Author's Note

Hey there readers!

I usually don't put my A/N's at the top of my stories but I felt it was appropriate here.

This is a little side 'passion-project' of mine. I have been absolutely loving the story The Maretian written by the excellent author, Kris Overstreet. If you are a fan of science fiction, MLP, and human/pony stories READ this fic!

Anyway, this clopfic is a little homage to Kris. I'm going to do my best to mimic his excellent style of short, poignant updates that move between diary entries, telegraphic morse code logs, and more regular narrative.

If you are a fan of the series, I hope you'll enjoy my little smutfic, meant to complement Kris's excellent story. If you feel strongly against human x pony relations... this fic is NOT for you: I don't want you to be upset! Just ignore it! Definitely some WatneyGlimmer ships will be sailing in these waters.

For those of you who have NOT read the fic but still want to get your dose of unicorn x human smut here's the brief notes:

Mark Watney (of The Martian fame) has been stranded on Mars. He has to find a way to survive for hundreds of sols (martian days) on a barren planet with supplies meant for only a month of human habitation. Hold the phone though, unlike the movie and novel Watney isn't alone! Joining him are five equestrians whose interdimensional drive malfunctioned and sent them to our universe, including:

-Dragonfly: Changeling mechanic and resident cutesybug
-Cherry Berry: Mission commander and earth-pony pilot extraordinaire
-Starlight Glimmer: magical science officer
-Spitfire: Medic and Wonderbolt veteran
-Fireball: Dragon EVA specialist

At this point in the story, much of the major hurdles, such as food, language, magic and more have risen and fallen before the plucky strength of our protagonists. Among the things helping them were a cave that they sealed to make airtight and begin a small potato/alfafa farm within, as well as small doses of magic (our universe is starved of magic, making its use quite agonizing and difficult for the Equestrians).

And that is also one of the major drivers for the action in this clopfic! Poor little Dragonfly lost her mind some 52 sols prior, a result of pure magic starvation. After 'accidentally' draining Watney of much of his magic and emotion, she decided to seal herself into a long-term cocoon to prevent herself from doing anything else to her beloved crew.

We pick up just after the bug has been rescued from her self-imposed cocooning. Saved up magic and good will beamed toward her pod finally roused her, much to the happiness of her crew.

In Kris's original story, Dragonfly manages to get along with some additional magic rationing from stored batteries, and a renewed sense of openness with her crew.

I'm going to explore instead what might have happened if she needed a... different source of magical emotional energy to give herself a boost.

And so we pick up the story in flight! Enjoy!

Sol 288 - ENCRYPTED

ENCRYPTED MISSION LOG - SOL 288

There is NO way that I’m going to be transmitting this log entry on the pathfinder feed. I’m not even going to be putting the thing in the usual log folders… I’m password encrypting this TWICE, then sticking it in a deep dark folder tree with extremely unassuming labels just like I used to as a young man hiding a porn stash from his parents.

There’s a part of me that thinks I shouldn’t record any of this at all, but my inner-scientist is screaming that I would be letting down countless hordes of present and future psychologists and behavioralists. Eh, actually, those guys were always lame in college anyways: talk about soft science, I think they just didn’t want to get their hands dirty like the rest of us.

Nah, it’s probably just force of habit and trying to sort through all the feelings that’s getting me to write this down. Still though, I ain’t risking this over any transmissions, encrypted or not. If Venkat or Teddy want access to this juicy info they’ll have to accept it via good ol’ physical transfer: me giving them a USB stick directly to them… probably while also apologizing profusely for what they’re about to read.

Why all the secrecy? Well… I have a date. Actually, even more than a date… I have a booty call.

That’s right all you earth playboys and hook-up artists. You think you’ve got game? Well Mark Watney is so desirable that he attracts females from other dimensions!

Oomph. Just typing that out made my head hurt. It is REALLY hard to joke about this.

Sure, Niven may have made Rishathra seem like not such a big deal, but when it’s actually YOU who’s gonna be performing, let me tell you… it’s a bit uncomfortable.

It seems our resident struggle-snuggle-bug (what? Since these logs aren’t going out anytime soon you’re gonna get Mark Watney even LESS filtered) may have emerged from her cocoon, but she hasn’t quite kicked the whole ‘I don’t have enough magic to prevent myself from going crazy’ thing.

