Spike takes the pony prisoner 49%
Applejack’s advice made perfect sense—space was merciless and cruel, he knew that even better than she did now. It didn’t matter-- he couldn’t kill someone just because it made sense. Even so, that didn’t mean he had to make the pony think she’d won.
Spike attempts to act like a badass and intimidate over the radio. Success.
“Alright stowaway, this is what we’re going to do. I want you to leave everything but your suit on the Prospector, then climb across. I’m telling my engineer to shoot you if you do anything she doesn’t like.”
“Alright, alright!” the mare called. “I get it! I’ll play hoofball, honest. No need for violence.”
“That will be the captain’s choice,” Spike said flat. “Assuming you don’t get yourself shot.” He switched frequencies. “Were you listening to that, Applejack?”
“Sure was,” the engineer replied. “Didn’t think ya’ had it in ya’, Spike. Sounded like she wet herself in her suit.”
“Well, I meant what I told her,” Spike said. “I want her alive, but if it looks like she’s going to hurt you or the ship, shoot her.”
“What will you do? Try to get Twilight to wake up?”
“Nah. She doesn’t need to know about Twilight. When you bring her in, make her put on four magnetic gauntlets and lock them together. Oh, and cut her suit open so bad she can’t fix it.”
Applejack whistled over the radio. “Damn, Spike. What have you been doing the last few years?”
“Forty-one years,” Spike corrected. “Reading, mostly. If it works for Buck Rogers…”
Applejack laughed. “I ain’t no adventurin’ deer, Spike. You ain’t either.”
Spike didn’t respond to that. “I’m going to make a brig. Take her to the crew deck when you’ve finished. I’ll handle her.”
“Alright,” Applejack sounded hesitant. “But I’m gonna be there when we talk to her. I want what she knows as bad as you.”
“I think Twilight would too. We’ll just bring her in for now.”
Spike floated past security on his way down to the crew quarters, and removed a pistol from the safe. He clicked out the magazine, checking each of the fourteen plastic bullets. I might not be Buck Rodgers, but I can protect my friends just as good.
This pony had almost killed the only ponies left in his whole world. Once he learned why, she would go straight back into the ice where she came from. It was better if she didn’t die—she could go into an Equestrian prison, when their mission was finally done, and they saw home again.
Spike’s intimidation skill increases by one.
Spike wasn’t sure which of the crew quarters to choose, and ultimately picked Fluttershy’s only because she was the least likely to care about the damage she was about to do to its fiber hookups.
There was no telling what this pony would be capable of—but she couldn’t do much if Spike tore the wires right out of the walls. He cut with claws and his own fiery breath, not even bothering to go down for the proper equipment. The damage it would take weeks to repair could be inflicted in mere minutes.
He took the time to remove Fluttershy’s vacuum-sealed belonging cube, tossing it in to Rainbow Dash’s room beside. The prisoner would get a bare mattress. What are we going to do if she’s a unicorn? We don’t have antimagic shackles.
The lift came to a stop at the crew deck a second later. A pony floated in front of Applejack, hooves hogtied with magnetic shackles just as he suggested. Applejack hadn’t just torn the back of her suit, she’d also removed the helmet completely. A soft pink pony was inside, with a curly sky-blue mane. No horn, just a pair of glasses with a single cracked lens. It didn’t look like Applejack had been gentle with her.
“Second Officer Spike,” Applejack said, her voice exaggerated. “Prisoner as ordered.”
“Excuse me…” The pony said, looking up towards Spike with wide, brown eyes. “Do you think you could… maybe ask your kind engineer to untie me? I don’t think my legs aren’t meant to stay this way.” She drifted a little further down, then sunk rapidly, smacking straight into the ground with a whimper.
“Do you have external controls?” he asked.
Applejack tossed a remote through the air towards him. Spike caught it in one claw.
“I want your name, pony.”
“I would really rather talk directly to the captain,” she said, her voice as sweet as expired lemonade. “Isn’t that the procedure for prisoners?”
“Fine.” Spike turned away, sliding the remote into his belt. “Then Twilight can be the one to unlock your gauntlets. She should be down to talk to you sometime in the next… forty-eight hours or so.”
The pony swore under her breath. “Cozy Glow. That’s my name. Let me go.”
“Are you an Earth Pony, Cozy Glow? A pegasus? Thestral?”
“I’m not sure why…” she glared up at him. “Pegasus.”
She’s not going to be kicking her way out of her cell, then.
“Applejack, if she tries anything, shoot.”
