To: Ares III Hab Crew list (*********)
From: Irene Shields (ishields@ares.nasa.gov)
Subject: Crew Morale Evaluations
Thank you all for your messages. I won’t address your specific requests here, because that would give away your secrets. I take patient confidentiality (trust to keep secrets) very seriously. But I wanted to tell you all that I will do my best to find a way to help you.
With that in mind, I would like to ask you all a favor. I would like you to privately email me telling you what you think of your other crew mates. You’ve already told me a little of what you think of yourselves. I will keep what you write secret, so please be honest when you write.
I suggest that, after you write the emails, you discuss how you feel with each other. We have a team-building exercise called “Family Time” which allows crew members to air grievances or talk about problems or feelings. It might be a good idea for you now. But please wait until after writing the emails. I don’t want anybody to feel pressured to write something because of the discussion.
I will write you individually once I’ve had time to think about what can be done for each of you.
Irene Shields, Ph. D.
Project Ares Chief Psychologist
Dear Dr. Shields,
Once I was asked to do something like this before. I’m still not saying all I could say. But since we’re all doing this about each other, it will be less bad than before, so I’ll say a few things.
My list:
MARK WATNEY: He’s very nice and gentle. I know sometimes he wants to make jokes about me, and sometimes he gets angry with me, but he always treats me with kindness. He’s as friendly as a pony.
CHERRY BERRY: I call her the boss woman pony. She’s scary when she’s mad. And she’s still a little naive. But I trust no pony more than her.
STARLIGHT GLIMMER: She’s suspicious and single-minded. She feels guilty about her past and wants to think everything is her fault. I wish she’d spend more time thinking like other people instead of thinking of them as problems.
SPITFIRE: She’s a little scary. She means business all the time. It’s hard to get anything past her. She’s not used to not being a leader.
FIREBALL: He’s not as mean as he pretends. He doesn’t like people. He doesn’t like himself. He makes it tough for the others to like him.
Dragonfly
Dear Dr. Shields,
As you asked, here is what I think about the others.
Cherry Berry is an interesting pony. She knows what needs to be done and makes it be done. I’m amazed she doesn’t have a flying cutie mark, as important as flying is to her. She’s done amazing things. It is honor to be on her crew. She shouldn’t be so hard on herself.
We all worry about Dragonfly. She doesn’t know it, but it’s obvious she’s pretending to be all right when she isn’t. I think we all wish she would stop playing the clown and be honest with us. But that’s got to be hard for a bug-pony.
Spitfire is kind of hard to get along with, and not just because she won’t take off my cast yet. She won’t take talking back from anyone except Cherry. She needs to not be so tight around us.
Fireball is smart and a good astronaut, but he rubs everyone the wrong way. In fact he acts like a big jerk. Why can’t he get along with others? I know dragons who don’t have that problem. Well, one dragon.
Mark tries to be considerate. He makes it his job to keep us entertained and happy. But he is a bit too bossy. It’s his Hab and we don’t want to make trouble, but he doesn’t ask us what we want to do most of the time. He acts like we’re his students. He means well, but it gets annoying sometimes.
I hope this helps you.
Starlight Glimmer
Dear Dr. Shields,
Cherry leads good. She care for her crew. Not discipline enough. Shows too much feelings to crew. But good. All trust her.
Dragonfly is problem. No can trust to tell truth about herself. Tries make all love her, love each other. Not her business.
Starlight is problem. Do things herself, not get help, hurt herself. Not good team.
Fireball is big problem. Does work, but not want be team. Worse trust than Dragonfly.
Mark make my head hurt. He think he is command. He is NOT command. Cherry is command. Mark be bad command. Too much talk down to us. Not listen. Need make head smaller.
Spitfire
Dear Dr. Shields,
Here what I think of my crew.
Starlight much much smarter than me. She know what we need do. I just say yes.
Spitfire much better commander than me. Command flight team for years. Know how to command. But won’t command when I here.
Dragonfly I know many years. Sometimes smart, sometimes really dumb. Good heart, loyal, but not a commander.
Fireball do what told. But not friend. I think he work to make us angry.
