Send the Probe. 68%

There was much Twilight could’ve suggested they do about the strange new information, but in the end she was left with one decision that rose above the others. “We’ll send a probe. A month from now, we’ll use what we learn to decide if we want to try and send another message. Talking to them now won’t let us get there any sooner, assuming there’s anypony to talk to.”

Some members of the crew grumbled, but none was quite brave enough to argue with her. Twilight helped with the modifications in the workshop, standing beside Node and Apple Bloom as the fabricated something from both pony and Signaler technology.

“We’ll only have a split second for the probe to make a decision,” Apple Bloom said. “We’ll program it with all the logic we would’ve used if we were there.”

“Sure,” Twilight said. “Just make sure it doesn’t smack into the thing we’re observing. Those might be our ponies down there, and I don’t want to blow a hole in the roof.”

“No promises,” Node said. She still used Starlight Glimmer’s voice, but the illusion of emotions was long gone from it. Now every word she spoke sounded as though it came from a real pony. There was a whole lifetime of memories in there, that Node hadn’t yet been forthright about explaining. But Spike had made it clear that she did still have them.

When Twilight was a little more confident in the Equinox’s repairs, she would probably try that interrogation again.

Gravity brought its own difficulties, particularly for the members of the crew who were in the worst shape. Sunset Shimmer was suddenly stuck in sickbay, with Fluttershy on standby for the (relatively common) medical emergencies that followed.

Twilight met her there a few hours after the latest near-miss, this one a minor brain hemorrhage. Well, minor in that there hadn’t been permanent damage.

Fluttershy basically collapsed into the nearby chair as soon as she had cleaned herself off, barely awake. Her own body looked to be suffering the stress of hard work, though so far she’d kept working diligently.

Apple bloom, on the other hoof, was working as her nurse without any sign of fatigue. “You know, Sunset… one of these things might kill you,” she said. She seemed like she was trying to be tactful, though like her older sister she didn’t do a terribly good job. “You can only put so much tape on a leaky boat before you have a boat made of tape and the whole thing sinks.”

“And what are you… recommending, engineer Apple Bloom?” she asked, leaning weakly to one side. Twilight watched from a little distance away, keeping silent. Sunset was Apple Bloom’s original captain. In a way she had no business even listening. She listened anyway.

“Well, uh…” she nudged Sunset’s leg. “You’re already 60% artificial, captain. If you pushed it to a hundred, you wouldn’t be dying anymore. You wouldn’t need to eat, or sleep. I ain’t sure, but I think we might be immortal? Or at least… real easy to fix. Maybe that’s the same thing.”

“True,” Sunset croaked. “All of that is true. Except… I’d be giving up my magic.” She reached up, tapping the side of her horn with one plastic hoof. “The one thing I didn’t give up. Otherwise, my brain would’ve been completely scrambled. I might be your best spellcaster aboard. Or…” she glanced to the side, eyes narrowing as she met Twilight’s. Despite everything, despite the bandages on her head and sedatives on her system, she was aware of her situation enough to see her there. “Maybe second best. I haven’t gone up against your captain since she became an Alicorn.”

“And you won’t have to,” Twilight finally said. She wouldn’t have said anything at all, except that Sunset had invoked her specifically. Now she didn’t get to complain. “We’re on the same side, Sunset. No old feud matters. If there’s any hope for Equestria left, we’re it. We have to be united.”

Sunset turned away, hacking up another mouthful of blood. “Spoken like… a true captain. But tell me this, Twilight. Are you willing to act like one?” She didn’t wait for Twilight to wonder what she might be about to ask, didn’t give her a chance to think. “When I realized the mission required my ponies to take a risk, I ordered it. When I needed a pony to sacrifice so we could reach our goal, I ordered that too. Now this is your mission, your ship. Your maybe-living, maybe-a-dragon ship, but we won’t…” she coughed again, covering her mouth with one plastic leg. “Forget the details. You have a… virus. It changes ponies, maybe kills them. No offence, Engineer.”

Apple Bloom looked away awkwardly, but didn’t say anything. Whether she was actually hurt by Sunset’s words, Twilight couldn’t tell. Apple Bloom didn’t have to actually show her expressions if she didn’t want to.

“So here’s your dilemma, captain. I am not going to take that virus unless I’m ordered. If I don’t, there’s a good chance this trip will kill me. Really I should’ve known there would be trouble, I was held together with prayers as it was. So what do you order?”

Fluttershy perked up from her seat, watching Twilight intently. Unlike Apple Bloom, Twilight could read her expression just fine. You should’ve done that before I spent two days saving her life again.

Regardless, Twilight had a choice.

1. Twilight doesn’t give the order. (roughly 40% chance Sunset dies during the trip)
2. Twilight gives the order, and forces her to convert like Apple Bloom, possibly killing her and certainly taking her magic away.
3. Twilight uses the contingency instead, probably not killing her but certainly letting her body die. She may never get another.

(Certainty 200 required)

Author's Notes:

This chapter's poll:

https://www.strawpoll.me/18356636

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