Equus' Unexpected Future

by Robert Emerald Fountain

The Inkstar's Compromised Arrival

Seconds after Taylor and Lizzie began adjusting the Inkstar’s course, the radio channel went dead. Thorax quickly ran a radar wave and spotted the Inkstar in a flash. She had been hit by a large shard from the meteor shower which knocked off the communication dish. Three more shards had also damaged the wings and torn up the engines.

“E S S to Canterlot. The Inkstar is in trouble.”, said Thorax.

Celestia quickly alerted the Main Six and they sprang into action. They started tracking the ship on radar until she was low enough for visual tracking. They were unsure if the escape pods had launched because they couldn’t see anything among the debris except the ship itself. Luckily, the Inkstar did not crash on the ground. Instead, she splashed into the Celestial Sea.

Ten minutes later, Thorax contacted the Main Six. He had spotted the 13 tracking signals from the crew members. Two of them were in the same place where the Inkstar was, so they were still on-board. The remaining 11 were scattered all over Equestria. As Twilight started setting a plan to rescue everybody, she had an idea.

“Ryder, Mickey, I want you and your crews to help us out with these rescues.”, she said.

“Count us in.”, said Ryder.

“We’d be honored.”, said Mickey.

A second call from Thorax indicated that one of the escape pods on the Inkstar had not launched. Twilight suspected a malfunction and decided to raise the ship and extract the trapped crew members first before getting everyone else. Ryder and Mickey agreed with this because it was unknown how much time the ship had before her hull ruptured.

**

On the Inkstar, everyone was knocked out of their seats when the meteors hit the ship.

“NOT GOOD!”, cried Mike.

“WE’RE IN TROUBLE!”, yelped Andrew.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Looks like there were meteor shards that our scanners didn’t pick up.”, said Agent 4 nervously as she looked at her console.

“Taylor, Lizzie, what’s the damage assessment?”, asked Iris.

“Our communication dish has been broken off. Our wings are not responding to the navigation controls. Our engines have been badly ripped up too.”, Taylor quickly replied in a shaky voice.

“Orbit is decaying rapidly as well. We’re going to crash.”, added Lizzie.

“Callie; does that mean what I think it means?”, asked Sally.

“Yes Mom, it does. ABANDON SHIP, NOW!”, Callie answered a split-second later.

Without hesitating, everyone jumped up and began running to their escape pods. As they ran, the temperature began to rise as they started entering the atmosphere. Taylor and Lizzie tripped and fell down at one point, but they picked themselves up and kept on going until they had reached their pod. They reached theirs as their parents’ pods were being launched. They fastened in and started the launch sequence, but then a warning came up that the doors were blocked.

Taylor looked at the camera feed outside their pod bay and realized that the communication dish had landed over the door and covered it completely. He and Lizzie became nervous and they contacted Callie and Marie.

“We can’t bail out. The communication dish has covered our escape pod bay doors and trapped us on-board the Inkstar.”, they said.

“We hear you both. Go to one of the crash compartments and secure yourselves inside. Once the ship has come to a stop, it will be safe for you to watch the windows for rescuers.”, replied Callie and Marie.

Taylor and Lizzie did as their moms instructed and fastened themselves in a secure area near the center of the ship. Five minutes later, they felt a jolt and heard what sounded like a splash as the Inkstar plunged into the ocean.

Once the shaking had stopped, they unfastened their seatbelts and started watching out the windows for rescue personnel. They also opened their suitcases and put on wetsuits in case they had to swim. Agent 3 had designed these suits to protect both Inklings and Octarians from water since they would usually die otherwise. The view out the windows was pretty, and allowed them to see many different forms of marine life while they waited for rescue. Little did they know that Twilight and her friends had seen them splash down and were coming to get them.

**

After pinpointing the Inkstar’s location in the Celestial Sea, Twilight led her friends, Ryder, Mickey, and some of their volunteers to bring the ship to land. Skye took to the air in her helicopter, Mickey and Minnie followed suit, and Ryder and Zuma rode out to the site on their watercrafts. As Zuma started attaching floats to keep the Inkstar from sinking; Ryder knocked on the hatch to alert Taylor and Lizzie that help had arrived. Taylor and Lizzie knocked back to signal they had heard him. Then, Lizzie got on radio to speak to Twilight. At the same time, Skye, Mickey, Minnie, Rainbow, and Fluttershy started attaching cables to the top of the ship to fly it to safety.

“Twilight, this is Lizzie. Taylor and I are grateful that you came to our aid. Once we are at your castle; we’ll show you where the other escape pods have landed.”, she explained.

“Understood, Lizzie. Thank you very much.”, replied Twilight.

Once Taylor had depressurized the ship’s interior, he opened the hatch and then Lizzie followed him outside and jumped into an inflated raft that Zuma had deployed after attaching the floats to the Inkstar. As Zuma and Ryder headed back to shore, the remaining helpers lifted the Inkstar out of the water and flew to a clearing at the edge of Ponyville. Once Taylor and Lizzie were on dry land, they followed Twilight into her castle and pinpointed where everyone had landed. Twilight was generous enough to give them a map of Equestria so they could specify the exact locations. Taylor and Lizzie also gave her a copy of the crew’s manifest.

“My parents touched down in the north.”, said Lizzie as she pointed out an area near Mount Everhoof.

Twilight marked that to be where Marie and Andrew had touched down.

“What about your mom’s parents?”, Twilight asked.

“They landed in this swamp here.”, said Lizzie as she pointed at Froggy Bottom Bog.

“Got it.”, said Twilight as she marked that spot with Iris and Michael.

“My parents landed in this forest.”, said Taylor as he pointed to the White Tail Woods.

“Where did your mom’s parents touch down?”, Twilight asked after labeling where Callie and Mike were.

“They touched down next to the largest waterfall in your land.”, said Taylor as he pointed to Neighagra Falls.

“Very good.”, said Twilight as she labeled where Sally and Jerome were.

The last pod contained Agents 3, 4, and 8. Taylor and Lizzie both pointed to the Dragon Lands, and Twilight labeled the area accordingly. The mission was now fully laid out for everyone. They would begin the rescues the next morning since Taylor and Lizzie were rescued in the middle of the night.