Mission: Astro

by Robert Emerald Fountain

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Flurry Heart, Alternate Universe, Young Six, Splatoon, Science Fiction, Adventure
Length: 7046

Flurry Heart and the Young Six explore the far reaches of space.

Fifteen years after Twilight became the new ruler of Equestria, Flurry Heart and the Young Six gathered together and proposed a mission to explore the farthest reaches of space. Twilight has approved of their plan and they have begun building their ship. What will they find once they embark on the mission?

Credit goes to Deviantart user Dinosaurbro20 for Andrew and Lizzie, and Angelo’s names.

Andrew: https://www.deviantart.com/dinosaurbro20/art/Bio-Andrew-Grady-1012937922

Lizzie: https://www.deviantart.com/dinosaurbro20/art/Bio-Lizzie-Grady-947650884

Angelo: https://www.deviantart.com/dinosaurbro20/art/Bio-Angelo-Grady-977718270

Credit goes to Deviantart user michaeldreemur for Michael and Taylor’s names.

https://www.deviantart.com/michaeldreemurr/art/MICHAEL-CALLIE-AND-TAYLOR-947161607

Credit goes to Deviantart user TestedSpider592 for names of Callie and Marie’s parents.

Callie's parents: https://www.deviantart.com/testedspider592/art/Jerome-and-Sallie-cuttlefish-redesign-1146989464

Marie's parents: https://www.deviantart.com/testedspider592/art/Marie-s-parents-redesign-1146574899

Credit goes to Nintendo for Callie and Marie.

Published 2023-10-31 13:20:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-10-31 13:20:00 UTC

Launch

To make sure neither Flurry nor any of the Young Six would get sick during their mission, they were quarantined a week in advance. Once they were suited up and breathing filtered air, they boarded a helicopter that took them to the launchpad, which was constructed on a massive barge in the North Luna Ocean. They took an elevator up to the hatch on the shuttle they would use to reach the Alicorn in space. Prior to entering the white-room, they walked down a bridge with hundreds of citizens clapping and seeing them off on their voyage. Among them were Luna and Celestia.

Once the crew members were strapped in their seats, the hatch was buttoned up and the countdown started.

“T-Minus 15 seconds and counting.”, said Flurry.

“Fifteen.”, said Yona.

“Fourteen.”, said Gallus.

“Thirteen.”, said Smolder.

“Twelve.”, said Ocellus.

“Eleven.”, said Silverstream.

“Ten.”, said Sandbar.

“Nine.”, said Flurry.

“Eight.”, said Gallus.

“Seven.”, said Yona.

“Six.”, said Ocellus.

“Ignition sequence start.”, said Smolder as the fuel began spewing from the engines.

“Five”, said Sandbar.

“Four.”, said Silverstream.

“Three.”, said Ocellus.

“Two.”, said Gallus.

“One.”, said Yona.

“IGNITION!”, yelled Flurry.

A loud roar and a harsh shake broke through the air as the fuel was ignited and the shuttle began moving upward. Seconds later, the rocket had cleared the tower and was flying higher into the sky. Five minutes after takeoff, the shuttle was on its way to dock on the space station so the crew could board the Alicorn. Fifteen minutes later, the shuttle was docked and the crew began moving over to their ship. After the crew had boarded the Alicorn, they took off their space suits and got into their seats on the bridge.

“Canterlot, this is Flurry Heart. We are setting off on Mission Astro.”, said Flurry as the Alicorn left its hangar on the space station.

“Copy that, Flurry. Godspeed, and good luck.”, replied Twilight.

Silverstream and Ocellus set the destination coordinates for Ludus, which was the closest planet and then the crew went into stasis after the warp drive had kicked in.

Ludus

It took a year and a half for the crew to reach Ludus. After they were woken up, they started gearing up to map out the planet. Ludus was a volcanic world, so Smolder volunteered to lead the mapping team. Once Gallus and Flurry had joined her on the excursion shuttle, they disembarked and made their way down to the planet’s surface. Even though there was a sun, the ash clouds blocked the light for most of the day and trapped the heat from the lava. From the view out the windows, they could tell that this part of their mapping mission would be treacherous. Luckily, they found a flat area where there was no lava nearby and touched down safely.

