Investigate the Storage Room 49%
Twilight couldn’t help but agree with Applejack. Spike’s apparent degradation in sanity—undetectable though it was—made confronting this mission critical.
But just because Twilight was determined to get inside and see what had happened didn’t mean she had to be an idiot about it. There were machines in there, and she couldn’t even guess at their function with a glance through the window.
“Applejack, you there?” Twilight asked over the radio. It had been almost two hours since she’d seen the cargo bay for the first time, enough for her to clamber into a space suit and get all the stiff zippers closed. Enough to formulate a plan. Twilight Sparkle wasn’t captain of the Equinox just because she was an Alicorn.
“Reading ya,’ Captain.”
“Did you go to the bridge like I asked?”
“Sure did.”
Twilight hesitated in front of the cargo bay, leaning back and forth on her hooves. “Check on Spike for me. Still in his quarters?”
There was a brief pause, a crackle of static over her headset radio. “Sure is, Twi.”
“I need you to…” she took a few steps back, into the umbilical hallway. “Seal Bulkhead Pegasus-Green.” It clicked into place, and the little light below the window went green signifying a solid pressure seal.
“What are you thinkin’?”
Twilight didn’t answer. “Are you reading any lifesigns in cargo bay two?”
“No. Twi, I told you Spike was in his quarters. I’m up here, so who would be in there? Our friends are all still asleep, if that’s what ‘yer thinkin’.”
“Depressurize cargo bay two, Corridor Pegasus Green, and Umbilical Uplink Pegasus.”
“I assume you mean the slow and safe way, and not the way that means losing half a ton of air and everythin’ that isn’t bolted down into space.”
“Yes,” Twilight agreed. “I can wait.”
She heard the hiss start a minute later, and she sat down on her haunches to wait. There was no dust to see billowing around her, no other visual signs except for the thin red gage projected onto her helmet slowly going down. It took nearly half an hour.
Eventually she heard Applejack’s voice come back over the radio. “I hope your space suit was workin,’ because there’s almost as little air in those sections as around us.”
“Good.” Twilight rose to her hooves, then stepped aside, as far towards the stairs as she could without smacking into another sealed bulkhead. “Cut all power to the sections I named, even life support.” The lights went out around her, and Twilight’s helmet warmed to life. But all power didn’t mean quite everything. There were still red lights near the floor, a visual sign to the crew occupying these sections that they’d lost power. “Open the interior cargo-bay door.”
Twilight heard nothing, but she felt it. The floor shook through her hooves, just a little. She waited another minute or so for safety, before finally poking around the corner.
The bulkhead between her and the cargo bay had caved inward a little, deforming under the weight of several projectiles. “Looks like I made the right choice. Some kinda’ booby trap.”
“And you’re going in alone? Twi, are you—” But Twilight didn’t hear Applejack’s response, because at that moment she teleported through the door rather than opening it. Not any more difficult than it would’ve been on a planet, despite what members of the other tribes sometimes thought. Planetary motion was a lot more complicated than a starship decelerating along a single path.
Twilight was inside. There were bits of metal scattered everywhere, several of which were sunk straight into the wall or the now-destroyed bulkhead. A clever little construction, using electromagnets and timing circuits and still glowing bright red with energy where it had fired. I probably should’ve cut power a few days before we tried this. Or maybe that wouldn’t have been enough. She couldn’t see any other traps, not at a glance.
The cargo bay was much as it had seemed from the outside, as though someone utterly insane had opened every box without bothering with a manifest. Yet Twilight’s eyes were drawn to the back of the room, where the “camp cube” had been cut open. Food-wrappers covered the floor, and plastic containers meant for holding plants were filled with something that unmistakably would’ve stunk if there was any air. She looked away from the bubbling putrescence, shining her headlamp inside the crate.
Inside, among many other things, she could make out the emergency cryo pods—or what was left of them.
These were the last resort against mission failure. An entirely enclosed stasis system, which might enable them to crawl inside and await rescue even if the ship fell apart around them. It might be landed on an asteroid, or a planet, or even just used right here.
But the system had been butchered. Lines had been cut, glass shattered, circuits strewn everywhere. Twilight lowered her head slightly, climbing over a spent welding torch to get inside. She wasn’t imagining things—there were only five pods here, not six.
“Applejack, you still there?”
“About to have a bloomin’ heart attack,” came the response, after a long string of profanity. “What do ya’ think?”
“Can you think of anywhere on the Equinox large enough to fit a cryo-pod?”
“A few, why? What’s that have to do with Spike?”
“Any of them that you wouldn’t have seen?”
“Ah, well. Only the Lander. I’ve inspected every inch of the Equinox otherwise. But the lander was returning perfect greens to the computer, so ah didn’t bother.”
“Meet me at the lander,” Twilight said. “Bring a gun.”
“What about Spike?”
What about Spike indeed.
- Seal him in his quarters. This is well beyond insanity—this is intentional sabotage. Until we have more time to figure out what’s going on, we can’t risk what he might do if he discovered we know.
- Get him first. Spike never would’ve done this, no matter how crazy. Not to mention, he’s a dragon. If something or somepony dangerous is aboard, he’ll be in better shape to fight it than a pair of freezer burned ponies.
- Just let him sleep. We have no evidence Spike has done anything wrong, or that he was even involved. But just because we don’t know doesn’t mean we have to take risks. If he is a hazardous element, best keep him away while we confirm his innocence.
(Confidence 150 required)
I get a lost in Space wibe here, ther is a Pony to much abord.
Or possible tre small pones.
