Chapter 39
Applejack 36%
Twilight wasn’t sure she was ready. On the other side of that airlock door was an alien world—a place that had once overflowed with life. A city big enough to hold a billion, billion ponies, all gone cold and dead with the unstoppable advance of time.
It was the moment this mission had been preparing her for, in many ways. It was the ultimate goal of their trip.
“Why are we stationary?” asked the probe from in front of her. It had been fitted with a radio transmitter, that would repeat anything it said over their suit channel whether it wanted to or not. It had transmission equipment of its own, at least it seemed to, but so far it either hadn’t understood or hadn’t been willing to use that. “There is achievement outside. Stability.”
“I don’t understand this thing,” Applejack muttered. The farmpony had fitted bits of hard plastic armor over the hazmat suit—probably enough to stop a low-caliber bullet or accidental debris from breaching the suit. The air was breathable, and apparently there was nothing to be worried about on the surface—but until the cultures came back clean, they were going to be cautious. “It doesn’t talk like a civilization that’s unlocked all the mysteries of the universe or whatnot. Don’t the scientists back home think they know what a pony like that would look like? Total understandin’ of all the virtues of friendship or… somesuch.”
Twilight shrugged, then smacked one hoof against the release. Air hissed out in front of them, and the door slid up in front of them. A ramp already descended all the way down to the planet’s surface, with metal glinting in the light of an alien sun. There was a thin layer of dirt on the alien highway, but surprisingly little for the age of the ruins.
There’s no plantlife. No carbon cycle, no water cycle. Only oxidation. She settled her magic against the cart, and rolled it down.
The upper layer contained the probe, strapped down and secured with ample padding. The bottom section of the cart had two heavy saddlebags of supplies—enough for Applejack and herself to survive a week in the ruins if it came to that.
Applejack either didn’t know about the significance of the occasion, or didn’t care. She hopped down, landing on the dirt ahead of the cart. “Horseapples this hurts… on and off acceleration gravity just ain’t enough for this.”
“We’re looking at about… a hundred ten percent of Equus sea level,” Twilight said, following Applejack. “It would feel a little heavy even without that.” Twilight herself knew her body would be in just as much pain—were she not a unicorn. She’d been simulating normal gravity on herself almost as long as she’d been awake. Where the acceleration didn’t quite reach 1G, her powers could make up the difference. Her muscles weren’t atrophied.
It did feel like something was pushing on her, like she were wearing heavy saddlebags without even putting them on.
“Prospector to field team,” said Fluttershy’s voice. “Don’t forget.”
“Two days,” Applejack recited. “Any trouble, turn around.”
“Right,” Fluttershy said. “Pinkie says you should go left. I don’t know what that means, but she wouldn’t relax until I told you. Hear that, I told them. Prospector out.”
“We’re going straight,” Twilight said, not transmitting back on general channel. “I think so, anyway.” She reached up with a hoof, tapping on the metal. “Hey, uh… probe? Are we going the right way?”
“Currently, yes,” the device answered. “Watch the inner lanes for access ramps down into the superstructure. Follow the violet lines.”
“We should ‘a just dropped it down here in an escape pod,” Applejack muttered darkly. But Twilight could see now that would’ve been fruitless—the probe couldn’t move on its own, and there was clearly nothing alive here on the surface. It would’ve just smacked down onto the cement and rotted away there, their mission undone.
They started walking. Her companion winced and occasional landed up against a concrete divider, or against the cart for support, and her breathing sounded heavy when they took frequent breaks. But Earth Pony magic was a powerful thing—where others would’ve needed physical therapy and a long course of medication, Applejack could muscle through. She probably wouldn’t even be worn out by the time they made it back.
“I realize I don’t know what to call you,” Twilight said, as they began trailing down a long, gently curved ramp. So gently that she almost didn’t realize they were turning at first. How fast were their vehicles moving to turn like this. “Do you have a… name? Your species, or… whatever you are.”
“Of course I do,” the speaker answered. “I am Node. This is not a true name, obviously, but it should be pronounceable by your species. It will suffice.”
Celestia it actually answered me. Maybe listening to it would pay off after all. Finally the stupid machine wasn’t just ignoring them.
“Node,” Applejack repeated. “Where are you, Node? Like, really. Where are you transmittin’ from?”
“Transmitting…” Node repeated. “There is… no transmission at present. A survey of functional planeside hardware was required to locate our destination. No more transmission is required at this time.”
“I think what Applejack means is—where is the person who is controlling this device,” Twilight supplied. “You answer with minimal delays, so I’m guessing you’re close. Two thousand kilometers from here, or less.”
The ramp had finally taken them under cover of the first layer—though there was still enough space overhead that the entire Prospector could’ve flown here if they needed it to. All the while Twilight could see the faint overlay of their destination coordinates, superimposed on the world in front of her like a distant, static point.
“No transmission is required at this time,” Node said again, as though that were an answer.
Twilight resisted the urge to argue with it a little more. There was a long way left to go, and the road up ahead was thickly packed with rubble.
As they emerged onto the lower highway, Twilight’s questions over the location of the vehicles vanished. Here they were—numberless machines, all packed in so tight that in some places there was no free path to walk. They were fully enclosed, like little aircraft, though each rested on the cement.
