Ratchet and Clank: The Starlight of Solana

by Blackdrag-rose

Commando: Yeedil, Darkness

"What's going on here?" Qwark demanded, turning to Ratchet and Starlight, whose eyes were focused on the pillar of energy that was resting in front of them, "I thought the source of her power, and the demon's power, was that bracelet. Shouldn't she be laying on the floor in front of us without any of her powers... and not actually doing whatever it is that she's doing at the moment?"

Originally Starlight would have agreed with the former captain, which almost made her shudder when she thought about it, because she had assumed that her sister's golden bracelet had been an artifact of unknown magical origins that bestowed power upon the person who wore it, though it came with the cost of the demon they had seen several times. Now that the bracelet was actually broken, however, she was beginning to wonder if it had actually been a prison of sorts, a device meant to contain Sunset's true power until the time came when she could take it off and learn what she was capable of doing. That meant that Sunset had been born with the same potential for using magic, just like she had been, though clearly someone feared that she would be emotionally unstable when she started practicing magic and had taken precautions to keep her magic bound.

To be completely honest Starlight had no idea if they were in trouble or not, because the last time Searing had taken control she had destroyed Chairman Drek before turning control over to Sunset again. This time, however, the bracelet was no longer a factor, which meant that Searing would likely keep her hold on Sunset's body until someone forced her to give it up.

"It appears that Sunset is a natural born magic user, like myself," Starlight commented, making sure that she was recording what happened, because she knew that when this was over Sunset was going to want to know what happened, "and that bracelet had to be some sort of magic restriction device, as she wasn't able to use magic until mine got near the metal. This is the wrong time to say this, but in all honesty I'm curious as to what Sunset's true power is like... though at the same time I know we need to think of a way to stop Searing when she emerges from that pillar."

"S... Searing?" Qwark asked, though it was clear that he must have had no idea that the demonic side of Sunset even had a name, because it clearly made him look back on everything that he had done up until this point.

"The demon that you just unleashed upon the Solana and Bogon galaxies," Ratchet replied, keeping his eyes on the pillar the entire time, knowing that there had to be something he and Angela could do to stop what was happening since they didn't have magic of their own, "There has to be some way to seal her away without that bracelet, we just have to figure out what that something is before Searing emerges from that pillar of energy."

The moment the words left his mouth the energy that formed the pillar rippled, flames pulsing outwards across the top of the room Sunset had landed in as something appeared in the center of the energy. Ratchet and Starlight waited with bated breath as they watched the pillar, wondering what was going to emerge from the energy; the feral Searing that had destroyed Drek or a possessed Sunset that wore the strange mask they had seen on Snivelak. Angela seemed concerned for everyone that was still standing there, fearful that all of them were in trouble of being hurt, though she was also compelled to see what emerged like the rest of the group. Qwark, on the other hand, appeared to be flipping between his brace persona he had built ever since his defeat and the scared person that Ratchet and Starlight were familiar with.

As the pillar pulled itself apart Ratchet started to breath a sigh of relief when he noticed Sunset standing there, but the normal cazar he had been expecting was where it ended. Sunset was still a cazar, but her armor had been torn to pieces and had been replaced by some sort of flaming dress that looked like it was a cross between a dress you wore to a ball and some sort of ancient armor. Sunset's skin had turned bright red, almost crimson colored, and her hair had been pushed upwards, giving it the appearance of looking like moving flames. Even her tail had caught on fire, causing it to look like a flaming cross between her normal cazar tail and Starlight's own tail, though that wasn't the only odd thing about her that they noticed. Attached to her forehead was a unicorn's horn, slightly longer than Starlight's, though there was a white crown, one that resembled the mask that Sunset had worn when she and Searing had merged powers back on Snivelak, in front of the horn and wrapped around the top of her head. There was even a large pair of wings attached to her back, a pair that Ratchet assumed resembled the wings that the pegasi of legend used to move around the skies.

In addition to all of that, and the fact that she wasn't wearing any gloves or boots, Sunset's sclera had turned pitch black as her eyes had turned a cyan color, something that both Ratchet and Starlight easily remembered. Searing was definitely standing before them, though this time Ratchet had to wonder if they could even reach their sister through all the power that was coursing through her veins at the moment. It was also clear that she hadn't noticed that they were still standing there, watching her the entire time, because she was mainly looking at herself, as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Qwark made the smart move and quickly undid the cuffs that had been attached to Ratchet, Starlight, and Angela, informing them that he definitely needed their help to recover from this mess.