Mark is kind and polite. He know what to do. He ask me before do anything. Brave and smart. But sometimes… no, I not say that.
Cherry Berry
Dear Dr. Shields,
Cherry big pilot. Brave for pony. Should be braver.
Dragonfly act dipstick but really smart. Should act less dumb. She save my life one.
Starlight magic smart, else dumb. Work too hard, all time hurt.
Spitfire act boss. Not boss. Rookie.
Mark sometimes dumb, sometimes not. Weak, but brave. Save my life too. Not know what think of Mark.
Fireball
Dr. Shields,
I don’t know if you meant to include me in your request, but it’ll look funny if I don’t join the others in this exercise. This feels like poking and prying to me, but I’m assuming you have a good reason.
I noticed you asked us not to describe the others, but to tell you what we think of the others. So instead of repeating my reports, I’ll stick to my opinions.
And… wow, this is tougher than I thought, now that I actually try to write it down. None of the ponies had any problems aside maybe from typing speed and language.
I’ll start with Dragonfly, since I think we have the closest connection. She’s the class clown and isn’t terribly good at hiding the fact that it’s an act. It’s a shame, too, because it hides just how intelligent she really is. She’s not as good at writing English as Starlight, but it's a close race.
Dragonfly also knows her job. She’s obviously familiar with tools and electrical systems. She was the first to figure out how our computer operating systems work, and she spends a lot of free time reading help menus and the like to better understand them. If she’d act less like a goofy little kid around my tools I might actually let her use them. I think if you put me and Johannsen in a blender and poured the mix into a leaky pony mold, you’d get Dragonfly.
Speaking of Ares III comparisons, I’ve compared Cherry Berry to Commander Lewis before. It’s not a perfect comparison. Cherry’s kind of brittle. The less serious the situation is, the less like Lewis she becomes. During off time she’s the cutest and most innocent of all my guests. She obviously isn’t comfortable with being a leader. I try to support her when I can; she looks like she needs it.
Recent events have caused me to reevaluate Spitfire. I thought she was uptight and kind of prissy, but every once in a while she shows her hidden inner Martinez. She has a vile sense of humor, just like Martinez, but she’s usually too professional and military to show it. I don’t think she likes me very much. She says she wants to be treated like an adult, but considering how I treat most adults, I don’t want to be that dickish to her.
There isn’t a good Ares III comparison for either of the other two. Fireball, for example. We spent years learning how to work together in close proximity preparing for Ares III. You know better than I do how we were chosen specifically to be compatible. Well, Fireball goes out of his way to be incompatible. He’s like that loner kid in high school who wants to be part of the group but doesn’t want to look like it, so he’s always out on the edges, orbiting from a safe distance. You once said I wore an armor of laughter; well, Fireball’s armor is sandpaper. I don’t know how much he likes me, but I kind of like him, in a meathead kind of way.
Finally, there’s Starlight Glimmer, our in-house workaholic. She’s almost as adorable as Cherry Berry, except she gets a little scary sometimes when she’s working on a project. She just kind of tunes out everything except her problem of the moment. She has to remind herself to be friendly sometimes- it doesn’t come naturally to her, even less so than it does for Fireball.
Starlight’s easily the most demanding of my guests for my time and attention- and that includes Dragonfly, who eats my surplus affection in order to live. She asks more questions than anyone else here. She resents having spent so much time in her bunk because of injuries and overwork. You have to admire her motivation, but I like her better when she relaxes.
I don’t know if this is the kind of thing you’re looking for, but it’s what I’ve got right now.
Mark
Hmm. I seem to recall that Dragonfly found out the name for her race in human a couple or so chapters back and stopped with the bug pony thing. I remember because it was kind of a nice moment. Not sure if she explicitly shared it with anyone else though. Just a thought.
Ladies and germs, the indelible fluff/leadup to drama
Of course, Doc Shields probably will need some clarification on what "cutie marks" are, and once she knows, I fully expect the "X doesn't define us as a person (pony), but rather our actions” spiel.
8807562 She hasn't shared it around. Starlight's the one using "bug-pony" here. Also, she asked Starlight to keep her shapeshifting a secret.
