Tools: Nundac Asteroid Ring
Despite the fact that they had the Hyperion now, and had access to everything that had been installed inside the starship during the last couple of years, Aphelion insisted that she either fly Ratchet and Starlight herself or fly alongside the larger ship. Ratchet suspected that this was due to the fact that she had been knocked out since the attack on Fastoon and wanted to get as much exercise as she possibly could, though he wasn't about to argue with the ship. If Aphelion wanted to fly him and Starlight around for a while, so she could settle into some sort of routine with them, then he was perfectly fine with her doing that, though he was sure that he had heard the ship mutter something about size not mattering when it came to Lombaxes and their ships.
Once they had gotten the ship problem taken care of, and Angela had the ship code so she could communicate with them, Aphelion and the Hyperion made their way towards the Nundac Asteroid Ring, where a space station belonging to the Explorer Max Apogee was supposed to be resting. Aphelion, unfortunately, was the only one who had no idea who Max Apogee was, so while Angela sent her a file containing what they knew, so she could have a copy for her own systems, Starlight attempted to explain the significance behind the six gemstones the famous explorer had left behind.
"Raritanium... Cores?" Aphelion asked, not understanding why the gemstones had been called that, though she had the feeling that Starlight would explain everything.
"It is said that Max Apogee found a previously unexplored planet, landed in the middle of a forest, and found six special pieces of raritanium on display in the middle of some ruins," Starlight replied, remembering the story that the explorer had told the people he handed the stones over to, "There was originally no written record of the colors the gemstones possessed, but we have been able to figure out that one was purple, one was orange, another was blue, the fourth was pink, and the fifth is red... though its currently in the hands of Tachyon. We have no idea who might even possess the final Core, so its impossible to tell what color it might have until I get a lock on its position."
"My database says that you even named the Cores that you acquired," Aphelion commented, though Ratchet, Clank, and Starlight noticed that she was getting interested in the subject as well, "I just don't understand the reasoning behind the names."
"That is easy to remedy," Ratchet said, as he had listened to the reasoning when they had recovered one of the six Cores, "Generosity, the purple stone we recovered from Chairman Drek, is the polar opposite of his greed, which was why he had put his plans into action in the first place. Honesty, the orange stone we retrieved during our time in the Bogon Galaxy, opposed the lies that Qwark was telling us, and everyone else, at the time of our adventure. Laughter, the blue stone, was the counter for the pain, misery, and despair that Dr. Nefarious was spreading throughout the Solana Galaxy, while Kindness, the pink stone, was the opposite of the brutal conditions that the owner of Dreadzone forced upon everyone... be they contestants or his own employees."
"I see," Aphelion replied, though her tone said that she was either agreeing with their statements or she didn't like them and wasn't saying anything that might upset them.
There was no need to tell Aphelion that the Cores they had collected were missing, because she had been there when Angela told them the news back on Mukow. Once they were done with Tachyon, and had recovered the Core he was holding, they could begin their search for Sunset and the other four Cores, unless something happened along the way that demanded their attention. They all knew that Tachyon was going to demand a lot of their attention, until they managed to corner him and beat him, so there was no telling when they would be able to start the search for their missing sister. Not that Ratchet, Starlight, or Angela was worried about her, as Sunset had more than enough power to get out of whatever situation she found herself in.
Of course Aphelion decided to ask who Sunset was, as they hadn't actually told her anything before they marched into the Imperial Fight Festival, so they all decided to take turns explaining everything to Aphelion.
When they finally reached their destination, and managed to land on one of the larger asteroids, Aphelion had a decent grasp of who Sunset was, though for some reason she was too stubborn to accept that she was the God of Destruction for the entire universe. They all guessed that she belonged to the type of people that believed that seeing something was believing it, or something like that, so neither Ratchet, Clank, Starlight, or Angela bothered to correct her at the moment. There were more important matters for them to deal with, as the moment they touched down on the landing pad they noticed that there was another pod near where they had landed... and that Red was currently standing beside it.
As Ratchet and Starlight hopped out of Aphelion, and approached the spherical pod, Angela flew down in their old ship and landed nearby, to which she climbed out and caught up with them.
