Study the remains. 44%
Twilight was back in the hospital for the next few days. Considering the number of times she’d been bruised, bloodied, or otherwise injured since being first defrosted, she was starting to miss the beep of the monitoring system whenever she couldn’t hear it.
At least there was one consolation to her visit this time: she could be there to see Applejack walk for the first time.
Everypony who wasn’t involved in their research on the mysterious creature was there, though there was very little for anypony but Fluttershy and Node to do.
“That should be everything,” Fluttershy said, stepping back and sighing deeply after her third hour of work. The limb had already been assembled, so attaching it to the metal peg in Applejack’s leg hadn’t been hard. The hard part was getting the implant into her head to control it.
“I ain’t so sure about this anymore,” Applejack muttered, her voice nervous. “I wish I didn’t have to be awake for all that.” Applejack rested on firm support structure in the center of the hospital, firmly padded and with clamps to stop her from moving. Her legs dangled off the side, and her neck and head had been completely immobilized. Until now, as Fluttershy moved about undoing most of the clamps, removing them one at a time.
“You’re always awake for brain surgery,” Fluttershy answered, exhausted. Twilight’s own bunk was only a few meters away, so she’d been able to watch the entire grueling affair. Able to see Fluttershy stitch up the now-bald patch of Applejack’s scalp, then bond it with the dermal regenerator. “But whether any of that still works…” she glanced weakly to Node. “Well?”
“It works,” she said, without hesitation. “I designed the parts that could fail, so they won’t.”
“What about the rest of it?” Applejack asked. “Somepony designed that too, didn’t they?”
“The Progenitors,” Node answered, without hesitation. “Their grasp of mechanical engineering and distributed intelligence makes us all look like insects. Their work is beyond your grasp. But just because we can’t replicate it does not mean we can’t take advantage of what it offers.”
“I forget how, uh… pleasant you are to be around,” Rarity said. “How did you cope, Rainbow?”
“Just told her she was right about all of it,” Rainbow Dash said. She was watching from the cot beside Twilight’s, though with less grace. The regeneration drugs weren’t working quote so quickly on her, and she was still having trouble eating.
“We’re ready,” Node said. “Go on, equanoid engineer. Your leg will be superior to the one you lost.”
“Superior legs don’t need to be plugged in,” Applejack answered. Then she moved. The leg jerked at first, bending all the way back and smacking against her bench from below. Applejack winced, then tried again. “Well horseapples if she ain’t fast. But can you put weight on it?”
She leaned forward, lifting herself up by her good legs, and gingerly lowering herself down on the implant. It held, the plastic barely even bending.
“Of course you can,” Node answered. “It’s a hollow truss design made of a hyperdense plastic polymer. You can make as much of it as you like now that I’ve reprogramed your fabricator. I would suggest modifying your body armor, but whatever you enjoy most.” Node walked a few steps away, lifting a heavy plastic box and setting it on the empty cot beside where Applejack was standing. “There other four are here. Two front, two back. This pony is going to be the fastest running you ever knew. Except for the infiltrator. Her design is… orgasmic.”
Applejack’s neck snapped towards Node, her eyes darkening. “I am not going to hear such talk about my sister from you again, ya’ hear? Or we’ll see just how strong this fancy new leg really is.”
Twilight wasn’t sure if Node had really meant to be so crass, or just hadn’t understood the nuance of the words she used. She found it didn’t really matter to her either way.
It was another two days before she could get Fluttershy to let her out. She headed straight for Node’s lab, where she found Apple Bloom standing beside a freshly-dug grave. Her body was splotched and dirty, leaving no mystery in Twilight’s mind about what she’d just done.
“I’m sorry,” she said again, for the fiftieth time. Twilight had already given her speeches about sacrifice and duty and not being Iron’s fault. But none of them had ever meant anything to Apple Bloom.
“Me too,” she said. “But at least I can give what’s left a… proper burial.”
