Go look for the others to help first (except Node)43%
Spike was in the cockpit of an Apollyn fighter. It didn’t matter that none of the interceptor craft had ever been built for a dragon, and that his claws should’ve bene clumsy on the controls meant for hooves. It didn’t matter, because Spike was under attack.
The metal of Spike’s fighter screamed as he passed into the cone of a Changeling Entropic Accelerator. Armor plates bent and strained as complex alloys decomposed into their constituent parts. His claws fumbled at the controls, searching for his shield—then the field reached his reaction chamber, and liquid fire in his fuel-canister ruptured into the cockpit. He exploded in a spectacular fireball, silently venting gasses into space.
Spike was in the cockpit of an Apollyn fighter. Sirens filled his ears, resolving more quickly than they might’ve the time this happened. ‘Multiple contacts detected. Enemy firing solution detected. Pilot should perform evasive maneuvers!”
He took in the tactical display—two dozen red marks behind him, and only one blue streak not far away. Ahead of him was massive outline of Canterlot Orbital Station. Ten million lives were all packed into that incredible feat of engineering—ponies living under artificial gravity, with a spell holding in their atmosphere.
A spell the changelings meant to shatter, killing anyone without access to an airlock, and separating the city’s population for harvest. Spike rested his claws on the controls, letting his eyes lose focus as he took in the little red dots. He knew from personal experience just how terrifyingly accurate this was. Thousands of pony ships had been deployed when the battle started. But as it neared its end, only three remained.
Metal screamed as Spike’s ship began to tear itself apart. He attempted a roll, trying to dodge out of the Entropic Accelerator. But the maneuver came too little too late, and his left wing sheared right off. With only one tactical thruster he began to spin in painful loops, smashed against his acceleration netting until the changelings fired again, and he exploded properly.
Spike was in the cockpit of an Apollyn fighter. Spike didn’t think this time, he just moved, pulling on his new library of tactical maneuvers. He pulled into a series of twisting, backward loops, relying on the gravity-spells inside his cockpit to keep him from turning into purple goo. He rolled into position behind his first attacker, then released all the stored inertia of his dodge. The changeling interceptor tore right down the middle instantly, releasing fuel and pilot alike into the void.
But there were a dozen others, all suddenly focusing on him, pulling away from the only other blue speck in his vision.
“Ap-Spark, this is Ap-Pris. What the buck are you doing in my sim?”
“Rainbow?” Spike opened a channel. “Is that you?”
A few seconds to break concentration was too long. The instant three enemy fighters had a targeting solution, Spike’s fighter tore itself apart, and he died in space.
Spike was in the cockpit of an Apollyn fighter. A single glance told him the combat had reset exactly to where it began. He duplicated his maneuver from the time before, then moved immediately into a wide arc up through the ecliptic. This moved him out of the way of the station below them—it would’ve meant mission failure if he let them focus on Canterlot for too long. It would mean the death for thousands—millions. But there was no one there. “It’s me, Rainbow. And I need your help.”
Despite the flashes of fire and debris as ships died around them, Rainbow sounded almost cheerful. Thank Celestia you took this seriously when it was real. “What’s up?”
“You know where we are?” Spike didn’t take his claws from the joysticks this time. He moved from one maneuver to another, like a textbook areal demonstration. Unlike during the real event, these ships were far more concerned with killing him than the station below. Beat you to it. What is dead can never die.
“Flight simulation computer in some kinda… incredibly-advanced city. My best guess is that the Contingency time traveled us way back in time. Maybe this is how the city started?”
Rainbow’s fighter rocketed below them, leaving a glowing trail behind her. Where Spike moved like a program from one maneuver to the next, she danced. Rainbow’s fighter was no different than any other Apollyn, but she moved nothing like he did. She twisted and weaved and changed direction abruptly, turning each course-correction into an attack that left another changeling fighter shattered.
How many times did you practice this? “That’s…” arguing would be pointless, particularly with a pony like Rainbow who couldn’t understand the technical ramifications. “Close. Twilight sent me in here to bring you all back. But I’m having trouble with Applejack. I was hoping to get everybody together, then maybe use a little peer pressure to help her leave?”
