Chapter 60 – A Simple Misunderstanding
What she hadn't seen, was how Jibs had reached out for her in fear, missing completely before running off in hast and worry. "What just happened?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Wait." Tris said, "You said he pushed you or something."
"I…just fell?" she asked herself, "All I remember is looking up at the opening and…"
"He left me!" they all heard the crying Syls shout from inside the pit, "He left me to die!" More crying came from the burned-out shack, "SOMEBODY HELP ME!"
It wasn't long after that, Mrs. Olis came running out of the main building, something that looked like a metal rope in hand and a worried look on her face. She instantly ran to the hole, "SYLS!" she shouted, and tied the end to a nearby tree, one she was sure was sturdy enough to hold their weight, "Hang on little one!"
"Were you ok down there?" Rainbow asked.
"No." Syls said, "Some of the rubble had pinned my leg, broke it actually."
"Oof." Rainbow said, "That had to hurt."
"More than you know." the shorter Dryskian said under her breath.
"What about Jibs?" Breeze asked.
"I…" she started, and instantly found that she didn't have an answer. Instead of answering, she revved her engine, and took off, Rainbow Dash quickly following behind. The two little racers moved as quickly as they raced across the yard, entering the building through one of the doors as a child came running out to see if they could help out. The two of them raced through the complex, Syls looking for the little boy, Jibs, unsuccessfully until they came upon the same room that Syls had found Mrs. Olis the first time. "I knew it." she said to herself, "He really did run away."
"Syls?" she heard from the console. Rainbow Dash had a worried look on her face, and when she turned to look for the Rainbow Trail Mk. 2, it was some distance behind, nose pointed at what she remembered to be a closet. They brought their ships close, a sound coming from within. A voice that trembled from its cries of sorrow brought alarm to the four of them.
"Why?" the voice said.
"Jibs?" Syls asked herself.
"She's going to hate me now!" he said through his sobs, "It's all my fault."
'He felt like that this whole time?' she thought to herself, and suddenly the scene shifted again, back to the inky black void of the Labyrinth. "NO WAIT!" she shouted to the emptiness, "I WANNA KNOW MORE!" Her answer was silence and a tear that found its way to her furred cheek.
"You OK?" Rainbow asked.
Syls reached a clawed hand to her tear, whipping it from her cheek and looking at it as if she were surprised to see it, "Syls?" Tris asked in sorrow.
Syls watched the tear fall from her finger, the droplet of salt water striking the floor of her racer. "I…" she said in hesitation, more tears fell, each one an even bigger surprise than the last one. She couldn't even catch them all, she tried but more just found the same path. So many tears formed from her eyes at once, that her vision suddenly blurred, and she found herself unable to speak. Instead, she sniffled and coughed as she started crying, a long and ugly cry as she found her heart breaking.
"Don't." Breeze said solemnly as Rainbow opened her mouth, "Just…give her this."
It had to have been two solid minutes before Syls calmed down, an impressive record in Breeze's opinion. "Sorry." the Dryskian said, "I don't know what just came over me."
"The dams broke is what happened." Rainbow said, "What was that even about?"
"I just realized that I have a lot of apologizing to do when I get back to Dryskis." she admitted as she tried to dry her long held tears, "I've made so many mistakes."
"Hey, it's cool." Rainbow said, "Just let me know when you want to go, I'll be your Wing-Pony!"
"Thanks." Syls said, "If we get the chance, I'll definitely take you up on that offer."
Suddenly, as if the darkness was pulled form them, another ship appeared. The Sunik ship, the oversized black painted monstrosity, was easily discerned from the void, it was as if the color of the ship wasn't even as dark as what was around it. "Where are we now?" everyone heard Sselkk say.
Rainbow quickly pushed a section on her screen and spoke. "What are you doing here?" she asked, "This is an invitation only club."
"Huh?" he asked as he turned his ship around, spying the two others. "Then it must have been a pity club if they invited you little creature!"
"Can we not start a fight with the ponies?" Krisskil asked.
"Krisskkil?" Syls asked, "I know you said you worked for Sselkk, but you didn't say you were his gunner!"
"Oh…" Sselkk said in surprise, "…you made a friend."
"She helped me." the smaller of the Suniks said, "I do believe we have become friends, yes."
Everyone was ready for some berating words, or even yelling about how he was fraternizing, but instead he leaned back and inhaled deeply, "Good." he said, catching everyone off guard, "You deserve good friends."
"I…" the blue pegasus said in her surprise, "…wasn't expecting that from you."
"I'm the general of an army branch, not a dark and egotistical thug." Sselkk said, "Any friend I make, like Krisskkil, is going to be treated well and with respect if I can help it." Then he leaned forward, looking right at Rainbow Dash's section of the small corner of his screen, "My enemies however…"
"Hey!" she called out as she interrupted him, "You're the one working for an 'emperor' who wants to take over three other planets."
"Four…if you count yours." he suddenly said.
"What?" Breeze asked in response.
"Are you sure you want to be telling them?" Krisskkil asked, "The Admiral said…"
"I don't care." the larger Sunik said, "I don't like engaging an enemy that isn't prepared. Breaking through their defenses and teaching them that they can't win through brute force is one of the challenges of my rank that I take very seriously." He then turned to his gunner, "Besides, I'm sure you would have warned them either way. At least I can defend myself against the other top leaders."
'Is this his way of protecting Krisskkil?' Syls thought to herself.
Suddenly, they all heard Breeze burst out laughing, and he continued laughing until Sselkk spoke up in a huff of anger, "You mock my honor?" he asked.
"Ho…oh nothing like that." Breeze said through his tears of joy, "I was just imagining the things that Discord would do if he caught your soldiers trying to sneak up on anypony."
This caught all of them by surprise, until Rainbow Dash started to laugh with him, "Dis…cord?" Krisskkil asked.
"Yeah, our resident spirit of chaos!" the pegasus asked, and the two ponies once again began laughing.
"What is a spirit of chaos?" a female voice asked inside their minds.
"Yes. What is so funny?" a male voice asked, and up came two pictures of a pair of Meltackians.
Breeze and Rainbow slowly let their laughter fade, whipping the tears from their eyes as they did, "Hey Honor, hey Chivalry." Rainbow Dash said in greeting.
"You'll have to read our memories on this when we get back." Breeze said.
"Yeah, you'll get a kick out of Discord." Rainbow Dash said as she took a deep breath to calm down.
"Not much racing going on here." Another vice said. The picture of a Treeopon with green spiky hair appearing on the screen. His gunner, a tall male Hylop with green hair and black fur appeared next to him.
"Where are we anyway?" another asked, and the pictures of another of the racing teams appeared, a Treeopon gunner and a small female Sunik pilot with tan scales and an orange racing suit.
"Did all of you have to go through memories as well?" the last of the pilots, a Treeopon with wild red hair asked, his gunner was a shy looking female Treeopon with a deep blush on her face as she placed her hands to her face to hide. The pilot was a cocky looking Treeopon with a grin that could have swallowed his entire face, and one broken tusk on his right side.
"The entire race is here, what do we do now?" Breeze asked as everyone looked at each other confused.
