Sol 234
AMICITAS FLIGHT THREE – MISSION DAY 236
ARES III SOL 234
Starlight Glimmer looked at her math one more time.
Six batteries were sequestered for making more batteries. At a recharge rate of six percent per day (a little less than that, really, since the new alfalfa plantings were still immature and the potato plants Dragonfly had eaten to make her cocoon had generally not sprouted back), the six batteries would make four new ones at full strength, with a comfortable power margin, every eighteen days.
Three batteries (two regular ones and the half-power prototype) stayed at the Hab for immediate use. The Hab’s farm, being slower, only added a little to the recharge provided by the permanent inhabitants, giving the batteries a four percent per day recharge rate.
This left, for the moment, a bank of ten batteries to be used for major projects, to be swapped out when one of the hab batteries had to be completely drained, or- most important, now- providing a brief daily dose of magic energy for all the occupants of the cave, including the cocooned Dragonfly.
If the batteries were all full (they weren’t- the harvest, the dismantling of the engines, the engine test, and the fact that four of them were made only a couple of days before explained that), then the daily charges of nine of them would add up to fifty-four percent of the capacity of the tenth. That meant one battery could be rigged for field projection and run for about seventeen minutes, then connected in series to the others and recharged from them.
But since the batteries were not in fact full, that seventeen minutes became eight. If Mars had taught them anything it was that magic power could never be taken for granted, and you could never have enough of it. It collected in the batteries slowly and discharged so fast you could watch the manameter dropping. And major workings, cast in a dire emergency, could- and in the past did- wipe out four or eight or however many batteries in a single spell. You couldn’t burn a whole day’s charging on a few minutes of magic, not if you wanted the juice to be there when you really, desperately needed a spell to prevent disaster.
So. Eight minutes.
There ought to be something productive she could do with the magic field during the eight minutes it would run today. Unfortunately she couldn’t think of any. Mending spells would suck up most of the field, and anyway they had nothing recently enough broken for the spell to be effective. There wasn’t enough power to spare yet to make a new battery, even if they’d brought a casing for one. She could gather salt… but the soil in the cave had had quite enough stuff magically yanked out already.
“Mark,” she said to the human sitting beside the cocoon, helmet off but the rest of his suit still on, “I need a timer for eight minutes.”
“Okay, can do.” Mark’s suit had two display modes: a keyboard and micro-monitor on one arm, and a larger heads-up display projected inside the helmet. For this application the helmet wasn’t required, and Mark punched keys for a little bit before saying, “Ready to go on your mark.”
“Now,” Starlight said, and as Mark hit the button to start the countdown she switched the battery to discharge, sending arcs of pure mana up the improvised aerials. The colors around them lost their washed-out, ghostly appearance, becoming what they ought to be. The cave felt a little bit more like home, a feeling that ran down into Starlight’s bones.
Home. Heh. At home she’d have been able to think of something useful to do with magic. But at home there was all sorts of magic, all sorts of possibilities.
Before she realized it, she began singing:
Home
I can’t help but feel its pull
Where everything’s magical
There’s nothing that’s impossible
If I were home
If I were home
The spells I’d cast would hypnotize
Rainbow lights to fill the skies
Nobody would believe their eyes
If I were home
The magic field swirled slightly, and Cherry Berry, caught in the eddy, sang as well.
If I were home
My pleasures would be plain and few
I’d eat a cherry, maybe two
There’s nothing I couldn’t do
If I were home
The field’s ripples caught Spitfire in their grip next, and she completed the verse:
If I were home
I’d fly straight back to my home town
I’d soar the skies for miles around
You’d never get me back to ground
If I were home
The three ponies joined in harmony for the chorus:
Home
You’re so close and yet so far away
We miss you more each and every day
We go to bed every night saying
I want to go home
The magic light of the arcing mana battery sparkled across the crystals around and above them, and as the colored lights glittered music began to play, a tinkling, chiming music that echoed from the crystals, sweet and yet lonesome beyond words.
