Chapter 88 – An Unwanted Proposal

"Why not?" the unkempt Sunik asked, "What harm could it do? All I can offer right now are words, after all, promises and maybes. Do you fear what I may have to say?"

"Words can cause great harm when used as weapons." she said, drawing from her own memories as she quickly remembered Rainbow Dash's words from their time on the Genesis Ark to stop the destruction of her planet, though not the actual words, more the feeling of pain that they brought, "And I'm more than aware that you know this from using them." Kklesstic growled at her, finding just how clever she was as she denied him time after time, "In fact, I can guarantee that you were trying to turn me against my friends using simply your words, but I refuse. My friends are far more important than any proposal you offer."

"Even unlimited access to explore and document the history of the four planets?" he asked, catching her off guard, "Oh I know of what happened, the humiliation you suffered when Lady Kiane removed your name from the historical find of the Egas' Spear, the discovery that, all four planets contain magic. I know how disappointed you must have been, and with my connections, you'll be able to discover every one of our four planets, and every time you do, your name will be cemented in stone."

Twilight shifted her eyes, imagining the possibilities, "But…"

"Oh, they'll be fine without you. A chance like this only happens once in a lifetime." he said the smile stretching across his face.

Something about him seemed off, she had felt it before. He was omitting something, just like when Discord first showed up, though Discord had more mischief than this guy, and far less malice, "So does a chance like this." she said, causing his smile to fall into a frown, "Every chance is once in a lifetime, so I'll choose the chance that involves my friends every time. Discovering new things wouldn't be as rewarding if I didn't have them."

"You'll be sorry you turned me down." he growled, "I'll make sure of that."

"What was that about?" Rainbow asked as the feed went dark.

"Just a bitter old serpent too full of venom." Sselekk said as his picture came up on her screen, "I told you he's too smart for his own good. Though I have to admit, your Twilight Sparkle handled herself pretty well against him."

"We can always count on Twilight." she said with full confidence.

"That I can see." he said in agreement, "Though he did strike at her weak point, she took it like a champion."

"Heh, she learned that kind of loyalty from me!" the rainbow pegasus said.

"Mhm, I bet." Sselekk taunted in good humor, "I am sorry for her though, Kklesstic is going to make sure no one from your team will be allowed to have their name on anything ever again, especially on Sunik."

"He can do that?" Rainbow asked.

"Yes." the large Sunik said in response, "He has THAT much sway with some of the councilors. Though I'm sure when Lady Kiane and Lady Kessel are well, they'll make sure his sway is…downplayed. Just as long as you follow the rules."

Rainbow Dash smiled, and Tusks suddenly came up on the screen, "What are you doing?" he asked in genuine concern, "Get back to the garage! We're ready to receive the medallions."

"OH!" she exclaimed in realization, "Right!"

There was very little fanfare this time, instead of a full-on ceremony the council that had arrived with the groups presented the medallions to the teams, those that won received the copper medallion and those that came in the first three places received their respective medallions, Rainbow Dash holding the platinum medallion in her hooves as she grinned at the large piece, "First Place!" she whispered to herself, "We got First Place!"

"We sure did." Breeze said with a grin.

"Nice job you two!" Tusks said as the rest of the team dispersed.

"Excuse me." Twilight asked as the officials began to leave.

"Hm?" a Treeopon female official with a small stature and blond hair asked as she turned around.

"Is Lady Kiane going to be alright?" the alicorn asked.

The Treeopon smiled, "The Articles were true, you ponies are special." she said, catching Twilight's confusion, "My medical team says that Lady Kiane will survive, though with injuries that, I'm afraid, will be more permanent than any of us imagine. The Chameleos has been captured and is now being interrogated. Lady Kessel was found, alive though severely malnourished. Luckily going without food and drink is nothing new to the Suniks, they tend to survive for several days like this, and with the skills that Lady Kessel knows I'm sure she could have gone on much longer if needed. Mirikka's team was, however, far less accommodating to poor Lady Kiane. The physical trauma may have a severe impact on her mental state as well as some minor motor functions in her left arm. Once she is able to walk, which should only be a few days, we may send her to you for counseling and therapy. Would you agree to this?"

"Lady Kiane is my friend." the alicorn said, "I would be honored to help."

The official smiled again, "I'm glad to hear that, here is the contact information you'll need." she said as she handed the alicorn a piece of paper, "She is a dear friend of mine as well, please take good care of her."

"I will." Twilight said.

"What about Mirikka?" Rainbow asked as she tucked the platinum medallion under her wing and walked op to them, "Has she said anything about why she launched the spear at us?"

"Mirikka is still at large." the Treeopon said in shame, "We surrounded her ship and pried open her cockpit, but instead her gunner was found in her seat, unconscious. She was nowhere to be found. The search continues."