8807572
In the actual show, there isn't a single pony who has a cutie mark that has nothing to do with their job. Diamonds fit with Rarity's job. Balloons with Pinkie. Every Wonderbolt we have seen has a cutie mark that represents speed, flying, etc. We never see something like a Wonderbolt with an apple for a cutie mark. What ever is depicted in their cutie mark, will have something to do with their job/career. So they do kinda define the pony as a person. Never have we seen this in action more then The season 3 finale. "It's what my Cutie Mark is telling me."
Cherry wouldn't exist as a character in the show. Or at least we haven't seen any yet in the 7 seasons there are right now.
8807573
Thanks for the clarification! Really enjoying the story. Hope everything goes as planned. Or close enough to plan to not be a Ponyville moment.
Oh, this is SO going to blow up nicely. Love the story.
8807584 Maybe, maybe not. Cherry Berry has the role she does because we twice see her flying the balloon and once a pedal-powered helicopter. (And once she was an airport security guard, but that was in a Discord song sequence and thus shouldn't count.)
I'll admit, I'm a sucker for good character studies, and this chapter scratches that itch nicely. Can't wait for Irene's response.
I'll be honest. I'm really enjoying these "filler" chapters. I'm not going to say you should do them all the time because that would be bad.... But 1 a week or a weekend of them once a month would be good in my horrible opinion.
8807562
She didn't, because Mark doesn't know she's a shapeshifter. Being called a "changeling" would give that away.
8807544
yeah, I think Cutie Mark Village is Going to come up sooner or later; and more than likely, Starlight is STILL beating herself up over it.
I've really been enjoying these chapters.
8807573
wow..... i kinda wish mark can say that to them one day how much he knows them for that few days and all that
8807584
Well, I mean, to us, who have been immersed in MLP lore and whatnot for nearly a decade, yeah, but to an individual ignorant of magic, and can only go on whatever explanation Starlight gives her (and that runs the risk of either being grossly oversimplified, or grossly overexplained), she can only respond and give advice based on the information she receives.
Basically, my previous comment is dependent on just how Starlight, as the crew (and the universe's) foremost magic expert, chooses to explain cutie marks to a person with no prior knowledge of them, magic, or Equestria.
Once enough pressure builds up inside her, there's going to be a huge explosion when Spitfire finally ejects that stick that's been shoved up her ass. She's the one who's really going to make Dr. Shields earn her pay. Serious projection going on.
8807584
Several times in the show Cherry Berry has been depicted flying, and wearing aviator goggles. In a helicopter and multiple times in a hot air balloon that she owns, IIRC.
but to mark to the stalker gourp we sent you yeast and the music for it so you can make vodka
These were two very nice observations of Fireball, especially Cherry's. The idea that he'd deliberately go out of his way to provoke them must be so alien to the ponies. Familiar to humans and normal to dragons, of course, but must be strange to ponies. Very interesting to see how Dragonfly is a bit more lenient in her assessment of him, what with her deeper insight into his feelings.
This was a lovely observation, too! Especially since Starlight is so often adorable and enthusiastic, and seems to be one of the ones most focused on building bridges with Mark.
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/7/77/Starlight_Glimmer_crying_inside_magic_barrier_S7E10.png/revision/latest?cb=20170611201627
8807584
But on another hand, cutie marks can sometimes be metaphorical. Perhaps the CSP launches are giant cherries being squashed on the ground, and Cherry Berry's job is to locate and extract the pits of experience and help them grow.
(Also, doesn't Pinkie work in the bakery with the Cakes?)
Uhh, of course it's her business. She literally eats the stuff and needs it survive. It'd be like saying the state of the crops or the food packs is none of your business. Come on Spitfire, you may be abit self-centered, but you're smarter than this.
Классный фанфик, надеюсь увидеть как Марк летит к ним в гости, как первый дипломат
Also, reading Cherry's entry, which was lovely, made me realise how much I've been under-appreciating her as a character. Starlight and Dragonfly get most of the Mark time and can say the most and solve the most problems, so they're the focus a lot of the time. Fireball doesn't get as much attention, but he's so different to all the others that he really doesn't need much to stand out.
Whereas the other two are at risk of blending into the background sometimes, I find.
