Since Mickey was the Captain on the Disneystar, he was chosen to be rescued first. Ryder suggested having Tracker on this mission since the Forbidden Jungle looked huge on the map. Twilight agreed and she brought Rainbow and Fluttershy to go with her. Once they had their radios working, they set off for the jungle. The trip to the Forbidden Jungle was extremely dangerous because a rainstorm was passing over the south regions of Equestria when they started. Upon reaching the outskirts, Twilight said to be careful and watch out for hostile critters. As they entered the woods, Ryder noticed it was very tight with his vehicle. So he opted to walk towards the location in the woods where Mickey had been spotted on radar.
“Ryder, do you hear that?”, asked Tracker as they got close.
Ryder put a hand to his ear and listened closely. After concentrating for a moment, he heard a high pitch beeping sound. Realizing what this was, he called to Twilight over his headset.
“Twilight, I think we have a lead on how to find Mickey more accurately. Tracker has heard the sound of an EPIRB or Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon. This device is used by boaters who need saving. An EPIRB transmits a radar signal that the coast guard uses to find them.”, he said.
“Copy that, Ryder. I was about to say that Rainbow spotted something on top of the canopy. We are going in for a closer look, and we think it is the parachutes.”, she replied.
Ryder acknowledged and followed the ponies based on the yellow on their safety vests. Sure enough, they found a spot where the parachutes were clearly tangled in the trees. The ends of these parachutes were attached to a capsule with a window in the hatch. Ryder climbed up the tree to look in through the window and sure enough, he saw a large mouse inside wearing a red space suit. The nametag said Mickey Mouse and allowed everyone to confirm it was him. However, the hatch would not open, even after Ryder banged on the window to wake Mickey up and told him to depressurize the capsule.
When Twilight looked closer at the seam between the hatch and the rest of the pod with a flashlight, she saw that it looked like the hatch was fused shut. Luckily, Rainbow had brought some cutting tools that the dragons had designed. She told Mickey to cover his eyes and then she started cutting open the hatch with a plasma torch. Once the hatch was freed, Twilight used her aura to remove it and then Mickey opened his helmet and took off his seatbelt.
“I knew someone would find Toodles.”, he said.
Fluttershy had brought a medical scanner to check for injuries. When she scanned Mickey, the results came up perfect.
“You have no injuries, Mickey.”, she told him.
Mickey followed Ryder and Tracker out of the woods and then got in the back of Tracker’s jeep for a ride back to Twilight’s castle.
On the way back, Twilight radioed Mickey to tell him that another group was going after Minnie at the same time.
“Where did she land?”, he asked.
“She landed near the peak of the tallest mountain in the world. It’s extremely cold where she landed, so she will not want to open her helmet.”, Twilight explained.
Mickey agreed and they soon reached Twilight’s castle.
**
During Mickey’s rescue; Flurry assembled Skye, Everest, Chase, and Rory to go with her to Mount Everhoof and rescue Minnie. Skye expanded her helicopter to fly everyone to the Crystal Mountains while Flurry grabbed some tools to open the hatch on Minnie’s escape capsule. A severe snowstorm was ravaging Mount Everhoof, so all five needed to wear heavy coats to stay warm. Once everyone was ready, Skye took the yoke and they took off in her helicopter. Arriving at the foot of the mountain, Flurry explained the plan.
“Skye, you and Rory will wait here until we get to Minnie and open up her escape pod. Chase, Everest, and I will ascend to where Minnie is and then call you on radio. According to the signal that Toodles intercepted, she is halfway up. Since this is a cold place, we need to have heated blankets ready because we will likely all be shivering.”, she said.
“Understood, Flurry.”, said Skye and Rory together.
