My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

AMICITAS Mission Three – Mission Day 233

ARES 3 solar day 231

The cave farm needs taking care of. Crops need watering, and plants need pruning and tending (and if necessary, those plants that have no hope of survival have to be pruned). The fireball needed the crystals they collected to feed themselves - and the crystals they collected were also used to make six new batteries. It was supposed to be done tomorrow, but things didn't go according to the plan that the ponies and humans had painstakingly arranged. develop.

Oh, and that bug. That idiot who always gets into trouble.

The farm needed tending, so Mark had to be there to help even though he was in some weird changeling trance. Fireball persisted for two reasons; first, they needed a rover to transport the recycled battery casings to the cave to make new batteries, and second, Fireball couldn't make the round trip on foot. Unlike ponies, he has claws on his feet. Even if he polishes them off every day, they will gradually wear down the lining material of his spacesuit flight boots and claw protectors, just like his wings. The tips are slowly wearing away at the lining of a space suit.

In other words, Mark still has to drive the rover... In his current situation, he can only try to see if coercion, inducement, and hard work can work.

He did not call Miss Johnson's name when he woke up this morning. Everyone thought this was a good sign. What surprised everyone even more was that he also had a complete breakfast. CherryBerry's persistent prodding and begging were a key factor (since she was willing to do the drudgery of Mark's nurse, Fireball was more than welcome), but all in all the food on the tray was already gone by the time she came over to clear away the dishes.

The real difficulty was getting Mark to put on his space suit; the good omens all went away, and everyone was furious when they were done. He really wasn't cool with it at all. In the end, Starlight had no choice but to ask Fireball for help, and finally relied on levitation magic and brute force to force every part of the human body into the space suit bit by bit. Fortunately, Mark's muscle memory was obviously still there. The moment he put the spacesuit helmet on, he subconsciously activated the spacesuit system, and everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Then there are "Come here, Mark" to guide him to the airlock; "Wait a minute, Mark" to operate the airlock cabin to relieve pressure; "Come here, Mark" to lead him to the No. 2 rover; and say "Thank you very much." ", Mark", the starlight and fireball led him to stand by the airlock of the No. 2 rover and wait for the pressurization to be completed; finally it was time to say "Mark, come here and sit down, please?" and begged him to sit on the rover and drive. seat. Yet simply saying this never works. Think beautifully. Fireball listened to the babble for nearly half an hour; the few words repeated in a monotonous voice by that annoyingly cheerful self-righteous pony.

What made Fireball furious the most was that he couldn't object at all. It was his idea to bring Mark with him. And he also tried yelling at him, but yelling had no effect. He bared his fangs in front of him, only about four inches from Mark's nose, long enough for the monkey to count them one by one, and he remained unmoved, like a fireball watching a movie about the greatness of the world. Movies about accountants also don't arouse any interest.

(Settlement is easy for dragons. Your treasure trove will generate income. If your treasure trove has an expense, you screwed up.)

But Mark finally took his seat. This was the result of nearly an hour of hard persuasion. It better work, Fireball thought, or else it would take nearly another hour to get him back to the Hab.

"Okay, Mark," Starlight was still using her very gentle tone when talking to small animals (Fireball always thought that the most skittish small animals in this kind of conversation should be ponies), "we were driving before. When I went to find Pathfinder, I saw that you had started the rover dozens of times, but I couldn’t remember exactly how to do it, so... could you please start the rover?"

Mark sat motionless.

"Please, Mark," Starlight began trying to coax, "we have to go to the farm today...remember the farm? But we need the rover to make it. So Mark, can you reach over to the keyboard? Here, Stretch out your hand..."

No response.

"Mark, it's time to log into the rover computer. Please log in."

Finally there was a response. Mark's hands slowly reached toward the computer, and then muscle memory took over. His fingers didn't jump on the keyboard as usual, but the typing movements were fast enough. The computer started up and the rover control equipment gradually lit up. Then he consciously reached out and turned the gear selector switch to reverse, then put his hand on the steering wheel and stopped.