At first Spitfire didn't have much to do apart from when somepony was at risk of hurting themselves, just a couple of engrossing POV chapters detailing her emotional struggle and that beautiful moment when the magic battery was switched on and she took flight. Whereas more recently, between detecting the Hab leak, crunch-crunch-crunch and waving her flank around, she's found a lot more ways to add value to the group and the story outside of her assigned professional role and her personal crisis. At least, I'm guessing she might have faded into the background more at the beginning for people who don't consider her Best Pony; I wouldn't know
(And I am so glad you chose her for the story, as that's what made me start reading it - I don't think I've ever read a sci-fi story on here before).
Anyway, yeah, Cherry Berry is the one who I can sometimes go chapters at a time without thinking about, and that's sad because you've done such a great job with her as a character She just sometimes doesn't seem all that relevant to the story, and not quite distinctive enough in her mannerisms to stand out with only minimal screentime (whereas Queen Chrysalis and Princess Twilight, for example, both jump off the page at you with only a single sentence each). And it seems that's steadily becoming more of a problem the longer it gets since the Amicitas needed a pilot.
Hopefully that's just me, though, and to everyone else she's holding her own alongside the rest of them
Very informative. Xd
Do I sense cheery berry having a crush on Mark? Xp
Sounds like spitfire and mark may heading towards a confrontation, the after affects of such a fight won't be pretty for either of them.
Wow, I didn't think of Spitfire as being the problem child before now, but just reading her email makes me think she kind of is. She has serious trust issues with everyone but Cherry Berry, and that's not cool. I can understand Fireball not getting along with her when she treats him with so little respect, despite his seniority in his field. It feels like she's not even really trying, just judging the other crew at face value (like her prickliness towards Mark 'treating her like a child' - he's not trying to treat them like children, and likely her offense at the times when he DOES is making her think he's treating him that way even at times when he isn't).
Hopefully Dragonfly will be able to understand that literally everyone sees through her act and would like her to be more real with them; that'll be a hard lesson to learn due to her past survival habits, but I just bet it has something to do with what's 'missing' from the emotions she's getting from her crewmates. If she can develop a better rapport of trust, a more real kinship/friendship with her crewmates, I just bet it will improve things a lot.
Poor Fireball is from a culture that in general represses 'sappy' emotions, so he doesn't know how to react now that he's actively repressing his dragonish "I'm always right, I'm invincible" instincts, and it's stressing out the others.
Poor Cherry Berry is stuck in the end result of her own professionalism: whether she likes it or not, she has proven herself time and time again to be a capable leader. She's just never had to be a leader in a situation she wasn't passionate about, which is probably why she's doubting herself.
And poor Starlight is probably still in the way of Luna pre-"Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" - still beating herself up over past problems and not realizing that her own guilt-tripping is actually in its own way a kind of selfishness that hurts others. It's hard to forgive ourselves, but we often don't realize that the worst guilt and self-punishment hurts those around us almost or as much as it hurts us ourselves. I hope Dr. Shields can help them resolve some of these things!
(I didn't notice until I went back and spaced this out that I called at least three ponies 'poor'. XD; It's just too accurate a sympathetic adjective, I can't think of alternatives!)
Good job with these chapters, by the way! I think it helps that they're daily (gives me something to look forward to every evening! :D), but it's still really impressive that you can pull off so many self-proclaimed 'fluff' chapters that aren't TECHNICALLY moving the story plot forward, but are still really interesting because we get to see how the characters are interacting and feeling about each other. It feels like it's building towards important character development, and it's interesting seeing what's going on in all of the strandees' heads. You do a great job showing your own understanding of your characters' personalities and quirks and interpersonal connections! So great job on that. ^^ And have fun on your trip!
8807584
Cutie marks are abstractions of ideas, of inspirations, which themselves are not concrete, but malleable.
Trying to define that experience, which is itself a defining moment in a pony's life, with any sort of rigidity or consistency is, funnily enough, a fruitless endeavor.
8807747 I feel like Cherry would agree with you, and that's the bulk of her struggle. A good chunk of her opinion of others was whether or not they would fit her role better.
I hope Shields gets Spitfire those cuss words.