Before they could do anything, however, Searing started to laugh, filling the area with a laugh that was a hollow and twisted version of the laugh Sunset used whenever she found something funny.

"The fool actually discovered the weakness before her own family did," Searing laughed, almost as if she had beaten Sunset, while at the same time flexing her fingers, "I cannot believe that they failed to notice that Starlight's magic was slowly tearing that cursed bracelet apart over the years and wasn't actually keeping my power contained. Oh I can feel it now, the power of an alicorn coursing through my veins. After my last defeat I thought I'd never have the opportunity to feel this, but I can thank that idiot Qwark for setting me free at last... and I might even spare him for it too!"

Ratchet and Starlight stared at the demon the entire time, listening to everything that she was saying and paying close attention to what she did in case she decided to attack them. Neither of them had any idea what an 'alicorn' was or why Searing was saying that she could feel one's power coursing through her body, though they did figure out that Starlight had been wrong in her idea to bind her own magic on top of the bracelet. They were even surprised to find that the demon could speak, because the last time they encountered Searing she merely roared and let her magic do all of the talking. Ratchet looked back at Angela and found that she was freaking out, which made complete sense considering that this was literally her second encounter with the demon. He and Angela would have to think of a way to get through to Sunset, because Ratchet had the feeling that Starlight was going to have to fight her own sister before she did something that was irreversible.

Qwark, on the other hand, seemed to be torn between wanting to get down there and show Searing that he wasn't a fool, which would only prove her point, and staying up here with the rest of them in the hopes that the demon left him alone.

Ratchet would have said something to Qwark, mainly some key words that might have the chance to make the former captain think twice about facing Searing, but before he could say anything Qwark engaged his jetpack, pulled out his guns, and flew down to the platform that Searing was floating above. It was at that point that Ratchet knew that Qwark was an insane and foolish person for even heading into the arena with the demon, because it seemed like he hadn't paid any attention to what she was capable of doing during their adventure in the Bogon Galaxy.

"I was wondering if you were going to decide between showing yourself, or hiding like the ant that you are," Searing commented, a grin appearing on her face as she spotted Qwark coming her way, to which she spread her arms out wide and performed a fake bow to the former captain, "though it seems that I have the answer to that now. Tell me, Captain Qwark, are you going to fight me with your pitiful weapons... or are you going to flee like the coward that you really are?"

"I'm going to get rid of you, which was what the shattering of that bracelet was supposed to do... though I guess that this means I'll have to destroy Sunset as well," Qwark replied, pointing his guns at her as he stood his ground, "Remain where your standing demon, I shall bring an end to your existence as quickly as I can."

"So you think that you can actually touch me?" Searing asked, a smirk appearing on her face as she raised a hand, to which she made the motion of beckoning Qwark to come to her, "Very well then, show me how capable you really are in battle."

Qwark stared at Searing for a few seconds, wondering if she was going to attack before he had time to do anything, but then he decided to go on the offensive and started firing his weapons at the demon. He was fortunate that he had come equipped with every weapon that Megacorp had built over the last two weeks, because he had the feeling that he was going to need all of it. He loosed all of the ammunition in his Minirocket Tube, Plasma Coil, Bouncer, and other weapons, while at the same time calling upon an army of sentry robots to help him and throwing every Chopper star that he had. He only kept one weapon in reserve, because if none of the other weapons worked he needed something to fall back on in case things suddenly got much worse for him.

When the smoke cleared Qwark's eyes widened as he noticed that Searing was still standing in the same position, though he noticed that she hadn't taken any damage thanks to the cracked barrier that was surrounding her.

"Is that the best that you can do?" Searing asked, to which she deactivated the barrier that was surrounding her, "I'm going to be perfectly honest with you, that wasn't what I was expecting when you said that you were going to end my existence. I was expecting a weapon that none of Sunset's family had seen, producing a level of power that Starlight and a few others are capable of harnessing, yet all I get is this pitiful excuse of an attack... I guess its time that I brought this to an end."

