Voyage of the Equinox

by Starscribe

Chapter 83

Charge. 55%

Spike gritted his teeth, staring down the rifle aimed at his chest. There was no longer a mystery in his mind about whether he would survive it—he’d been shot before. This pony was threatening his friends, threatening to stand all of them forever in this desolate star system. She wasn’t going to get away with it.

Cozy shoots Spike. 7 vs 6. Cozy Shoots first.

He lunged, baring his teeth in a desperate, instinctive snarl. He felt the impact in his chest driving him back before he heard the bang, but he didn’t slow down.

He hardly even felt the pain as he crashed into Cozy Glow, smashing her into the computer console behind her and shattering the screen in an explosion of glass.

Does Spike stop Cozy first? Yes.

He felt something break under his weight, but he didn’t stop. Not until Cozy Glow stopped moving under him. Only then did he look down and see the blood.

Cozy Glow rolls for damage. 2e6. 14.
Spike has a total of 3 armor and 10 health, meaning cozy scores 11 damage after armor.

Spike makes a willpower roll to hold on to life in critical condition. Failure.

Somehow, Cozy had hit him square in the broken scale. The bullet had cut through his chest and not emerged, leaving a thick, pulsing blood from inside. Spike’s head started to spin. There was pain there, pain that felt like it belonged to someone else.

Is Cozy dead? Yes.

In the… damn… guts… Spike thought. He pushed off, drifting slowly towards the radio on the wall. He bumped into it, taking it in one claw. His fingers barely wanted to move. The world was already going fuzzy.

“Captain…” he said. “Twilight. Are you…”

“On my way, Spike!” her voice answered. “Five minutes! I’m writing a teleport as we speak!”

Spike found himself smiling as he heard it. Twilight was the first pony he’d ever seen, the first voice he’d known. It was fitting it would be the last. “D-don’t… bother,” he croaked. “She’s dead. Got me… good. Don’t know if…”

“Hold on, Spike!” she shouted, her voice edging into hysteria. “I’m coming!”

Can Twilight make it in time to save his life? No.

“Don’t think…” he couldn’t see much anymore. His head was swimming, and blood pooled out in front of him from the wound. “Not enough time.”

“Fluttershy, get down there! He must still be in the central computer!”

What about Fluttershy? No.

“I’m still locked in!” she squealed, desperately. “Captain, I can’t fit through the waste shaft like he did. I can’t teleport.”

What about Sunset Shimmer? Has she been awake all this time for a last-second save? Critical no.

“I love you… Twi,” Spike croaked. Everything was fading, but he wasn’t done quite yet. Next to his claw was an intact console, already set to thruster control. He edged one claw just a little further, and smacked it against the escape key.

PROGRAM SUSPENDED

The Equinox stopped moving. Spike did soon after.

First Officer Spike has died.

Twilight

Twilight was still crying into her radio long after docking with the Equinox. She’d called for Spike many times, and not had any response. Even Fluttershy was off the channel now, unable to handle her hysterics.

“Docking successful,” Starlight Glimmer’s voice said, for the eleventh time. “Airlock pressure equalized.”

What could she do? Spike wasn’t just the second officer; he was her brother. Was there any medical magic that could save him? She had to try something.

Around her were the resting bodies of her friends, hearts still beating but minds totally silent to her I͇̣̝̻̯ͅN̗̫̘͓ͅS̡̘͍͇̖̙̪I҉̭̗̠̭̥G͍͙͙̬̯͡H̵̲̯̼T͘. But maybe there was something there. Some last, desperate plan.

Twilight stormed into the cargo bay, her magic burning like a torch. She didn’t even feel the absence of gravity now, it didn’t matter. At the far end of the bay was the Contingency, packed in an ordinary storage crate. So long as Twilight kept her distance, she could levitate it with her.

So she opened the airlock, levitating the sphere along with her to the elevator. This would be the most difficult part, not getting drawn inside while she was forced to stand close to it. She felt the pull of gravity stretching her towards it.

Can Twilight resist it? Critical yes.

Twilight shook off its pull with contempt, glowering at the metal sphere. “I don’t need you for me.” The door opened on the central computer, and the scene of chaos inside.

Cozy Glow had apparently anticipated her plan, or she had her own reasons to be down working on the mainframe. Twilight didn’t know, and she didn’t care. She pushed the Contingency out in front of her, towards where Spike’s body floated motionless beside a console. A cloud of his blood surrounded him, staining everything nearby. Much too much for him to still be alive.

Does the Contingency work on the recently dead? Critical no.

