Chapter 20 – Celebrate the Next Day
Rainbow Dash and Breeze stood there, both ponies grinning like fools as they let the announcer speak, "The qualifiers of the great races to take place on our planet have ended in a spectacular finish. A new team that was thought to not even qualify have not only been able to qualify for the races, but they also have been one of the first three to cross the finish line. We have your qualifiers of the Terranuil Race, Bacromus Qualifying Round." The announcer seemed to be a female, as her voice echoed through the entire stadium, "In first place, we have the Dryskian team from Giol's Garage." Syls and Tris both walked up a few steps forward to present themselves to the camera as the large orb hovered in front of them, the grin on Syls' face told of confidence. "In second place, the team from beyond the Terranuil System from Tusks' Garage." Rainbow Dash and Breeze walked forward to match Syls in the line, waving and grinning to the crowd that either cheered or scratched their heads in confusion, the orb that hovered focused on Rainbow as she flared her wings to show confidence. "And in third place, the terror of the desert, the Sunik team from Kkisskorss' Garage." Rainbow and Breeze turned to their left, each seeing a large muscular lizardman standing tall with dust brown scales and what looked like leather armor with a single shoulder guard made from metal on his right shoulder, a gauntlet on the same side, and a thick black belt with a metal devil skull for its buckle. A bloodthirsty grin aimed right at them. Rainbow gulped in worry as she quickly realized that he meant to win the race, no matter who he had to run over or kill to get to it. Next to him stood a much smaller Sunik warrior, no gauntlets but two shoulder guards on each side, and a downtrodden defeated look on his face.
"Each of our qualifiers will be given the traditional qualifying medallion, and each of the first three racers will be given a medallion to match their rank in the race." the announcer said. A Treeopon with regal-looking clothing on walked up, a large red box being carried by a pair of other regal looking Treeopon just a few steps behind him. The three of them stopped in front of Syls and Tris, then the two carrying the box used their free hand to open the lid, and the one walking in front turned to grab two large medals, each looking ancient in their design. Neither had a ribbon, they were just large disks of precious metal, the first being made of what could easily be copper that was given to Tris. The next was platinum and handed to Syls. They next moved to Rainbow Dash and Breeze, a copper medal and a gold medal handed to the two of them. When Rainbow Dash looked down at the medals, she noticed a big difference in the two, the gold one looked almost new in design, while the copper one looked worn over centuries of use. The carvings on the copper were a bit faded but she could easily see the visage of a serpent that circled the medallion and wrapped its legs around its own body, a large line going through the tail and the head of the serpent. The gold medallion had the same dragon, much more visible and inside it looked like a symbol of some kind stamped inside. Syls chuckled out loud, getting Rainbow Dash to turn to her, and then lifted up the platinum medal and grinned with sass, this caused Rainbow to growl at her as she showed off her first-place prize. She was distracted from her anger when Syls' grin fell and was replaced with a small bit of fear, Rainbow turned and saw the large Sunik racer looming over them. The grin on his face once again spoke of bloodlust as he sized them up.
"Careful little creature." he said in his deep calming voice, "Wouldn't want to ruffle those feathers." he then turned away, making his way back into the line letting the three Treeopons finish giving the rest of the qualifiers their copper medals. Rainbow gulped in worry as she turned back to the crowd.
When the two ponies made it back to the garage, the entire team minus Writch was waiting there, smiles on their faces, "Feeling better Pilit?" she asked as she approached the young Treeopon.
Instead of saying anything, she squealed loudly and ran up to Rainbow Dash, grabbing the gold medal from her hoof, "WE GOT SECOND PLACE IN THE QUALIFIERS!" she called out loudly and lifted the medal up into the air, this caused everyone to laugh at her antics. She then turned to Breeze and grabbed the other medallion as well, carrying both in her tiny hands, and turned with all the energy in the world to hand them both off to Tusks. Twilight instead grabbed both of the medallions, with her magic and levitated them on front of her to examine both.
They had no idea that they were being watched, not by any new drone, but by a crude metal spider of sorts, rusted metal adorning it as a shell, and a single lens out front as it stood upon the building across from them. It sent the broadcast into a dark room with hundreds of monitors, a few of them showing something different with the rest of them nothing but static. "So…" a tired crackling voice said to himself, "There are worlds beyond the Terranuil system that have a power we've never seen before?" The figure leaned forward, still engulfed in shadows as he did, "This could be useful if the race becomes a failure." He was interrupted only by his own coughing, "No harm in having a backup plan after all." he said to himself after the coughing stopped. Then with a single push of his clawed finger, pressed a button on a console to his left, "Get a small battalion ready to move out, and get Krisskkil to find out where their planet is. We're going to have us an old-fashioned invasion."
"These are fascinating!" Twilight said as she examined both of them, "I think the gold one has the Bacromus glyph for the number two on it."
"Well yeah!" Tusks said, "That was made for the second-place racer, this one is the {snort} most important!" As he said the last part, he held up the copper medallion and grinned.
