Chapter 107 – A Sour Note
"Do not interfere." Ssalikka growled to the Hok-Sai.
"Do yah really think this is teh way to handle this…whatever it is yer arguing about?" Al-Ken asked in anger, "Teh poor man's barely fighting back, Ai? Are yah really gonna be satisfied with…"
"SILENCE!" she shouted and once again fired at him, the inverted bore on the front of his ship once again swallowing the shots, "I WILL NOT ALLOW THEM TO SULLY THE EMPEROR'S NAME."
"Now, what do yah think yer yappen about, Ai?" Tri-Tiner asked as he let her bolt charge deplete.
"He's accused the Emperor of allowing unlawful happenings." she growled.
"Oh, is he now?" Tri-Tiner asked quickly, "So what?" This phrasing caused her to stall in her anger, enough for him to add in an explanation, "If it's not true, yah can tell him teh facts when yah have them, Ai? Have yah even tried to ask fer more details?"
"I won't doubt my emperor." she growled again.
"What if yer emperor doesn't know, Ai?" the Hok-Sai added in, "Eh? What yah gonna do if that's teh case? Ye just crushed one of teh people that were willing to fight teh bad guys, and if it's not true, how yah gonna tell him, Ai?" She remained silent, her thoughts racing with these questions, "Grow up." he said, "There are better ways to deal with yer anger, Ai? Ending in regret aint a proper way of dealing with it."
She thought hard as she waited, and then a single sound echoed throughout the track, a low hum that reverberated not just inside their bodies, but also their souls. "You two seem to have a strange relationship." she said, "What would cause a Hok-Sai, the natural opposite of a Meltackian, to come to his aid?"
Both Tri-Tiner and Al-Ken thought about it, the larger of the two speaking up first, "It's teh right thing to do. Just cause we're different doesn't mean I have to hate them, Ai?"
"I see." Ssalikka sighed and turned to slowly make her way towards the exit.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND that's the sound of the end of the race." everyone heard the announcer say through the mic, "All dolls have been found and three racers have crossed the finish line. All racers make their way to the end of the race track, no attacking others now. The race is over."
"I didn't know they'd end the race like this." Rainbow said.
"Probably to keep others from staying inside the race track too long." Breeze said.
Syls stayed quiet, as the two friends made their way towards the end of the track.
"Well, race fans, I have to admit, this wasn't one of the best races we've seen, but it has been one of the most unpredictable." the announcer said. The racers had all gathered at the end of the track, a platform similar in shape and design to the beginning of the track though there were no garages around them to speak of, "Several different strategies were used in this race, but I have to hand it to pilot Kklesstic, of Hyl's final four, the use of drones to search for rescue targets was both genius and questionable."
"I really wish she wouldn't praise the enemy." Rainbow whispered to herself. Syls stayed silent as the two Dryskians looked to the ground in shame.
"Now on to the scores! Kklesstic may have rescued the most dolls, but because he crossed the finish line second, he only gets an extra two points added to his score for a total of seven." they heard over the loudspeaker.
"SEVEN POINTS?" Rainbow asked in shock.
"Can you guess who else got seven points?" the announcer asked coyly, "That's right, the new Sunik Pilot, Kkelmar of Bacromus' final four! He not only came in first place, but was also able to rescue four of the dolls, quite impressive if you ask me."
"That's fourteen points in total." Twilight said, "And nine of those points came from dolls, they've effectively taken about a third of what was on the field."
"But there are still sixteen left." Rarity said with hope in her voice.
"But that leaves an average of less than two per racer." the alicorn said quickly, "Rainbow Dash would have just barely made it."
"Kklesstic of the final four of Hyl is however demoted to second place for this race because some of the officials are questioning his use of drones. Although pilot Palin from Sunik's final four crosses the finish line in third place, earning him one extra point on top of his two dolls, for a total of three. But the third place in the race's total is stolen from him by Tri-Tiner of Hyl's final four, who rescued a total of three dolls and made two rescues of other racers, bringing his total up to five."
"Way to go Tri-Tiner." Rainbow said to him only to get a gruff, yet happy, grunt from the large Hok-Sai.
