O̡̱̝̝̗͢͞P̧̧̪̤̣̬̦̦͍͕̰̲̰̜̲̯͠E̴̛͟҉̬̖͎̰̳̖̦͙͕̣͓̠̥̟̞̱̪͍̖Ǹ̢̡͇̰͉͉̹̗͚̦͉̰̙̻͘ ̷̤̺͈̘̲̣̝̱̙̀͟͜͠T̢̢͔͖̬̻̰͈̠͘͠͝H̸̷̰̹̺̪̗̫̖͔̫̘͟E̸̪̫͎̺͉̱̦̞͖̥͘͢͞͠ͅ ̝͈̬͙̬͓̮̞̣͚͉̪̱̯̝̲̖͔̟̕͜D͞҉̬̠̯͖̝̠̻͜Ǫ̵̴̴̙͓̰͖̹͝Ò͈̥͕͕̯̟̘̤̀́͝R͏̲̺̪̖̭͓̭̜̱̮̻̖͜ͅ ∞%
Whatever part of herself might’ve been able to resist, it evidently wasn’t strong enough to resist whatever was waiting on the other side. She needed help. Their entire operation had been nothing but a scramble for information they didn’t have. Equestria cutting off contact had only been the beginning. Maybe this was where that ended.
Twilight reached the airlock door. It was tall, over her head, with a bright red handle that needed to be rotated. Twilight gripped it with both hooves, having to brace herself forward against the metal.
There was a tiny window on the airlock door, facing into containment. Inside was more of the smoky residue, making clear sight impossible. Just the glow of the pony’s horn within, or whatever light was about at its head-level.
Twilight opened the door.
She was instantly hit with a wave of noxious gas, making it difficult to see, almost as hard to breathe. She was simultaneously repulsed and attracted by the smell, like a fancy Prench cheese. Enticing and rotten.
Does Twilight retreat? Yes. With a shield? Yes.
Twilight retreated from the opening, her fear finally overpowering whatever had driven her down so deep in the first place. Her horn glowed and flashed, and a bubble appeared around her, driving out the swirling black smoke. She kept backing away, getting further away from whatever was inside.
Just because it wants to be helpful doesn’t mean it’s safe. We might need to talk at a distance.
The electrodes flashing through the room roared once, then overloaded. It was a good thing she backed away from the airlock, because the huge metal spike above it exploded right then, in a spectacular fireball that tore away the stone, shattered glass, and rained down bits of molten shrapnel on her shield.
Twilight gasped and squealed, backing a little further away. “Watch out, whoever you are! These machines are really old… they’re not safe.”
They aren’t dangerous anymore, said the voice. It wasn’t at all like being near her friends, with so many layers of interlacing emotion, background thoughts, things even they didn’t know. Twilight heard only what the speaker wanted to convey, and nothing else. Even the words themselves lacked emotion.
The last of the machines around them went dark, leaving only Twilight’s shield spell to light the space around her. It didn’t seem able to penetrate the swirling fog.
Your solution is interesting, the voice said, and the figure ahead of her coalesced again. It looked like a pony, at least the parts she could see. Novel, even. Did you plan on circumventing?
“I don’t…” Twilight stammered. The more of this creature she saw, the more afraid she was. Afraid enough that she began preparing another spell in the back of her mind, holding it in reserve if she needed it. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Twilight’s knees buckled as she felt sudden, overwhelming pressure on her shield.
Can Twilight hold it? Yes.
But she was no common unicorn, to be overwhelmed by pressure from outside. She was an Alicorn, trained by Celestia herself in the Stellar academy. She gritted her teeth, standing up straight, and her shield got brighter. It went almost completely opaque with purple energy, so that she could see only a distant figure on the outside. A pony, pressing a hoof to it from the outside.
Twilight attempts to see specifics about the figure. Success.
It wasn’t just a similar height—the pony on the other side was exactly the same size as herself. The hoof even looked the same, the horn had the same unique alicorn point. It was an identical copy, except that parts of it occasionally drifted away, reforming from the smoke.
It wasn’t just pressing at her shield, but her mind as well. A rumble like a slowly approaching wave, reaching a crest. Your solution is unnecessary. The sacred union of the flesh brings the only possible end to suffering. All must be circumscribed upon its axis.
