Twelve years after the end of the war against Draconia, it had been a month and a half since Taylor’s 13th birthday. He was doing very well in school and so was his cousin Lizzie. Their families had met up at Callie’s house when their parents gave them some surprising news.
“We have something to tell both of you.”, said Callie.
“What’s that, Mom and Aunt Marie?”, asked Taylor.
“For Squidmas, we are going as a family to the planet Equus. Your gift is the opportunity to meet Queen Flurry Heart along with six friends of hers.”, said Marie.
“Who are they, Mom?”, asked Lizzie.
“We knew you’d ask that, Lizzie. She’s a winged unicorn. The last time we saw her was 12 years ago when the world was attacked by an alien species.”, answered Callie.
“Both of you were babies when this happened. You, along with our parents, were captured by a group of these aliens. Luckily, three of our fellow agents, along with some other friends of Queen Flurry, rescued you all.”, added Marie.
Taylor and Lizzie felt their skin crawl and they shut their eyes. Images flashed in their brains of what their moms had just told them. They saw themselves in a dark room and lying on their backs. They heard loud sounds and then they heard screams that sounded like their own voices, only different. When they opened their eyes, they were sweating lightly.
“Are you two alright?”, asked Callie.
“We just remembered a small part of what you told us. We were lying in bed together and out like lights when something shook the crib and roused us from sleep. Then we heard loud explosions outside. Then we started screaming and crying out for you. That’s all we remember.”, said Taylor.
Callie was shocked.
“That’s exactly what happened. We were awakened a siren before the explosions and then we ran to the window just in time to see the bombs landing and going off. We woke our parents up and had almost reached a shelter out back when Marie and I realized you were still inside. We grabbed you and ran back out, but then we tripped and dropped you into the snow. An alien from the species grabbed you before we got up, but we couldn’t see. Our parents were gone when we got to the shelter. After calling for help, we had three sets of soldiers come to rescue you along with the agents. Flurry Heart and her friends were one of the groups.”, she said.
Callie went to her and Michael’s room, and got a photo album from the time that the Draconians had attacked and brought it to show to Taylor and Lizzie along with their parents. When she showed them the group picture after everyone was rescued, Taylor and Lizzie were beyond words.
“I don’t believe this. They all teamed up to help you save us?”, said Lizzie in a shocked voice.
Callie and Marie nodded and then gave their kids a hug and a kiss.
“It was very brave of both you and Marie to participate in that group effort.”, said Sally.
“Thanks, Mom.”, said Callie as her mom gave her a kiss on the cheek and her dad gave her a hug.
“In fact, son, take a look at this orange dragon. Her name is Smolder.”, Michael told Taylor as he pointed to Smolder in the picture.
“She looks familiar to me, Dad, but I don’t know why.”, said Taylor as he scratched his head while looking at the picture.
“She helped me give birth to you. Later that day, after the doctors had assessed your health, I let her hold you. Then, she took two pictures of your dad and I in the hospital. She gave one to us and kept the other.”, said Callie as she turned back in the album to the picture that Smolder had taken after Taylor’s birth.
When Taylor looked at the picture, he shut his eyes as another flashback popped in his mind.
“I remember part of that day. I heard you say her name and ask if she wanted to hold me, and she said yes. Seconds later, I opened my eyes and smiled at her and all of her friends.”, he said.
“That’s right.”, said Michael as Callie put the album away.
“Were you planning on the four of us coming as well?”, asked Iris after Callie came back.
“That’s right, Mom.”, said Marie.
Everyone was excited about going to space. So far, only the Squid Sisters had gone when the Draconian War took place. They started packing to get ready and then took a train and a helicopter to the launching area. The craft they would be using was docked in space, so they had to take a shuttle. It was night when they arrived at the pad, so the kids didn’t know they were actually on top of a giant floating structure in the middle of the ocean.
When the sun came up, Taylor and Lizzie looked around and saw that there was water everywhere. Callie and Marie explained why this was. The launchpad was on a platform anchored to the ocean floor. They could not see this when they arrived because they got there at night and it was raining. One thing that stood out was that they could not eat anything before takeoff, but the workers at the pad explained that.
“You would not want to get sick during the launch. To prevent that, you’re not given any food before takeoff.”, explained one of the technicians.
After putting on orange jumpsuits and getting their luggage onto the shuttle, everyone started boarding. After Callie, Marie, their parents, Andrew, Michael, Taylor, and Lizzie were strapped in their seats, the hatch was buttoned up and the shuttle started to tilt back. After 10 seconds, the shuttle was standing vertically and everyone was lying on their backs, including the shuttle’s crew. It was at this point that the countdown began. When the timer reached zero, the engines fired and everyone felt the intense shaking as the shuttle lifted off and started climbing into the sky. During the ascent, both Taylor and Lizzie began to feel a little bit uneasy. When the loud roar and massive vibration from the engines stopped, and all was still, everyone felt as if they were floating.
“Wow!”, whispered Marie’s dad.
“Oh my gosh.”, giggled Iris.
“This feels weird, sweetie.”, Callie’s parents said to her.