As a huge fan of Starlight, I've got to say the way you write her in this fanfic is consistently fantastic. Nearly every time she does something or is mentioned by someone reminds me of why I like her as an MLP character so much.
By the way for all of the readers, The Martian is on sale at Wal-mart for five bucks. I broke down and bought a copy. (which, if you know how cheap I am, signifies the end of the world)
I should have watched it sooner.
8807584
Perhaps, but we have seen characters acting outwith the remit of their marks more than once, and it makes sense that someone with a mark that really just determines how much they like a thing would have interests and ambitions outside it.
Like Applejack. Apples only really fit most of her motivations and goals as a representation of family and her farm.
8807909
I get paid Thursday. That's worth five bucks, easy.
8807708
THANK YOU! Dragonfly's "act" is literally what's keeping her alive. Her resources are as limited as the others--in her own way, she's farming to get enough sustenance to survive until rescue, and her survival and health depends directly on working to ensure the well-being and survival of everyone else in the Hab.
Except that the "act" really ISN'T an act. She really IS that likeable. And it goes deeper than that--she's dedicated towards protecting her friends and comrades for it's own sake, and not just for the sake of food. I suspect that if something happens to any of the others, she's going to take it as hard, or harder, as Cherry or Glimmer will, and not just because of the reduction in her own rations.
8807747
I think one reason why Cherry doesn't stick out much is because she has only one defining character trait: a pathological obsession with flight. The rest of the crew have more dimensions and character traits that let them bounce off each other even when they don't have the spotlight. She has a similar internal conflict as Spitfire, but without the characterization that has been feeding Spitfire's. Beyond that she's kind of a blank slate, so she doesn't really have anything to do from both a plot and character standpoint.
8807631
This. This so much. It may be "filler" but I'm truly enjoying the look into the basic guts of their personalities. Maybe I'm weird, but I always enjoyed this kind of thing in storytelling.
Not to give the author a big head or anything,* but he's got a real gift for fleshing out believable characters. And crafting D'AWWW moments. Like when ESA passed on the message from Our Little Town to Starlight, and she hid in her bunk. My heart friggin' melted.
*Though it's fine if it inflates just a bit. As a certain Vulcan once said, "The cause is sufficient."
I’m enjoying the series. Putting life into characters and such. It’s nice and a chapter to look forward to is like watching tv sort of
Everyones having the problem of biggening everyone else up while humbling themselves, which in Fireball is giving him HAL head?
Starlight, she believes her entire existance is only for what she can do with magic, no matter her intelligence? Maybe she needs to read a certain book. About a certain human who started off with no magic, and quickly ended up with nothing else, except pure massive black hole intellignce.
Time I think for some Pink Floyd:Division Bell:Keep Talking.
Yeah, sounds like Spitfire is the real problem child of the group. I guess that's not too surprising considering the exceptionally poor attitude the Wonderbolts have displayed in the show, but still. Being placed in a situation where preening and yelling at recruits means nothing and where she is objectively the least impressive/useful individual around must be quite the sore spot for her (overblown) ego.
Who knows, maybe by the time this is over she will come out a better pony if she gets the chance to work it out her system after she has seen what actual talent and ability looks like. If anyone at all needs it, the Wonderbolts sure top that list.
8807602
Maybe her cutie mark just represents that she'll be spreading the love for eating cherries across the universe.
8807584
Well Cherries and especially their flowers have a lot of meanings behind them, especially in the Eastern cultures. They symbolize new beginnings and reneval, they also symbolize fragility of life and grace. All these are something which are quite intergral part of Space flights as we know them. New beginnings in stepping to a greater universe but also with shortness of life which manifests with fiery explosion any flight can turn into.
That or you look at that cutiemark and consider that they might be made out of brass.
8807584
Actually we do, among others in our main character Twilight. She has a cutie mark in magical skill, yet becomes the Princess of Friendship. Pinkie is also kind of a stretch. Her cutie mark is for party organizing, but that's more of a hobby given how nobody pays her for the parties she organizes. Her actual profession is a baker. Ditzy/Derpy has a bunch of bubbles, which doesn't really relate to her profession as a mailmare. Bulk Biceps has a cutie mark for dead lifting, yet his professions are a masseuse and nuts salesman. Sea Swirl has a pair of doplhins, yet she lives nowhere near a place that would let her interact with dolphins. And then there's of course Zephyr Breeze, whose cutie mark isn't related to his profession as a mane stylist.