And that’s where all this madness started, it seems her Queen-evil-bug-leader has wisely suggested that letting our adorable little overgrown mosquito go feral again may not be the best game plan. Unfortunately, it would seem that the alternative is going to involve feral acts of a different type.

In any case, I’ve got to go get ready for the rest of the day and try to avoid raising the temperature of the hab from my sheer, boiling blush. I’ve noticed that poor Starlight seems to be going through the same thing (more on that later), though Dragonfly seems to be having no problem with our impending… ‘arrangement.’

I’ll check in later today as we get closer to ‘zero hour.’

I guess I should make sure to brush my teeth?

The previous day, Dragonfly had barely noticed that she was sinking into a deepening sinkhole. Rapid fire splashes of water poured from her life-support unit, staccato bursts of venom-laced invectives from Queen Chrysalis, each ringing as clearly in Dragonfly’s ears as if the Queen had managed to find some way to cross the interdimensional link and upbraid her in person.

Occasionally, Chrysalis would pause after a particularly long string of angry upbraiding rebukes just long enough to convey a terse ‘OVER’, signal. Dragonfly would meekly tap out ‘COPY, OVER’ in mares code, which would allow Chrysalis to launch into her next tirade: the queen wanted to make sure that she was not speaking to an empty room.

After some time, well after Mark and Starlight had forced Dragonfly to reposition herself so as not to transform part of their farm into a lake, Chrysalis’s anger finally relented… slightly.

ESA: QC - DF Standby for confidential message. Request you clear area of team members or locate to solo area. Over

AMICITAS: DF - Standby. Relocating. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - Go ahead. Have asked for privacy and relocated to deeper area of cave farm. Over.

ESA: QC - Roger, I have cleared the room in Baltimare and will only use suit DF. Confirm identity from challenge question: what do I call all new larvae? Over.

AMICITAS: DF - Really? A bit embarrassing. Over.

ESA: QC - Yes. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - My lovely little Honeybuggl-

ESA: QC - Break break Identity confirmed. We shall not speak of this again. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - Understood. Over.

ESA: QC - Dragonfly, now that you are alone, I am ordering you to reveal to me your current state of magical and biological hunger. No concealment. No sugarcoating. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - Not great. Check that. Not good. It’s bad. The cocoon helped recover some magical energy, but already I’m back into a state of light drain. The ramped-up level of distrust from my lapse has yet to clear, also. The team is doing their best to keep feelings toward me positive, but I have a reduced flow of biological emotional sustenance as well. Over.

ESA: QC - How large are the holes in your exoskeleton. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - Stage 4. Larger than my hooves in multiple places. Over.

ESA: QC - Dragonfly. I don’t need to tell you that you are the most important person to me on that planet. Cherry is another I want to get back, and the rest of the crew, even the alien, would be too… but you MUST survive. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - I understand my queen. I’m doing all I can to try to achieve that. Over.

ESA: QC - Have you considered completely draining all your crewmates? Energy gained would sustain you, and you would still be able to direct them while they are in highly pliable state. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - Negative. My queen, not only can I not consider this for ethical reasons, would it not also cause major conflict and extermination for the hive because of your actions? Over.

ESA: QC - I could manage it, I’m willing to lose some good will to save drones. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - I’m touched. But it doesn’t matter anyway, my queen. Losing the higher functions of my crewmates would be just as much of a death sentence as starving. Too many problems requiring specialist solutions I wouldn’t be able to provide. And even if… still… I wouldn’t do it. Over

ESA: QC - I thought as much. Just had to ask. In light of the circumstances I am considering authorization of solo ‘pink-energy’ consumption. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - What? Can I… can I even do that? I thought that pink-energy could only be consumed from podded ponies, trapped in dreams… and only during holidays? I thought that changelings explode if they consume ‘pink energy’. Over.

ESA: QC - Misinformation used to control the hive. Pink energy collection can occur live, from a solo drone, in the wild. However, it is highly addictive, would eventually lead to hive becoming debauched and unmanageable if use became widespread, hence its control. However, these circumstances are certainly unique. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - But… how… what the hay am I supposed to do? Over.

ESA: QC - Utilize digestive compounds 15, 32, in conjunction with salivary gland excretion 3. Will form powerful anti-inhibition fluid. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - I mean… that’s helpful. But. I’m talking more about… who… and how? Over.

ESA: QC - When a mommy pony and a daddy pony love each other very much. Over.

AMICITAS: DF - Very funny. Not what I meant. I’m dealing with multiple species, including an alien, all in a constant life and death situation! How am I supposed to pull this off? Over.

