MLP-Kiss Me Slowly

“Okay, there’s at least forty ponies racing here today counting myself, so if you’re one of the new ones, could you please step forward?” I saw three ponies step forward, away from three cars; I assumed they belonged to them. The cars that they had stepped away from definitely looked like street racing cars; one was a white and green 2000 Acura Integra Type R, another a black 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer and the last was a maroon 1995 Mazda RX-7 FD. All were completely customized with spoilers, hoods, vinyls and other visual parts. “Alright, welcome to Import Knights! You three will have a great time here. I’m Silver Flare, the current so-called “King” of the organization. Why don’t you three come on up here and introduce yourselves to the fans?” Only one of them moved, and I noticed that it was a mare; by my guess, she was about nineteen years of age. Her mane was emerald green, as was her tail, and her body was completely white. Her cutie mark was easy to see; it was four emeralds forming a diamond shape. She was a Pegasus; it seemed a bit odd, a Pegasus that raced in a car rather than by flight; then again, Gold always wanted to race with my ride, so I guess it wasn’t as odd as I thought. She had a huge smile plastered across her muzzle as she stepped onto the stage. W looked at her oddly before she spoke.

“My name’s Emerald,” she said. Her name seemed fitting. “I’m a huge fan of you, Mr. Flare.” I was flattered.

“Please, call me Silver,” I said. “So, how did you end up here at Import Knights?”

“Well, when I lived back in Manehattan, I was just a street racer. After I got arrested, I was released after my family paid my bail. It was then that I decided it was time to start making a name for myself with the fans instead of the police. So I looked for an organization to race in, just to start off. I came across this and found out you were the King of it; I immediately joined. You were who inspired me to start racing in the first place, Silver. And I thank you for that.” I smiled a bit.

“Heh, I’m very flattered,” I said. “Thank you, Emerald. Now, tell us which car here is yours.” I could already guess which one it was.

“It’s the Acura Integra over there,” she said, pointing with her hoof out to the three cars I had seen earlier. The crowd ooh’d and aah’d at her car, which I must admit was expertly customized. I don’t think that I myself could have done much better. It had no wide body kit; instead, it had a custom front bumper, rear bumper and side skirts. The spoiler was not of an aftermarket Gentera style like I was used to seeing; she must have had connections back in Manehattan. The rims were Enkei RT-6 inset rims, and the vinyls were what made the car green; the base color was white, from the looks of it. The decals I couldn’t make out from the stage, but I imagined that they sponsored what was under the hood of that Integra. I whistled.

“You have a beautiful car, if I must say so myself,” I said. “I’ll bet that its performance is equally impressive!”

“Oh, it is!” Emerald said, smirking slightly. “I customized the engine myself.” I smiled.

“It sounds like you took after me a little with your ride,” I said. “I built my engine custom as well.”

“Yeah…,” Emerald said, blushing a little.

“Haha, don’t worry about it,” I said. “I can’t wait to see how you handle that Acura on the track!” Emerald smiled. “Now, why don’t you two there who haven’t come up here yet get on up here? I don’t bite!” One of the other ponies took a step forward for a moment before stepping back next to the RX-7. “Aw, come on, don’t be shy!” Finally the two eased up and walked up to the stage. One of them was an earth pony, the other another Pegasus. The Pegasus definitely looked like he had a record with the cops; he had three piercings in his right ear, one on his lower lip and a few tattoos scattered around his sky blue body. His black mane was cut a bit on one side, giving him a delinquent manecut; his tail looked the same. His cutie mark was a smoking tire, and the rim design within the tire resembled that of a Koing Rewind style. He looked to be about 19 or 20 years old.

The earth pony looked a bit younger than me, about 16. Unlike the Pegasus, he had no piercings or tattoos. He was completely untouched. He did have a pair of sunglasses on his head, though. They resembled mine a bit, though the rims were black instead of silver. His body was a dark shade of cyan, and his mane and tail were lavender; they had obviously been altered from the original color. His cutie mark was hard to see; from what I could make out, it looked to be a logo of some sort. Both ponies stepped onto the stage, the Pegasus first. He stood next to me, and Emerald backed off, a bit of a frightened look on her face. I looked at my friends, and they too seemed uneasy. Gold has his wings stretched out, Shadow’s horn glowed a bit with magic energy, and Blades had his hoof near the hilt of his knife. I will admit that I was even a bit uneasy myself.