Neither of them said anything for a long time. Twilight might’ve left her there, if she wasn’t so worried about her crew. “I need to know what you’ve learned,” she said, voice gentle. “I’m guessing you’re finished if he’s in the ground now.”
Apple Bloom nodded.
Study of Iron Horse? Successful.
“The really interesting data probably would’ve been in his, uh… head,” she said. “But I did learn one thing. The ghoul didn’t touch him. Whatever made him attack us… was something he decided on his own.”
“Ghoul?”
Applejack looked away, ears flattening. “It’s the name we came up with for the other creature. We needed something to call the remains, and… it seemed to fit.”
She knew the word. It was a specific class of undead, one so rarely created that ponies considered them mythological, and the frequent subject of fantasy horror back in Equestria. “So what made Iron Horse attack?”
She shook her head. “We’ll probably never know. The lower half of the body only had… a few redundant command storage nodes. I can read off the last things he wanted to do. Keep shooting us. Beyond that…” she shook her head.
“What about the ghoul?”
Apple Bloom shuddered visibly, gesturing towards the lab. “Come on, I’ll show you.”
To her surprise, Node wasn’t waiting in the lab when they got inside. Apple Bloom took them directly to one of the microscopes, beside a few biohazard-marked sample containers.
Study of the ghoul? Critical success.
“There’s more to work with here,” Apple Bloom went on, a little of her old energy returning as she circled the lab. “You compared it to king sombra while we fought—turns out that isn’t really true. There’s no magic here, no necromancy.”
“But…” Twilight couldn’t think of a delicate way to phrase this. “You’re, uh… you’re mechanical, Apple Bloom. I thought you—”
“I can’t sense magic,” she said, voice dark. “Yes. But Rarity has bene here for all the spells, you can verify with her. I’m not wrong.”
“Sorry,” Twilight said. “I didn’t mean—”
“I know what you meant. Just…” she sighed. “Listen. What we’re dealing with here isn’t magic, and that’s a good thing. Whatever it is, I think magic is its weakness. The defense turrets—they use accelerator crystals to charge the electromagnets. The rifles use thaumic capacitors. That’s what our weapons had in common, and what made them so effective. I think if we’d use gunpowder or crossbows or some other tools, it wouldn’t have done anything.”
This is the most tactically useful information, Twilight thought. But just because it was useful didn’t mean it was what she most wanted to know. “What was it, exactly?”
Apple Bloom looked down, gesturing at one of her slides. “Nothing we’ve ever seen before. Fluttershy looked at some of these for me, and she doesn’t recognize it either. All I can tell you there is that it’s more energetic than it is physical. Whatever energy it needs, it can’t get that from anything mechanical. Uh… me, and Node, and Iron Horse too. We really are immune.”
Finally we’re getting some answers.
Not too far away, Fluttershy was finally getting to work on their other source of information: Sunset Shimmer.
1. Focus rejuvenation primarily on the brain. Almost anything else can be surgically repaired or replaced, but the ability to heal the nervous system is limited.
2. Revive Sunset using a wholistic approach, treating no part of her body more than others. At this point, focusing too much on one system might allow the others to fail during her treatment.
3. Use Twilight and Rarity to perform magical healing. While our only casters are unskilled, medical magic is the only sure way to fully repair some of the damage this patient has experienced.
4. Allow her to die with dignity under the knife. Sunset will probably be in constant pain for the rest of her life. Twilight is wrong to force her to survive like this. I’ll make it look natural.
(Certainty 235 required)
I vote focus on healing Sunset's brain. Everything else we have prosthetics for and - if in dire need - the cybervirus.
Second option seems like the safest one.
Pragmatism wins out here I think. We need to know what sunny knows, everything else is secondary. Also, I'd think not having her...fully intact might be a tactically sound option, because if she's corrupted or HUNGRY, better that she's not as mobile a threat.
One of these days, our RNG luck is going to turn.
Fortunately, that day is not today.
#savethebaconhorse
Specifically by saving the Bacon Horse Brain. We need to preserve what makes Sunset Sunset above all else, preferably without any magically induced tumors.
