Chapters New Friends from Far Away
Two months ago...
Equestria was modernized and Neighsay resigned from the E E A to work as a communications officer on a space station. A call was received from a place called Adventure Bay because the emergency responders there were in trouble. Twilight assembled her friends, Flurry Heart, and the Young Six to answer this call. They were told by the Mayor of Adventure Bay that ten pups and their leader, Ryder, had responded to emergencies in their area and had been downed. Twilight and her crew split up to rescue Ryder and his pups and they saved them all. As a gift, they built a starship for Ryder and the PAW Patrol before returning to Equus.
Now, something unexpected is about to happen. What will it be?
New Friends from Far Away
As Mickey and his crew sped further and further through deep space, their radar picked up a collapsing star about to go supernova. When Daisy calculated that there was no way to evade the explosion, Mickey called out to Donald.
"SHIELDS UP!", he yelled.
Donald started to raise the shields, but he was too late. The star exploded and the first wave of energy hit the Disneystar . The shield generators were shorted out and the systems were overloaded. Suddenly, the warp drive went into overdrive and the ship began going faster. Everyone could feel the g-force pulling them backwards in their seats.
"I FEEL AS IF MY TEETH ARE GOING TO BE SHOVED INTO MY THROAT!", groaned Melody.
"MY EARS ARE RINGING!", cried Millie.
"I THINK I'M GOING TO BE SICK!", screeched Minnie.
Soon, the g-force was too much for anyone to bear and all of the crew members began to pass out. Toodles got shorted out by the energy wave, but his emergency reboot kicked in and he woke up. What he saw was the last thing he ever expected. Everyone was unconscious, all of the controls had caught fire, and the bridge's main lights had shattered from overloading. He initiated a Red-Alert and then signaled the computer to engage the Emergency-Stop on the warp drive. The jolt from the Emergency-Stop roused everyone from their coma and the screaming alarm brought them back to their senses.
"Why isn't the fire-suppressant gas kicking in?", Millie asked out of frustration.
"The pump is functional, but the lines are melted. The gas can't get to the bridge.", said Melody.
"We've reached a planet with breathable air, but our orbit is rapidly decaying.", cried Daisy as she looked at their position on her console.
"Our radio is fried from that energy wave.", said Goofy sadly.
"ABANDON SHIP! WE'RE SCRUBBED!", Mickey yelled frantically.
Everyone unfastened their seatbelts and began running to the escape pod bay. Since Toodles was programmed to track the pods, his heat shield was brought up so he wouldn't be destroyed on re-entry.
**
On the E S S, Neighsay was making his rounds when an urgent alarm came in. When he ran to the main computer, it said "PROXIMITY ALERT: STARSHIP IN DECAYING ORBIT". Knowing this was an emergency, he tried to contact the ship, but he got a notification that the radio was not working on the ship. Frantically, he called to Canterlot.
"Equestrian Space Station to Canterlot. Emergency Alert!", he said over the radio.
"This is Twilight. Go ahead, Neighsay."
"Your Highness, a starship has appeared in orbit and is decaying rapidly. I can't contact them because the radio seems to be broken."
Twilight acknowledged the report and she looked at the ship's path to determine its crash site. The path showed the final impact would be in the center of the Everfree Forest. Since the area was close to Zecora's hut, she radioed her.
"Zecora, this is Twilight Sparkle. A starship is going to crash in the forest near your place. I suggest you find a far spot to avoid getting hurt."
Zecora called back and accepted what Twilight had said.
**
After Mickey and his friends had put their space suits back on, they got into their escape capsules and launched as they entered the atmosphere. Their ship was spinning as it plummeted to the ground, so the escape pods were sent in different directions. None of them landed in the same place. Also, Professor Von Drake had not designed the escape pods to withstand the heat of atmospheric entry, so the hatches became fused shut.
As the Disneystar plummeted closer to the ground, she struck the tops of several trees before touching down in the Everfree Forest and skidding to a halt in the dirt. The heat from the flaming engines started a raging fire. The fire was intensified when the fuel tank ruptured and began leaking. Luckily, Spitfire saw the flames and dispatched several weather ponies to bring rain clouds over the forest to put out the fire. Once Twilight got word that the forest fire was put out, she rushed to her castle to assemble her friends along with Starlight and Flurry Heart.