“So, what’s your name there?” I asked the Pegasus, doing my best to hide the fear in my voice.

“It’s Vector,” he said. “Vector Kayten.” Contrary to his appearance, his voice sounded caring and warmhearted at the same time. I felt my muscles instantly relax.

“Well, Vector, how did you end up here?” I asked him.

“I’ve been a racer since I was about fourteen,” he said. “I’ve got a pretty big record with the police, and I wanted a fresh start, so I came here.”

“Cool, cool. So which one of the rides out there is yours?”

“If you look out there next to Emerald’s Integra, my car is on the immediate left of it.” I looked out and saw the Lancer. It looked rather stock, with only one or two vinyls and the only real difference on visual parts were a spoiler on the back and the rims had been changed from the stock rims to a set of Enkei Victory rims that had been spray painted black. Though it was mostly stock, the car did look very cool in that way.

“Ah, so it’s the Lancer?” I asked. “It sure does look fairly stock, but I’ll bet that it ain’t! How long have you had it?”

“Pretty much my whole life,” he said. “It was my parent’s car until they got a new one and gave me this one, so I turned it into my personal racing vehicle.”

“Sweet. Now you don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, but how many times have you been in custody of the police?” Vector sighed as though he regretted what he was about to tell us.

“…Thirty-five,” he said. The crowd gasped. I felt my eyes widen. “My car has been impounded at least two hundred times as well.” I whistled. “Canterlot’s Royal Guards have also gotten me six times….” The crowd went completely silent. “But I’m trying to change all of that. That’s why I came here.”

“Well, I’m sure that you’ll do well here, Vector,” I said. “Just make sure not to get into any more trouble; we don’t want ya unable to participate in the races here. Come on crowd, give him a hoof!” The crowd applauded nervously, and Vector motioned for the microphone. I handed it to him and he spoke.

“Look, I know what everypony here is thinking,” he said, “and you’re right. I probably don’t belong here. I mean, look at me. I’ve wasted my life behind bars for at least six years. But I’m really trying to put my life back together. So please, give me a chance. I can show you that I’m not a bad pony. I may appear differently, but I’m actually kind-hearted once you get to know me. So please, give me one chance, that’s all I ask.” The crowd was silent for a moment. Then I heard one pony clapping their hooves together, and after a few moments, the whole crowd was, and a few ponies were cheering. Vector smiled and handed the microphone back to me.

“Haha, that certainly convinced the crowd! Fans, give it up for this guy!” The applause and cheering continued for a couple more minutes as Vector then walked off of the stage, and Emerald followed. She had a smile on her face; I knew what it was for, and I smirked a little. “Alright, and with that we’ve got only one more racer who has yet to introduce himself! So, what’s your name?”

“Storm,” he said simply.

“Alright, Storm, how’d you find your way here to Import Knights?” I asked him.

“Well, I just started racing a little while back,” he said, “and when I found out about the group, I decided to start racing here. I’ve only raced about three times before, and they weren’t exactly what you guys would call “legal”. However, they were on back roads, so I was safe from the police. But I didn’t want to start racing illegally, so I looked for an organization that fit me. This one turned up, and because I happen to have a Japanese car I joined. I also then found out that you were the King of the organization, and I’m a fan of you, so I decided ‘Hey, I’ll go ahead and join! I’ll get to meet Silver Flare.’”

“Wow, this is probably the most flattery I’ve ever gotten in one day,” I joked, rousing a bit of laughter from the crowd. “Anyway, since the other two have already told us what their cars are, I’m going to take a guess at which one is yours; that maroon Mazda RX-7 FD?”

