. Applejack, get in here!
AJ seems to be the best bet here. With all the technical problems on the ship, her knowledge will be invaluable. The second most important pony is probably Fluttershy, so we could patch up any injuries or talk with any aliens we come across. But, I'd like to see what you all think!
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I agree applejack
This was a great chapter, Man Spike is going to get some major point with everyone that he kept them alive and afloat in all this shitstorm he had to deal with alone. I had to vote AJ. It just made the most sense. Out of all the girls she is the best one for all the issues they are facing. They have to make it SOMEWHERE for the rest of the girls to be useful and they can't do that if the ship fall apart. Spike has handled it but another pair of trained hands can only help. I was so close of voting Rarity just because I am dying for some Sparity to start to pop off lol, but at this moment the mission is more important than anything lol.
Alright, whose bright idea was it to put the "keep everything from breaking" circuit in the weapon systems?
In any case, I have to agree with the others. If this rustbucket is even going to make it to the planet, we need to prioritize by engineering expertise. Pinkie might be able to pull a solution out of her mane—whatever portion of it doesn't snap off—but I'm not willing to gamble this mission on a might when a much surer thing seems to be available.
I see the argument for AJ, but it might be best to have an expert on EVA at hand. Knowing what's damaged won't do any good if you can't get out there and fix it. And as much as you need to an engineer to figure out how to fix things, a physics expert with magic could figure out how they got broken in the first place. Applejack is a sure thing up to a point; Rarity is a probable fix across the entire board.
I'm going with Rares.
I guess we won't be seeing any Ponks in space, then.
Except maybe right here:
66.media.tumblr.com/41ce2b184c772adb21b9eb8ebc5bb9c5/tumblr_p3ewnt1Wtv1rsmidfo1_250.png
AJ is by far our best option. Not only can she remake the weapons with the systems SHE has to make, but once she gets a workshop up, she’s likely the only one able to make more Revitalizer. Lezzgo Team AJ
Hm, I see why everyone is going for Applejack, but honestly, this cryogenic stuff sounds more like a medical issue. So I'm going to vote for Fluttershy.
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9225640
You might be a little late there.
Nice use of some issue with the cryo-sleep and not making it super easy, this is new tech after all, while still being safe enough you can see why they'd trust it. Still loving where this is going and how it's doing it.
As to the choice, yeah, AJ, not really much of a choice here. While you could make some arguments for the rest in some way in how they might be better in a few hypothetical situations or niche cases, what we know is that the ship is falling apart and equipment is failing, that's an engineering issue. Plus as stated, she's the one most likely to fix the machine you need to get more ponies awake.
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Not quite, the issue isn't the cryo-pods themselves, its the machines used to create the medicine and chemicals needed to safely revive them from it.
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Yes, hence "missed the vote' and use of past tense in which choice I would have made had things not gone as fast as they did.
First priority is getting the ship up and running, so AJ is their best bet right now. Fluttershy would be the next to unthaw so they have someone trained in biology to ensure the others don't suffer any potential hibernation sickness.
Yep. We need some good ol' AJ. Fix everything up real good. And get them some sweet sweet lab grown apples to snack on.
goddamn, almost a landslide for AJ, understandably.
Hoo boy, this mission is off to a rocky start. But nothing bad seems to have been caused by our decisions yet so from a meta perspective I think we're good.
We need to get a solid foundation and put out all the metaphorical fires first. My first thought was to turn to Applejack's engineering expertise to get repairs done, but then I googled what EVA stood for: Extravehicular Activity. If we pull Rarity out she can perform repairs on the outer hull to get the ship ready for atmospheric reentry. (Plus her physics knowledge would help with landing.)
...No wait that's what the Lander is for. Equinox is probably staying in orbit.
Bah, if only Twilight wasn't too scatterbrained from the thawing to understand Spike's techno-jargon. If I knew whether the most severe damages were in the ship's internal systems (Reactor, engines, life support) or the exterior hull that separates us from certain death in a frozen void it would be easier to pick between Applejack and Rarity. Everyone else sounds like they'd be more useful once we reach planetside.
Coin flip. ...Rarity. (Though by the other posts it sounds like it'll be 99 to 1 in Applejack's favor anyway.)
Applejack
Partially based on some of the other comments im gonna have to go with rarity. Spike already sort of seems to have engineering covered and i doubt a second engineer will help much long term. Gotta stay flexible in our options i think.
its neat that you've been able to get these out almost daily so far. Always love waking up and having something new to read
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awesome stuff. I'm currently reading through some of star's older works and i gotta say im loving your art style. Its consistently adorable
So maybe one of the other choices would have screwed the ship up less... ah well.
