My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

AMICITAS Mission Three – Mission Day 437

ARES 3 solar day 429

"Berry, come here and take a look!"

Cherry Berry, who was tending the next cherry tree in front of the row, stopped when she heard the sound. Her job was basically to walk around the branches as much as possible, pouring pleasant thoughts into the trunks and roots of the trees; that's basically how Earth pony magic worked - or at least how she understood it. That's probably true. "Mark, what's wrong?"

At the head of the row of trees, Mark grabbed a lower branch of a cherry tree and pulled it down so they could observe, "Look at these buds!"

"Yes, Mark, I know," Berry replied without much thought, "I estimate that the new leaves will germinate in about three weeks." In fact, she also spent some effort to make the trees dormant for as long as possible. time. Judging from the current feelings of the trees themselves, they are living quite happily and full of vitality. Now they can't wait to wake up again and start growing again. The rest has come to an end, and the large number of leaf buds on the trees indicate that they will have a big harvest of cherry leaves next. Before they are ready to set off, they will pick a final batch of new, low-toxic, fresh and sweet leaves to take with them on the road. For making tea.

"No, it's not!" Mark still insisted on calling her over. "Look at these! Do you notice any difference?" He pointed to the clusters of buds growing near the ends of the branches to signal to her.

Cherry Berry then looked closer and looked again. At the moment it looks like these are just the usual...wait, something's wrong. These are larger in size than the average leaf bud. In fact, it is much larger, but no matter what kind of buds they grow on the cherry tree, they are quite small. She asked, "Are these buds?"

"There is no other possibility!" Mark grinned excitedly, "One of the courses I did when I was an undergraduate botany class was related to this. At that time, I had to go to Jackson Park every day to observe and record cherry trees. The growth process of cherry blossoms, from dormancy to the first bud to the final bloom, is not missing a step. The appearance of the cherry blossom buds in my memory is exactly the same as what we see now!"

"That's great!"

"But that's a fantasy!" Mark was still smiling. "The age of these trees here is too young, and the environment in the cave has not allowed them to experience enough cold weather, and the season is completely wrong - Ren No matter what reasons you can come up with, the conclusion can only be that this kind of thing is impossible to happen, but now it is really happening before our eyes!"

"Of course it will happen, because..." Thinking of this, the joy on Berry's face suddenly dissipated, replaced by her heart suddenly sinking, "It's because the trees understand that we are about to leave," she became frustrated. , "I think they are saying goodbye to us."

Mark raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Are the trees really thoughtful in your area?"

"It's hard to explain," CherryBerry replied, "but I'm sure they think differently from ponies. But they do have emotions and can have some sense of what's going on around them. I think They might be able to hear some of my thoughts, the same way I listen to them. The same way most earth ponies have learned to listen to plants."

"In other words, earth ponies are not hobbits," Mark interrupted with a smile, "but tree people."

"Haha," Cherry Berry was not in such a mood now and said sarcastically, "I can still believe that these trees are grateful for our care these days, right?"

"Yes, yes," Mark, who noticed his mistake, immediately changed his tone to calm down Berry's dissatisfaction, "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to make fun of you just now."

"Okay." Berry stretched out her hooves and stroked the tree trunk in front of her with emotion. "I really hope we can take them with us," she continued, "I mean take them all the way home. I have never experienced this before. The process of growing a tree from seed to adulthood.”

"You might as well think about it this way," Mark enlightened. "We brought life to such an originally barren world and gave them a chance to survive. Whether it is plants or animals, this is already better than most of the creatures over there. The salary is much higher.”

"I understand that." Berry sighed, "But I brought up these trees myself. Even one tree will do. I just hope it can prove..."

Not far above Berry's head, something made a loud bang. A few seconds later there was another crisp snap.

A branch about five feet long fell to the ground in front of Berry and Mark almost silently. The surface of the branch was covered with bright green leaves.

Mark looked at Berry in surprise and asked, "Did you do this...?"

"No," Berry was trembling with fright at the sudden scene, "At least not... I didn't mean it. I don't know how..."

So they stood there in shock and stared for a long time, staring blankly at the branch covered with green leaves that fell in response to the sound.

"Find the watering can quickly!" Berry yelled after coming back to his senses, "Take off the lid of the pot and soak it in the kettle first to let it take root!"

"You have to find some thread to hang it up!" Mark yelled back, "If you soak the leaves in the water, the plant may drown! If there is too much water, the cherry tree will not be able to adapt at all!"

"I'll find the thread! You have fingers, you go handle the watering can first!"

"Ok!"

In a hurry, they hurriedly ran around the cave to find the tools they needed, but the fallen branch was still lying there, quietly spreading out its lush green leaves, bathed in the sunshine from the crystal magic.