Chapter 75 – A Thousand Bit Question

"Is he going to be ok?" Rainbow asked as she let the lights of the healing lamps soothe the bruises all over her body. They had brought her and Breeze back inside after the incident, Breeze out cold and Rainbow Dash in pain, the damage to Cya-O-Ur's hands and upper arms was so devastating that neither Fluttershy nor Hulon could even look upon it, they had to contact Kalin in order to keep their wits about them.

"Not sure." Hulon said as she monitored his vital signs. Not only had the unicorn been hooked up to cables and left to float there while some of the best healing lamps they had were trying desperately to heal him but it looked as if he had a tube shoved into his throat as well as other things hooked up to the veins in his left foreleg, "If I can stabilize him than it'll just be a matter of time, but with the damage done…"

"No, he can't…" she began to say and was interrupted by Fluttershy.

"Don't worry Rainbow Dash, we'll make sure he's ok." she said before getting into a serious tone, "But even so, he's not going to be healed enough to be your gunner for the next race."

"But, you promise to save him right?" Rainbow asked as her nerves calmed.

"We promise." Fluttershy said with a smile.

"Then, we'll just have to find a replacement for the next race." Rainbow said as she calmed, "Maybe we can ask Syls if she has an extra."

"Are you sure you want to say that?" Hulon whispered to Fluttershy, "He's in a coma, and he damaged himself pretty badly. We don't…"

"But I truly believe that he'll be alright." Fluttershy said with a rare bout of total confidence.

"What…you do?" Hulon asked.

Fluttershy nodded with a gentle smile, "Yes. Your father performed the surgery, and we have the best of the best to help him through it. We just have to have faith that everything will work out." the yellow pegasus said, and once again turned to Breeze as he floated there, eyes closed and unconscious.

Outside, the garage was bustling with murmurs and discussion, "This is BAD!" Twilight said as she looked through the roster again and again, "You didn't say it would get this dangerous."

"I've never seen the Terranuilian Race like this{snort}." Tusks said in his defense, "And how did she even know {snort} where we would be? WE didn't even know {snort} where we would be!"

"Good question." Blade asked. "Talu shaman are clairvoyant but not that clairvoyant. They get glimpses at most, yet she was able to pinpoint the when and where. Also, from what Rainbow Dash told us, she was easily able to not only predict her movements but manipulate the outcome to her liking using traps."

"She really wanted that future of hers, didn't she?" Applejack asked. Blade simply nodded to her.

"Her hands though…" Spike said and shuddered at the thought.

"I agree." Image said, "Such a gruesome sight. And her eyes…"

"With all that damage done to her, what's going to happen?" Pilit asked.

"Most likely she'll be forever consigned to the hospital." Blade told them, "I tossed Breeze out of reaction, I forgot how strong I've gotten. The vacuum collapse turned her bones from the wrist to her fingertips to powder and damaged the eyes because of the shockwave. But what you all don't know, is that her larynx was also damaged, she'll never talk, see, or even use her hands again, they'll most likely be amputated to prevent pain and infection." When everyone turned to him questioningly, he blushed, "I just got the report from Kalin."

"Yer right." Applejack said as she turned to Image, "That is gruesome."

"It also damaged the outside of our garage." Writch said, "Just what kind of pony are you?" He stayed quiet, preferring not to answer the question, and was glad when Rainbow Dash trotted out from the med bay hallway.

"Rainbow Dash!?" Pinkie Pie said as she ran up to her, "Are you ok? Is Breeze ok?"

"We're fine." Rainbow said with a solemn smile, "Breeze is…out cold for now."

"Stupid!" Blade said under his breath.

"Excuse me?" Rainbow asked in a huff.

"Not you…me." he quickly explained, "I should have trained less on my actual strength and more on regulating it in times of crisis."

Rainbow sighed, quickly realizing the same feeling she felt, he blamed himself, "Look, it's alright." she said as she made her way up to the dark-colored pegasus, "Hulon and Fluttershy both told me that they wouldn't let him die. They'll make sure he's alright. Till then, we're going to need a new gunner."

"You're going to keep racing?" Twilight asked.

"Yup." she said, "I'm not going to let that crazy woman get what she wants. Besides, if the Sunik Emperor gets what he wants, there will be more things like that and they will be more successful. Aliens will die all because we quit halfway through. Things are going to be tough, but we can make it. Once Breeze is back in action, and I know he will be, we'll kick butt and still look awesome doing it."

"Excuse me?" they all heard at the garage door. They all turned to see a very injured-looking Krisskkil standing there a very confused look on his scratched-up face, "I'm assuming that there is a story to go with the damage outside?"

"Oh, dahling. What in Celestia's name are you doing here?" Rarity asked, "And what happened? You look simply dreadful."

"Oh." the lizard man exclaimed as he looked to his arms, the scratches and bruises that littered his scales, "No, it looks worse than it really is. Sselekk and I had a bit of an argument."

"THAT'S how you Sunik settle arguments?" Twilight asked.

"Well, not all the time. The Challenge thing is fairly recent actually." he told them.

"You challenged Sselekk?" Pinkie asked in shock, and then placed her hoof to her chin in thought, "How…does a Challenge work anyway?"

"Well at first, we intimidate each other, then we start getting…violent." he said, "I usually back down at the intimidation stage, but this time, I couldn't just sit back. I had to win."

"What was the argument about?" Twilight asked.

"I know that Mirikka was behind the attack." he told them, "She's always pulling things like this. But Sselekk said that it doesn't matter and that I should just let it go. But I couldn't do that. People got hurt because of that."

"Wait, wait, wait." Twilight asked as she lifted her hooves, "HOW, do you know she was involved?"

"I just do ok." Krisskkil said in his defense, "Mirikka is always turning others' anger and bias into a weapon."

"That's not…" Twilight tried to argue but was cut off by the lizard man.

"Sselekk said I didn't have any evidence, and that I was too weak to do anything about it anyway, so I flicked my tongue at him."

The others just looked at him in confusion, "I don't get it." Twilight said.

"One of the greatest insults that a Sunik can give?" he asked, only to realize that only his species did this. "It's the same as calling someone a Belly Dragger, it basically means that the person you're flicking your tongue at is a lesser form of life."

"Of all the…" Twilight began, and breathed in to calm down, "So I'm guessing you lost the Challenge?" she asked.

"Nope!" he said, "I won! That's why I'm here!"

"HOW?" Twilight asked, "Sselekk is like three times your size AND a seasoned fighter!"

"I took him by surprise, got him good too." the little lizard man said proudly, "Ducked under him and flipped him on his back with my tail! Didn't know I had that kind of strength."

"Well come on in." Tusks said happily and patted the Sunik on the back before leading him into the garage, "A friend is still a friend. Thought, I'm {snort} not sure how well your argument is going {snort} to help."

"Krisskkil, doesn't have that kind of strength, does he?" Rainbow asked in concern.

Twilight simply shrugged her shoulders, "Maybe Sselekk lost on purpose so he'd be out of harm's way?"