"Honor of the Bacromus final four rescued three dolls, but thanks to Rainbow Dash's rescue of Syls, she earned herself an extra point on top of the two dolls she rescued, well done!" the announcer said.
Rainbow looked to Syls, the look of disappointment flooding the Dryskian's face, "Only nine dolls left." Twilight whispered to herself.
"Syls has two of them." Spike asked in worry, "Right?"
"And that brings us to our three losing contestants." the announcer said, a bit of controlled sorrow in her voice, "I'm sorry for each of you. You raced with all your heart, and we're sorry to see you go." The next words they heard wounded like she had turned away from the mic and sniffled like she had been crying, "Oh, I hate doing this part, it suuuucks." She then cleared her voice as she turned back to the mic, "Unfortunately we have to say goodbye to three contestants, including one of my personal favorites, Syls from the final four of Bacromus, who despite all her efforts was only allowed to obtain one doll from the race. The last two to go home took each other out in a bout of aggression, both ships stopped working as they fought each other to a stalemate over the only doll they could find, right before they noticed Palin of Hyl's final four found it while they were fighting. Hilarious, but unnecessary."
'Only one point?' Rainbow thought to herself as she finally understood what the look of shame was for, 'But that means…'
"Syls has been eliminated." Twilight whispered.
"No." Spike followed up.
"We're down an ally." Tusks realized in shock while Pilit buried her face in Writch's overalls.
'She can't be eliminated…' Rainbow said to herself in disbelief, 'She's been with me since the beginning of the races. She…'
"Hey, Skittle Head." Rainbow finally heard the smaller Dryskian say. When she looked up, she could see the anger in the little Dryskian's eyes, "You'd better knock that coward back to Sunik with his tail between his legs."
"I will, and you'll be right there with me." Rainbow said, tears forming in her eyes as she refused to let her friend lose, "We'll find a spot on our team for you, maybe backup pilot or…"
"Can't do that." Syls said, "Members of defeated teams aren't allowed to join another team, Sselekk got lucky that his team was still in the races."
"Come on, there has to be something we can do." Rainbow said in desperation.
"Just don't lose." Syls said in a somber voice, "I'll be rooting for you."
After the race, all the teams gathered back in their garages, Rainbow Dash's team, Honor's team, and Syls's team all congregated out in the middle as they shook hands or claws, congratulations and bouts of sorrow were shared as each of them, Pinkie Pie's tears pouring out of her eyes as she cried for the loss of her friend, "I'm gonna miss you!" she shouted as she squeezed both Syls and Tris in one of her signature hugs.
"Can't…breathe!" Syls choked out.
It took Blade to remove the pink party pony's grip from the two of them, "How is she so strong?" he grunted as he pried her hooves from the two of them.
Syls and Tris both gasped for air as they were finally able to stand on their own feet, "I could…[Wheeze]…feel my…[gasp]…back popping!"
"Sorry." Rainbow Dash apologized for the weeping pink pony, "You gonna be ok?"
"I am now!" the smaller Dryskian said, "But I'd like you to take somepony for me."
"Didn't think we were allowed to take part of your crew." Rainbow Dash said skeptically.
"He's not part of my crew, not yet anyway." she said and turned to allow a young Sunik to come forward, "This is Kklement, he's one of the kids we adopted thanks to Krisskkil, he's turning six cycles this year and has a dream of being a mechanic, but he can't get any better if he doesn't work."
"You want us to take a kid and put them to work?" Rainbow asked.
"Not put him to work, let him work." Syls corrected, "Let him learn."
"I don't know…" Twilight said as she stepped in.
"Guys." Syls said and pointed to her collarbone, "The Shard of Loyalty has been reacting to him." She reached where it had disappeared to, and crabbed at nothing, pulling a chain that appeared from nowhere over her head, and opening her palm, the light from the shard reached out and touched the young boy, wrapping itself around his outstretched hand, "It's been doing that since we got to the final four. I didn't know what it meant but he's shown that he's really dependable, always tries to keep his promises, and never lets any of the others down if he can help it. I think he's meant to take the shard."
"You can pass your shard to somepony else?" Pilit asked as she neared him, and looked him in the eyes, "Hi, I'm Pilit. Nice to meet you!"