Applejack removed the pistol from her own toolbelt—far more complicated than the unicorn model he used, the weapon was a brace that snapped onto a foreleg and required careful twists and twitches to fire. “Pleasure, sir.”
Spike pressed the release, and immediately Cozy started to drift up from the deck. She didn’t try anything, just rose into something like a standing position, using a nearby dining chair to keep from floating away. “In there.” He said, pointing at the open door. “You can wait in there for the captain.” Don’t try anything, or we’ll… we’ll space you.”
“Dragons,” she muttered under her breath, but she moved. Drifted forward, until she was across the threshold. “We’re saving Equestria, you know. From idiots like you.”
Spike smiled toothily in at her. “We’ll see.” He reached out, sealing the door shut with a claw on the controls.
“What do you want me to do, Spike?” Applejack asked.
1. Take in the Prospector. We’ve wasted enough time and fuel. There’s information over there we might be able to use as leverage, and we need to get the Prospector repaired and docked again before we can move.
2. Wait, guard the prisoner instead. That pony had at least a year to learn about the Equinox, and the Prospector might have traps like the cargo bay did. Waiting a few more days won’t kill us.
3. Wait, repair another ship’s system in the meantime. Hydroponics has been waiting long enough to get the first crop in. Besides, pegasus locked up in a tiny room without any wires can’t cause too much trouble. It’s only a few days.
Guarding the prisoner sounds like the best option to me. No need to risk setting off any traps on the Prospector until you’re better prepared, and it’s probably safer to assume that she might find a way to cause trouble if she’s unsupervised rather than assume she’ll just sit there and behave.
They need to Space this girl RIGHT NOW!!! She is nuts and she will only be a risk. Worse yet she is manipulative enough that someone like Twilight will fall for her words super easily. The only saving grace if Spike and AJ after everything she did, after almost KILLING one if not all of them they WONT let Twi do her always looking on the bright side or brought in by praise thing and remind her this pony is a threat to the mission and their lives. I think she need to be guarded for sure. BUT I don't think that should stop them from doing repairs. I mean Spike can guard, he SHOULD be the one guarding, while AJ works on repairs. They shouldn't mess with the ship yet since she could have trapped it like they think BUT getting some of their functions in order would be useful. And once Twi is back on her feet they will have the manpower to check the ship.
I DO LOVE how you had Spike step up in all of this. HE took charge and took care of what needed to much like he should have. All of this would have at least helped AJ see this isn't the same dragon he was when they left. He has matured alot during that time and knows what is important to him. He is a dragon and they are his treasures he will do ANYTHING to protect them and this pony is a threat.
Option one. Other repairs can wait. The Prospector will need repairs before it will be of use. After all, it has holes in it now. Can't do a safe re-entry with holes in the ship. Guarding a prisoner in a stripped room is a waste of ponypower they don't have to spare.
Could you have phrased that last option in a way tempting fate any worse?
Definitely #3 since we've had Ms.Glow eat her way through a shit ton of rations, resupplying the food is a good idea and I don't trust the prospector to not be boobytrapped.
Honestly I think it should be reversed. Spike should be the one to guard the prisoner. He is injured, and thus his fine motor manipulation is not up to specs. If Cozy remains obedient, he can use this time to recuperate. If she somehow gets the door open however, he is big, fire breathing, and still fit enough beat her into a pulp if she somehow disarms him. If AJ wound up in the same situation, pegasi have a natural advantage in low-G thanks to their wings not needing gravity to fly through the halls.
Additionally, AJ being intact would allow her to work faster and repair a system.
All that aside, I wager Cozy is of the mind that contacting the Signal Senders could spell disaster if they end up being hostile.
Yeah, repairing hydroponics seems like an excellent plan. We already spent a long time waiting for the alien fabrication schematics to be fully uploaded to the computer system, consuming food the whole time.
Hmm... tough choice. I think I am going to wait a bit to see what other people have to say. We do need food but leaving the prisoner unguarded might not be the best idea...
This is Cozy Glow. Even odds she was sent here by Tirek. Guard her.
Being the first people on a mission to another solar system arguably is being an adventurer.
Oh shit, space her now.
I'm torn between 2 and 3. The Prospector is probably booby-trapped and may be past the point of recovery, but definitely don't rush recovering it. AJ fixing hydroponics with Spike guarding Cozy would be the best option in my opinion, assuming that is a possibility.
Doing somthing else sounds like a good option... if this wasn't freaking Cozy Glow. Do not trust her, ever.
Though, agree with 9288486 Why cant Spike stand guard while AJ does some repairs?