"Am I correct in assuming that this pod is the transport to the station?" Starlight asked, though at the same time she noticed that there were a fair number of Leviathans roaming around the various asteroids that were scattered all over the place.
"You are," Red said, to which Blue flapped his wings for a moment, but he made no effort to leave just yet, "though we oughta warn ya that the owner o' that station ain't accustomed to visitors."
"And just what is someone like you doing here?" Angela asked, as there was an occasion where she or one of her Jedi had to deal with smugglers, and she recognized Red for what he was immediately.
"Why Jedi Master Angela Cross, it is an honor to meet you in person," Red replied, giving her a small bow before becoming serious again, "though if you must know why I am here than I guess I can explain. This place is a natural breeding ground for Leviathans and I was recently commissioned by some... special clients... to acquire a few of them on their behalf. I'll admit it right now, I'm not much of a fighter, but I do have a deal for all of you; I'll trade the launch codes for this pod to you if you get me the souls I need for my commission."
"That sounds like a fair trade," Ratchet said, because he didn't like the looks that Angela was giving Red, as he knew of one bad experience she had with a smuggler that was best not mentioned at all, "We'll be back when we're ready to make the trade."
Oddly enough there happened to be a leviathan moving through the air near where they were currently standing, so Ratchet, Starlight, and Angela decided to head over to it first and see if there was anything else they could find. They found some of the reptilian creatures they encountered on Cobalia 'guarding' the leviathan that they had spotted, though they were easy to take care of as only one hit was required to knock them out. The moment the creatures were taken care of, and the way forward was open, they engaged the leviathan and attacked it with their weapons, to which they discovered the Shard Reaper they had picked up was useful in ending the fight quickly. Eventually the leviathan burst into pieces, allowing the group to gather its soul and the pieces of raritanium it dropped before heading back to where Red was standing.
Once they returned to him they found a teleport pad of sorts that would allow them to shoot across the space between them and another one of the asteroid clusters, though they selected the area with the most leviathans and took turns using the device until they were all gathered on their chosen asteroid. From there it was a simple matter to take out the reptilian creatures, battle the few leviathan that called the asteroid home, collect all of their souls, and then hop back on the teleport pad so they could get the codes they needed. Red was quite pleased to see that they were all fine and that no damage had touched them, indicating that he definitely knew something about Sunset... something that he wasn't willing to share.
Regardless of what he knew about Sunset, as he had likely heard the stories as far as Angela was concerned, Ratchet was more than willing to trade the necessary three souls so they could get the codes they needed.
"Now be careful up there," Red warned them, though it was hard to tell if he was worried about their safety or scared of what they could do to the space station if they were annoyed about something, "Last I heard, the place is run by a pair of old war bots. Don't wanna cross 'em if ya can help it."
"Thanks for the warning," Starlight replied, waiting for Ratchet and Angela to climb into the pod first, but then stopped herself as a thought came to mind, "Hey Red, do you know anything about someone named Ysmir?"
"Ysmir? As in the Dragon of the North?" Red asked, though that was followed by a smile appearing on his face as he pulled out a small black object, one that Starlight recognized as a piece of the Codex, and tossed it over to her, "I have heard whispers of someone using that name around the Polaris Galaxy recently, even to the furthest reaches I might add, but I didn't think she'd be making her move so soon. I'll see what I can dig up for the next time we meet, as a peace offering if you desire, though consider that small fragment as a bonus for helping me out today."
Starlight caught the fragment and watched as Red climbed into the vehicle he had used to transport her, Clank, and Ratchet after they had first crossed paths, to which he blasted off to wherever he needed to go next. His words indicated that he might actually know who Ysmir was, while also indicating that he intended on checking his facts before he told them anything about the mysterious stranger they had seen in the arena. Starlight then let out a sigh as she climbed into the pod, locked the opening behind her, and blasted off towards the entrance of space station with Ratchet, Clank, and Angela.
The pod took them to the station's maintenance grid that happened to rest on a large gravity cube, though it consisted of an obstacle course that had laser fields and moving platforms, as well as curved platforms where gravity rotated ninety degrees. It took some time to actually get around the entire sphere, as they waited to make sure everyone had caught up before moving on to another part of the course, but eventually they reached their destination. The group eventually reached platform that held the maintenance elevator, along with another teleport pad they could use to get back to their ship, though after a few seconds of rest they used the elevator to enter the station... where they found a massive natural preserve within a sealed dome.