But then there was no movement again. With his hands tightly gripping the steering wheel, Mark was like a statue at the breakfast table. He had to beg him repeatedly before he would take a bite.

"It seems like this journey is quite long, right?" Fireball couldn't help but started to mutter.

"There's nothing I can do about it." Xingguang also complained, and her tone revealed for the first time her exhaustion of having to talk and persuade Mark in the face of Mark's indifference. She returned to her sweet tone and said, "Thank you so much, Mark. I think I should be able to handle it by myself. So can you please go to the back..." She stretched out her hooves to take over the steering wheel.

Mark couldn't help but slap away her outstretched hoof. Although the force was not strong enough to cause her pain, it still really shocked Starlight and Fireball. Then he put his hands firmly back on the steering wheel without saying a word.

"Uh... Mark, it's okay if you want to drive by yourself," Starlight said cautiously, unsure of what the situation was, "First we have to make a U-turn..."

The sole of Mark's foot found the accelerator pedal. The rover began to reverse slowly, and Mark turned the steering wheel all the way to the right, causing the rover to slowly make a U-turn, with the rear facing the residential cabin. After he finished, he slid his foot off the pedal again and moved away.

"Okay, great," Starlight said tentatively, "Mark, now we are going to the cave. Can you drive us there?"

Mark still had his spacesuit helmet on his head. Neither the starlight nor the fireball could see his face clearly, but they could all imagine his dull eyes and blank and indifferent expression. He stared at the infinite distance while reaching out to step on the accelerator, pressing the pedal like a supply. The aircraft hit the floor like it was landing.

"This is a terrible idea!!!" The fireball rushed forward with the rover before he could shout, and almost immediately reached a pitiful top speed of 25 kilometers per hour.

"What? This is your idea!!!" Xingguang also started to yell at him in shock and anger.

"His reaction just now warned you that something was wrong!" Fireball continued to speak harshly.

They used to drive back and forth between the residential area and Area E on a daily basis. The repeated rolling of the wheels had created a path in the soil on the surface of Mars. The location where this track cuts through the criss-crossing ravines on the Ashidaria plain has gradually become shallower over time and has become almost a flat slope built along the river bank.

By the time the rover slowed down and reached the northeast corner of Area E, a thick layer visible to the naked eye had been shaved off the surface of this simple lane. The passengers were so frightened that they were out of their bodies. But despite the rover barreling along at top speed, ignoring every obstacle in its path, it didn't hit anything, for which Fireball was thankful. "Now it seems like walking ten kilometers here won't be so bad." He muttered under his breath.

"It was your idea anyway." Xingguang replied angrily.

It took a lot of time to coax Mark out of his seat, take him through the airlock, and go out to the sandy surface of Mars to meet Spitfire and Cherry Berry (they were listening on the radio the whole time, so in one sentence No one asked). They had to hold Mark's hand and walk up the slope. Halfway through, Starlight was so angry and exhausted that she swore that she would use magic to lift him up and throw him to the top even if there was no battery; but in the end they managed to reach the entrance of the cave.

After entering the cave, Pony and Dragon took off their spacesuits and carefully piled them next to the spacesuit abandoned by Dragonfly at the entrance of the cave. "Okay, everyone," Cherry Berry said, "You all go say hello to Ting Ting and give her a big hug. It's been three days." To demonstrate, she took the lead and headed towards Ting Ting near the entrance of the cave. Walk to where the cocoon is hanging.

"Dragonfly?" This was the third word Mark said since he was sucked dry, and it instantly attracted everyone's attention. Mark slowly turned his head to face Berry, his reflective space suit helmet visor staring straight at her.

"Uh...that's right, Dragonfly," Berry nodded, "Let's go say hello, okay?" She raised her hoof and pointed at the cocoon, the gloomy darkness on the milky white crystal wall.

