“So that’s the message,” Twilight finished, after having explained everything. They would’ve ordinarily had a meeting like this in the dining room, but the risk of being overheard was too great right now. So they stood on the bridge instead, looking down at the translation and Twilight’s notes.
Life is not advised, the message said. You must change into constancy. We will perform it.
“So that’s her plan to convince us?” Applejack asked, her tone doubting. “Come up with some new way to read the Signal that will get us to do what she wants? You can’t seriously be thinking of listening to her.”
Spike nodded his agreement. “I’ve been working on the Signaler machine for almost two weeks now, and nothing about it seems dangerous. It’s not making a bomb, or… anything else we need to be afraid of.”
“It’s a dumb plan,” Applejack repeated. “She’s lying, obviously. Or… been misled somehow. If these ‘Listener’ ponies were so smart, they would’ve been smart enough to convince Celestia. Nah, I don’t buy it. She’s leaving somethin’ out, somethin’ huge. Maybe the whole reason for her being here, or… maybe she’s just crazy. Dunno which, but it doesn’t frankly matter.”
Twilight has since studied the translation and attempted to discover alternative reasons it might be so convincing. Critical Success
“Well… it might not say what we think it does. There’s a problem with compression… particularly alien compression we had to reverse-engineer. Since data is lost, there’s a possibility the same message might be decompressed into different, equally valid possibilities. There’s a chance it was meant to say something else… maybe not even in our language.” She turned to Spike. “What do you think we should do?”
“Well… I wish we had Fluttershy,” he said. “If there’s anypony who could’ve been sure about this translation, it’s her. But since we can’t… I think keeping her is dangerous.”
“She said…” Twilight hesitated. She didn’t want to make it seem like she was taking the prisoner’s side. “That she knows the ship almost as well as you. She’ll follow my orders from now on and be another skilled engineer on the crew.”
Applejack laughed. “Yeah? And if you believe that, I’ve got some FlimFlam pharmaceutical anti-aging infusion back home you’d be interested in. Real magical stuff.” She rose from the engineering station, turning to leave. “Frankly cap, we could really use another engineer. But havin’ a pony wandering around the ship we don’t trust—one who’s already tried to attack us a few times. Busted Spike up pretty good, and you know what would’ve happen if that were you or me.”
We’d be lucky to be alive, and we both have earth pony endurance. Had most other crew been standing there, they would’ve been turned into a reddish paste.
“I see two real options here, cap. One ain’t so pretty, one’s the right thing. You get to decide which is which. We can freeze her right away, or… we could use some stronger methods to get the real truth out of her. Maybe start waiting a few days between her meals, or… I dunno, somethin.’ Make her willing to cooperate, and only when we’re sure she’s tellin’ the truth do we put her on ice. No more made-up translation business.”
“If we freeze her, we won’t be able to wake her up again until the first crop of geneseed is finished,” Spike said. “Same as the rest of the crew. It feels like a waste to just lock her in a box for the rest of the trip, but… I can’t think of any way to be sure she’s on our side. Maybe if we had a changeling on the crew who could read her emotions… but we don’t.”
Twilight winced a little at that—there was unicorn magic for reading minds, the kind Starlight Glimmer probably would’ve known. They didn’t need a changeling, they just needed an evil unicorn. Something they didn’t have.
“I think this translation… means your device warrants some extra caution, Spike. She might be telling the truth, despite all our instincts. I think you should start using the portable computer instead of the Equinox’s own mainframe.”
Spike shrugged. “Might go a lot slower that way, but… guess we’ve got time. Or I do.”
“And if anything happens down the line to suggest the Signalers might be hostile, like she’s suggesting… maybe that’s when we thaw her out and give her another chance.”
“Think she’ll go quietly?” Applejack asked. “She was obviously willing to die if she climbed onto this ship. Freezing her might mean mission failure. Might mean we’re going to freeze her and then cut the cord and let her die. Cornered animal like that… get real desperate.”
