Jokeblue and I stared at the small blaster for a good long moment, admiring the sight of it. It was just like the one Homage had shown me back at Tenpony Tower, the gun sitting within a sandy crater.
As I turned to face Jokeblue, I realized something that made this situation make less sense. "Wait, if the other pistol was on the shuttlecraft, how'd it get here all of a sudden?"
Jokeblue gave an apologetic expression as she gave her answer. "Oh yeah, about that. Ya see, before the U.A. was formed, the first Preserver sphere that Admiral Stone and the crew of the Harmony discovered had two gateway generators that were malfunctioning. This is what brought not only Twilight and her friends to this universe, but the Ferengi shuttle to our home as well." She then looked down at the star blaster, myself joining her as she finished. "And it seems that another anomaly appeared within the shuttle and took this blaster with it to this place."
I nodded as I now understood the manner of how this blaster got to Risa. I tapped my Pipbuck and scanned the blaster, the small device beeping when I got the results. "And it seems to be recent, too. I'm detecting faint traces of energy emanating within the crater."
Jokeblue nodded as she placed one of her floater's control holsters in her saddlebags, then moving her hoof to pick up the pistol.
"I wonder if it still works." Jokeblue said as she looked for something to shoot at with the gun in her hoof, stopping as several fields of energy appeared around us. When they faded, five Tholian officers in EV suits surrounded us, Jokeblue and I standing together in shock.
"WELL, WELL, WELL, OUR LITTLE TREASURE HUNTERS HAVE FOUND THE PROTOTYPE FOR US." The lead Tholian in gold armor said in an artificial voice as we glared at them, Little Macintosh being held in my magic as I spoke to the commander.
"What are you doing here?" I asked as the spider-like alien replied to me.
"WE ARE HERE TO ACQUIRE AN ANOMALOUS ITEM ON THIS WORLD, AND IT IS NOW IN YOUR CLUTCHES." Jokeblue held the blaster tighter as the surrounding Tholians slowly walked closer to us, trying to prevent us from escaping.
"YOU SHALL CEASE YOUR RESISTANCE AND HAND OVER THE WEAPON, WE'LL BE TAKING IT WITH US."
"Over our dead bodies." Jokeblue said angrily as we prepared ourselves, the Tholian commander lifting one of his arms as he started to try and grab the star blaster.
We jumped in surprise as an orange bolt of energy struck the Tholian commander, his body disintegrating into vapor as the other Tholians looked around, shooting into the area around us as we looked around ourselves. Another orange bolt shot out, hitting one of the other Tholians as something pushed us over into a nearby bush. When we reoriented ourselves, we looked up to see Xenith, a Phaser pistol in her mouth as she looked at us.
"Xenith?! What're you-" She cut me off as I heard another shot fire out, a loud screech from one of the Tholian soldiers sounding as my zebra friend spoke.
"Stay here, Stone and I will deal with them." I nodded as she sped away from us, tackling one of the Tholians and breaking the glass on the window of the suit with a good punch of her hoof.
As we took cover behind the bush, I took a peek through one of the openings in it to see Admiral Stone nearby, a large Phaser rifle in his hands as he shot another Tholian. "EMERGENCY ALERT, WE REQUEST REINFORCEME-" Was all I heard the Tholian say before he was vaporized by the shot.
As we saw more Tholians beaming down, the admiral rolled to a nearby bush for cover, the Tholians trying their best to hit Xenith as she bucked one of them into another.
"Security, get some people down here, we need assistance!" Wyatt said as he spoke into his combadge, a small photon grenade being thrown into the field as he got a reply.
"Right away, Admiral!" A few seconds later several more transporter beams appeared around us, Starfleet security officers appearing after them as they pulled out their weapons and ran into the firefight.
As I crouched next to Jokeblue, my Pipbuck beeped and I tapped it to answer the call. "What's wrong?"
"A Tholian Recluse has arrived in the sector, they're sending several troops to your location!" The voice of the blue alicorn said as I replied, readying Little Macintosh for a good fight.
"Stop them from sending more soldiers down, they're after an important artifact on this planet and we can't let them take it!"
"Understood." As the signal cut out, I took another peek through the bushes, seeing another Tholian knocking down one of the security officers. I pointed my gun at the spider-like bastard and fired a bullet into it's helmet, the Tholian letting out a screech of pain as it fell to the ground.
As I took cover again, I looked through the hole to see Admiral Stone pull out an old 23rd Century Starfleet Phaser pistol, a blue beam shooting out and striking another Tholian near our position. I took cover as another Tholian saw us and pointed his arm at us, a shot firing right through the hole and making it bigger.
