The Pride of Racing

As he walked into the V.I.P. area High Slide noticed several other ponies there. Friends and families of the drivers, several high class ponies, and many other important ponies. But, he was looking for one pony in particular. He wanted to show her around the track. All of a sudden a pink pony with sky blue eyes came seemingly out of nowhere and said, ”Hi High! I had to say that, I thought would be really, really, funny! Oh, yeah. Twilight’s over here.” The pink pony said, then bounced out sight.
High Slide was standing still, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He didn’t understand what that was about and he never would. Slide began to walk towards the spot that the pink pony had bounced off to, walking until he spotted the unicorn and her friends. Twilight walked up to him and began to speak.

“Hello, High Slide. The girls and I were talking and we were just wondering if you could show us around the track?” Twilight asked, somewhat ironically. High Slide just sat still and nodded. Then, a white unicorn began walking towards High Slide.

“High Slide may I talk to you for a moment please?” the unicorn asked.

“Rarity, what are you doing?” Twilight asked, confused.
High Slide looked at both mares and wasn’t quite sure what to think. Rarity pulled him to the side of the room where nopony was. She began looking at him with fierce eyes and spoke softly, ”High Slide, I will say this as plainly as possible. My friends and I are glad that Twilight has a coltfriend, well sort of. But if you do anything that may cause her harm in anyway, my friends, her family, and I will destroy you,” the unicorn finished demonically, then added, “am I understood?” High Slide looked fearful and all he could do was nod. The stallion decided it would be in his best interest to walk to where there would be witnesses. He walked towards the group of ponies gathered by the door. Twilight had told him he hadn’t been introduced to any of her friends properly. Twilight sat in between them as she prepared her introduction speech.
“You’ve met Pinkie Pie,” She pointed to the pink pony, ”and Rarity, the others are Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack.” She had pointed to each one respectively as she spoke. High Slide figured he should mind his manners around these mares as best he could.

The group walked towards the garage area, and on their way they saw several famous ponies. Much to Rainbow Dash’s chagrin they got to see two wonderbolts setting a table. High Slide was talking to Twilight for a moment and Rainbow Dash decided she would go to talk with the wonderbolts. The wonderbolts setting there were Spitfire and Soarin’. Rainbow was having a fangirl moment, but she managed to keep her cool. The cyan pegasus walked towards the two ponies.
“Hello, Spitfire. Hello, Soarin’.” Rainbow had spoken with a hint of excitement in her voice, she had met these ponies three times before and yet she still couldn’t keep from being excited to see them.
“Hello, Rainbow Dash. How are you?” Spitfire asked, smiling.
“I’ve been doing great, my friends and I managed to get tickets to this race in surprisingly short notice.” Rainbow told them. Spitfire just smiled.
“ And how, may I ask, was this?” Spitfire inquired, looking at soarin’ who was eating a pie.
“ Last night we met one of the racers at a bar and he got us tickets.” Rainbow responded nonchalantly. Spitfire raised an eyebrow, trying to process this.
“Rainbow, which one was it?” Spitfire asked.
“High Slide, why?” Rainbow asked.
“No reason.” Spitfire said, sipping her coffee. Spitfire put down the cup and looked at Rainbow and sighed.
“ Listen Rainbow, High Slide isn’t exactly a great stallion. He is a nice guy, but has a few skeletons in his closet. So keep a close eye on him, okay?” Spitfire spoke with a voice full of worry.
“ Yes, Spitfire.” Rainbow answered

Twilight watched in horror as a car had rolled upside down and caught fire. How it caught on fire she didn’t understand but couldn’t bring herself to ask. The medics were doing their best to move the body. The racer had been thrown a few feet away from the car and landed in some grass. His riding mechanic had been seriously injured as well. The car was totaled for all she could tell. Twilight looked at High Slide and noticed him having a solemn frown. The grisly scene in front of them was a lot to take in.

“ High Slide?” Twilight spoke, finally finding her voice. High Slide came out of his trance when she said his name.

“ Yes, Twilight?” Slide said calmly.

“ Does this bother you?”

“ It does, but I’ve gotten used to death.”

“ This happens a lot?”

“ around me it does.”

Twilight asked to go and find their friends. High Slide led her back through the garage. Neither said a word as they walked side by side. Twilight had to ask him something. And she wanted to know now.

“ How did that car catch on fire?” Twilight asked. She knew it was not unheard of, but typically a car can only catch fire from outside force.

“ A new fuel. It’s an experimental one, Some drivers use it. However, it’s not entirely legal and many suspect it may have caused a number of deaths. Not safe by any means, last year one of my only friends used it. His car crashed and caught on fire and he got trapped.” High Slide answered solemnly.

“ I’m sorry to hear about that, but have you ever used it?” Twilight asked, trying to make it sound as sincere as possible.

“ Once, long ago. Can we change the subject?” High Slide said, Politely telling her to shut up.

“ Okay, any family?” Twilight asked.

“ all deceased.” Slide said flatly.

“ What happened?”

“ long story.” High Slide didn’t feel like going into details and prayed to Celetia that Twilight would let it go.

“ I’ve got time.” Twilight responded. The stallion sighed, as always a mare would cause him trouble and not even typical trouble.

“ I figure I’ll have to tell you eventually so hear it goes. When I was a foal I looked up to my father as most young colts do. My mother was loving and kind, my father was strict but made sure me and my brother knew we were loved. My father raced cars for a living and made some good money. We had a big farm and the view was beautiful. Overlooking Canterlot the nights were even more beautiful than days. We were close as a family, it wasn’t until I was older that I knew how fortunate I was. I did fairly well in school, so did my brother.I wanted to be a racecar driver like my father and he wished I didn’t. However, He bought me a small cart type of vehicle.I got challenged to a race by the resident bully. I won and got my cutie mark. Dad was proud of that. He took me to a race afterwards, as a present. However, one of the racers were killed in a crash. I realized he wanted me to see what I was getting into. When I was twelve he told me he was proud of me. My mom had become ill and needed special attention. He was gonna attempt to win the one race that eluded him, the Ponyville five-hundred. I was still pretty young, when we got a letter. It told said my dad died of injuries sustained in the crash. After that, our mother began to slowly pass away. My brother and I got into the streets. We committing robberies and other crimes. We even sold drugs later on. Mom had met another stallion who abused her daily. He was also a bad drunk. Mom passed away and we were left on our own. Eventually, we saw that stallion again half passed out. I just left him there to die. Later, my brother overdosed and walked to a bridge. I was about to do one last thing, kill myself. But, a stallion stopped me and we’ve been friends ever since.” High Slide finished his tale. His eyes were a bit watery.

“ I’m sorry I asked.” Twilight said somewhat regretting her question. She tried to think of a different topic, but nothing came. Eventually, a pink pony came to her aid, followed by a yellow pegasus.

“ HI GUYS!” Pinkie shouted, She hopped out of nowhere and had dragged Fluttershy with her. The pegasus looked extremely uncomfortable, and more than likely didn’t want to be there.

“ H-H-Hi umm Pinkie I don’t think this is a great idea.” Fluttershy spoke in a whisper. But the pony managed to drag all three away from the table and to who knows where.