“Smolder, the atmospheric readings show that the outside temperature is over 300 degrees Fahrenheit. We will get fried to ashes if we don’t set our suits’ cooling systems to maximum.”, said Gallus as he scanned the outside conditions.

“Understood.”, said Smolder.

Flurry began exchanging the regular cooling fluid for liquid nitrogen so they would not overheat during the mapping process, and then the trio put on their space suits. No-one had to worry about the shuttle being destroyed during the mission, because the heat shield was engineered to withstand environments as cold as negative 400 degrees Fahrenheit to as hot as 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the trio had disembarked from the shuttle, they started searching all over the planet for any signs of life. Sadly, they found no living inhabitants, but they did find several different areas full of crystals that could be mined. So they placed markers at the sites where the mine shafts could be dug without causing an earthquake. During the entire excursion, they had to watch where they were stepping in order to make sure they didn’t fall in any lava flows.

The last place they explored during the three weeks they were mapping out Ludus was the largest volcano. This was the hottest part of the planet, and they were unable to get an accurate temperature with their equipment. The heat was so intense here that they were even sweating with their cooling systems maxed out. As they made their way back to their shuttle, Flurry noticed that the ground was starting to shake.

“WE’D BETTER HUSTLE! THE BIG VOLCANO IS GOING TO BLOW.”, she shouted.

“SMOLDER, SHE’S RIGHT!”, cried Gallus when he looked at the data himself.

In a flash, the trio started running like they were being chased, and didn’t stop until they reached their shuttle. Once they had taken off their helmets and fastened their seatbelts, Smolder began the launch sequence. Five seconds after the engines fired off, everyone heard a loud BANG. Gallus looked through the ship’s telescope and saw something scary. The volcano had erupted and was spewing lava high into the sky.

“SMOLDER, HIT IT!”, he shouted.

Without hesitation, Smolder took off and the shuttle began flying away. During the ascent, Flurry took a final measurement and discovered that the volcano could spew lava at least five miles into the air when it erupted. Thankfully, they were not hit by any of the lava as they flew out of the atmosphere.

After making the rendezvous with the Alicorn, they changed back into their crew uniforms, met back up with their crew members, and plugged the information they had collected into their computer logs before setting the coordinates for Merlin 5. Since Merlin 5 was fairly close, they did not need to go into stasis. So they made up for all of the exercise they had missed during their journey to Ludus.

The Crash-Landing

The journey from Merlin 5 to Earth took 3 years. However, as the crew woke up from the signal, the ship got shaken violently by something outside. This startled everyone to the point that they jumped out of their sleep pods. They found total CHAOS when they rushed to the bridge. Alarms were squealing, lights were flashing, and the position showed the orbit to be decaying. Flurry quickly scanned for what could have caused this, and she spotted part of a solar flare. They had been shorted out by an energy wave.

“All hands, we must do everything in our power to keep our ship in orbit.”, she said.

The crew worked for three hours to get the circuits up and running again, but they did not have enough time to get their thrusters working in order to avoid a crash.

“We need to get out of here before we slam to the ground.”, said Yona.

After the crew rushed to the escape pod launch bay, Flurry tried to get the escape pods powered up, but they were shorted out from the solar flare as well and taking too long to reboot.

“BRACE FOR IMPACT!”, yelled Flurry.

As the ship entered the atmosphere, she started to spin, causing the crew members to stumble and trip as they ran back towards the bridge to get seated and fasten their seatbelts. Gallus ended up tripping over Smolder’s tail and slamming face-first into a wall-mounted touchscreen panel which had started to spark, resulting in him getting painful burns around his eyes. Flurry Heart lost her footing and fell sideways into a roll which caused her to smash into a wall and break both of her wings. Yona and Silverstream both fell forward and slammed face-first into another wall and ended up with bleeding noses. Smolder slipped through a doorway into the archive area and fell in a way that caused her to dislocate her left wing. Sandbar and Ocellus both went into a tumble and hit their heads hard enough on the wall that they ended up with bad concussions.

All seven of the crew members passed out after they had injured themselves, but Flurry woke up and struggled her way to the bridge just enough to see where the ship was going. They were headed for water, which meant the landing would not be extremely hard. However, she still hit her head again and passed out as the ship splashed into the ocean. Right before splashdown, she activated an emergency beacon in hopes that the planet’s inhabitants would come to rescue them. Little did she know that the inhabitants had already seen their ship coming down from the sky.

