Fluttershy 59%
Did I really look that bad?
Twilight shuddered as she watched Fluttershy’s sleeping form through the medbay window. Her coat was spotty, skin gray and blotchy, and her mane nearly gone. It was the look of a pony who was barely alive—or more accurately, recently dead. We don’t sleep for the trip. We die and get reconstructed on the other side.
It hadn’t been an easy choice to make, by any means. But Fluttershy’s medical skills would’ve been useful more than once already, and her translation abilities were just too critical.
I need to know if Cozy told the truth. She’d flirted briefly with regret at freezing the other pegasus—but she could still sleep at night, largely thanks to the violence Cozy had displayed. If she had cooperated all the way into the tank, she might’ve turned around and given her a second chance.
Maybe if we can get secure in our mission. If we ever land anywhere, she might be useful. Anything where she can’t try to blow up the Equinox.
Twilight wasn’t left waiting very long before the pegasus finally opened her eyes for the first time. Greenish slime dribbled from her lips, and her eyes were still glassy. But all that would change.
She stepped through the door, putting on her warmest smile as she did. “Fluttershy, welcome to Proximus.”
The pegasus didn’t even seem to hear her at first. Her eyes turned in Twilight’s general direction, but she didn’t look at her. Her ears were a little more accurate. “We made it.”
“You didn’t think we would?” Twilight sat down on her haunches across from the bed, where she could see the medical readout. She wouldn’t be able to make sense of it like Fluttershy could, but at least she could know if something was seriously wrong. She’d been off repairs for the last two days, with Fluttershy every moment. “You didn’t have to come.”
Fluttershy looked away, expression wistful. A few strands of mane came away from her head as she moved. “If I didn’t come with you, I’d be an old mare. Watching the laser line, waiting years to hear back. I’d be dead before you ever came back.” There was bitterness in her voice, a little passive-aggressive anger. But it wasn’t like Fluttershy was going to emerge from the ice a different pony than when she’d gone in.
It’s mostly the meds. Twilight still remembered what it was like to wake up feeling like she’d been bucked a dozen ways to Sunday, wanting to wring Spike’s neck whenever he spoke. Everything he said was bad news—you only get one crewmember, the Equinox almost exploded, they were running low on fuel. She wouldn’t give Fluttershy the same sort of revival.
“We’re glad to have you back, Fluttershy,” she said instead. “Well, Applejack and Spike and I are. Others are still asleep.”
Fluttershy’s eyebrows went up—before they fell off. “I thought Spike was supposed to wake the doctor first.”
“Yeah, uh… there were some complications. Nothing we couldn’t deal with! But… let’s just say the mission hasn’t gone quite the way we expected. I could tell you now, or you could wait until you feel better. Up to you.”
“I’d like… the short version, please.”
She summarized, keeping it as brief as possible in the trouble spots. Mostly she focused on the probe, and the message they’d received. The machine Spike was building. Of course she couldn’t tell the story without including at least a little about Cozy, and her claim that the Signal had been translated before they even left.”
“I’ll have to look,” Fluttershy said, leaning back in her bed with a faint moan. “Maybe… maybe after I feel better.” She sighed. “I wish angel was here.”
But Fluttershy wasn’t the only one to leave a pet behind. So far as Twilight knew, those pets were all waiting for them back in system, frozen exactly as they were. It just didn’t make sense to transport extra creatures, strain life support, waste space…
“We’re well on our way,” Twilight said. “We should be refueled in another month or two, and then onto the next phase of repairs. After that…” she didn’t actually know. Twilight had been thinking about it. Tracing the probe’s trajectory back into the system seemed promising. Either that, or try to outrange the radio jam and get back in touch with Equestria. But planning for that future could wait.
“The signals are already talking to us,” Fluttershy said. “Maybe we won’t have to be on this mission that much longer. I’ll… need to see everything the probe sent us. Cozy’s ‘translation’ from the signal… everything.”