"Well would you look at that," Ratchet commented, putting his weapons away as he looked at what was on the other side of the glass, "that's quite the terrarium this place has got."
"It is strange that someone would build an oasis inside their fortress," Clank said, his eyes scanning the area and spotting a large number of obstacles that would be standing in their way, "but this entire station seems to be well guarded."
"Actually, this place looks more like a sanctuary to me," Angela stated, though at the same time Starlight was nodding her head, "See how the station connects to the terrarium? This isn't about protecting something, but rather about protecting someone precious to Max Apogee... like a child that he wanted to keep safe from his enemies. Its sort of similar to what Starlight, Sunset, and I designed to house the Cores in back on the Hyperion, only on a much larger scale than what we did."
The four of them stood there for a moment, taking in the sight of what the terrarium had to offer, before they were interrupted by one of the intercoms sprung to life and started speaking to them.
"Attention intruders!" a crotchety voice shouted at them, indicating that they must have pissed someone off already, "This is Lieutenant Commander Zephyr of the Apogee Space Station! Lay down yer weapons, and prepare for a..."
"We already did that." Starlight replied, interrupting the voice for a few seconds, though none of them bothered to move from where they were standing at the moment.
"Already did what?" Zephyr asked, as if he had no idea what she was talking about, which only made Angela face palm while a slight smile appeared on Ratchet's face.
"Put our weapons away," Starlight stated, indicating to everyone for a few seconds, "All of our hand held weapons have been put back where they belong and our guns have been silenced for the moment. We didn't come to attack you... we came to warn you about an attack that Emperor Tachyon issued a day or two ago."
"And why should we believe a talking pony?" another voice asked, though Starlight assumed that it belonged to the second war bot that Red had warned them about.
"Would you believe us if the warning came from the last two Lombaxes in the entire universe?" Angela asked, though she had the feeling that some of the cameras were zeroing in on her and Ratchet at that very moment.
"Did somebody say Lombaxes?!" a third voice asked, to which a small eye contraption popped out of the wall and came up close to Ratchet and Angela, as if whoever had spoken didn't believe them, before the device returned itself to where it had come from, "Cronk, Zephyr, open the doors and let our guests in... they mean us no harm."
As a certain number of doors opened, and the defenses were shut off for the moment, the group quickly made their way though the outer area of the station and climbed into the terrarium, where the outer doors and defenses were turned back on immediately. While they walked Starlight focused on the voice she had heard on the intercom, the third one that sounded female, though for some reason she swore that she had heard the voice at some point in her life. It didn't take them long to reach what was no doubt the command center for the entire station, though they did have to climb up a ladder to reach the top, where they finally met the two robots that had been shouting at them before the third voice had spoken up.
The two ancient war bots weren't in the best condition, at least in Starlight's opinion, because one of them had a tall build with a faded blue and white paint job, while his companion was currently hunched over, no doubt due to a back back of some kind, with a faded red and white paint job. They were both holding weapons in their hands, indicating that they still didn't trust the group and wanted to be on the safe side until everything checked out... or maybe they had a few bolts loose Starlight mentally reflected. That was shortly before the group noticed the final person that had spoken to them, as it turned out to be a young female Markazian, which happened to be a mostly humanoid race with sharply pointed ears and whip-like forked tails. The young lady had a jetpack on her back, which was currently turned off at the moment, though she had black hair and green eyes, and was wearing a green, brown, and black outfit of some sort.
The instant they were all inside the command center the door closed behind them, sealing itself like it would have done if the station was actually under attack by someone.
"And now all of the defenses are back online," the young Markazian said, having glanced at a panel for a brief second before turning her full attention to the group, "I'm Talwyn Apogee and, as you no doubt have guessed at this point, these two are Cronk and Zephyr."
"Its a pleasure to meet you," Ratchet replied, waving a hand towards the rest of the group as he introduced them all, "I am Ratchet, and this is my wife Angela Cross, along with my best friend Clank and my sister Starlight Glimmer."