The magic swept up Mark, which to Starlight’s sight took a double wrap around him before his untrained voice managed to find the tune and the words:
If I were home
I’d spend a week just going outside
Get in my car and enjoy the ride
All of my wishes satisfied
If I were home
Fireball, the most resistant to magic songs, was the last to be caught up, his voice deeper and rougher than the others, but perfectly suited for the moment.
If I were home
Back to my cave and I’d walk right in
I wouldn’t leave it ever again
My wandering would be at an end
If I were home
Another chorus, as the crystal chimes played sweeping glissandos and arpeggios behind the astronaut voices, all woven together by the unleashed magic:
Home (the third planet from the sun)
Back to the place where we belong (Had my mission, now I’m done)
Never meant to stay away this long
Wouldn’t have to sing this song
If we were home
The music subsided a bit, swimming around the theme for a moment as Cherry Berry wandered over to Dragonfly’s cocoon. She laid a hoof on it and sang:
If you were home
You wouldn’t have to stay in there
You could run and fly without a care
You’d do what no one else would dare
If you were home
And Starlight took the rest of the verse, as the others hummed agreement to her words:
If I were home
I’d have options without end
I’d spend more time with my friends
I’d see my father once again
If I were home
The music rose again as five voices (Mark echoing the pony voices) sang their homesickness in perfect tune with the sounds of light glinting off quartz:
Home (over two hundred million miles)
Back in the arms of the ones we love (I close my eyes and see their smiles)
Safe return from the stars above
What wouldn’t we do if only we could go home
The music ceased its swooping, picking clean, distinct notes as the song bounced from singer to singer in a building frenzy:
Wake at dawn to go ballooning
Eat a gem and sleep till noon-ing
Fly a kite up to the cloudtops
Swoop so low I scatter dewdrops
Walk the beach at Galveston
Surf lava from dusk till dawn
Ride the train to anywhere
Read a book, Wash my hair
Los Pegasus, Magnificent Mile
See the world, Rest a while
Cherries, pizza, ruby ice cream
Luna guarding every dream
Baseball games at Wrigley Park
The way the stars shine after dark
The crystal music crashed together, as did the singers’ voices, as the song reached its climax:
To see again familiar places
To see the smiles on people’s faces
The fact that cannot be erased is
This rusty rock in outer space is
So far
So very, very far…
The music died for a moment as the singers named their homes:
Dragonlands
Chicago
Cloudsdale
Ponyville
So far, and yet so close
If I were home
Softly, bittersweetly, the five voices sang the last words, the cave chimed its last chimes, and then the magic released them, replacing the music pulled out of their hearts with the silence of Mars.
“Um,” Mark muttered, reluctantly breaking the moment, “maybe we should turn the battery off?”
“Let it run to the timer,” the unicorn said. “The song just dropped us. Turning off the magic right now would drop us harder.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I can get behind that,” Mark said. “I mean, it’s one thing to watch you guys doing that, but to become a part of it-“
“We don’t talk about it,” Starlight Glimmer said.
“Ever,” Fireball added with emphasis.
“I don’t blame you,” Mark said. “I don’t think I have words for what I just… I mean, wow. The words were just… well, I guess they came from the same place the music-“
“Mark?”
“Yeah, Starlight?”
“When I said we don’t talk about it, I meant stop talking about it.”
“Oh. Yeah. Sorry about that.”
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First rule of Pony Songs? Don't talk about Pony Songs.
Second rule of Pony Songs? Seriously, don't talk about Pony Songs.
You know, assuming ponies and humans maintain some contact after the story is all said and done, they are going to have issues with human contact if there's a flat refusal to talk about magic songs. Because if the internet has taught me anything, it's that people won't let stuff go.
great update!
