Mario3D13

Lightning felt bad for Amber, but quite furious at Solar. "What the hell is your problem with me? What did I ever do to you? I just want to help Amber with her addiction, and all you've done is get mad at me, saying 'Don't do this or that'! What IS IT WITH YOU?!?!" Lightning narrowed his eyes at Solar, and huffed at her. (OOC: You've done got the SPARTAN-IV stallion mad)

Great Celestia, she's so thick-headed! "It's going to KILL HER if she keeps taking it to that specific degree! Morphine is used as a painkiller, alright? It's one of THE most important medications used in hospitals. However, if used with the frequency that it was with Amber, the brain develops dependency. And then the brain starts asking for heavier doses. So, if we do as I say, the brain should re-accustom itself to a non-addictive state. It's really all we can do. Or else, Amber will suffer withdrawal symptoms, which have much more chances of killing her than my plan! So, using your standpoint, it's a 'lesser of two evils' situation. Survival or death, take your pick."

Lightning was irritated with Solar's response. She NEVER pays attention, does she? "Did you not hear what I just said? My plan is to DRASTICALLY reduce the dose, which WOULD prevent withdrawal symptoms, but WOULD NOT give her another hit. Now, either we do as I say, or we let Amber suffer through withdrawal, OR we let her keep on with her habit." Lightning raised an eyebrow at Solar. "I think this is an easy choice to make."

"Yeah, it'd be best not to try, Sapphire. It's not that I don't think you're good at magic, but it's too risky at the moment. Now, Tuesday has, as I mentioned, noted alternatives to an ultra-risky spell. The first one is to slowly taper the dose of morphine until we get to zero. However, I believe that this would be highly ineffective, as Tuesday has noted that the euphoric feeling remains. There is another method which uses methadone. Methadone is a opioid, like morphine. As Tuesday has noted, it activates the receptors that morphine does, without the addictive euphoria. However, as far as I'm concerned, we don't have any. So, my proposed solution is that we drastically reduce the morphine dose right now, to a point where withdrawal symptoms don't come up, but Amber doesn't get high." Lightning turned towards the pilot's seat. "Flame, could you stop for a bit so we can see what happens to the Destiny? Afterwards, we can head for the planet and go from there." Lightning turned back to the 3 mares. "So, whaddaya say, Amber? You wanna go with my plan?"

"Lemme see here..." Lightning scrolled through the list of potential treatments. "Well, there is mention of a spell here, but it also notes that only Alicorns or the most powerful unicorns, like Starswirl the Bearded, can use it. And even then, there's no guarantee of success. I honestly think that the closest we'll get to that would be....Scarlett." Lightning sighed. Scarlett had worked to keep everypony alive and yet, she, along with 50 or so other ponies, would give their lives to let this group live. "Of course, there are more ways to go about this, but this is the only one that involves a spell, and I don't think we can do it. We could have Sapphire try, but I dunno if it would work."

Lightning looked at the 3 mares. "Well, there are various ways of going about this, so don't worry. If one doesn't work, we have a few backup plans. Amber, this is your call. We can try whatever Tuesday came up with or you could do it the hard way. But, if you decide to take the hard way...at best, you'll go through a LOT of discomfort. At the worst..." Lightning shivered at the thought. "You don't wanna know what might happen."

I am all in with this! I LOVE Pokemon, and I've always wanted to test a ROM hack. PM the download link, and I'll get to it. Any emu you'd like me to test specifically?

OMG That's so screwy. I'm also a native Spanish speaker (my parents are Hispanic), and I nearly flipped out when I saw that. What happened afterwards? I always wondered what that meant. It sounds so damn funny though!

That moment when I discovered Netflix and chill didn't ACTUALLY mean Netflix and chill. Also, I kept saying deprecated without knowing what it actually meant.

"Yeah, we noticed!" Lightning shouted back. "Now, get this ship away from the Destiny and get it to a safe distance from the star. I...want to see what happens to the Destiny." Lightning shook a bit, imagining the hell Scarlett and Selene would go though before dying.