Will Rainbow leave? Critical yes.
“End simulation,” Rainbow said.
Abruptly, the cockpit above spike went black. The realistic simulation of motion faded, and a mock-airlock hissed. The sturdy ceiling lifted out of his way, and Spike rolled onto a polished floor.
They were inside, but the architecture sure was familiar. It was the city, all-right.
A few meters away, Rainbow emerged from her own cockpit, landing on all fours. At least she wasn’t wearing one of those weird exoskeletons that Applejack had been using—just an acceleration suit, the way a real Apollyn pilot might. “I’m not sure what you mean about getting us together. I’ve been alone in this city for… a while. I just thought… I would stay busy, you know?”
“And see if you could win the most important battle in recent history on your own?”
She grinned.
Rainbow’s flight skill increases to 6. Rainbow’s tactical skill increases to 5.
“I could’ve done it. I mean, I couldn’t have then. But I could’ve then if I knew what I know…” she trailed off. “You get it.”
He nodded. From the way she’d been flying, Spike believed it. “Well, you’re not… separate, exactly. You ended up in separate, uh… sections. But I can move us around with any console. Those, on the wall there? I can use that.”
“That’s what Node said,” Rainbow whispered, going suddenly solemn. “It was more flying with her. But then she went to go find the others and…” she trailed off. “I thought she must’ve been wrong.”
Nope. Spike had to make a split-second decision.
1. Investigate the Contingency system to discover what has happened to Node.
2. Save Rarity.
3. Attempt to contact Twilight to examine the system externally.
(Certainty 210 required)
Well at least Rainbow knows the general idea of what's happening. I say investigate for now. Might get some lucky rolls.
Also, why is this chapter called Chapter 0?
This IS Spike, he's got to get his Rarity safe.
The odd chapter name had me really worried when I first saw it.
A dream of fighting changelings. Of course this is where he'd find Dash.
And with strange aeons...
Well, actually, Death seems to be the enemy here. Maybe they will kill it. Unlikely, but theoretically possible.
Not sure why this needs to be a split-second decision. Two of the options have already been on their own for a while and the other is operating on a much slower timescale. The only urgency here seems to stem from Spike's own sense of duty.
Ah well. Probably best to make sure Node didn't get captured by the impossibly advanced descendant of Norton Anti-Virus.
9687906
Sparkle's dead, this is a story about spike now.
Edit: I meant that as a joke but it feels too real now.
All sound good, but 1 could be running right into something we can't defeat immediately, and 3 could take too long, preventing us from gathering the forces for dealing with 1 later. Ergo, we save Rarity.
9687906
It might be a reference to what Rainbow Dash said her theory was, that this send them back in time, all the way back to Equestria and the Changeling battle before their spacecraft ever left. Ergo, before Chapter 1, ergo, Chapter 0.
I think we should stay the course and rescue outlet friends first before breaking into Node’s instance. Even though the Rarity option is worded... concerningly... I think it’s the best choice.
At first I was going to keep this coarse and save Rarity.
But seeing how the actual vote sheet hints at the choice. I'm not sure if Spike should rush in like that.
Something happened to Node. Perhaps it would be wise for Spike to try to figure out what happened to her so he doesn't allow the same to happen to him by accident.
Then again, that could have been why Node was left in that state. Fooling around and triggering something in the system. Then again, what if it was one of the girls?
9688002
Apparently it was just a typo. Chapters in progress at Chapter 0 until they are finished and published. No deep meaning to it and it looks like it’s been corrected since being published.
Might as well check out the contingency. It might help with his mission, it'll give him something to actually tell Twilight when he contacts her, it will likely contribute to his being able to rescue the ponies, including Rarity, and there is nothing that says there is an obvious error at the moment, except maybe the whole thing is so weird it probably all feels like an error...
Fighter pilot sim? Sweet, we found Dash.
Excellent.
Skill updates, we may get something useful for the overall story out of this in the end.
Episode one order, Rarity next.
@Starscribe I think you meant "Spike" there instead of "Twilight".