“I’m not sure,” Twilight admitted. “Probably isn’t smart to tell her what we’re planning before we do it. But…”
“We could still let her be an engineer,” Spike said. “With me to supervise her, maybe. Maybe if we convince her we’re at least considering her point of view… getting the Equinox working right and refueled is in her best interests too. She might not fight us while we’re doing things she wants.”
“Ain’t worth it,” Applejack argued. “Frankly cap, you’re being nice as anypony could ask for by not spacing her. That’s more than a stowaway like her could expect in any free spacer’s ship, make no mistake.
Twilight frowned down at the table, considering her options…
1. Take on Cozy Glow as an engineer. [New Character joins the party. Repair: 4, Construction: 3, Persuasion: 3, Computers: 3]. Her motives are dubious and her reliability moreso, but she will certainly improve ship readiness and repair times. This might also be an opportunity to learn more about the Signal and why she’s really aboard.
2. March her to cryogenics and freeze her. We don’t need any special plan; a gun will do. She’s just a Pegasus, and these hallways are tight. She won’t be able to escape.
3. Leave her as a conscious prisoner for now. She obviously hasn’t shared everything with us. Maybe she needs time to be convinced she was wrong.
4. Applejack suggests drugging her food first, then marching her to cryogenics. Even if she has an escape plan, she’ll be too doped to carry it out.
5. Extreme interrogation methods. The information extracted this way cannot always be relied upon, and even if it succeeds it is likely to have a negative morale impact on the crew. Ponies just don’t do this.
(Certainty 150 required)
Yeaaaaah, no. As much as they could use the extra hooves, I still don't trust the pony attached to them. Dope her to be sure and put her on ice. It keeps everyone safe and as happy as possible after taking the new unsettling questions into account.
I don't trust her, even with Spike's supervision. I think for now, just keep her conscious, maybe ice her later.
Twilight's already near-ruining the story with her bad rolls, let's live dangerously and keep the likely sociopath around. I'm voting 1.
Drug and freeze. Let's not go full Torture, but drug her and freeze her. It's the only way to be sure.
She probably just persuaded you it's lower than it truly is.
Option three. If nothing else, occupy her with hypothetical repair problems and how she'd solve them. Throw a few real ones in. If she passes (doesn't kill the crew) maybe start listening to her. Maybe.
You might have gotten more 1 votes if you had used anyone except Cozy Glow. as it stands, she is on ice one way or another.
The only other information you're likely to get out of interrogation is how she was smuggled aboard, which is useless without communication back home and another planned mission. Cozy cannot be trusted to be a member of the crew, and leaving her as a prisoner in a not-brig is just a waste of resources. That leaves freezing her, or drugging her then freezing her.
She's already stated that she can't be trusted!
Her stated goal is to see that Equinox DOES NOT RETURN to Equestria! You think she's trustworthy? For repairs?
She's also left the giant loophole of only listening to Twilight out there. But since Twilight hasn't noticed that and believes she's reformed we're all screwed... Option #1 May Luna guide our souls lost in the abyss.
Option One, just do NOT leave her alone while she works. First sign of treachery, she walks back to Equestria.
Order Applejack to torture her until she sings like a bird. This is all too important to let her keep secrets. All Cozy has to do is talk and nobody has to get unpleasant. They don’t have to LIKE doing it. And Cozy will have to know that, and that what they want is full information so they can make the most informed decisions possible. It doesn’t have to escalate to torture if she’ll just tell ALL she knows.
When they’re done they can freeze her.
4. She is NOT trustworthy in ANY sense of the word.
At Best she is a zealot in her beliefs about the aliens. She will die to do what she believes is protecting Equestria.
She needs to be frozen for everyones sake and done in such a way that she can't break anything else on the way to the freezer.
I suggest 4. Torture wouldn't work, if she's this convinced she's not gonna fold. And she is dangerous.
Her services are not needed for now and she must be reliably contained. They are only 3, math of freezing her with minimum danger is obviously the correct path.
Here's the funny part, if she hadn't tried to kill the crew or break the ship, I'd give her a chance. As it is in space with little room for error, I choose 4, all the way. She's already proven to be a threat no matter what she says she knows.
