Later
MISSION LOG – HERMES MISSION DAY 754
The Sparkle Drive is ticking over nicely, this time at a sustainable level, even considering that it’s moving all of Hermes. We’ll be in position to begin aerobraking passes in two days. That means, if all goes well, we’ll be downside in a week.
I had a lot of time to think during my weeks on the pony planet. And it’s a really different planet from Earth. For all its nations and its many intelligent species, it’s surprisingly empty compared to Earth. There are the cities in the clouds, the huge castle city perched on the sheer cliff, and all sorts of other things.
But in a more fundamental way, it’s so very much like Earth.
I got to see the underground caverns and the castle under construction of the changelings. I rode in a balloon piloted by Cherry Berry to the pony version of Las Vegas. I met the Dragonlord and the Princess of Friendship. I got to watch two ponies literally raise the sun and moon. And I’ve eaten apples which, if cultivated on Earth, would drive every other cultivar out of the market within a decade.
And everywhere, all the ponies and changelings and dragons, and also buffalo, yaks, hippogriffs, griffons, minotaurs, or other stuff, were just like people on Earth. Some are dicks, but most of them are good people. And when they see one of their buddies in trouble, they do everything they can to help.
I’m only alive today because the people of two entire planets, not even in the same universe, did everything in their power to save my ass. The same goes for Cherry Berry, Starlight Glimmer, Fireball, Dragonfly, and Spitfire. NASA’s equipment, their work with Pathfinder, their design of the Whinnybago; the pony space agency’s magic tech, advice on spellcasting, and of course the final rescue.
I’ll probably never see my Martian pony friends again, but the year and a half I spent with them gives me hope for our future- for our universe’s future. We have met aliens, and it turns out they are very much like us. We learned each other’s languages, shared each other’s culture and jokes, and risked our lives for each other. We shared the same concepts, the same values, the same feelings.
The next time we meet aliens, we may not be so lucky. But my experience suggests that we’ll find a way. People are people. You can’t build a society that can reach the stars without first learning how to work together and treat each other right. Honesty, generosity, loyalty, kindness, laughter- these aren’t just virtues. They’re requirements.
I don’t think we have to worry about Klingons. At worst, we have to worry about us. We humans have a lot of black spots in our history. But I believe we’re getting better.
Now that I’m about to come home, after two years in space, I think I’ll always be grateful for this experience. I’ve been part of the greatest adventure imaginable, and I shared that adventure with five wonderful people. And we survived it all by working together and being the best friends to each other we could be.
I’m glad it happened, and I’m fucking glad it’s over.
Goodbye, friends, and thanks.
Mark Watney
aboard NASA exploration vessel Hermes
July 11, 2037
Dear Mark,
Thanks for your message! It’s good to know the enchanted diaries work across worlds! I was afraid the low-magic environment on your side would break the enchantment, but I guess not, obviously, since I can read what you write in your book!
My life is beginning to get back to normal. I’m not chipping my teeth with my spoon anymore, and I don’t rip doorlatches off with my magic now. I’m helping Twilight Sparkle study the computer Fireball kept. She thinks she can use a more complex version of the enchantment we use for our version of television to replicate the operating system- and even network multiple devices across Equestria! (Though we’re on the lookout in case two particular unicorn brothers come snooping…)
I’m sorry you won’t get to show us around Earth the way we showed you around Equestria. But I’m also glad I didn’t have to go. It’s been such a very long time since we all left. I for one am still meeting ponies I haven’t seen in a year and a half. Every day I look at some thing or place and think, “This isn’t Mars anymore.”
The worst thing is when I’m casting a spell, and all of a sudden I freak out because there’s not a battery anywhere in sight and I’m about to drain myself dry again- or worse- and I panic. Twilight and Spike are helping me through that, though. I don’t know what I’d do without them- probably try to conquer the world again- .
The wild magic crystals seem to like Equestria very much. The castle is so enchanted that the rainbow enchantment can’t catch there, but my friend Maud (you remember her, right) loves how they brighten her home. Still, we’re going to keep them in controlled settings until we’re sure how to erase the enchantment should it mutate or get out of control. Discord says he’ll be happy to take them off our hooves if that happens, but… well, we’ll see!
Glad to hear you’ve landed all right. Write me often!
Starlight Glimmer
Dear Mark,
No, I’m not jealous that you have lots of sexy women trying to throw themselves at you. After all, they’ll never have what the two of us had together, will they? No matter what happens, we’ll always have Hazzard County!
