A few minutes later the train starts to roll forward and I slam the gas sending mud and dirt flying behind me. We're off to a bad start since the train was able to get better traction. "We want to beat the train right?" I ask.

"Of Course why else would be racing it fair?" Boxer replies.

"Alright, Well we better punch it and hope this train is pretty slow."

"why man? speed is good."

"I just like having more of a safety net. You know that."

"Dude stop worrying man. Look we're already catching up to it."

"That's not what I'm worried about. What I'm worried about is that we might have to cross water. And to do that quickly means driving on railroad tracks. So super bumpy and probably slower."

"It won't be that bad."

The train didn't have much of a top speed. It was only going 40 mph. Luckily our vehicles were able to go a little faster. We were able to go 50 mph. We quickly overtake it and am putting it behind us. "Shit trees!" I yell while turning the wheel. Jumping up on the track is definitely bumpier and slower. As soon as I got on the track my vehicle slowed down enough that the train started catching up to us.

"Mongoose, We need to do something soon because the train is starting to catch up to us", Boxer says through the communicator.

"As soon as I see an opening, We can get off these tracks and get far ahead of the train."

Driving on railroad tracks isn't good. Driving on them with a train catching up to you is worse. Needless to say things were getting scary quickly. I don't think we would be crushed, but I don't think that whatever would happen would be very kind. Looking around there weren't many places immediately available to safely get off the tracks. "Looks like this will have to do here. Get ready for a little bumpy ride back there", I say turning off the train tracks. The road we turned onto is pretty much any off roaders dream; rocks, hills, tight corners around trees, hopefully shallow mud pits and water crossings. Just all the stuff that makes off roading fun. Unfortunately, this is not a road that you want to traverse quickly, that is unless you want to break stuff. "Hey guys, we might need to slow down just a bit. This path isn't exactly clear. Sorry."

"How unclear is it?" Jules asks with a noticeable hesitation in her voice.

"Well, give it 50 yards and you'll see."

"Dammit Mongoose, we wanted to win this race, remember? Not have fun going flat-out up a mountain", Boxer says.

"What would you have me do? Stay on the tracks until we found a clear dirt path running parallel to the tracks?"

"That's what I would've done."

"And that's why you're not leading. We would do that and probably get destroyed by the train."

"Only you would since you would be following."

"Fuck you too, dude. How's it going back there?"

"Seeing as how my vehicle is bigger than yours, it's harder to traverse the terrain. You haven't pulled away yet and that's all that matters."

"Right, well let me know if I disappear from sight or something."

Driving through the forest gets very repetitive after awhile. The main difference between this and what we would do on a test is that this is much more technical driving. You must choose the right line to go over the obstacles or else you could get stuck or break something. Neither of those are a good choice when you're out in the wilderness with nothing to fix the vehicles. It seemed like most of what we were gonna be traversing didn't include cliff faces or rock ledges which is good. It means we don't have to wait for both of us to get over the obstacle before going on. The hardest stuff to cross was the mud and water because mud is slippery and can be any density so you must be careful lest you want something to go wrong. Water is difficult because it can be deceiving on how fast the current actually is moving as well as frying electrics if they aren't waterproofed correctly.

We came around to the tracks a little while later, unfortunately we could see the train already across the bridge and heading up the mountain. "Well, looks like we lost this race", I say to Boxer.

"Now we just have to get there. We aren't too far behind schedule", he says.

"This is gonna suck. Too many bumps."

"At least we don't have the train behind us trying to push us forward", Jules says speaking up.

"I wonder how much longer it will be until we reach the castle?"

Arriving at the train station Was a little unnerving. Everyone seemed to stop what they were doing in order to look at the new arrivals. Luckily it wasn't really late, just about midday. We needed to find our way into the castle and no one seemed like they wanted to help because whenever we got close they backed off. "Well, dude do you want to head into town and see if we ever get closer?" I ask.

"Sounds good to me", he replies.

With that we head off down what we think is the quickest road to the castle since it is the biggest. All that seems to happen is that the roads get busier. Every so often we have to wait for the crowds to move away or for one of us to rev the engines really loudly so the ponies back off and we can move. It goes on like this till we finally arrive at the castle where we have to deal with an annoying gate guard disallowing us access to the castle on account of her highness' royal plans. It takes forever for us to convince him that we are a part of the royal plans. We got in mostly because of a little intimidation and persuasion saying that she requested to see us and were running late. The courtyard is what one can expect when arriving at a castle; open, lush gardens, fountains and of course a hedge maze. Boxer and I find a location close to the front door where we can park our vehicles. "Well looks like we finally made it here", I say getting out my vehicle.