As for the ghoul, a weakness to magic could mean that ponies will tear through this Great Filter... or it just hasn't adapated to them yet. We'll have to see.
You sure about that Applebloom?
Your face almost going missing and the crew almost being full of holes might argue that point. But then again... I'm now reminded of Cozy Glow. What if Iron Horse was on a mission like that too?
As for choices, I'm stuck in between taking it slow and steady or insta-cure magic option. Taking too many risks might end us having no information at all... But even if Twilight and Rarity are untrained, Twilight is the Book-smart one with magic and managed to change her parents into inanimate objects without killing them.
Still slow and steady and a bit of healing magic here and there if the option comes up might get Sunset back on her hooves... Maybe?
I think Fluttershy will mutiny if Rarity and Twilight try to magically heal her. Try the brain. That argument seems to make the most sense to me. As for Iron Horse.....interesting information, but ultimately not really closer to figuring out what happened
9556129
You just had to say it.
In my opinion, Option Two is best. One is not very compassionate, three is not smart, especially since they are not trained in the use of major medical healing spells. Four is RIGHT OUT.
I'm going to try for option 3, but I understand the option to mean that Rarity and Twilight will be under Fluttershy's supervision when they try to heal Sunset. Otherwise, well we've seen from Apple Bloom that mechanical bodies work, so my fall back would be 1. They need Sunset back with her brain as well as possible, which is why trying to preserve her mental state by trying to preserve her body as well makes more sense to me. So 2 seems not as good as 3 (unless it helps better than 1, which we're not told that it does) and 4 probably leads down the path towards ending the story by taking information away. Besides, I'm not sure Fluttershy is the "mercy killing" type, no matter how unfortunate Sunny is right now, though I suppose in some ways that could be the dark side of kindness.
Sunset's already quadriplegic, and I consider the brain the most important part.
Heck, scoop out the brain and shove it in a robot. Only 99% of people that do that go insane! KIDDING! But yeah focus on the brain heals.
I'll go with 1.
She's probably gonna end up kinda like Darth Vader (more machine than man), but at least she'll be able to do something.
I cant fault Fluttershy for at least considering option 4. Chronic pain... it changes a person and not in a good way.
We had two opportunities to keep sunset herself with the mechites. And we have absolutely ran out of luck. Thanks for killing sunset guys.
Man I'm shocked flutter shy wasn't more willing to try the mechites approach. Radical healing that has worked. Versus known healing that probably will work with established cognitive function decay. Just doesn't make sense. This was avoidable and now it's not.
One way to have bug free code is to just write it without bugs in the first place.
Sorry, AJ, the Node and Apple Bloom ship has already set sail.
Sweet.
Excellent!
Hey, now there's some good news. A magicly weak enemy when you are a bunch of magical ponies is very convenient.
Hmn, I'm sure torn between 1 and 3. 4 is just dumb and would probably result in a Fluttershy mutiny. 1, I suppose.
Hey. No hunger. No hidden hunger. Can this get any better for us?
Probably not :-). Which means our luck has probably run out.
So we know that we can do mechanical implants, and mecha-convert bodies, both of which are functional. Really, it is a case of "Brain is the only thing we cannot replace" now.
A good part of me wants to go back and re-read the whole story, I cannot help but feel that there is something critical that we've collectively let drop off the "important" list.
9556473
I say one as well. A Darth sunset shimmer could be useful to them
We can cyborg Sunset, but that won't work if she's brain-dead...
Use magic, because it's the magic pony thing to do.
9556655
Actually, the way Option 4 was worded, it seems this is Fluttershy making this decision in-story for a change... Still very against 4 of course, "mercy kill" should only apply if the subject asks for it, if then.
9556994 Hmn, good point.
Honestly I think Fluttershy would go with option 2 if we weren't making the decision for her. Buuut we are. And brain needs to live for sure. I'll feel bad if her body gets worse, but this would be torture for naught without her brain.