"Not yet!" Qwark shouted, reaching into his pack and pulling out a container of sorts, to which the metal unfolded and formed two gauntlets for him to wear, "I had a whole division of Megacorp dedicated to replicating the original Power Gauntlet, in the off chance I needed to actually attack someone with their own potent magical energies. I'm going to use the power of your transformation against you, and hopefully this time you'll get hurt in the process."

"Fine, show me your 'final technique', or whatever it is that your planning on using against me," Searing said, sighing as she crossed her arms and levitated into the air for a moment, "I'll let you charge it up... or whatever it is that you need to do."

Qwark pulled his hands together and brought his palms close to each other, before bringing his hands to his side and taking a breath as he hoped that the gauntlets performed their duties to the letter. Starlight and the others watched the former captain fight his loosing battle, though as they did so Starlight looked at the flames that were still dancing on the ceiling until she saw something that didn't make sense. The flames stopped moving the instant that Qwark activated whatever the gauntlets were supposed to do, but then, to her confusion, the flames started to descend from the ceiling and began to gather in the center between Qwark's palms. That was before she felt the excess magical energy in the air started to gather in one place, forming an orb of energy that made Starlight wonder what was happening.

Somehow Qwark had devised a method that allowed him to draw in the natural magical energies that both Starlight and Sunset used, something that Starlight was going to have to destroy before it reached someone that could actually hurt them worse than the former captain.

"I always wanted to say this," Qwark said, a grin appearing on his face for a moment, "KA... ME... HA... ME... HAAAAA!"

Qwark thrust his hands forward and allowed the gauntlets to unleash the energy they had been gathering, generating a torrent of magical power that roared through the air as it headed right towards where Searing was floating. This time Searing didn't bother summoning a barrier to protect herself, almost as if she wanted to see how powerful Qwark's attempt at magic really was for herself. The resulting connection between the energy and Searing produced an explosion that lit the entire up like a large missile that had gone off accidentally. Starlight watched all of this unfold with Ratchet and Angela standing beside her, though she silently wondered if Qwark's back up plan might actually stop the demon.

When Qwark released the last of the energy he tore off the gauntlets and dropped them to the floor, watching as they overheated from the amount of power they absorbed and turned to ash before his eyes. He hopped that he wouldn't need them again, because they were supposed to be his trump card in case he actually needed to fight against Sunset or the demon. When the smoke cleared his eyes widened as he spotted Searing floating there, where he spotted what might be one or two marks that indicated that she might have been hurt, but she merely brushed them off and revealed that he had done nothing to her.

"How disappointing that was," Searing commented, getting rid of the rest of the dust as she looked down at Qwark, "Now then, I do believe that it is my turn..."

Before Qwark could say anything Searing disappeared from where she was floating, though that was seconds before she appeared behind him and slammed her fist into his back. It was at that moment that Qwark noticed that Searing wasn't messing around, because there was a sphere of energy around her fist that caused the building around them to shake the instant it connected with his back. The air around Searing trembled as she pressed Qwark into the glass floor beneath them, cracking the floor under the intensity of her power for a few seconds. Then she jumped into the air and flapped her wings for a few seconds, before she headed back towards the ground where Qwark was laying with another sphere wrapped around her right hand.

Qwark, apparently worried for his life, make the smart move and rolled to the side, leaving Searing to smash her fist into the middle of the platform and break it into five separate pieces. Unfortunately that didn't seem to save him from the demon, because Searing walked over to where Qwark was laying at that moment, thanks to the damage he had sustained from the attack to his back, and grabbed him by the neck with her magic. She then slowly lifted him up to her eye level with her magic, where she stared at him until she was sure that fear had completely taken root inside the former captain. Once she was satisfied with what she saw she thrust Qwark into the air with her magic, before pulling her left arm back and preparing another sphere attack so she could strike him down in an instant.

Starlight, watching the fight from the room she and the others had been left in, noticed that Searing was using the same move that she had used when Sunset had merged with her back on Snivelak, though as they watched she noticed something that made her blood run cold in an instant; Searing had two spheres wrapped around her left hand, one around the actual fist while a second one surrounded that.

