Chapter 50
Have Applejack repair, despite her illness. 61%
“Well, it ain’t the prettiest work I ever…” Applejack dropped for a second, hacking and coughing out onto the soil. She stood up a moment later, clearing her throat.
Cryosleep Caskets were modular, portable hardware—which was a small miracle for the pony Sunset Shimmer, since most everything else in the escape pod had turned to a corroded hulk in the moisture rich underground environment. Twilight had levitated the unit out away from the trees herself, and there Applejack had gone to work.
It was a near thing—batteries that could keep a pony frozen indefinitely in the cold abyss of space clearly struggled against the full sun of Proximus B. Fans whirred, and frost formed on the exhaust manifold. But they managed.
Applejack attempts to repair. Success. Applejack takes three points of health damage from the (mostly emotional) strain of her repair.
“That’ll do, cap. This pony… Sunset, I guess, she’s still alive. Might be a tad freezer-burned after the near defrost she got, but… nothing a bioprinter and a good surgeon couldn’t cure.”
Fluttershy and Twilight met eyes then, a tense, silent moment. They both knew it—Sunset probably wouldn’t have a surgeon. When they got back to the Equinox, she would have Fluttershy, and that was it.
“I don’t know if we’ll get that chance,” Twilight said, voice low. “Leaving her… frozen until we get back, I mean. Sunset Shimmer here, Captain Sunset Shimmer… she’s the only one who knows anything about this ship, the Solstice. Sent after we left, from a different Equestria. We might need what she knows. Equestria might need it. If Cozy…” But she didn’t need to finish that.
Applejack just shook her head. “That ain’t my call to make. I fixed the pod, that’s what you needed. Now I… think I’ll need a mite more rest. If ya’ don’t mind me askin,’ Cap.”
“No,” she answered. “I don’t mind. Go ahead. Get back to the ship, and sleep as long as you need. Fluttershy and I need to get this pod back… I don’t like the idea of our survivor’s life hanging on a nuclear batter that was half-soaked for decades.”
“Yeah.” Fluttershy said. “I can… drive the cargo truck. I can, um… get her back.” But for all her obedience, Twilight could see the anger just beneath the surface. If you make me wake her…
But Twilight wouldn’t be making her do anything right now. She turned, walking back towards the excavation, where Pinkie Pie was still hard at work.
She passed the five fresh graves on the way—Twilight had done that grisly duty herself, while Applejack and Fluttershy struggled over the pod. Pinkie would’ve helped under better circumstances, but… the pony was barely holding things together as it was. Putting the corpses of ponies in the ground wouldn’t be helping her.
There were no markers yet, just their hoof tags on the ground. Twilight hadn’t recognized any of the names, not like she knew Sunset. Her inner dread that her brother, or maybe Starlight… she wouldn’t be facing it today.
Granted, there was still some of that horror left, though it had transformed. This was the escape pod. Where’s the ship?
Equestrian ships all had ident transmitters. In the Equus system, that would mean very little, but here—here any friendly ship would be able to track any other.
There was no signal from a ‘Solstice.’
“Hi Twilight,” Pinkie waved weakly to her from just outside the pod. A series of objects was spread on the ground in front of her.
Personal effects, emergency tools. At first Twilight couldn’t see anything interesting. But that didn’t mean she should assume. “Found anything?”
Pinkie nodded. “I, uh…” she nudged a display screen closer to Twilight. The surface was cracked, and a layer of water had collected under the glass. Twilight’s eyebrows went up, but she lifted the object up anyway. As it moved, some strange grooves on the back caught the light. Twilight turned it over.
Somepony had carved into the metal with jagged, uneven strokes. Like they’d been using a screwdriver and a hammer.
“IT HUNGERS IT HUNGERS IT HUNGERS IT HUNGERS IT HUNGERS IT HUNGERS IT HUNGERS IT HUNGERS”
Twilight dropped the pad right out of her magic. They went crazy. Somepony… like Pinkie. That’s all this is. A psychological breakdown. We knew it was possible, that’s why we screened so heavily for the space program. We just weren’t strict enough.
“Is this… all you found?”
Pinkie shook her head. She reached down into a bundle of rotten fabric, and drew out a hard plastic case, still closed. It was battered and broken, though despite the damage Twilight could still make out the cutie mark of Princess Celestia melted in.
“What’s in here?” Twilight took it in her magic, a little too forcefully. Pinkie whimpered slightly, pulling away.
“D-didn’t… didn’t open it.”
It was like holding a holy relic. Twilight settled it down at her hooves, then gently eased the clasps open. The rubber seals along the side had obviously suffered, yet somehow they seemed intact. She pushed the lid off, squinting down inside.
There was foam padding inside, rotten and collapsed with age. But the contents were still bone dry.
It was a machine, unlike any Twilight could recognize. Tight bundles of hair thin wire had been wrapped around crystals of yellow and blue at opposite ends.