“You happen to be correct,” Storm said, smiling a little bit. “She’s my pride and joy over there. I’ve had that car for as long as I can remember. My parents already had it when I was born, and from then they eventually gave it to me because they didn’t use it anymore, but the car had sentimental value to me.” I looked at it a bit more closely and saw that the car itself had a wide body kit, a rather tall spoiler, a two tone body vinyl which made part of the car black, decals and the rims were changed to a set of Enkei Shotuko rims.

“Haha, and now it’s just a beast, isn’t it?” I asked. “By the looks of it, that bad boy will just tear up the competition!”

“Oh, she will, believe me.”

“Well, that’s all the time we’ve got, it looks like the first race is getting ready to start! Just look at all those cars out there on the track!” I counted the vehicles. One, two, three…. Wait a minute. “Wait, there’s a car missing! There are only three competitors! I guess I’m the fourth! I’ll talk to ya in a few, crowd!” The crowd cheered as Storm and I trotted off the stage, and I hopped into my car and sped towards the track where the other three cars awaited. I drifted to a stop next to a teal Nissan 200SX. The drivers of the other vehicles stepped out of their cars as I stepped out of mine.

“Flare,” I heard a familiar voice say. I looked past the 200SX and saw a familiar black Nissan 370Z. Standing next to it was my old rival, Uri Fastback. The fiery orange stallion was smiling mischievously. I smirked a little.

“Uri,” I said. “Still drivin’ that 370, I see.”

“Of course I am. I am surprised you are still driving that old S13. It would be a shame if something were to happen to it…” His Russian accented voice vaguely sounded as though he was planning something; I immediately became suspicious.

“What are you planning, Fastback?” I asked him. He just kept that dumb looking smile on his face and remained silent as a starter walked up to the starting line.

“Alright, drivers, as you know, this is a sprint race, point A to point B,” the starter explained. “No holds barred, but foul play will not be tolerated. Now, start your engines!” I stepped back into my car and started up the engine, revving it up all the way and doing a small burnout.

“And it looks like the racers are ready, fans!” I heard W’s voice yelling through the loudspeakers. “Wait a minute, there’s a sudden change in events! Our very own champion Silver Flare will be racing the former champion of the group, Uri Fastback! This is it, fans! Nissan versus Nissan! Only one will triumph! I hate to say it, but the other two drivers on the track will be battling it out for third place!” I smirked a little as the starter raised a flag. I revved up my engine again, this time to the point where a bit of fire came out of my exhaust tip. I heard the other three engines revving up as well, getting ready to launch off of the starting line.

The starter dropped the flag, and the race was on. I immediately slammed my hoof to the floor and flew off of the starting line, with Uri in a very close second. I slowly pulled away from Uri because I had the upper hand in acceleration, but he quickly caught up due to his vehicle’s higher top speed. I kept him right next to me as we went around a sharp curve, which we both drifted around. I then dropped down a gear as another sharp curve came up on me, but Uri just kept going full speed, jumping ahead of me for a few seconds. I drifted around the second corner as well, but Uri did not, instead choosing to just take it as a normal turn. Because of his poor decision, I took the lead again, drifting past him and pulling away from him quickly, heading up onto the banked curve. I shifted into sixth gear again, quickly reaching my top speed. Uri began to gain distance on me, but I made sure to always keep him directly behind me. He always stayed in my rearview, and I managed to determine all of his moves to try and get around me.

But suddenly, he psyched me out. He started to go the left, but then immediately counter-steered and drifted around me on the right, coming up right beside me as we approached the final stretch of road heading to the finish line. He began to pull ahead slightly, but I used my nitrous and shot ahead of him for a few brief moments. He then used his own nitrous and shot right back up next to me. He suddenly moved away from my car, but I saw what he was going to try and do.

Slam my car and total it, but make it look like he simply lost control. Even if he was a nice pony in general, he was a bit of a dirty racer when he wanted to win. I slammed on my brakes and dropped to second gear as he began to turn his car back towards mine. He didn’t see this happen soon enough and he was going too fast to stop, and he simply plowed his car into the wall next to me, completely rendering the front end unrecognizable. I saw a lot of fluids leaking from the engine as the vehicle began smoking. Uri opened his door and fell out onto the ground, holding his muzzle in pain as I stopped next to him.