My reasoning for thinking she'd go 2 though is it sounds practical and balanced. She'd probably rather go all or nothing, bringing her around as wholly as she can or failing and just letting the poor potato fade away. She does her best and has no regrets or uncomfortable murder on her hooves.
Anyway, that aside, I think people should remember that Iron Horse was a machine / data for a long while here. I wanted to say this on the prior chapter but didn't get a chance. Now it's clear that he was immune to the hunger, so this should at least hold more water with the skeptical. Since he was data for so long on a planet that likely had some kind of internet, downloads, or what have you he probably got a virus or ten. Particularly since it was completely foreign technology.... who even knows what Equestria may or may not have had in regard to computer tech when he left, but either way this was likely very different. Alternately, it's possible this was a result of his awkward incomplete turning from pony to ponybot, just scrambling something mentally right from the get go. Many ways data can be corrupted. Many ways.
Was Option 4 supposed to be in color? Yellow, maybe?
9556129
Probably the most important roll in the final chapter.
ok, I have a... rough guess as to a few things plot wise.
The ghoul: some kind of infectious biological matter that requires something only fauna can provide. for what? probably reproduction. It was still alive and kicking however long after the intentional gray goo apocalypse/salvation that changed/killed the inhabitants of the world. It seems to need to kill or enslave living creatures to spread, so i'm going to go with something along the lines of the necromorphs, with something akin to a marker on the ring. either attracting whatever causes the hunger or causing it itself. either way, i don't think that that one ghoul alone is the cause of the hunger.
The Cybervirus: Seeing as how most of the buildings are still intact, but there are signs of fighting here's how i think that all went down: the hunger arrived and after finding out that it needed biomass to spread, they went and Necron'd themselves (converted themselves to robots) as an attempt to stop the ghoul problem from getting worse. The end result: ghouls and freshly turned into robots dukeing it out over the planet. the ghouls won, barely, but not before the previous civilization (i have a few theories here too) figured out how to stop them for good, perhaps not just on that planet and equestria alone.
That being said, I could be completely wrong, but i think we should try to save sunset's mind. the information is too important right now to not get as there is now a confirmed hostile (and possibly psionic) entity out there that wants nothing more than to have its way with the crew.
Not long until she gets an gold-card membership.
We got two lucky rolls this chapter.
But I really would have liked to learn about the intentions of Iron Horse.
Maybe if we would have an Critical Success instead... But still better than any kind of failure.
Option 2. Even if we kickstart Sunset's recovery, she will probably not cooperate if only her mind is intact. Fix her whole body and she will be in debt to us
9556914 I was reading comments when I accidentally hit the reply button I don't know how to cancel those so I just ignores it say.
Keep the robot option on the backburner.
If some portion of the living population goes Rom Spaceknight or Norrin Radd it may be enough to stave off the Hunger. Assuming that there are any organic ponies left alive.
9557366
Well another thing I thought of is it would be rather strange if Cozy Glow was the the only pony sent out to sabotage Equestria ships. If keeping them from meeting the Hunger was her groups mission goal. All these new ships sent out to possibly find them sound like another ship they'd have to deal with like the Equinox.
So if Iron Horse was a part of it and knew he was facing off the big bad that that group is so concerned with meeting pony kind. Maybe he would think their all dead now anyway and choose to show them "mercy."
Another possibility is that the Hunger in its long life of consuming other life had learned how to deal with lifeforms based off of Applebloom, Iron Horse and Node's kind of existence. The machine life may give them immunity from being eaten. But that doesn't mean the Hunger hasn't found ways around that. After all, this world is a baron wasteland of a passed war that have only a few hostile machines in the ruins. We haven't seen any of the survivors that Node talks about surviving the process.
9558943
That's true. Iron Horse was corrupt, quote, "from the beginning." Now we must ask, which beginning: his involvement with the Equinox crew, or his departure from the Equus System?
9556165
Is it too soon to start calling her Bacon Bits?