"Oh no," Starlight said, her eyes widening as she realized what Searing was doing, to which she engaged her magic as she turned to the others, "I'm going to lift us into the air before that attack hits... and I don't want any arguing."

Starlight lifted them into the air, and the section of the floor they were standing on for good measure, as Qwark began his descent back down to where Searing was standing, unable to move out of the way thanks to the fact that the demon had broken his jetpack with her previous attack. They braced themselves for the destruction that was to come, because they were familiar with what had happened on Snivelak and knew that something bad was coming. She also levitated the broken fragments of the golden bracelet to her, because she was sure that they would be useful in some manner later on and wanted to be sure they didn't get lost.

The instant Qwark was closer to where he had been thrown from, and near his enemy, Searing swung her fist and struck him with the full power of both of her attacks in the center of his chest. The air around Qwark cracked as the power was delivered into his body, no doubt cracking several of his ribs in the process, before the power expanded into the surrounding area. The facility seemed to moan for a few seconds in response to what was happening, which was understandable considering what was currently happening to the area. Starlight and the others had to wonder if that was all that was going to happen to the building they were in, before they looked to their right and left and spotted something happening that made them do a double take.

The facility was quite literally cracking in half, as the side of the room that they were standing on was in the process of separating itself from the other side of the room, while the middle happened to stay between the two sections. Starlight and the others watched as the facility was torn in half, ruining the entire building that they had fought through and the area that was surrounding the building. Starlight was going to make a comment about what was happening, because she figured that someone had to, before Angela tapped her communicator for a moment and caused a picture of an older gentleman, one that Starlight believe was a humanoid creature.

"What is it Ivan? I'm in the middle of something!" Angela asked, trying to hide the fact that she was scared at the moment as hard as she could, without giving anything away.

"I just checked the scanners and found out that there's a massive earthquake happening at the Protopet facility on Planet Yeedil," the man replied, shaking his head as he looked at the data on his screen, "Angela, according to all of my instruments the quake is generating enough power to be a 10.0... and that's not the worst news I have to tell you."

"T... There's something worse than a 10.0 earthquake?" Angela asked, though this time she didn't bother to hide her fear at all, "What could be possibly be worse than that?"

"A cataclysm that's shaking the entire world." Ivan replied, removing the glasses from his face as he turned back to the screen, "Angela, as your friend and colleague, I'm warning you about this now, hopefully to prevent you from heading to the facility to deal with the Protopet... but Maker help you if your actually caught in the quake. If your not on Yeedil yet then stay away until I tell you otherwise, but if you are on Yeedil, and your anywhere near the facility, then I would advise you to get back to your ship and fly away immediately... because there's no telling when the quakes will stop."

As the call ended Starlight watched as the attack wrapped up at the same time, because Qwark hit the floor hard and stayed there, not bothering to move after what had happened to him. Ratchet quickly suggested that they call in their ship, though his intent was to get them all out of the ruined facility and flee so they could come up with a plan that didn't involve any of them dying. Starlight hated the fact that they were retreating until they came up with a better plan, but at the moment she had no idea if her own magical powers could even stand up to the destructive power that Searing commanded.

Before Ratchet could press the button that would call in their ship, and get them all out of this nightmare, they all heard a voice behind them that made them stop in their tracks, because they all recognized it immediately.

"Room for one more?" the voice said, causing them all to turn around and find Mr. Fizzwidget standing there, though he appeared to be as healthy as he could possibly be.

That was before Starlight noticed the item that he was carrying, an orange gemstone that reminded her of the purple one that they had recovered from Drek's hidden vault almost seven, if not eight, months ago. She immediately knew what it was, as it could only be another of the fabled Raritanium Cores, but the odd thing about it was that it seemed to pulse with energy that she had never seen before.

"Is that what I think it is?" Clank asked, noticing the piece of raritanium as well, along with Starlight's surprised reaction to the stone the instant she saw it.

"If you mean one of the six lost Raritanium Cores, than yes." Mr. Fizzwidget replied, rubbing the back of his head for a moment, "Qwark managed to find it and bought it with my bolts, but I do not know if he did something to it in the time that he's had it, or if this is something that naturally happens with the fabled Cores."