Thanks for asking how I am. Physically, I’m doing better. I’m getting my strength back. I’ve even visited Spitfire a couple times so we can work out together. She’s getting better too, but she’s not satisfied. We both want to get back to our peak performance.
Mentally is another matter. Oh, I guess I’m better than I was- I’m not hearing voices from things anymore. (Though my queen didn’t so much as crack a smile when I told her about it. She was very interested in that dream I had coming out of the cocoon, though.) But… well… I don’t like my fellow changelings as much as I used to.
To be honest (and don’t tell my queen!) I’m thinking about moving out.
I haven’t done it yet because there are still some changelings I like being around. Occupant is nice enough, and Lucky Cricket, and some others… but way too many of my brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and whatever are still the same kind of monster we were in the Bad Old Days Which, I think, Are Not Over Enough. They still see ponies as food or the enemy, nothing else. And I don’t want to be around them, because I feel like I might go back to that too if I stick around.
My queen is kind of in the middle. She still talks about conquest and about how ponies or changelings must rule, one or the other, like that… but every day she asks after Cherry Berry. And there are other ponies, like Moondancer at ESA for instance, who she respects and might actually like. I keep asking myself which is the real Chrysalis… which is probably one reason why she’s a queen and I’m not.
But the biggest reason I’m still here is, I want to fly again. Even just once, I want to fly again, just to show that the last time wasn’t the end. Also, I’m curious to know if, once I’m far enough out in space, I might hear the voices again.
Yeah, maybe I’m not as much better mentally as I thought. Sane people don't want to hear voices in their head. I’ll keep you informed.
In the meantime, I’m training someone for future missions- one of my younger sisters, Ocellus. She’s very smart, but she’s so shy you’d never know it. Would you believe she actually got a degree from that school of Twilight Sparkle’s? (I can’t believe my queen even let her go! And I really can't believe she let her come back after!)
Let me know when your people work out a way of getting here! I’d love to see you again! (See what I did there?)
Dragonfly
Dear Mark,
I have a plant now. It is a cactus. I am calling it Venkat because it is prickly. It sits in my windowsill above the chest I keep my hoard in.
I am taking catchup classes at the University of Manehattan. I don’t know what degree I want yet, but it all seems interesting. I never would have thought I would find pony school interesting before my time on Mars.
Whatever else happens, when I am done here I will be useful to a lot more people- ponies, dragons, or whatever. I won’t have to settle for just being the guy who picks things up. I will be good for something. Good for what I don’t know yet.
I went to visit the bug last week. She’s doing well. We might get together once a month, the five of us. We’re still talking about if it should be Cape Friendship, Canterlot, or Ponyville. Spitfire and Cherry can’t come to Manehattan without a crowd of ponies bothering them.
I wish it was the six of us. I think I might have quartz sprinkles on my lunch today to remind me of Mars. Not all of it was terrible. Maybe you could eat some potato and think of us.
Later.
Fireball
Mark,
Thanks for write me. Sorry my English bad. I do not practice. I work on flying.
Practice is hard. One hundred wing push, twelve times around track on hoof, then fly. Still too slow. Much much too slow. Mars steal that from me.
But I remember you say: if I give up, Mars wins. So I keep work working. I will be a Wonderbolt again.
Good luck with your thesis, what that is.
Spitfire
Dear Mark,
Congratulations, Dr. Watney! You earned that degree!
How’s training astronauts going? I’m now helping teach the new generation of astronauts for CSP. I don’t know if I’m ready to go up in a rocket again yet. I’m in no hurry. I know you wanted to see Mars, but I was never interested in seeing other worlds. I just want to fly. But, because I wanted to fly, I’ve now stood on four different worlds, and that’s the only thing any pony cares about. I’m really not interested in a fifth.
Starlight told me what you told her about being a hero. It’s all true. Why don’t everybody chase Starlight or Fireball or Dragonfly? They were all more useful than me, and they have their lives back. I didn’t do anything other than survive. You could have made the farm work without me, and aside from that the only thing I really did was get the ship down in the first place.
But that was enough. There’s not that many places I can go anymore and be left alone to do what I want. I used to be an ordinary, uninteresting pony, and that’s how I still feel. That’s how I want to be again- just a pony who flies a balloon now and then.
I still fly, of course, whenever I can. I have my balloons, which you saw. I never did get to show you my biplane or my helicopter. I go up a lot just to be up, by myself (except for passing pegasi). I spent so long on Mars without the privilege. And I carry lunch. Cherries still taste wonderful at ten thousand hooves, but now it’s because of two reasons. The old reason is, they’re cherries. The new reason is, they’re not hay or potatoes.