Since Everest was trained in traversing snowy terrain more than Flurry, she was allowed to lead. The trek up the slopes was treacherous and took two hours. Luckily, Flurry had a radar tracker that was locked in on the EPIRB on Minnie’s escape pod. When they got to a flat spot, the signal was strong and only fifteen feet east of them. Even with their warm clothes, all three were shivering profusely. Nevertheless, they headed east and spotted the orange safety stripes on Minnie’s pod. It was partially buried in the snow. Everest and Chase’s paws were numb from the cold, but they quickly got to work digging the pod out while Flurry contacted Skye.
“Skye, this is Flurry Heart. We have reached Minnie. Get above us and get ready.”
Skye acknowledged Flurry’s call and flew upward until she was directly above them. After digging away the snow, Everest lit a flare so Skye could see them. Flurry looked in the window and saw Minnie inside. She was awake and her teeth were chattering. She seemed to be very cold and her helmet’s visor was broken.
“Is the heater broken in your suit and in your pod?”, Flurry asked loudly over the wind.
“Y-Yes, th-they are b-broken. I c-c-can’t get my hatch open either.”, Minnie said before sneezing from being so cold.
“Stay back. I’m going to cut the hatch open.”, said Flurry as she pulled out her plasma cutter.
Once the hatch was open, Minnie unbuckled her seatbelt and jumped out into the snow. Skye had already dropped a rescue basket at this point. Everyone got in as Rory lowered a magnet to pick up the escape pod. Once the basket was hoisted up, Flurry helped Minnie get out and everyone wrapped themselves in blankets.
“All clear, Skye.”, said Chase as Flurry shut the helicopter door.
Skye flew back towards Twilight’s castle and then landed so everyone could get out. Mickey was waiting outside when Minnie got out of Skye’s helicopter and once she was out, she ran over and crushed him in a hug. The sun was starting to set when Twilight led everybody inside. She said they would save everyone else tomorrow. Ryder agreed and everyone laid down to sleep.
During both rescues, Applejack and Pinkie had managed to get through to the other five awaiting rescue with Toodles helping them. Millie sounded desperate because water was beginning to leak into her pod. Zuma assured her that they’d try to save her before she sank, but they could not guarantee anything.
The next morning, everyone met together to decide who would go where. Rainbow Dash and Skye volunteered to head for Griffonstone to save Donald. Ryder decided to take Zuma and Rex to Froggy Bottom Bogg to save Daisy. Fluttershy went with them because she had been there before. Finally, Marshall and Applejack chose to take Tuck and Ella to White Tail Woods to extract Goofy. Later that day, Rainbow, Twilight, Ryder, Skye and Zuma would go to the North Luna Ocean to save Millie while Chase would go with Rarity and Starlight to save Melody in the Changeling Kingdom.
**
There was no time to take the train to Griffonstone. So Rainbow took to the air and told Skye to follow in her helicopter. Rainbow had contacted Gilda in advance to let her know they were coming. She was waiting when they arrived in the area.
“Have you seen anything drop down from the sky in the past two days?”, Rainbow asked.
“As a matter of fact, yes we have. We saw something come down on three red parachutes and get blown towards the abyss. The parachutes have come loose, so we don’t know if what was attached has come off or not. Whatever the case, we need to hurry.”, Gilda answered.
“Let’s go, we have no time to lose.”, said Rainbow.
Leading the way to the abyss, Gilda told Rainbow and Skye to put on headlamps. When they got to the chasm, Gilda threw ropes down and Rainbow told Skye to drop the magnet from her helicopter. As all three rappelled into the darkness, Gilda saw something she didn’t recognize.
“Dash, what’s that orange thing?”, she asked.
Rainbow couldn’t see too well either, so she asked Skye to magnify with her goggles. Skye nodded and barked to activate her goggles. When she identified the orange as a safety mark on Donald’s escape pod, all three of them began moving closer until they heard a loud beeping sound. Skye suspected it was the EPIRB, but they weren’t sure until they reached the capsule and saw the light flashing on it.
“You were right, Skye. That beeping sound we’re hearing is the radar beacon.”, said Gilda.