“Of course,” Twilight said. “I’ll have it sent to your account before I go back to Harmony’s Repast. That’s, uh… what we’re calling the asteroid.”
“Sure. I’m sure you already remember this, but I’ll need time before I can… be alive again.”
“Yeah,” Twilight said. “That translation is your first priority, as soon as you feel better. I want to know if there’s a chance Cozy was telling the truth. After that, we can see what the new probe sent to us. But start with the Signal.”
“If that’s what you think I should do,” Fluttershy said. “I’ll tell you as soon as I know anything interesting.”
Twilight could tell her shy friend needed time alone. Probably she wanted to curl up in the hospital bed and sleep for a week. She just might, though Twilight would check back periodically with meals, to make sure she was getting what she needed. Doctors had a frightening habit of not taking their own advice.
1. Hydroponics 8/8 COMPLETE
2. Repair the prospector 4/4 COMPLETE
3. Fully Refuel 20/20 COMPLETE
4. Backup Cryogenics 0/4
5. Replace field equipment 0/2
6. Study of communications blackout 0/?
A new character has joined the party!
Fluttershy: Pegasus
Position: Chief Medical Officer
Age: 37 (78)
Health: 4 (7)
- Cryosleep sickness (-3)
Attributes:
Intelligence: 3
Wits: 3
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 3
Stamina: 2
Charisma: 3
Skills
Medicine: 4
Animal Handling: 4
Linguistics: 3
Performance: 2
Flight: 1
They may not take their own advice, but she will also know what it will take to stop feeling like they have been run over by a runaway asteroid... more than once. I predict she will recover a bit faster than Twilight and Applejack did, because she knows what steps to take and not take while recovering from cryosleep. Just a prediction.
Welp, that's one way to write Flutershy.
(I get it, it's the cryo hangover, but still, that Flutters is hilariously bitter)
I think you messed up. The link to the poll isn’t working.
9309573
There is no poll this chapter. Sadly I had to change the rule about requiring one every chapter pretty quick--we'd either blaze past interesting character moments, or I would have to invent choices that didn't really matter to the story. "Twilight had to choose her breakfast, Blue paste or green paste." Neither one seemed like a good idea.
Welcome back !
Flitterfloosh has joined the party!
... or will once all her tissues defrost. Still, at least an actual linguist will be able to double-check Cozy's work.
Well then!
Equestria certainly didn’t pick out their astronauts like the United States does. (Personality wise incredibly boring but super skilled)
So Fluttershy was practically dragged kicking and screaming onto this mission, and would have been fine not waking up.
It makes me wonder why this team needed to stay together. Do they have the Elements of Harmony on board or something?
Glad to see repairs are going along smoothly. Having Fluttershy finally awake is great, too. Now that the Equinox isn't in danger of falling apart any second, Fluttershy can use her translator skills to good use.
yay!
One thing I don't get: what possible reason would aliens have for sending a coded message that says they want to murder everyone? If they don't want anyone to know, just leave out the message. If they do want the message to get through, just say plainly, "Hey, you're cool with being murderd right?". I just can't think of any motivation that would drive that behavior. It would be like translating the message and getting "My hovercraft is full of eels". Somebody obviously screwed up somewhere.
9310088
Exactly! The situation Cozy is afraid of, of an alien race that 'tests' other races to see if they are advanced enough to be a threat, and then kill them if they are could be a threat, hell was a plot of one ep of Babylon 5 that was pretty good. But nothing about how the signal was sent, or how this 'hidden message' was decoded makes any sense. It feels more like they just went looking at random noise, and found a way to twist it till it said what they wanted.
I mean, not that the Fluttershy we know doesn’t have her passive-aggressive side, but it’s an interesting establishing character moment all the same. I hope we get to resurrect the others and see Dash’s yellow streak or Snarky Pie. (Unless Twilight’s “But” and reflection on how screwed up she felt upon her own awakening means Flutters isn’t usually like that? It wasn’t really clear.)
Not everyday that your eyebrows literally fall off.
We would have chosen Flutters as well.