New Friends from Far Away
The next morning, Twilight and Flurry examined the round device they had found on the Disneystar's bridge. When they found the main power switch, they turned the device on. When they saw two smaller discs jut out on either side to resemble mouse ears, they realized this was some kind of robotic drone. Soon, a face appeared on the main disc and the drone began to speak to them.
"My name is Toodles. Who are you and where is this place?"
"My name is Twilight Sparkle. This is my niece, Flurry Heart. You are in the land of Equestria on the planet Equus.", Twilight replied.
"Thank you, Twilight. I need to run a sonar sweep to locate the crew members from the Disneystar . They evacuated before the ship touched down.", Toodles explained.
Flurry led Toodles outside and he flew high into the air. Releasing an energy wave, he scanned the entire area and intercepted the tracking signals from all seven escape pods while gathering the topography and layout of the land as well. Once he had come back down, Twilight brought her friends together and they met up in the map room. Once the Cutie Map was showing the layout of Equestria, Toodles projected an overlay that depicted where the crew members had landed.
**
The crew's locations were as follows:
Mickey Mouse: Forbidden Jungle
Minnie Mouse: Mount Everhoof
Donald Duck: Griffonstone, Exact location unknown
Daisy Duck: Froggy Bottom Bogg
Goofy: White Tail Woods
Millie Mouse: North Luna Ocean
Melody Mouse: Changeling Kingdom
**
Twilight radioed the details to Neighsay. He dispatched probes so that the capsules could be located precisely. When the results came back, Twilight was nervous. Some of the escape pods had landed in treacherous areas.
"Why don't we call in Ryder and the pups?", asked Rainbow.
"Good idea, Dash.", chimed in Applejack.
Twilight sent Flurry Heart to the radio tower in the Everfree Forest to transmit the call to the PAW Patrol. The call was sent, and now they had to wait for Ryder and his pups to arrive.
New Friends from Far Away
Calling in the PAW Patrol
When the call came to the PAW Patrol, all of the pups and the Cat Pack were having a sleepover at the Lookout the previous night. However, rather than the call coming in the evening like the four from Liberty and the others, the call from Equus reached the Lookout right at dawn. So, everyone ended up getting a rude awakening when the alarm went off that a call had come in. Fortunately, they were used to getting calls at times like this, but it was not very common. Ryder walked into the main room to answer the call.
"This is the Lookout. Ryder speaking.", he said sleepily with a yawn.
"Did I wake you up? I'm sorry, Ryder. We have an emergency here on Equus. A starship crashed last night and we have just now found out where the crew's escape pods have landed. We may need your help extracting them all. Better safe than sorry.", explained Flurry.
"Acknowledged. We may be a while, but we will get there.", said Ryder.
Once all of the pups and the cats had fully woken up and had something to eat for breakfast, Ryder told everybody to suit up. After getting in uniform, Ryder gave Mayor Goodway a data-pad in case emergencies came up while they were gone and they boarded the Paw Patroller after it had been transformed for water travel.
"PAW Patrol and Cat Pack ready for action, Ryder Sir.", said Chase.
"Thanks for letting us wake up completely before having us get in uniform.", said Marshall.
"You're welcome. Here's what was in the call. There is an emergency on Equus. The ponies who saved our lives two months ago need our help. A starship has crashed and the crew ejected. They don't know how severe the rescues will be, so they have called us in as backup.", Ryder explained.
"DOES THIS MEAN...?", Skye started excitedly.
"Yep, we're going into space again.", Ryder answered as the Paw Patroller began moving across the water.
The PAW Patrol had already used the Space Patroller for three space rescues in the past month. Once they reached the dock that was connected to the hangar, everyone disembarked and took the elevator down to the access bridge. They stopped part-way down to be put in their space suits. Once they were strapped in their seats and the access bridge had been retracted, Ryder began the pre-launch checklist.
"Alright everyone, listen up. Give me a go/no-go for launch."
"Boosters go.", said Marshall.
"Airframe go.", said Skye.
"Telemetry go.", said Tracker.
"Guidance go.", said Chase.
