My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

Mission Log – Solar Day 224

There's a big potato harvest today. Here "potato harvest" means "pretending that everything is normal, but in fact, in my heart I would rather summon Cthulhu to sacrifice my soul, lose my mind and go completely crazy than eat another bite of potatoes."

The caves and living quarters combined gave us a total of over four thousand potatoes. If it was just me eating alone, the remaining food would be enough to last me until after about 950 solar days - in other words, in the worst case scenario, I can persist until the latest rescue date of Ares 3B, which of course is not the case now. So many potatoes can last one person solar days. If it were replaced by four people, it would last solar days.

The food reserves we have on hand are very, very close to what we will need for the rest of our time on Mars. There were so many potatoes that we could eat them till we vomited.

Nonetheless, we decided to stick with the labor and continue growing potatoes until we officially left. Even if the potatoes we already have are in a deep freeze state in the natural refrigerator on Mars and can basically be stored forever, fresh food will always be better. (By better I mean “less disgusting.”) We’ve been sorting our food by freshness, making sure we consume the longest-lasting crops first. Therefore, we will continue to maintain the crops, harvest potatoes that have reached maturity, and eliminate the oldest potatoes in the inventory one by one based on the last elimination method.

You heard that right—we’re almost to the point where we actively plan to throw away food.

At the same time we have to reduce potato production. We have moved the crops originally grown in the inflatable tents to the cave farm, and eventually the soil will be moved with them. This way we can use these tents for other purposes. If a potato plant dies in the cave (for example, a sinkhole appears again), we will use transplanted alfalfa cuttings to fill the potato gap. What we need is not more potatoes but more hay; but to help recharge those magic batteries of Starlight, we still need to ensure that there are a lot of living plants to provide energy.

Speaking of which, tomorrow CherryBerry, Dragonfly and Starlight will go to the cave to fill two batteries and bring them back to the living area, and at the same time Fireball and I will be responsible for assembling the engine test bench. Spitfire will be there to help, but she says she doesn't think she can even use a wrench. Her exact words at the time were: "I'm not very familiar with trying to fix things, but I'm pretty good at breaking them."

Assuming that Fireball and I can assemble the pylon by the end of tomorrow (it shouldn't be a big problem - both materials and tools, from the MDV landing gear to the scrap metal parts removed from the pony spaceship, will be enough for us to complete the task) , on Sol 226, we will remove the spacecraft engine, install one of them into the hanger, and after connecting the lines, we can observe the experimental results. After completing this matter we can start the construction of the mobile RV.

Speaking of work...we still have a lot of leftovers to deal with. The joy of having a full belly disappeared long ago, and now it can't even be described as a chore. Eating our required daily intake of hay and/or potatoes was a heroic act we performed three times a day. It wasn't really a meal anymore; we just jumped in and swallowed the food that hadn't exploded yet.

In my context, the detonation occurred about sixteen hours later. It turns out that I am not the first to complain this time, the methane leakage in the living module is also very serious. Fireball has to take the blame.

AMICITAS Mission Three – Mission Day 229

ARES 3 solar day 227

On days like today, Spitfire cursed the evil planet, the airless and magicless environment, and her spacesuit that didn't have movable covers for its wings.

Of course, even if her space suit allowed her to stretch her wings, she wouldn't be able to fly, but Spitfire couldn't listen to this calm and objective truth at the moment. The unthrown dart stayed on the ground, watching everyone busy removing the main engine from the Amicitas. CherryBerry was inspecting a small piece of flat ground where two of the three engines were planned to be placed, while Fireball and Mark began to prepare the hanger (it actually took two days to build, much to her irritation) and put the remaining one The engine is mounted. The Magic Crane Starlight Glimmer lifted the engines out of the stern mounting points one by one, while Dragonfly flexibly climbed onto the stern structure of the hull and was responsible for removing the dozens of load-bearing bolts that fixed each engine.

So what is Spitfire doing? Nothing accomplished.

Correction: She doesn't expect to be useful. There was absolutely nothing worse than a medical emergency, not to mention any situation she could imagine requiring first aid that would involve damage to the suit, loss of pressure, and all sorts of other things that were too bad to be possible while stuck on the ground. She couldn't help but think something was going to happen. This kind of trouble was enough for her to drink up.

What a damn planet.

With nothing to do, Spitfire walked around to Starlight and watched her place her left front hoof on the electrode of a magic battery. For some reason, Starlight did not choose to use the newly manufactured batteries, but instead used the two emergency batteries salvaged from the wreckage of the crashed spacecraft. Spitfire felt that this arrangement was perfect; the original purpose of these batteries was to support the operation of the spacecraft, and now they were well suited to a certain extent, continuing to shine and heat the (disassembled) spacecraft. "How long?" she asked casually.

