With the war over, and the dimensional rifts closed, the starships made their way back to their various outposts, where the Jedi and Heroes would return to their duties until they were either called upon again or something engaged them. Sasha put the command of her starship in the hands of her new second in command and teleported over to the Hyperion, so she could join the rest of her friends for a few hours before she had to return to her duties. The Hyperion then made its way back to the Apogee Space Station, which had been moved into the area near Sargasso, where Talwyn was sure it would be safe from harm... especially with the addition of a sign that indicated that she was allied with Ratchet and Starlight.
Her reasoning was that if people knew who she was allied with, and knew who their sister was, they would turn away from even thinking about attacking her base of operations and leave her stuff alone... though as everyone moved inside the space station Sasha had a question that was bothering her.
"So, who are those two?" Sasha asked, beckoning to the two new ponies that were sitting around one of the nearby rocks and were listening to whatever Qwark and Rusty Pete were telling them, though Sunset seemed more interested in her tablet at the moment.
"Searing Flame and Sunset Glider," Starlight replied, turning her gaze to the two mares again, though at the same time she wondered how Red knew them, "Its uncanny how much the two of them look like our sister, though this Searing has a more crimson coat while this Sunset happens to be a pegasus."
"You don't think something bad happened to Sunset, do you?" Angela inquired, though she stopped looking at the two ponies and focused on studying the Dimensionator with Ratchet and Clank.
Starlight didn't want to think about something happening to her sister and causing her to separate into so many different versions of herself, but she still found it odd how much Ysmir, Fear, Searing Flame, and Sunset Glider sounded alike. She guessed that the two ponies could be explained because they might be twins or something, but that didn't explain how a human fighter or a ghostly wraith could have the same voice as well. She glanced over at Red for a moment, who was currently sitting on another rock and had his gun out, though it appeared that he was cleaning his weapon and making sure it was fully stocked for the next time he had to use it. She had to wonder how he had come into contact with the two newcomers and what else he knew about them, because she was sure that he was hiding something.
Despite the fact that she knew Red was hiding something, from all of them, Starlight simply shook her head and walked over to the two newcomers, arriving just in time as both Qwark and Rusty Pete had finished what they were talking about and were walking in the opposite direction... and were discussing turning the pirate into a better fighter.
"Oh, hey Starlight." Searing commented, causing her sister to look up from her screen and turn towards them, though a smile appeared on both of their faces as Starlight sat near them, "Is there something we can help you with?"
"I was just curious as to how you two encountered Red," Starlight said, though she had quickly decided to not start off any sort of conversation between the three of them by accusing either one of them of being Sunset in disguise, because she didn't want her rest to turn into another battle, "I mean my brother and I met him when we crashed one of Tachyon's ships near the Gelatonium Plant back on Planet Cobalia, where he offered us a ride off world for helping to restore power to the plant."
"Well, we first crossed paths with Red about six months ago," Searing explained, pulling out her own tablet and hitting a few keys, to which a few planets appeared between the three of them, before she pointed at a planet that resembled Sargasso, "originally we were taking the fight to some warmonger who called herself War. She was terrorizing the people of this particular planet with an army of undead soldiers, violently killing everything and everyone that opposed her, but after some time the two of us managed to take her out and destroyed her, reducing her into the form of a crystal... similar to the one you were carrying earlier."
Starlight flashed a glance back at the table where Fear's crystal was resting, though as she stared at it she couldn't help but imagine a set of seven crystals, each containing a creature like the wraith and this warmonger that she was only now hearing about.
"The people of that planet were never able to figure out where she came from," Red commented, drawing Starlight's attention back to the conversation, as he took a seat near the trio of ponies, "It was an ordinary day when she just showed up out of nowhere, dressed up in black armor that covered her entire body, and lead her undead army against the defenseless people that I was helping out. We were forced to retreat to one of the larger cities, where Tachyon's troops were waiting in force, and watched as the two forces did battle with each other... though eventually War won in the end. Then, just as all hope seemed lost for the planet, these two showed up out of nowhere and turned the tide of battle on the warmonger, where Searing's spells were able to dissolve the undead and Sunset was able to take out the ships that were attacking from above.
When they bested War, and destroyed her body in the same manner that you did with Fear, they discovered the crystal... and the thanks of a city that quickly followed the end of a bloody battle."
"Since then we've been helping out the various planets that were under Tachyon's iron rule," Sunset spoke up, a smile appearing on her face for a moment, "You should have seen us when we were attacked by Captain Slag's pirates when were visiting Rykan I a week ago, I flew into several of their ships and used their own cannons to take out their allies. It was hilarious to watch them fire at their own ships and blast all of them out of the sky, where the lava consumed everything that fell into it, before the captain eventually decided that attacking the planet was a bad idea."
"Indeed." Searing said, turning back to Starlight as several more planets swirled around them, "I guess you can say that the two of us are essentially bounty hunters, as we have only ever gone after people that posed a threat to the galaxy, though I think at this point we're more like heroes to everyone else."