With all four systems showing green, Ryder initiated the launch sequence. The pups and the cats counted down until booster ignition.
"Fifteen.", said Chase.
"Fourteen.", said Marshall.
"Thirteen.", said Skye.
"Twelve.", said Rocky.
"Eleven.", said Rubble.
"Ten.", said Zuma.
"Nine.", said Everest.
"Eight.", said Tracker.
"Seven.", said Tuck.
"Six, go for main engine start.", said Ella.
The engine valves opened and began spewing fuel to prepare for ignition.
"Five.", said Rex.
"Four.", said Liberty.
"Three.", said Wildcat.
"Two.", said Rory.
"One.", said Leo.
"IGNITION!", cried Shade.
The fuel was ignited and everyone felt a massive amount of shaking as the thrust built up. They had gotten nauseated and threw up the first time they had launched, but now they were used to this. The Space Patroller was soon released from the launch clamps and began rising into the sky. Once they had cleared the atmosphere, the gravity core kicked in and everyone was able to walk. During the launch, the systems were designed to temporarily shut down. After they had come back on, Ryder started preparing for their trip to Equus.
"Navigation.", he said to Tracker.
"Coordinates set.", Tracker replied.
"Hazard Avoidance.", Ryder said to Marshall.
"Clear.", replied Marshall.
"Helm.", Ryder said to Chase.
"Ready.", Chase replied.
"Activate warp drive engines on my mark, Skye.", Ryder said.
"Standing by.", Skye replied as she put her paws on the switches.
"Five, Four, Three, Two, One, MARK!", said Ryder intently.
Skye pushed the switches forward and the engines fired off. The Space Patroller shot deep into space, bound for Equus. This was only their second time using the warp drive and doing a rescue in deep space, so they passed out after the sudden acceleration. Luckily, Twilight had programmed the warp drive to disengage when the Space Patroller was twenty miles from the destination. This gave Ryder, the pups, and the Cat Pack more than enough time to wake up and get reoriented.
**
Neighsay was monitoring all of the frequencies on his screens because Twilight had instructed him to watch for the PAW Patrol and notify her when he made contact. When the Space Patroller appeared on radar, he called out to them.
"Space Patroller , this is the Equestrian Space Station. Do you copy?"
"This is Ryder aboard the Space Patroller . We read you loud and clear E S S."
"Acknowledged, you are cleared for atmospheric entry.", said Neighsay.
Once Ryder had entered the atmospheric corridor, Neighsay contacted Twilight.
"Twilight, the Space Patroller is entering the atmosphere."
Twilight was quick to acknowledge what he had told her and she guided the ship to a landing area that had been built on the south side of the Everfree Forest. After leading everyone to her castle, Twilight explained who was where and that there was the possibility that she and her friends would need help from Ryder and the pups. Upon seeing that one of the pods had landed in water, Ryder indicated that Zuma would need to help with that one. He said this because there was the potential that the pod could sink underwater.
New Friends from Far Away
Since Mickey was the Captain on the Disneystar , he was chosen to be rescued first. Ryder suggested having Tracker on this mission since the Forbidden Jungle looked huge on the map. Twilight agreed and she brought Rainbow and Fluttershy to go with her. Once they had their radios working, they set off for the jungle. The trip to the Forbidden Jungle was extremely dangerous because a rainstorm was passing over the south regions of Equestria when they started. Upon reaching the outskirts, Twilight said to be careful and watch out for hostile critters. As they entered the woods, Ryder noticed it was very tight with his vehicle. So he opted to walk towards the location in the woods where Mickey had been spotted on radar.
"Ryder, do you hear that?", asked Tracker as they got close.
Ryder put a hand to his ear and listened closely. After concentrating for a moment, he heard a high pitch beeping sound. Realizing what this was, he called to Twilight over his headset.
"Twilight, I think we have a lead on how to find Mickey more accurately. Tracker has heard the sound of an EPIRB or Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon. This device is used by boaters who need saving. An EPIRB transmits a radar signal that the coast guard uses to find them."
"Copy that, Ryder. I was about to say that Rainbow spotted something on top of the canopy. We are going in for a closer look, and we think it is the parachutes.", she replied.
