My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

The cherry saplings are arranged neatly a few feet apart, with twenty rows and twenty columns forming a regular rectangular array. The one in the center is eye-catchingly taller than the surrounding ones, spreading its branches to its descendants all around. Under the shade of the tree stood a small sign with a few large words: "I am Groot - please do not touch".

After successfully bringing back this small sapling from Mars, thousands of miles away, Cherry Berry thought long and carefully before making the decision to transplant it, and went through several twists and turns. Her initial idea of ​​planting it on the boundary of the Houston Space Center was immediately dismissed without much thought; there would be too many tourists trying to break off branches and take part of Groot home as a souvenir. But besides that, the winter temperatures in Houston are not cool enough to produce good cherries. Even in Dodge Junction, where there was only vast desert outside her aunt Jubilee's orchard, there was a lot of snowfall in winter, but there was a jungle next to Houston. Besides, it's not suitable to plant cherry trees in the swamp here.

In the end, what she set her sights on was a piece of unowned land thirty miles north of Ma Town. It was the first real estate she had ever truly owned; her hangar was rented from Golden Harvest, and Appleloosa's factory and offices were owned by a company chartered by the changelings, not the landowners. She is a good person. The feeling of owning land... was indescribably strange, as if she, Cherry Berry, this earth pony that had been floating in the air all day long, had finally taken root.

This land has its own advantages - it has no close neighbors, is far away from the main road connecting the central city and Ma Town, and will not attract attention. There are also a few disadvantages here; it's surrounded by undeveloped land, it's a full hour's drive from Ponyville, and it's a short walk from Rainbow Dash Miriam "Every tree is for napping" Dash. The address is also too close. But this land belongs to her - and at the same time, it also belongs to Groot.

Thanks to the right amount of sunlight and moisture, the young trees are growing well. The weather horses here are quite competent. Of course, the performance is not as good as, for example, the apple trees in Sweet Apple Orchard are so outstanding, but the cherry trees don't seem to mind. This was especially true for one of the trees; in Berry's mind, when she walked to Groot, she could still see the leaves coming towards her.

"Hello," she said, "I just want to tell you that I won't be able to come here for the next few weeks. I'm going to heaven again."

Are the leaves drooping a little? No, it's probably just the wind.

"Of course I have no intention of leaving," Berry hurriedly explained, "It's just that I have now joined the flight test team of the new repulsive launch carrier system. The test aircraft is equipped with both magic energy and chemical energy engines in case of emergency. And there is no Twinkle engine, so I will return to the ground immediately after delivering a round of supplies to the space station.”

Berry sat down leaning against Groot's trunk. This sapling, which could have been brought back in a human space suit a year ago, has now grown, with thick branches that can easily support the weight of a pony leaning on the trunk. (However, it is probably a bit difficult to lift up a lazy Pegasus. Because of this, every time Berry visits, she will keep an eye out for any movement in the airspace above.) "They asked me to be the commander of the moon base," she continued softly. Said, "As a trial run for our plan to reproduce Ares, we first learn to understand and practice the basics on the moon closer to home. I told them that I was not interested, so they gave the task to Gordon. I believe He can do it.”

Berry wanted to continue thinking about whether there was anything else important that she needed to tell the tree, but she was interrupted by a burst of insects chirping above her head. She stood up grumbling, ready to give the incoming changeling a good talk about (1) what "day off" meant, and (2) how her tree babies were also related to Pegasus. Just as unpopular.

However, upon closer inspection, this changeling turned out to be a familiar face. "Hey, Berry!" Tingting yelled down, "Guess who has passed the review and will be your flight engineer in the Yotsuba Project!"

"It's you?" Berry asked, "Congratulations!" When the dragonfly fluttered its wings and landed here, Berry went up and caught her in a big bear hug, "I knew they couldn't stop them. Stay with you!”

"Of course!" Tingting said proudly, "We have to re-form the old team, are you right?"

"Did Twilight decide that the third one would send Starlight?" Berry asked again.

"No," Dragonfly replied, "Starlight will be at Mission Control this time. What I heard is that the princess will list five names for you to choose."

"What I want is not a list, but a file." Cherry Berry became sulky, "It's really far worse than the old days. I can no longer recognize every space horse in the team. I want to see "It's about detailed records, medical reports and performance evaluations." She sighed, "Why do I have to worry about this on my days off?"

"I'm sorry, Boss Ma," Tingting muttered softly, "But...since this matter has been brought up, can I add another name to the list?"

Berry turned to Dragonfly, "Who?"

"I feel that Ocellus has developed quite well. I think she is a natural scientist, and her assessment performance during EVA training was also very good."

"I know that," Berry replied, "but I want to save her for future use. My plan is to wait until the formation of the Xinxing exploration or landing team before sending her to participate."

"Hmm..." Dragonfly rubbed her hooves hesitantly, "I still don't feel comfortable with this arrangement. It's just, you know," she swung her front hooves and muttered, "Mars or something."

"Someone has to go back," Berry replied, "and sooner or later we have to give the new astronauts this opportunity; as you just said, Ocellus is a natural scientist, but we have to find a way to let her I’ll talk more when I get the chance.”

"Yeah." Dragonfly mumbled, "Is there any news from Earth recently?"

“Mark wrote to tell me that he had just completed his first astronaut training class,” Berry said. “He also helped the Ares 4 crew with refresher training for their return to Asidaria. Phoenix’s Shiny Engine It has been reinstalled on the Hermes, so Ares 4 should be ready for launch within this month. Then Mark's friend Major Martinez was selected to command Ares 5 to Schiaparelli."

"Yes, he told me this too," Tingting asked, "I'm talking about the news that came from Mark's boss through Angel No. 18. I haven't heard anything recently, but after thinking about it, maybe It’s you big bosses who are keeping the secret.”

Berry raised her eyebrows, "If this is really going to happen, do you think I will definitely tell you?"

"That goes without saying," Dragonfly grinned, "We are old partners from Mars!"

Berry snorted, "Then let me tell you, there is no such thing on our side," she continued, "But there has been suddenly no movement on the human side in recent weeks. They are tight-lipped and evasive. We don't understand this at all. situation." She smiled slightly and added, "Your mother thinks they are about to invade."

"That's not the case," Xiao Ting nodded and said, "If the ten-fold advantage in numbers was not all the creatures on Tsushima, but the changelings versus humans, she would definitely do this after the roles were reversed. "She grinned again and added, "But she actually said that it was not a full-scale invasion, but it was more like running away from work and going on vacation." She hesitated at this point. She looked a little weird when she said this to me, so I didn’t say anything.”