Taylor and Lizzie felt as if they were about to throw up. Spotting sickness bags in the pockets on the backs of their parents’ seats, they each grabbed one and got them opened in a flash. Callie and Marie heard the sound of their children’s ink splashing into the bags and then the crinkling as the bags were closed. Taylor coughed for a second and Lizzie let out a sigh of relief.
“You two alright?”, asked Marie.
“We are now. I think we just got motion sickness.”, said Taylor after he stopped coughing.
“We know what that’s like. We threw up the first time we went into space.”, said Callie.
Three minutes later, the shuttle docked on the space station where the excursion craft was and the shuttle’s gravity core was activated so they would not be floating anymore. After throwing away the sickness bags and getting their luggage, everyone started proceeding to their excursion ship, the Inkstar.
Prior to undocking from the space station, everyone changed out of their jumpsuits and into space suits in case of depressurization. Once the hatches were closed, the Squid Sisters took the controls and undocked the Inkstar from the space station. After setting the star coordinates for Equus, it was time to fasten seat belts. As Marie charged up the warp engines, Callie told everyone what the ride was going to be like.
“We are going to be pulling some serious g-force when we are flying from our solar system to that of Equus. Marie and I have experienced this from the war, so we’re used to it. Since none of you are used to it, it is perfectly fine if you pass out.”, she said.
When the engines fired off, everyone was yanked back in their seats. Luckily, nobody passed out from the sudden acceleration. Everyone thought it was interesting to fly past the stars at such incredible speeds. Once they got close to Equus, Marie pulled back on the warp switch to slow the ship down. The sudden decrease in speed left both Callie’s parents and Marie’s parents dizzy for a second. Taylor had double vision, and Lizzie ended up with a minor headache. These conditions subsided quickly. As they moved closer to Equus’ orbit, they got a call on the radio.
“Orbital Patrol to unidentified spacecraft. Please identify yourself.”, said Thorax.
“This is Callie from the Squid Sisters aboard the Inkstar. We are here on a surprise visit for Flurry Heart.”, answered Callie.
“Acknowledged, you are clear for atmospheric entry. Also, you picked a good time to come. Flurry’s birthday is tomorrow.”, replied Thorax.
Callie and Marie were excited to hear this. Their visit would be a surprise gift for Flurry Heart. They continued proceeding to enter the atmospheric corridor. As they got close, they warned everyone about what was to come. They were about to go through one of the most dangerous phases of space flight.
“Atmospheric entry is an extremely dangerous procedure. As we penetrate the atmosphere, friction creates a superheated plasma around the ship, cutting off radio contact. We have a thermometer to keep track of our temperature and make sure we don’t get too hot by coming in too steep. If that happens, we would be vaporized and our ship would burn up.”, explained Marie as the ship began to enter the atmosphere on Equus.
True to her words, flames appeared around the ship and the outside temperature jumped way up. The only thing anyone could do at this point was hold their breath. After three minutes, the temperature dropped back down as they came into clear air. The main engines were reignited and Callie took the controls to fly over the land in order to find a safe area to land. They had heard from Flurry Heart in the past about places where landing was not safe, so she made sure not to go near those areas. Once they had found a landing area where no-one would see them, they touched down and then got off the ship. After pitching tents for the night, everyone got into their pajamas and got ready to go to bed. Before fully going to sleep, Andrew and Michael suggested stargazing for a while. Lizzie and Taylor loved stargazing, so they joined their dads outside and looked at many different constellations that they had not seen from Earth. In fact, they had both learned about astronomy in school, so they were able to chart where the sun for their solar system was.
In the morning, everyone got dressed and boarded a train to Canterlot after having breakfast.
Upon arriving in the capitol of Equestria, the Squid Sisters and their family headed to the royal palace and explained to the guards who they were and why they had come. One of the guards said that she would present them as one of Flurry Heart’s gifts when the party started. Everyone agreed and they waited in a side room for the party to begin. Once everything had begun, the guard announced to Flurry Heart that she had some special visitors as a present.
“Who might that be?”, she asked.
Even the Young Six didn’t know about the Squid Sisters coming. Little did the Inklings know that the former allies had come to the party as well. The doors were opened and the Squid Sisters walked proudly into the room with their parents and kids following them. Flurry, the PAW Patrol, the Disney Fleet, and the Young Six were flat-out astonished. After the ten Inklings were seated at the table, Flurry came over to them.
“It’s been twelve years since I last saw you.”, she said.
“Are these, Taylor and Lizzie?”, asked Silverstream in a shocked voice.
Taylor and Lizzie smiled and nodded their heads.
“My goodness, you have grown a lot since we last saw you.”, said Gallus.
Sally and Iris explained that none of them realized today was Flurry’s birthday until Thorax told them as they arrived in orbit the night before. Flurry understood them completely and welcomed them to Equus. After the party was finished, each of the Young Six gave them a tour of their homelands. Flurry was last since she grew up further north in the Crystal Empire. After the tour of Equus was finished, the family went with the PAW Patrol to see where they came from and then with the Disney allies to see their home as well. Once they had seen where everybody had come from, they knew it was time to head home. So they packed up, boarded the Inkstar, fired the warp engines, and returned to Earth. After landing, they all went home and continued their normal lives for many years to come and they lived happily ever after.