I looked to Jokeblue as I crouched under the hole, she was holding out the star blaster in her hoof and was getting ready to shoot it at one of the Tholians. As she started to get up, I pulled her back by the tail as another group of Tholians beamed into the fray, one of them wearing golden armor.
As the new arrivals began firing on our friends, I heard several familiar shots from a battle saddle in the air as the whole squad of Tholians went down, save for the leader, who was still standing despite being struck. As Jokeblue and I looked into the sky, we saw Calamity above us, waving a hoof to us as he called out. "Ya okay down there, Lil'Pip?"
"Yeah, we're fine!" I replied as we saw several more Tholians beam in, the commander looking up to our pegasus friend as he gave his new soldiers orders.
"TAKE OUT THE FLYING ONE, THE REST ARE MINE!" All of the other Tholians aimed their weapons at Calamity, who flew high into the air as several shots streaked past him.
"Yowwie!" My friend said as he evaded the shots erratically, trying to find a safe area to hide while the Tholian commander made his way towards Wyatt's bush.
As the Tholians were focusing their efforts on Calamity, I aimed Little Macintosh as I pulled out a few photon grenades, activating them all and levitating them near the other Tholian soldiers. By the time they noticed them, they all exploded around them, every single Tholian in the group falling to the ground.
I looked to the commander nearby, he had deployed a shield in front of himself as to avoid the admiral and his officers as they tried to shoot him. I then saw Xenith sneaking around the Tholian commander, but he was ready for her before she noticed. He swiftly turned around, smacking Xenith with one of his arms before she hit the ground. As the zebra tried to get up quickly, the spider-like monster shot out an orange beam at Xenith, which then formed into a cocoon-like shield.
As the Tholian glared at the imprisoned zebra, he spoke up. "YOU ARE FOOLS TO OPPOSE THE ASSEMBLY, I HAVE MORE TROOPS TO SPARE FOR THIS, I COULD DO THIS ALL DA-" The Tholian was cut off as a purple beam of energy struck the armored spider, his body turning to vapor as I turned to see Jokeblue standing up, the star blaster with a smoking barrel in her hoof.
"Yes! This lil' baby still works!" The blue mare grinned excitedly as I smiled with her, my Pipbuck beeping a moment later. I tapped it to answer.
"What's the update?" I asked as the purple alicorn's voice responded.
"We've managed to disable the Tholian vessel's transporter systems, and they're retreating. They shouldn't be coming back for a while now."
"Great, we've taken care of the ground forces down here, we'll head back to the hotel to heal up."
"Good, we'll send some supplies down for you shortly. Lightbringer, out." As the signal cut out, Calamity landed beside me and Jokeblue, whistling with a smile as he saw the new weapon we had acquired.
"Well Ah'll be damned, 'Pip. Ya found that special artifact, Ah assume?" I nodded as Xenith joined us, Admiral Stone and his troops beginning their efforts on moving the Tholian corpses into a pile as I replied.
"Yep, and I've made a new friend as well." Calamity's smile grew wider as he looked a Jokeblue, the mare smiling as my best friend shook her hoof.
"Name's Calamity, darlin'. Yours?" The pegasus said as Jokeblue replied.
"Jokeblue, I'm Homage's old friend from the Wasteland." Calamity raised an eyebrow at her words, the mare blushing a little as she answered. "Long story, mind if we head back to the resort first? It's gonna take a bit."
We all nodded as we began trotting down a path that lead to the resort, Wyatt calling out behind us as he finished helping another officer place another body into the nearby pile. "We'll join you all once we get this cleaned up."
"Gotcha." I called back as we continued trotting, Jokeblue placing the star blaster in her saddlebags as we began our trip back to the Risian hotel.
---------
It was evening by the time we got back, Velvet greeting us as we entered the lobby inside the hotel. While we were making our way back, I contacted Sovak and told him of our success. Not only was he pleased about our efforts, but he had also said that Jokeblue's superiors told him to inform her that she could have the weapon as a sort of reward, especially for the fact that it seems to have found the perfect owner. Jokeblue was ecstatic the rest of the way back, telling my friends about the star blaster's origins and how it got here. Xenith had also helped find some of the Horga'hn statues for Calamity and Velvet, the former saying he had a special surprise for Velvet when we got back.
As I took the floater Sovak let me borrow off, I tapped my combadge and spoke to the blue alicorn on the Lightbringer. "Littlepip to Lightbringer, I have a device here that belongs to Mr. Sovak on the surface, it wouldn't be a problem if you beamed it back to him, would it?"
"Not at all, it should only take a second." The voice of the tall mare said as I replied, the floater being surrounded by a blue energy field as it was beamed away.
"Thanks, Pip out." As I watched the floater disappear from sight, I trotted back to a nearby table, my friends sitting around it as I took a seat with them.