There were no buttons. The instant the light touched it, a miniscule motor started to spin, and a laser shot straight up into the sky. A tiny speaker spluttered in Starlight Glimmer’s mechanical voice. “Target identified—Proximus B. Reference coordinates: Proximus C, polar orbit, 121 CARDINAL 81 CARDINAL ecliptic. Retrieve immediately.”
There was a harsh crack, and a sudden smell of plastic melting. The object stopped glowing, the crystals going cold and dark.
Twilight shut the case, as though doing so might protect it from further damage.
It was time for new orders…
1. Leave some of the crew behind to farm, investigate the coordinates using the Prospector. The trip will take a few months, and it won’t be exciting. But that doesn’t matter. There’s something in orbit of Proximus C, and we need to know what it is.
2. Investigate the structure. We keep avoiding the best source of information we have. There’s an intact building here, possibly left by the Signalers. Maybe they were the ones who buried the pod.
3. Send Spike to Investigate the coordinates. The Equinox is still basically intact. It won’t be harder for him to repair the ship while in transit than it would be in orbit. We could make a trip up for supplies, then send him away. Spike can handle it.
(Certainty 205 required)
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If it is no extra burden then send Spike he is all ready in orbit so it saves full.
Based on the context, Sermon -> Surgeon?
Anyway, I'm kinda wondering about Sunset's history in this AU. Did she still have the whole human-universe thing and if so, could they evacuate a bunch of ponies to there?
I mean, technically speaking, options 2 and 3 aren't mutually exclusive, though that does divide the focus dangerously. Still, best to use the resources that are already out of the planet's gravity well. Goodness knows Spike has experience with flying the Equinox in subpar condition.
Meanwhile, AJ's going to need some serious rest after that one. Hopefully nothing too demanding will hit in the engineering or agriculture departments for a bit.
I am unnerved by the carving.
I say send Spike. Divide and conquer. There are still too many questions to answer on this planet to leave.
I vote 2. Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
I think you want 'grisly' in this context.
'Psychological'.
Also, I wish there were an option D, 'focus on survival for now'. We've taken multiple injuries and multiple morale hits; we should take some time to get crops in, heal, and get enough bio stuff to revive Rainbow Dash and Rarity.
9432323
I mean if she died she might have gotten a sermon... Buut I think the typo just slipped by.
For the first time I think the right choice is none of the above. Wait until we can defrost Dash and she recovers before exploring either option. We've hit the point where Dash is too important.
I also feel that we need to keep enough geneseed in stock to revive Sunset if her pod gives out.
Long story short, I think we need to hurry up and wait.
Two chapters in a row with no good options. Can't we wait until AJ is better, and Rainbow and Rarity are up? I say send Spike. The party is already divided, no sense dividing it further.
We need some time to heal and rest. steaming on at the moment with AJ out of the running, Pinky not ok and 3 others still asleep. Time rest and growing food are important. Get the main ship ready and the crew online.
Then it is time for exploring weird things.
It is entirely possible that those coordinates can lead to something dangerous. So I'm going for option 2 in this case. Besides, its about time we see to this building.
We shouldn't do anything yet.
Whatever is at that coordinates can wait a bit longer, so no need for even more risk.
For now only farming and recovering.
[Option 2]
Option 2 followed (hopefully) by Option 3.
The trip takes months, so one more day won't have an impact, while information gained in the structure very well might - Just avoid wasting too much time in the structure...
The damage to the equinox, the fact that everything was in worse shape than it should have been, their signal out and now a new ship out of the blue.
I think out crew has lost some decades somewhere. The escape pod they just rescued was supposed to be their rescue.
Can we just give everyone a six month vacation?
Welp, we failed to do the one thing we wanted to do here. Morale is in the floor again, Fluttershy is angry, Applejack won't get better in a while, Pinkie is still unstable...
But, we have a decision to make.
Option one is a terrible idea. What if something bad happens and the crew needs to escape? Also, don't split the party (again)
Option two is intresting (and I suspect is what Starscribe wants us to do). But I'd prefer to have the full group before exploring, especially Rainbow Dash.
That leaves option three, wich lets us catch up with Spike, wait just a little more for Applejack to get better, and let the crops grow. We lose nothing doing this.
Am I the only one who wants to avoid the structure even more as it keeps popping up in the options? Feels like The Cabin in the Woods, where the controllers keep trying to influence the coeds to go down into the basement and play with a bunch of cursed shit.
I wanted to explore before, but now that we just pulled Sunset out of a Lovecraftian-level shipwreck and possible temporal paradox (no records of the Solstice coupled with the apparent age of the pod) I’m starting to think packing it in at the first opprotunity would be best.
as much as i feel, the best idea is to rest up, i made my vote, but i have a bad feeling.