Had it worked? Twilight couldn’t see anything different about it—but she had to hope. Maybe he’s in there with the others. Assuming that was even where they were. She still wasn’t sure about that—or anything else, for that matter.

Her brother was dead, floating motionless in front of her. What was the bucking point? Why should she even keep fighting? Cozy might be gone, but she’d still won. There was no way they could make it back to Equestria now.

Can Twilight hold herself together? Yes.

Twilight’s mind drifted to some dark places. She shouldn’t leave Spike’s survival to the Contingency’s whims. There was magic that worked on the recently dead, magic that could bring him back. Far more forbidden than anything Starlight had ever used.

‘Don’t think like that,’ she could almost hear Spike saying from beside her. ‘I didn’t die so you could give up.’

She shook her head, banishing those dark thoughts. She had to keep going. First she had to do something about the dead, then…

1. Figure out what Cozy was up to.

2. Wake up Sunset Shimmer.

3. Try to save her friends from the Contingency.

(Certainty 230 required)

Author's Note:

Lost of people keep asking about it, so I'm going to reiterate here. the 2e6 roll in the chapter is not a typo or a mistake. The "e" means exploding. IE: if the dice rolls a 6, then another d6 is rolled, as many times as sixes are rolled. This is how 14 was achieved on 2 dice, because one rolled a six and so another was added.

Anyone on my Discord knows how hard I tried to keep Spike alive during this one. The expected damage roll was about an 8, with 3 armor doing about 5 damage to him. But the GM had her own opinions about that, and every other attempt made to try and keep him alive.

Thank you, Spike. You were a good Dragon.

https://www.strawpoll.me/17932429

What you’re reading is a CYOA-style adventure story, fully driven by its user feedback. This story is written using a system called Mythic, a GM-simulator that allows me to be fully in the driver’s seat for the prose, without actually knowing what will happen next. Success or failure in this story is fully governed by the fickle hand of fate, as well as the wisdom of those who chose to vote on it.

You can go ahead and vote in older polls if you want, but obviously they won’t retroactively change the text going forward, so the links are left behind mostly because I’m lazy and as a record of previous decisions.

If you’d like to take a look at my semi-regularly updated blog post with character sheets and stuff, go ahead and visit here: https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/834930/voyage-of-the-equinox-resource-page

And if you’re curious about the dicerolls and the system, you can see all of it for yourself and verify that I’m not cheating on my discord here: https://discord.gg/mQfUn75

Comments

[bonberjean]

He's dead, Jim.

[truebuckshot]

Concidering spike died I think 1. Is the only one twilight is gonna be able to concentrate on via sheer rage

[River Babble]

Noooooo :’( I TRIED to vote for talking her down with new info rather than attacking. Poor Spike... All isnt lost, though, for returning. If they do ever get to return, they have Applebloom and Node. Glad to see Twilight held it together, at least. What a sad turn of events.

[Alden MacManx]

Somehow, I can't manage my usual observations at this time. Please try again later.

Fare well, First Officer Spike.

[Blaster M]

F

[hypervelocity]

....WELL SHIT.

[JMP]

Damn.....that really sucks. I really thought Spike would survive that. All those rolls...and they all failed.....rest in peace, Spike. You've earned that much.

And for now....let's try and save the rest of the crew. Spike took Cozy with him, so I don't think it's a priority to find out what she was doing. Hopefully we can recover and regroup.

[Shadow_Flair]

Who knows what lies down a road not traveled? He may have died in other pursuits as well, but without taking Cozy with him. It's best not to dwell. He did good. He did good...

As for tomorrow? I think Twilight needs to get her crew back. Minimizing risk to them and possibly having more support in the wake of tragedy sounds good.

[Dark Feather]

*Raises glass* To Spike.

[Gavier]

9603948
Did you see the rolls? All was basically decked on Spike's favor and he still died because of the terrible rolls.

The odds of him surviving in the other options would have been much lower. Imagine the other options with all these terrible rolls. We would have lost much more than just Spike.

Rest in Space, First Officer Spike.

[WanderingPony]

And now, Twilight will have to dig two graves, barring the predictably likely but horrific option of attempted reanimation and the potential sanity loss.

[Zutcha]

I say we try using the thing on Spike.

[Chinchillax]

9603948
Our choices never mattered. It's a dice game.

[notgreat]

Cozy Glow rolls for damage. 2e6. 14.

Assuming 2e6 was supposed to be 2d6, shouldn't that max out at 12 damage? How did it get 14?

[Blue Wolf]

Get Spike into stasis. NOW. If it hasn't been too long there still might be brain activity. If you save the brain the body may be repairable later.

