Rumble 'n' Tumble

What were the odds?

Seriously, what were the odds of Equestria's scientists searching for a faster, more efficient form of transportation and stumbling upon what was possibly the greatest advancement in the country's history? By which I mean, for those of you who haven't read the story before this, the automobile.

Mere weeks after its discovery, projects sprang up all over the land, constructing roads, highways, and every vehicle-traversable path in between. New buildings sprang up manufacturing these amazing machines, and the economy reached a never-seen-before high.

But, as with all great things, there existed beings who thought up of ways to improve upon it, and within a few months, the Equestrian automotive aftermarket was born, with modifications ranging from simple ECU reprogrammings to aspiration, drivetrain, and N2O conversions.

And this, of course, spawned competition on the streets, where the only rule was 'run what ya brung', where every victory counted towards business sponsorships and bragging rights.

This story follows the journey of two ponies who enter this world, two ponies with only one real goal in life: drive.

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Rumble was very excited. First, just a month after he earned his full driver's license, Thunderlane brought him a brand spanking new, gleaming red Scion FR-S (midlevel trim, which included a small spoiler on the trunklid), the car he had always wanted since he read about it in his favorite auto magazine. Then, after reading about its Subaru twin in the magazine's yearly Lightning Lap, he spent some of his hard-earned money on a full set of new brake pads better suited to track work. And today, he would break them in on the unpopulated back roads of a nearby town.

The little 2-liter flat four under the hood started with a low snarl, an appropriate kind of 'lemme at em!' attitude; just one reason he loved the car so much. Rumble cruised along the neighborhood streets, changing gears through the solid-feeling clutch and shifter. It didn't take long for him to arrive at his destination.

The red Scion cruised to a stop.

The engine gave off a high rev.

3...

2...

1...

Rumble shifted into first, dumped the clutch, and matted the gas. The coupe scrambled forward as its skinny Prius tires squealed in protest, before hooking up with help from the limited-slip. The little FA quickly climbed to its redline, then dropped off as the light gray pegasus shifted up into second.

Okay, first corner. Rumble went on the brakes, shifted down, and feinted, getting the car to smoothly transition into a gentle slide, just clipping the apex, and got back on the gas, helping to straighten out the car. Second corner was the same routine: brake, downshift, coax the car into a slide, kiss the apex, then straighten out.

As he came out of the third corner, however, a light-colored car appeared in his rearview.

"Oh geez, please don't be an undercover police car!" Rumble thought to himself.

Much to his relief, it wasn't a cop in an unmarked Crown Vic; rather, it was a little silver Subaru BRZ. The gray pegasus eased off the throttle as the little silver Subie came up close behind him, before flashing its lights.

"Oh you wanna go? Let's go!" Rumble said. Challenge accepted.

The gray pegasus floored the gas pedal, the howl of the flat four echoing through the empty streets, the Subaru following suit; it felt a bit like a scene out of Initial D. Having started accelerating earlier, Rumble's ride began to slowly pull away. But he couldn't keep his eyes on the rearview for too long, as the next corner was coming up fast.

Hard on the brakes, downshift, slide through the corner; to his surprise, the BRZ pulled the same moves. Clearly, this driver was also familiar with his wheels. But the plucky pegasus wouldn't go down without a fight!

He opened up the throttle again on the next straight, and began to lengthen the gap, only for his opponent to quickly close it on the next turn. On the straights, Rumble would lengthen the gap because he could accelerate sooner, courtesy of being in front. But the Subaru would always brake later in the turns, and close the gap he had created, much to his frustration.

Well, that was about to change, buddy boy! Rumble went into the next corner with more speed than before. Too much speed. He cranked the wheel in the opposite direction and shifted into neutral as the tires went beyond their gripping capabilities, and he was soon rolling backwards.

The Subaru came to a rapid halt (rapid for something that had Prius tires) next to him. The window rolled down to reveal a rather plain brown colored colt with a black mane, roughly his age, but with tufted ears and yellow, dragon-like eyes. A bat pony. Rumble managed to not look surprised.

"You alright?" The bat pony asked in a rather deep pitch.

"Yes." Rumble replied.

"That was some good drivin' back there." The bat pony complimented.

"Thank you." Rumble said, blushing slightly.

"Do you happen to be interested in some real competition?"

"Well it would be nice to race with somepony on a similar performance level...so yes. Why?"

The brown colt scribbled something down on a piece of paper before tossing the paper to Rumble.

"Meet me there tomorrow at eleven AM for some real racing. I'm sure you'll like what you find."

With that, the little silver Subaru disappeared down the road and around a corner. Rumble looked curiously at the paper, then back at the direction the silver sports car had gone. Little did he know that this would be the start of a new chapter in his life.