Starlight stared at the two ponies for a moment, remembering that the last time she had seen Sunset, actually laid eyes on her and had a conversation with her, had been six, if not seven, months ago. The reason behind the fact that she hadn't seen her sister during that time had been because she had been busy developing new weapons for Gadgetron, as well as fulfilling requests from the various heroes of the Hero Association. She again wondered if one of the two ponies in front of her was actually Sunset in disguise, though before she dismissed the notion completely she knew there was one thing she had to try.
"Forgive me for asking this, but does the name Sunset Shimmer ring any bells?" Starlight asked, though as the same time she noticed that Red had moved his hat a tiny bit, as if he knew something that he wasn't ready to share.
"Sort of," Searing replied, to which she and Sunset rubbed the back of their heads for a moment, "I mean, the only thing we know about her is that she's supposed to be the God of Destruction and that she's your sister... other than that her name means nothing to us, despite the fact that my own sister shares the same first name."
"I guess that makes sense considering that everyone, in this galaxy anyway, that's heard the name only knows her by her title," Starlight said, trying to hide the fact that she was disappointed in learning that the two ponies in front of her weren't parts of her sister, like she was originally thinking, but she was glad that she wasn't going to accuse them of something.
"Listen Starlight, there's something that my sister and I wanted to tell you," Sunset spoke up, causing Starlight to look over at her for a moment, a look of curiosity appearing on her face, "We've been hunting creatures like Fear and War ever since we first encountered Red, though the three of us have agreed that you and your family might encounter more of them in the future... which is why Searing and I would like to offer your our services in tracking them down and stopping whatever villains you have to fight along the way."
Starlight was surprised that the two were some eager to help her, Ratchet, and Angela with whatever villain was coming their way next, though before she could make a proper response she felt something coming their way. That was followed by a massive surge of energy erupting above the gathered group, to which a swirling vortex of light appeared above them and caused everyone to stop what they were doing at that moment. Three Zoni floated out of the vortex and drifted down to where Ratchet and Clank were currently sitting, though the oddest part, to Starlight anyway, was the fact that everyone else could see the creatures that only she and Clank had been able to see throughout the entire adventure.
To everyone else, however, the strangest part was that the three Zoni were focused on Clank and nothing else, as if their entire purpose was to do something to Clank.
"We needed to be sure you survived," the Zoni said at the same time, their voices echoing while they circled around Clank for a few seconds, "Now it's time to come home."
"Whoa," Ratchet, Angela, and Talwyn said in unison, staring at the creatures as they moved around Clank, as if they couldn't believe what their eyes were showing them, "so these are the Zoni..."
"The time has come, sire..." the three Zoni said, surrounding Clank in their own energy field, one that caused Starlight's eyes to widen for a moment as the four robots were lifted into the air, "to learn who you are... and who you will become."
"Leave him alone!" Ratchet said, though before he could jump at the energy, and hurt himself in the process, Starlight stopped him by pinning him to the ground with her magic.
"It is time to understand your purpose," the Zoni continued, though no one else bothered to make a move towards them, as they had seen Starlight stop Ratchet and knew that she would do the same to them if they made a move towards the three Zoni, "It is time to come with us."
"Yes..." Clank muttered drowsily, thought it was plainly clear that he was no longer fully functional, meaning that whatever was happening the Zoni didn't want to damage him at all, "Time to come with you..."
The group watched as Clank and the three Zoni disappeared into the vortex that had opened above their heads, though instead of closing another two Zoni flew out and tilted their heads, as if they were searching for something. One of them flew to where the Alpha Disruptor was resting, opened the lid with its energy, and carefully removed the red Core, which Starlight had taken to calling Loyalty for some reason. The other Zoni flew over to where Searing, Sunset, and Starlight were currently sitting, looking over them for a few seconds before carefully picking up the crystal that held Fear inside her prison, to which it backed away from them. The two Zoni then met back up at the vortex and disappeared as quickly as they had appeared, leaving everyone to stare at the vortex as it finally slammed shut.
"Did... did that really just happen?" Talwyn asked, not sure if her mind was playing tricks on her or if she had actually seen several Zoni take Clank and the two crystals.
"Yes, it did," Red commented, looking at the faces of everyone around him, to which he let out a sigh he had been holding back, "Listen, I have some trusted friends that might be able to shed some light on this situation. Give me a day or two and I might have some information that will help you find your friend... though until then I suggest that all of you should try and relax."
Starlight let out a sigh as she used her magic to open the cooler that Qwark and Talwyn had stocked before their arrival at the space station, to which she withdrew the one of the alcoholic drinks that had been brought along. She had never once considered that she would ever drink something like this, even after all the madness Qwark had caused when they were younger, but after the events of Fastoon, and everything that she had seen, she was willing to cross that line for once. They had seen horrors that no living person had seen before, defeated a number of horrible creatures that had come from someplace called the Great Dark, witnessed fighters from other dimensions coming to their aid, and even watched as Death itself killed their enemies to preserve the universe.
At that point Starlight had determined that she, and everyone else, definitely needed a drink or two to overcome what they had seen earlier that day... which was why they all raised their bottles in a toasting fashion before they started drinking. She was sure that whatever was waiting in their future could wait another day or two, as they all needed this moment to unwind and not bother to think about what they had just gone through.