[Sumitro]

I suppose we're having a funeral in the near future then. You did good, Spike.

Should probably find out what Cozy was doing in the computer room, considering this started because she left something in the system.

[VGFanatic20]

reminds me of when i'd play paranoia and have my entire background plan get blown to hell because the dice gods blessed a roll that screwed me

but damn...soon as i saw all the numbers there all i could say was "welp he's dead"

[Merula]

Well, at least that bitch Cozy is dead.

But Spike though......

[Yasahiro]

Okay I have important question to author:

2e6. I don't know what you mean by e, but I will assume you meant d for dice. Max would be 12. How did Cozy get 14 off of that?

[Fistfire]

The problem I see with using the virus is, once it’s done, there is no more access to magic on that person

[HowMuchWood]

Oh god.

I'm really tempted to use the robotic virus on Spike. But it's been minutes, brain death has occured, and it wouldn't be Spike. Worse still, while it might be handy to have a perfect machine with the strengths of a dragon, it might lose something important that was in Spike's brain but decayed.

Discover Cozy's plan. Sunset can wait, and her friends are safe with their minds in the Contingency and bodies on life support.
9603948
And you HONESTLY think any of the others would've worked? Cozy would've shot him dead no matter what he sense he tried to talk into her.

[MisterClacky]

9604008
They are exploding dice. Which means when you roll a 6 you roll again. So you roll a 6 and a 4 then since you rolled a 6 you roll another dice and get a 4. 6+4+4=14

[Illuminutter]

9604008
That's a very good question.

[FinalFan]

9603982
That's completely idiotic. If you have a 60% chance option and a 40% chance option, your choice matters even if the dice ultimately control your fate.
9603956
I agree there seem to have been a lot of bad rolls, but that doesn't mean there wasn't also bad decision-making. What makes you convinced that none of the other options had better odds?

[Sky_Paladin]

"Congratulations, you who voted for this one. Spike's death is on you."

Failing to do the right thing long ago is what caused this. I'd wanted her dead since before we even knew it was Cozy, and then once again after we knew her MO. No, what's going to eat Twilight is knowing she had many opportunities to have taken down Cozy before and that failure lead to Spike's death.

But in the immortal words of Jimbei, you can't get back what you've lost. You have to look at what you have. That's why our next step should be to work out Cozy's plan, and make sure there isn't a deadmare's switch or so-on that results in an even worse Bad Day.

Failing to stop Cozy here likely resulted in the deaths of the entire crew. Spike's death was extremely unlikely but necessary to prevent a game over. He followed his orders knowing full well they might lead to his death and died in the service of Equestria, protecting his sister and the ponies that he loved. We're all sad that his story ended here, but as far as deaths go, this is one the Dragon Knight would have taken.

[FinalFan]

9604046
I will add to this: I have a feeling that a lot of the virus people are the ones who made Spike charge and now want to get him back. I have a pretty bad feeling about going down this road, and I certainly don't want people doing it just because of guilt or some emotional whiplash. Sometimes you just have to take the hit and move on as best you can.

Twilight is close to a breakdown. In-story, she had to talk herself out of straight-up necromancy. If she attempts to roboticize Spike and fails, it might break her. If Spike comes back wrong, Twilight will probably not be able to handle it, in which case she will instead actively worsen the problem.

[HowMuchWood]

9604039 "We'll never know" is a terrible argument.

[Neece]

Disregard danger, save little brother.

[Sky_Paladin]

9604071
To be honest I felt that way too. The way Starscribe depicted it in the previous chapter made it seem like the odds were stacked against Spike, but I reasoned that with Flutter's nearby, as long as he wasn't one-shot, he'd pull through. That against the risk of losing everypony made me go for it.

If it was me in the situation I'd like to believe I'd have the courage to do the same thing.

You're not wrong to feel this way. I had a few chapter votes go against what I wanted and I was so angry that I didn't vote in the next few polls. I guess that's part of the appeal of this story, though. The author knows they've done a good job if they make the reader 'feel'.

[Hillbe]

"What do you think this is? An episode of South Park?
You bastard you killed Spikey!
Must of been wearing that Red Star Trek shirt of his...

[gabrek]

Overwrite vote: Bring. Him. Back.

[Pun System]

Rest in peace, Spike. And rest in as many pieces as you can, Cozy Glow.

[Sky_Paladin]

9604081
And you also (and they), are not wrong to feel this way.

I held the hand of my younger brother as he died years ago over a few awful days. I would have done nearly anything to have saved him, and even today, if there was some magic or power that could undo that terrible time, I would seek it out.

