Chapter 21 – The New Location

"Go check the yard!" Tusks said as he and a smiling Writch set a starstruck Pilit down.

Applejack and the rest of them turned a bit confused, then they made their way to the back of the garage. When they exited the back, they were in awe, the yard they remembered was gone, and in its place, a much bigger yard was available to them. The yard itself looked like it had been freshly placed and enlarged the posts now much farther from the garage building and a different looking exterior to everything. "What the hay?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Is that a ship?" Twilight asked as she pointed to a large piece that looked like it was sitting on top of a pile of scrap.

"Where are we?" Rarity asked.

"Welcome to our next and new yard. The winners get moved to the next racetrack with their tech thanks to the medallion they win, and stealing a medallion instantly brings you to ruin." Pilit said.

"I've seen it a few Cycles ago, the thieves reappeared in their old garage but everything inside was melted and the crew was nowhere to be found." Writch said, "The stolen medallion was returned to the proper owner after that and no one ever stole the medallions again."

"So…" Breeze said, and looked back at the garage, "Some kind of space warp tech?"

"Gotta be, but I don't think I've ever seen tech that advanced that old before, that medallion has to be at least two thousand years old by the look of it." Blade said.

"Uhg." Twilight groaned, "If only I'd been able to do a carbon dating test, I'd be able to really get a good idea of how old everything is!"

"That never really crossed our minds." Writch said.

"Look!" Pilit called out, getting everyone's attention, "Another Luxury hull from a Meltackian ship!"

Blade and Writch both smiled, and the Treeopon cracked her knuckles as the stallion cracked his neck, and grabbed a few wrenches from his pocket, before the two of them made their way towards the downed ship. "Heh, looks like our mechanics are getting back to work. {snort} I suggest we all do the same." Tusks said, "We've only got four days to get everything {snort} ready for the next race."

"Four days?" Spike asked, "But last time we nearly had a week."

"We also had no parts, Spike, and no idea what we were meant to do." Twilight interjected.

"And considering we have the smallest crew in the {snort} game, I'd say we're doing way better than anyone {snort} has ever expected." Tusks said as she stood there next to Pilit.

"HEY, SKITTLE HEAD!" they all heard from their left. When they looked, there was the entire Dryskian crew waving at them.

"Syls?" Rainbow Dash called out, "I thought I'd never see you until the race."

"Heh. You really are a skittle head. The order of the garages is the same as the order in which the qualifiers finish, you and I got first and second, which means we get the first yard and you all get the second." she explained.

"But then, that means…" Twilight said and turned to their right, a set of angry lizard people stood there, glaring at them, "They are next to us as well."

"Just let them try something!" Rainbow Dash said in a growl and lifted a hoof like a fist.

"Calm down Rainbow Dash." Breeze said, and pressed his own hooves to her shoulders, "If we make the first move then we look like the bad guys."

"He's right sugar cube." Applejack said as she walked up to the two of them, then turned to glare at the lizard team as well, "No matter how much yah wanna punch em."

"Don't let them bother you." Syls said, "They can't do anything with your yard anyway, the rules are enforced even harder now. If they want to take anything from you, they need your permission, or risk getting kicked out of the race altogether."

Tris simply waved at the group of Suniks, getting them to scoff and then turn to pay attention to their own work, "By the way, I noticed something from that last race." she said, catching the attention of the entire team, "When the giant ship hit the side of the gate, it's shields flickered, and I think something happened."

"What do you mean?" Syls asked.

"I'm not sure exactly, the shields on the large ship seemed almost invincible but it's like it took a hit from the gate itself."

"Isn't that against the rules?" Twilight asked.

"Not if they found the technology in their yard, to begin with, a powerful shield generator?" Pilit told them, "They must have booked their garage on purpose like they knew what was in it."

"Is that possible?" Twilight asked.

"Only if the tech you're looking for was made at least a Cycle ago by someone you knew." Pilit said, "Maybe it's old Sunik tech?"

"That's dirty." Pinkie said as she growled a bit.