"Well, today's been one hell o' a day, hasn't it?" Calamity asked as Xenith replied.
"Indeed, I had not thought that a weapon like that was made by a species such as the Ferengi, much less come from another universe."
"So, does that disprove some of the myths your people had about the stars, if I may ask?" Jokeblue asked our zebra friend politely, who shook her head before replying.
"Not completely, but it does open up more possibilities to wonder about."
I smiled as I joined the conversation. "Not only that, but I think that today's gotten even better knowing that an old friend of my-" I bit my tongue as I realized my mistake, Jokeblue only smiling as I corrected myelf. "Our Homage, is back with us."
My friends and I gave smiles to our new friend, the blue mare with purple hair blushing as she spoke. "Thanks, everyone. It was nice to see y'all in person, but unfortunately, I won't be joining ya." Our smiles faltered a little as she continued. "I've got my own ship to attend to, and I can't keep her and my other friend waiting for too long, now."
As she finished, she stood up, tapping her badge as she spoke to another officer. "Jokeblue to Windsheer, ya ready for our next job, pal?"
Another male voice with a similar accent to Calamity's replied back, the stallion's eyes going wide as he heard his brother. "All set, girl. Jus' give the word an' Ah'll pick ya up."
"Good, beam me over, then." As she cut the signal out, Jokeblue looked to us one last time, a smile forming on my face as she spoke. "Oh, and everyone, could ya tell Homage I said hello?"
"You got it." I said as a blue field of energy appeared around Jokeblue, her form disappearing with the energy field as she beamed away.
As I looked to Calamity, I saw him shake his head before speaking up. "Well Ah'll be, Ah didn't know mah brother was a part of the Alliance!"
"Neither did I." I said as my friend smiled, myself forming my own as I continued. "And somehow, part of me feels like we'll see them again sometime later."
"Indeed." Velvet said as she looked to her husband, who had now come out of his stupor as she asked, "So, honey, you said you had a surprise for me, yes?"
"Oh yeah, that." As he said that, Calamity reached into his saddlebags and pulled out a large egg. Velvet grinned excitedly as she examined the shiny shell. "Ah managed t' find this at one o' the hills on the island, but Ah don't know what kind o' bird it'd be."
"It's pretty obvious that we can't, it hasn't hatched yet." Snowdrop said as she pulled out her tricorder, taking a scan of the egg as we heard a caw in the distance. Looking out, we saw Pyrelight fly in, a beautiful Risian Passion Wing flying behind her. The bird had a gorgeous mix of pink, yellow, and purple.
We all smiled as the two birds landed near Velvet Remedy, who squeed loudly as she saw one of the tropical birds of Risa up close for the first time. "Pyrelight, you're back! And you've found a friend, I see." The bird nodded as the Passion Wing hopped onto the table, taking a look at the egg Calamity had gotten.
"Whoa nelly!" The pegasus lurched away slightly, letting the bird check the egg for whatever it was looking for. After taking a good look, the bird cawed at Calamity angrily, Velvet looking on with a curious expression as she spoke to her husband.
"Wait a minute, Calamity, does that egg belong to that bird there?"
Calamity raised a defensive hoof as the bird glared at him. "Ah guess so, iffin that angry caw isn't enough t' say it. But this fella wasn't there when Ah got it!"
"Well, at least it's safe, right?" As Velvet said that, we all heard a crack from the egg on the table, the bird taking a step back as we all watched. The egg cracked several times before the shell shattered, a baby Passion Wing appearing out of it.
We all let out "aw"s as we watched the hatchling look at it's parent and Pyrelight, the baby bird letting out it's first caw as it tried to climb out of the broken egg. As it started to fall out, Pyrelight loosened it's fall, the hatchling landing on the Phoenix's wing.
"He's so adorable!" Velvet said happily as she watched the new family of birds, Calamity looking to the adult Passion Wing as he apologized.
"Eh, sorry 'bout takin' yer egg there, friend." The bird cawed in a friendly manner this time as Calamity gave a smile, Steelhooves speaking up as Velvet pet the adult Passion Wing.
"So, you think you can handle a family of birds on the ship, Velvet?" Velvet nodded happily as she continued petting the bird, Calamity watching the new family bond with us.
"Well, I guess you could say we hatched the answers to quite a few questions today, huh?" I said as my friends looked at me with confusion, then laughter as we cracked up at my bad joke together. I had had quite the adventure today, not completely relaxing, but one that satisfied me greatly. Homage's old friend was alive and well, the origin of the star blaster had been revealed, and we now had newcomers to our family for Pyrelight to have fun with. Hopefully tomorrow, we'd be ready for some real fun after a good night's rest here at Risa.