Chapter 65 – The Final Decision

Silence filled the air as everyone looked to the large Sunik, "Are you kidding me?" Rainbow Dash said in a low growl, "You're just going to let them die?"

"They can hold their own." he said in his defense.

"But what if we're the ones who can tip the scales?" she asked, "What if we are the ones that can help beat that thing?"

"What if you are the hero?" the Sselekk asked, this silence everyone, catching the blue pegasus off guard. "We fight only to reach our goal, then we return in force and end the fighting for good. The Dark Serpent will fall." Rainbow growled her disapproval for the Sunik's decision, his vote, "We leave in ten minutes." he announced as he turned from her, "Get your stuff together and refuel if you can."

The group dispersed, each team making their way towards their respective racer, Rainbow Dash mumbled a few angry words as she did, "Stupid…Selfish…Lizard!" she grumbled.

"This isn't right." Honor said to his sister, "To just leave them to whatever fate while we run and hope that we can return."

"I understand brother." Chivalry said, "But what can we do? To defy the vote now would put the entire team at risk, and for what?"

Honor sighed, his frustration leaving him as her logic dominated his thoughts, "I suppose you are correct sister." he said.

"What do we do?" Syls asked, "I can't just leave them to fight."

"Worried about Astral?" Tris asked. Her only answer was a nod from her shorter friend, "I'm sure you'll think of something, you owe her an autograph right?"

Syls smiled to her gunner, "Yeah, I suppose I do."

"They're going to try something." Krisskkil said to his much bigger friend, "They won't run."

"Don't you think I know that?" Sselekk said and placed his clawed hand to his face, "This pony…why can't she just…"

"Just what?" the smaller Sunik asked.

"I'm…actually not sure." he said, "But I know I'm about to find out."

Krisskkil looked to his friend, curiosity and confusion on his face as he looked to the much larger Sunik, "I don't understand."

"She's already changed you!" the large pilot said to his friend, "She changes everyone she comes in contact with, you're much stronger now, braver, while I…." It was like he couldn't finish, his pride choking down whatever his original thoughts were in an instant, his mind only looking towards his mission.

"So?" the gunner asked, "I'm afraid I don't understand."

"Never mind." Sselekk said and turned to the large racer, "We've got work to do."

Krisskkil lifted his eyebrows in confusion, his cloak hanging from his slumped shoulders, and yet he followed behind the larger Sunik. "If you just let her, she'd change you as well." His only response was a sigh of frustration from his friend, though he swore he could hear the faintest hint of longing and sadness in there as well, though like the wind, it vanished in an instant.

The time soon came, the racers all in their ships, and gunners at their seats, Sselekk at the front as he prepared to guard the others, "Alright." he said, "We get to the gate, and then we come back with the Sunik army." His declaration was met with a mixture of emotions, some angry with him, some relieved that they'd be going home, some confused and concerned. Rainbow just looked down to her floor, refusing to look the Sunik in the eyes. He felt a twinge of pain, not disrespect, but something else. He felt, sorry, for the naive pony. How many battles had she actually seen, how many lives had she taken? Less than he had obviously, but just how much less? Thoughts of his past tried sneaking up to him, but he always pushed them back into the depths of his mind. "Pony." he said getting her to lift only her eyes, "We'll save them." he said and started his engine as he watched Rainbow lower her head, this time the anger dying to give way to sorrow.

"You're sure we can?" Krisskkil asked in earnest.

"We'll save them!" he repeated, "One way or another." With those final words, he pushed his racer at a decent pace, the others forming a triangle behind him as they tried to stay inside his shield as much as possible.

It wasn't as far as they thought, the closer they got into the enemy territory, the more they were attacked, but it seemed like the gate itself came to meet them. Sselekk sat there, his shield surrounding the gate as the first of the racers began to pass. "Remember to alert the Sunik guards at my garage if any one of us is left behind, seeing how this labyrinth works, we might just be able to get here before any of this even starts." the large Sunik said.

