This is why you should never let ponies play Terraforming Mars

by Petrichord

Chapter 2

Saying “Mars thrived” is a bit of a whitewashed sentiment. Not entirely, but not a negligible amount, either.

Thirty years had passed. Thirty years of assembly, construction, groundwork, skywork, raw establishment. Megacorporations spent money and earned funding in unequal measure: each with their own plans and goals and dreams for a better future.

And the ponies of Glimmeropolis — the celebrities and the mob bosses, the egotists and the theorists, and all the other ponies that worked under them and for them — had managed to avoid extinction. Their lives weren’t any more pleasant than they had been in Equestria; arguably, between the punitive taxes, limited luxuries and occasional megacorporate intervention, they had become substantially less enjoyable. And yet they were free, in a fashion, and living in the land of the future. For some of them, that was enough.

And their funding had not gone to waste, not in the least. Or, at least, it had not gone to waste for Thorgate, who ruled over Glimmeropolis with a fair, if forceful, hoof. After all, there was land to be claimed, land that would be precious and fertile in the years to come. Land that it was for the best to stake an early claim on, while the prospects of a better life on Mars got better and better over time. Wise future investments were wise future investments, regardless of the commodity invested in, and the Venerable Chairmare Starlight Glimmer was nothing if not wise.

Argyre Planitia was full of valuable minerals which could be discreetly extracted. By downplaying the value of those and playing up how potentially fertile the land might become — and that potential was vast, to be sure — wealth could be obtained in goods now and in resold shares later; wealth forever for Thorgate, for the promise of a better tomorrow.

The next thirty years would be easier. Starlight Glimmer would have to be less than wise in order to sour her prospects now, and Starlight Glimmer was wise enough to see nothing but growth in her future.

*******************************************

“So instead of makin’ things better for everypony else, you decided to make things better for your pocketbook.” Applejack snorted. “Real altruistic of you, Starlight.”

“What’s good for me is good for everypony else. It just takes more time for that goodness to trickle down. You’ll see.” Starlight’s eyes flicked briefly to the cards in her hoof, then flicked back towards Applejack. “Besides, I don’t see you making overtures towards that part of Mars.”

“That’s ‘cause I weren’t planning on makin’ overtures there. Not just yet, anyway.” Applejack gazed cooly down at the table. “Got my own good works to take care of first.”

“Oh, please.” Rarity groaned. “You’ve done nothing but piggyback off of the work of others with your custom-tailored algae. Unless you’re planning on sharing the formula with us?”

“Depends on how much you’re offerin’.” Applejack snorted. “Quick hint, though: it ain’t gonna be enough.”

“Suit yourself.” Rarity sniffed. “I suppose I’ll have to show you how a true altruist operates, then, won’t I?”

*******************************************

What was best for Mars?

Now that was a question with answers multitudinous!

Was it the ponies who lived on Mars? They were the end goal, after all: the establishment of a new world, a new paradise, a new realm of existence. They would develop the culture that would shape the land, craft the laws that would guide the ponies, create and procreate and invent and reinvent and catalyze the changes that would bring beauty to the universe.

Or was it that which nourished them, in all its humble forms? The arctic algae that grew from frost and strange waters was nourishing, if not delicious. It grew. It could create symbiotic attachments, and grow more and help other things grow more. And if it gave birth to variety, it could be the genesis of a whole spectrum of greenery, the greenery of the future and the paragons of the present, epitomizing the beauty of nature.

But at this moment, for Aphrodite, the answer was an even purer form of nourishment: it was water. Liquid life, for consumption and habitation and transportation and more. It shaped the boundaries of the land, from grand oceans to winding rivers to small ponds, and was as vital to a healthy, beautiful planet as it was overlooked.

But overlooked it would be no longer. Ugly as the exploitation of aquifers was, ugly as the tapping of reservoirs of latent power might have seemed in the short term, the long-term gains it would yield would be nothing short of perfect. Nothing short of vital. Nothing short of necessary. Nothing short of intrinsic to the composition of a new paradise.

And the promise that poured through the Ius Chasma, the promise of water, was fundamentally beautiful. Nothing less.

*******************************************

Five seconds of silence.

Eight seconds.

Ten.

Twelve.

“...Well?” Rarity said. “Isn’t anypony going to offer some sort of negative comment on the matter?”

