Chapter 56 – A Race Down Memory Lane

"Where are we?" Rainbow asked as the two of them sped off through the darkness. Nothing but an inky black void was everywhere around them, with no walls and no track.

"I don't know." Breeze said as he looked around, his curiosity peeking through his words.

"Hey Twilight, got those maps yet?" Rainbow asked as she looked to her console. Instead, she saw nothing but static and a single set of words that said 'no signal' in bold red letters. "Ugh, I can't get a signal in here."

Breeze remained silent as he looked around. Suddenly the area around him shifted, colors came into focus, and sounds erupted from the void. It was a familiar sight outside of the ship, a place he remembered vividly. "What?" he asked himself as he turned slowly. There, at a distance away he saw them. The forms were strange to him now, but he could recognize his brother and himself anywhere. They were human out there, surrounded by things that wore armor of either red or blue design. Melee weapons in every hand as this other, younger, version of him flipped around the battlefield with ease, slashing with this old shuriken as the human him battled. His brother with a large two-handed sword would block and then strike, calmly taking out opponents one at a time. He tripped, his human self. Falling to the ground and quickly getting back up, but in his haste, an ax tore open his right leg halfway above the knee. Blade stopped and turned, quickly striking down several soldiers at once. He could hear the concern in his brother's voice as he called to the other him, and then watched as his younger human self turned around, only to take a broad sword, one that the human him hadn't seen coming, burry deep into his left eye. Then, the scene vanished. "Did you see that?" he asked.

"What was that?" Rainbow asked, "Is that how you got the scar on your eye?"

Breeze slowly removed one of his hooves from the gauntlet for his guns, and touched it to the scar on his left eye, "I was only saved because Blade still had some of that healing elixir." he said, "I'd be dead if it wasn't for him."

Rainbow remained quiet as she processed the new information. Then, the darkness gave way again. It showed Equestria, specifically Ponyville. They were soaring above it, watching as Zeral tormented and played with everything he saw. A missile streaking through the sky past them right after a familiar silhouette passed. She remembered this, they day she lost her NanoPack, the day she lost Jetwing. She stared, the memories flying back into her mind as she watched the suit of flying armor eject its host and then turned around just to once again fly back into the atmosphere. The explosion once again sent a feeling of loss into her soul, the tears once again flowing freely as she once again witnessed her friend parish. "You ok Dashie?" she heard her gunner ask with reverence.

"No." she said honestly, "But I'll pull through."

Breeze let his eyes shift, from sorrow and worry to calm kindness, "Ok, I'm here if you need me." he said.

Rainbow Dash lifted one of her hooves from the controls to quickly wipe away the tears from her face, "Thanks." was all she said and sniffed as she placed her hoof back to the controls. The scene once again changed, back to an inky black void, "What do you think those were about?" she asked.

"Memories obviously." Breeze said, "But what's the point of showing them to us?"

Suddenly, the two of them could see colors, a familiar set of colors as well. There in their path, raced the Silver Blitz, "Wait…" Rainbow asked and then placed a hoof to her console.

"Skittle Head?" Syls asked as the picture came up on screen, "What are you doing here?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing." the pegasus announced, "Where are we?"

"Wish I knew." Tris said as she also appeared on screen.

"Did you two have to go through some memories as well?" Breeze asked.

"Wait, you guys had to do that to?" Tris asked.

"I don't wanna talk about it!" Syls suddenly said.

"Later, we've got to figure out what's going on?" Rainbow scolded.

"It's obvious that they are memories." Breeze said in thought, "But why show them to us?"

"I think I was able to interact with my memory." Syls suddenly said.

"Wait…what?" Breeze asked.

"I accidentally ran in front of a Giant Kumant Wyrm's path." she said, "Strange, as I don't remember there being one there." Both Breeze and Rainbow Dash lifted their eyebrows in confusion, "A giant green belly dragon that spits moss to pin its victims to the ground."

"EW!" Breeze said instantly, and within seconds, the scene changed. The black inky darkness melted into a room, one made of stone and wood, ice thawing slowly as a bunch of children stood in the doorway. The racers themselves had to be no bigger than a few inches in size, confirmed when a small young Syls walked up to one of the beds that had recently thawed from the passing frost.

"Why are we here again?" the younger Dryskian asked as she turned to the door.

"Because someone burned down our last campsite and we had to migrate ahead of the others." said an adult as she emerged from behind the doorframe, an angry and disappointed face glaring right at the little girl. Her fur was greyed with age, black speckles dotted around and white filling the chin and hands. Her wardrobe consisted of a thick leather dress that was tied up around the shoulders and a black belt tightened around her slender waist. She wore boots that looked to have been polished at one point but now looked as if they were just barely holding together.

"But that wasn't me, I warned you about the Burgent Beetles." the little girl argued.

"Mrs. Olis." the real Syls whispered in very real anger.

"And who disturbed their nest?" the taller Dryskian asked.

Before the little girl could even respond, one of the boys in the group lifted his hand and pointed a claw at her, "You were racing around tripped over their nest, I saw it!"

The others quickly agreed, the look on little Syls' face went from anger to shock, and then to tears, only seconds in between each phase.

"But, don't Burgent Beetles make their nests in lower branches of the tall trees?" a shy voice asked from the back. The voice went unheard by the others mocked and teased the little girl until one of the boys pushed her to the floor and raised a fist.

"Our last place was better than anything we've ever had!" he said, "It had a huge furnace and TOYS!" Instantly his little fist was caught by the adult.

"That's enough." Mrs. Olis said as she glared at the offending child, "We do not attack in anger." she scolded.

"Sorry Mrs. Olis." the boy said.

"Now leave her here, let's see if there are any beds that are dry, or maybe we'd all like to do laundry before the day is done?" Each of the young ones, minus the little Syls, cringed at the thought of having to take the beds out to dry, thinking of just how dirty and heavy those beds would be. "Then off with you!" She watched the others disperse, then sighed as she turned away from the crying girl, "You really must forget about those dreams of racing in the Terranuilian Race. Even if you were good enough, no one would sponsor an orphan." She didn't say this out of malice, there was sorrow in her voice instead as if telling the child this news would break her just as much as the child. Mrs. Olis began walking away, shutting the door softly as she exited the room. Little Syls cried some more, harder and louder.

"Sweet Celestia, you had a set of lungs!" Rainbow said and looked to see the real Syls looking down, sadness and disappointment wrought within her soul, "You ok?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Pums lied." she explained calmly, "Yes he saw me trip, but he didn't see any nest. I don't even know where the Burgent Beetles came from."

"But why would he lie?" Rainbow asked.

"I don't know, but it's this moment that comes next that saved my trust in others." the real Syls said and lifted her head. Rainbow Dash then watched as the door slowly opened, and in came a Dryskian that looked very much like Tris, except she had on a simple cloth dress to cover herself as well as being shorter and skinnier.

"I'm sorry." the little one said.

Little Syls slowed her crying, sniffles, and coughs as she let the tears clear from her eyes, "Huh?" she asked.

"I'm sorry you got in trouble." she said.

"It's not your fault." the little Syls said in response.

The two remained in silence for a bit, then the taller of the children lifted her hand to reach for the other, "My name is Tris, wanna be friends?"