ESA: QC - You are an excellent changeling and were a first-rate infiltrator. You’ll figure it out. That’s an order. Pink energy collection authorized. I expect an update by tomorrow. Chrysalis Out.

AMICITAS: DF - Received. Out.

Dragonfly’s return to the hab was interesting. She was welcomed back with plenty of hugs and much happiness from her fellow crewmates, like a homecoming of a family member from having been away on a long vacation. Throughout the day the tastes of curious bemusement and contentedness were touching and offset the acrid taste of uneasy distrust that lingered. She could tell that the hab had felt emptier without her presence for the past few weeks, but that her return was quite welcome.

For Dragonfly, she had the sensation of having woken up after a deep sleep. Long-term hibernation was not common among changelings of her stripe back on Equestria. Though she had some sensation of the time that had passed, she was conscious that she had missed out on subtle shifts in the dynamics.

That would make her task even harder.

Still, she had some idea of where she wanted to begin. She began to trot over to Starlight, currently stretched out on her bunk, flicking through a novel on Mark’s laptop, lying prone on her belly as she relaxed idly.

“Hey, Starlight… got a minute?”

Starlight glanced up over the edge of her laptop, a small surge of annoyance slipping through her, before it was replaced with concern and fondness for the recently returned changeling. “Uhh… sure thing Dragonfly,” Starlight closed the lid of the laptop, “what’s up?”

Dragonfly glanced about quickly. The confines of the hab were not exactly the best place for private conversation. At the moment, however, this would be about as good as it would get. Mark and Cherry had gone outside to clean the solar panels and stretch their legs. Spitfire was doing a shift in the rover monitoring for communications from NASA, and Fireball seemed preoccupied on the other side of the hab, carefully sorting and resorting his stack of gems - a habit which would help calm his dragon-hoarding instincts.

“Well…” Dragonfly sighed, rubbing one hoof over another, doing her best to seem vulnerable, “for starters, I hope you don’t mind if we keep this private.”

Starlight frowned. “I don’t know Dragonfly, you’ve gotten into a lot of trouble recently keeping secrets.”

Dragonfly let out the breath she’d been holding, trying to look a bit deflated. “That’s true. But that was me keeping secrets from everyone, in this case I’m sharing one with you. Also, I’m kind of new to this whole ‘go-completely-against-your-instincts-and-tell-everypony-everything’ kick, so I wouldn’t mind if you help me start slow.” She looked up at Starlight with puppy-dog like eyes.

Starlight’s resolve melted ever so slightly, she wasn’t expecting such vulnerability. “Huh… OK-ok... what’s going on?” Starlight sat up, now looking directly at the changeling, who was commanding all her attention.

“Well, you may have seen earlier today I had a nice long discussion with Chrysalis.”

“Sheesh, that’s an understatement. And I thought that Cherry Berry had a diverse vocabulary of insults.” Starlight grinned.

“Where do you think Cherry got half of her lexicon from? But… yeah… I got chewed out pretty bad. Rightfully so.” Dragonfly slumped. “You may have also noticed that she then called me aside for a private conversation.”

Starlight’s left ear flicked, now THIS was getting interesting. “Yes… but I thought you said Chrysalis was going to share some sort of super-secret changeling-only information.” Starlight set the laptop aside and sat onto the edge of her bunk, giving Dragonfly a spot to climb up beside her. “Why are you suddenly talking about that?” Starlight’s guard went up quickly. “Is this some kind of infiltration tactic? Are you manipulating me right now?”

Dragonfly sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “Yep. Truth be told, I’m using the most effective infiltration tactic that has ever existed, it’s so good in fact that we only turn to it as a last resort…”

Starlight’s eyebrow arched upward in curiosity and suspicion.

Dragonfly grinned wryly and went on, “...it’s called telling the truth.”

Starlight rolled her eyes and couldn’t suppress a giggle at how corny that sounded.

“Yeah yeah, yuck it up. But I’m going to tell you exactly what I told Chrysalis a few hours ago: I’m far from out of the woods. My biological emotional hunger is greater than ever, and though I’m not magical-critical… I’m still net negative.”

Starlight’s brows furrowed. “B-but we’ve got more batteries now - I could set up more magical field time to supp-”

Dragonfly shook her head and caught off the unicorn. “Trust me, I’ve run the numbers. I’m worried that I’m going to be running into magical starvation, or emotional-hunger starvation within the next 80 sols… the only question is which will come first.”