Once they were close enough to the hatch, Gilda carefully knocked on the window because the rock was weak in this chasm. Donald knocked back to signal he was okay. Skye attached her magnet to the capsule and signaled the winch to reel it up. At the surface, Rainbow pulled out a plasma cutter and carefully cut the hatch open.
“Thanks for saving me. I’m not hurt, just shaken up really bad.”, Donald explained as he took off his seatbelt and moved over to Skye’s helicopter.
Skye got back behind the yoke and followed Dash back to Twilight’s castle.
**
Once Ryder, Rex, and Zuma were ready to head for Froggy Bottom Bogg, Fluttershy sat next to Zuma in his hovercraft. When they reached the bog, Ryder and Zuma set their radar systems to maximum in order to find Daisy’s capsule. Initially, the EPIRB showed up on their radar screens, but it disappeared after a few minutes.
“Daisy’s signal is gone!”, yelped Zuma.
“WHAT?”, asked Ryder and Rex out of shock.
“It was here just a minute ago, and now it’s stopped.”
Fluttershy had an idea.
“I will fly up to look from above. If I see anything, I will radio you.”, she said as she got out of the spare seat in Zuma’s hovercraft.
Ryder gave her a thumbs-up and Fluttershy took off. She looked around for a minute and then spotted the orange from Daisy’s parachutes. She radioed where she was after touching down and transmitted her signal to Ryder. When they got to her, they saw that the hatch had been broken off the capsule and Daisy was not inside. Ryder looked at the damage and determined that the parachutes must have been late to open and the hatch was hit so hard that it broke off on impact with a tree that appeared to be missing some branches.
“Looks like the impact damaged the EPIRB. I’m surprised it lasted this long before it died.”, said Rex.
Fluttershy took off again and started hollering for Daisy. After a moment, she saw a cloud of orange smoke and flew towards it.
“FOLLOW ME!”, she yelled.
Ryder nodded and they started riding after her. When they stopped, Daisy was onto a vine for dear life because she was stuck in quicksand. There was a smoke canister next to her.
“A little help here, please?”, she asked frantically.
Zuma threw a lifebelt to her and she caught it with her left hand. She was holding her right hand close to her chest, which implied she was injured. Once she was pulled out, Ryder helped her to her feet.
“My parachutes were delayed and I landed too hard. My hatch was broken off and I was thrown out. I hit my arm on a rock and broke it before I tried to find my way out of here. Then I found myself sinking. When I heard you yelling for me, I quickly lit my orange smoke can.”, she explained as Ryder splinted her right arm.
“At least you’re alive. We’re saving the rest of your friends now.”, Fluttershy explained.
As Fluttershy flew Daisy back to Twilight’s castle, Ryder and Zuma attached cables to the escape pod and towed it out of the bog.
**
As Marshall’s group was getting ready to rescue Goofy, a radio call came from Spitfire. She was desperate.
“This is an emergency. When the escape pod in the White Tail Woods touched down, it started a spot fire. We were able to put it out in the beginning, but the embers got blown by a gust of wind, starting a larger fire that is now raging uncontrollably. It’s so large that we don’t have enough rain clouds to put it out.”, she said.
“Marshall, we need to MOVE!”, screamed Applejack.
Without hesitating, Marshall gathered the Mighty Twins and had them ride with him while Applejack rushed to the forest. Sure enough, the fire there was raging out of control. While Marshall started blasting water at the flames; Ella grew to a large size and started stomping out the embers to make sure the fire would not start again. Once the fire was out, Everyone started moving further into the woods until they found Goofy’s capsule. His escape pod had gotten hung up in the trees and was dangling from a thick branch.
“I’m raising my ladder to get him down.”, said Marshall.