Ryder acknowledged and followed the ponies based on the yellow on their safety vests. Sure enough, they found a spot where the parachutes were clearly tangled in the trees. The ends of these parachutes were attached to a capsule with a window in the hatch. Ryder climbed up the tree to look in through the window and sure enough, he saw a large mouse inside wearing a red space suit. The nametag said "Mickey Mouse" and allowed everyone to confirm it was him. However, the hatch would not open, even after Ryder banged on the window to wake Mickey up and told him to depressurize the capsule.
When Twilight looked closer at the seam between the hatch and the rest of the pod with a flashlight, she saw that it looked like the hatch was fused shut. Luckily, Rainbow had brought some cutting tools that the dragons had designed. She told Mickey to cover his eyes and then she started cutting open the hatch with a plasma torch. Once the hatch was freed, Twilight used her aura to remove it and then Mickey opened his helmet and took off his seatbelt.
"I knew someone would find Toodles.", he said.
Fluttershy had brought a medical scanner to check for injuries. When she scanned Mickey, the results came up perfect.
"You have no injuries, Mickey.", she told him.
Mickey followed Ryder and Tracker out of the woods and then got in the back of Tracker's jeep for a ride back to Twilight's castle.
On the way back, Twilight radioed Mickey to tell him that another group was going after Minnie at the same time.
"Where did she land?", he asked.
"She landed near the peak of the tallest mountain in the world. It's extremely cold where she landed, so she will not want to open her helmet.", Twilight explained.
Mickey agreed and they soon reached Twilight's castle.
New Friends from Far Away
During Mickey's rescue...
Flurry assembled Skye, Everest, Chase, and Rory to go with her to Mount Everhoof and rescue Minnie. Skye expanded her helicopter to fly everyone to the Crystal Mountains while Flurry grabbed some tools to open the hatch on Minnie's escape capsule. A severe snowstorm was ravaging Mount Everhoof, so all five needed to wear heavy coats to stay warm. Once everyone was ready, Skye took the yoke and they took off in her helicopter. Arriving at the foot of the mountain, Flurry explained the plan.
"Skye, you and Rory will wait here until we get to Minnie and open up her escape pod. Chase, Everest, and I will ascend to where Minnie is and then call you on radio. According to the signal that Toodles intercepted, she is halfway up. Since this is a cold place, we need to have heated blankets ready because we will likely all be shivering."
"Understood, Flurry.", said Skye and Rory together.
Since Everest was trained in traversing snowy terrain more than Flurry, she was allowed to lead. The trek up the slopes was treacherous and took two hours. Luckily, Flurry had a radar tracker that was locked in on the EPIRB on Minnie's escape pod. When they got to a flat spot, the signal was strong and only fifteen feet east of them. Even with their warm clothes, all three were shivering profusely. Nevertheless, they headed east and spotted the orange safety stripes on Minnie's pod. It was partially buried in the snow. Everest and Chase's paws were numb from the cold, but they quickly got to work digging the pod out while Flurry contacted Skye.
"Skye, this is Flurry Heart. We have reached Minnie. Get above us and get ready."
Skye acknowledged Flurry's call and flew upward until she was directly above them. After digging away the snow, Everest lit a flare so Skye could see them. Flurry looked in the window and saw Minnie inside. She was awake and her teeth were chattering. She seemed to be very cold and her helmet's visor was broken.
"Is the heater broken in your suit and in your pod?", Flurry asked loudly over the wind.
"Y-Yes, th-they are b-broken. I c-c-can't get my hatch open either.", Minnie said before sneezing from being so cold.
"Stay back. I'm going to cut the hatch open.", said Flurry as she pulled out her plasma cutter.
Once the hatch was open, Minnie unbuckled her seatbelt and jumped out into the snow. Skye had already dropped a rescue basket at this point. Everyone got in as Rory lowered a magnet to pick up the escape pod. Once the basket was hoisted up, Flurry helped Minnie get out and everyone wrapped themselves in blankets.
"All clear, Skye.", said Chase as Flurry shut the helicopter door.
Skye flew back towards Twilight's castle and then landed so everyone could get out. Mickey was waiting outside when Minnie got out of Skye's helicopter and once she was out, she ran over and crushed him in a hug. The sun was starting to set when Twilight led everybody inside. She said they would save everyone else tomorrow. Ryder agreed and everyone laid down to sleep.