The impact in the water was so hard that the ship’s main electrical system was knocked out. The backup lights kicked in after a few minutes because they had been delayed by the short out from the solar flare.

**

Thirty miles away, there was a base camp where some of the inhabitants would meet up in order to plan missions to keep the world safe. The inhabitants were a cross between humans and either squids or octopi, known as Inklings and Octarians. A small group of these inhabitants were known as the Squidbeak Splatoon, and they worked secretly from the base camp. The group’s Captain was about to turn in for the night when she saw what looked like a shooting star, and she looked closer through binoculars, only to find that she was seeing the Alicorn. Realizing this was a starship that was in trouble, she radioed the group’s members.

“Attention all Agents. This is the Captain. I have seen what looks like a crashing starship. We must rescue the crew ASAP.”, she said.

“This is Callie. Michael and I are on our way.”, replied one of the members.

“Ten-Four, Captain. This is Agent 3. Agents 4 and 8 are with me and we’re on our way as well.”, replied the next member.

“Captain, this is Andrew. Marie can’t help with the mission, but I can.” said another member.

“Oh yes, that’s right. How long do you two have at this point?”, asked the Captain.

“Any day now.”, said Andrew.

At that point, the members made their way to the base camp in order to plan out the rescue mission.

The Rescue

Once all of the Agents had met up, the Captain explained the layout of where the starship had splashed into the water.

“The ship crashed near a reef thirty miles away from the shoreline. Safety floats have deployed, and the footage from the satellite we built after making peace with the Octarians shows that the ship has not drifted very far. Marina has told me that she scanned the ship and found that the crew only consists of seven members.”, she explained.

“That doesn’t sound too bad. The rescue should be fairly easy.”, said Michael.

Callie agreed with Michael and said that they could use a helicopter in conjunction with Octavio’s octo-bot to lift the ship out of the water.

“That’s a great idea, Callie. Once we have the ship on dry land, we can open the hatch and get the crew members out safely without falling into the ocean.”, said Andrew.

All of the other Agents agreed and then the Captain alerted Octavio that his assistance was needed. Once everyone was airborne, they flew to the site where the Alicorn had touched down.

**

On the Alicorn, all of the crew members were starting to wake up from having passed out when they heard the rescuers’ vehicles outside.

“We’re saved.”, Flurry said hoarsely.

After attaching strong cables to the ship, the Agents lifted her from the water and carried her to shore. Once the Squidbeak Agents had found the main hatch and opened it, they started searching for the crew. They didn’t have long before they started finding crew members, because they had managed to consolidate on the bridge. After the crew had introduced themselves, the Agents started getting them off the ship and taken to a hospital to recover from their injuries. Silverstream had managed to get an accelerated healing serum from the medical bay before they were rescued, and gave it to the doctors to use. Thanks to this, all of the crew members were back to normal after only three days, and ready to be checked out. After being released, they met Callie and Michael outside, who took them to their home to meet their son, Taylor.

“He looks just like you, Michael.”, said Yona.

“Yes he does.”, Michael replied as Taylor smiled and waved at the crew.

“There is one Agent that was not present when we rescued you, which is my cousin Marie. I will take you to meet her.”, said Callie.

Flurry accepted the offer and they headed across town to meet Andrew and Marie. On the way, Callie explained that Agent 3 had only seen one spot on the ship that needed repairs, which was the panel that Gallus had slammed into.

“Don’t sweat it. We can fix that in a flash.”, said Smolder.

Arriving at Andrew’s house, Callie rang the bell and they were let inside. After a handshake with Andrew, they met Marie and their daughter Lizzie. As soon as the crew saw Marie, they realized why she was unable to help out with the rescue, which was the fact that her stomach was bulged out.

“You’re pregnant.”, squeaked Silverstream.

“Yes I am. Doctors have said it will be a boy. Lizzie is going to have a little brother.”, said Marie warmly.

While Flurry explained who they were and that they were on a mapping mission, Ocellus played with Lizzie for a bit.

“We are going to be mapping out your world as well, but the crash delayed our start. We will get going once we reboot our ship’s systems.”, said Gallus.

“Sounds cool.”, giggled Lizzie.

“Good luck.”, said Andrew.

