My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

ARES 3 solar day 1167

ARES 4 solar day 4

The Mars rover Sirius 8 (all Ares mission rovers are now named Sirius, and all existing rovers have been renamed retroactively) drove up the northeast slope of what has now been officially named Amicitia Mons by the International Astronomical Union and stopped in a weathered depression. Any traces of the visitors had been completely wiped out by the past Martian years, but the deep ruts and pits left by their frequent visits seemed to be more able to withstand the constant erosion of the weak meteorological conditions on Mars.

If a Martian or a space probe were on site to witness the first arrival of the new visitors in more than 4 solar days, it would be a long wait before they actually noticed anything. Although some technologies have made great strides in recent years, others have not been affected much, so the rover airlock still needs to operate for several minutes before the passengers can exit the cabin. But after patiently waiting, they finally appeared: Dr. Alberto Rodriguez, the mission commander and the top field geologist of the Ares project; Chen Biao, a Chinese astronaut who was transferred from Ares 5 when the decision was made to return Ares to Acidalia Planitia; and Hunter Webb, the botanist on this mission.

If there were enough time between duties and space in a single rover, the entire crew of six would set out for Mount Amicitia that day. However, they would first have to unpack and assemble the brand-new Ares 4 Habitat, inspect and re-inflate the old Ares 4 Habitat, re-equip it with new equipment from a special supplemental supply mission, set up various experiments, and so on. The rest would visit on another day; Ares 3 had enough supplies to last them sixty days, thanks to the Hermes-mounted Sparkle Drive, several additional supply missions with the new Repulsor Launch System, and unused excess supplies from Sleipnir II and III. Barring any freak storms, every member of the crew would have a chance to visit.

However, among the first batch of visitors, Hunter Weber's reason for coming immediately is obvious - to observe whether the cave farm that previously fed the refugees of Ares 3 / Amicitas' third mission is still alive; if it is alive, it is necessary to investigate its survival status. Chen Biao's visit is not only a special thank you to the Chinese government for providing assistance to Ares 3 in its critical moment, but also to shut up those protesters who claim that NASA is too monopolistic in the newly created field of magic science. Dr. Rodriguez is not only the commander, he is also the trainer of every geology specialist in Ares' first three missions...

...is also the magic specialist for this mission, and was personally trained by Mark Watney before launch.

Each of the three astronauts carried a large box full of tools and instruments, and approached the cave airlock with caution. They had all been trained—again, personally by Mark Watney—on how to operate the airlock; but before they began to tinker with it, they had to make sure it was still functioning properly. They first spent an hour inspecting the site, noting that the end of the atmospheric pressure relief valve that protruded from the side of the nearby mountain was covered in a thin layer of rime, that three of the four status lights were still working, and that there was a few inches of floating dust in the depression where the airlock was located. Then they climbed above the airlock and found a sunlight-collecting crystal exactly as described, with only a thin layer of dust visible in the deepest crevices of the quartz petals. Then they climbed down the airlock and blew the dust off the hatch with compressed air, then applied silicone lubricant as a precaution.

Only after they had verified that the hatch controls and the nearby fuel generators were live, and that the hatch showed no signs of corrosion or broken seals, did they enter the code to open the outer hatch. The hatch opened slowly at first, but once it was in motion, it worked smoothly, and soon the hatch was wide open for the astronauts to enter. Once inside, they issued the command to close the hatch, so fast that it was almost impossible to imagine that the hatch had been stuck in the first place. Then they entered the command to pressurize the airlock, and air immediately began to flow into the small chamber. The space suits they wore detected the rapid rise in ambient pressure; the dust that had been carried into the airlock by their footsteps could not find an exit, and was caught in the airflow and spun in place.

Then, when the green light on the control panel came on, indicating that the internal and external pressures were balanced, they opened the airlock door...

...stepped into a fairyland full of light and color.