"Yeah it wasn't that bad", Boxer replies. "It was a little bumpy though."

"A little? Where did you drive? All that bouncing around could have given me brain damage."

"After a while, I got used to it. It's like an annoying noise, you can just tune it out after a bit."

"I don't understand how."

"Huh? Did you say something?"

"Very funny, now let's go before we're late."

"Uh, guys? Is the 4x4 supposed to be leaking like that?" Jules asked.

"Huh, most definitely not. Ok, new plan. You two go in and start talking to her, I'll try to fix this problem", I say.

"Alright man, see you in there", Boxer says heading for the castle.

I slide underneath the 4x4 and start looking for where a leak could be happening. "Well it isn't brakes, so that's good. Hmm, not oil either. Huh it looks like a cooling line. That isn't too bad. Now how to fix you..."

"What do you think is so special about these carriages?" I hear a voice say.

"It appears that our hunch about you was right, Celestia", I whisper to myself.

"The princess said they are more advanced than anything we have currently. We must figure out how they work as quickly as possible. She said that while the owners seem polite they act like jerks and this meeting may be cut short", a different voice says.

"Oh ok then. Whoa! Are those them?" the first voice asked.

"Do you see any other carriages that are so uniquely different around?"

"Where do we start?"

"Identify anything you can."

"Well... Huh, What's this liquid?" He asks moving his head down to look at where the liquid is coming from. That's when they first notice me. It could have gone better. "HUH? Who are you?" He asks while recoiling his head in shock. "And what are you doing underneath this carriage?"

"I am currently trying to fix this vehicle. If you don't mind I should work quickly. I don't want to lose all this coolant."

"Nuh-uh. You're coming with us. The Princess will want to speak with you."

"I'm not going anywhere with any guard until the princess arrives here."

'We're not allowed to let you stay here", the other one says.

"Why? It's not like I'm going anywhere. And besides these belong to me and my friend. I'm most certainly not allowing you two to stay around them to inspect them. Doing who knows what to them when I can just be defiant until the end."

"Or we can arrest you for impeding police business."

"Oh? So you want to be the first pony in the world to arrest a diplomat to your country?"

...

...

"No? Ok then. I'm going to get back to work."

"I understand what she means when she says they're jerks", one said to the other.

"Can you tell us about these vehicles since you seem to know them."

"No I won't speak on how these vehicles work because everyone here seems to only want our knowledge and not the creatures behind that knowledge."

"Oh ok..." the first one says.

~~~~~~

"Um excuse me Where is the princess?" Boxer says.

"She isn't seeing anypony today on account of royal business", the attendant said.

"We know. We are here because she requested to see us today for lunch."

"Highly doubtful. You seem too brutish to be here at her request."

"Do you always judge everyone or is it just the creatures that you deem won't take offense at you looking down at them?"

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave if you continue speaking that way."

"What way? Getting angrier? Truthfully? Because I can speak the same way if you tell me. Then I won't leave just to piss you off."

"Then I will have to call the guards to remove you."

"Remove? Darn."

"Would you rather I have you arrested for trespassing?"

"It would make for a more interesting story to tell your princess."

"As if you would ever get the chance to speak to her."

"Isn't she the one who resides over arrests and the like?"

"Ah yes, you would need to have a trial."

"See I'll talk to her no matter what happens here so make this easy on me and tell me where she is."

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I can't do that."

"Alright then. See you later", Boxer says as he turns to go down a random hallway.

"Where do you think you're going?" the attendant asks.

"Anywhere away from you since you don't want to be helpful."

"HEY!! GET BACK HERE! Guards..."Boxer heard as the voice faded away.

"I wonder how close we will be to Celestia before we get caught."

"Hopefully pretty close", Jules says.

Author's Note

OK so I'm really sorry this is late but class kept getting in the way of writing this. We're doing this massive project that is taking up all my time. Good news is that the next chapter is half way written right now so that means I should make this weeks deadline. Anyways I hope y'all are enjoying this somewhat.