"How?" Rainbow asked slightly angry at the news, "How long did it take you to get there?"

"RAINBOW DASH!" Twilight scolded.

"How could you let her escape?" Rainbow asked as she ignored her friend's words.

"We arrived within seconds of her crashing into the ground." the Official reassured as gently as she could, "She's either really lucky or she's far more resourceful than any of us had imagined. She can't have gotten far; we found a panel removed from the gunner seat leading to the cockpit and a small panel that had to have been quickly removed for her to have escaped. We'll find her, have faith."

Rainbow sighed as she let her anger fade, "Fine." the blue pegasus said under her breath.

"And when we do, I can guarantee you she will be dealt with harshly." the Treeopon said her tone suddenly darkening to a level that frightened the pegasus, "We do not take this kind of disrespect lightly."

"Good luck on your search." Twilight said as she kept a disapproving eye on her blue friend.

"I thank you." the Treeopon said as her mood lightened once again, and she turned to leave.

"I never got your name." the purple alicorn said.

"Ethin, my name is Kimira Ethin." she said with a smile and walked away.

"Thank you, Lady Ethin." Twilight shouted in gratitude, and Rainbow waved with her.

"To you friend, I am Kimira." she shouted back and finally boarded the ship.

"Did you just get on a first name basis with an Official of the Terranuilian Race?" Writch asked in surprise.

"It's what I do." Twilight said in response.

Several hours passed, and the group finished tasks quickly after being teleported back to the empty space. The tension had disappeared when they all noticed that Mirikka's garage had stayed gone, a small victory in Twilight's brain as she focused now on the deception of Kklesstic. The entire team knew about the promises he had made, each proud of her accomplishment in thwarting him. "Here Twilight." she heard Fluttershy say as the yellow pegasus lowered a cup of hot tea in front of her, "Maybe this will take your mind off of that awful Sunik man."

"You mean Kklesstic?" she asked and picked up the cup, "He worries me. I mean, the way he spoke, it's almost like something Discord would try, though I think Discord would use it as a prank instead."

"Discord has changed you know." Fluttershy said in the Draconequus' defense.

"Yeah, I know." the Princess of Friendship said and took a sip of her tea, "But I mean before we became friends. It felt like how he tried to turn us on each other, I guess I'll have to thank Discord for preparing me for that kind of thing, huh?"

"He has his ways." the yellow pegasus admitted.

"OI!" they all heard from the bay door. There stood the large Hok-Sai, Tri-Tiner, just standing there with a large grin in his face, "Yah, with teh horn and teh wings." he shouted and then thought hard, "Tweh…tri…light…" he tried under his breath and then let the recognition hit him, "TWILIGHT SPARKLE!"

"You remembered my name." she said, "I was almost sure you had trouble remembering names when you called Rainbow Dash 'Drain-Bow-Brash'."

"I do." he admitted, "But Rainbow got a little upset with me when I got it wrong so I made it a point to at least try to remember, aie?"

"We appreciate it." she said.

"Plus, yah ponies seem fond of yer names, so I thought I'd put some effort into it." he added in, "Hok-Sai really don't get attached to names, they'll change depending on how well they're remembered."

"So…it's a cultural thing?" she asked.

"Kinda." he said plainly, the smile never leaving his face, "I came by to congratulate yah on yer victory."

"Thanks." Rainbow said as she came to stand next to her friend.

"We also wanted to ask…where'd yah get yer engine?" the grin seemed to widen as he asked.

"Uh…" Twilight hesitated as he drew his face in close.

"Hah, I knew they wouldn't spill, just like traitors." they all heard, and saw the distrusting Hok-Sai Al-Ken standing there with his arms crossed.

"Shut yer gob." Tri-Tiner said quickly, "If yah had a secret engine would YAH tell anyone right away?"

"Oh, STARS no." the shorter Hok-Sai quickly said, "That be my secre…" he stopped and thought about his words, "I see what yah did there." Twilight quickly noticed that there were more than just the two Hok-Sai, several of the racers had made their way to them, smiles and innocent faces stretched across their smiles.

"You, all want to know our secret?" Pilit asked as she walked up, Tusks and Writch right beside her.

"It is not really a fair race if we cannot at least match your speed." Honor said and smiled, "If I cannot push Rainbow Dash to get faster, how will she advance as a pilot?"

"I'm with Honor on this one." Syls said, "I'd like to commission you all to make my team a Spell Burst Engine for the Silver Blitz. Then I'd like to learn magic if I can."

"How much time do we have?" Twilight asked as she turned to Pilit.

"Until we place our medallions or one week. Whichever comes first." Tri-Tiner said.

"What do you think?" the little Treeopon asked as she turned to Writch.

"It's your engine, you make the decision." the larger female said in response as she shrugged her shoulders. Pilit turned and placed her fingers on her chin.