Chapter 77
Focus on her Brain 67%
Not everyone could be in attendance for the surgery, despite how much they might want to. After an initial prep on Proximus B, Fluttershy loaded what was left of Sunset Shimmer onto the Prospector.
Twilight was there to hold her in total antigravity, even during transit, while Spike worked the controls. Only Node came along, since her direct involvement would be needed to get the artificial limbs working.
Twilight managed the trip up without difficulty, with only a minor hiccup that nearly flubbed the whole thing.
Is Twilight’s Insight far more powerful in space? Critical Yes.
She stopped hearing Spike and Fluttershy’s thoughts, stopped imagining the faint, desperate feelings of fear and pain from the sedated Sunset Shimmer. Instead her mind started to drift outward—past the ring, which whispered faintly to her whenever she closed her eyes. There was no direction to the feeling, it was in front of her no matter what way she turned her head.
She could hear… something. A fleet, vaster than anything Equestria had ever imagined. At its center was a star, a red-dwarf surrounded by mirrors and stations each of which whispered faintly to all the others. All the power of that star blasted outward from behind it through a tiny opening, without even the faintest trace of gamma-rays leaking from any other part.
And around it was…
Can Twilight keep her focus? No.
She screamed, and her spell started to spark. She dropped to one knee under the assault, nearly dropping the levitating Sunset with her. Any other unicorn would have, but for an Alicorn, spells had just a little more sticking power. Just a second.
Can Fluttershy help her in time? Yes. Twilight takes three points of bashing damage from overdose.
She felt a faint pressure on the back of her head, heard the rushing air of a nitrogen needle. The pain faded instantly, and Twilight was suddenly wide alert. Time almost slowed down for a few seconds, and she caught Sunset’s surgical apparatus could hit the ground.
“That’s more than I’d give anypony for a week,” Fluttershy said from just behind her, removing an empty canister from her nitrogen needle. “How’s that?”
“The… buck did you…” Her brain kept expanding, looking so far past the fleet that it went out of focus. Whatever danger there had been of her being overwhelmed by what she saw was gone.
“Wakeup,” she said. “Stimulants interfere with delicate magic, but leave the simple stuff alone. It’s something unicorns get warned about in the Academy. Why unicorns can’t have anything more than coffee during surgery.”
“I might need more of that,” Twilight said. Her heart raced, her breathing slow and shallow. “In case something like this happens again.”
“With respect,” Fluttershy said, checking Sunset’s vitals for the thousandth’s time. “Buck no. If I gave you another milliliter your heart would stop. Mine would’ve.”
Twilight grumbled, but this wasn’t the time to have this argument. She could feel the weight pressing her to the floor lessening—in a few more minutes, they would reach high orbit, and her magic wouldn’t be needed.
Besides, there might be other treatments. I can table this until after Sunset. Fluttershy was on to something with the stimulants.
They docked without incident, and for the first time in months, Twilight returned to the Equinox.
She smelled the familiar scent of the air-recyclers as the airlock cycled around them and found herself smiling despite their grim purpose here. The ground was nice, but it had never really been her home. This was where she belonged.
There was no more acceleration gravity, so she had to use her own magic to simulate any. She flew like a pegasus as they took their pony through to the medical bay, resting her magic for the lengthy process ahead.
Fluttershy had already told her that zero gravity would not be used during this surgery, so Twilight would need all the endurance she could muster.
Fluttershy was remarkably formal about everything, right down to using Spike as a medical orderly with gloves and apron and everything. Twilight herself would be casting the spell from behind the surgical-theater’s window. “Her immune system is effectively destroyed, and we’re cutting into her. She’ll need to remain in a completely sterile environment for some time.”
“You’re saying Sunset is stuck up here,” Twilight said, stopping Fluttershy before she could pass through the medical airlock. She didn’t feel even slightly tired and didn’t suspect she would for a few more days. At least the voices hadn’t come back.
“I would’ve suggested it anyway,” Fluttershy said. “So little of her original body survived that the stress of movement down on the surface would likely kill her. But up here, she has a chance.”
Twilight didn’t argue, just took one of the viewing seats and got ready to apply her gravity spell. Ordinarily she would’ve brought entertainment to keep her distracted during something like this, but just now she knew she wouldn’t look away. She cast her spell, charging the operating room’s gravity grid. Even a young unicorn could keep this going—it was an enchantment, all she had to do was keep the spell powered. Twilight settled in for a long wait.
She listened through the window, occasionally answering radio calls from the surface, and providing updates. “Fluttershy just opened her skull.” Or “She’s clearing a blockage in Sunset’s cranial artery.” Everything was focused on her brain—for the rest of her, Fluttershy had basically just plugged her into life support and hoped for the best.