Shoot her, burn the corpse with dragonflame, shoot the ashes, space the ashes, and vitrify said ashes with the main engines. And even then, I'd still be concerned.
Or, failing that, have the suspicious prospector make sure she doesn't try anything funny witth microclouds and exposed wires.
Out of curiosity, do you have some kind of endgame scenario in your head, where the story will end once the ponies fulfill these conditions? Or are you just driving into the unknown, pedal to the metal, cheerfully screaming, "I have NO IDEA what I'm doing!", with the plot solely determined by the choices, characters, and whatever chapter you're writing at the moment?
Enjoying the story either way.
Cozy Glow... We should have destroyed that ship when we still could
Oh my FREAKING WORD, COZY GLOW??? I DID NOT EXPECT THAT LITTLE MONSTER. And it looks like shes an adult in this version, so she doesnt even have the "shes just a stupid kid" shield for her psychoness.
At least this hints pretty strongly at why she's there. Seems pretty likely that she's part of a movement wanting to either destroy or hide their existence from the aliens instead of making contact. Xenophobia at its finest.
And who has to clean that suit up afterwards? Probably the engineer.
: "Not cool."
I voted for option three.
Batter safe than sorry. The Prospector can wait and Spike can collect the food in Hydroponics.
"damage she was about to do" - isn't it Spike doing the damage?
"tossing it in to Rainbow Dash’s room beside." - beside Rainbow's cube?
"I don’t think my legs aren’t meant to stay this way." - "are"?
I wonder how finely tuned the AJ's BS sensors are in this story, i think we are about to find out!
Its funny seeing everyone's reactions to cozy. That character carries a lot of weight at the moment within the community and its super tempting to vote based on what we know about them.
I still cant help but feel like we might end up making an irrational choice because of that.
I think our choices throughout the story will shape the characters to a degree, being very aggro and paranoid in our choice might make the cast the same way in the future.
As for which to pick? I'd say either 2 or 3. As much as i want to go with 2, for reasons stated above ill go with 3.
EDIT: I just realized the potential danger of having AJ guard her. Given enough time there is a good chance that she'll be able to convince them of something to further her own goals. Its important to remember that their strength is in manipulation, not anything physical. AJ already had shown some doubts towards spike earlier on and while they felt sorry for it a snake like cozy might be able to rekindle and use that xenophobia.
Maybe im overthinking or giving star too much credit but i cant help but feel like we're being played here
>Cozy Glow
Alright boys guard duty (option 2) or we're all dead.
Also, please space the tyrannical child at your earliest convenience. Thanks.
Loving badass space adventurer Spike here. Poor guy needs more cool scenes like this...cannon is too set on keeping him stuck in ineffectual childhood.
Yes, because I'm sure a clawed, fire-breathing reptile who can shrug off being a literal pin-cushion and bathe in molten lava really needed help in that regard.
I'd say go with 3. I agree with others that the prospector is way too likely to be booby-trapped and, while that last line was pretty clearly tempting fate, I don't think guarding her is necessary. Not so much because she can't get out, but rather because, if she does have a way out, I doubt a single guard will make much difference to it.
Furthermore, we've already seen the massive problems caused by being short-staffed, and they're only going to get worse. The sooner they can take everyone else out of cold storage, the better.
9288673
If Equinox has the ability to control the environmental inside the ship ti a high degree, I'd keep environmentals on in that one room and shut down everything around it and make a bubble of death surrounding her cell to keep her there and keep her away from the rest of the crew.
Well, I’m starting to regret giving her any leeway....
Seriously though, her only real power is manipulating others, and instead of worming her way into a whole school she only has a few hardened explorers to deal with who already know she’s been trying to screw them over... and yet....
9289130
This AJ is certainly a lot more paranoid than the one we know, but you would think that that would mean that she would be even more untrusting of the one who she already knows committed the acts she previously accused Spike of.
I voted for #3, but I'm not going to cry about #2. #1, though, is not only risky but is also a lower priority as long as there's no time bomb on the ship, accidental or otherwise.
9288689
As far as endgame scenarios go, I think I see the same possibilities any readers do. Twilight and her friends unravel the mystery of Proximus, or they die horribly.
More seriously, I did begin the story with "what's really going on" in mind. I know what the mysteries are, but that's it. I don't know how characters will react, when they'll succeed and fail, and I don't know many of the dangers they might encounter along the way. All that will be as much of a surprise to me as it is to anyone reading.
Readers are having a strong reaction to Cozy Glow. Meanwhile I have no idea who she is. I stopped watching pony about two years ago but I'm still addicted to fanfics. (Which results in things like this happening a lot.)