After returning to the Alicorn, the crew restarted their systems and took off to start mapping Earth. They started with Inkopolis to learn about the origins of both the Inklings and the Octarians. In this area, they also met Callie and Marie’s grandfather, Craig Cuttlefish. He was the original leader of the Squidbeak Splatoon, but now he was retired. Flurry was shocked to hear that the two races had once been at war with each other, but she was pleased that they had declared peace.

Octavio and his Octarian troops were very friendly as well and welcomed them to take a tour of their base, along with getting an up-close look at some of their vehicles. When meeting the Agents, they were impressed by how they had saved the world four different times. The Captain was the original Agent 3, but took the Captain’s role when Craig retired. She had saved Inkopolis when the Octarians had stolen the Great Zapfish, the city’s main power source, at one point, then Agent 4 did the same thing two years later when Octavio had also captured and brainwashed Callie.

Agent 8 was an Octarian herself and had protected Inkopolis from something more dangerous than the Octarians. She and Craig had somehow ended up in an underground train station and almost perished when lured into a giant blender that was powered by a strange sentient phone. Luckily, Agent 3 saved them and Agent 8 made her way to the surface. However, Agent 3 got brainwashed temporarily by the phone, which was actually housing an AI called Tartar. This AI was disgusted by the Inkling and Octarian culture and attempted to destroy all of Inkopolis by shooting a mass of sludge infused with DNA at the city to create a form of life superior to both the Inklings and the Octarians. Thankfully, Agent 8 stopped Tartar in its tracks, and a pop star named Pearl used a powerful megaphone to blast the statue that the AI was inside of, destroying Tartar completely.

The new Agent 3 protected the entire world from a mysterious giant bear named Mr. Grizz that tried to use a huge mass of fuzzy slime to bring back the mammals that existed on Earth before they were wiped out by rising water levels. Flurry and her crew were floored by the stories that they had just been told, but they continued to map out the Earth until they reached a neighboring city called Splatsville. This was where the new Agent 3 was recruited when the Great Zapfish disappeared for a third time. Octavio was thought to have been the thief again, but this was when it was revealed to be Mr. Grizz. At that point, Octavio helped Agent 3 recover the Great Zapfish by battling Mr. Grizz in space.

Angelo

Two days into their mapping of Earth, Flurry Heart and her friends went to visit Marie and Andrew so they could see how much longer Marie had. Upon arriving at the door, they saw that Marie was waiting for Andrew to lead her out to the car. They hoped that the trip wouldn't be too treacherous since a thunderstorm had just started.

“Are you due today?”, asked Sandbar.

“We don’t know, but it’s better to be early.”, said Andrew.

“Would you mind watching Lizzie while we are at the hospital?”, asked Marie.

Flurry said yes and they moved to let Marie and Andrew go outside. Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck the transformer on a nearby electrical pole, causing a blackout in the entire neighborhood. The loud boom from the thunder startled Lizzie and she screamed at the top of her lungs, but Ocellus quickly ran over and helped her calm down. Andrew continued helping Marie get in the car, but then a worrisome report came up on the radio. A traffic accident had blocked the route that led to the hospital.

“Well that’s just great. We can’t get to the hospital. Is there any way you can help us?”, Andrew asked nervously.

“We sure can. Come with us.”, said Flurry.

Yona and Sandbar volunteered to watch Lizzie while Andrew started the car and followed the rest of the crew to their ship at the edge of Splatsville. Once they were on board the Alicorn, Marie sat down in a wheelchair and Andrew followed Smolder and Gallus to the medical wing.

In the medical area, Smolder powered up an ultrasound machine while Gallus helped Marie lie down on the gurney. Then Smolder moved the wand over Marie’s stomach so they could check on their son’s status. The scan revealed a complication. Smolder became concerned and called to Silverstream over headset.

“Silverstream, this is Smolder. I need you to join Gallus and I in the medical wing. Andrew and Marie’s son has a possible complication. The umbilical cord is around his neck and could strangle him.”, she said.

“Copy that, Smolder. I’m on my way.”, Silverstream replied.

Marie became worried in a split-second.

“Please don’t let our son die. Lizzie is so excited about becoming a big sister.”, said Andrew as his heart began racing.

“We will do everything in our power to make sure your son arrives safely.”, said Gallus gently.

As Silverstream ran into the room, Gallus placed a fetal heart monitor over Marie’s stomach to check the baby’s heartbeat and he suddenly became frantic when he saw the results.