“Like what?” Applejack replied.

“Like criticism, or condescension, or baseless accusation. Isn’t that what you want to do?”

“You did what I wanted you to do.” Applejack shrugged. “I got more plant life out of this. Mars got healthier. You did somethin’ useful. Why would I complain about any of that?”

“I liked it, too.” Fluttershy gave Rarity a small smile.

“Yeah, an’ that too. I don’t think anypony minded, Rars.”

“Oh! Well, ah...well, thank you, I suppose.” Rarity fell silent. “You’re too kind.”

“Anytime.” Applejack smiled. “My turn, then — ”

“Um.”

“Oh, right.” Applejack gestured at Fluttershy. “Your turn, I guess.”

*******************************************

Living things could not be constrained to tight spaces, not for long. Living things needed to be set free.

The ponies of Glimmeropolis, for now, might stay in their thick, protective canopied city. But Fluttershy was sure that they longed to walk outside freely on days, even though death was certain to any unprotected pony who stepped outside the city’s bubble.

Nature did not have the choice to stay in one place. Nature wanted to disperse where it wished, and in the end nature would find a way to do such things.

Ecoline knew about this. Ecoline understood. And Ecoline could easily explain, with their knowledge of all things in nature, what nature would do and what nature could do and how best to help nature do these things.

And so Ecoline began to give the algae places to climb, and water places to float. It gave the means for nature to do as it always should have done, and so readily could have done on Equestria, and would so readily be able to do now.

And after thirty years of diligent work, of vast expenditures and the careful thoughts of brilliant minds, the nature of Equestria was starting to find a new home.

Algae had begun to seep its way onto the Hebes Chasma, and clouds had started to fill the sky.

*******************************************

“Did everypony like that?” Fluttershy’s smile grew a little wider. “I thought that would help the planet a lot — ”

“Aww, come on! Clouds? Really?” Rainbow Dash moaned. “You’re gonna make Mars even colder than it already was! That is so, like, not cool. But not cool in the not-literally way. Literally, that’s, like, way cold of you.”

Fluttershy’s smile vanished. “I-I’m sorry — ”

“Relax! I’m not mad.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “It’s just a game. Besides, I’m not gonna let a little setback like that keep me from winning.”

“You still think you’re gonna win, sugarcube?” Applejack smirked.

“Think? Nah. Know? Yeah.” Rainbow Dash smirked back. “I’ve got this totally in the bag. One hundred percent. You’ll see.”

“How ‘bout you wait an’ see how I do things, first?” Applejack fired back. “Then we’ll see who’s seein’ things right.”

*******************************************

The...Martian-Equestrian Multinational Establishment, or somethin’...did two things good: frozen plants an’ titanium.

Thing about frozen plants is, you got to hybridize the crops sometimes. Mix things up a bit. Otherwise, you get too much of one thing, an’ then one bad bout of blight’ll kill everythin’ you ever worked for. Same went for every kind of plant, not jus’ the cold ones.

But Applejack’s crew done did good on that front. They lab-made their own batch of fungus that’d keep basically forever in extremely cold conditions — an’ Mars was an’ is downright frosty — an’ basically got it to work in tandem with all that algae that was growin’ around all over the place. Ecoline, or whatever the name of the group that Fluttershy lead was, was doin’ all kinds of good by Applejack’s book (an’, for that matter, so was Aphrodite, though there weren’t no sense in givin’ them hoity toity fancy folks even bigger heads than they already had.) Mars was gettin’ a little greener every year, which suited Applejack just fine.

Now, on the titanium front, they didn’t manage to go all that much further with their mines they had. An’ that weren’t great, but it weren’t a kiss of death, either. All Applejack an’ her crew had to do was go elsewhere an’ get the titanium they needed. So, after doin’ a lil’ bit of lookin’ outward at the stars, she found this big ol’ planet called Triton, an’ it had all kinds of useful minerals in it. So now, Applejack basically had a big ol’ setup to be an ol’ fashioned mineral princess. An’ that was pretty neat.

*******************************************

“That was...better.” Rarity said.

“Ain’t much of a compliment,” Applejack replied.