The process took nearly twenty-four hours. Twilight’s own stimulants made staying awake easy for her, but she could see Fluttershy start to falter. Spike gave up completely at some point and slumped into a corner, not waking up for the rest of the surgery. But Node was already there to supply implants, and she wouldn’t get tired, so she took Spike’s place.
Eventually it was done. Fluttershy covered her sleeping patient, then dragged herself out the decontamination scrubbers. She flopped sideways out the airlock and onto the ground, looking up weakly at Twilight.
How was the surgery? Sunset Shimmer’s brain damage has been repaired, and she will not suffer from chronic pain once healing is complete. Nerve damage to the rest of her body will make other complications and require intense physical training to regain the use of her limbs. Her damage is reduced to a single point of aggravated, though her maximum health is not yet restored.
“She’s… fixed,” Fluttershy said. “Or… mostly fixed. The parts that we can’t replace. She’ll need six months of intense treatment to be ‘healthy’ again. I’ll be keeping her under for the twenty-four hours, then you’ll be able to talk to her. If she wakes up. We still don’t…”
Is Fluttershy hurt from her surgical work? Yes. Fluttershy is drained to exhaustion and takes a single point of lethal damage from her exertions.
She started snoring.
Twilight relaxed her gravity spell at last. She didn’t intend to leave this room, in case something happened through the glass. With Fluttershy completely incapacitated, she might be the one to save Sunset if something serious happened.
Nothing with Sunset did, but after a few hours, Twilight’s radio buzzed, and she sat up.
“Rainbow here,” came the voice, with the telltale signs of transmission delay. “We have… a bit of a situation.”
“Go ahead,” Twilight prompted. She was still wide awake—it seemed like Fluttershy’s drug would make her never able to feel tired again.
“Rarity detected some strange EM readings coming from in the building. I think something in the memorial is waking up. If what we’re reading was one of our ships, I’d read that amount of waste heat as a reactor as big as the Equinox’s, maybe bigger.”
Twilight had to make orders fast.
1. Rainbow takes the best available crew into the Memorial to investigate.
2. Rainbow evacuates camp into the city ruins on a wheeled cargo vehicle, getting enough distance to survive even a fusion explosive. Get underground and stay there.
3. Twilight wakes spike with some stimulant, then flies the Prospector down herself for an evacuation. We can watch from orbit.
4. Sit tight and watch. No Sudden moves.
(Certainty 235 required)
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Node said the drill worm won't follow them to the green spot. I fear she may have been wrong. I say number 3: Wake Spike, get down there, and RUN.
Also, good for Sunset! But things look GRIM for Twilight.
She's basically bleeding out health when in space. She's constantly going insane when around her friends, and when she casts a spell to stop hearing her friends, she's at risk of hearing the HUNGER. We need to turn off this Insight ASAP.
Fortune fawers the bold!
You've got the wrong Skylight Lightverb at the beginning.
High Kardashev death fleet with a weaponized red dwarf. That definitely can't be good.
Good to see the surgery went about as well as we could hope. As for the new anomaly... well, it's supposed to be a museum, but I'm still in favor of getting out of any potential blast radii. Our luck won't last forever. Heck, the surgery team already took damage fixing Sunset's headmeats.
Spiking energy readings? GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE! OPTION 2, NO ARGUMENT!
Get out. Now. There's too much at stake. Run.
I say go in and investigate. It's probably the Crystal Heart that went nuts, Rarity as a science officer might be able to do something about it.
That's a Nicoll Dyson beam.
Welp, that's it. GG. They're f
ked. Game over.
Although, admittedly, it's probably aimed at Equestria, not them. In which case, Equestria is totally screwed. When (if) Twilight and co. go back, they'll probably just end up seeing a scorched planet, atmosphere pretty much all blown into space, planet decimated, life (or at least 95% of it) gone.
And if there are relativistic kinetic missiles being pushed up to speed as well... well, one RKM can have more energy than every nuke on Earth. At the height of the cold war. Combined...Multiplied by a million.
And there's no reason they can't send millions, if not billions of RKMs.
They may be the last ponies alive in the universe.
Yay! Sunset's kinda well!
I don't think the place is going to explode. But we still know basically nothing, so I wouldn't risk going there in the prospector. Tell'em to go explore on their own.
Neat.
Less neat.
Yay for no more Sunset Brain Damage.
Man, that choice. 1, I suppose.
Wow, I think that's probably the best we could have hoped for with this surgery. Fluttershy needs some time to recover, but Sunset is alive, and will eventually be able to be questioned.
As for the heat signature, I say gtfo. I don't trust it, and I don't know if we should risk the Equinox right now. Evacuate to the city and get underground
We can't just send Spike to the evac, while Twilight watches over Sunset?