“MEDICAL ALERT! We need to do surgery, NOW!”, he shrieked.

“WHAT?”, asked Marie.

“Your son’s heart rate has spiked. Now his health is in danger. If we don't act fast, you will lose him.”, said Smolder.

“Why did you say you need to do surgery?”, asked Andrew.

“If a baby’s health is in danger, it necessitates an emergency c-section for delivery. This means a normal delivery is out of the question. You must wait outside until we are finished.”, said Silverstream as she helped Marie into a medical gown and put a hairnet on her head.

“Good luck dear.”, said Andrew.

Marie gave Andrew a kiss before Gallus wheeled her into the operating room, then Ocellus led him to a waiting room.

Once Marie was on the bed, Smolder dropped a curtain to hide what she and her comrades were doing. Flurry came down as well to keep an eye on Marie’s vital signs. Moments later, Smolder spoke to Marie.

“Alright Marie, we're numbing your lower region so you shouldn't feel anything.”, she explained.

Marie nodded in acceptance as she started breathing heavily. Just then, the monitors for her son’s vital signs flashed up an alert that oxygen was dropping.

“Marie, we don’t have time to let the anesthesia do its job. We need to start NOW!”, cried Silverstream.

Marie began to sweat in nervousness when Silverstream said this. She had just been told that she would feel the pain from the instruments. Smolder bravely picked up a special scalpel that used a laser instead of a blade. The laser would cauterize the incision as it was made, in order to limit bleeding. As the laser began cutting through Marie’s skin, she began screaming in pain. After the first incision was made, Smolder held it open with retractors and started a second cut to open the uterus. At this point, Marie screamed even louder until her eyes became glazed over and she went silent. When Flurry looked at Marie’s vitals, she was startled.

“SMOLDER, HOLD UP! MARIE HAS PASSED OUT!”, she screamed.

“INTUBATE, NOW!”, Smolder yelled back.

Flurry nodded and quickly slid an air tube down Marie’s throat. After hooking the tube to a breathing apparatus and confirming Marie was stable, Flurry gave Smolder an all-clear to continue the surgery. Smolder nodded back and opened up the uterus. Once she had slit the amniotic sac, she extracted the little baby. Once Silverstream had gotten the umbilical cord off of the baby’s neck, she clamped and cut it. Seconds later, as Smolder was suturing the incisions shut, Marie’s new son let out his first cry. It was so loud that Gallus stumbled backwards and knocked several medicine vials to the floor, breaking them and spilling their contents. Marie was even startled awake to the point that Flurry was able to take her off of the breathing apparatus.

“Marie’s awake again and breathing on her own.”, said Flurry.

Half an hour later, when Marie was bandaged and taken into recovery, Flurry came to see Andrew after she had cleaned and diapered the little baby.

“Your son is healthy.”, she told him with a smile.

“Wonderful.”, said Andrew.

Flurry led Andrew to the recovery room where Marie was and then she left so they could have some time alone. When Andrew saw his newborn son, he melted into joy. His son had green tentacles just like Marie’s and blue eyes just like his. Marie had already shed tears of joy and she still had streaks under her eyes.

“He’s just like me.”, Andrew whispered as his son fell asleep in Marie’s arms.

“I’m naming him Angelo.”, said Marie through her tears.

A few days later, Marie was completely healed from her surgery and ready to go home. This was due to the fact that Smolder had administered a special serum formulated to heal wounds and surgical sites at lightning speed with little to no flaws. After Flurry and her crew followed Andrew home, they went inside first to tell Lizzie that her brother had been born.

“May I see him?”, asked Lizzie in excitement.

Smolder motioned Andrew and Marie to come in and then she picked Lizzie up. When Lizzie and Angelo saw each other for the first time, their mouths dropped open for a moment and then they joined hands and hugged each other tightly. After making sure they were all ready, Flurry gathered her friends and they continued with their mission. Once they had mapped out the rest of the Earth, they returned to space to continue on their mission.

Agartha

It took four weeks to fly from Earth to Agartha, which was a forested planet. Arriving in orbit, Flurry scanned the environment and determined that this planet would be tricky to chart out. The atmosphere was poisonous and the trees were too close together to make a landing with the excursion shuttle. The team, which consisted of Silverstream, Gallus, and Ocellus, would have to be teleported down to the surface and then beamed back up once they were finished.

