My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

AMICITAS Mission Three – Mission Day 41

ARES 3 solar day 44

The Amicitas spaceship is the crowning achievement of Equestria's metallurgy and engineering. It was designed to take into account extreme conditions such as the high temperatures of re-entry, possible emergency landings, and the various tricks caused by changelings; even so, Its cargo airlock is not indestructible either. And under the current circumstances, it is irreplaceable, which means they can't simply drag or throw it up the slope to the cave, and then use brute force to stuff it into the hole. Must be handled with care.

So there was the next scene: Starlight used magic to carefully move it onto the rack on the roof of the rover; Spitfire and Dragonfly tied it tightly to it and stayed with it during the ride; Mark kept driving. The speed was less than half of the maximum speed, and it took an hour and ten minutes to drive from the residential area to the cave. And because Starlight needs to conserve energy for the subsequent sealing spell, the three strongest people here have to use their hands (hooves) to move this huge component up the slope.

If you do manual hoofing, you still have to deal with back pain. Berry had never missed the strength bonus provided by earth pony magic under normal circumstances so much since her crash landing.

"Sir," Fireball whispered from the other end, "I can move this thing by myself, but you can actually..."

"Shut up, you, me." Berry panted, struggling against the weight of the two-ton metal on her back, "Keep going."

"Yes, sir," the dragon replied. He's been pretty quiet since the explosion - which is a good thing for Berry. She didn't know whether it was because of his own inner guilt or because he received a scolding from her after the incident, but there was no need to study the truth in detail; if this incident could really teach him to be cautious in doing things It can be considered a good thing. But now that she was carrying half the airlock's weight on her back, almost crushing her space suit's overstuffed and over-designed backpack into another layer of her skin, she wasn't in the mood to dwell on it.

"We're almost there." Mark interrupted, applying a little more force on the other end of the airlock. Now the alien's voice always irritated Berry, because Mark's condescending tone of voice when talking to ponies became more and more unrestrained. Berry felt that he had never even noticed this, but the same tone often appeared in the conversations between adults and children in the Patquji family, and some in Electronic Friends. No horse would be willing to accept a conversation with this tone, even if it was in a foreign language; and now the person talking to Berry in this way was actually a tall horse that probably couldn't even last five minutes of pulling a cart. Bipeds, that particularly bothered her.

Yes, Fireball can indeed carry the entire airlock on his back. Mark and Berry only need to hold him steady on the side; and Mark may just want to give Berry some encouragement with words. To put it mildly, Berry is tired of playing in the mud all day long. She no longer wanted to be the person who spent most of the time sitting around and watching other horses doing their business while she had nothing to do. She had to find something to do and do it on her own, thereby demonstrating her strength, experience and importance.

So now she is here, destroying her spine and almost breaking her hooves and knees, just to carry such a high-tech empty metal box up the mountain.

"We're here! Stop!" By now, every horse present could understand these English words, so Spitfire used English instead of pony language. She didn't know how to say the rest of the words in English, so she switched back to her native language: "Everyone, help me! Mark, use force! Dragonfly, get the berries out!"

The heavy burden was finally lifted from Berry's back, and Fireball contributed more. Berry fell to the side on the Martian sand and gasped for air, while Dragonfly grabbed her two front hooves and said, "Good job, boss!" She said and dragged the tired pony to the side. , "Okay, she can't survive, let's continue!"

"Okay, don't worry, everyone, put it down slowly. Mark, slow down!" Feihuo shouted. After a faint crash, the airlock touched the ground, and Fireball and Mark walked aside. At this time, Mark was stumbling when he walked, and it looked like he was about to lie down next to Berry.

Haha, Berry thought to herself. What did he do to make him so tired? I carried most of the weight. On my shoulders, on my pelvis, and, oh my god, on my back.

Feihuo came over to look at her and shook his head helplessly. "Why have you contracted Starlight's madness?" she said. "Is there something in this damn place that makes everyone so stupid that they want to commit suicide?"

"How are the preparations in the cave?" Berry groaned, looking like she couldn't stand still on her hooves yet. Maybe Fireball could carry her back to the rover first. Yes, that sounds safer.

"All the crystals within sixteen stations from the entrance of the cave have been cut." Feihuo said, "We are going to take some back in buckets today, but most of the rest will have to be left there until they are needed in the future. Pick."