But even if it did, I could not disrespect his wishes. He had his dreams and his morals. If they had to be compromised, then it would be a false life, a half life, one where he would never be at peace.

I had several days to come to accept this, frantically searching the internet for anything that I could say to the doctor to give him just one more day. Twilight had's merely moments and has the keys to that awful kingdom.

I said before I would like to think I would have the courage to do what Spike did, but I think I almost certainly wouldn't have the courage to back down from what Twilight could do. Dying is easy. Living is harder.

[PonyDragon]

Well, we had been warned:

3. Fate is cruel and the universe is heartless
The decision of the vote must be respected. This means any character could be killed, or the entire story could end in failure, if that's what the votes decide.

It's a tragedy regardless.

RIP First Officer Spike
10th Oct 2018 - 4th May 2019

[Valhuir]

Using the vidus on Spike will either not work, or will bring back something controlled by the same malevolence that controlled the other fully robotic pony.

This is an emotion-ridden, idiotic mistake to make. I do not hesitate to say that using the virus on Spike is STUPID.

[Pun System]

"If you know yourself but not your enemy, for every victory you gain, you will also suffer a defeat."
--Sun Tsu, author of Art of War

I cast my vote based on my own underestimate of Cozy's skill. I knew this was high-risk. Spike's absence will be keenly felt in the chapters to come. May he not have died in vain.

What was lost:
Spike

What was saved:
The Equinox
Everything and everyone Cozy would have touched in the future

Was it worth it?
Remains to be seen...

[doompownr]

Oh man.... To quote a wise man "born to die, life is a fuck 160 million cops killed..." This is Canon as fuck. Apple bot is now the name of my hate sex pillow. SHE FUCKING CRITICAL HIGH ROLLED. WHAT IS THIS XCOM LONG WAR BULL SHIT!FUCK! wow. This cunt has been saving up our bad karma. FUCK! Aw man ... I guess I just fail my sanity roll

[doompownr]

Whats double fucked tho is I think spike used to have 14 health but the injury PERMANENTLY reduced his house earlier in adventure. So theoretically he might have deaths doored if we hadn't gotten fucked on that earlier. Now that I think about it. Every one except spike has been LUCKY AF apple has been gunning for spikey

[Sir Budginton]

9603963
We voted the way we did because we thought it would have the best outcome. Cozy was psychopathic in her beliefs, and to top it all off, when the the attack on the ground happened she effectively gained evidence that her belief was right. Spike would not only have to reason with a psychopath, but he'd have to reason with a psychopath that had evidence to back up her claims. For all we know, cozy could plant seeds of doubt in Spike's mind because what she says no longer sounds as absurd.

The chance Spike would have to get her to stand down would probably be very low, and then what? His options would be to attack (Probably with same or worse odds than we had now), or give up and lose the Equinox.

[doompownr]

Anons and bronies of the chat and discord.... I have failed my sanity roll. Please roll coolheaded. We need to rescue the the ponies out of the vrchat server before they are drowned in the defense robot-knuckles please vote to rescue friends please.

[doompownr]

9604089
But is he really her little brother any more? What about what happened to iron guy

[amberhaze]

A thing to note:
Robovirus had only been tried before on earth pony biology. Effects of it on wings/horns/dragon's magifire are unknown.

[RoshiRat]

You could be an omnipotent god... But if the dice want you to die, you die.

No matter the choice, those rolls still would have happened, and Spike would be dead. At least we took Cozy Glow with him.

[Blaze rod]

Use the robot virus. It's nanite based so it will replicate the now dead brain structure which should bring Spike back to life once the dead neurons have been replaced.

[Starscribe]

9603984
2e6 is not a typo. E means exploding dice. IE: if a 6 is rolled, another d6 is rolled and added to the total.

[Blaze rod]

9604030
It doesn't matter if brain-death has occured. The virus is nanite based so it can replace dead tissue as well as living, and considering the body is still warm there isn't any serious damage from decay yet.

[Roger44477]

I know it’s already been said, and all me saying this will accomplish is me getting downvoted by some people, but you reap what you sow, and maybe now people will put some god fucking damned thought into their choices!? Because Jesus Christ it is a fucking Miracle that this was the first death with the amount of outright idiotic choices that have somehow won.

[ARandomCritic]

I think we need to know what cozy has done so I'm going with 1.

[djthomp]

Wow, other than successfully stopping Cozy those rolls could not have gone worse.

Does the Contingency work on the recently dead? Critical no.

Oh come on!

Let's virus up Spike and see what happens.