Part of me wants to fly a rocket again. I am the most experienced pilot in our world- Chrysalis and Rainbow Dash have more flight time now, but neither of them have piloted a MAV. But I’m afraid that if I go back up, next time I might not come back down. I was stranded on Mars for so long. Where will I be stranded next? If flying a rocket means giving up cherries or flying balloons or living in Ponyville, the price is too high… but I still want to fly. I don’t know what I think, really.
So for now I’m enjoying just being home, and putting up with signing things for ponies and teaching new astronauts the basics of rocket operations. There’s a dragon called Smolder that has potential. She has a pony friend- a classmate from Twilight’s school, I understand- who’s interested in ground support. And they have a griffon friend who just kind of hangs out. He’s not a flight candidate- he can’t stand being in a closed place. And there are changelings, several pegasi, a couple of hippogriffs, another griffon, and even an Abyssinian named Tom. (I haven’t let him hear those Earth songs about Tom- it might be bad luck.)
I hope your students are as interesting as mine. I know your people are pickier than we are, but I think we’ll do all right. We’re making plans for a return to Bucephalous, to orbit and study for a future landing. We’re taking ideas from Project Ares, but with Concordia and the Sparkle Drive instead of Hermes. I’m looking forward to the mission… from the ground, I think. I’ve had enough red planets.
Hope to see you again one day.
Love,
Cherry Berry
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I looked to see if this had updated FIVE SECONDS BEFORE IT DID.
Why the hell did refreshing work?
"Im thinking about moving out"
"I'd love to see you again"
numerous lightbulbs go off for sequel thanks to our favorite lovebug
Joking (or is it :wink:) aside, the base plan I have in mind as a sequel... Well, really won't be a true "sequel" at first, the first part will be about Mark's time on Eques before moving on towards *AFTER* a stabile diminsional link has been established. Think the beginning of Changeling Space Program but 2.0, as both worlds adapt from the other. There will be a scene I got baselined, of all 6 Maretains, back on Mars but with the Ares III crew with them.
The reason I dropped that many spoilers is simple: a taste of what's to come
9238090
I was reading CSP when my Gmail notification went off for this update
9238103
Please, Please, PLEASE allow Mark to meet Discord and say that he sounds like John De Lancie, then Discord makes a Star Trek joke. Because that sounds like what a nerd would do when he meets Discord, and Discord is an entertainer at heart...s.
I am gonna be so sad when the final chapter posts. I'm gonna miss these guys.
That is an odd thing. I would have considered Rainbow Dash wouldn't want to go anywhere near space after seeing what happened to one of her idols. There is nothing so humbling as the realization that your health can be stolen so easily.
oh wow...
Mark Watney PHD in .... growing stuff.
How is his astronaut training the newbies going? How is the earth handling the new tech? Is a space ship being planned? The magic book is a good sign.
And I love how things are going. I love how you included the student six. and I wonder by Dr. Watney time did Dragonfly move out? Or is she still in the hive?
So many questions that I don't know will be anwered in the next chapter, but I have loved every single day of reading these chapters. I have stayed with the story since chapter one, I am excited and joyful at seeing this story come to a close, but sad that it is coming to a close.
I like how their is mentions of the freakouts with the batteries, does that mean Twilight would have had to take away the batteries from Starlight at times? As she was using them as a crutch? That actually seems like an interesting one shot. Does Spitfire become a wonderbolt again? And I am happy to see Fireball going to school.... because of how long Dragons live, I wonder, does he get multiple PhD's? And will the horde grow?
I wonder how Groot is doing? I am sad that Cherry wouldn't have mentioned Groot in her letter to Mark. I think with everything that happened that would have been something they would be reporting back on. After all the Cherry Tree started life on Mars. What would that mean?
I am curious as to Groots fate.
And Why Queen Bug was interested in Dragonfly's hearing voices from inanimate objects. Is it because of what she was hearing from Equuis from orbit herself? As mentioned a few times in reading the Changeling Space Program? Wow I remembered that tidbit just now, cool.
Anyway my review/barage of questions should end here. I look forward to the next chapter or two... maybe three counting the apendex? I am a little lost on your author comments, I am banking on two counting the apendex but I will not lock in that thought just yet.
When Dragonfly wrote about the voices, something bubbled up from the back of my brain.
Some of you may know that if you find a place that is quiet, really quiet—designed to block out all external noise and as much internal white noise as possible—you can hear ridiculous things like your own heartbeat, your own lungs working, maybe even your blood flowing through your veins.
