Chapter 64 – Different Lives

"Ugh, Sweet Egas" Golden groaned as he approached them, he had exited his racer, his main somewhat tussled as he approached the group, "I am so sorry. I guess my engine sputtered there huh?"

"You think?" Astral asked as she walked up next to him.

"It's ok." Rainbow said quickly, "I just wasn't expecting it."

"What'cha gonna do?" the yellow earth pony asked, Firefly's eyes shining with curiosity.

"I don't know." she said, "What does the legend say we do?"

"Oh, that's…" Astral started and was quickly silenced by her Hylop gunner.

"Oh no you don't!" he said as he placed his clawed hands to her mouth, "I am NOT going to let US be the ones to change history just because you ponies can't stop talking!"

"That's a 'no-no'!" Firefly said with just as much glee in her voice as before, it was like the pony couldn't stop being happy.

"Oh, for Celestia's sake!" Rainbow said in frustration.

"What's a Celestia?" Golden asked curiously.

"You don't know who Celestia is?" Breeze asked.

"She from Bacromus?" Golden asked.

The grey unicorn smiled nervously at his realization, "Wait, how far into the future are you from?" he asked.

Golden shrugged his shoulders, "Don't really know, we were born on Bacromus."

The mouths of the others dropped, their belief in the events as of now were being pulled and tested, "BORN?" Syls asked, "On Bacromus?"

"Yes!" Firefly said with as much enthusiasm as she could, "About eighteen Cycles ago!"

"Aaaaaand how old are you all?" he asked without missing a beat.

"I'm two!" Firefly announced.

"Cycles?" Tris asked to clarify.

"Duh." Golden added in, "And I'm two cycles and a year."

"Three." Astral announced.

"Sixteen." Prims announced.

"Wait, your three Cycles old?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I know, pretty young for ponies right?" Astral asked.

"ARE YOU KIDDING?!" the blue pegasus asked, "I'm only 20."

"Cycles?" Firefly asked.

"YEARS!" she corrected, "In your terms, I'd be like…a Cycle at most, and you all STILL look younger than me."

"Wow!" the three other ponies and Hylop drawled.

"How are you all so young-looking?" Breeze asked, "Did you slow your aging after being on Bacromus for a few centuries?"

Golden shrugged his shoulders while the rest just glanced at each other, "We didn't even know your pony race aged so quickly." he said.

"Then it's got to be an evolutionary thing." Tris said, "Not much else it can be."

"I'm getting depressed just thinking about it." Rainbow said mostly to herself. They all just giggled at the concept. After the interaction, Rainbow Dash turned back to the battlefield, "What do we do?" she asked suddenly.

"Well, we need to vote on it." Breeze said, "There are seven teams, so there should be no ties…hopefully."

"Two per team!" Firefly shouted out, "That's still an even number!"

"And we can't actually be a part of this vote." Golden said, "We aren't an original part of your race."

"Why not come with us?" the red-haired Treeopon asked as he walked up to them, "We could {snort} always use some extra tools in our box."

Rainbow Dash lifted her eyebrow in confusion at the term, "That's nice and all…" Prims said, "But we've tampered with time enough for one trip."

"We're leaving?" Astral asked, "But what about my autograph?"

"Why would you want to go back out there?" Sselekk asked as he to made his way to them, and with a wave of his clawed hand, gestured to the battlefield.

"We've got friends out there, and they're waiting for us to get our act together." Firefly said with a grin.

"Besides," Golden said as well, "What kind of stories would they tell about us if we just abandoned them like that?"

"None?" the red-haired pilot asked, only to get an elbow to his ribs from his gunner.

Golden chuckled a bit at this comment, and the four of them quickly climbed into their ships. "Wait!" Syls said, "Will we see you again?"

"Maybe." Astral said, "I sure hope so." Then the hatch closed on both ships, their engines roaring to life. They slowly turned and made their way to the battlefield before taking off at what seemed like full speed.

"Brave souls." Sselekk said.

"I vote we fight!" Breeze said as he turned to the group, "If we leave now, after seeing their resolve, we'd be cowards. We have to fight."

"I don't think so." the Hylop gunner said as he stood there, his arms folded, "If we get caught up in this fight, we're liable to die out there, and I've got three small children to rase back at home." His Pilot nodded furiously.

"I'm with Rainbow Dash on this one." Syls said, "If we back down now, the lives lost today will be on our heads."

"It is an honor to fight and serve!" Honor said as he slammed his fist into his open hand.

"Well, I don't want to fight." the red-haired pilot said, "They've been fighting for {snort} how long?" No one could answer, they had no idea. "And we could be fighting for just as long. Or we may never stop fighting. There's no telling just how things really go during this fight."

"Except that we know what's supposed to happen." Chivalry countered, "The Egas is to be victorious."

"If that's the case then the Egas doesn't actually need our help." the Sunik pilot said with just as much resolve, "It's fated to win and our participation or even lack thereof won't change that."

"But you did hear the pony from another time say that time can be changed." Sselekk said, "The future is still uncertain, even the future of the past you travel to."

"Do you actually believe that we can make a difference?" the Sunik girl asked, "I vote to forget the fighting and just leave."

"Well, that's six to six." the orange-haired Treeopon said with worry, "Each team votes as one." They all turned to Sselekk and Krisskkil, eyes expectant as the much larger Sunik placed his claws to his chin.

"What are you doing Sselekk?" Krisskkil asked, "You know we have to fight. It's the fate of not just our empire, but all four of our worlds that we're dealing with right now."

The larger Pilot inhaled, his claws still placed to his chin, "Our duty is to this group." he said, "But if the worlds fall, then the group isn't going to survive, is it?"

"Then we fight." the smaller Sunik said, only to have a large clawed hand land on his shoulder.

"No, we escape." he said, "We can come back with a much larger army, better weapons, and give them all a chance to survive."

"But…" Krisskkil asked, "What if we can't come back?"

"Then Egas have mercy on their souls." the larger Sunik said.