“Need a lift?” I asked him through my open window. The Russian stallion looked up at me and nodded. “Hop in. The other two are too far back to cause me any trouble of losing now.” He trotted around to the passenger side door, opened it and got in, shutting the door behind him.

“Spasibo,” Uri said to me. “I am sorry for what I tried to do to you.”

“It’s okay, Uri,” I said. “Just don’t do that again, okay? We don’t need either one of our cars totaled.” I did a burnout and sped away from the smoking wreckage of Uri’s 370Z, which he looked back it with sorrow. I noticed this and tried to reassure him. “Hey, your car’s gonna be just fine. Seriously, either give it to the mechanics here or give it to me, either one of us will have that baby up and running in a matter of a day or so.” Uri seemed to relax. “Granted that it’ll take longer for the body work, considering how mashed your entire front end was.” I crossed the finish line and stopped, doing a long burnout before spinning my car around, waiting for the other two drivers to cross the line.

It took a minute or two, but finally, the other two racers crossed the line, the 200SX before the other car, which I finally saw clearly; it was a Toyota Corolla AE-86. I smirked a little as the other two drivers stepped out of their cars as I stepped out of mine.

“What happened to that 370Z?” One of them asked.

“Totaled it,” I replied.

“I lost control of the car,” Uri lied. “Stupid tires…. Should have gotten them replaced before I came here today.” I glanced at him, and he looked back for a moment.

“And it looks like all the racers have crossed the line, but we’re gonna need that tow truck out on the track!” I heard W’s voice say over the loudspeaker. “It seems like Fastback just couldn’t handle the speed and lost control! It’s a good thing that Silver nearly stopped; if he hadn’t, neither of those cars would have made it across the line!” I smirked a little. “And what Silver did afterwards just shows everypony just how warm-hearted the big guy is.” Uri smirked a little bit, his red eyes glinting in the morning sun. “Now, if the racers would return to the arena we’ll commence the next race in about twenty minutes, which includes one of the newest drivers we have out there, Vector Kayten!” I heard the crowd cheering as I jumped back into my car, as did Uri. I then sped off the track and headed back towards the main setup.

I trotted up onto the stage as W tried to keep the crowd entertained while the next race was getting ready, as well as while the tow truck was pulling what remained of Uri’s 370Z off of the track.

“Hey, W, ya need a break?” I asked him.

“Hold on a moment crowd,” he said into the mic. He then turned to me. “What’s that mate?”

“If you need a break, I’ll take over for a few minutes,” I said. “The crowd loves me as an MC as much as they do you.” He smiled.

“Thanks mate,” he said. “I’ll take ya up on that offer.” He turned back to the crowd. “Well, I’m gonna hand off the mic to Silver Flare for a few minutes while I take a quick ten minute break, ‘cause if I don’t get somethin’ to eat I’m gonna faint! I am the W, and this is the Import Knights! And here’s the mighty King himself!” He gave me the mic, and I spoke into it.

“Alright, so while W’s going off to stuff his face, I’m gonna take his place for now,” I said. This roused a round of laughter from the crowd. I saw W look back at me with a look on his face that said “I’m going to get you back for that” as he walked away. I simply smirked and then turned back to the crowd. “So, even though the race day is barely underway, I can tell it’s gonna be an exciting day! I do feel back for Uri, though, it’s a shame what happened to his car. Which reminds me, how many of you out there are Nissan fans?” At least half the crowd cheered. “And you there, what’s your favorite Nissan model?” The pony I asked was a colt of seven or eight years of age, with a very light azure colored body and a slightly darker shade of blue for his mane and tail. He had no cutie mark right now.

“The 1994 Nissan 240SX S13!” he replied, beaming. I smiled.

“And I’m guessing it’s because I drive one, right, my friend?” I asked him. He grinned from ear to ear.

“Yeah!!” he said, jumping in the air. I smiled.