After getting into their space suits, the team stood in position on the transporter pads and Smolder energized the field that would send them to a small clearing on the planet below. After reaching the ground, they took a closer examination and concluded that the atmosphere was filled with heavy concentrations of cyanide, sulfur dioxide, ozone, and chlorine. They also had three speeder bikes sent down so they could map out the planet as fast as possible, because they had only a week’s worth of oxygen in their air tanks.

“Let’s split up. That way we can map out the planet faster.”, said Gallus.

“Good idea.”, said Ocellus.

After getting on their speeders, they split off in three different directions. The Agarthans were very friendly and provided samples from the different trees on their planet for the crew to study. There were regular trees similar to what grew on Equus, but there were also some trees where the wood was much harder and stronger. The hardest wood from the trees was as hard as diamonds and could only be cut with a diamond-dusted blade, whereas other types of the wood were like metal and could only be cut with either a plasma cutter or a water-jet cutter, which used a powerful stream of water and an abrasive powder.

The three crew members were in awe when they saw this, and they gladly accepted the samples for research. Luckily, the crew members ended up using less than half of their oxygen by the time they were finished and had regrouped in the clearing to be transported back up to the Alicorn. After putting the wood samples in storage and logging the information about the planet in the ship’s computers, the crew set their course for the final planet on their route.

Hyperborea

Just as it took a year and a half to fly from Equus to Ludus, it took the same amount of time to fly to Hyberborea from Agartha. So the crew went into stasis again for this final leg of their mission. Hyperborea was a murky swamp world and the largest planet out of all five, so it would take the longest time to map out. Similar to Earth, this planet was large enough to land the Alicorn on. A scan indicated that there was heavy radiation on the planet, so the crew had to wear lead-lined suits and gas masks to avoid getting sick.

After touching down in a clearing where they were sure the ship would not sink, the crew gathered their mapping equipment and started looking around. They had to watch their step in order to avoid falling in the badly eroded soil, and they had to cut through vines between trees. In order to meet the inhabitants, known as the Hyperboreans, they had to climb the trees, which was not easy. The trunks were covered in slippery mold from the leaves breaking down over time, so they had to use spikes clipped to their boots.

After ascending into the canopy, they met the Hyperboreans and started learning how the planet became what it was at this point. According to the Hyperboreans’ leader, Catherine, it turned out that Hyperborea used to be a thriving world with lush green forests. Unfortunately, when the inhabitants tried to experiment with different fertilizing compounds, the chemicals reacted negatively with the soil and sucked up the groundwater, killing the crops and turning the once beautiful planet into a wasteland. Catherine indicated that the contamination had not yet wiped out the entire world yet, but it would likely be too late if allowed to continue for two more years.

“We are sorry that your experiments went bad. We promise to help you restore your world to its former glory.”, said Ocellus.

“Thank you.”, said Catherine.

The crew continued for six long months until they had significantly mapped out the planet and taken samples to bring back to Equus for analysis. These samples would provide the necessary data needed in order to reverse the negative effects of the fertilizers and restore Hyperborea’s ecosystem.

Takara

After charting out Hyperborea, Flurry decided that the time had come for her and the Young Six to return home. They had been away from Equus for seven years and four months and needed a much-deserved rest. So they set the Alicorn on an automated course to Equus and went into stasis.

**

Three and a half months later, the ship’s computer picked up an incoming video call and initiated the wake-up sequence to revive the crew. Upon reaching the bridge, they accepted the call and immediately saw Michael reading Taylor a storybook.

“How are you guys doing? You look like you’re headed home.”, Michael inquired.

“You would be correct. We plan to return and see you again someday.”, answered Yona.

Suddenly, the crew noticed two additional sounds in the background. One sounded like squalling, or loud crying, and the other was quieter and sounded like hushing.

“Michael, why do we hear what sounds like a baby squalling? Taylor seems to be normal.”, asked Ocellus.

“I’M A BIG BROTHER.”, squealed Taylor excitedly as he pointed to himself.

“WAIT, WHAT?”, asked Flurry in an alarmed voice as everyone’s ears perked up.

“Taylor is right. He became a big brother two weeks ago.”, said Callie as she walked into view on the camera.