Uhhh. Even if that's the crystal heart- it probably is- even if though, that thing was already in a hostile temperament before. We're currently divided and somewhat injured all around. Investigating it would be absolutely stupid. Like unquestionably a bad idea at this moment.
Evacuating into the city might be faster, but it'll also probably have some dangers of it's own. Provided Twilight can get down there and pick them up without, say, a giant explosion wrecking their ship, that definitely seems like the best option for now. They have to pack up anyway, Twilight is just speeding the ship down there WHILE they pack.
I think option 3 is the safest action available. We don't need anyone getting munched my a mech sandworm, and heading into where a large energy spike is occurring is like tempting fate to dropkick you in the teeth...
9562143 I mean, it might be that whoever's got that star weaponized is firing it at the HUNGER?
Dang it. If only we had some sort of unmanned vehicle that could investigate remot--A probe... Guys, I've got it. We evacuate now and send a probe in. Maximum info, minimal risk.
Good job Butter Horse. Now we just need to calmly evacuate from whatever is going on down there. Option 3.
May I just ask who the Hell thinks it’s a good idea to just hunker down!? I fail to see any logic to that course of action, and question the mental condition of the 7 people who have voted for it so far.
I respect Fluttershy so much. She really takes charge and won't quit until a job is done, no matter how tired she is.
As for this chapter's decision... I have no idea what we're dealing with. All options seem valid. Maybe the orbital evacuation? I'll think about it and review the other comments.
Hmmm, interstellar transport?
9562143
So I googled Nicoll Dyson Beam and... yeah that's really terrifying. The Death Star is a joke compared to that.
(At least the pictures look scary. I'm too lazy to actually read anything.
)
9562567
It basically uses mirrors to focus all of a stars energy into a small point and literally laser planets across the galaxy.
And if you get large pieces of matter (ranging from a few tonnes to around 1000 tonnes) with a solar sail, and put it into the path of this beam, they can be accelerated up to 99% the speed of light.
And a 1000 tonne object travelling at 99% the speed of light is comparable to the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs.
And you can make billions of these objects out of 1 medium sized asteroid.
If alien civilisations exist, they could sterilise the entire galaxy without leaving the comfort of their own solar system.
Yeah no in this instance that's certainly the crystal heart and if that blows up or worse becomes unaccessible there fucked. The heart is critical to understanding and eventually stopping the invasion of the hunger.
9562143
Might be a really, really overengineered Shkadov thruster...
9562687
What is a shkadav thruster, but a very dispersed Nicoll Dyson beam.
I say Option One. Find out what the problem is first.
As for the weaponized star, SOMEONE's been reading Shipstar...
Oh yeah, and there's no way Twilight is NOT going to get addicted to her massive dose of awakey juice. Using so much... eesh. Doctor humblefly better be ready for detox or something.
So the ... thing coming after them is powerful enough to wipe out their home planet if it knows of them. And given the light-speed delay, any kill blast or relativistic rock will take centuries to arrive ... unless there is some sort of magical shortcut available.
If this thing does not know of Equestria/Equus, then keeping unknown is the safest option.
Assuming that there is a connection between "that" and "here", well, it's safe to assume that Equus is now known and under possible attack.
So, this would mean that we need to find some way to defend Equus from a space-based strike. We need to know what happened here, how this space-killer is operating, and how to defend against it.
We are in for a pound, err, kilogram now.
I'm not sure how to go with this.
I'm not really sure if I can really say which one sounds like the better choice. Though I think two major factors are time and distance.
I mean, getting them off the planet sounds good. But can Twilight get down their fast enough and quickly get back out? Could they reach the city fast enough? Is the base tough enough to withstand whats happening, or is it to close?
Then theirs searching the building. Rainbow and ground team are certainly closer then Twilight or the city. But even then, could they do anything about this. It seems like we've hit a major wall here.
The most reversible option is to evacuate by land: if nothing happens, they can return to camp; if shit happens, Twilight can just go to their new location and evacuate them from there.
9562824 Why is everyone assuming the people who've weaponized the star are hostile to Equestria? It seems far more likely to me that that's a weapon designed against the HUNGER.
I was thinking option 2 or 4 but they are both losing badly. I guess "head there with the Prospector" still gives the opportunity to proactively react to a developing situation … possibly to run away, possibly to investigate if that somehow starts to seem like a good idea.
Go investigate, they have no idea what's going on, they don't even know if it's going to blow up, just that something is activating. Fusion bombs don't generate heat until they explode, so worse case scenario is that something old breaks in the act of doing something else and that's what causes the explosion. They don't know what it is, they don't know it will break. Go look. But do they not have remote control vehicles that can take a camera inside?
Dammit. We are at 225 votes, and 235 votes are required.
It's been 4 days since the poll was posted. 381 people bothered to upvote this story, I would figure that 10 votes wouldn't be that difficult to cough up.