//------------------------------//
// The Call from the Lost Probe 
// Story: Equus' Unexpected Future 
// by Robert Emerald Fountain 
//------------------------------//

On Earth, there lived two sets of hybrid species between humans and either squids or octopi, known as the Inklings and the Octarians. The two species had once been at war, but now a peace treaty had been signed between the Inklings and the Octarians. 

Some of the inklings were members of a group of soldiers, called the Squidbeak Splatoon, that worked to protect the world. Two of the members were inklings that were cousins. Their names were Callie and Marie, and they were both married to inklings named Andrew and Michael. 

Callie and Michael’s son, Taylor, had just graduated from college with master’s degrees in electrical engineering, and computer aided design. They were both proud of him, along with Marie, Andrew, and their daughter Lizzie. Two years before Taylor’s graduation, Lizzie had walked the line with master’s degrees in both biology and chemistry. Both Lizzie and Taylor had huge dreams to become astronauts. 

Callie and Marie’s parents were proud of their grandchildren as well. The family was coming home from a mass vacation when they heard a news report about something falling from the sky into the ocean. After getting home, Callie and Marie assembled the Squidbeak Splatoon to recover the unidentified object. Once they had brought the crashed satellite to dry land, they examined it to find out where it had come from. Taylor and Lizzie had come along as well. Taylor would figure out how the satellite was constructed and where it had come from, while Lizzie would study the planet where it came from afterwards. As Taylor examined the satellite’s construction, he was intrigued by how well it was built, as if done by a professional. When he found the navigation system, he pulled it out and hooked it to his laptop to find out the satellite’s origin.

“Mom, according to the satellite’s GPS, it has come from a planet named Equus. Star coordinates are X-96, Y-21, Z-73. Whoever built this must have been really tech-savvy.”, he said after a minute.

“Good work, sweetheart.”, said Callie.

Now, it was Lizzie’s turn. She studied the data that Taylor had found and was intrigued by what species inhabited Equus.

“Here’s what I have found about Equus’ inhabitants. There are ponies, griffins, dragons, hippogriffs, yaks, and changelings. The changelings are a species that can transform into any other creature. According to some of Taylor’s data, all of the races have united and they’ve also modernized their world.”, she explained.

“Great job, Cupcake.”, said Marie.

After a short discussion, the decision was made to organize a mission to visit Equus after establishing contact with them.

Over the course of the next two months, Callie and Marie brainstormed ideas on how they would establish contact with Equus and later journey there. Michael, Andrew, Taylor, and Lizzie helped them out until they had finalized their plans. 

Their plan was that Taylor would figure out the satellite’s transmission frequency and calibrate a communications array that ran on the same frequency. Once this was working, they would call out to Equus until they made contact. After this, they would talk to Equus’ inhabitants and explain who they were and that they were coming to visit after building themselves a ship. They started right away to find the radio frequency in order to contact Equus. After a week, they had success.

**

On the E S S, Thorax was making his rounds when he picked up a call. 

“This is the Equestrian Space Station.”, he answered.

“My name is Callie Cuttlefish. I’m here with my cousin Marie, and our children, Taylor and Lizzie. A satellite crashed on our world and we traced it to your world of Equus.”, said Callie.

“Stand by, I am going to broadcast your call.”, replied Thorax excitedly.

Marie gave him a thumbs-up, and Thorax radioed Celestia and Luna.

“E S S to Canterlot. I’ve received a call on the same frequency as the probe that we lost.”, he reported.

“Broadcast it worldwide!”, yelled Celestia in excitement.

Thorax broadcast the signal all over the world and everyone saw who had found their satellite.

“I am Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria. I hear that you found the satellite we lost.”, said Celestia.

“That’s right, Your Majesty. We had to bring the satellite to dry land before we could examine it, but I found its GPS and traced it to you.”, said Taylor.

“Once Taylor had traced the satellite to you, I looked at the information and was intrigued by all of the different species on your world.”, said Lizzie.

“That’s great to hear.”, said Celestia.

“I’m impressed that you recovered our satellite. It was hit by an asteroid before it crashed.”, said Luna.

After talking to representatives from all of the different species, the Squid Sisters revealed something that made everyone’s eyes light up in astonishment.

“We are planning to visit you at some point, but we need to build a ship first. It will be called the Inkstar.”, said Marie.

“NICE! We’ll see you when you get here.”, said Twilight.