Starlight cast a look down at Searing, who was ignoring them as she stared at the shattered body of Qwark, before turning her scanner on the stone and finding something that was unexpected. The stone was pulsing with an energy signature that was almost like the ones that both she and Sunset had, only the stone's was much stronger than anything she had previously felt. That was when she realized what was actually going on; because Qwark had awakened Searing, and released a large portion of energy into the air, the stone reacted in a way that was easily represented by what they were seeing at the moment. She also felt much calmer now that the Core was near her, making her wonder if she could somehow use that power to drive Searing back and save her sister from the fate that Qwark had inflicted upon her.

She cast a look at the golden fragments of the bracelet that she had picked up, wondering if they had any power left inside of them that might work with the Core, but she wouldn't know until she tried.

"Do you mind if I borrow that for a moment?" Starlight asked, pulling out the fragments she had collected, though she noticed that both Angela and Ratchet were looking at her as if she had lost her mind.

"I don't see why not, just help get rid of this... thing," Mr. Fizzwidget replied, his eyes looking at Searing for a moment before he turned away, unable to accept what he was seeing at the moment.

Starlight took the Core in her magic, somewhat surprised by the fact that it wasn't reacting in any visible way to her yet, as she spun the golden fragments around it and hoped for the best. They all watched as the power of the Core brought the fragments together around it, allowing them to reform into one seamless piece of metal that almost resembled a necklace of some kind. Starlight looked at the necklace for a few seconds as it floated in front of them, waiting until the magic was over, before it floated over to her and slipped itself over her head by its own accord. The moment it was over her head she felt the presence of five other power sources, which she assumed had to be the other five Cores that weren't in their possession at the moment.

With the necklace around her neck, and nothing else to do, she set the piece of floor that they were standing on back where she had torn it from and then levitated herself down to where Searing was standing.

"So, someone else comes to fight me..." Searing commented, though she paused as she noticed that it was Starlight, "Oh, its you dear sister... what could you possibly do to stop me?"

"I'm not going to fight you sister," Starlight commented, her horn lighting up as she tapped into whatever power that the Core around her neck had, "I will, however, everything in my power to save you from this fate that Qwark has enforced upon you."

Starlight expected the Core to shoot a beam of energy out at Searing, or Searing to actually attack her before she did something, but what actually happened was that the Core released its energy into the sky above them. What happened next was a sight to behold, as the moment the energy hit a certain area above the peak of the ruined facility it activated whatever it was doing, igniting the night sky in a sea of colors that resembled the northern lights of sorts. Starlight and Searing watched as several beams of light shown down from the sky, each of them a different color from the others, before three more intense beams joined them. The two of them watched as the beams came to a rest in the area above them, though that was before Starlight noticed a multicolored sphere of energy resting above them.

That was before some sort of magical energy lifted Searing into the air, to which she squirmed and tried to get out of whatever was holding her, but ultimately failed as she was forced into the air between the beams of light. Starlight was also lifted into the air, stopping parallel to Searing when the demon came to a stop, though she did look around her in awe as the magic worked whatever it was doing. The two of them watched as the beams of light seemed to take on their own shapes, though Starlight was surprised when she noticed nine spirit like ponies finished forming around them. Four of them happened to have horns and wings, two of them had wings only, one had a horn, and the remaining two didn't have either a horn or a pair of wings.

Starlight didn't have any idea what was going on, mainly because she was looking around in awe the entire time, but she did notice that Searing seemed to know one of them... the beam of white energy that took on the form of a tall regal pony that had a horn and a pair of wings, along with a flowing mane and a set of jewelry around her neck and head.

"Pr... Princess Ce... Celestia," Searing struggled to say, though Starlight noticed that the hollow sound to her voice had broken for a few seconds and that it had been Sunset who had spoken.

The spirit of the white mare seemed to smile for a moment, as if happy about something, before lowering her head and pointing her horn at Searing, to which the blue and pink alicorns followed suit and pointed their horns at the demon as well. The three of them were then joined by the spirit of the fourth alicorn, the smallest of them all, and the spirits of the other five mares, to which strands of magic began to weave themselves around Searing. That was when Starlight noticed the shimmering barrier that formed around Searing, something that the demon didn't notice until it had fully formed around her, before she spotted something more important; the multicolored sphere was heading down to where Searing was floating.