"Not bad," Berry panted, "How's Starlight doing?"

"Just work as hard as usual." Feihuo muttered, "According to the manual, she should stay in bed for at least a week due to this level of magic overuse. You also understand that if she continues like this, her health will be permanently damaged. It’s risky.”

"Yes, I know." Berry replied, "It's the same for everyone. And I also understand that death is basically permanent." She didn't know how to evaluate the sentence just now, because the style was different from Cocoon. It's so similar. She had served the Queen so long, she knew her so well, didn't she? Not bad at all. Spitfire's helmet visor faced Berry, and the expression reflected on the glass was also very appropriate.

Berry kept staring at the Pegasus until she withdrew the words "quick tongue" that was about to pop out of her mouth and was forced to say, "Yes, sir."

It was embarrassing for the former Wonderbolt leader to say this, but Berry had no time to care about it. In any case, they don't have enough time, and standing outside in a space suit all day is a serious waste. "Okay," she said, "carry me away and tell Starlight it's her turn."

A minute later, Berry leaned on Dragonfly and watched Starlight show off her magical power. She widened and trimmed the hole, then leisurely raised the airlock and embedded it firmly in. Of course, Starlight wasn't doing this to show off; keeping this slow speed was necessary to conserve energy for the next big thing.

Sealing is widely spread among the upper echelons of magicians in Equestria. There are no fewer than dozens of spells that can create magical secret doors that must be opened by correct spell casting or password verification. Unfortunately, Starlight pointed out that most of these spells are force field protection spells, which require a stable and abundant supply of magic power. ” does not exist on the planet and is therefore not applicable to the current situation. However, she also mentioned that she had previously learned about a spell in the Twilight book that could transform the door frame itself into a door, and at the same time reconstruct the walls around the door, making it impossible to observe the existence of the door from the outside. It is said that with just a few adjustments, this spell can seal all the gaps around the upper airlock - and make its texture into a completely airtight state.

The current situation is very good. For the first time, Xingguang found the right direction when he tried to cast the spell for the first time. Berry watched in amazement as she admired the final result: the smooth and flawless stone walls penetrated the dust like lips, tightly covering the entrance of the cave. In just thirty seconds, the original cave had disappeared from the outside world, leaving only a gentle hillside and a giant metal door embedded on the top of the raised sand dune.

Naturally, Fei Huo was watching over Xingguang during the whole process. Berry could hear her complaining on the radio: "This is good, there are two horses that can't work anymore today." Watching Starlight stop casting spells and huddled up on the ground like a map, She added, "Three if you count Mark. Fireball, come and carry Starlight away. Berry, I suggest taking a lunch break on the rover."

"Agreed," she said, leaning against Dragonfly, "Workers are given priority. Flying Fire, Fireball, Dragonfly, let's go eat."

"Don't leave yet." Berry felt something tap her jetpack. "I have to open your spacesuit first to check if there are any damaged parts."

"No," Berry sighed, "Starlight and I will probably have to stay in the rover for the next whole day. So she and I have to go in last so we don't block everyone's way."

"Then I will stay outside with you," Ting Ting's attitude was very clear. "There is no room for carelessness in repairing the space suit."

"Okay. We have to walk back. Spitfire, you go in and eat with Fireball and Mark. We'll wait outside."

Berry struggled to walk down the hillside alone with her remaining strength. The fireball was carrying the starlight and magic battery with its two claws, while Mark was barely keeping his balance with one hand on the Spitfire helmet. So as long as she can still walk, she is embarrassed to trouble anyone else (horse).

Seeing Mark, Fireball and Spitfire entering the rover, Berry signaled Starlight and Dragonfly to switch the spacesuit communication system to a private channel. "Are you done with all the work just now?" She asked Starlight, "Because at least for Spitfire's sake, you have to take a good rest now."

"Not yet." Starlight almost lost the energy to respond, "We still have to seal the back of the cave. In addition, there must be lighting inside. If we can cut a few crystals from the roof of the cave, we can cast a spell to make them Absorb sunlight from the outside and transport it to where the crystal originally resides. This is a very ancient Crystal Empire lighting technique that relies on sunlight to power the spell - it will be very effective if it works."

"What do you mean 'if'?"