Twilight now had to make a choice.
1. Investigate the highway for more information about the aliens and their technology.
2. Follow the ramp deeper to try to find a clear path forward.
3. Applejack suggests searching for an intact-looking machine and trying to get working again, instead of walking any further. It ain't like they weren't put down here for a reason. Good money says there's somethin' in this whole mess that can fly.
4. Ignore the global positioning directions and take the first available left turn.
(Certainty 205 required
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Pike said left.
While I dont think Pinks would lead them wrong, this doesnt feel like the spot she’d told them about yet.
Trying to fly an alien craft through an access way you’ve never navigated before at speeds you arent sure of sounds like a good way to end up a nice crater in a wall. Unless its flown by an AI.
Option one seems like our best choice right now.
I trust Pinkie Pie implicitly. If there's nothing there, we could always turn around or something.
Trust Pinkie's intuition. She doesn't want anything bad to happen to her friends, so she won't lead them astray.
Im kinda expecting the left thing to be relevant when presented with a binary choice. This is likely a bit too early.
I don't know about you guys but I'm going for a Pinkie on this one
Achievement Unlocked! Stability - 10G
You took the probe to the surface.
My initial impulse was left — but if we were meant to follow Pinkie's instructions at the first opportunity rather than the most appropriate opportunity, Twilight already screwed up by not taking a left turn straight off the ship's ramp.
I think I'm with AJ on this one. Besides, if Node wants quicker movement and it's got knowledge of its homeworld, it should be both willing and able to help them score a ride.
"Turn Left!" Always turn left, the fate of the multiverse my depend on it.
Gonna go with Pinkie on this one. Go left
9372421
Methinks you're being a bit too literal there (and that's coming from someone who has had problems with that).
Trusting the Pink One!
And when the police called back, they told her, "The transmission is coming from inside the probe!"
Also, to paraphrase Yogi Berra, if there's a Ponk in the road, take it.
Follow the Pinkie! Pinkie is good, Pinkie is wise!
You ponies are nuts. Pinkie didn't say ALWAYS go left, "regardless of context or apparent dangers". HINT HINT.
When pink crazy pony say to 'Go Left'
YOU GO LEFT!
Hail the Ponk!
Also: Twilight, there is something on your back!
Pinkie's intuition is so strong it's listed on her character sheet. She said left, I say go left. I'm really curious about it.
When the pink one says go left.
You Go Left.
I mean we DID de-thaw the Pronk one purely for this reason... Be a shame not to follow her directions.
(They're so going to screw themselves with this I'm sure but I make my decisions based on the pony mindset)
I think I'll trust Pinkie Sense this time. After all, Pinkie was desperate to tell them, and she seems rather stable.
Hmm. Pinkie said go left, with no context. I'm thinking that this is not immediately relevant, but rather when presented with a left or right choice with no way to go straight forward.
In Pinkie I trust.
Fuck it, either turn left or at least get a vehicle working, no sense wasting more energy then you need to
No transmission needed. So the intelligence is stored locally? Either it's an AI or similar to the Tower technology in another Starscribe story that allows uploading consciousness into a machine.
I voted for Pinkie to go planet side so I can’t really vote against her suggestion, even though the pragmatist in me says to work on fixing a vehicle.
Sweet Celestia, has it really been three weeks? Well, now that I have a breath of time to spare...
The only thing I’ve really disagreed with was lowering Pinkie’s meds, and it worked out. Now I’ll trust in her again.
Don't be ignoring the Pinkie sense, and you ought to know better. Unless Pinkie is so out of it you don't trust her, turn left!
I'm not sure how good of an idea it is to try and get a vehicle working again. For all we know, that might attract some, uh, unwanted attention.
I'm seriously torn on the Pinkie Delimma. On the one hand, if you're not going to trust Intuition now, when will you ever? On the other hand, I'm not sure this is the right context. This could be much more applicable to a situation where there's a fork in the path.
That might be the whole gimmick with Intuition, actually. The information will always be correct, but it's up to you to decide where it makes sense to apply that information.
Hell with it, I'll go with Pinkie's option now, and worst case scenario we just have to turn around after a bit. Then we'll have a better idea of what to do next time.
I don't know which choice is really the better one.
Most of those vehicles have been out fora while and anything left might be too warn and torn by age to be useful to be sitting out in the open there.
While Pinkie didn't give too much detail about what shes giving instructions for... Maybe Left will always be the right choice, or maybe a multi path with few choices in direction to choose.
Awww, who am I kidding. Let's live a little and let the Pinkie sense guide us to adventure.
This thing all things devours;
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats mountain down.
—Gollum, The Hobbit
P.S. The power of Pinkie compels me.
Pinkie says left, we go left
9379139
Yeah AJ was possiblly the worst choice there. Yeah she's an engineer but it's already been established she can't make hide or hair of this new technology. Fluttershy is the linguist if they have to translate anything but she's the doctor, Pinkie knows things and being there she could get twilight to what she needs to find to make sense of all of this.
Guess there is something to be said about the side effects of space gravity though.
Who questions the Pinkie Sense?
Option 4