Fresh Developments

As the group reappeared in the boat's Radio room, Carson walked Celestia over to the radio set.

"And I just...press this button and talk?" Celestia asked.

"Yep. Allow me to demonstrate." Carson said, taking the mic.

"Yo, Cap'n, you there?"

"I'M HERE WHIPPERSNAPPER!" came the reply. This time, though, it was loud. Very loud.

"Uh, Cap'n? You might wanna turn down the sound!" Carson said, though his ears were now bleeding.

"Eh, sorry. I really don't know how to work this here radio thingamajig."

"Well, I got the ruler of Equestria on the line, so, wanna talk?" Carson asked.

"Yep."

"Well, here's Celestia."

Celestia took the mic and pressed the button.

"Hello there." She said pleasantly.

"Hey there. Mind hitting the little blue switch on your end?"

Carson flipped it, and a TV came out of the radio set, and it turned on to reveal the faces of Cap'n Cuttlefish, Callie and Marie.

"Well, guess it works. Hey there." Cuttlefish said.

"Hello. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure where to begin, this is the first time we've had visitors from another place on the planet." Celestia said.

"Well, that's okay. I mean ,we Inklins' won the Great Turf War because one of 'dem Octarian war gizmos came unplugged. That was quite humiliating for 'em."

"Octarians?"

"Our worst enemies. We Inklings and 'dem Octarians been fighting ever since the landmass began to shrink. We ended up winnin' and send'n them packing. Then they stole the Great Zapfish, which the Squiddos you see with you fellers recovered." Cuttlefish said.

"Have you ever tried making friends with them?" Rarity asked.

Cuttlefish laughed out loud.

"Making friends with an Octarian is impossible, whippersnapper. We hate their guts, they hate ours. I used to be friends with old DJ Octavio there (The camera moved to see the Octarian leader in his snowglobe, who scowled at Cuttlefish), and we kinda had a falling'-out. It wasn't a nice time." Cuttlefish replied.

"Okay...Moving on. How exactly do laws get made there? I mean…"

"It's fine." Callie spoke up. "Normally, when major things like that come around, we just put it up to a straight vote. Majority rules."

"A straight democracy?" Celestia asked.

"Eh, you could say." Marie said.

"Wow." Celestia replied. "How do you two know him?"

"Callie and Marie are my grandkids!" Cuttlefish said.

"Yeah. Alongside that, we're the Inkopolis newcasters. We announce the Ink battle stages, when we get word from...On high…(she said this in a mysterious voice)...and when updates come out. It's a great job. Unlike the one we had at Walleye warehouse." Callie said.

"What happened there?" Twilight asked.

"Eh...It was so bad, when we quit, we burned our uniforms." Marie said sheepishly.

"That bad." Twilight said.

"Yeah. We're also Agents 1 and 2 of the Squidbeak Splatoon. When Octavio kidnapped Gramps, we stepped in to help put Agent 3 and his friends. And the two of us are one of Inkopolis's greatest music sensations!"

"You two sure do a lot!" Luna said.

"We're squids of all trades. Anyway, anything you wanna know?" Callie said.

"A few things." Celestia replied. As they talked, Carson walked over to the fridge and pulled out some bottled water.

"Hey, Carson? What's with the face?" Rarity said, noting every Inkling's disgusted face.

"I hate water. Every Inkling hates water. Thing is, too much water in a short amount of time can kill an Inkling. Like, kill them dead. A bottle of water or two won't hurt, but drown-in-it amounts will kill after a few seconds of exposure. A few Ink battle areas have water hazards. And, we can't swim." Carson said.

"BUT YOU'RE SQUIDS! HOW CAN YOU NOT SWIM IN WATER!?" Everypony said.

"Has to do with the Ink-reliant evolutions we undertook over centuries. We can swim, but just not in water. We kinda lost the natural body functions needed to swim over time. So...like we said, yeah." Bri said.

"Well, Whippersnappers, I got some things to do, but call me anytime!" Cuttlefish said.

As Callie and Marie posed and performed their catchphrase, the Inklings waved. As the radio turned off, Carson noted the darkening sky.

"Splatoon, let's get some rest. See you squiddos in the morning." Carson said as the Inklings pulled out the couch beds. As the ponies vanished, the inklings changed into PJs and climbed under the covers. As the moon rose, the light revealed a Inkling clad in ninja gear, wielding a sword connected to his orange Ink tank. His grey ages and worn face was obscured by a mask.

"Well Carson...nice to see you again…" he said, before vanishing.