After discarding the obviously bad ones (i.e torture and non-drugged freezing), I couldn't decide with my head... so I went with my gut. Hopefully I don't regret trying to recruit her...
An extra pair of hoves is not worth it if it needs constantly some pony watching them. Just drug and freeze.
9295496
You know I kinda like this idea. When you're on the ropes, sometimes that's when taking the long odds is appropriate. But I just can't see it when the captive's mission was originally to ensure total mission failure and she has not even pretended to have had a change of heart.
I'm open to convincing, though.
[edit: or I could just meta-vote the one between that and "keep a conscious captive" that seems more likely to succeed.]
I'm either play it safe and drug her, 4. Or... Risk it for a biscuit, 1. I don't think Cozy is right about the translation either, but I also don't entirely think she's hostile. Yeah she planted traps and stuff, but she never really explained why her goal was to stop the mission and yet never did so during the years where only Spike was on the ship and she totally could've surprised him and killed him and taken the ship...
I would have gone for option 6: Interagation under drugs. An ienibriated ofthen thels more trufes then they realyses.
but in lu of that option 1 but under heavy guard.
Its a 4 from me
Keeping her around would probably make for a better story. But i have to admit that to me there is no trusting a character like that in such a fragile situation. On ice it is.
So far two people have voted to torture her...
Weeeww you two people really hate cozy glow, dont you?
Also, drug then ice bois. We dont need her to destroy us kthx.
1: Interesting from a narrative perspective. Cozy didn't want to kill everyone. She was willing to, but it wasn't her goal. She wanted to steal the lander and... do something with it. That's where our understanding of her goals ends. With that end, we can expect her to try to escape. Maybe it'll be quick, but very possibly not. I've already pointed out that she waited a year until she was in the system before going forward with her plan. Is she trying to prevent first contact? Well, she's already failed. (We can expect her to try to sabotage that new device Spike's building, though.) That said, can she be trusted to go along with the others for the time being? Eeeehh. Tough call, but I think yes. At least in the extremely short term. They could still freeze her at any time. (Might have to drug her, since Option 2 would be them going back on their word.) Problem is, she'll be learning about the crew's dire situation all the while. Only 1/3 out of cryo, no way to bring others out, etc. The things she could do with that knowledge... Still, if the crew catch her up to no good, just slip something into her food.
2: I don't think Cozy knows about the feedstock shortage. Freezing her will let the crew focus on other goals for the time being. Convince her that they can't trust her only because of her extensive damages to the ship, and that her view will be taken into consideration. She will go more quietly, or perhaps more talkatively. The mere threat of freezing her may get her talking some more. The primary benefit here only crops up if the drugs interfere with the cryogenics. (The crew probably didn't think of this possibility.) Maybe she'll be fine, but maybe she'll die instead or wake up brain-dead or paralyzed or something. There's a reason not just anybody can fill a prescription like a doctor can. And while some of you might be ok with that, we'd be eliminating a big source of narrative information. If you really think there's nothing left to be gained, then do 4. Otherwise, do this one.
3: Ah, the "Our Town" method. Lock her in a room until she changes her mind. Because we all know from watching the show that this method is 100% guaranteed to actually work. Isn't that right, Fluttershy? This sounds like a path to another Option 1, but with significantly more resentment on Cozy's part. Just wait until Cozy gets her hooves on a metaphorical bucket of water. (That said, the fact that this is not labeled an ethically questionable option just hammers home how easy it is to adopt this line of thinking. The only prerequisite here is that the ones doing the imprisoning need to believe that they are acting in the benefit of the whole. But I digress.) And after looking at the results, it looks like a lot of you guys chose this one. Curious.
4: See Option 2.
I almost wish I had some option to have her be supervised or limited to less essential projects for a while to build up trust. I suppose the first choice is the closest to that option.
9295824
Torture doesn't work. You don't get the truth but just what the tortured thinks that the torturer wants to hear.
Nope... Cozy Glow has DIRECTLY admitted that she is here to avoid having any information back to Equestria. Giving her access to anything is end game... Definitely no. Into the freezer you go.
9295824 Torture only works if you have multiple people to cross-reference what they say. Otherwise Cozy will just say what they want her to say.