The cave walls shimmer with color, and rainbow halos flow from the far end of the cave toward the exit. Several thin strips of pure blue also spread across the wall, dividing the light show along the cave wall. Numerous crystal columns on the ceiling gather energy and sprinkle brilliant sunlight into the cave, which obviously eclipses the natural light outside.

The floor of the cave was a thick sea of ​​green in varying shades. Waist-high alfalfa was piled up in layers, and the astronauts could not see the end of it, blocking the potato fields in the distance. Along the right side of the cave, a row of cherry tree seedlings had grown to the ceiling, with branches extending toward the sun crystal above.

"Checking the air composition," Dr. Rodriguez said, looking around. "I found Sirius V's atmospheric system. It appears to be functioning normally."

"Doc, I think this should be pretty obvious," Weber muttered, pulling out an instrument from his toolbox - a tool that was not included in the Ares 3 mission equipment, a portable atmospheric analyzer. "The oxygen content is %, and the carbon dioxide content is PPM. There is also a trace amount of methane. It's not toxic. The air pressure is atmospheres, and the ambient temperature is degrees Celsius. I think it's safe to take off the space suit. But it will still be a bit cold."

"Compared to the outdoors, I think this place is definitely tropical," Chen Biao said, taking off his helmet first. The others followed suit, taking a few deep breaths of the cool air in the cave. After a while, she added, "It smells like old fallen leaves."

"Of course," Weber replied. "No one has come here to till the soil and take care of the crops for two whole years." He turned around and got out of his space suit, threw it aside, bent down and reached out to touch the roots of the alfalfa plant closest to him, scraped a little soil from around the base and sniffed it for a moment, then rubbed it between his fingertips. "The soil quality is pretty bad," he said softly. "I have to take a sample back to the residential area for analysis to know the exact results, but my guess is that the potassium and phosphate content is too low. The color of the alfalfa is not right either; I can't tell whether it's the soil, the aging of the plant, or some other reason." He turned his head and looked at the tree next to him, "But the cherry tree looks good."

Dr. Rodriguez was busy checking the onboard computer and atmospheric information console that originally belonged to the Ares 3 rover. He didn't look up. "But I believe it shouldn't be fatal, right?"

"I don't think so," Weber replied. "It's just that it's not growing as well as it should. The fertilizer we brought should help in that regard. Of course, we still need to prune the alfalfa to encourage the growth of new leaves. Maybe it will even bloom before we leave."

Chen Biao's attention turned to the improvised atmospheric transmission system that had been put together - the pipeline that intermittently pumped concentrated Martian air into the cave, and the valve that released the excess pressure in the cave. "This side of the pressure relief valve is severely corroded," she analyzed, "It must be the humidity in the released air that accelerated the process. I suggest adjusting the plan to complete the installation of the new atmospheric conditioning system ahead of schedule."

"That's just as well," Dr. Rodriguez said. "The keyboard keeps giving me errors, too. It's a miracle it's still working now, come to think of it. It's like a computer that's been left outside for years."

Weber had already run to the narrow gap between the wild clover and the cave wall on the left side of the cave and continued to work. "Hey!" he shouted, "I found the magic power battery they left behind!" He bent down again, took some effort and picked up a piece with a grunt, "There's not even a bit of rust on the outer frame! What's going on?"

"I've heard that the magic in the instruments automatically provides an anti-corrosion protection," Dr. Rodriguez replied. "I guess they can still be used, right?"

"Well, this one has reached the top of the gauge," Weber replied. "Either the gauge is stuck, or it's completely full."

"Well, we'll know the answer in a little while." Dr. Rodriguez left the console and walked back to his toolbox by the airlock. "As much as I look forward to fully exploring this cave one day, we have other duties to perform today. Let's gather up all those batteries and connect them up."

It took a while, but before long they had the eight mana batteries connected and ready to go. Dr. Rodriguez plugged the battery leads into a small box, which lit up instantly once the connection was secure. "We'll probably only have a few minutes of run time," he continued, "but that should be enough to get this done."