“No, it isn’t. And neither is ‘it could have been worse.’ Both of those apply, but if you’re looking for some sort of validation of quality…”

“Nah. I guess progress is progress, in th’ field of bein’ all fancy-like.” Applejack smiled. “I’ll take what I can get.”

“...Huh,” Rainbow Dash muttered. “Weird.”

“What, you think it’s weird that I don’t mind doin’ things that Rarity likes?” Applejack said, turning towards Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t looking at her. Rainbow Dash was looking at her own stomach.

“...Uh. Do any of you guys remember the last time we ate something?” Rainbow Dash said.

That same, eerie silence that had afflicted the group the previous turn settled once more.

“What, ah...what brought that up, dear?” Rarity replied.

“I’unno. I was just thinking that mushrooms were kind of gross, and then I thought a little bit about what I’d want to eat more than mushrooms. Which is, like, a lot of things, really. But then I sort of realized that I hadn’t had, like, anything for I dunno how long, but you figure that I’d be starved by now or something.”

“Come to think of it…” Starlight rubbed her chin. “If we’re on a train for a long enough time, aren’t they supposed to send out a food cart at some point in time? Or remind us that there’s a dining car?”

“If there even is a dining car,” Applejack added. “Or anypony else here. Come to think of it…”

Applejack turned back towards the window.

Still black.

“...Guess it’s not been that long since we all took our turns, though.” Applejack muttered.

“True.” Rarity replied. “...Speaking of. Isn’t it your turn now, Rainbow Dash?”

“Oh! Right!” Rainbow Dash looked down at her cards. “Uh, let’s see…

*******************************************

Life was never meant to be contained.

Plant life would spread where it pleased, given the tools to make it so. Water would spread where it pleased, given the conditions to make it so.

And heat? Heat spread as it wished, and found ways as it wished. And it always wished.

Helion did not abate in their pursuit of heat, though. Heat may have spread where it wished, but there were still ways to guide its healing hoof towards areas of need. Intensely rich concentrations of carbon dioxide, disliked as they were on Equestria, were godsends on the frigid surface of Mars. The mirror that Helion had built decades ago orbited still, endlessly gathering light from the boiling Venus and tactfully redirecting it to Mars, the planet solely in need of such a thing.

Was the planet warming? To an outside observer, not by much. But even if its efforts seemed for naught, the alleviation of the burdens of excess heat from Equestria and Venus more than made up for it, and more than justified the increase in funding awarded to Helion.

And the outside observers were, of course, wrong. Objectively, measurably, wrong.

Bit by bit, the temperatures on Mars began to trickle up…

*******************************************

“My word!” Rarity beamed. “I had no idea you had the soul of a poet, Rainbow Dash!”

“Do I?” Rainbow Dash blinked. “I, uh...thanks, I guess. I mean, I’m really just saying it as it comes, y’know? I didn’t have any of this planned out.”

“That’s what makes it a poet’s soul! Unpracticed in its refinement. Fundamentally complex. Astonishingly, spontaneously intricate. I wish I had seen this side of you before, dear.” Rarity tucked a couple of strands of mane behind one ear. “There’s so much we could have discussed together.”

“Really?”

“Why, but of course! I wouldn’t mind discussing it — ”

“Ahem.”

Rarity and Rainbow Dash turned their heads. Starlight stared at them, brow slightly furrowed.

“...perhaps after we finish this game, of course.” Rarity chuckled. “I do hope we’ll have time, don’t you think?”

“The way things are going?” Rainbow Dash grinned. “Yeah. We probably will.”

Silently, Rarity and Rainbow Dash turned back towards the board and their cards.

The starting player token was passed clockwise, and the game continued.

Author's Note:

Comments

[Petrichord]

9814111
Good catch! Fixed that one. Thanks. :)

9814186
I asked people before if using an emergent tags system would be okay, and was immediately shouted down about bait-and-switching and foregoing the appropriate trigger warnings, hence the disclosure.

9814436
Thanks for reminding me to upload the relevant photos, dude.

[Shanashie]

Excellent story so far. I'm watching intently to see where this goes!

Also, my money is on them being AI's based on the mind of their respective player. Any other takers?

[FanOfMostEverything]

I find myself wondering if that tunnel will emerge from Martian mountains.

Or the slopes of Hell.

Granted, depending on how everyone does, there may not be a difference. Looking forward to seeing what comes of this.