During both rescues, Applejack and Pinkie had managed to get through to the other five awaiting rescue with Toodles helping them. Millie sounded desperate because water was beginning to leak into her pod. Zuma assured her that they'd try to save her before she sank, but they could not guarantee anything.
New Friends from Far Away
The next morning, everyone met together to decide who would go where. Rainbow Dash and Skye volunteered to head for Griffonstone to save Donald. Ryder decided to take Zuma and Rex to Froggy Bottom Bogg to save Daisy. Fluttershy went with them because she had been there before. Finally, Marshall and Applejack chose to take Tuck and Ella to White Tail Woods to extract Goofy. Later that day, Rainbow, Twilight, Ryder, Skye and Zuma would go to the North Luna Ocean to save Millie while Chase would go with Rarity and Starlight to save Melody in the Changeling Kingdom.
There was no time to take the train to Griffonstone. So Rainbow took to the air and told Skye to follow in her helicopter. Rainbow had contacted Gilda in advance to let her know they were coming. She was waiting when they arrived in the area.
"Have you seen anything drop down from the sky in the past two days?", Rainbow asked.
"As a matter of fact, we have. We saw something come down on three red parachutes and get blown towards the abyss. The parachutes have come loose, so we don't know if what was attached has come off or not. Whatever the case, we need to hurry.", Gilda answered.
"Let's go, we have no time to lose.", said Rainbow.
Leading the way to the abyss, Gilda told Rainbow and Skye to put on headlamps. When they got to the chasm, Gilda threw ropes down and Rainbow told Skye to drop the magnet from her helicopter. As all three rappelled into the darkness, Gilda saw something she didn't recognize.
"Dash, what's that orange thing?", she asked.
Rainbow couldn't see too well either, so she asked Skye to magnify with her goggles. Skye nodded and barked to activate her goggles. When she identified the orange as a safety mark on Donald's escape pod, all three of them began moving closer until they heard the EPIRB beeping.
"You were right, Skye. That beeping sound we're hearing is the radar beacon.", said Gilda.
Once they were close enough to the hatch, Gilda carefully knocked on the window because the rock was weak in this chasm. Donald knocked back to signal he was okay. Skye attached her magnet to the capsule and signaled the winch to reel it up. At the surface, Rainbow pulled out a plasma cutter and carefully cut the hatch open.
"Thanks for saving me. I'm not hurt, just shaken up real bad.", Donald explained as he took off his seatbelt and moved over to Skye's helicopter. Skye got back behind the yoke and followed Dash back to Twilight's castle.
New Friends from Far Away
As Rarity and Starlight were getting ready with Chase and Rubble, Neighsay radioed in that the earthquake in the Changeling Kingdom had ended. Just then, Thorax called in with some worrisome news.
"I have located Melody. She is right at the edge of the fissure created by the quake. I have asked her to stay still and not shift her weight. If she falls in, I have no idea how deep she will go."
"Copy that, Thorax.", said Starlight.
Once everyone was ready, they set off for the southeast. Thorax met them at the outskirts of the kingdom and led them to Melody's capsule. Being careful to not make the capsule fall over the edge, Chase attached cables from Rubbles vehicle so he could pull it back away from the fissure. Once the cables were hooked on, Rubble put his rig in reverse and backed up to pull Melody away from the crack. Suddenly, the ground cracked further from the weight of Melody's capsule and the capsule began pulling Rubble towards the fissure. Luckily, his wheels had enough traction to grip on the ground and he managed to pull the capsule back up and get it clear of the fissure's edge. After Starlight had cut the hatch open, Melody took off her seatbelt and jumped down. Chase helped Rubble get the capsule onto a trailer and everyone headed back to Twilight's castle.
"MELODY!", yelled Millie as they were reunited.
"MILLIE!", yelled Melody in return.
The twins crushed each other in a hug and shed tears of joy while Ryder and the pups loaded their vehicles back up. Then, everyone headed inside to talk about what had happened and how the ship would be repaired.