Callie was carrying a bundle in her arms and she showed the crew what it was. They saw a newborn inkling girl wrapped snugly in an indigo-colored blanket. They were unable to see the little baby’s eyes because they were covered by gauze pads and wrapped in bandages.

“So cute. What’s her name?”, asked Silverstream.

“Her name’s Takara, which means treasure, or jewel. Just like Taylor is our little ruby, Takara is our little sapphire.”, said Callie softly.

Takara suddenly squalled again and started trying to squirm loose from the blanket. So much so, that the crew had to turn down the volume on their speakers. Callie stepped off the camera and started trying to hush her newborn daughter again as Michael explained what genes she had inherited.

“She has Callie’s eyes and ink color. Her eyelids were swollen when Callie gave birth to her, so the doctors had to prick her skin and relieve the pressure in order to see what color her eyes were. That’s why her eyes are bandaged.”, he said.

At the same time, Smolder happened to see Taylor gritting his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut, and covering his ears.

“Michael, what’s wrong with Taylor?”, she asked a moment later.

“Takara’s cries are so loud that the noise hurts his ears.”, Michael explained.

Three minutes later, Callie came back and explained why Takara had squalled twice and tried to squirm loose. She had inked herself and needed her diaper changed, but now she was sleeping soundly.

“We hope you all have a safe trip home.”, she and Michael said warmly.

Taylor waved at them and they ended the call so the crew could go back into stasis and continue their trip back to Equus.

Return to Equus

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.

Surprise Visitors

Thirteen years later…

All was going well on Equus and some of the planets that the Young Six had mapped out. The space station that served as the dock for the Alicorn had been expanded to house more ships, research bases had been established on Ludus, Merlin 5, and Agartha. Also, a second space station had been constructed in orbit around Equus to keep a clear communication channel with all of the bases. Currently, the research work at the bases was going very well, and tons of data was being gathered. Early into the thirteen years, Hyperborea had been restored and was now thriving again, thanks to Equus’ scientists determining how to neutralize the radioactive substances in the fertilizers. Little did anyone know that there were visitors coming soon.

Starlight was making her rounds on the space station when a sensor detected an approaching ship. She rushed to the communications area and called out to the ship.

“Unidentified ship, this is Starlight Glimmer, Chief of the Equus Orbital Patrol. Please identify yourself and confirm that you are not hostile.”, she said.

“Starlight, this is Callie Cuttlefish aboard the Squidbeak 1. I am one of the inklings that Flurry Heart and the Young Six met on Earth thirteen years ago. We are coming to visit you.”, said a female voice.

“Copy that, Callie. You are clear to proceed.”, replied Starlight.

Callie acknowledged Starlight’s approval and the ship continued on its path to a landing area. In the meantime, Starlight contacted Flurry and Twilight to tell them that the Squid Sisters were visiting them. Flurry was thrilled to hear this. She and the Young Six had been planning to go back to Earth and visit them the following year, but now they didn’t need to. They made their way to the landing area and greeted everyone as they disembarked from their ship. Along with Callie, Marie, Michael, and Andrew, they also met the kids and the Agents, along with four older inklings they did not know. At this point, Lizzie was 18, Angelo was 15, Taylor was 16, and Takara was 13.

“My goodness, you all have grown since we last saw you.”, said Smolder to the kids.

“How do you know all of us?”, asked Angelo.

“It’s quite simple. When we first visited Earth, your mom was due any day to give birth to you, Angelo. We ended up having to assist in your birth, because your parents could not get to the hospital, so we carried out the procedure on our ship.”, said Gallus.

“Also, we were on our way home when we learned that you had been born, Takara. You never saw us because your eyes were bandaged. However, your father told us that you’d inherited your mother’s eye color and ink color.”, Flurry told Takara.

“Mom is that true?”, Takara asked Callie.

“Yes it is, sweet pea.”, said Callie.

“We wanted you to meet our parents as well.”, said Marie.

The four older inklings stepped forward to introduce themselves. Marie’s parents went first. Their names were Iris Ammonite and Michael Cuttlefish. Iris had green hair and yellow eyes, and Michael had short gray hair and gray eyes. Then it was time for Callie’s parents to introduce themselves. Her mother’s name was Sally Ammonite and she had long blue hair and pink eyes. Her father’s name was Jerome Cuttlefish and he had black hair and dark eyes.

“It’s great that we get to see you guys again.”, said Agent 3.