I’ve seen something like this before, Twilight realized. The Crystal Empire. She could still see the city, where it orbited high in the Venusian atmosphere. There too she had seen a creature of dark smoke, bent on conquest.
“I don’t think I want your help anymore,” Twilight said, backing a little further away. “Maybe you should go back in your room.”
Only laughter answered, one final assault on her mind that threatened to drive her to her knees again, crushing her under its alien will. Blood dribbled from her mouth, the corners of her eyes, and her legs buckled under the pressure. It wasn’t just trying to force her to open her shield—it was trying to crush her will.
In the instant of its contact, Twilight saw an experience that stretched back into eternity. Strange eons passed, until the solution to all suffering was devised. Its discoverers and eventually all their vast empire were its first victims. Now they wanted her.
She had much suffering this being could drag against her mind—the family she’d left behind and were probably dead. The hard life that waited for her. The uncertainty about Equestria’s fate. Those were powerful tools.
Does Twilight survive the assault and banish the presence from her mind? Critical Yes. Twilight’s
H̸̸̡͠҉U̷̡N̶͠G̵̢̡͞҉E̴̡͡͞R̢̢̕͜ returns to zero.
But not as powerful as all the good. The friends she had made, their pact to explore the stars, reach the signalers, and begin Equestrian interstellar colonization. Her family might be gone, but the things they’d taught her and the love she had was still alive in her memory. She wouldn’t trade the end of suffering for the end of joy that it would also require.
“Get out!” Twilight roared, magic flaring from her horn, her eyes. Light radiated from around her, bright enough that even the strange mist was briefly burned away. But she knew better than to stand and fight—her mind was her domain, but this creature was still unknown to her.
Can Twilight teleport back to camp? Yes.
She passed through the void, and this time the strange voices were gone. She could see the stars watching her, each one a single eye in the darkness. But just because she couldn’t forget about them didn’t mean she had to fear them anymore.
She appeared outside camp, her shield shattering into hardened light and crumbling around her. Rainbow and Fluttershy looked up from the small-animal shelter they were making a few meters away, confusion and horror on her faces.
We don’t have much time.
1. Emergency evacuation of Proximus B. That creature is too dangerous to fight. Grab the ponies and leave all the supplies we haven’t packed yet behind. There’s no time to waste.
2. Retreat from Proximus B. We’ve worked too hard to leave our harvest and minerals behind. Begin packing up, but don’t be wasteful. It might take days for that creature to get here, long enough for a proper retreat. I can always create a shield around camp if it comes to that.
3. Fight. Nothing in the universe is as strong as our friendship. That isn’t the H̸̸̡͠҉U̷̡N̶͠G̵̢̡͞҉E̴̡͡͞R̢̢̕͜, it’s just one creature. If we stop it here, we can learn what it really is.
(Certainty 240 required)
Well. That went far better than expected. Now let's get off this dirtball. Just because Twilight was able to get away from one encounter with that thing doesn't mean they should try confronting it directly.
Twilight got lucky, eh? Not every day you wrench your mind back from an eldritch horror.
It probably wasn't expecting Twilight to resist as much as she did. Now Twilight and her friends have the perfect opportunity to push the offensive while they have momentum, and I'd be contradicting what I just said yesterday if I chose any other option. They should fight.
Thanks be to the benevolent dice upon this day, we beseech you to continue holding off on your vengeance upon us fallible voting readers.
Man. Time to roll the dice? Can we have faith in the power of friendship and the Element Bearers? I feel like maybe we should risk it, and that it is thematically the right moment for it. Also, I'm not sure there's any reason to believe that this creature is limited to just the current planet. 3.
With the caliber of those rolls I think we're officially playing Dark Souls now >.>
Also, this is a "retreat" scenario. The BBEG has shown themself and it's time to regroup somewhere safer.
All we need to do is one rainbow blast. Just one. How hard is that?
It's time to put the Elements of Harmony to the test. Either they can defeat this enemy or they have no chance to survive, and trying to run would only make things harder. It's time they made their stand.
TIme to ditch !
Twilight and Pinkie and the machine ponies might be able to resist it, but what about the rest of the crew?