So it is a thing. A cutie mark is often the sign of a special talent or personality trait, and at the very least something they enjoy doing, but it won't always be a profession they will practice.
Dragonfly's entry:
Now... I'm not saying there's no accuracy here, but it's also one hell of a projection. Dragonfly may not feel guilty (she says she doesn't), but she sure thinks her own past is a problem. Frankly it is, much like Starlight's is, though at least Starlight feels bad about hers. Dragonfly doesn't, despite the pain and suffering she probably caused, relationships and families she may have ruined. I say 'may' because author's saving throw is ever-present with OCs. She might not need one, depending on where this goes, but all I'm saying is 'We did what we had to' is a phrase usually spoken with regret, not indifference. But Dragonfly seems indifferent. Maybe she really doesn't deserve their love. Is that what frightens her? The notion of earning that love, rather than swindling it away from others (or scheming, that being the preferred term), probably does scare her. Unless I'm wrong and she's actually a psychopath who's really only worried about them as food. Going feral would mean burning through them and then dying herself, one way or another. ...Again, quite the projection here.
Spitfire complains about how she behaves and I don't blame her. It's the clearest example of Dragonfly treating them like food. Her body may be trying to grow Thorax wings (hopefully not full Thorax...), or that 'new queen' metamorphosis that someone mentioned, but she's holding herself back by trying to micromanage everyone's emotional state rather than immersing herself in bonding with them. She feels it's her business the same way your boss feels your work is his business. They're both technically right... but being micromanaged is still annoying as hell. It'd be especially so for Spitfire, since she's used to being the boss.
8807572
I more object to the translation. It is hard to believe that a translation would bring up cutie mark as a term. Talent mark, destiny mark, or something, but cutie mark isnt really something that would happen naturally.
If you used Discord as a translator or a spell that made proper nouns into puns instead of nonsense, maybe.
8807687
Uh... yeah I dunno about that observation. Why would it be alien or strange, exactly? Trixie, Season 1, does plenty of provoking (still kinda does, she even provokes Starlight a fair bit, it's just kinda who she is). And that's only one example. Hell, most of Dash's insecurities trace back to being bullied, possibly Fluttershy's as well. Ponyville has caught the 'let's all be assholes' bug a couple times, at least. It makes as much sense as the mass panics everyone loves bringing up, but it happens. And then there's most of Canterlot's nobility. Ponies have their share of jerks to the point that it's not a foreign concept to them. I'd say less 'It's so strange how this guy is such a jerk' and more 'I wish this guy wasn't such a jerk'. The way you word that... it kind of feels like you're seeing them the way Mark does.
8808233 Starlight would have put extra work into that translation as part of her essays on pony magic. The root word is "cute" in both languages, so it wouldn't be hard for her to get to "cutie".
Missed an 'R'.
Family Time should certainly be interesting given the disparity between self-image and how each views the others. This could be very good or very bad. Or both, for different people. Definitely looking forward to the good doctor's individual responses.
8808264 That's a fair point, thank you for pointing it out.
I do think there are some grounds for it, though. While there are, as you say, ponies who behave in that way, I think their culture leads more towards friendship resolution than ours. Fireball is flying deliberately in the face of something ponies have a princess to celebrate. And I agree with your comparison with Trixie, though it Starlight here who seems most frustrated with Fireball, despite being Trixie's best friend.
Would it be fair to say that I think Fireball's behaviour would be more mystifying for a pony than for a human?
8808360 Starlight isn't mystified. She's frustrated.
8808264
Agreed. And fireball's behavior is rather obvious. He's a "Big Strong Tough Dragon" who doesn't do 'feelings and stuff'. Someone really needs to get it through to him that he's literally got nobody for a universe and a half he needs to maintain a reputation in front of, and he's allowed to let out that he's just as terrified of dying nigh instantly as everyone else.
And that hugs are okay.