Dr. Rodriguez flipped a switch, and a huge window appeared in the air between the small box and the cave wall. Colorful colors stirred in the window for a moment, and then a text appeared in two languages: Connection established.

After a moment, the projection image changed to a group of faces gathered around a console in a control room. Some of the faces were familiar to the astronauts: Dr. Venkat Kapoor, who had recently been promoted to the head of NASA and had a half-smile on his dark face; Captain Melissa Lewis, who was now retired from the U.S. Navy and Astronaut Corps and was in charge of the mission's vehicle communications; and finally, Mark Watney, who would go down in history as the first Martian. But there were also some faces in the crowd that they could not name.

In fact, to be more precise, they are humans; there are five other people in the picture who are not humans, and those faces can be recognized immediately by anyone who has watched the news or read the NASA report, including the pink face with a pair of nervous purple-gray eyes flashing under the curly blonde hair.

However, this was the first time the three of them met those alien ponies in real time.

"Mission Control," Dr. Rodriguez said, "Ares 4 calling, communications check."

"Copy that Ares 4," Lewis replied, "We can see you too."

"Any good news from the cave, Doc?" Mark Watney interrupted. "We've got a pony here that's about to explode with anticipation."

"It's good news, Dr. Watney," Dr. Rodriguez said respectfully. "The preliminary exploration results show that the environment in the cave can still sustain itself and support future missions. The plants are still alive. Although they are not lush, they are still healthy enough." After taking a deep breath, he finally added, "I declare that the Redemption Base can be put into use."

Mission Control erupted in cheers that resounded through the sky, but the loudest came from the invincible pink pony with golden manes, who jumped and twirled and danced in revelry.

There was still much work to be done over the next fifty days: bringing in forty brand new magic batteries made on Earth under the supervision of the Ma country, planting a new batch of crops deeper into the cave, replenishing the water lost through the simple atmospheric control system, deploying a specially designed atmospheric regulator to replace the system, and then - at the end of this mission - installing the "magic mirror". The "magic mirror" was designed entirely on Earth (and also deliberately chose a working principle that was very different from the disruptor's life support system crystal), forming one end of the portal system that would allow the next generation of astronauts to travel between planets with just one step. When this work was completed, the cave would become the Redemption Base, the first permanent base on Mars, and the starting point for all future Mars exploration expeditions after the Ares Project.

Of course, using the mirror to travel in the other direction would take weeks or months of battery charge, so Ares 4 would still return to Earth with the Hermes… but they would also launch into orbit using the same new design that they landed on, the MSS (Mars Transport System), which replaced both the MAV and MDV roles. Using a modified version of the Pony Life Support System crystals to deliver fuel and oxidizer to the ship—tripled redundant crystals spaced far apart and away from the reactor chamber—this new design essentially eliminated the weight issues of both the MAV and MDV, allowing them to use the same ship for both descent and launch, while increasing the carrying capacity in both directions.

A lot has changed in just two years... and thanks not only to the invention of the magic mirror, but also to other magical advances, the MSS is now obsolete. Hermes itself is already obsolete, and will be decommissioned after the completion of Ares 6, and transformed into the core of a new space station in orbit around Earth, Mars, or the Moon. And as experiments with Sparkle Drive technology continue to advance, it will not be long before humans can use the ponyverse's inexhaustible supply of magical energy as a free energy shortcut to travel between any point in the universe where Earth is located, taking the next step in exploration of the outer solar system and eventually the stars.

The great leap forward in technology is not limited to the benefit of one side only - the three ponies, a changeling, and a dragon in Houston are also witnesses. As humans expand into the realm of space, the door to the space frontier is also open to the various races of the Pony Planet; they have their own universe to explore, while their home planet is mostly empty and unknown by Earth standards, and there are countless mysteries waiting for them.

In the blink of an eye, a lot has changed. And countless changes will continue.

...And yet, there is still a voice that none of the three Ares 4 astronauts could hear, declaring, And now, I am still standing.