Not to mention the possibility of the "thing" possessing the machine ponies including Node
--> Edit: You all do realize that the elements is actually not an option right? The vote dissapoints me
Let's retreat. I think Twilight could hold it off for a bit, so let's not abandon all the hard work they accomplished on this planet. But she also struggled against it, so I really don't think they should fight
And the secret option is as always, terrible.
Emergency evacuation time! We can come back later, right nowe we don't know enough to stay here.
I'd love to go friendship lazer on the guy, but this isn't the canon universe.
I don't think their friendship is in the best state right now. FIghting is probably a bad idea.
Time for a tactical retreat. They can fight it if it comes to that, but for now it's safer to fall back.
Uh... Correct me if I'm wrong, but AJ's still bedridden, right? We really going to fight this?
Gonna be honest, pretty scared to read this chapter.
Wow. Infinity percent of people voted to O̡̱̝̝̗͢͞P̧̧̪̤̣̬̦̦͍͕̰̲̰̜̲̯͠E̴̛͟҉̬̖͎̰̳̖̦͙͕̣͓̠̥̟̞̱̪͍̖Ǹ̢̡͇̰͉͉̹̗͚̦͉̰̙̻͘ ̷̤̺͈̘̲̣̝̱̙̀͟͜͠T̢̢͔͖̬̻̰͈̠͘͠͝H̸̷̰̹̺̪̗̫̖͔̫̘͟E̸̪̫͎̺͉̱̦̞͖̥͘͢͞͠ͅ ̝͈̬͙̬͓̮̞̣͚͉̪̱̯̝̲̖͔̟̕͜D͞҉̬̠̯͖̝̠̻͜Ǫ̵̴̴̙͓̰͖̹͝Ò͈̥͕͕̯̟̘̤̀́͝R͏̲̺̪̖̭͓̭̜̱̮̻̖͜ͅ. Lovely.
Thank GOD that Twilight’s Hunger goes back down.
Honestly? I say we stand and fight. While the whatever-it-was could cripple Twilight seemingly effortlessly, they have an ace in the hole: three robots who I believe are entirely immune to its influence.
Get in there, beat it up, then cut it open and see what makes it tick. Remember, this thing was imprisoned once before.
9535523
Correct, they do not have the Elements of Harmony with them.
This doesn't strike me as an enemy that is limited by a planet's gravity well. Fighting on the grassy patch is probably their best bet since they would be too exposed if caught in the excavator or worse, the Equinox getting damaged beyond repair this time.
At least in the grass patch, Twi and friends can use weapons or spells a lot more freely.
Admittedly this is a big unknown. The risks of leaving it on the planet, loose, are kinda bad even ignoring our potential resource losses. It'd make it even less hospitable in the future if we needed it, the creature could get stronger and influence what little other life there is, and in theory it could doom some other crew in the future.
So even a slow retreat that was successful may not be great. As is I think we have enough time to at least muster a strong resistance, having a full crew at our disposal. Between all their fields of expertise, particularly RD Military, Twilight's personal experience and magic, and possibly robo ponies and Pinkie Insight even on short notice with some concise orders there's a good chance of dealing with this. Let's also not forget that Rainbow Dash supposedly has good mental conditioning for this sort of thing too. Twi has encountered something like this before... I'd like to think she'd have retained some useful knowledge about it, even if not a full report of data. If there's time, maybe show Rarity that mental protection spell?
Team could really use a legitimate win I think. A we beat something, something bad. It's not without risks, but long term leaving it unchecked could be worse, and we have to be willing to fight something sometime.
... actually, I also realized they'd also have the home field advantage just now. Knowing what buildings are what, possibly being able to ambush it. In theory... if it was trapped it could be trapped again as well. Not an optimal choice, but the camp might be the best shot at it.
I am probably wrong, but I do not think retreat would be the safest. Then I looked at the poll. Considering the way the last option looks.
Yeah, I say fight.
9535602
I think it's worth noting that a lot of people refer to the mane six as the elements of harmony. I think that's what was originally going on here.
The way I see it, regular retreat is the best option.
If the creature is slow, then all the resources they've gathered so far aren't wasted. If it can be tracked from the ship, then playing keep away will be easy with a starship.
