Chapter 63 – Unintended Allies

"Excuse me, but I don't think we have time for this!" the male voice called out as a small battalion of shadow monsters came rushing at them. The four racers turned quickly, the blasters of their gunners quickly making the shadows dissipate before they were approached.

"Nice shooting." Breeze said as the last of the monsters faded away.

"Thanks!" the male voice said, "Come on, we can get you back to your group."

It was then that the large Sunik ship fell in front of them. "What are you two doing?" Sselekk asked as he backed up to shield them. The area around them exploded in a dark eruption of energy, and the Sunik's shield flickered, "We're too close to the blast zone, follow me!" he continued, and raced off, following the cliffside as much as possible until they all found a spot they could easily climb.

As soon as they were out of harm's way, Syls instantly turned to her pegasus friend, "I thought your team was the only ponies on Bacromus, or even in the Terranuilian system for that matter." She then turned to the newcomers, "And how do you know me?"

"Are you kidding?" Astral asked, "You're a Legend!"

"I don't think she knows about her legend yet." the male voice said, and the picture finally appeared on the screen. He was another pony, an Earth Pony to be precise. Brown with a golden mane, bright blue eyes, and tufts of fur just above his hooves that could have swallowed his legs.

"What are you talking about Golden?" his friend asked, "She's right there, she wrote the legend so to speak."

"I mean that she hasn't yet. This might be her from the past." Golden said, "You remember the lessons on the Egas right?"

"Uh…" Astral said in slight embarrassment.

"She slept through those classes!" another female voice said, and up came another earth pony, yellow with the same color mane as the male and a light blue tail that had a neon green stripe running through it on both sides.

"FIREFLY!" the unicorn said in surprise.

"Figures." This voice was accompanied by the picture of a Hylop, a dark blue-furred one that had rainbow hair upon his head, while he also had a silver patch of fur on his chest. "My name is Prims, the yellow one is Firefly Comet, and the grumpy earth pony is her brother Golden Comet."

"I'm not grumpy!" Golden countered.

"Sure." Prims drawled out, getting the two girls to chuckle. Golden only growled his disapproval, however softly he made it.

"Wait…" Rainbow asked, "How did you get here, we had to hitch a ride with Tusks to get here."

"Tusks? You mean the mentor of the Great Coach Pilit?" Firefly asked, "Head of the Racing academy?"

"Uh…Pilit is like…" Syls said and turned to Rainbow Dash.

"Seven." the pegasus responded.

"…seven Cycles old." she finished.

Suddenly, Astral Stargazer gasped in excitement, "This…is…awesome!" she said, "We actually get to meet the heroes of Head Master Pilit's youth!" She instantly turned to Syls, "And my favorite Racer of all time!" She quickly started digging through the things in front of her, "Can I have your autograph?"

"Maybe when we're not trying to stay alive in the middle of a very confusing race." she said in a nervous response.

"Oh, right!" Astral said and stopped her digging, "I never have a pen anyways."

"Wait a minute?" the red-haired racer asked, "{snort} I thought these were just memories we had to go through."

"Does that mean we actually traveled through time?" Krisskkil asked.

"What have you done to us Pony?" Sselekk asked.

"Hey." Prims interjected, "I'm guessing it was her idea to go through this event?" Sselekk simply nodded, "Then she was right in doing so. The rest of you would have just wandered through time if she hadn't brought you all here."

The conversation was cut short when Rainbow Dash's stomach growled so loudly that it echoed through the hulls of all the other ships. "Hungry?" Golden asked.

"Very." she said in response.

"Oh, your engine is taking it out of you I see." Firefly asked, and pressed a few buttons. She instantly came out from the silver ship, exiting the backside where the gunner would be. She landed on the ground right next to the Rainbow Trail, and lifted something that looked like a trail bar with nuts and berries, "Here, eat this!"

"That's my sister for you." Golden said as Rainbow Dash exited her racer, "Friendly to a fault, even giving away her secret recipe for keeping our magic topped off."

"Wait…magic?" the Hylop gunner from Rainbow Dash's group asked.

"And you slept through history class." Prims said, "Magic was still considered outlawed in their time."

"Oops." the brown pony said as he slumped, trying hard to hide from the disapproving gaze.

"It's not part of my racer." Rainbow Dash said as she gingerly took one of the bars in her hoof, "It's part of me!"

"Then why did she say that the engine was taking it from you?" the Sunik pilot asked.

"Uhh…" Rainbow Dash tried to think of an excuse.

"Does it really matter now?" Sselekk asked harshly, a side look to the pegasus told her that he was a little disappointed in her as well, though why he was defending her she didn't know, "We're stuck here until we get to that gate, and with it in enemy territory, it's going to be tough enough without infighting." he sighed deeply, exhaling his frustration, "Besides, we can talk more about it safely after we finish this race." Rainbow Dash mindlessly took a bite of the treat, her hatred for the large Sunik man turning to some small kind of admiration as he took control of the angry racers, "Now, I suggest we all take a minute to gather our wits, and refresh our minds before we make another attempt, remember we have to be a bigger team than just our pilots and our gunners. I'm not going to be the shield for a team that wants to slit each other's throats." With a wave of his clawed hand, he dismissed everyone, some climbing out of their racers to properly meet the others while some just wanted to rest and rejuvenate.

"Thanks, Sselekk." Rainbow said.

"We aren't friends." he said instantly, "I just want to survive these Scorched Sands. Once we're out of this place…you're on your own."

"But Sselekk?" he heard Krisskkil ask.

Sselekk lifted his hand, "She's on her own." he repeated, and walked away, his stern eyes never faltering.

"Well, he's just all smiles, isn't he?" she asked.

"He respects you, but he knows that he can't protect you once we exit this race." the small Sunik said to her, "He's always like this."

"He doesn't like me much, huh?" she asked.

"Oh, he's warming up to you." Krisskkil said, "He stopped calling you creature."

"Heh, yeah, I guess he did." she said and smiled a little.

"We've got so much to think about now." Breeze said, "How do we get the team to the gate, and what do we do with all the other racers that are fighting out there?"

Rainbow Dash and the others turned to the battlefield, the blasts barely striking out of their range, and the little dots that flashed across the field and dodged the darkness. "If we leave, we're responsible for the lives taken. But if we get involved, I don't know if we can beat that thing. "I'm at a loss…" she turned to Breeze as she spoke, "What do we do?"