New Friends from Far Away
The following morning, Neighsay came down on a shuttle to Twilight's castle so he could be with everyone during the explanation of where Mickey and his friends came from and how they ended up at Equus.
"We did not know we would end up here. We were simply doing a simple test flight of our new starship, the Disneystar .", Mickey explained.
"Then what was it that happened to your ship that resulted in you getting here?", Neighsay and Twilight asked in unison.
Donald spoke up.
"All we know is we were testing our warp engines when our scanner picked up an exploding star. We could not avoid the shockwave, so Mickey had me put the shields up. Unfortunately, we were too late. The star exploded and the first energy wave hit the Disneystar before the shields had even reached 50%. Everything went ballistic after that. The warp engines got overcharged and we passed out from g-force. When we woke up, all of our controls were on fire and we were in a decaying orbit around the planet. After that, we evacuated and landed in the places where you found us."
"Any idea why your hatches got fused shut?", asked Neighsay out of confusion. "That's not supposed to happen."
Minnie thought for a second. She was the ship's main engineer, and remembered when Von Drake warned them about the capsule hatches.
"We abandoned ship too early out of desperation. Our ship's designer told us that the hatches were not yet ready to take the heat from atmospheric reentry. So, when we ejected, we were at a point when the temperature was too hot. That's why the hatches got fused.", she explained.
"We will help repair your ship so you can return home and tell your Professor about what happened.", said Twilight.
Mickey accepted the offer and the Disneystar was taken to a hangar to be repaired. Once the controls had been fixed and rewired to proper working order, the escape pods were modified with heat-resistant hatches that would not fuse shut. The warp engines were rebuilt since they had been destroyed in the crash-landing. Ryder and the pups helped out with the repairs to make sure everything worked right and soon the ship was restored to its former glory. The power core was also modified to make sure it would not get overloaded by energy waves anymore. Once all of the repairs were finished, Mickey and his friends suited up for their return journey home. Twilight took time to record the star coordinates of where they came from in case they wanted to visit at any time.
After Ryder and his crew accepted Mickey's gratitude for saving them, the Space Patroller was launched and they returned to Adventure Bay. There were only two emergencies that came up while they were gone, but they were minimal. Mickey and his friends thanked Twilight and her friends and Flurry for saving them and then they boarded the Disneystar to go home. The ship lifted off and shot through space until they returned home. Professor Von Drake was shocked by their story, but he was also pleased that they returned home safely.
New Friends from Far Away
Mickey Mouse and his friends were excited about what they were about to do. Two years ago, Professor Ludwig Von Drake had drawn up plans to build a giant starship and have Mickey and his friends as the crew. The starship had recently been christened Disneystar and it was being launched into space today.
The crew consisted of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Minnie's twin nieces, Millie and Melody, and Von Drake's robotic mouse drone, Toodles. Mickey and his friends along with Minnie's nieces were quarantined to get ready for launch so they would not catch germs before they put their space suits on. The white-room technicians helped them into their suits and then everyone put their helmets on.
"We are going to have a beautiful ride.", Mickey said to Clarabelle.
"I'm sure you will, Mickey.", she replied as Mickey latched his helmet.
Once everyone was ready, they followed illuminated arrows on the floor until they had boarded an elevator. The elevator took them up to a pressurized glass walkway that led to the main hatch on the side of the Disneystar . Once the pressure was equalized, the seven members walked proudly down the walkway with reporters and newspaper photographers clapping and cheering as they made their way to the ship. Once the hatch was sealed, Mickey and his friends were cleared to take off their space suits since the ship's interior was sterilized and free of germs. After changing out of their space suits and into their crew uniforms, they made their way to the cockpit where Toodles was already plugged into the main computer.
"Sixty seconds to takeoff. Access bridge retracted.", said Von Drake over the ship's intercom.
Mickey and his friends fastened their seatbelts and prepared to launch into space.
**
50 seconds later...
Alarms began to blare outside as the ship's engines started powering up. When the engines fired off, the noise was so loud that Millie and Melody covered their ears. Once enough thrust had built up, the launch clamps opened up and the ship began to move upward from the pad. After the Disneystar had ascended far enough, Mickey and his friends took control and piloted the ship higher into the sky until they had cleared the atmosphere.
