My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

AMICITAS Mission Three – Mission Day 101

ARES 3 solar day 102

[08:03] Watney: Good morning. Let me first quickly report on the situation of EVA yesterday. Southern and Western weather stations are fully operational. The wind mast and one of the solar panels at the northern weather station were damaged, so I changed its operating mode from real-time data transmission to daily data dumps. The Eastern Weather Station was completely destroyed by flying debris. Several components were lost and the processor was completely destroyed and could not be repaired. The farm's growth situation is very good, and according to the current progress, harvesting work is expected to begin between solar day 109 and solar day 112. I put the pile of trash back where it belongs, but I figured it was unlikely that a Martian raccoon would come and steal it, so I could come and get it if it came in handy later.

Dragonfly announced that the patch work on the ponies' space suits has been completed, so now all ponies except Starlight can proceed with the EVA. This is good news, because I still need Dragonfly and Fireball to help test the ponyship's radio system. You should have already prepared a set of procedures, right?

[08:15] JPL: Good morning, Mark. This is Venkatkapol. We have indeed prepared the operational procedures, but today we have some more urgent work for you to complete. Since your friends' spacesuits provide an unlimited amount of Earth-quality recycled air, and the water recycler's tank is full, plus there's another spacesuit filled with excess water; we've decided to ask you to turn off the air. regulator, oxygen synthesizer, and water reclaimer and give them a thorough diagnostic check. We've sent you some additional procedures in the mail that can be used to detect specific issues that we think may arise in a long-term mission of your current size.

In the meantime, I will be having a private conversation with Starlight Glimmer. The information she sent us was fantastic, and I hope we can iron out some of the details during this conversation. Maintenance and other operations will take up most of today's transfer window, so you can start preparing now.

By the way, one last thing: Dr. Douglas from the Astromaterials Research Department has made some suggestions for adjustments to your cave farm, which I have sent to you via email. You can discuss this with your guests first, and then tell us what specific measures you plan to take. By the way, this has nothing to do with your botanical work. Our group of botanists here are still debating how much of your farm is unscientific. I bet nine pieces.

[08:31] Watney: My paycheck is still going into my bank account, right? Get some for me and bet them all, because since something does exist, it cannot be unscientific. I'll give the computer to Starlight later.

[08:43] JPL: Sorry, Mark, but Mitch Henderson has jumped the gun.

[08:55] Watney: Well, what a fucking clever guy. Starlight is coming.

[08:58] Watney: Good morning! I am Starlight Glimmer, the scientist and wizard on our ship. Could you please explain, since you say you have no magic, why do you still have a word meaning "magic user" in your language?

[09:11] JPL: Hello, Starlight. In ancient times anything we couldn't explain was magic. Those who can do things that ordinary people can't are usually called wizards... provided they are lucky enough. Those who are unlucky usually don't live long.

I have been reading your report recently. I only briefly read the historical information and technical descriptions and handed them over to our engineering team. However, I have always had a strong interest in your monograph on magic. Could you please answer some related questions here?

[09:26] Watney: Just give it a try. But please note: I am still learning your vocabulary at the moment. Furthermore, most of the theories and formulas in that article only apply to worlds with extensive and stable magic fields like ours.

[09:39] JPL: Starlight, the theory itself is exciting enough. Here, different physical models are divided into two camps according to whether "dark energy" exists, each containing four or five basic forces. And none of them (fundamental forces) exist widely and stably in the universe. To some extent they all originate, more or less, from matter. To us, the ubiquitous force field is similar to a concept called "ether" that we have overturned before, which believes that some invisible substance permeates the universe, allowing light waves and other force fields to propagate. This energy field, which is conserved across the universe, violates our laws of physics.

[09:44] Watney: The four laws of physics you just mentioned are gravity, electromagnetism, nuclear force, and...?

[09:56] JPL: We divide nuclear forces into strong forces (which bring atoms together) and weak forces (which break atoms apart).

[10:10] Watney: Got it. We generally think of strong and weak forces as polar opposites, just like positive and negative charges. In our world, there has been little development in atomic physics outside of magic. After all, we never had the need to study it.

[10:23] JPL: When you go back, you can talk to your scientists about our theory. I'll ask one of my colleagues to send you a brief theoretical review. We also have reliable experimental data to support this theory.

Speaking of experiments, you seem to have mentioned before that any living being can generate its own magic field. Could you please explain it further? We have never observed anything like this on Earth.

[10:38] Watney: Absolutely. In our universe, the energy intensity of the environmental magic field is always higher than a certain value we call the "magic constant". However, the existence of living organisms can strengthen the energy field of the surrounding environment by generating new energy. We still don't understand exactly how life generates magical energy, but it does. For non-unicorn creatures, the change in the visible light spectrum within the force field is the only way to perceive this energy field. If the force field is strong enough, it will emit visible light as if it were a spell.