It wasn't until the sphere was energy was quite literally on top of Searing that the demon noticed what was happening at the moment, but that was when Starlight noticed something even stranger occur; the eerie look in Searing's eyes had faded into nothingness, leaving behind Sunset's eye color, as a smile appeared on her face. As Searing was engulfed by the sphere of energy the spiritual ponies seemed to pour their power into the magic before them, because Starlight watched as the seemingly ancient magic tore apart whatever foul magic had constructed Searing in the first place. The area lit up as the magic wrapped around Sunset, gently removing Searing's corruption as her hair, tail, and armor returned to their original state as the white crown broke into pieces.

Starlight would have thought that the magic would have stopped when it took off the wings and horn that Searing had given to Sunset, and leave her as a cazar, but she watched as Sunset shrunk before her eyes as the magic grew so intense that she had to look away for a moment... though when the light show was over Starlight's eyes widened as she looked at her sister. Gone was the cazar that she and Ratchet had grown up with, though in her place was an amber coated mare, about the same size as the spirit of the small purple alicorn she had seen. Starlight even noticed that Sunset still had the horn and wings that Searing had given her, though as the magic in the area faded from existence both she and Sunset were lowered back to the ruined platform, where the exhausted Sunset was gently laid down as if she had been placed on a bed.

Starlight breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed that Sunset's chest was moving, because despite everything that had happened in the last few hours her sister was okay... ignoring the fact that she had been transformed from her ordeal. She watched as the spirit of the white alicorn walked down to where Sunset was laying, lowering her head for a moment as if she was comforting her sister. A few seconds passed before the spirit of the white alicorn lifted her head and looked at Starlight, though she had the feeling that the spirit was trying to convey some sort of message to her.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of her," Starlight assured the spirit, not knowing what else to do since she had no idea what the spirit had been trying to tell her, but figured that it had to be watching over Sunset by how it had acted towards her sister.

The spirit of the white alicorn seemed to nod before heading back up to where the rest of the spirits were floating, where they all headed back up to the northern lights that had summoned them from whatever realm they had been called from. Starlight watched as all of the spirits headed back into the sky, where they started to disappear when they crossed back to wherever they had been called from before there were no more spirits in the area. Once the spirits were gone the northern lights faded from existence, though once the magic was over the Core around Starlight's neck dimmed down to its original state, but she paid little attention to it as she walked over to where her sister was resting at the moment.

She laid down beside her sister and smiled, knowing that her sister was safe once again... though she knew that she was going to have to explain quite a number of things when Sunset woke up.

Comments

[Night_Moon60606]

The Star of Truth awakens, to join the Giving Star. I wonder how Sunset will react, when she finds out she not a Cazar...

[Aria Blitz]

7558896 She's likely going to freak out when she discovers that she's been changed in such a manner. Her entire world has, quite literally, been shattered... and it will take some time for her to come to terms with what's happened.

[Aria Blitz]

After thinking about it all day long I realized something... Qwark is still alive after everything that Searing did to him.
Lucky bugger.

[Vigilant of Stendarr]

So Starlight found Honesty and used it, somehow, to open some sort of rift and use the power of harmony to heal or cure Sunset.
Interesting... very interesting.

[Sonata Blaze]

Not only did Searing nearly shatter Yeedil with a 10.0 earthquake, she also broke Qwark enough to make him reconsider getting up and trying to fight.
Starlight, on the other hand, manages to call upon the power of harmony and gets rid of Searing... leaving Sunset in her pony form. The next chapter is going to be very interesting indeed.

[HeartfireFirebrand]

The spirit of the white mare seemed to smile for a moment, as if happy about something, before lowering her head and pointing her horn at Searing, to which the blue and pink alicorns followed suit and pointed their horns at the demon as well. The three of them were then joined by the spirit of the fourth alicorn, the smallest of them all, and the spirits of the other five mares, to which strands of magic began to weave themselves around Searing. That was when Starlight noticed the shimmering barrier that formed around Searing, something that the demon didn't notice until it had fully formed around her, before she spotted something more important; the multicolored sphere was heading down to where Searing was floating.

Bearers of Harmony and the Princesses neat.

[Sunset_Shimmer7]

7558933
The bracelet was also a memory suppressant if memory serves correct