Mark's helmet slowly turned towards Cocoon. Fireball knew he must have seen it, because at that moment his body language completely changed. He straightened his body, raised his arms and froze, repeating elusively between blocking and reaching out to touch. What happened next really surprised everyone; he quickly jumped in front of the cocoon and turned to Berry, blocking the way with his arms wide open, and yelled: "What do you think you are doing?!"

"Mark?" A confused Berry asked tentatively.

"Have you never seen a science fiction horror movie in your life?" Mark continued to roar at them with full force, "Seeing such an egg or vesicle or cocoon in a space cave, let alone It's still black, you absolutely must not touch it!!! Take a good look, it even clearly says "Leave Me Alone" on it, don't you think it means something?! You must not touch it! Just poke and move around, say hello to it and so on..." He roared and lowered his voice, slowly looked down at his hands, and then looked around at the surrounding environment. He unlocked the helmet and took it off his shoulders, showing confusion on his face. "How the hell did I get here?" He finally woke up and asked, "And why the hell do I feel so tired?"

The fireball allowed the ponies to run towards Mark like crazy. He was content to walk forward with a slow, steady and solemn pace, not sulky and half-tired, and wrapped one arm around them in a collective embrace with a comradeship that reflected the spirit of dragons, without any trace of whimpering sentimentality. At the same time, he always maintained the most appropriate silence in this solemn atmosphere, but the main reason was because Starlight Glimmer and Cherry Berry were competing with each other to speak, and no one could even find a chance to interrupt.

The group eventually calmed down and strolled out into the field toward the "stump," where Mark sat down and slumped. "Okay, okay," he interrupted the chatter and asked, "Now that I'm back, everyone is happy. No matter where the hell I go, can I invite one of you - and only one of you?" Bit - explain to me what happened to TM?"

It took a while to explain the situation.

Mark waited until they finished explaining before asking questions, and the question he asked was very short and to the point: "So... it's a 'changeling'?"

"Yes," Starlight replied, "The original meaning in pony language is probably 'child of change'."

"Why didn't you tell me before?" he asked again.

"Because we were very worried about Dragonfly's health after the perchlorate explosion," Starlight replied, "She put in a lot of love to take you back, and she couldn't make up for it for a long time. She was worried that she wouldn't be able to make up for it. If you offer her love she will starve to death.”

"That is to say... I thought the Johnson I saw in the rover was not my hallucination." Mark concluded cautiously.

"No. You were in a very bad state at the time. Dragonfly transformed to make you listen to her words, so that she could bring you all back to the living area."

"And she really sacrificed herself when she rescued me from the fallen engine." Mark concluded, "Okay. But you told me she knew there was something wrong with her. So why didn't she Did you tell me? Or us?"

"Because..." Cherry Berry was about to explain, but Starlight interrupted her.

"Mark," she said, "I'm going to tell you something I've never told you before. This thing has always made me feel very ashamed, which is why I didn't tell you before." Starlight's front hooves touched the mud. He was spinning uncomfortably on the ground, "When I was little, I had a friend who left me after he got his cutie mark. He was basically my only friend at the time. There were a lot of problems...I don't I'll go into details, but the upshot of this is that I grew up believing that cutie marks were evil, and that pony society would be better off if everyone didn't have cutie marks - there wouldn't be any difference between us."

"After I left home I tried to build such a society. The results were very bad. I was a complete tyrant. I deceived my followers with lies and created conflicts among them to turn them against each other to achieve my wishes. .I locked them up and played them eulogies about my new society over and over again, distorting their minds. I kept telling myself that it was okay, because in the end I would build a glorious new society and live Everypony in it can be happy."

"Guess what? Things didn't go the way I wanted them to. Surprised or not? Finally, when six very special ponies revealed what I had done to my followers, I ran away from myself. The village I founded. Then I became even worse because I wanted revenge on those ponies who destroyed my dreams. So I...well, I won't go into specific details because I don't think your tribe is Be prepared to dabble in a few things. Let's just say I used some very powerful magic, did something very stupid, and nearly destroyed our world."