“You’re a big time fan of mine, eh?” I asked. He nodded excitedly. “Well, what say ya come with me when W comes back and I’ll take ya for a ride you won’t forget.” His eyes went wide as his smile got even wider.

“Really?!” he practically yelled. The crowd was roaring a bit. “I have to go check with my parents first…” He ran off for a few moments, and then came back, his eyes gleaming with excitement. “They said yes! WOO-HOO!!!!” The crowd cheered as I laughed and the colt jumped with joy.

“Haha, awesome!” I said. “I’ll see if I can get W back early so we can head out for a spin before the next race starts up! Which also reminds me, I’ve got at least three ponies tagged for pre-race favorites right now, and that’s Emerald, Vector and Storm! Who else agrees with me out there?!” The crowd cheered. I then saw W coming back up to the stage. “And it looks like W is back from his snack time, so I’m gonna head out to the track before the next race starts! I’m Silver Flare, and we’ve got a lot more coming today! You’re not gonna want to give up your seat so stick around! And here’s that big, lovable, and clumsy British stallion, W!” The crowd was in a mix of cheering and laughter as W took the mic from me and I trotted off the stage. “Come with me, my man! What’s your name, by the way?”

“Azure!” he said.

“Ah, fitting,” I said, chuckling a bit. “I’m guessing there’s something behind your name?”

“Well, it’s mainly because of my body color,” he said. “But I don’t mind! You’re named after your body color, and so is your friend Gold!”

“Ah, so you’ve been talking to him?” I asked. “He’s a bit crazy and wild, but he’s a good hearted pony.”

“I can’t believe that I’m gonna get into my favorite car with my hero!” Azure said. I was stunned a bit by this comment. I then smiled as we approached my navy blue beauty. I looked at Azure.

“You ready for this?” I asked him.

“YEAH!!!” Azure said. I smirked. He reminded me of myself when I was a colt.

“Then hop in!” I said, opening up the passenger side door. He immediately jumped right into the car, and I laughed as I made my way around to the other side, getting in and starting up the engine. I revved up the engine to the point where flames came out of the exhaust for the third time that day, then did a burnout, throwing up a smokescreen and moving forward ever so slowly until I finally let off the brakes. My car shot forward, leaving tire tracks on the tarmac as I roared out onto the track with Azure yelling in absolute joy.

The race day continued normally after my little drive with one of my number one fans, though Uri Fastback wasn’t seen on the track again; but it was pretty obvious he wouldn’t be out there for the rest of the day. Emerald, Vector and Storm were absolutely tearing up the competition, as was I. Eventually the only ones in the whole race day who hadn’t lost a race all day were myself and those three. Which could only mean one thing.

It was going to come down to a showdown between the street racers and myself. I stood on the stage with the other three, and my friends were right in the front of the crowd, yelling out my name and encouraging words. W was back on the mic at this point, and he was just stalling a little bit before we had to go out and race the final race of the day; the deciding race to see who won. So far, Emerald, Storm, Vector and I were all tied for first place, and the winner of the next race would take the whole thing. He’d already interviewed us to see who was feeling the most confident and who really thought they would win, especially since they were up against the one and only Silver Flare. Right now, W was reliving some moments from when he had first started announcing for the organization.

“Well, there certainly seems to be a TON of ponies of all ages out there today!” W said. “I’ll bet there’s at least eight, maybe nine thousand from all corners of the world here today! I remember when I first started out here twelve years ago; it was a good day when two hundred ponies showed up! And back then we didn’t have all of the things we had now; we had lookouts posted all over the place, and if anypony saw something on the track, we’d have to haul whatever it was off of it using our bare hooves, no matter if it was a nail or a car! And I remember the first day I ever saw our King Silver Flare race here!” The crowd cheered at the mention of my name, and I smiled as my friends cheered. Several mares throughout the crowd were absolutely screaming my name, and I laughed a little. “I’ve got an idea! Why don’t we watch one of the very first races Silver ever had here, when his car looked stock but it sure wasn’t under the hood!” The crowd cheered even louder. “Alright, let’s take a look!” We all turned our attention to the large screen which normally displayed racer info, but now it had cut to black.