Starlight had a look of hatred on her face, and shook her head in Mark's direction.

"Okay, okay." Spitfire was forced to switch to English, "How long?"

"There are a lot of bolts," Xingguang explained. "So many bolts are specially installed in hard-to-reach locations. It is estimated that there will be more..."

"It's done!" A dragonfly yelled from the stern, "The engines are ready to slide out of the bracket!"

"...Okay." Starlight curled her lips and stretched out her hoof to turn on the battery. "Fireball, Mark, get ready to guide the first engine into the hanger!"

Fireball and Mark gave a thumbs up to indicate they were ready.

Feihuo pointed at the battery and asked, "Are these enough?"

"This battery still has 90%," a proud Starlight replied with a smile, "I lifted the entire ship before we even reduced the weight of the spacecraft, and it only used 100% at that time. Less than twenty; moving these three engines is even easier." She said, activated the battery, stretched out a hoof to touch the electrode, and the magic power at the tip of the horn began to surge.

The highest one among the three engines is equipped with the small No. 1 tail nozzle borrowed from the MAV landing stage. At this moment, it is wrapped in a bluish violet halo and slides out from the tail pylon, on Mars. It stands out against the pink sky. It floated steadily above the dusty surface of Mars, as light as a feather and flew towards the carefully prepared engine test hanger; Mark and Fireball, who were standing by, were ready to go, ready to guide the thruster into the hanger and fix it immediately in place.

It was also at this moment that the battery electrode under Xingguang's hoof suddenly broke. The indicator light on the battery also goes out. Starlight only had time to moan slightly before her magic dissipated immediately and she collapsed heavily to the ground.

The precious equipment, weighing about a ton and a half, which had been moving in mid-air a moment ago, began to be pulled toward the ground by gravity. Directly under it was a horrified Mark with wide-eyed eyes, struggling to escape from the blow of the hammer - but his reaction speed was far from enough.

Then the propeller was shrouded in a brand new magic power, and a bright green flame pushed the falling engine away from Mark's head, turned to one side, and then lifted the engine somewhat roughly to the hanger. A place on the ground a few bodies away.

This series of movements was so fast that even Fei Huo was dizzy. The complete process of the incident, from battery failure to hard landing of the rocket thruster, only took about three seconds - maybe not even three seconds. But it seems like...

Another object fell to the ground. A plume of smoke rose near the tail of Amicitas, and an orange and white figure fell to the ground of Mars.

"There are wounded!"

"Dragonfly!"

Upon seeing this, Mark quickly ran towards the fallen changeling. The anxious Fireball was undecided, wondering which one to save first, between Dragonfly and Starlight, who was still lying on the dirt next to the culprit of the malfunction and another unused battery. Only then did Spitfire notice that he was also hesitating and indecisive, trying to decide who to rescue first.

"Fireball!" Cherry Berry's rough voice came from the intercom, "You are in charge of Starlight. Mark takes Dragonfly. Spitfire, come here and help me move the intact battery back. Everyone, hurry back to the living cabin. Go. Mission cancelled!"

"Perfect...English." Starlight Glimmer's expression was as smooth as silk, but she could still hear her faint murmur on the radio, "Give...A+..."

"Stop talking," Berry said in a commanding tone, "We will take you to the cabin to check the situation."

"What's going on?!" Mark held Tingting's space suit with both hands. "When did Tingting become so light? This space suit feels almost empty!"

oh, I get it. Spitfire thought that it was Dragonfly's magic that held the weight when the engine fell. And she doesn't have a battery to provide magic energy...

……day.

Spitfire recalled something she heard Dragonfly say so many Martian days ago.

To me there is no difference between magic and love.

Spitfire isn't used to carrying heavy objects on her front hooves without using her wings (seriously, this pressure suit is to die for), but she manages to do it anyway, and the rest of it should still be intact The battery was thrown onto Berry's back and the special strap - specially made by Dragonfly for this purpose - was tightened and fixed to the earth pony's saddle bag.

Then the large army started running, and the four of them were walking with one unconscious wounded person, and another... whose life or death was uncertain... and rushed to the airlock of the living cabin closest to them, completely ignoring the rules of alternate use of airlocks. Regulation. Speed ​​was more important than caution at the moment.