I wonder if Mark is getting more magically attuned after being around it so much (and the whole feeding thing). It would be interesting if he started picking up some earth pony abilities while working with Cheery. I imagine that no one would notice it right away.
Touching
😂
8930262
Hmmm, a human acquiring passive magic after spending a lot of time around ponies? I've seen that before, in The Lawyer and the Unicorn. Clearly, Equestrian magic is compatible with Mark's biology, so I'd love to see what comes of that.
8930254
Are you sure about that?
i.pinimg.com/originals/b7/3a/b7/b73ab7451770ed2b51e4d08c1ad79411.jpg
8930284
And all food has been grow with their magic, and the alfalfa is from Equstria. Seems like he would be getting a lot of exposure.
Now that's touching. Surprised Sojourner wasn't shown a bit watching them all and took pictures of them singing.
8930289
Better version: derpicdn.net/img/2015/3/24/856401/large.png
....Um.... I may have... come up with a tune to go with the song... >.> I was really inspired, it was so pretty.
Would, uh... would anyone like to hear it? I recorded it on my phone. ^^; My voice isn't FANTASTIC but I don't think it's too awful. And I don't wanna mess with you, Kris, I know how it is when someone comes up with a different tune than the one you intended.
Beautiful chapter.
Usually musical fanfics are to be derided.
But the quality of this one has decided,
perhaps I should shuck my dreading
and embrace a different heading.
Music numbers aren't so bad,
even if colored text tis had.
Especially as this chap shows
when the song tis original prose.
So is there any particular song which you had in mind when you wrote this? I'm trying to put it together in my head and work out the way the lines are sung, and I have some ideas, but it'd be nice to know what your inspiration might have been and see if I can have a more authentic version running through my head.
"full (they weren’t"
I can't seem to find the close parenthesis to that, and the paragraph reads oddly to me. Was it supposed to be around here?
"of days before, then the"
"The music ceased it swooping"
"The music ceased its swooping"?
I think that the chapter turned out quite well, though. :)
I was hoping for the Invasion of Space Penguins....
8930357
Free protein!
I swear, if Sojourner had started dancing with the rest of them.....
Haikukukachoo:
ºUº
Wonderful story
Chapter one thirty-seven
Kind Muse shared heaven
^U^
8930341 If I had any particular song in my head I can't name it.
There's probably something extremely biologically significant implied by the fact that Mark is capable of being swept up in a heartsong.
8930310 You should share it, but I may have to record my own so I don't lose it if and when I hear yours.
8930419
Yeah definitely, I wouldn't want you to lose the original tune! Thanks, it's not that great a recording but I kinda like the tune so I'll see if I can get it up in a bit. ^^
For anyone interested, this is the tune I came up with for the song. I have permission from Kris Overstreet to post this. Such a pretty song, and I didn't want to lose the tune that popped into my head. ^^ (Sorry for the rough spots.)
"Home (Martian's Lament)" by Kris Overstreet
Wow I wish that had audio accompaniment, but it was also so good without that I feel like anything I heard wouldn't match up to the ideal of what I read, and I'd just be disappointed afterwards. Perhaps better to just imagine it, and let it be the perfect song in my memory.
I got the tune of a broadway melody when they sang that. With a hint of opera. Great little piece there, it gave me a tear on my eye.
I paused from writing a scene in my own story of characters being homesick for Earth to read this chapter. I don't know what to say other than I am impressed and a little envious of this.
This was beautiful - rarely have I seen a song in a MLP fic that felt so authentic and moving. Even if you used the sin of colored text to bring it about
Any chance the emotionally charged magic created some sort of a resonance during the song that would have allowed Home to actually pick it up and further zero in on the right dimension?
8930505 Considering how often the creatures of Equus break into well-choreographed song and dance without warning, I'd guess that heartsongs barely count as spells, especially since they can't be cast on purpose.
Ok, genuinly chuckling at the last few lines.