I'm getting Nostromo vibes from this, when is that xenomorph jumping out?
I was tempted to vote for the secret option (not described in story) just because.
9242108
>.>
The weirdness with the cryo-pod count does make me think there's a stowaway, which in turn makes me think this has nothing to do with Spike. Bring him along.
Definitely a tricky one. Seems like Spike would have to be involved SOMEhow since the cryopod has been moved out of the room... unless the stowaway moved the cryopod to the lander before moving into it so as to be taken down to the planet. I dont think Spike is insane though. I say let him sleep, but be ready to call him on the radio if you need backup.
9242108
I suspect it wasn't meant to be secret, given he forgot to mention the required certainty level.
As a proud American, I believe fully in "innocent until proven guilty". We need to confront Spike directly about this, and if he didn't do it, he will be able to help us figure out who did.
9242095
I vote get Spike first.
this sounds CMCish if anything
9242152
Yup, we should wake Spike first.
But would the CMC actually install the booby trap? Everything else, maybe. But not this.
(And how much Certainty is required this time?)
Someone booby trapped the door. That somebody wanted not to prevent entry, but to punish it--to kill or cause harm. What if Rarity had been woken up first and had (for reasons that elude me) gone down there? Twilight didn't trigger it, so we don't know if it was meant to harm only ponies, or only dragons, or both. Was it physical? Magical? Was it lethal? Wired to an alarm? (Might be worth it to see if she can trigger it remotely. Me? I'd seal off the lander and conduct even further investigations first.) At any rate, I don't think Spike would directly put his friends in danger like that.
Twilight is obviously quite intelligent given the level of caution with which she entered the room, and I think rallying the crew would go down similarly. She's no Rainbow Dash, but I'd trust her to command this excursion to the lander. Just keep Spike in front of you, Twilight. He's your best melee/close quarters fighter, and dragon hide is legendary for its toughness. Might give him a magic shield to defend against magical attacks, though.
So yeah. No. 2
I have my own theory on who this is. Hint: His best friend is Fluttershy, and he's repeatedly felt left out of things by the Mane Six. And now his first and best friend (who he's especially clingy around) is orbiting another star in stasis.
Let Spike sleep. For some reason, I do not think he is involved at all. Just be VERY cautious checking out that lander- like using probes/drones cautious.
wow someone voted for the "secret" option. That's dark as hell.
9242176
To keep away the aliens that would come for their brains.🙄
This is interesting place to be put into for sure. I have to think that Spike doesn't have anything to do with it. It doesn't make sense for it to be him. I mean why do ANY of that. They can't just throw out, oh he is crazy, as the be all end all of why something odd is happening. It is clear someone has set up this pod for their own needs. Spike wouldn't need to do that, he also has all the food he need and it was clear that he already ate a good bit of it, why would he go down there to eat more. It just sounds like someone hitched a ride with them. I looked through the comments as saw some good ones.
I vote for them to get Spike. Twilight knows that they don't have any direct evidence that it is Spike. They also might be dealing with a foreign threat and they will NEED a dragon to help with that since he is by far the most physically tough in the group. Not to mention the GREAT drama it could have when she goes to get Spike and AJ being strongly against it and her even wanting to lock Spike up thinking he is responsible. Which would best chance piss him off that she is treating him like he did all of this when he has done NOTHING but keep them alive and protect them. Causing a strain in their 'friendship', which lets be honest out of all the girls the ones he has spent the most time with have been Rarity and Twi he barely spends any time with the other girls. Which DOES make me wonder if Rarity was up would she think Spike did this or would she believe in him enough to never think he could do something to harm them.
Houston, we have an orangutan...
I'd say let him sleep. Locking him up might cause him to panic and makes him unreachable in the case he's innocent and his help is needed.
They already didnt confront him earlier, i doubt now would do much good. In the case that he isnt innocent we'd be facing him head on or take him with us for him to backstab us.
In the case that he is innocent he'd be an extra while checking the lander. So far twilight seems smart enough to take things slow and without too much risk so they can probably avoid/outsmart whatever is going on with the lander without him.
I wouldn't be surprised if this isnt our spike but an imposter. When a universe has changelings you suddenly always have to keep that option in mind
Get Spike. This is beyond anything he'd do, and it's a good show of trust at this point. Plus, yeah, good to have a non-freezer burned dragon around.
Also, yay not being an idiot about the obvious trap!
Though ummm, glitch with the fourth option?
Get Spike. This is beyond insane, this is 'stowaway' blaring in your face. Get the fire-breathing dragon!
This isn't just a stowaway, this seems like a stowaway from an entirely different universe. Seriously, I'm getting Fallout raider vibes here. Draconic backup seems like a very good idea.
Get Spike first. He could have missed some sort of saboteur stowaway.
Get Spike.
He does not show any sign of mental illness, just care for his friends.
He may not have even gone down there to know anything was wrong.
Get spike in a hurry!!
Obviously B. There's no need for paranoid delusions when a simple explanation is likely forthcoming.
Or not. In which case, panic! But that'll be another update :)
9244113
I would choose B as well.
While I am a bit miffed that most people would investigate the door, I am glad to see that it was done smartly so I can let it go.
To me, it seems like there is more evidence of a stowaway than Spike going crazy. If there is a stowaway, having a dragon to act as a muscle would do a lot more good than two freeze-dried ponies.
Another concern of mine is the weapons. I had thought Spike had gotten rid of the weapons to fix the ship, but now I realize Spike retrofitted the ship's and not the personnel weapons so I will have to go back on one of my earlier decisions, but only slightly.