Taken away from being immersed in their home planet's magic field, away from the everpresent noise of the life forces changelings are attuned to, what would they hear?
9238109
No comment
A changeling never reveals all their secrets
Did I skip over something, or did I forget?
When did Mark do the thesis?
Anyways, congratulations Dr. Watney!
9238134
you didn't miss anything, it is a time skips through the journal entries.
Time was passing and the last one was after Dr. Watney defended his thesises and became a Dr. Owner of a Ph.D.
IT was to show that years were passing by and they were all trying to get back to life as normal human and pony beings.
9238120
Groot is going to write his own letter. Spoiler: it's three words long.
9238140
*Breaks up laughing*
Good one, good one, I enjoyed your response.
wait a sec.......... OH GOD!!! they're going to make the internet!
EVERYONE TAKE COVER!!!!
catplanet.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Take-cover.jpg
Final Chapter coming... The Return.
I demand Firefly x Mark romance!!!!
Beyond that, cute and heartwarmingly endearing. I just hope they manage to meet again while alive
XD
I LOVE that you snuck in stuff from the most recent episodes in there! The mention of the kids was great! And oh my word, this gave me such an intriguing idea: what if Cozy Glow had succeeded in this universe, but all the magic went to MARK's universe? I can't even imagine the chaos that would cause, but it would be fascinating. XD I doubt I'd be up for writing that kind of lengthy fanfiction-of-a-fanfiction but MAN I would love to see what someone could do with it! Can't wait to see how it all wraps up! This has been a very satisfying close-out so far. =)
Just have Starlight wear a portable battery. 😘
Maybe if they get Internet working, video conferencing can be a thing?
"do with out them"
"do without them"?
"conquer the world again- ."
Is there something missing there?
"Why don’t everybody chase Starlight"
"Why doesn't everybody chase Starlight"?
Or was that in character?
"and the Sparkle instead"
"and the Sparkle Drive instead"?
D'awwww ~
Queens need to keep appearances, Dragonfly. She can't just come off as too friendly, even if she's not fooling anyone.
9238195
she maybe look like a ninja then
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/naruto/images/5/52/Stationary_Communication_Device.png/revision/latest?cb=20120524115731
Ah! You mentioned Ocellus! I'm guessing she looks like this here:
derpicdn.net/img/view/2018/3/28/1693098__artist+needed_source+needed_safe_ocellus_alternate+color+palette_changeling_pre+changedling+ocellus_recolor_simple+background_smiling_transpar.png
https://derpibooru.org/tags/pre+changedling+ocellus
So I guess we're just going to forget all about the cherry companies on Earth that wanted an endorsement from Cherry? Who's to say they can't send her some of their jams and jellies through one of those probes, and then she can write back which one she likes?
9238106
For some reason, I haven't received e-mail notifications of new chapters of stories I'm following in years. I have to manually check the site for new chapters all the time.
9238174
Didn't you say earlier that you had some other ideas for a sequel to this? I'd be curious to hear some of them.
Start off with: wonderful, (not just yet over!!), still as awesome as almost anything I’ve read on this site.
Follow up with: you seem pretty (unforgivably) set on tying this off. Seriously no idea on what could be left. Can’t wait.
End on: you referenced it in-story, both in-character and in story-telling, but Dragonfly is best Changeling.
Whatever happens understand that you have created a need.
More. Dragonfly.
Meanwhile, back on Mars…
The death knell of this amazing journey of a story is now only one chapter away... Honestly I have to nothing to say because nothing can be said.
9238150
You mean Dragonball.
I mean it's to be expected but, damn are those ponies traumatised by their experience.
The more I think about it, the more I feel this story dosn't really need a sequel. There are a ton of stories on the site that cover much the same sort of ground that any sequel would and there is very little that would connect the two stories.
I would love to see a scene or two a couple years later after they find a way to safely transport between the worlds so we know that the contact happened, but I don't think it needs anything else. Oh, and we need to have a return visit to the cave some 20+ years on and see how it's turned out.
Not unless there's something that would make it different from the others.
9238112
This. So much this. It's bittersweet to see this having an ending but it's also sad having to say goodbye x3 So much character development and all that jazz. I just hope they manage to make visiting possible both ways so Mark can at least swing by now and then and say "hello"
And here's to hoping NASA does the right thing and recovers all those loyal little bits of tech that saved Mark's arse - and tries to preserve the little cherry tree biosphere as a giant, upright finger in the face of Mars.
Go on...