"I know. But I thought I'd tell you first so that you can tell Amber yourself, because I'm nice like that." Lightning smiled at Solar. "Now, go on ahead and tell her. I know she'll be happy." Lightning looked to Sapphire. Poor girl. Always beating herself up. "Sapphire, no one person should have all the responsibility. I can testify to that first-hand. And I'm here for you. We're here for you." He sat next to her and put his forehoof around her.

"Eeyup. When Amber had that withdrawal attack earlier, I had Tuesday start looking up ways on how to combat opioid addiction. He finished up, and now I have various methods at my disposal. If things work out, she won't have the urge to inject again, so she can have a drug-free life from here on out."

"Okay then. I understand. No worries. I just want to make sure nothing happens to anyone, including you two." Lightning suddenly remembered an order he had given to Tuesday. "Wait. I just remembered something. Tuesday, status on process 64, priority Alpha." "Process completed 4 hours ago, sir." "And why didn't you remind me?" "You were busy at the moment." "Fair enough." Lightning turned to Amber and Solar. "Remember how you mentioned Amber recovering from addiction? I might just have a solution, if you're willing to hear me out." (Mentions: @@1Bit and @@Unicorncob)

Typical Solar, he thought. Why do I always get on her nerves? "Hey, I'm not saying this because I don't like it. I'm saying it because I don't want you two getting into trouble. Now, I can't force either of you to do anything. If you want to have your moment, by all means, do so. Just....try not to get in a fight, okay?"

(Phone post) "Specter's right. You don't have to cuss every dad-gum moment. But, for now, let's focus on escaping." Lightning turned to Solar and Amber and saw them flirting. As usual, he thought. He noticed some glances from some of the other ponies. Lightning took the two aside. "Look, I love you guys, but tone down le flirting. I can't help but feeling that you two might get on somepony's nerves, and the last thing we need are tensions running high. Could y'all do me that favor?" he whispered. (Mentions: @1Bit, @Unicorncob, and )

Lightning was confused by Scarlett shoving him in, but there was no time to ponder that right now. Lightning went to the front, and stood beside the pilot's seat. "Let's do this. Flame, undock and take 'er out. Specter, need you up front." (Mentions: and @Child Of Darkness; making sure y'all don't ignore my posts again)

"Okay, let's go. Flame, get up front." Lightning turned to Scarlett. "Scarlett, thank you for everything you've done. I think I speak for everypony when I say that I am grateful for what you did. It's been an honor to know you." Lightning put out his hoof to Scarlett.

'Go ahead, Flame. No one's gonna stop you." Maybe I was a bit TOO harsh on him, he thought. Sour old guard? Does she even know I'M here? He turned to speak to Sapphire, but Solar got a word in first. Lightning was so tempted to say "And that 'anypony' is ME!!!" But he decided otherwise. "Hey, Sapphire. I'm still here, and I like you A LOT. Doesn't that count as somepony liking you?" He went and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Lightning got into the shuttle alongside Amber and Solar. "Sapphire, a little help? Amber's not doing too well right now." He turned to the two marefriends. "How you feeling, Amber? By the way, nice hustle, Solar." Lightning was distressed at this scene. He stepped towards them. "Look, Flame. Either you get in here and pilot this shuttle or I'll be forced to fly this hunk of junk myself, something which I'll do if necessary. You have 10 seconds to decide, soldier."

Lightning was surprised to see what had just happened. "No kidding!" His augmented body kept pace with Solar, occasionally flapping his wings for some extra speed. "We should be nearing the launch bay. Follow me." Lightning simultaneously checked his HUD while going through different corridors in order to get to the shuttle ASAP. He looked back to make sure Solar was following.

"I'll lead the way, 'kay?" Lightning drifted in front of Solar and used the map in his HUD to guide himself towards the docking bay. Lightning heard this and immediately spoke to Solar. "We need to pick up the pace, or none of us will live. Need a hand with Amber?"