Yeah, if we have to explore anything right now, it's going to be the thing that allows Applejack to relax for a while and not expose the crew to a potentially new threat.
We know significantly more about this planet then whatever at those coordinates. With the scratches as a potential clue, sounds like someone found a black marker and had a necromorph infestation.
No more risk if they can ovoid it. Get all hands on ship before we face that kind of noise.
Fuck the building. Every time they've "investigated" something new, they've had a brush with literal death. If I were them, I wouldn't be reconnoitering anything until I consolidated my position. Who knows what horrors they'll awaken next?
9432893
Yeah, it keeps popping out there, tempting people. "Come on, go inside. Who knows what you'll find?" That alone makes me suspicious of it.
I feel like the best option is "take a freaking break." Anyone doing anything stressful now is probably a bad idea. Unfortunately, it's not an option on the poll.
9432510
Hell, maybe they underwent relativistic travel. Not sure if Equestria would know about Relativity yet, so it's possible they never took the effects of relativistic velocities into account.
9432747
Splitting the party is never a good idea lol.
So I'm confused who wrote the hunger thing? Was it Pinkie or the dead crew?
And does Twilight know Sunset or not?
Yikes.
Send Spike to the coordinates, that doesn't preclude separate actions by the on-planet crew. Also, don't split the party even more.
I don't trust either the building or the mystery coordinates. The building is just weird. The last time we investigated coordinates that someone wanted us to go to immediately, we got a source of information (Node) but also ran into trouble (the big worm). What I'd really like is for everyone to take a break, breath some real air, let Spike finish his repairs and then get him down here for some real air too, and then once everyone is ready we can go looking for trouble.
...What's Node been doing, anyway? Have they just been sitting in a dark corner like a mannequin? Did they help at all with the excavation?
Maybe Twilight can teach them how to farm.
9433528
Here is some major possible problems there. Twilight explores the building alone wakes something up and gets killed trying to get back to the crew. Crew barley escapes on the prospector but now they're stranded around the planet cause Spike flew their ship out of their range to investigate that coordinate.
Who the fuck knows what happens there and he has to make descions there alone in a ship that still can't take on living crew. In the mean time AJ, Shy, and Pinkie are trapped on a small vessel with little to no food having just lost Twilight with Pinkie barely holding onto sanity as it is and AJ being objectively the worst decision maker in the story so far.
When you're all in one location like the ship splitting the party to a bunch of different repair goals makes sense. When you send people alone into danger you're hurling your party into the void in the hope one comes back. And even if one does come back you've already lost too much for it to matter.
Here's my problem with not investigating the building: how long will it actually take to do so? If it's a short period of time, why make decisions about the crew division without that information? Sure, there will be plenty of time to check it out while Spike is en route, but that's just to say that it'll be too late to send anyone else along with him—or similarly with the other option.
9433592
Node still isn't a perfect ally. Motives are still only semi clear, his speech is still screwy with the crew so they have a hard time understanding him. Also need I point out he led them into that kill bot horde without warning until it happened?
Spike spent alot of time chasing problem after problem on the ship without realizing it was sabatoge from Cozy Glow, it's also been brought to attention a couple times that he's not a great decision maker, the one decision he's made so far was a community voted one and he was given that one because it relied on info only he would be able to get later on.
Put Fluttershy in Command? What universe do you live in? The only time she shows the ability to lead is when it's in her area of medicine. Other than that she's a chronic wallflower.
All of the mane six were designed in a way that Twilight is the only one who can lead for any longer than a mission. Aj is too stubborn and hard headed, Shy is to much of a doormat, pinkie rarely takes anything seriously, Spike is seen as a kid (even now after growing up Aj treats him like a kid), Rarity is not great at priorities, and Rainbow is the same as Aj but has less common sense. There is Sunset but that would be if Shy could even bring her back and if it's old Sunset she's a lone wolf and has no leadership skills.
If Twi dies it's an immediate abort mission and hope they can stay together long enough to make it back to whatever went wrong in Equestria. Which they probably won't be able to fix without Twi anyway.
What does Node have to say about all this?
We seem to need information, so I think the building is the quickest way to get that.
#2.
everything else will take months to find answers. The tower is there right now and if they have to they can still jump into the prospector and flee into space (maby even the hab ring if the ship is not ready for them).
Gosh, what great options. GIANT DEATH WORMS, GIANT DEATH WORMS, and SPACE DEATH WORMS respectively. Can I join the "rest and heal" write-in campaign?
I guess I'm going for #2 because at least they can bug out back to the Prospector when they activate the hostiles. But this is *really* the time to get the geneseed harvest guaranteed (and also wakes up Sunset) before taking any more chances.
Unfortunately the option I really want - “do nothing until Rarity and Rainbow Dash can be woken up” - isn’t available. I feel like no matter what we’d be better off with all of the Mane 6 around.