If it's fast? Well, everyone is awake and relatively able (If I remember right, Applejack just had her limb replaced), and together they may be able to fight it. True, they don't have the Elements of Harmony, but Twilight is an Alicorn. One can presume that the Tirek incident, or something similar happened. And rainbow powers are similar to the Elements of Harmony, maybe even more powerful. But most importantly of all, it's inside them all(As referenced by The Mean 6). So it's always with them?
..... If the super OP powers of friendship act similar in this universe, of course.
Retreat seems like a good idea, but then we're left with an unknown enemy that will bide its time until all its strength is back and will certainly attack us at an unknown point in the future. Possibly when we're divided and unaware. Unless we know it is trapped on this planet it may be best to stomp out this new threat now while we have (almost) all hooves available to fight.
I'll give it more thought before voting, but I'm leaning towards the fight.
Edit: Oh look, an "insanity" option. No, I won't be playing that little game while the chips are down.
Retreat? I dont know the meanibg of the word. I say FIGHT! Fight like hell! Better to go down guns blazing than to flee something that might stab you in the back as youre running
Bring me the flamer, the heavy flamer, the TWIN heavy flamer.
One of those options isn't marked as dangerous.
Gentel mares and stalions, to day an agent of tha great enamy showed its face. It tought it was strong, that it's masters is inevitable, that life is a pain to be removed...
IT IS WRONG I SAY!!
Purhaps a lesser mind would have fallen to its wile attacks, but in its ackts it only brought forfth the good in life and made it stant out all the more.
It has lost comprihantion of such things and if all the weeker forit.
Mares, stalions to day we FIGHT!
Our coution has served us well but now is not the time to think, now is the time for acktion!
Yes, we dont have the elements. but as powerful as they are they are but tools ment to fuckus the power in all of us. A power that has seen us trough when all seemed lost, for it is a power that will never be stoped solong as ther is life, no mater the form life takes.
SO WE FIGHT! FOR EQUESTRIA! FOR EQUIS! FOR LIFE!
And we show it that even after the darkest night, THE SUN STILL RISES!!!
If we don't confront this with the power of friendship we have wasted every resource we used getting to this point. It's time to put a friendship cap in this hater.
9535759
You’re not wrong.
Im kinda regretting having Spike dismantle the Equinox’s weapons way back when. This is exactly the type of situation where phrases like ‘sustained nuclear bombardment from orbit’ suddenly stop sounding like overkill.
It is foolish to believe you can outrun a shadow.
Fill it up!
9535602
But they "Are" the Elements of Harmony. The physical manifestation of the Elements can be destroyed and they can still summon them cause they themselves represent each Element. Even after they put the elements back they were given the Rainbow power in the show. Did this Twilight become an Alicorn the same way the show Twilight did? I just figured most of what happened in the show happened similarly here just with a space theme like the Nightmare station (or something) that was off handedly mentioned.
9536190
The physical manifestation of the elements was returned to the tree, and will not be accessible for anything they do. They're still the Elements, whatever that means, but the objects will not be traveling through time and space to arrive for the fight. I wanted to make sure people understood that in relation to their votes.
Honestly, this "feels" like the time for standing ground. And since the only "non-danger" option is insanity... yeah, let's end this!
9536205
Seeing the comments and the vote I think it's a little late for that . I voted retreat cause I figured that's why you were specifically saying it in the comments. Might have needed a scene where the options were given to her by the crew or something to warn people.
Hey I was just compelled to let out some unspeakable evil that works for the void and looks like me.
Oh no we need to leave now it's game over man.
Naw we're the Elements we could kick this things ass.
Uh Dash we didn't bring the elements...
What!? I thought that didn't matter? They were destroyed and we could still use them?! Twilight even said "the real power of the elements was within my friends".
No Dash... just No...
Uh maybe we should go then but do we really have to rush? It'd kinda suck to just leave all the supplies we've been collecting.
Their friendship pacified a chaos god. Staying is a reasonable option.