"Why is that more important than this one?" Twilight asked.
"You'll see." he said and turned to everyone, "Applejack and Twiggs, {snort} get all the parts you think we'll need from the yard and {snort} get them inside the garage you have until sundown to get {snort} us stocked upright, then I'll show you all what this thing is for." Applejack and Twiggs both grinned and turned to run off to the yard. "Rarity, make sure you keep the inventory up to snuff. {snort} Do a second check if you have to." he told the white mare, and then turned to the rest, "Twilight, make sure you've {snort} got all of your research in order, and Blade, go find Writch, for better or worse {snort} we still need her. Hulon, go call your dad and give him the good news {snort}, he'll want to hear from you. Everypony else just get prepared the best {snort} you can."
"For what?" Spike asked.
"For the next leg of the race!" Tusks explained.
For the next several hours they prepared the best they could, Applejack and Twiggs searching the entire yard for any parts they think they could use, Rarity meticulously inspected every part they had and kept her inventory as straight as she could, Fluttershy and Spike decided to make sure the medical supplies and animals were all secure for anything rough that might happen, Twilight found all kinds of places to secure the research she had piled together while Pinkie and Hulon both excitedly told her dad about the race, and the pink party pony ready to burst into a party while getting Hulon to laugh.
Blade had found Writch early, and convinced her to talk with Tusks before they all found out what these medallions were supposed to be for. She made her way to the front, where she knew Tusks would be. She looked to the floor instead of him, the thought that Syls had planted in her mind still running amok, "So…" she began, "…what do we do now?" she asked solemnly.
"Now?" Tusks asked, "We talk." And placed a hand on Writch's shoulder, "I know you didn't mean it the way you said it {snort} Writch, but you gotta stop deflecting it, you still believe all that stuff your {snort} father told you about eidetic memories, don't you?"
"My dad was a lowlife thug." she said, her anger fizzling due to the sorrow she felt.
"But you still believe the things he told you, {snort} at least about the memory." Tusks surmised, she stayed quiet as she turned her eyes back to the ground, another thing for her to think about as she tried to sort out the problem that was exposed to her, "You've seen what Pilit can do, she can experience and learn. You {snort} were just about to adopt her yourself before you found out about her memory. What changed?"
"I really don't know." Writch said as she gripped her arm, "I thought she was perfect and then, that memory came up, and suddenly I thought she was broken. Now though, I think maybe I'm the one that's broken."
"Writch…" Tusks said as he let his eyes open wide in surprise. He then let his eyes soften, and with a single step, wrapped her in a hug, "We're all a little broken." he said, "but we can still do what's right at times. Like talking to Pilit again." Then he tightened his embrace, "Like talking to me again."
"Oh, Tusks." she said as she closed her eyes and started crying, "I'm so sorry!"
From behind the Rainbow Trail, Blade gave it his best smile as he began to walk away.
That night, the gang was standing inside the garage, Tusks and Pilit at the front of the group. "Ready for this?" Tusks asked.
"Can I say something first?" Writch called out, and came up to the front of the group, her eyes down to the ground in shame as she approached Pilit. She stayed quiet for a few seconds as the others began to worry about what she was going to say, "Pilit, I apologize for my words and actions." she said and bowed to the young Treeopon. The action was quick and over before the young girl could even react, but Writch still continued, "I was angry and vindictive to you, I stopped thinking for a while and hurt you because of it. I know it's going to be hard to keep from thinking like that again, but I want you to know I'm trying. I don't want you to get hurt anymore, even by me." Then she spoke to herself, "I still can't believe it took me so long to get my head out of my…"
"I'm pretty sure that's not necessary." Tusks said in response to what she was about to say.
"Right, I'm sorry Pilit. Sorry for everything I've done to hurt you. I acted…" she began and thought of exactly what she was saying, "…like a lowlife thug. Can you forgive me?"
She wasn't expecting it, and it happened so fast, the little girl wrapped her arms around her waist, and started crying hard, "I forgive you Writch, can we be friends again?"
Writch smiled at the little one, tears slowly trailing from her eyes she wrapped her arms around the little one.
"About time!" Twiggs said and curled a fist to bump it against Applejack's raised hoof.
"Glad we're a team again, now what do you say we get this…" Tusks said and was interrupted again.
"Actually Tusks, do you mind if we let someone else place the medallion?" Writch said as she placed a hand on Pilit's shoulder.
"Huh?" the younger one asked.
Tusks instantly got the message, "You bet. Hey, Pilit come here!" he said, and the three Treeopon all gathered together. The ponies all smiled as Tusks and Writch lifted Pilit together, the smaller Treeopon holding onto the medallion and as soon as her surprise left her, she placed the medallion against the inside wall of the building, right above the door. The medallion melded into the wall, merging with the metal and causing the room to shake, from outside they could all see light shine from all around them, and then silence as the room stopped shaking.
"What the hay just happened?" Applejack asked.