"We're in space.", Mickey said to Von Drake over radio.
"Well done, Mickey. I hope this test flight goes well for you. I wish you all good luck.", replied the Professor.
"Charge warp drive when ready.", Minnie said to Toodles.
"Warp drive charged and ready.", he replied.
"Engage!", said Mickey.
The warp engines fired off and the ship began flying through space at a powerful speed. Little did anyone know that their test flight was about to be jeopardized.
New Friends from Far Away
Searching the Crashed Ship
Twilight and her friends gathered in the map room to discuss what they should do.
"I think we should investigate the crash site. Maybe we can talk to the crew to find out where the ship came from.", suggested Rainbow Dash.
"I agree with her, Aunt Twilight. We will not figure anything out unless we go to the ship.", added Flurry.
Everyone else agreed and they set off for the forest. Following the trail from when the ship touched down, they reached the crash site in a matter of minutes. Night was falling, so they made sure to bring headlamps.
"Twilight, look here. It appears that this ship is called the Disneystar .", said Rarity.
Twilight nodded and led everyone to the front of the ship. However, she felt heat radiating from the window over the bridge, so she led them to a side hatch and Applejack used her strength to get it open. Once they got inside, they turned their lights on and followed signs on the wall to reach the bridge. Fluttershy felt the heat through the door and grabbed a fire extinguisher from a holder on the wall. Once the doors were forced open, she blasted fire retardant until the flames were out. Once the cloud had settled from the fire retardant, they were shocked at what they found. There was nobody in any of the seats. The crew had vanished.
"Where's the crew?", asked Starlight.
"Yeah, where are they?", asked Pinkie.
After Rainbow had broken open the windows and created gusts of wind to blow away the fire retardant powder, she spotted a dimly lit screen on one of the consoles.
"Look at this screen.", she called.
Flurry ran over to look at it. The text on the screen said: "All escape pods launched".
"Aunt Twilight, this screen says all of the ship's escape pods have been launched. The crew must have evacuated before the ship crashed."
"You know, Twilight, that makes perfect sense. If the crew had not evacuated, they would have either been killed or severely injured in the crash.", said Rarity.
"She's right.", said Fluttershy.
Twilight looked near the front of the bridge and found a sealed compartment door that was split down the middle. The text on the door said it was heat-resistant. Prying open the door, she found a large disc-shaped device inside that was still powered up and glowing brightly.
"Let's take this device back to my castle. Maybe it contains the information we need in order to find the crew of this ship.", she said.
They left the wreckage and headed back to Twilight's castle. They had no idea that the device they found was Toodles, nor did they know that they would find the crew as soon as the device was powered up.
New Friends from Far Away
Once Ryder, Rex, and Zuma were ready to head for Froggy Bottom Bogg, Fluttershy sat next to Zuma in his hovercraft. When they reached the bog, Ryder and Zuma set their radar systems to maximum in order to find Daisy's capsule. Initially, the EPIRB showed up on their radar screens, but it disappeared after a few minutes.
“Daisy’s signal is gone!”, yelped Zuma.
“WHAT?”, asked Ryder and Rex out of shock.
“It was here just a minute ago, and now it’s stopped.”
Fluttershy had an idea.
"I will fly up to look from above. If I see anything, I will radio you.", she said as she got out of the spare seat in Zuma's hovercraft.
Ryder gave her a thumbs-up and Fluttershy took off. She looked around for a minute and then spotted the orange from Daisy's parachutes. She radioed where she was after touching down and transmitted her signal to Ryder. When they got to her, they saw that the hatch had been broken off the capsule and Daisy was not inside. Ryder looked at the damage and determined that the parachutes must have been late to open and the hatch was hit so hard that it broke off on impact with a tree that appeared to be missing some branches.
"Looks like the impact damaged the EPIRB. I’m surprised it lasted this long before it died.", said Rex.
Fluttershy took off again and started hollering for Daisy. After a moment, she saw a cloud of orange smoke and flew towards it.
"FOLLOW ME!", she yelled.
Ryder nodded and they started riding after her. When they stopped, Daisy was holding onto a vine for dear life because she was stuck in quicksand. There was a smoke canister next to her.
"A little help here, please?", she asked frantically.