[10:42] JPL: Interesting. So can spectrograms be used to tell if magic is present in a certain area?

[10:55] Watney: Sorry, I can't find it in the dictionary. What is a "spectrogram"?

[11:08] JPL: A spectrogram is an experiment we do. We place a prism in the path of a beam of light emitted by something (usually a flame). This will create a rainbow of light. If the rainbow is large enough, it will show small gaps in the spectrum, indicating the presence or absence of a particular element.

[11:23] Watney: This is a really weird test. We don't do that. Pegasus has always created rainbows for weather purposes. I think the luminous intensity of our magic fields is fundamentally different from your average. I don't think your "spectral chart" works on magic.

[11:36] JPL: That’s a shame. So what method will you use to detect the magic field?

[11:51] Watney: We have a device. I can't name it - a ***meter or something. The first part of the word refers in our language to something that enables magical forces to be transferred between atoms. The device we have here is not working very well at the moment; since it is calibrated in our world, anything below the magic constant barely shows up.

Now you don’t mind if I eat lunch while I’m typing, right? Spitfire was there to help.

[12:04] JPL: Starlight, it’s okay. Can you tell us how to make your own magic-meter? This way we can test whether magic exists on Earth.

[12:19] Watney: Well, it can be found on pages twenty-one to twenty-four of my article, with illustrations. The steps are very simple.

[12:32] JPL: The problem is that you assume that we already know something that is still unknown to us. For example...what does "array" mean? What is the function?

[12:48] Watney: The term "array" I use here refers to a magical diagram designed to set the instructions for a spell. When an array is magically charged, it casts the corresponding spell.

[13:01] JPL: Okay. So do we need to carve the array into the spar? Just now you mentioned the word "enchantment".

[13:15] Watney: It depends. The powerful unicorn is able to compose disposable arrays using chalk, charcoal, and whatnot. Earth ponies sometimes use gold, copper, or glass to create arrays that the unicorn can recharge over and over again. But in order for the array to work on its own, you need to enchant the object the array is attached to. This spell blends the array with the target object.

[13:28] JPL: Starlight, I think I can probably guess the answer to the next question, but I have to ask it anyway. Let's say I'm an Earth pony who can't cast spells. So how can I charge an array that has been drawn? How do I enchant an object?

[13:42] Watney: Uh...can't. Only unicorns can do that. I do know a few alchemists who can make medicines with magical effects, but I'm not sure whether their methods will work in a low-magic environment.

[13:55] JPL: Starlight, that would be too bad. Unless we can find a way to use magic, we won't even be able to test whether magic exists here. Do you understand our problem?

[14:08] Watney: Yeah. I will ask this question to my teacher there. Maybe we can figure something out.

[14:23] JPL: It’s an honor. In the meantime, I have a few other questions to ask. Do you know the concept of "entropy"? In a closed system, everything eventually tends toward maximum chaos.

[14:37] Watney: Yes! Without magical intervention, a closed system will always tend towards chaos. But it's not disorderly. I have a personal relationship with Discord and he absolutely hates entropy. He said it was extremely boring. There is still a lively debate over whether our world is a closed system.

[14:51] JPL: Remind me to ask you about "Disorder" next time. Let’s skip it for now. Wouldn't the existence of magic violate entropy?

[15:09] Watney: We're still not sure. The majority opinion is no, because the active use of magic requires a specific act of will, with the addition of magical energy as an external source of energy. We have a theory here that magic exists in some higher energy state than normal matter and energy; so when it drops down to our energy level, even a tiny amount can release a lot of energy. Additionally, we don't yet understand exactly how living organisms generate magical energy, so as far as we know, energy may be lost in the process of converting food or physical activity into magical energy.

[15:24] JPL: Okay. Next is the last question of the day. I noticed earlier that a device on your ship can convert magic energy into electricity. Can you reverse this process?

[15:38] Watney: No. All attempts to convert electrical or kinetic energy into magical energy under the premise that the output exceeds the consumption have failed. We believe this is because magic exists at a higher energy level, and generating enough electricity to reach this level is simply too expensive. Believe me, if I had known how, we would be halfway to your planet.

[15:52] JPL: I believe you. I just hope we can help, but judging from the current situation, magic is probably out of the question.

[16:07] Watney: Sorry. I'll ask Twilight Sparkle. She knows more than I do in any direction. She attended the best school in our area and was a private student of Princess "Sky and Everything". I'm self-taught.

[16:21] JPL: Judging from this report, you are very capable of self-study. Starlight, thanks for your help. Please tell Mark and ask him to email it as soon as he finishes writing his report. Venkat ends the call.

[16:34] Watney: You’re welcome! Please forgive me if there are any mistakes or omissions. Starlight Glimmer finished the call.