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// Return to Equus 
// Story: Mission: Astro 
// by Robert Emerald Fountain 
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Once the call from Michael and Callie was ended, the crew set their warp drive to maximum speed before going back into stasis. At maximum speed, the trip back to Equus would take only three months, so the crew was able to get the relaxation they needed as they were in their stasis pods. After putting their breathing masks back on, they sealed the pods, which engaged the mechanism to fill them up with water. As the sedatives kicked in, the crew members passed off to sleep, knowing they would be awakened when they arrived home at Equus. 

As Twilight was signing off on some royal documents three months later, she was visited by Spike.

“Twilight, I have just gotten word from Starlight. The Alicorn has been spotted returning to Equus.”, he said proudly.

Twilight was excited, and headed to the landing strip where the shuttle would be touching down. On the way, she contacted Cadence and told her that Flurry was home.

After waking up from stasis, Flurry and the Young Six docked the Alicorn on its space station and moved over to the shuttle in order to return home. They entered the atmosphere and deployed their shuttle’s parachutes after touching down on the runway. When the shuttle came to a stop, the hatch was opened and the crew climbed down the steps to the ground. Flurry gave her mom and her aunt each a hug and a kiss before she and the Young Six shared the information they had gathered on their seven year trip. Twilight agreed with the idea to set up research facilities on some of the planets in order to study their environments and gather materials for experiments. 

Scientists took the soil samples from Hyperborea and determined that the fertilizers contained high amounts of radioactive chemicals, which were notorious for killing vegetation. They quickly hatched a plan to stop the contamination, which would restore Hyperborea’s environment to the point of thriving once again. Twilight also congratulated the crew for helping Marie give birth to her son.