“The same goes for us.”, said Ocellus.

Just then, Lizzie pulled out a folded cover made of a leatherette material. Flurry’s eyes lit up when she saw this.

“Is that what I think it is?”, she asked Lizzie.

“Yes it is. I graduated high school two months ago. I’ll be starting college three weeks after we return to Earth.”, said Lizzie as she proudly opened the cover to reveal her diploma.

“Hey, congratulations!”, cheered Twilight.

“We remember that you were on a mapping mission when you first came to Earth. How has your progress gone since then?”, asked Michael.

“We have research bases on three of the other planets we mapped out, and we have restored the fifth planet to its former glory.”, said Silverstream.

“What does that mean?”, asked Taylor.

Flurry proceeded to tell the story of what had happened to Hyperborea and how they had found a way to restore the ecosystem. Everyone was shocked, including Taylor since he was learning about chemistry and environmental science.

“At least you were able to help them.”, said Sally.

After giving everyone a tour of Equus, Twilight decided to celebrate Lizzie’s graduation before they left to go home. As time went on, Equus’ citizens mapped out more planets further out in space and they remained friends with the inhabitants they had met during the first mission.

Building the Alicorn

Fifteen years after Twilight was crowned Equestria’s new ruler, Flurry Heart had become great friends with the Young Six. Equus had been modernized as well and several probes had been sent to search for possible life-sustaining planets in the far reaches of space. Out of the ten probes that were commissioned to be launched, only five of them located any planets. The others got destroyed by asteroid strikes and exploding stars. An Orbital Patrol was also started and Starlight was elected as the Chief.

The five planets that were located were called Ludus, Merlin 5, Earth, Agartha, and Hyperborea. Flurry and the Young Six decided to explore these planets manually and map them all out, so they approached Twilight with their plans.

“We will build ourselves a ship and go to each planet to map them out. Also, the ship will have stasis pods for when we must traverse long distances. Some of the planets are extremely far apart and we will need time to relax in between them and on the trip back home to Equus.”, explained Flurry.

“I find favor in your plans and hereby approve your mission. You may start immediately.”, said Twilight.

Flurry thanked her aunt and the seven friends got right to work on building their ship, which was christened the Alicorn when it was completed. This ship had a fully functioning bridge and plenty of weapons to protect the crew in any emergency. The stasis pods consisted of a glass tube that opened and closed with hydraulics and would fill with water. In order to breathe the crew members would wear oxygen masks inside the pods. The pods were hardwired to the main computer. If the proximity sensor was tripped or a call was coming in, a signal would be sent in a flash to wake up the crew. The ship also had a full medical bay on board if any crew members were injured on the mission. This was not a small ship, however. She had to be constructed on a space station after the individual pieces were built on the ground. This particular space station was the same one that the Orbital Patrol used as its base. The ship’s construction took nine months, but the mission was given the green light once all of the systems were thoroughly tested and proven to be in perfect working order.

Merlin 5

Six months after leaving Ludus, the crew was quick to get their mapping supplies prepared on the shuttle for when they reached Merlin 5, a mountain world. Once they were in orbit, Sandbar, Ocellus and Yona disembarked on the shuttle to map out this planet.

The landing site was treacherous, due to thousands of shadows from sunlight in the mountains, but Yona managed to set the ship down in one piece. The temperature and environment were not dangerous here, so the crew was able to go in regular crew uniforms for mapping this planet. They figured that flying would be the most efficient way to carry out the mapping, so they deployed a helicopter from the shuttle and took off to begin charting the terrain.

Merlin 5 might have been covered with mountain ranges, but there were plants growing and the inhabitants, called the Merlinians, were friendly. They lived in caves cut into the mountains and were accustomed to high altitude. The crew, however, had to wear oxygen masks when meeting the inhabitants, because the air was lower in the area. They were given samples of some of the different minerals that existed on Merlin 5. One of these was a crystal that gave off its own light, meaning it could be used as a lantern in dark places. In some areas, there were waterfalls that the Merlinians would gather from in order to water their gardens.

Four weeks after arriving at the mountainous planet, the crew had finally mapped out Merlin 5 completely. They took off on their shuttle and flew back to the Alicorn so they could continue their interplanetary mission. Once they had set the coordinates for Earth, they entered stasis again and waited until they arrived.