Mission Log – Solar Day 227

Damn it. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

The engine test did not go as planned. In fact it was not carried out at all. Everything was going smoothly until the magic battery Starlight Glimmer used to lift the engine suddenly and inexplicably malfunctioned. (Of course, this statement is indeed an exaggeration; the battery in question was one of the two batteries that survived the spacecraft crash - and it was the unsecured one placed in the engine compartment. When the aircraft landed on its belly on the surface of Mars, it was flying around in the cabin like a marble. But even though it looked bumpy, it had been working normally before today's accident, so the question is why it had to lose its chain at this juncture. ?)

Anyway, magic gave up. At that time, Starlight was lifting an engine component of less than a ton and a half at a height of about twenty feet in the air and floating at walking speed towards the engine hanger built by Fireball and me. However, one thing about heavy objects suspended twenty feet in the air from a planet's surface is that they tend not to stay high. Starlight's spell ceased, she fell, and the engines began to fall from the sky.

Guess who was lucky enough to be standing under the engine at that time? That's right, he is the undisputed number one doormat of Mars. This planet stabbed me, set me on fire, put me in a soup can and tossed me around, tried to cause a loss of pressure and sucked me out, and now it's trying to smash something as heavy as several vending machines. Come to me and see how I can withstand this kind of blow.

Fortunately, there is another magician in our magical crew; just when I was mentally prepared to accept the dimensionality reduction blow like an empty soda can, Dragonfly used her magic to grab the engine and put it on the On the ground beside me. She saved my life.

In fact, she might have sacrificed herself to save my life. This kind of one-for-one exchange is not worth it. There are billions of people like me on the planet, but she is unique in this universe.

She lost a lot - and by that I mean quality - in forcing such a spell. I was startled as I lifted her lifeless torso off the ground; her weight felt weightless, and that wasn't a figure of speech.

We transported the two injured people back to the habitat module and took off their spacesuits. Starlight was exhibiting her usual symptoms of mana depletion. She should be fine. As for Dragonfly... well, although she usually has holes all over her body, with cute little holes on her limbs, wings, and even her ears; but now her body looks like a pile of dead branches. Her torso is so pitted and her face is so shriveled that she looks like a dried bug horse now, and I'm not even kidding.

I put on my spacesuit and went outside the cabin to get a scale and put the dragonfly on it. More than a hundred solar days ago, I performed a series of physical examinations on the ponies with Spitfire's assistance. At that time, Tingting's weight was 43.5 kilograms - she probably stood about five feet two, which was still a bit light for a thin woman of considerable height.

What now? Almost exactly twenty kilograms.

twenty.

How could she still be alive after all this? ? ?

However, she did show signs of life. She was still breathing, but that was all.

All other matters are suspended. According to Berry's suggestion, all of us, including Starlight, have been sitting around Dragonfly, trying to pour our love into her.

Spitfire ordered us to set up the intact battery to project the magic field, and the device ran for about half an hour. To tell you the truth, the situation is really abnormal. When the magic bursts out, the rest of the cabin glows with bright and vivid colors as usual, but the Dragonfly turns into a literal black hole. There is no gravitational effect. I have also tried a screwdriver and my hands to enter the magic field successively, and they can all touch the body of the dragonfly. However, what we can see is only one layer that holds the little dragonfly from beginning to end. The darkness completely envelops the insect.

The measure worked - the situation was partially improved. After the battery ran out of power and we turned off the device, the dragonfly no longer looked as shriveled as before. I weighed her again and it was now up to twenty-seven kilograms, hoping this meant she was gradually recovering.

But I can’t help but think of the example of those concentration camp prisoners at the end of World War II. Thousands of men and women escaped Nazi death camps or Japanese POW camps through chance or sheer force of will, only to starve to death from too much food they tried to eat after being rescued. Their bodies cannot handle the sudden increase in food supply. What I fear most now is that our rescue of dragonflies may lead to the same consequences. We all had no idea what to do, and even Spitfire was helpless. Berry told me that their boss was trying to find a Chongchongma doctor to contact us as soon as possible. I hope they speed things up because it's been a few hours.

The ponies actually thought about going to the cave and bringing all the batteries over at once. I told them this wouldn't work. It was almost sunset, and I didn't want anyone to risk leaving the neighborhood's sight after dark. And Starlight couldn't go, so all they could bring back were low-power batteries. We also have a few such batteries here, and we can empty them all tonight to help Tingting continue to recover. Tomorrow, the condition of the starlight may be better, and the energy can be transferred and stored in a few batteries before being brought back.

During this time now, we look after, we wait, and we love.

I won’t watch TV, read, or attend English class tonight. No one was in the mood. No potatoes or hay. No one is hungry and doesn't care about eating. We just took turns holding the dragonfly's hooves, watching, and expecting.

By the way, now it's my turn again.