Starlight sobbed and sobbed, and Fireball restrained himself from shouting. Those ponies always tend to be inappropriately pretentious at critical moments. Mark took advantage of the pause to interject and asked, "Destroy your world? Just single-handedly? How do you do it?"

"I won't tell you this." Starlight said, "Your tribe now knows the existence of magic, and we will probably show you how to use it in the future. But I will not tell you the method of self-destruction." She stopped and thought deeply. Taking a breath, he continued, "But what I'm trying to say is that I didn't realize that my actions were unjust until I saw the consequences of my horrific actions. I was a monster. And that one The pony I have always regarded as a thorn in my side and wanted to destroy... Twilight Sparkle, she gave me the chance to start over and prove that I am no longer a monster."

Starlight stretched out her hooves and pointed at the hole behind her and the cocoon hanging next to it. "I didn't tell you these things before because I didn't want to become a monster in your eyes." She continued, "Ding Ting didn't tell you about her changes, her hunger, and so on... because she didn't want to be looked upon. A monster because she doesn’t want her tribe to become monsters in the eyes of your tribe.”

Mark muttered to himself, "The only thing worth fearing for us is fear itself." Then he looked at the starlight very carefully, "Mind control? Assimilate everyone? Almost destroy the entire world?"

"I...I was in a very bad situation at the time," Starlight replied hesitantly with a bit of shyness, "and...it took me a long time to improve. And, uh...I also encountered a lot of frustration."

"I think," Mark replied cautiously, "I don't want to tell these things to our people there. On Earth, especially in my country, criminals will be treated a bit... vengefully." He raised his eyebrows. Then he asked, "What you did is illegal where you are, right?"

"Partly yes," Starlight replied, "No one ever thought we needed laws to stop world-destroying behavior, but the rest."

"That's right," Mark agreed. "The fact that you can still move freely in a space larger than four square meters now shows that your side pays more attention to rehabilitation than we do."

"I don't know what 'reform' means."

"I mean you ponies are much more tolerant than humans."

Fireball decided to speak at this moment. "Pony is more tolerant than anyone else," he snorted. "Absolutely more tolerant than anyone else." He was very pleased with that absolute wording. He couldn't figure out why so many English words passed through his brain like water through fine sand, but the word "absolute" always lingered, but...

"I think so," Mark then pointed at Dragonfly, "Then the same goes for her?"

Starlight fidgeted a little, lowering her head and twirling her hooves. "Forgiveness to the changelings... the bug horses... is still a work in progress," she replied, "They are really, really scary to us."

"Yes," Mark said, "I understand why now." He shifted in his seat. "Help me," he asked. "I feel like I don't belong to myself anymore."

"You haven't eaten almost anything in the past three days." Feihuo scolded.

"That's no wonder," Fireball helped Mark stand up. With the support of the Amicitas team members, Mark walked towards the cocoon and stretched out a hand to caress it. "Hello, Dragonfly," he said, "I hope you can hear me. I just want to tell you that next time, if you stick a straw in my ear and drain all my emotions and will to live, you will be fine. Ask me first, too. It’s very impolite for a vampire to go on a rampage without consulting others. Really, I haven’t even had time to wash my clothes yet.”

Mark slowly leaned down to get close to the mud under the cocoon, squatting with his two ridiculously long hind legs curled up in a triangle, his hands still on the cocoon. "But it could be worse," he went on. "At least you're not showing off with my head on your belt. And in a month or two a little dragonfly won't come out of my chest. I died suddenly. This won't happen, right?" Mark patted the cocoon shell solemnly and added, "If this happens, you won't be in my will. My Hawaiian shirt will be given to Fireball, and my glass aardvark collection will be given to Flying Fire.”

Fireball sat down and everyone sat around. It was obvious that Mark had no intention of going anywhere else.

"So how do you feel about living in it?" Mark asked, "This environment looks even worse than my dormitory. Of course, it's just a little worse; my dormitory is bigger than this, but I still have to live with another guy. Shared accommodation, that person is really a pig..."

The cave needs to be taken care of, but that can wait, they have more important things to do right now.