Once the ladder was raised up, Applejack started trying to open the hatch. Surprisingly, the heat from the forest fire had loosened the hatch to the point that it popped off after Applejack kicked it only once. Goofy got out and climbed down the ladder to the ground While Applejack worked on getting his pod down from the tree limbs. Goofy was not injured, and he followed Applejack and the pups back to Twilight’s castle.
**
Pinkie and the Cat Pack were monitoring the radar to check for anything that might get in the way of the rescues. During the three rescues that took place earlier in the day, the weather showed clear. However, as everyone was gearing up to rescue Millie and Melody, a storm warning came up over Millie’s location and the seismic sensor near the Changeling Kingdom started picking up strong vibrations. An urgent radio call from Neighsay confirmed their worries.
“This is Neighsay. I see a thunderstorm building up over the North Luna Ocean and there is an earthquake starting near the Changeling Kingdom.”
As Ryder, Zuma, and Skye were prepping equipment to rescue Millie, Minnie ran over to them.
“Take me with you. I want to help with saving one of my nieces.”
Zuma agreed and gave her a diving suit.
“We are leaving in about 30 minutes. I suggest you get changed.”, he said.
Minnie rushed inside Twilight’s castle to put the suit on and then rejoined outside. Once Twilight and Rainbow were ready, Zuma loaded his hovercraft onto Skye’s helicopter and they took off to fly northwest to the ocean. They flew into the rain halfway to Millie’s location, but they soon reached the capsule. After dropping down onto the water, Zuma raced over to the capsule to attach safety floats, but the capsule was sinking too fast. Ryder came over to Zuma on his jet-ski and told him to go underwater and attach the floats before the capsule sank too far while he and Minnie got Millie out. Minnie radioed her niece and told her to hang tight.
“We’re coming to get you out. Hold your breath.”, she said.
Once all three had their air receptors in their mouths, they submerged and Zuma started attaching floats while Ryder cut the hatch open. Millie had to hold her breath because she had said earlier that her helmet was broken from being banged around during reentry. Once the hatch was open, Minnie gave Millie her auxiliary receptor in order to breathe until they got to the surface. Twilight and Rainbow were wearing life-jackets and were ready to grab the two when they came up.
When Minnie and Millie came to the surface, both of them took the receptors out of their mouths. Millie started to cough from how long she had to hold her breath. Nevertheless, she and Minnie swam over to Twilight and Rainbow who flew them back to land. As they were flown back, Ryder and Zuma finished attaching floats and towlines to Millie’s escape pod in order to get it to the surface so Skye could grab it with her magnet. Once they were back on land, they headed back to Twilight’s castle.
**
As Rarity and Starlight were getting ready with Chase and Rubble, Neighsay radioed in that the earthquake in the Changeling Kingdom had ended. Just then, Thorax called in with some worrisome news.
“I have located Melody. She is right at the edge of the fissure created by the quake. I have asked her to stay still and not shift her weight. If she falls in, I have no idea how deep she will go.”
“Copy that, Thorax.”, said Starlight.
Once everyone was ready, they set off for the southeast. Thorax met them at the outskirts of the kingdom and led them to Melody’s capsule. Being careful to not make the capsule fall over the edge, Chase attached cables from Rubbles vehicle so he could pull it back away from the fissure. Once the cables were hooked on, Rubble put his rig in reverse and backed up to pull Melody away from the crack. Suddenly, the ground cracked further from the weight of Melody’s capsule and the capsule began pulling Rubble towards the fissure. Luckily, his wheels had enough traction to grip on the ground and he managed to pull the capsule back up and get it clear of the fissure’s edge. After Starlight had cut the hatch open, Melody took off her seatbelt and jumped down. Chase helped Rubble get the capsule onto a trailer and everyone headed back to Twilight’s castle.
“MELODY!”, yelled Millie as they were reunited.
“MILLIE!”, yelled Melody in return.
The twins crushed each other in a hug and shed tears of joy while Ryder and the pups loaded their vehicles back up. Then, everyone headed inside to talk about what had happened and how the ship would be repaired.