Starlight sighed and softened, reaching a hoof out to pat the back of the changeling. “You told this to Chrysalis? What did she have to say?”

“Full transparency? She suggested I mind-enslave all of you to keep myself alive.” Dragonfly whispered, seeing Glimmer stiffen once more she quickly added. “I think she was joking. Kind of. The old ways die hard for her. Anyway… she came up with a second solution. One which doesn’t involve me getting all hissy at you guys.”

Starlight let out a restrained breath. “So, what’s that?”

Dragonfly paused a moment and thought. “Starlight… have you ever wondered what color different emotions might look like?”

“Not particularly? I mean anger being red is pretty common, depression blue… that kind of thing.”

Dragonfly nodded. “Not far from the truth either, and let me tell you, reds and blues ain’t so tasty.” Dragonfly sighed, “Unfortunately there’s been a lot of red and blue around this hab lately. Not so much yellow… fondness either. Just enough to get by. But tell me… what emotion do you think pink would represent?”

Starlight shrugged her shoulders. “Love?”

Dragonfly shook her head. “Close but no. Love is actually kind of a mix between pink, red and yellow. It’s really complex and filled with good nutrients for us changelings… no pink is something else entirely… pink is lust”

Starlight cocked her head slightly in confusion. “Lust?”

Dragonfly nodded. “Yep. And it’s actually a rare one for changelings to experience. We’re taught from an early age not to take things ‘too far’ when in disguise. And when we’re out of disguise we usually don’t have to worry about ponies or other species getting too frisk with us… though there are some exceptions…”

Starlight cleared her throat. She didn’t like where this was going. “What does this have to do with you starving?”

“Well… pink emotions… lust emotions, when fresh and potent, can be massive boosts to changeling emotion stores. So much so that only a few minutes could replace weeks of love.” Dragonfly motioned with a hoof at the air idly, as she waffled around her point.

“So why wouldn’t changelings be nomming on this super-potent lust energy then?” Starlight asked, hesitantly her mind trying to catch up to where this train of conversation was going.

“Well, we’re conditioned from an early age not to taste the stuff, unless it’s extracted by specific changelings and shared during specific holidays. Up until a few hours ago I thought that if I dipped my toe in the pink well I’d die… messily. Apparently, that’s just a fake warning Chrysalis and other queens have fabricated to discourage changelings from trying it.”

Starlight shook her head. “Why?”

“Well… according to Chrysalis the stuff is quite addictive… and hives quickly become giant orgy-pits… which apparently are quite unmanageable.” Dragonfly shrugged.

“OK. So why are we talking about this?” Starlight carefully voiced, not wanting to hear what she knew was coming next.

“Well, the Queen gave me the green light to utilize the lust emotion… and… given the dire straits I’m in… I really don’t see another way forward right now.” Dragonfly slowly twisted her head so that she was staring Glimmer straight in the face.

“W-wait.” Starlight coughed, “W-wait… lust energy… you’re talking about… sex?” She nearly coughed out the word.

“Shh… not so loud, fireball might hear.” Dragonfly fluttered her wings.

Starlight’s eyes flashed over to the dragon, then back to the changeling. “Wait… and you’re only telling me… which means… you’re…” The unicorn’s pink face quickly turned a much more crimson shade of red.

Dragonfly’s emotional taste buds sipped from the cacophony of surprise, shock, embarrassment, nervousness, disgust, flattery, and even mild curiosity pouring from the stunned and stuttering Starlight, before she finally relented. “No… no not me and you Starlight. Though I’m flattered you’d consider me. No… I might end up using just as much energy that I absorbed if I did anything with you. Not sure if you’re my type either… though we changelings don’t really have types so much as tastes wh-”

Starlight had finally recovered enough to reply with half-whispered outrage and a stern reprimanding thump on Dragonfly’s head. “D-don’t shock me like that! What did you expect me to think with a lead up like that! Wait… if you did anything with me? What do you-”

“I want you and Mark to bang.” Dragonfly deadpanned.

“What.”

Quick little post-note!

As I mentioned, this is a small passion-project for me. In homage to Kris's style, I'm going to try to do with with brief, short updates until I've completed the story! Very different from my usual 'one and dones'!

This one is purely for my own enjoyment, I'm not looking for any popularity or heat on this fic, just something to share with other clop-thirsty fans of 'The Maretian'!