Zuma threw a life-belt to her and she caught it with her left hand. She was holding her right hand close to her chest, which implied she was injured. Once she was pulled out, Ryder helped her to her feet.
"My parachutes were delayed and I landed too hard. My hatch was broken off and I was thrown out. I hit my arm on a rock and broke it before I tried to find my way out of here. Then I found myself sinking. When I heard you yelling for me, I quickly lit my orange smoke can.", she explained as Ryder splinted her right arm.
"At least you're alive. We're saving the rest of your friends now.", Fluttershy explained.
As Fluttershy flew Daisy back to Twilight's castle, Ryder and Zuma attached cables to the escape pod and towed it out of the bog.
New Friends from Far Away
As Marshall was getting ready, a radio call came from Spitfire. She was desperate.
"This is an emergency. When the escape pod in the White Tail Woods touched down, it started a spot fire. We were able to put it out in the beginning, but the embers got blown by a gust of wind, starting a larger fire that is now raging uncontrollably. It's so large that we don't have enough rain clouds to put it out."
"MARSHALL, WE NEED TO MOVE!", screamed Applejack.
Without hesitating, Marshall gathered the Mighty Twins and had them ride with him while Applejack rushed to the forest. Sure enough, the fire there was raging out of control. While Marshall started blasting water at the flames; Ella grew to a large size and started stomping out the embers to make sure the fire would not start again. Once the fire was out, Everyone started moving further into the woods until they found Goofy's capsule. His escape pod had gotten hung up in the trees and was dangling from a thick branch.
"I'm raising my ladder to get him down.", said Marshall.
Once the ladder was raised up, Applejack started trying to open the hatch. Surprisingly, the heat from the forest fire had loosened the hatch to the point that it popped off after Applejack kicked it only once. Goofy got out and climbed down the ladder to the ground While Applejack worked on getting his pod down from the tree limbs. Goofy was not injured, and he followed Applejack and the pups back to Twilight's castle.
New Friends from Far Away
Pinkie and the Cat Pack were monitoring the radar to check for anything that might get in the way of the rescues. During the three rescues that took place earlier in the day, the weather showed clear. However, as everyone was gearing up to rescue Millie and Melody, a storm warning came up over Millie's location and the seismic sensor near the Changeling Kingdom started picking up strong vibrations. An urgent radio call from Neighsay confirmed their worries.
"This is Neighsay. I see a thunderstorm building up over the North Luna Ocean and there is an earthquake starting near the Changeling Kingdom."
As Ryder, Zuma, and Skye were prepping equipment to rescue Millie, Minnie ran over to them.
"Take me with you. I want to help with saving one of my nieces."
Zuma agreed and gave her a diving suit.
"We are leaving in about 30 minutes. I suggest you get changed.", he said.
Minnie rushed inside Twilight's castle to put the suit on and then rejoined outside. Once Twilight and Rainbow were ready, Zuma loaded his hovercraft onto Skye's helicopter and they took off to fly northwest to the ocean. They flew into the rain halfway to Millie's location, but they soon reached the capsule. After dropping down onto the water, Zuma raced over to the capsule to attach safety floats, but the capsule was sinking too fast. Ryder came over to Zuma on his jet-ski and told him to go underwater and attach the floats before the capsule sank too far while he and Minnie got Millie out. Minnie radioed her niece and told her to hang tight.
"We're coming to get you out. Hold your breath.", she said.
Once all three had their air receptors in their mouths, they submerged and Zuma started attaching floats while Ryder cut the hatch open. Millie had to hold her breath because she had said earlier that her helmet was broken from being banged around during reentry. Once the hatch was open, Minnie gave Millie her auxiliary receptor in order to breathe until they got to the surface. Twilight and Rainbow were wearing lifejackets and were ready to grab the two when they came up. When Minnie and Millie came to the surface, both of them took the receptors out of their mouths. Millie started to cough from how long she had to hold her breath. Nevertheless, she and Minnie swam over to Twilight and Rainbow who flew them back to land. As they were flown back, Ryder and Zuma finished attaching floats and towlines to Millie's escape pod in order to get it to the surface so Skye could grab it with her magnet. Once they were back on land, they headed back to Twilight's castle.