Equus' Mysterious Visitors

During the main rescue...

Gallus, Ocellus, and Silverstream located the aft section when they saw its safety lights blinking through the blizzard. Touching down, they put on their winter clothes and backpacks with medical supplies for the children. After disembarking from their craft, they rushed to the hatch on the side of the starship. Silverstream turned the latch handle to open the hatch, and they hurried inside. The lights had gone out, so everyone had to switch on their headlamps in order to find where the children were consolidated. After a few minutes, they found the pediatric ward and Gallus started working to open the door.

Shining her light through the door's window, Ocellus could see Michelle and Rosa waving their arms as if trying to warn them about something. However, there was too much background noise to hear over. When Gallus wrenched open the door, he, Silverstream, and Ocellus were hit with a rancid stink that made them all cough. Gallus quickly shut the door and they took a moment to let the smell dissipate. The three friends looked at each other after Ocellus had taken off her winter coat and put on her doctor's coat and badge.

"I recognize that smell from my training. Several of the kids are babies, and Rosa said five of them are newborns. That means several of them need to be changed stat.", said Ocellus.

"You're right. We need to put on oxygen before we go in there.", said Silverstream as she pulled out three air tanks.

After masking up, Gallus opened the door again and they were able to step into the room. They saw Rosa and Michelle immediately and then shone their lights further, which lit up the rest of the kids. Amazingly, Rosa and Michelle had put oxygen masks on all of them. Since this was a pediatric ward, the masks and tanks were decorated with bright colors and cute animal faces. Jacob, Lizzie, and Taylor were the only others that were alert, but they looked dizzy and they were shaking with their arms crossed over their chests, even with their coats on. Ocellus pulled out a special scanner to trace the stink to its origin, and she discovered something scary. ALL FIVE of the newborns were stinky. She got right to work changing them, but they seemed to not notice. Atari, Erica, Takara, Tamaki, and Shine were completely passed out from the cold.

"The heater broke before we touched down. That's why most of the little ones are not alert. They didn't know they'd inked before they passed out.", said Michelle.

"Lizzie and Jacob were trying to hush everyone when we radioed you. That's before the cold started getting to us.", said Rosa.

After Ocellus had finished cleaning up the newborns and putting them in fresh diapers, Silverstream put pacifiers in their mouths and quickly wrapped them in baby blankets to keep them warm. Angelo was partially wearing his winter coat, but he seemed to have faded before he could get his left arm in its sleeve. Gallus removed Angelo's coat and wrapped a heated blanket around him to warm him up. Michelle and Rosa had banged up their legs during the crash, so they had pulled themselves into two wheelchairs. They were the only ones with injuries, because their seatbelts had broken, which caused them to fall out of their seats.

Jacob, Lizzie, and Taylor were too cold to walk. So they rode piggyback on Gallus, Silverstream, and Ocellus while they carried Atari, Angelo, and Erica to the rescue craft. Rosa and Michelle held Goldie, Shine, Takara, and Tamaki in their arms while Gallus and Silverstream wheeled them down an emergency ramp to get them to the rescue craft. Once the craft's rotors were spinning, Ocellus got on the radio.

"Rescue craft Omega to Flurry Heart. We are airborne and headed your way.", she said.

"Copy that, Ocellus. We are standing by. Once you are on the plane, I will signal the crafts to fly autopilot back to Canterlot.", Flurry replied.

"Acknowledged, Flurry. We need spaces for two wheelchairs on the medical plane. Here's the drill for the rest of the children. We need five infant seats for Atari, Shine, Tamaki, Takara, and Erica. We need three rear-facing convertibles for Taylor, Goldie, and Angelo. We need two forward-facing convertibles for Jacob and Lizzie.", said Silverstream.

"Understood, Silverstream. The convertible seats will be ready when you get on the plane. All you need to do is set Jacob, Lizzie, Taylor, Goldie, and Angelo in the seats and fasten them in. For the newborns, I will have the seat portion waiting at the bridge entrance. The seats' cradles will be in position on the plane, so you will need to fasten the little ones in the seats, carry the seats onto the plane, and set the seats in the cradles.", explained Flurry.

"Crystal clear, Flurry. See you at Crystal International Airport.", said Gallus.