ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic developed for television by Lauren Faust
The Martian written by Andy Weir
No ownership is claimed to either property.
DEDICATION
To Admiral Biscuit, who made me say, "I want to try that"...
and to Honda, for making a van that got over 300,000 miles before costing me enough money that it became urgently required that I "try that."
NOTES ON THE STORY
This story assumes a basic working knowledge of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and the world therein. Most of the series is canonical to this story, with a few specific exceptions (most notably the Season Six finale). The comics and other ephemera are not canonical to this story.
This story occurs subsequent to the planned conclusion of Changeling Space Program. However, it was written not only to make it unnecessary to read that work but to actively avoid whenever possible spoilers for the planned conclusion of that story.
Likewise, this story was written to reduce the need to be familiar with Andy Weir's The Martian. (The original novel was the primary source for this story, with the movie used only for select details.) However, reading the novel is still strongly recommended for two reasons. First, reading the novel allows the reader to compare and contrast the altered and parallel situations between the two scenarios- Mark Watney alone and Mark Watney with visitors from a magical world. Second, on a great many occasions I deliberately avoided scenes which would have constituted either a direct repeat or a direct re-write of scenes extant in the novel. Although over three times the length of Weir's work, The Maretian is by no means a complete chronicle of the events that take place within its span, and reading the original book will help the reader fill in some gaps left by my decision not to redo what had been done.
WITH THANKS TO:
The readers (who enthusiastically called my attention to the handful of typos I let slip through each chapter while under the deadline gun and who debated points of technology and magic up one side and down the other);
The scientists of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratories, whose work with various Martian missions provided almost all we know about the second most habitable planet in the solar system;
Evening Star and the late HarmonyPony on YouTube, who along with Kevin MacLeod provided much of the soundtrack used to aid in concentration while I was writing this; and
the late Douglas Adams, who along with Terry Pratchett and Lois McMaster Bujold is possibly the most influential author on my own writing style, and whose sense of both humor and adventure strongly influenced this work.
AND SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Canary in the Coal Mine, and his deep pockets.
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Got a cliff notes version of how it escaped the magic-launch storm?
Once more unto the Feature Box, dear friends...
Thought that I could sense a fellow strag when reading this.
Good luck with Changeling Space Program! I just got myself up to date with that and eagerly await more.
Lois McMaster Bujold is my hero.
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To those in the future reading this for the first time, there will be Math. You have been warned.
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*SpOOKY bUggO nOIseS*
Dear old friends, remember Novarro...
It was nice to see this story in the feature box one last time. Living proof that this story was so much bigger than it ever really got credit for...
Ah! So Terry Pratchet was an inspiration to you too? I love his books! My favourite probably being ‘the amazing Maurice and his educated rodents’ it’s my favourite book ever no joke XD
Oh and yes you’ve probably seen me a couple times since back in January when this story started :) just wanted to say I’m still here and diligently reading this amazing (and probably best) fimfic ive ever read :D I’m also going to take a look a admiral since he inspired you to do this and you speak of him so highly. He must be worth checking out :P
RIP Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett.
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*Spooked pone noises*
I had no clue I missed out on the forward when it was released.
Godspeed, Kris. Godspeed.
9398867 Godspeed?? You make it sound like I wrote a suicide note instead of a foreword! I'm not dead, nor am I quitting the fandom. I just finished a story. There'll be others. (Hell, there have been two others plus a chapter of CSP since I wrote "The End" on this.)
It's been two years. Two years since I've last read through this story, and by god it hit me like a ton of extra-dense bricks, when out of the blue, I thought:
'Hey, you remember that one story you read and absolutely loved…? The one with the ponies (and human) astronauts stranded on Mars? That very one that updated on a DAILY BASIS FOR A SOLID YEAR that I would read the next chapter every morning on the bus?'
"Yeah. I remember that story. Why?"
'… Wanna read it again?'
"…"
All in all, I have no idea nor resentment if you don't remember me (after all, I'm just another reader in the crowd), but I just feel the need to say that despite the years between, I've never dropped this little take on Weir's 'The Martian' below my absolute favourite-of-all-time fanfics. Hope that brings a smile to your face from a returning admirer! I can't wait to start getting through this again, since I remember just enough for it to be memorably awesome in general concept, however it's also been just long enough to the point that I've managed to forget/blur many of the unexpected plot-twists, which should make re-reading just as thrilling and surprising. :D
By Lunas nightsky! If i comment on every chapter someones notification box will explode... PRICELESS
10586015 Cute. Your timing was a little off, though; you did this about the same time my notifications from the last chapter of CSP were timing out, which means my 'unread notifications' number is actually DOWN from noon today.
oh forgot to mention this on your last story but every time winter wrap up was mentioned it was spelled winter ramp up sorry that I didn't mention it sooner but I was just mostly ingrained in your story
10590665 It's not a misspelling. "Winter Ramp-Up" is my term for what happens in "Tanks For the Memories," i. e. the preparation for and onset of winter. It's the OPPOSITE of Winter Wrap-Up.
Time to make the message box explode again
Wow... This chapter is comment wise pretty dead