A moment later, it came into focus, with the screen focusing on the street for a moment before it pulled up, showing a chartreuse Mazda RX-8. I heard W’s voice coming through from the video footage.

“Alright everypony,” the audio of W’s voice said, “we’ve got an exciting matchup here on the 13-20 today! We’ve got one of our most well-known racers here, Clutch Flywheel! He absolutely kills the quarter mile! I’ll bet that if his current winning streak keeps up that he’ll find himself lining up next to our champion, Uri Fastback himself!” I heard the engine rev, and it didn’t sound too powerful compared to most engines I’d heard, but there was a very audible turbo whine. I then heard a familiar engine coming from off screen, and the camera turned to the left.

I saw my 240SX before I had really put a lot of work, cash and time into customizing the exterior. The body kit had been slightly altered and the rims had been changed from stock, and the carbon fiber spoiler just barely showed in the corner of the screen. However, the engine sounded almost exactly the same as it did now, just with a slightly less audible turbo whine.

“And there lining up next to him is a new addition to our group of racers here at Import Knights, Silver… uh, where’s his name on the clipboard…” I laughed a bit. “Flare! Silver Flare! Sorry folks, I’ve never been good with names. Anyway, he’s just begun his racing career, and from the looks of it just started tuning his car! But Celestia, does that engine sound powerful! He’s obviously dropped some major cash on that baby, woo! We’re in for a show today, folks!” The camera panned out and showed both the cars, and then the angle changed as Clutch and I both began heating our tires, launching smoke up in all directions. “Look at that smoke! That is just swee-he-he-heat!” The tires of both cars stopped spinning as the starting tree lit up and began counting down to the launch. “And the tree is lit, everypony! The race is about to get underway!” The tree hit the green light, and both of our cars launched off of the starting line, mine popping into a wheelie and the engine roaring as my car immediately jumped ahead of Clutch’s. “And there they go! Wow, Flare is off to an AMAZING start; I’ve never known anypony with the performance to get an S13 to do a wheelie!” My car flew down the drag strip as Clutch desperately tried to catch up, but my car was already across the line, skidding to a stop and swinging around to see my opponent go across the line a few seconds later. “And that’s the race! I can’t believe it folks, I just can’t believe it! Clutch Flywheel, a known racer, has just gone down to a rookie, Silver Flare! And his time! Celestia, he’s just broken the rookie record for fastest time down the quarter mile! The previous record was 8.68 seconds, and Flare absolutely SHATTERED the record by a full second! 7.68 seconds! This stallion is definitely a prodigy!” The footage then cut to black, and the crowd was cheering loudly. I smirked and looked at W.

“And you said you’ve always known my name,” I said to him. The crowd burst into laughter.

“Okay, you got me, mate,” W replied. “I told a little lie. But I didn’t know they were gonna play that clip, I swear!”

“Riiiiiight,” I said, rolling my eyes. The crowd kept laughing as W shook his head.

“Well, I’m sorry, but it was your first day of racing, you know,” he said.

“I know; I’m just givin’ ya a hard time, ya British goof!” I said, hoofing him on the back playfully. “Oh, before I forget; what happened to Clutch? I haven’t seen him around at all for the last six months or so…”

“Oh, that dumb bugger went out racing in Manehattan and got caught. He’s in the slammer right now.”

“Well, that’s what he gets, I guess. Now come on, let’s get back to the racing here! How much time we got before Emerald, Vector, Storm and I have to get back on the track and settle this?”

“Well, I’d say about five minutes, and I’ll bet I know exactly who the crowd is rooting for!” he said. “Who are you rooting for, crowd?! Go ahead and scream it out!”

SILVER!!!!!!” the crowd yelled, then began cheering. I smiled. But then another name rose from the crowd. “EMERALD!!!!” they yelled. W even looked confused.

“Well, it looks like they can’t decide between the two of you!” W said to me. “So go out there and prove to them who really deserves to go home today with the overall victory!” I grinned as I looked at Emerald, who was also smiling. The four of us headed off of the stage down to our cars, got in them and sped out onto the track.