If there isn't a goddamned chapter where they reunite and get a tour of earth I swear to god I will show up in your living room and cry in front of you!
i just realized how far behind i am again
god damnit
Such buttery sweet goodness from these letters. It’s amazing how attached I’ve grown to these characters over the months.
9238125
Apparently: "Die Die Die Die Die Die-"
But in all honesty. When you deprive your senses of stimuli, you're not really turning them up so much as your brain no longer filters out the Noise. Sight, for example, is actually somewhat sensitive to thermal energy and pressure if it's not overwhelmed by normal light. The rods and cones will detect minor adjustments and send signals. That's why, when you close your eyes, and the after-images fade, you see moving multi-hued blobs that seem to gently flow around your vision. And you can also cause them when you rub your eyes.
One interesting phenomena I've run into while walking in a park at night, is 'grainy' vision. I walk through a section of the park that's so dark, I can only really see what's around me in the most faded of gray-blacks. But said grays appear like TV static snow. My conjecture on that is that my eyes are just 'barely' getting any light at all, and the rods and cones are firing intermittently. It's really kind of neat, though you have to trust your environment so you don't walk face first into a tree. But once you get used to it, just walking into a partially lit area that has the leftover light from a street poll over a hundred yards away feels overly bright.
I hope there going to be a glimpse of a future mission returning to the cave to see if it survived.
*sniff* I'm gonna miss these guys.
If there was one more thing that I wish you had added (and its honestly entirely possible that I missed it, considering how small a thing it was in the actual book), it was the inclusion of the "cool, 5-sided bolt" that Watney saw in the MAV after liftoff. Granted, the paragraphs about it was likely because the excessive Gs knocked him for a loop, but still.
Letters from a small universe.
How old is he? With the magitech both sides got out of this commercial space flight just got vastly easier. Give it a decade or two and London to Canterlot will be no different than London to Sydney. Unless he expects to drop dead in the next few years there is nothing preventing a reunion.
I don’t know, telepathy sounds like it comes with some nice perks.
Nice to see the school six mentioned. Life goes on after all.
9238150
Five liches/wights sat at a table, watching a sixth repeatedly rolling the same cherry into her maw and catching it as it rolled out of her ribcage.
"So," asked one of the bipedal skeletons, "anything interesting happen to you guys the last two centuries?"
They should meet up again. I figure that the ponies and Dragonfly and Fireball are all multimillionaires from the royalties of the toys and images. Plenty of stories I can see if they all visit Earth.
9238244
What makes you think that? It's a changeling, it can look like anything it wants to.
No.
If the Princess of Friendship is worth even 1/10th of her title, this will not be allowed to stand.
The penultimate chapter...
Excellent "where are they now?" montage. That last update's going to be all kinds of bittersweet, but I'm still looking forward to it.
He damn well better!!
Love so much Love in this chapter.
9238113 Dashie clocked up the extra space time while the Amicitas crew was stuck on Mars, before she saw Spitfire on return.
9238120 Some questions will get answers; some won't.
9238137 Months, not years.
9238201 I meant to have that be a strikeout and forgot. The problem with magic quantum-linked diaries is, there's no delete key.
9238244 As a general rule for my fics, I try to keep all the canon stuff in unless there's simply no way to use it (or it's too stupid to use). In the CSPverse, the sixth season finale did not happen as such. However, I deliberately left the door open on "reformed" changelings. I even got a couple of paragraphs into Dragonfly talking about "I can't believe what Thorax looks like now!" before deleting it.
So those who like Ocellus as we see her in the cartoon may have her that way, and those who want unreformed Ocellus may have her that way, too. I'm leaving it indefinite.
9238256 I dinked with four different ideas about mentioning Sojourner, but dumped them all because they were all too twee for me.
9238271 One of the best definitions of a novel I ever read, paraphrased, is this: "A good novel covers the single most interesting time in the main character's life." One of the reasons I won't do a sequel to this one is, nothing I do in this setting will be remotely as interesting as what I've presented here (especially as regards Mark Watney). I suspect that's why sequels to Arrow 18 haven't got much of anywhere.
9238297 I wish you wouldn't. I run my convention dealer business out of my living room, and it's an unholy mess.
9238396 Couldn't squeeze it in. (My god, the story's already 470,000 words long!!)
9238430 At this point Mark's attitude towards going to space again is, "If you want to send my ashes up like Scotty, fine. Until then, the answer is not just no, but fuck no."
I shed a tear for the star crossed who could never be to, farewell mark x dragonfly. They shall always have Mars.