"Agreed." Rarity said as she turned to the Sunik team.

"But there's nothing we can do about it." Twilight said, and turned to the pile of parts in the yard, a pile that seemed to be even bigger than their last pile.

"With all these new parts and an entire ship in our yard, there has to be something we can find that'll compete with their pre-built tech, right?" Applejack asked.

"Let's hope so." Twilight answered, "That's a lot of stuff to go through."

"Check your barrier generator as well, that Linear Arc Cannon might have done more damage than you think, at least that's what my mechanics say." Syls said, "Also if we find any good parts that we can't use, we'll let you trade."

"Sounds like a plan." Rainbow Dash said happily.

"Our first alliance!" Pilit said, "I'm so excited!"

Twiggs walked up next to Applejack, and turned his gaze to the large ship that bordered the line between their two yards, "You thinking what I'm {snort} thinking?" he asked.

The orange earth pony turned her gaze to the same thing he was looking at, "That maybe there's a pile o' parts somewhere in that ship?" she asked.

"Looks like it hit hard when it {snort} crashed." he replied.

"That just means there's probably more stuff on top as well." she said.

"Leanin our way." he observed.

"Y'all comin er not?" she suddenly asked as she began to walk.

"Right behind ya." he said and sprinted to catch up to her.

"Looks like we're about to have plenty to do for the next few days." Twilight observed, and turned to Spike, "We'd better do our part to Spike, we're going to need to find out which parts are the best."

"And make sure everypony keeps their energy up." he said and turned with the purple alicorn back into the garage so he can help with the research notes.

It was well into the day when Applejack and Twiggs walked back into the ship, their third trip that day and so far, they had found something new each time, boxes of parts that seemed to just be sitting there, despite the dust and what might have been bones but there was not enough left to really tell. "WOOHOO!" Applejack called out as she raced forward. "Hey Twiggs looks like I get to lead the way this time!" she called out as she reached one of the open doors. Twiggs walked up behind her, stretching his back a bit and heaving for breath. His only response was a nod. "So…" she began, "How come ya don't talk much?" she asked.

"I don't like the snorts when male {snort} Treeopons talk for too long." he said.

"So how come ya don't just get yer other tusk removed then?" she asked as she peeked around a corner.

"I only grew one tusk in." he said, and took a gulp of air as he continued, "There was an accident that {snort} stopped the development of the other one when I was a {snort} baby, it also caused my eye to wander." He turned to her and pressed the fur on his cheek down, showing off an old scar around where the tusk would have grown in on the outside of his cheek. It looked like it would have crawled to the inside of his mouth if it hadn't healed up.

"Sorry ta hear that." she said, "Are tusks important here?"

Twiggs shrugged, "Not really." he said and grabbed a door handle on his left.

"What the hay?" Applejack asked, and moved just a bit ahead of him. The wall changed, to what could only be explained as a bay door, "Is this a garage?" she asked.

"Garage means parts!" Twiggs said and pushed down on the handle with both hands, throwing the door open as far and fast as it would go. The room was dark, so dark in fact that Twiggs had to reach into one of his pockets for a small flashlight. He turned to the wall, finding a switch, and flipped it, not really expecting it to work, but the two of them were surprised when suddenly the lights all turned on, "How is power still working on a {snort} ship this old?" he asked and was rewarded with Applejack, her eyes wide open and a shocked look on her face. There in front of the earth pony was a large crate, one almost as tall as Twiggs was, and long enough that it could easily fit… "Is that an engine?" he asked but was left disappointed when he found a large piece of support bar smashed into the other side of the crate. "Well that's disappointing." he said and looked to the part of the crate on the floor. "MPE?" he asked.

"Y'all mean B336 MPE." Applejack corrected as she viewed the undamaged side of the crate.

"Did you say B336?" they heard Spike ask, and turned to see him standing there in the hallway.

"Yeah, why?" Applejack asked, and watched as the baby dragon bolted back down the hall.

"TWILIGHT!" he called out, "YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!"