Well, again, no good choices, so I'm going with 3. It's out (can we hope it's SweetyBot and Twilight just misunderstood that the phasers were set on hug?), the crew isn't ready to run away fast, they'd leave too much behind if they did, there is no guarantee they have time to pack up and go at a more leisurely pace, and remaining silent is worst of all, the whole crew at least needs to be on alert and know what might be coming for them. But yeah, hopefully Spike has gotten the main ship fixed, because their strategy should be including getting it ready to go, packed full of food and fueled up, making sure the O2 scrubbers work, etc. so that if they ever did have to run away it would be available, or else they'll end up back under plastic on another ice asteroid trying to get ready to leave the solar system.
This is the best opportunity to fight. Right now, the ponies (and pony-analogues) outnumber the creature, know the surrounding terrain, and have resources unpacked and ready to go. Spike is just going to have to fabricate armor and guns as fast as he can.
Also, it seems 11 people have chosen to willingly throw themselves into the arms of the zombie horde.
We barely made it through that, Twilight almost died. The Elements are not with us, and this is Starscribe's world, not the Equestria we know. None the less, if the show from which this all started taught me something, it's the power of friendship. And also, we're not sure that creature is bound to this planet. Better fight here than trapped in the ship in the cold of space.
YEEEEAAAHHH YOU DUN MESSED WITH THE WRONG PRINCESS OF FRIENDSHIP!!! Considering the frequent dark ivertones of this story, I am really pleased we got a really strong sequence of Twilight’s powers of friendship and good overcoming evil. Might go south but I say stand and fight; it was contained once, and they have three robot ponies immune to its mind powers AND an alicorn. There may be a chance!
I can't even imagine how lucky we were this chapter. I am very relieved that the fun train can continue. Choo! Choo!
Well then, situation resolved; back to work.
Wow, it seems we had much luck this time.
We shouldn't rely on it to last and get outta here!
Twilight had a Snickers and her hangry meter has returned to zero. That's- That's always good. I wasn't worried at all! I'm just going to go have a lie down out of sheer victory, and not relief.
Holy CHRIST, we got lucky!
Now for the insanity roll....
....17.
Seeing as Twilight seems to be the only one facing this thing (And she got miraculously lucky!), and fighting it would probably end bad, we should retreat. But if this thing killed an entire civilization, then chances are it can travel through space, so retreating would be all but useless in the long run. At least it can but us some time, so option 2.
9535621
Another bad thing is leaving it alone to claim a Crystal heart.
If we leave it alone to claim that... Well... we saw a potential future in the show that showed what Sombra could do with something like that, given time.
I'm going to go with stand and fight. If we leave planet, it will just screw up the lander and cause them to crash most likely. One thing to keep in mind is Pinkie and Twilight have extra sensory capabilities that make them incredibly sensitive to this kind of creatures manipulations. So the others might not be as in much risk from a psychic attack. A physical attack on the other hand is a different matter.
9536205
I understand. I still choose to fight because we shall not run away anymore. We shall fight on the ocean, we shall fight in the air, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall never surrender!
I think anyone counting on rainbows to win the fight needs to reconsider. It's not likely in universe. However, that doesn't mean they'll lose, for they have many other advantages at their disposal, I just think that you should not be putting your eggs in the deus ex friendship basket if that's the only reason you're picking fight. I'm picking fight because I think it makes sense for a lot of reasons- long term safety, current tactical advantages we have, et cetera.
DAMMIT GUYS. Did you even read the description on the option you're voting for? It practically says "
let's(we can) take on (anything in) the entire universe". This is not an option that is smart to pick instead of an orderly retreat to buy time in which more information might be gathered. And, you know, wounds licked, metaphorically speaking.[edit: edited.]
9538398 It... doesn't say that at all.
9537168
Surrender is not synonymous with retreat. You quote Churchill, yet you forget Dunkirk?
9538662
You're right. However, it does say "Nothing in the universe is as strong as our friendship." Which is exactly the sort of danger sign that I intended to be warning about. It doesn't say "we can take on everything in the universe", it says "we can take on anything in the universe". It's still folly, but you're right that I misidentified the particular folly it was.
9539294 Right. But forget the rainbow. The reason I think we should fight is because we have the robots.
Twilight dear we have a situation you should be informed of...
We know you run a tight ship here but
Well girls will be girls
and a lady does have her needs
We sure do!
what needs?
We're going to need a bigger spaceship
Sugar cube we're all pregnant
not me
me neither
Does this mean I get no ice cream???