At this time, Xingguang was too tired to argue anymore. "Look, this better work, right? Think about it," she said. "We only have six lighting fixtures in the spaceship, two light bulbs, and four that were not damaged during the crash landing." The spare parts were completely insufficient to light the cave. Considering the farm operation in Mark's residence, we couldn't use the lighting facilities in the living area. And I didn't have enough energy to turn the entire roof of the cave into a giant airtight skylight." She sighed, "But the sunlight enchantment can be completed tomorrow, and once the crystal has been enchanted, installation does not require any special operations, so anyone (horse) can help. I will tell you after this is done Maybe I can take a break.”

"That's right," Berry nodded and praised, "You can start working tomorrow when we are processing the soil and preparing the farm's piping system. But you will still have to remain in confinement in the living area after tomorrow."

"Wait a minute," Tingting asked, "What did you mean by 'we' just now? Boss, you also need to take a rest."

"After all, you have to have an earth pony pull the rake for you." Berry gave her a blank look.

"We will find another way to deal with this." Tingting did not give in, "You must rest."

"No matter what, I have to finish my job." Berry refused to let go.

Dragonfly shook her head through her helmet. "Berry, you don't have to spend so much effort to prove your strength to us." She said, "Especially me. The two of us have been working together for four years, and we all know that you have done your job well. It has always been the case. .”

"My mission is to bring you all home safely." Berry waved her hooves and pointed to the countless ancient ice volcanoes and rock outcrops that dotted the orange horizon of Mars in the distance. "Is this considered home? It doesn't count? Then my responsibility It’s not over yet.”

"But you have completed your duties today, boss." Tingting said softly, "Everything must be done step by step. Relax and don't be anxious."

There was a good-natured silence after that. A few minutes later, Berry's words broke the silence, "How is the progress over there?"

"It's still a bit slow at the moment." Tingting reluctantly admitted, "It took a lot more energy than I expected to transform into the human appearance in the photos and video clips of Mark's team members. And in his state at that time, I still I didn't dare to feed on his emotions. At that time, he was almost like the chiming bird on the wall clock that was swinging and probing its head." The changeling circled the helmet and waved its hooves to show Mark's consciousness at that time. In an unclear state, "Becoming that human was the only way I could make him hear me at the time. And if he was in a normal state of mind, I don't think I could have deceived him. Based on the small amount of information I learned, it was not enough To imitate her voice correctly.”

"How well do you understand his language now?" Starlight interrupted the conversation.

"I think I can at least catch up with you." Tingting replied, "I have more free time than you all, so I follow Mark most of the time. You know, I was the Queen's right-hand man in the past. , is a member of the top infiltration elite of the Insect Hive. Imitating the victim's verbal communication is one of the important skills of an infiltrator, which can help us further hide our true identity." She smiled proudly and continued, "When you While everyone is busy laughing at the stupidity of human beings, or singing lyrics that you have no idea what they mean, I have been working silently, collecting all kinds of information."

"Yes. This content will be very helpful for our future survival." Berry sighed, "Do you think there is a way to get him to give us more language lessons? That ridiculous show that was shown to us recently can help We understand the pronunciation and writing of some words, but we still have many deficiencies in the basics of vocabulary.”

"Maybe." Tingting deliberately prolonged her tone, "Will there be any problem if I sneak some snacks?"

Berry snorted angrily. "Needless to say, we all know you've been doing this little thing," she said. "Just be careful not to drain him. I've seen it happen a few times and you make him dizzy when you get close to him. .”

"Sorry. But no other changeling has ever considered looking like me," Dragonfly pointed at herself, "to be considered cute. Well, except for Ad Astra. That crazy entomologist from Canterlot. Except home. And... never mind, it's pretty rare anyway."

The rover's airlock began to work, and Berry signaled the other two to turn the radio back to the public channel. "Guys, let's give Dragonfly a group hug when we change shifts."

At first, Berry Berry was somewhat looking forward to Fireball's crazy complaints about the lazy insect, or Feihuo might tease Dragonfly about gaining weight recently. As a result, the responses she heard were beyond expectations, all of them were: "As you command, sir." If she had done this a week ago, as long as there had not been a new round of quarrels and the ensuing commonplace quarrels, Berry would have So happy. Now she was beginning to miss the fight—and the energy that came with it—and longed for its return.

On this still bright Martian afternoon, the victims were still shrouded in the shadows that had been hovering above them for so long, and there was nothing Berry could do about it.