"Wait... you mean your the family that's associated with Sunset Shimmer?" Talwyn asked, to which she received a few nods from the group, "I guess it was a good thing that I stopped these two before they got us all killed. Look, I'll whip up something to snack on while you explain the circumstances that brought you here... I have the feeling that we'll be talking for quite some time."
Cronk and Zephyr, apparently understanding something in the tone that Talwyn had used, lowered their weapons and beckoned the group to a nearby table, where they sat down for what was going to be the longest talk of the year. As they did so Starlight looked over at Talywn and replayed her voice in her mind a few times, though she was certain that she knew it from somewhere else. A memory of her past, or maybe a vision of a past she had lived in a different life, sprung to mind, though all she could remember was her other self talking with a lavender coated alicorn... one that looked exactly like the AI they called 'Twilight' all the time.
For a moment Starlight wondered if Sunset had been right about having memories of a life she couldn't recall ever having lived, but then decided to shake her head and take a seat near her brother. She knew that there would be time to figure out what was happening to her in the future... once they had figured out what the Lombax Secret was, recovered it before it fell into the wrong hands, and stopped Tachyon before he really did something stupid.
Stats
Page generated in 0.022 seconds
Total duration
653 users online
852,313 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Hmm... Red definitely knows something about Ysmir.
At this point it seems that the only person that doesn't know about Sunset and her new position is Tachyon... which is funny and sad at the same time.
I would normally say something about Talwyn knowing about the Lombaxes, but considering that her father was an explorer, and knew some things, I'm not too surprised by her reaction.
I am interested in hearing what this fragment holds... and I shall patiently wait until the group discovers it as well.
Of course Talwyn's voice reminds Starlight of Twilight... their voiced by the same person.
Yes, Red knows of Ysmir. Clearly he knows something about her, though what that something is we'll have no idea until Red decides to reveal what he knows to everyone else. And its not too surprising that Talwyn knows about the Lombaxes, considering what her father did and what he likely told her before his disappearance.
I wouldn't be surprised if Sunset is famous or infamous enough to garner the attention of this universe or two.
8052511 Technically it seems that Sunset has already gained the attention of this part of her universe, as almost everyone in three galaxies knows about her existence at this point in time. And, if this is the universe thirteen that is referenced in the author's Daughters of Destruction story, then it might be safe to say that there's at least one more universe watching her.
8052526 Three galaxies? I'm pretty sure she's known by three galaxies and a planet. I just realized that she is similar to Talos in some aspects.
8052537 The Solana, Bogon, and Polaris Galaxies, all from Ratchet and Clank, are the three galaxies I mentioned.
How, if I may ask, is she similar to Talos? I'm actually interested in learning more about this story and its characters.
8052546 Let's see. Both Sunset and Talos had humble beginnings, assembled an army, liberated Skyrim from evil, had been Dragonborn at some point and ascended to godhood. Also, check out the prequel. It's a good read.
8052580 Ah yes, the one with Tirek... I'm going to have to check that out.
So I guess we're all ignoring the fact that Max Apogee discovered Equestria?
And after what Red said, I'm even more convinced that "Ysmir" is just Sunset in a disguise.
8053457 The only person among them that might know Equestria, excluding memories, might be Talwyn... though it would all be because of her father.
And I'm willing to bet that Ysmir is Sunset; I mean she was using Shouts without actually saying the words. The ones the author showed off were Unrelenting Force, Fire Breath, Become Ethereal, Ice Form, and Whirlwind Sprint.
Wow, I never realized the actor who played Twilight Sparkle on Magic is Friendship, and the Actor who played Talwyn Apogee in the Future games are the same exact person. Awesome!
8508180
I figure that out after reading Tats Story
So Loyalty will be wielded by a backstabbing bastard and friendship by a lonely person.
Well, Talwyn is voiced by Tara Strong who does Twilight's voice so of course, Starlight will feel something familiar about talking to her. Tat used the same setup, but unfortunately, there's no getting around it.
8508180
oh, she also did Raven in Teen Titans, and a minor character, Paz in Metal Gear Solid 5!
this reminds me of a game trailer i saw...
someone says to Ratchet, "you're the most famous Lombax ever, and YOU don't the Lombax Secret? that so, um..."
Clank: "ironic?"
"i guess HE'S the smart one."
Ratchet just gives her a dirty look.