My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

AMICITAS Mission Three – Mission Day 526

ARES 3 solar day 516

Transcript – ARES 4 MAV video transmission, start time 13:04 (based on ARES 3 mission)

Starlight Glimmer: Hermes, MAV tolling, waiting for media activity to begin, over.

Beth Johnson: Hi Starlight. Hope you enjoyed your lunch. My message is that most of the questions sent to you are duplicates. So your interview will be the shortest one possible. Hopefully that is ok with you.

Starlight: Uh... Of course! No problem! Anyway, this afternoon is pretty busy! You must have prepared a lot of difficult simulations, enough for us to toss for a while! Then hurry up and get started!

Johnson: First question: "As far as we know, you are the second-in-command of the Friendship crew. If anything were to happen to Cherryberry, would you be ready to take over?"

Starlight: ...To be honest, I really hope nothing happens to Meimei. So far, she and Fireball are the only two who have not suffered any serious injuries in this incident, you know? It's a blessing for all of us that she was lucky enough to escape. I don't think I have the ability to take over her job, but if I really have to take over, I will definitely do my best. In fact, I have had some leadership experience before... Uh, but it's hard to say what the results are. Next question?

Johnson: "Are you looking forward to meeting other humans besides Mark?"

Starlight: I don't know. Mark is a really nice guy... but he can be annoying sometimes... I'm a little afraid that other humans might be much worse. But if I really have to pick one human I want to meet, it's definitely Mr. Rich Purnell. There are countless experiments based on his formulas that can be imagined, just waiting for this rescue to be successfully completed! I have conceived eight or nine of them myself, and as long as I can find an environment with a normal magic field, I can put them into practice immediately! Mr. Purnell must be a very remarkable human!

Johansson: We think he's done something remarkable, and it's his work that made this rescue possible. Okay, now the remaining questions are all about magic. Let's start with a broad one: "Tell us about magic."

Starlight: Huh? Shouldn't everyone have read my reports on the basics of magic? Haven't I also covered the various schools of spell casting? Haven't I covered the logic of spell arrays? What else is there to talk about?

Johnson: This is for people who haven't read the report, or who have tried to read it and didn't understand it. Um, it's best to keep it short, okay?

Starlight: Oh. Magic kindergarten, right? Okay. Magic is a natural force in my universe. It also exists in your universe, but in a much weaker form and with a smaller range. It is a form of energy that can be stored and manipulated through the use of will or enchantment. In our universe, there is a strong background magic field, and life forms or other effects can also generate enhanced fields in local areas. In your universe, magic can only be generated by life forms, and intelligent life generates more magic than non-intelligent life. Of course, this is just our conjecture. If we go to Earth next, we can test it in real life.

In our world, magic is in everything—literally everywhere. Some creatures are naturally more magical than others. We ponies are about in the middle of the pack—we use magic, but we can live without it. I can't think of a better way to explain the difference; let's just say that your world—even with the clips we saw on Commander Lewis's TV show—feels a little more drab than ours, well. Like something's missing.

Then, magic affects emotions, and emotions affect magic. In our world, the most powerful magic comes from ponies living in harmony - we call it the power of friendship. Our ship is named after the ancient name for that power. My teacher is Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship. Maybe she can explain this better than I can. But let's continue.

Johnson: Next question: "I believe you have come into contact with a lot of electronic devices by now, and have a certain understanding of the principles of circuits. Do you think magic can be approximated as some kind of computer code that can rewrite reality, or is it more appropriate to describe it as a kind of fundamental force?"

Starlight: Hmm... I've heard a lot of theories... but... how do you explain it? Magic in its original form is indeed a natural force; however, when it comes to actual applications such as casting spells, the way magic works is different. Casting a spell is a bit like computer code, but the difference is that computer code is executed sequentially, while most spells are cast all at once - everything must be done at the same time, otherwise the end result will just be a swishing of nothing. By the way, I mentioned all of this in my report, and the explanation there is much clearer.

Johnson: Starlight, we know that. Next question: "From a magical perspective, have you gained any unique insights from this journey that you can bring back to benefit your world?"

Starlight: Well, the thing that impressed me the most was, "Never assume that you can always use magic." I really had to learn to live without magic these days, which was definitely a strange experience for me because I used to use magic for almost everything. I just thought that this was just natural, but after coming here, I felt so powerless, like I was disabled. I don't know if we will explore other worlds in the future, but I think we should remember that magic is not everywhere.

Johansen: Next question: "What's the most fun thing you've ever done with magic?"

Starlight: The most fun thing? Well, there was one time when... I love kites. Not just any kites. Not the bird ones, but the paper ones that you tie to a string and let fly in the wind? It was like, my friends Sunburst and Maud Pie and I made this giant kite, and I conjured a gust of wind to lift it up into the air! We twirled it around on the string and made it dance, and we made it change colors and make a trail of smoke, and it flew higher and higher until it crashed into Rainbow Dash's house! She was a little mad at that, but we played hide-and-seek with her later, and the rainbow trails and smoke trails were so pretty, especially when... uh, Princess Celestia... set in the sunset! I think that was probably the most fun I've ever had with magic.

Johnson: Last question, this is quite complicated, is it okay? "We have heard about the last 'cherry stone' incident. Although the final result seems not satisfactory, it can still lead to many interesting questions. What are the limitations of transfiguration magic? In general, is it possible to safely transform non-food into food? Can transfiguration magic work on humans? For example, can you turn a human into a dragon? Ask for a friend."

Starlight: Good boy. "Asking for a friend", right? You humans should also know that this is not a glorious moment worth writing about, right? We wasted a lot of magic power for no reason, and in the end we almost punched a hole in the living cabin and only managed to conjure more than half a cherry.

OK. Transfiguration magic is very expensive. Transfiguration itself consumes a lot of energy, and to keep the effect permanent requires an investment of the square of the aforementioned energy consumption, or even more. In fact, if the ability is strong enough, it is quite easy to transform inanimate objects. For example, my best friend can turn almost anything into a teacup, but she is still practicing how to change things back. As for living things, they are always extremely complex and constantly changing - this is very difficult. And to produce a permanent change on a person on a scale greater than, for example, growing a big beard - just trying can make a powerful unicorn tired to death.

It is possible to turn non-food into food, but usually no horse would do it because it is much easier to cook by yourself. Want to turn a human into a dragon? You have to find Chaos or Alicorns to do this, but I don't think they will be willing to help you. Otherwise, you can find a super special treasure. And even if you succeed in the end, the effect is probably not permanent. Sorry to disappoint you. Johnson, is it you who wants to turn into a dragon?

Johansen: Huh? Um. No, not me. I didn't write any of these questions. But I do have a lot of curiosity about magic. I have a lot of questions of my own that I want to ask you when you get on board the Hermes. May I ask?

Starlight: Of course! If you want to ask, can you ask now?

Johnson: Uh, there's still simulation training to come. Good luck. Hermes communication over.

Starlight: Oh! I totally forgot about this!

Cherry Berry: I don't have any! It's been an hour and a half! Get off the line now, it's time to start!

Starlight: Sorry! Sorry! Um, MAV communication over!