9556561
I can totally fault Fluttershy. That's Sunset's decision. The only thing that could even remotely come within shouting distance of justifying euthanization without the patient's consent is if you are completely convinced they will WANT to die but be held back by misguided (in your opinion) fears of afterlife punishment, etc. Even then I'm not saying I'd be okay with that, and either way I don't see Sunset as having that kind of hangup.
And even then, in this case it would be worth getting the information first.
9558943
I rather doubt Iron Horse was deployed in a manner similar to Cozy Glow. If so he certainly played his part more subtly.
Remember, AB's crew made it to this planet, poked around, and then things went to hell. That means they didn't have any ship sabotage- AB would have mentioned that I think. So this guy waits until they get where they're going... and somehow knows enough to lure his crew mates into failing? And then also falls prey himself before Applebloom? Who he could have easily gotten the drop on solo? And with a name like Iron Horse I'd imagine he was rather large and tough.
In other words... I don't buy it. This is a case of crazy due to isolation or the process / state of being he had I think. Still the best bet.
... but what of poor, sweet, adorable, Squib? ;3;
9559122
Well I don't know about the rest.
But Squib being ignored seems kind of concerning. Like I've said before, I'm getting a real Thing vibe from this story now. It doesn't help that the pony who just turned on them for no apparent reason had a pet that seems to have vanished that has more in common with the thing because it formed from a severed body part.
While none of these are bad arguments the fact is no medical committee ever will decide anyone can CONSENT to probable brain death. The reason radical treatments are called radical is because they have been observed to wrk but there not studied enough to have a recordable simptom and reaction record. If any one thinks that the first 20 cases of attempted antibiotics treatment weren't just litteraly putting mushrooms in and around infected wounds your fucking wrong. The fact is if we had treated sunset with mecites that would have been a documentable scientific research that is ABSOLUTELY the exact reason the equanox was sent in the first place to document unfamiliar scientific phenomenon for the betterment of the people of equis. Not only should twighlight thought it was an exceptable risk. flutters should have been SALIVATING for the opportunity. Especially when faced with near certain brain damage.
9559533
That is... grossly not how the scientific process works. The first vaccine, the rabies vaccine, was tested on rabbits before it saw use in humans, and it was greatly weakened prior to introduction in human patients. The better argument you could make is that saving Sunset would be saving >10% of the system's known pony population. (Of course the counterpoint is that you're putting >10% of said population at risk, and that's likely the source of the pushback you're experiencing.)
9560682
I disagree but the lies of history books is a really dumb thing to argue about. The fact of the matter is without a critical success on the brain focused healing she will be not just useless but a huge Morale hit IF she isn't brain dead. This is like flipping a coin and whichever side it lands on you hack off one of your knees. I don't know about others but I NEVER account for critical positives. At least with the mehites we had the decency to just kill her if we fail. This is so much worse and I just think it's FUCKING retarded.
9560682
I admit that I went off a tangent that failed to make my point. Which is fair I am a social reck. But my point I failed not only to make but apparently is also not generally acknowledged is that only once something becomes successful and helpful, do medical communities(any one or anything can be swapped in to this scenario) then do they begin the campaign for how the ( in your example) rabies vaccine was first used on rabbits yay every thing is PG I dont believe any of that. I think that a bunch of Europeans with rabies we're horribly experimented on until the people bank rolling these experiments were satisfied that nothing further could be gained scientifically and then the patients were put out of there misery then any one who was involved that couldn't keep the truth hidden were killed or discredited. And then they paid more money to set the rabbit cover story. Secret societies have existed as long as humans knew how to lie and I think it's ignorant to assume that all knowledge HASN'T been gained off of the rather painful and often times fatal experiments of these societies. Which we should be grateful for in this modern and thouroghly spoiled technological age. It's funny to me how amazingly efficient the powers that be stript the general American public of there suspicious nature, they nationalized the television and we just fell off the thinking wagon. WE VOTED IN DONALD TRUMP FOR CHRIST SAKE. But I digress. I struggle to not assume people don't feel this way generally and for THAT I apologise.