Chapter 73 – The Four Generals

The group slowly and cautiously approached the garage door, letting the hefty thing open to reveal the world it was hiding. They saw a vast mountain landscape, snow just barely touching the top of the garage and down below, a great vast and expansive field, both brown and green with other colors spotted around as well as a very familiar city in the distance, "Wait, isn't that the Capitol City?" Pinkie asked in surprise.

"We're back on Bacromus?" Twilight asked.

"Seems so!" Tusks said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Fine by me." Rainbow said boastfully, "We'll get to show the others what we can do on our turf!"

"Don't let your 'Skittle Head' get too big." they heard from behind them.

They looked, finding nothing, until one of them, Fluttershy, looked to the giant screen, "Oh, hello Syls." she said shyly.

"Hello Fluttershy." she said in response. When the rest of the team looked to the screen, they found not just Syls and Tris, but Honor and Chivalry as well as both Sselekk and Krisskkil.

"Hey, the big guy's here!" Rainbow said smugly.

"Get over yourself Pony." the large Sunik said, "It's not easy being the general of a faction of the Sunik kingdom."

"You're a general?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, and believe it or not there are four of us." he said in response, "Who are you by the way?"

"Princess Twilight Sparkle!" she said, trying to be as regal as possible.

"Well, excuse me! Princess!" he said, sarcasm dripping from his words as he bowed to her.

Twilight growled at the response, "Why are you here?" Rarity asked as she tried to calm the now red-faced angry alicorn.

"I'm actually here to warn you." he said catching the attention of the entire team, "You see, your performance thus far has attracted the attention of all the generals. One, in particular, is a bit…unstable and all four are participating in the races this cycle."

"You're going to have to {snort} explain." Tusks said.

Sselekk sighed, and then looked to his wrist, a small black and green band wrapped around it, "I got time." he said, "The main forces are comprised of four teams and a small group that guards the Sunik Tower on…well…Sunik."

"Very original." Twilight said under her breath.

"Hey, I don't have to say anything to you!" he said angrily but was calmed by Krisskkil.

"The four factions are usually the main defense against threats, governed by four generals." the smaller Sunik continued, "We have the frontlines, the tower and inner-city protection departments, the scientific division, and…" he hesitated, "…what we call now 'the Zealots'."

"Wait, so like the army, the scientists, the police, and the church?" Pinkie asked.

"Not quite." Sselekk began again, "I happen to be the general of the inner-city protection. we protect the city and its inhabitants from outside threats."

"OH, so Homeland Security!" Pinkie said, and each of her team turned to her questioningly, "What? It's a concept that Bubble taught me a long time ago."

"Then…" Krisskkil continued, "There happens to be Sselekka, the general of the Frontlines…or army as you put it. They are the ones deployed to other lands to help and eradicate major threats like Giant Sandrakes and such." Pinkie stayed quiet and nodded her head in agreement. "Then there's Kklesstic." he continued, "He's the head developer of weapons and armor, he's smart…almost too smart."

"Then there's Mirikka." Sselekk said with disdain, "She's the one that turned the police force into the zealots. She believes the reason why the emperor wants to take the other four planets is that Suniks are a 'superior race' so to speak."

Pinkie stayed quiet, a surprised look on her face, "Ok." she said and turned to point at Blade, "You're not allowed to call me 'eccentric' anymore!" To which he just rolled his eyes to.

"She'll do anything and everything to prove it as well." Sselekk said as he glared at them, "If she thinks you're a threat then she might even use underhanded tricks or force to remove you from the race entirely."

"When you say 'entirely' you mean…" Rainbow asked as she hoped he was talking about something a lot less dire.

"She'll kill you outside of the race if she can, somewhere distant and away from prying eyes." he told them, "Good luck with that." and the screen went black.

"Kill?" Rainbow asked as she gulped in fear, "Isn't that against the rules?"

"It is." Twilight said, "But we won't let that happen."

"Yeah." Breeze said, Lau now on his back happily giggling, "Don't forget, you've got me to watch your back!"

"Thanks, Breeze." she said gladly and used her wing to tickle the boy on his back as he placed a hand on her mane.

"First thing we're going to have to do is to make some adjustments to the back thrusters." Blade said, "This thing needs to be faster, but we don't have too many parts like that. Maybe if I reconfigure the thruster itself…"

"Or, you can check out the new yard {snort} first!" he heard Twiggs say from the back of the garage. The bay door was now open and leading to the scrapyard, a place he hadn't even seen yet. The grounds were partially frozen, but the parts were nearly perfect. The small layer of snow on top was settled on ships and other scraps that looked as if it were placed specifically to shelter other pieces.

"It doesn't look like anything special." he said.

"Wait…" Twilight asked, "Where are the other garages?"

"That's the beauty of it!" Tusks said, "It's all ours! And it's HUGE!"

"So, wait, does that mean the other garages have their own scrapyard nearby as well?" Rainbow asked.

"Probably, and who knows if they're nearby or not." Writch said, "That's the beauty of not knowing, your enemies don't know either."

"Well, I'm gonna go exploring!" Rainbow suddenly said with a smile, "Anypony wanna goo with me?"

The entire team looked at her in confusion, "I'll go!" Pinkie said with a raised hoof and a grin larger than any Rainbow had ever seen.

"Heh, why not?" Breeze said, "Why don't you stay here bud?" he said as he let Lao down to the ground, "It'll be cold out there, and I don't think you have a coat just yet. Let Rarity and Image make you one and we can go later, ok?"

"Ok father." Lao said happily and turned to the white pony.

"We'll be back in a bit, promise not to wander too far." Breeze said to the others.

"You better not, we can't afford you three getting hurt." Writch said sternly and placed her hands on her hips.

"Gotcha." Rainbow said as she exited the garage, and then promptly walked back it, "I need my coat." she said as she quickly moved towards her room. This action caused the rest to chuckle as she blushed.

Outside the garage, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Breeze all had furry coats on, their ears tucked under their hoods and a set of four snow boots covering each hoof. Though it wasn't deep, the snow they did find was fresh and very powdery. "I love this!" Pinkie said excitedly, "The snow here is great for snow cones!"

Rainbow chuckled a bit, "To think, this world is less like our own and more like the Everfree forest." she said, "Just…without as many of the big scary monsters." She quickly found herself struck on the side of the head with snow. Pinkie had climbed up a little bit to grab some of the deeper snow and start making snowballs. Rainbow Dash giggled as she opened her wings and flew up to grab some snow, only to get a few from behind as Breeze giggled at his own throws hitting their target. She grinned evilly and picked up as much snow as she could carry, and drop it on him as he laughed. Upon one of the hills, they never saw the silhouette that watched them, one that ducked away only moments after they had started to play in the snow.