Let me just do a quick google... Okay wow, this kid's messed up. Knowing she's a season finale villain completely changes my view of option 2, which I previously thought unnecessary. Now sure what to pick anymore.
9290662
I’d say spoilers, but since you don’t watch the show anymore...
Well, she’s probably the best manipulating villain in the history of MLP: FiM. She’s a pony who tricked Twilight into willingly giving her a position of power, managing to send Twilight along with the other members of the Mane 6 away at the same time, again willingly. She then overpowered Starlight Glimmer, manipulated an entire school of students into doing her bidding, and almost managed to rid Equestria of Magic using knowledge that she acquired from Tirek while he was in Tartarus. Hay, she’d have succeeded if it wasn’t for a deus ex machina from the Tree of Harmony itself.
As you can guess, a very dangerous opponent in the right circumstances.
No… it can't be…
Cozy Glow. If I had my way I'd be keeping you under sedative in a cell that’s in a reinforced airlock with selective soundproofing, guarded by a pony resistant to silver tounges (that’s the most important part). Can't be too careful with you.
In many ways, you're a better manipulator than Chrysalis, but with your cover blown… still can’t be too careful.
How do you even plan to do that in space? You know what, we should thank you for revealing your hoof.
The choice...
The first one doesn’t make much sense unless there’s a time bomb on the the Prospector.
The second one is actually appealing since Cozy Glow is not to be underestimated, but Applejack needs to take an Oath not to sympathize the tiniest bit with Cozy Glow.
The third one is as appealing as the second one seeing as the more systems repaired the better, but I don’t want to leave Cozy unattended. If only we can get Spike to guard her and take the same Oath...
Gah! #2 or #3, can’t decide!
After looking at the other comments, I’m going with the third one; even though there’s a lot of other things that Cozy can do, if she gets to manipulate someone guards are meaningless. Besides, more systems online are always better. I just hope Cozy doesn’t do anything stupid...
This is definitely a time for caution. Not just because of who the prisoner is, but because of the circumstances.
Spike jerry-rigged a brig out of a crew room. Even if we make the assumption that his sabotage was comprehensive (possibly a dangerous assumption, but he does know the ship exceptionally well), all we see him do is rip out the control wiring and remove Fluttershy's possessions. In particular, there IS one piece of in-room electronics that we know is still perfectly functional: the door, since he "(sealed) the door shut with a claw on the controls".
Also, if the wall panels are that easy to pull off and give him access to sabotage the electronics, an unattended Cozy would have trivial access to whatever crawlspaces and infrastructure are within the walls. And if she's been running around the ship as long as it seems, she might have stashed supplies to hedge her bets against a future confrontation.
The Prospector should be approached with an abundance of caution. It's tempting to do some unrelated repairs, but there's too much potential downside to leaving the prisoner unsupervised until more is known. I do agree with 9288486 though that Spike is better suited to play guard; perhaps that can free AJ up for repairs, or doing whatever Spike would have done had he assigned her to door duty.
On the downside, Cozy's a manipulator and that gives her plenty of time to talk with her captors. On the upside, that gives them more chance to get information about her plans, and while she might manipulate them into mercy or lull their suspicions, I just don't see Applejack or Twilight falling for her anti-dragon
propaganda, especially with the previously resolved trust plotline.
EDIT: Oh. The poll is very explicit about "What is Applejack's assignment?" On that grounds I'm voting #3, since Spike is best suited to guard anyway and the narrative doesn't suggest he's got any other tasks waiting.
Oh. Can we put her back?
9290512
had a choose your adventure story idea if you want to use it. the story is an equestrian colony on a world stripped of their tech leaving them in a ancient era like state. so twilight and the m6 must rule the city state of ponyville. as time goes by princess twilight and her friends discover their not aging while everybody else either dies from battles disease or old age, while their city state slowly expands to a sprawling civilization , while discovering new tech, forming a religion , building wonders, ect and meeting other leaders of their own civilization from across time and space...like sam Houston of Houston Texas or chancellor Gowron of the Klingon empire who are ripped of their tech and are in the same boat as the twilight kingdom the readers must vote on decisions that ultimately decides if the ponies die out or thrive from a single city with spears to an intergalactic empire that'll stand the test of time .....and find their home....
takes elements from the civilisation series and galactic civilizations 3. just an idea I like this story and id like to see you do more stories like the one your writing
Option 2
I would prefer to get the hydroponics up and running since we have a prisoner to feed now, but cation take the front in my mind. We don't want the prisoner to escape again. It will take time, but so long as we are heading to Planet C that time can be used.