Chapter 67 – End of the War
The serpent turned itself, trying to shield its eyes from the light, a shriek of pain erupting from its gaping maw as it tried desperately to keep itself from going blind. "OH YEAH!" Rainbow Dash shouted in excitement.
"NOW it's a party!" Syls continued with the same energy.
"Pilots to your racers!" Sselekk shouted, and made a bee-line for his own. Once he was inside, he once again set up a broadcast to the other racers, "Let's lay down some suppressing fire, we'll have that snake begging for mercy within the hour."
"You got it big guy!" Rainbow said to her screen.
"Advance slowly!" Syls said, "We need to stay as a squad."
"Two squads actually." the large Sunik said, "Left half advance, right half-circle around and cut off any escape routes. Pin this thing down!"
"YES SIR!" several of the pilots shouted, and then started the volley of stun bolts, the light erupting in flashes as the shadow of a serpent began to retreat.
The Egas rose to the air, circling the battlefield as it rained down spears of light upon the dark beast, its light quickly dissolving the minions that spawned and its spears impaling the hardier ones. The serpent tried and failed several times to launch its orbs of darkness, before turning and making a break for it, stopping only because the path had been blocked by several other racers that once again started shooting it in the face. It tried several times to escape, only to show the same results. More and more racers appeared in its path until it found itself nowhere to escape to. The small blinding shots stinging not just its eyes but also its scales and skin, the shock of the bolts surging through it. To escape, it crawled into one of the larger craters that had been created by its relentless assault. "Stay on the ledge, keep firing in waves, once you run out of shot charge the gunner to your right should take over, keep reserves in sets of three." Sselekk commanded. The strategy worked, the shots coming down upon the serpent the way they did, kept it pinned in the center of the crater struggling and squirming to find some kind of cover from the bright lights and shocking pain. The Egas lifted itself up to find a position above the serpent and opened its mouth. The light that appeared in the center grew, stretching into a much larger version of the spears it had been launching from before. It took some time, the serpent easily seeing what the Egas was planning. And with one final effort, the Serpent lunged again, trying to sink its fangs into the large dragon once again. Instead, the open mouth was filled as the large spear launched, catching the serpent and slamming it into the ground with such force, the ground shook, the world trembled and the light from the spear that was inside the serpent's mouth erupted, blinding everyone, yet harming no one.
Rainbow easily opened her eyes and looked up, finding the track at the far side of the labyrinth, and the five of the racing for the end. "What the…" she began and watched as Sselekk crossed the finish line, then Syls, and then herself with Honor being last. The other Treeopon and her Hylop gunner sat back, each smiling even though they had lost. Seconds later, they heard the doors of the labyrinth open, and the two racers that had passed through the gate before finally arrived, shock on their faces as they quickly realized that they had come in last, despite having exited the battlegrounds first. "Does…anypony else have questions like mine?" Rainbow asked.
"You mean like how we got back?" Sselekk asked.
"The Egas." Kkrisskil said, "It has to be."
"Did all of that really just happen?" Honor asked.
Syls hung her head in a small sorrow, "I never did give that pony my autograph." she said. "We just won a war between the Egas and some giant serpent…thing, and that's what you're worried about?" the orange-haired Treeopon asked in mock surprise. She answered with nothing but a grin, a proud but nervous grin that spoke volumes of her thoughts.
"YOU CHEATED!" they all heard, then the screen lit up with the face of the red-haired Treeopon pilot, "You…YOU USED YOUR MAGIC {snort} DIDN'T YOU?"
To this accusation, Rainbow Dash flinched, her eyes going wide as the Treeopon spoke.
"Fidge, what are you doing?" his gunner asked, "They won."
"No, they didn't." he said with anger, his green skin turning red with rage, "They had to of used {snort} magic to get ahead of us, we entered {snort} the gate before they did."
"We saved the Egas, we helped it win the war!" Syls said in her friend's defense.
"You think that matters? You used magic, a power {snort} that CLEARLY ORIGINATED from OUTSIDE OUR PLANET in {snort} one of our most SACRED RACES. You CHEATED!" he shouted, "You don't deserve to be in {snort} the final four!"
Rainbow Dash gulped hard as she turned to the others, Sselekk with his hand to his chin in thought and Syls with anger running through her veins. Honor turned his head to the side, some kind of shame and surprise in his thoughts. "Wha…" she began, and was quickly covered in a shadow from the outside, there sat several officials, some anger in their eyes, while several guards waited for the pony to exit the vehicle.
"Oh…ponyfeathers." Breeze said slowly.
Suddenly, the screen lit up, Blade's face shining forth, worry only coming forward as he saw the worry on Rainbow Dash, "What's going on?" he asked. Rainbow's only answer she had was her tears, she wailed in sorrow as she realized that this might be the last race that she was able to compete in, she had failed her friend over a technicality because of a racer who just couldn't stand losing, or was there something else going through his mind?
"THEY WERE ARRESTED!?" Pilit asked in shock.
"I'm afraid so." Honor said as he stood there, "My apologies."
"How could you let her get arrested like that?" Syls asked, "You just looked like you were ashamed of her."
"You know I was not." Honor said in his defense, his eyes narrowing into an anger that he had never shown before.
"You sure?" Syls asked aggressively.
"I didn't see you coming up with any ideas to help her." he asked.
"I thought you were supposed to be the honorable type." she tested, her anger quickly getting the best of her.
"You DARE to…" he said as he pressed what was supposed to be his nose to hers.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Twilight growled angrily, and used her magic to separate them both, "This isn't helping. What were the charges?"
"Using a power source that originated from outside the confines of the planet." Chivalry explained calmly.
"Oh dear!" Image said, "You mean they found out about the magic?"
"But Rainbow Dash only used her magic as a boost fuel, right?" Rarity asked.
"It is still within the realm of illegal here, it came from your world, not this one." Lau said.
"I don't think it did actually." Pilit said, "Twilight and I have been doing some studies, and it seems like Bacromus, Sunik, Hyl, and Dryskis all had magic before the ponies got here. The Egas!" Everyone looked at her, curiosity and intrigue all wrapped into one look.
"You mean we've had magic all along, and nopony knew about it?" Writch asked in surprise.
"Yeah!" Pilit said happily, "If I can present my case to the court, I can get her magic legalized, and we can…"
"Sorry kid." they all heard Krisskkil say from the garage door, "But it's way more likely that the elders won't take you seriously, simply because of your age."
"Then…Twilight can…" she continued, and again was cut off by the Sunik gunner.
"They'll make the argument of conflict of interest." he said as he shook his head, "No, you need a Legal Rep."
"There's no way we could hire a good one and continue racing." Tusks said solemnly, "They charge even more than the Terranuilian race does at times like this."
"Not necessarily." the Sunik said, "There is one…"