9687916
Yeah, that was my chapter uploader. I discovered a previously unknown bug about editing a chapter uploaded on fimfiction first. It took my %i% chapter title, and interpreted it literally (as 0 since the chapter wasn't uploaded yet). Fixed now
"bene clumsy" is a typo for "been"
"than they might've the time this happened" looks like it should be "than they might've the last time this happened"
"pulling on his new library" would be better as "drawing on", especially since there are two more uses of "pulling" right after.
"It would mean the death" should be "It would mean death".
"areal demonstration" should be "aerial demonstration", unless it's showing the mathematics of areas.
"cockpit above spike" should be "Spike".
So, we know node attempted to find the others. We also know that node has been gone for a fair amount of time. I think at this point examining the System may be the best bet. Doing so may expose any anti-intruder counter measures, as well as show exactly how they all can leave. If anything, information on each instance should be discoverable. This means we can find out everything we would need to know to convince the others to leave ( or, in the worst case, remove them from their world).
Told you Rainbow would never abandon her friends. (see 9681249)
I think we should try to contact Twilight.
It's Spike, c'mon. Of course he'd pick that option. It's Rarity.
Rolling for ERROR....
...12....
I'm not sure just rushing in to save Rarity is a good idea. There could be some sort of trap laying in wait for us. We should have a look around from the inside.
9688588
I think it's an especially bad idea considering the wording of the poll choice implies that Spike is somewhat losing it if we go this way. . .
You know... last chapter didn't even specify RD or Rarity. And people were all gung ho about it. Frankly RD sounded like the dumber, more dangerous, of the two options. Given what things turned out to be I think you could imagine why.
Now that a poll option sounds insistent about something Spike would personally like and probably be thinking, because it's SPIKE and that's how he acts on the show when in a light tizzy, particularly toward his crush, y'all are having a freak out. Like, damn, y'all don't make sense. When the military scatterbrain is in the mix it's FINE but when Spike WANTS something oh no!
That's not to knock people thinking investigating the contingency might be a smart option, I get that, it's just at the line of thinking of jumping headlong into the unknown, then having a scaredy flip out over THIS. Frankly you're lucky Starscribe didn't do a roll to determine how death works in the contingency or Spike probably would be smeared over the digital plane right now. Rainbow too, as I imagine she didn't make it through her sims every time.
In fact RD's situation should prove that Rarity's is very unlikely to be anything harmful. Node's though...? Node could be pretty wired into the system. Could damage the 'data' of others. Not saying she will, but, which of these is MORE likely to have danger?
9688359
Trying to contact Twilight is pretty fruitless as time is established to be much faster in the contingency. It'd take forever to get a response from Spike's POV. That's real last ditch effort territory where Spike would be prepared to not exist or float around in the orb for a long time waiting.
9688866
Totally agree. And between the other two options, I think we might as well follow the clues. It's true that the time compression means we shouldn't dawdle too much, but on the other hand it's fairly likely that the compression is equal for all occupants, and they've been in here for a while now. I feel like it will help Rainbow's morale to look for Node, with the upside that Node seems to know something that could further improve the situation if she is freed up. On the other hand, I admit that this is not totally without risk, since she does seem to have gotten stuck somewhere.
[edit: seeing the poll options did NOT make me question my choice, lol.]
So Node got quarantined, great... They'll need to be cautious then.
9688359
I disagree. Right now they're at machine time, running fast. If they have to contact twilight, they'd have to slow themselves down somehow or else wait a very long time for any kind of response.
9688854
Yeah my bet is Node got quarantined. The contingency is designed to hold living creatures minds in the event they can't get away from this void creature mechanical thing. Node poking around could have triggered a defensive mechanism against AI's. Freeing Node might trigger a failsafe purging the system. And killing the party that's not ready to leave yet. Just a hunch.
Edit: just remembered Spike is an AI now too. He might be in danger doing whatever Node did.
What happened to node may happen to spike so I voted find rarity because wants the whole gang is together and AJ stops being selfish we can get node out together.
What kind of vote choice is "Error" and why have 14 people said to do it?