Rainbow turned her head, spying the battlefield as Breeze took out any of the shadows that got too close, and the large dark orbs that fell too close were destroyed upon coming in contact with the larger ship's shield. One racer had already made it through, the Sunik female and her orange-haired Treeopon gunner, when suddenly, the large dark serpent lunged. It stretched its own body out, its mouth wide open as it reached speeds so quick that it shocked everyone. In an instant, it wrapped its mouth around the Egas, its fangs piercing into the side of the glowing dragon, the Egas releasing a shriek of pain and the serpent contracting its body in order to try and wrap itself around its opponent. "NO!" Rainbow called out, and turned her racer around, the little blue machine racing off at full speed towards what looked like a long, broken wall that leaned towards the two waring beasts.

All anyone could do was watch as she raced towards the two falling creatures, "She's crazy!" the red-haired Treeopon shouted, "I'm leaving before she gets {snort} us all killed!" and with that, he turned and raced through the gate.

The moment Rainbow Dash hit the wall, she let her magic flow through the ship, just a little, just enough to get a small boost of speed, and then at the end of the ramp, gave it all she had. The Sonic Rainboom erupted from her, the colors stretching outwards in all directions. The group watched as she sailed through the air, the Rainboom slamming into the belly of the dark serpent, just before she made contact with the creature's head. His teeth and fangs released the flesh of the Egas just in time for the impact to throw the serpent away from the wounded dragon. Time returned to normal as the two behemoths fell, both slamming into the ground and the little blue machine somehow, touching down unharmed. Rainbow used her jets to slow her descent, and used the curve of a large crater to ease into the landing. "WHOA!" Breeze said in his excitement, "You ok Rainbow?"

"Uh-huh!" she said, her mouth clearly full from the snacks that Firefly Comet had given her.

"So, you stuffed your face to keep your magic up?" he asked.

"That's…" she said and swallowed her food, "…rude."

"But am I wrong?" he asked, just as they heard a growl, and rocks being ground up. They looked up to see the face of the large dark serpent looking right at them, and then it opened its mouth.

"Oh my gosh!" she said and turned her ship to race away. She knew the dark energy ball had been launched, she could hear it, but when the impact never came, she just had to find out why.

Breeze was grinning from ear to ear. "CURSE YOU TO A FROZEN DESERT, PONY!" Sselekk growled as he followed behind her.

"Glad to see you too!" the unicorn said in response, his grin quickly turning cheeky.

"Sselekk?" she asked, "I thought you were going to get the Sunik army?"

"WE were." he said, his eyes letting his disapproval be known, "But then YOU decided to scrap the plan we had."

"Just say it Sselekk…" Krisskkil said with a smile, "She's growing on you."

"We're the shield," he said to his gunner in a growl, "We were tasked with protecting the others, and I'm not going to come home a failure just because one brash EQUINE tried to get herself and her gunner killed!"

The four of them heard something break in front of them, turning their heads they saw the remains and dust of a wall crumble as a rather large shadow stepped into their path. They each stopped, watching as their gunners open fire at the beast, "This one's tougher than the others." Krisskkil said and listened as the sound of metal slicing through something accompanied the view of the Honor Guard appearing from behind the shadow. The foot of the shadow that they had passed by, severed from its leg, and the beast topped over back the way it had come from.

"Allow us." Honor said boldly as they came to a stop in front of them, the bladed wing on one side slightly scratched from the attack.

"I told you to wait at the gate." Sselekk said.

"My honor lies with my friends." the Meltackian said, "Not in the orders I am given by others."

"Besides." Chivalry said in a giggle, "I'm pretty sure we just saved your lives."

"So, what's the next plan?" Syls asked as she and the last of the other racers appeared from the dust.

"Did no one want to escape?" Sselekk asked.

"I can't go back to my kids and tell them that I might have let the Egas die." the Hylop gunner said, "How in the Terranuillian system would I be able to look them in the face if I came home with a story like that."

Sselekk sighed and somehow he felt a bit of relief, "Fine then." he said, "Let's go, we need to see how bad the damage to the Egas actually was."

Rainbow lowered her head, "It looked pretty bad from where I was." she said, "There was a huge bite mark."

"But we don't know if the serpent has venom or not." Krisskkil said, "There's still a chance."

"We'll save him." Sselekk said. This time, Rainbow Dash could hear it, the confidence in his voice could have rivaled her own when she was in 'the zone'. It was as if he could just tell, "We're going to save the Egas!"