//------------------------------//
// The Crash 
// Story: The New Era for Equus 
// by Robert Emerald Fountain 
//------------------------------//

As Mickey and his crew sped further and further through deep space, their radar picked up a collapsing star about to go supernova. When Daisy calculated that there was no way to evade the explosion, Mickey called out to Donald. 

“SHIELDS UP!”, he yelled.

Donald started to raise the shields, but he was too late. The star exploded and the first wave of energy hit the Disneystar. The shield generators were shorted out and the systems were overloaded. Suddenly, the warp drive’s power went off the scale and the ship began flying faster. Everyone could feel the g-force increasing and pulling them backwards in their seats. 

“MY THROAT FEELS LIKE IT IS BEING SQUEEZED LIKE A SODA CAN!”, groaned Melody through her gritted teeth.

“MY EARS ARE RINGING!”, cried Millie.

“I THINK I’M GOING TO BE SICK!”, screeched Minnie.

Soon, the g-force was too much for anyone to bear and all of the crew members began to pass out. Toodles got shorted out by the energy wave, but his emergency reboot kicked in and he woke up. What he saw was the last thing he ever expected. Everyone was unconscious, all of the controls had caught fire, and the bridge’s main lights had shattered from overloading. He initiated a Red-Alert and then signaled the computer to engage the Emergency-Stop on the warp drive. The jolt from the Emergency-Stop roused everyone from their coma and the screaming alarm brought them back to their senses.

“Why isn’t the fire-suppressant gas kicking in?”, Millie asked out of frustration as she hurriedly typed in the gas’s deployment code several times.

“The pump is functional, but the lines are melted. The gas can’t get to the bridge.”, said Melody as she looked at their console’s LED screen and noticed a warning had come up. 

“We’ve reached a planet with breathable air, but our orbit is rapidly decaying.”, cried Daisy as she looked at their position on her console.

“Not only that, but our radio’s fried from that energy wave.”, said Goofy sadly.

“ALL HANDS, ABANDON SHIP! WE’RE SCRUBBED!”, Mickey yelled frantically.

Everyone unfastened their seatbelts and began running to the escape pod launch bay. Since Toodles was programmed to track the pods, his heat shielding hatch was sealed shut so he wouldn’t be destroyed on re-entry. 

**

On the E S S, Neighsay was making his rounds when an urgent alarm came in. When he ran to the main computer, it said “PROXIMITY ALERT: STARSHIP IN DECAYING ORBIT”. Knowing this was an emergency, he tried to contact the ship, but he got a notification that the radio was not working on the ship. Frantically, he called to Canterlot.

“Equestrian Space Station to Canterlot. Emergency Alert!”, he said over the radio.

“This is Twilight. Go ahead, Neighsay.”, replied Twilight.

“Your Highness, a starship has appeared in orbit and is decaying rapidly. Unfortunately, the ship’s radio is broken, so I can’t contact the crew.”, explained Neighsay.

Twilight acknowledged the report and she looked at the ship’s path to determine its crash site. The path showed the final impact would be in the center of the Everfree Forest. Since the area was close to Zecora’s hut, she radioed her.

“Zecora, this is Twilight Sparkle. A starship is going to crash in the forest near your place. I suggest you find a far spot to avoid getting hurt.”

Zecora called back and accepted what Twilight had said.

**

After Mickey and his friends had put their space suits back on, they got into their escape capsules and launched as they entered the atmosphere. Their ship was spinning as it plummeted to the ground, so the escape pods were sent in different directions. None of them landed in the same place. Also, Professor Von Drake had not shielded the escape pods’ hatch mechanisms to withstand the heat of atmospheric entry. So the mechanisms became overheated and melted, fusing the hatches shut.

As the Disneystar plummeted closer to the ground, she struck the tops of several trees before touching down in the Everfree Forest and skidding to a halt in the dirt. The heat from the flaming engines started a raging fire. The fire was intensified when the fuel tank ruptured and began leaking. Luckily, Spitfire saw the flames and dispatched several weather ponies to bring rain clouds over the forest to put out the fire. Once Twilight got word that the forest fire was put out, she rushed to her castle to assemble her friends along with Starlight and Flurry Heart.