(Genuinly hopes that little number helped dragonfly)
8930511
I figure it must be a natural manifestation of Harmony.
Bravo! Bravo! 😀
I almost forgot that musicals are second nature to ponies.
8930381
It probably did a little shimmy, but at a very low angular velocity.
8930262
Careful. There still is a chance of Xenophilia scenario.
JK. Kris had the decency to come up with an original - and touching - song and in X., I believe, the main character there once sang a hymn from Bioshock to the Best Princess.
Although I wish they had some musical instruments. As the other Chris showed us, a guitar would do nicely...
8930463
Ouch, it made my ears hurt... the audio quality is low, the volume is very high, and you breathe directly into the mic on the harsh sounds of each words. On the plus side what little I listened to had a beautiful voice and tune. I just couldn't listen to it for long.
8930463
A bit rough, but I definitely get what you were going for. Maybe next time, hold the microphone a little farther away so you don't get all those pops and hisses. Listening while following along in the text, I can mentally substitute each character's voice, add some music, and get something really fantastic.
You have a good singing voice, and I like the tune you came up with; you did the best with what you had on hand. Maybe you can get permission from 8930419 to commission a proper cover of this song. I'd definitely like to see that!
No tears for the writer? No tears for the reader.
There were tears. I'm at work... and there were tears. Ah well.
That was amazing work. Well worth the time spent, in my opinion.
Damn that made me weep a wee bit after re-reading.
Tho both times I expected Crayolafly to join the chorus.
8930607
Cant say I blame you. ^^; It was a rather spur of the moment thing but I probably should have tried to redo it for a hopefully better sound file. Glad you liked the idea of it, thanks for the honest feedback!
8930614
Aw thanks, I really appreciate it! If I could figure out how to record on my computer then I might have a chance at a cleaner recording, my headset mic is pretty good. Would definitely love to hear how someone with real audio/music skills could come up with! Sadly I do not knows the ways of the magical music maker programs. XD; Thank you for the feedback!
How's the buffer doing now? Is it dead again?
Jeez, Dragonfly is trying to sleep there, have some decency.
Thanks for the song. It was beautiful.
8930463
As you and others have said, yes, it's a little rough, but it gets the melody across. I'm tempted to transcribe it in some way, to get the notes on paper or digital sheet music, at which point the harmonies and chords could be figured out, and from there, full instrumentation.
When I click "permalink" or "comment", I get an error page. What happened? Also, can you provide an MP3 download or would I have to record it in long form to Audacity?
8930505
Hush, colored text worked perfectly for this to convey who was singing without additional text getting in the way.
8930511
What is the official title of this song?
I dont know but Ive been told,
Singing Songs is getting old.
No more song and no more dance,
We might as well go wait in France.
Marching songs, Drinking songs, Rowing songs, Slave songs, when in human history did the synchronising cadence of the voice become so heavily discriminated against and suppresed? As recent as music companies demanding their cut? Then again, there is the ban on commercial music radio in the workplace cos of license requirements, and whistling Happy Birthday could get you a CnD from Stevie Wonders lawyers?
If its been shown that AI can now make new and unique celebrity style faces, and human sounding voices, how long before the Freddy Mercury singing chip, given copyright on induviduals? Or by Maretian, would it be in the 60s at all? Beatles, Rolling Stones etc?
8930253
I'd like to see Mark post that back to NASA, then having it hit the press.
Just, no explanation, Mark's never going to give one and purposefully ignores any request to clarify, just gives it the Fight Club treatment and leaves it alone.
The mind boggles what people on Earth would think of it.
So were they all singing in English, or equestrian or other?
8930697
What's it matter when they sing together? They are all homesick. Just a song with friends just enjoy it.
8930689
Actually, that was a thing in medieval Europe time, they still don't know the reason (mass psychosis was one of versions).
Sometimes I wish I could sing. And Kris actually managed make me to hear the same (?) music he had in head, so there must be something.