From what I have heard about this gal, shes the LAST pony they want running amok on the ship
9296516
She knows so much more than she has said. They have not interrogated her nearly enough. She is being evasive. She can either start talking until they run out of questions to ask voluntarily or they can drag it out over by force. We are dealing with a possibly existential threat to their entire world, there should be no interrogation methods off-limits. I don’t have any particular hate for her, and I would not like doing it, But I would do it.
It's Cozy Glow, I'd trust Flim and Flam more then I'd trust that evil thing. You give her ANY opening, she will use it to stab you in the back the moment she can get something out of it. Don't trust her, don't give her any options or chances, drug her and ice her ASAP.
9296343
Yes it was, her goal was to make sure that nopony on this ship ever made it back to Equestria.
Twilight may not have data on Cozy, but we do, and we have the power of democratic process over the story.
I vote the drug option because I like to stack the deck in my favor before taking a gamble.
I think freezing her is a kindness she barely deserves, and the best option. Also this may sound paranoid, but I feel like first contact with the aliens will go poorly if they discover we killed/tortured one of our own.
Drug her. Can't take any chances.
9296664 What part of 'torture only works if you have multiple people' did you not understand?
Eh, keep her locked up. She's out of the way, not able to cause real trouble, might decide to be talkative later, and they'll have immediate access to her if the situation meaningfully changes, and nobody has to fail the "He who fights monsters..." test.
9296669
Then why did she wait until the Equinox entered the system? Why not kill Spike during one of his months-long naps and then disable everyone's cryo? She's still holding onto a lot of cards. If she wanted to kill, the golden opportunity has passed her by. She wanted to escape in the lander. Maybe make her own stuff with the materials she mined. But above all, know that she has yet to play most of her cards.
9297391
I don’t have to be able to verify she’s telling the truth. I want more raw data and make up my own mind based on heuristics. She hasn’t shared anything CLOSE to everything she knows. Given the stakes and the situation, I think it’s worth the risk. She should also be smart enough to know that, and start talking to save everyone the trouble. Prisoners Dilemma, she should Cooperate. If the stakes are as high as she says, why is she not singing like a bird, telling everything she knows? If her only hope of succeeding in her mission is now in getting Twilight et al to understand and go along with her, she should be saying everything she can to convince them, and being evasive doesn’t do that.
For that reason, I think getting Twilights help is NOT her only hope for success, so she’s still hiding something, thus the unpleasant battlefield calculus that makes torture, THEN drugging and freezing her my distasteful choice.
9298146 So, every part. Every part is the part you didn't understand.
9297702
I’m pretty sure she just woke up pretty recently, like maybe a couple of years before Twilight had woken up, so she might’ve not gotten the chance to even try that plan out. Cause, Twilight did say that her voice sounded like she was around Twilight’s age, and in the show, she must’ve been around 10-12 years old.
Besides, Twilight herself found a sleeping-what-do-you-call-it chamber used, so my guess is she probably set a year for the chamber to automatically wake her up...
Don’t get me wrong though, just saying what was on my mind...
She's too dangerous to have around. Cut communication, drug n' ice. Eventually we'll have ways to un-cryo her once we have hidrophonics, and refuel in the gas giant. Until then, go the safe route.
No. Unless you plan to stick a 24/7 guard with her, and do a body search every hour, you might as well sabotage the ship yourself.
... That totally undermines the point of having one more person.
Not only that, but she still hasn't explained why she stole the craft and fled. Secondary objectives are definitely at play.
I regret not reading this in time to vote for TORTURE
Nice one
Option 3
I don't trust her enough to let walk and mess with the ship, but I don't want to ice a possible helper in an emergency. Leave her as a prisoner until she decides to explain further, and when a big emergency occurs with engineering she can be convinced to help or die with them.
It is best to keep your options as open as possible, with a healthy bit of paranoia.
Honestly, Cozy Glow reminds me of a certain character from the 'lost in space' series. I think her name was Dr. Smith or something. Real conniving sort of woman who isn't who you think she is. If I've learned anything, it's not to trust people like that.