My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

AMICITAS Mission Three – Mission Day 250

ARES 3 solar day 247

"Did it figure it out that easily?" Mark performed lively and exaggeratedly, "My baby, it's trying to compete with us! If it can't figure out the riddle the baby asks, we'll eat it. If we can't guess the riddle it asks, we will satisfy its request and show it the way out, that's it!"

The rush of preparing for the dust storm had forced them to temporarily shelve their Hobbit reading plans, but now they had done everything they needed to do except pray that the dust storm wouldn't trigger a landslide and bury the airlock in the earth. Considering that the slope of area E is also relatively flat, the probability of this happening is not high, so the five refugees sat down next to the dragonfly cocoon and gathered around the only largest light source in the cave, the computer held in Mark's hand. forward. Everyone's space suit components have been turned off and put aside, so the indicator light on the Amicitas life support system equipment box and the dark yellow halo emitted by the only turned-on electric heater in the cave are the only ones left in the huge space. Other light sources.

None of us had ever stayed overnight in a dark cave before. Yes, they did have to rely on space suit helmet lights to provide lighting when they first explored the cave, but even during that time they were working outdoors during the day. Under the cover of night, without the protection of a space suit, you can touch the hard earth ground through a layer of bedding brought from Amicitas; the cave at this time is a dark realm, and in the gloom that covers everything, there is an eternal background sound It is the gurgling water from Malaysia that spreads into the water and heat pipes in the well.

Without much imagination, Spitfire could easily picture the image of Bilbo Baggins in his mind; a dwarf about the size of a pony, sitting by an underground lake, facing the ugly Gollum and the terrifying... In the claustrophobic and deep goblin cave, the edge of the magic sword shines as the only light.

The image lingered in her mind. To be honest, most Pegasus would feel uncomfortable being under such an indoor rock wall at night, and for Pegasus, it would be even more disgusting.

"White horse?" She heard a hint of displeasure in Starlight's tone, "White horse actually refers to teeth? Mark, do all of your tribe look like beavers? Which guy's teeth are as big as horses?"

"Xingguang, this is a riddle," Berry said, "Don't take it literally."

"But... forget it," Starlight muttered, "Let me tell you, every time I see Mark eating, I will think of the Royal Guards Parade."

"You will still watch me eat?" Mark continued, "Do you want to make a nature documentary?" In front of us, we can see a Walter living underground on a desert planet in his own unnatural habitat. Ni.'"

"What is 'documentary'? I know what document means, but I have never heard of documentary."

"It means I have to continue reading. Then he came up with a second riddle: 'No voice but can scream, no wings can fly high, no teeth but can bite, no mouth can talk.' What do you think this time? What is it?"

What came to Fei Huo's mind at this moment was the dense teeth of thousands of rocks that surrounded them from top to bottom in the cave, most of which had sharp or jagged ends. I think this is a reminder that we might as well get out Harry Potter and read another game of Quidditch, she thought to herself. I quite like Quidditch. The competition venue is in the open sky above a beautiful green field, the sky is high and the air is crisp. You can't play Quidditch in a cave.

And there won't be those pesky carnivorous creatures coming to accost you on the Quidditch pitch.

Well, at least not often.

"It's the wind? Really? I can never guess that!" Berry Berry was very interested in these riddles. "Hey, Feihuo, how about you guessing?"

"Huh?" At this time, Spitfire was distracted by a Gollum wearing a Slytherin scarf in his mind, "I'm sorry, what did you just say you wanted me to guess?"

"That's the riddle," said Berry. "The answer is 'wind'."

"Oh. Well." Her mind was not here, "Mark, please read the riddle for me again."

Mark read the poem aloud again.

Spitfire shook her head after hearing this. "If I had to guess, it wouldn't be the wind." She carefully chose the right words. "The thing described in the riddle is a monster. It's evil. The wind is my friend. It He won't bark or bite. He should whisper softly, and... he can also... rub me. That's what he said, right?"

Mark and Starlight couldn't help but laugh. Starlight explained in pony language, "Spiker, rubbing is what a masseuse does. So, have you ever had an anecdote with Feng that you don't want to be revealed by the Canterlot Herald?"

Pegasus was too lazy to pay attention to them, snorted and turned away angrily. Mark continued to recite a few riddles that probably described eyes and faces, and everyone started a new round of wild and whimsical guesses. However, what they didn't expect was that the person who finally guessed the answer to the riddle turned out to be Fireball - or should be said to be almost. You guessed it; he said the sun looked at the sunflowers, and the answer in the book was that the sun looked at the daisies. cut. Sunflowers and daisies are completely different.

Then Mark took out a new one, and deliberately lowered his voice to create a terrifying atmosphere: "...hiding behind the stars, hiding under the hills, filling the holes. It comes first a little, and then all of it arrives, terminating life and strangling it. …”

Something began to rumble above their heads. An unusual noise interrupted Mark's reading, and everyone invariably leaned closer to each other in the silence.

"What is that?" Fireball asked first, "Is it a landslide?"

"Impossible," Starlight's answer was straightforward but not very convincing. "The roof of the cave is completely solid."

"It's thunder and lightning," Spitfire was the first to answer this time. "I never thought I would hear thunder on this planet."

"It can't be thunder," Mark said. "The only way we can hear thunder is if lightning is right above us..."

A blinding white light suddenly illuminated the entire cave, accompanied by a deafening crackling sound, whipping to each ear. A beam of serpentine light shot from a crystal on the roof of the cave to the tree stump, lasting for half a second. At the same time, another, smaller beam lit up the far side of the farm, the result of lightning traveling through a hydrothermal system line and striking the ground again in a metal trench leading to a water collection well.

What followed was a lighter thunder, followed by the rustling of crystal fragments scattering onto the farmland below.

The dim light of the computer screen reflected five faces looking at each other. Five bodies hugged each other tightly.

"Crystal is obviously an insulator," the dull Mark whispered to himself, "How did lightning strike in such a cave wrapped in crystal underground???"

"It's those sunlight illumination crystals," Starlight replied. "The enchantment will guide the light through, and light is a kind of electromagnetic wave. But the function of the spell itself is to gather light energy to make the cave brighter."

"So it also gathers lightning," Fireball complained, "It's perfect."

"Lightning passed along the water pipe," Spitfire added, "Did you all see it?"

"I think the life support system should be insulated," Starlight replied. "Only Dragonfly knows the details."

"It's not safe here," Berry asked. "Is there any safer place?"

"Go deeper into the cave?" Feihuo tentatively suggested, "Stick to both sides of the cave?"

"That way we would be too close to the overflow ditch." Mark was worried.

There were bursts of low thunder echoing through the stone walls in the cave.

Berry pointed to the top of her head, "And there are too many down there..."

boom!

More crystals fell from the ceiling, showering the clover with flying debris.

The five refugees recovered from the second lightning strike, blinked their eyes stung by the bright light, and huddled together in silence. All thoughts of leaving the shelter of the cave entrance suddenly disappeared.

Finally, Berry broke the silence, "Maybe we should just stay here. I don't want to study anymore tonight. Can we watch TV? How about Electronic Companions, for example?"

Berry helped Feihuo tell what was on his mind, for which Feihuo expressed silent gratitude and immediately nodded to express his complete agreement.

Mark didn't say a word, and immediately closed the text window and opened the video player. Soon, the imaginary scene deep underground was replaced by the bright colors and smiles in front of him.

But everyone just watched, listened, and remained silent.

The sparks outside the cave drove howling and biting winds, gathering all their strength to sweep across everything. Dust storms carried crackling corona through the dense dusty air.