Starting to remind me of Passengers, despite being a very different plot.
Engineering and Hydroponics, definitely sounds like AJ is the best bet.
Who stands a better chance of making the revitalizer fluids without a biochem printer? I vote for Fluttershy, for that reason alone.
I think Fluttershy is actually our best option.
AJ might seem like the best, but engineering seems to be reasonably covered by Spike here and hydroponics, while incredibly important in the long run, doesn't matter if there's enough food stocked for us long enough to fix the pods and wake her.
Right now our biggest priorities are
1) Repair the biochem printer- this is engineering+biology. Spike has a bunch of engineering knowledge from the training he did before the damage (and from practical experience afterwards), so Fluttershy can cover the biology part. Having 2 engineers isn't that useful.
2) Make sure we don't get attacked/killed by the aliens. A linguist is obviously useful here.
I think we will need both Rarity and AJ to fix this ship, so my vote is for Fluttershy.
Get the medic to help get more ponies up an at'em.
I've gone with Rarity; we need to see the outside of the ship. Pronto.
I have to say my vote goes to Applejack, with Rarity as a second choice. Engineering seems handy right about now, and food is important. Physics comes in as the runner up for the next most useful skill in my opinion. Lets worry about keeping the ship in tact and survivable before we bring out anybody who's speciality is most useful on the surface of a planet.
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I concur, much as I want to unfreeze Dash when I saw Linguist i knew that it has to be Fluttershy. Like you said, Spike's been engineering pretty well so far, and it's their own ship so there should be technical manuals somewhere. Let's worry about Alien communication and repairing the other pods as a priority. If all Fluttershy can do is keep them frozen safely for a little longer, maybe the aliens can help.
Going with AJ. Making more revitalizer could depend on them having to grow plants to get the necessary chemicals.
Also having a extra engineer who knows what they're doing can greatly cut down on repair time.
The premise is interesting, but the CYoA format is not something I'd like to read. Too many ways for it to go off the rails. Maybe let me know when it's finished, assuming it doesn't go forever like Homestuck or something.
Tagging this has to be a fun challenge.
Wille I see the argument for Spike having Enginering capabiletys. this is going to need a specialists.
Heens AJ.
Applejack, then if at all possibly right after, Rarity
We could get medicine made with Fluttershy.
More people out of rehab with AJ.
Those really are Two good reasons, Twilight might die if the condition is worse then we believe. We need to either Heal Twilight or take a Chance.
She's an engineer. She solves practical problems, like "how do I keep cryo from tearing the ponies into a structurally superfluous glob of glue?".
Fluttershy may be important for medical issues Twi may have beyond the norm - if any - but she can't do much if the biochem fabricator is down and they can't get a replacement.
- Applejack (Engineering, Hydroponics)
Applejack, she can fix things which would help getting the other ones outfaster
Fluttershy is the closest this team has to an actual doctor. The theory may be to let the others sleep until a solution is found, but the key then rests with the crew's ability to find said solution. The "system is down," but I think Spike (who probably gained a whole lot more knowledge over the course of those 40 years) and Twilight have that covered, especially when he uses words that "would be trying even for the chief engineer." A biology specialist would round out the crew best, bringing the rest of the crew out of stasis as quickly and safely as possible.
Oh, and if they're able to send out a distress signal, a linguist has a better chance of translating any reply. (Or, depending on the type of message, a mathematician, which we already have in Twi.)
Thaw pills the opposite of chill pills.
Dammit, I'm a Doctor not a miracle worker.
I know the voting has already closed, and that these comments mean nothing, but in my opinion they should revitalize AJ. She's got the training and knowledge to repair the damaged systems, including (I hope) the Cryo-pods.
HOLY SHIT! I read the details page before reading this. I thought Skittles and marshmallow WERE FUCKEN RIP. I am glad to be wrong.
Rarity is not going to be a happy camper when her hair falls out.
I know the vote is long over but...
I would have picked Applejack. Considering all that is happening with the ship another pair of...hooves, would be useful. Applejack's knowledge at hydroponics would also be a good thing. It's better to have too much food than none at all.
Rarity and her knowledge of Physics and EVA would most definitely come in handy, but-again-when I consider the damage of the ship I would hold on picking her until more systems are stable.
Pinkie would come in as my third choice. While her knowledge in geology won't likely come in handy until they reach the planet, the use of her insight brought on by her Pinkie-sense would most certainly be lifesaving.
As far as the other two, Fluttershy and Rainbowdash, the weapons have been reused and they are not even sure if there is a species to communicate with. Flutter's expertise on medicine would likely put her above Rainbow to be pulled out.
Given the current circumstances, these are my choices.
Weapons got scrapped of course.