It had been several months since Twilight had first started her therapy with Fizzy Drink, as she called him now. She was showing steady improvement, though apparently still a long way from full recovery. Thankfully for Ratchet's budget - since she'd taken unpaid vacation from Gadgetron once this started - therapy was one of the services covered by their lifetime VIP packages. However, Fizzy Drink's last advice to them had been hard for all three of them to act on. After all, even if saving the day again would help them, the galaxy wasn't exactly in danger every other Tuesday, and none of them were ready for 'active duty'.
For today, Twilight and Clank were working together on a sand sculpture, while Ratchet set up a beach umbrella for them all to relax under. However, it wasn't long after he'd set up the umbrella and lay back in the shade before someone managed to snap a picture of him. He turned, mildly irritated, to see who the photographer was.
To his surprise, it was a little red haired girl with her hair done in a quad-pigtail style. She smiled happily at the picture she had taken before turning to snap one of Twilight.
"Hey!" Ratchet growled, though not too menacingly. "What do you think you're doing?"
"I'm taking picthureth for my thcool projecth!" she replied happily in a pleasantly high pitched, innocent voice. "I'm doing a report on heroeth, and I recognithed you from the newthpaperth!" She looked up endearingly. "You're Ratchet, right? And Twilight Thparkle?"
"So much for VIP anonymity," Ratchet murmured.
"I wath wondering," the girl continued eagerly, "if it would be pothible to get thom picthures of you two doing thome 'heroic acthion!"
"I don't know..." Ratchet replied. "Now might not be-"
"It could be fun," Twilight interrupted, stepping forward.
"Twilight?" Ratchet asked worriedly. "Are you sure?"
"Just a bit of practice while she takes some pictures," Twilight pointed out. "No big danger, no huge stakes, no galaxy in danger...baby steps, right?"
"I know where there are thome robotth you can fight!" the girl offered.
Clank sighed as he attached himself to Ratchet's back. "This will not end well," he murmured to no one in particular.
Ratchet and Twilight went down the path the little girl indicated, fighting some wild crabs that were still only somewhat hostile, and performing various physical activities of exploration - from double jumps to triangle jumps and the like - as the little girl requested, so she could take pictures. As promised, they also encountered some robots to fight, as this was apparently Pokitaru's new obstacle course.
At the end of it, the girl - who introduced herself as Luna, which gave Twilight a momentary sense of vertigo for some reason - began to fangasm over how great her report would be. Twilight took a step to the side to get her bearings again, and noticed a rather familiar figure doing his best to be inconspicuous as he read a newspaper while wearing a rather pretty white hat with flowers in it. He wasn't doing a very good job at being inconspicuous. "Qwark?" she asked in surprise.
"Why Twilight!" Qwark replied, doing a very poor job of acting surprised and innocent. "What a coincidence! And I was just hoping I might bump into you accidentally so I could wish you a happy birthday and see how you were doing!"
Twilight blushed happily. "You came all this way...just to wish me an early happy birthday and check on me?" Her thirteenth birthday was coming up in a few days, and she had been thinking it would be a good time to reunite with everyone, but Qwark making his way here - especially when he apparently wasn't supposed to - was very touching.
"Yup!" Qwark replied happily. "And...other stuff." He quickly coughed. "So what are you doing on the obstacle course?" he asked, changing the subject.
Twilight's eyes narrowed. Sometimes, Qwark was just too transparent. "I'm trailing Ratchet and Clank to see what they're doing so I can join in on their next adventure," she replied in a deadpan monotone.
"Hey! That's what I'm doing!" Qwark called out happily. He then realized from Twilight's glare that he'd been had...again. "Uh, I mean...oh, you know me too well," he admitted.
Twilight watched Qwark for a time, trying to analyze his motives. All too readily, all those pictures she'd seen in his sanctum back on Yeedil came to mind, the ones where he stood alone. "...what happened to your parents?" she asked, directly and quietly.
Qwark flinched visibly. Had he been maneuvered around to this subject, he likely would have burst into tears at having to retell it. But Twilight's sympathetic look, and the way she cut through all his distracting excuses, helped him face it without a storm of tears. "I...I don't know," he said at last, sitting down beside her. "I never knew them. I was raised by Skrunch's people, it's why I know their language so well, and went back to them when I was...lost...after what happened in Bogon."
Twilight reached forward and patted his arm in sympathy. "Have you...considered looking for your parents? Trying to find out who they are?"
Before Qwark could answer, new green robots attacked, damaging the resort and pursuing Luna. All four heroes immediately broke into pursuit, Qwark proving to be surprisingly in shape as he raced along with the others, only having minor problems getting up jump shafts due to his bulk. He'd also apparently acquired a pair of Magnegrind Boots in his size.
However, despite their best efforts, they made it too late, catching up only just in time to overhear that Luna was being taken to someplace called Kalidon. Before she was stolen away, Luna dropped a small green device that Clank claimed was of Technomite origin.
"Technomite?" Twilight asked in confusion.
"It's what parents tell their children to explain how technology works," Ratchet replied. "They say the Technomites do it. They're just a fairy tale."
"So's magic," Qwark pointed out, jerking a thumb at Twilight.
Ratchet's glaring frown in response was almost comical.
"Whether it is Technomite in origin or not," Clank spoke up, letting Ratchet salvage some of his dignity, "the coordinates etched on the side are our only lead to finding her."
"I dunno..." Ratchet began, looking towards Twilight worriedly.
"It's just a simple rescue operation," Twilight pointed out. "Maybe an ancient secret or two, but no real danger. Baby steps, right Daddy?"
"Why do I feel like that should be on a list of famous last words?" Qwark asked no one in particular.