The Fast, Dangerous and the Furious

Chapter Twenty Two: Always Moving

On another rainy day, of which I was getting sick of, I threw the garage shutters open letting them rattle against the roof while I flipped the light switch on. Sitting in front of me was the Eclipse, to my left in another garage was my Mustang. Which one which one. A hulking figure stepped by me speaking up with an incredibly deep voice. “When you’re not working on the Eclipse, you’re working on the Mustang. If you can’t find the right tool here mister undecided,” I questioned that last statement, “then you don’t belong near a glider.”

Mister undecided? I’m undecided. I slowly put my gaze on both my gliders. Oh. OH! Right. He’s talking about Pegasi Import versus Earth pony muscle! I chuckled at that.

Glider gave me a playful nudge before she slid underneath her 240SX. Candle Light walked out from the door leading to the other side of the store. As she walked by she whispered, “He owns you now.” I thought you owned me? It was your glider. Oh, who am kidding, this entire family owns me now.

Popping open the hood I got to work on my Mustang. So far everything needed a little bit of everything. The engine had a few cracked pistons revealed after I used my transparency spell. It took me several around the clock hours, of which I was pretty sure the clock was just spinning around to mock me, before I got the engine up with a loud roar.

I went back and forth between each glider after they started presenting problems my inner pony didn’t have the fight to tackle. Every couple minutes I would pace back between them noting the same parts I would need to buy. Only once was I interrupted by a loud thunder clap that even managed to ruffle Glider’s feathers. Sometime between the thunder and me writing down parts I noticed Diesel Fuel had disappeared with his two other renegades. Glider dropped a few feathers down on my nose earning a sneeze. “Come on, break time,” she said with an energy drink in her hoof. I still don’t like these Celestia-awful drinks, but what the hell.

It took me under a minute to down the drink before throwing it into a trashcan. “So what’s your plan for the day?”

Glider shrugged. “Aside from fixing that beauty up, nothing. Well, keep you out of trouble.” I sarcastically laughed. My attention broke from Glider to get a glimpse at the clock. In about five minutes my body will have Pinkie Pie’s energy levels in it. “So how’d you become a gear head? You could use some work honestly, but you’ve got enough knowhow to handle yourself in a garage.” Her eyes were scanning my work the entire time she had be talking. I let my work speak for itself though. Never claimed to be a master mechanic, but I’ll let the world know I strive to be one.

Her question galloped around my head for several silent minutes. That was some ice I hadn’t crossed in a long time. “Well … see it all started with my father. Him and his friend were,” I squeezed my eyes shut trying to remember, “racing in the small circuit they had built in the pipes. Nothing fancy, but it got the job done. One day he took me there and it was love at first sight,” everything about racing I loved. The insane speed. That rush of winning. “The insanely hot,” I realized what I was saying out loud, “gliders.”

There was a look of bullshit-detection on Glider’s face.

Yes, I enjoyed staring at gliders … yeah. “Anyway, the point is that my father introduced me to racing. On the day of the small circuit race in the city, his friend slid around a turn with him, some guy tried to part them and made all three of them wipe out,” I paused remembering that day. The cheering crowd, the sirens, that toolshed. “My father got clipped, sliding straight into a toolshed that had very sharp tools. I’ll never forget that day.” It was one of the worst memoires from childhood. But enough about that, I buried that hatchet years ago.

Glider hummed sympathetically with what I was saying. Somehow it felt like she knew what I was talking about, I mean she was a former District pony like me so she knew what I meant. “I remember that race,” she spoke softly, carefully. “I’m so sorry, I had no idea you knew those stallions.” Huh, she was there. How about that? I guess you can be connected to ponies even before you meet them.

*** ***

Taking a swing from my Pegasus Breed, I took a look at the flatbed wagon I needed to return, which was strapped with boxes upon boxes of parts. The only thing that didn’t seem to fit was the nitrous bottles. That was going to be carried in my levitation field. Glider nudged me playfully while she took a chug out of her Full Throttle: NOS can. Her wing was pointing up at the sign, Always Moving Auto Parts.

Not only did it have a plethora of parts to choose from, it was beginning to feel like a second home, to which I would be spending ample amounts of time in. “We’re all loaded up!” Lucky called out to us while I strapped myself to the wagon. Lighting up my horn with a bright glow, my magic carefully lifted the box containing the NOS tanks up, which didn’t belong to me. I pulled out from the store loaded with new parts for both my gliders. “So, Runner, Earth pony muscle or Pegasi Import?” Dust kicked up from the wheels.

That’s a great question. “I like both.”

Glider flew next to me spitting the rest of her energy drink out. That put a smile on my face. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. No. You can’t like both of them. That’s not how it works,” Lucky teased while jumping on top of the flatbed. Vin joined him keeping his attention in the direction of Sugar Cube Corner.

I just shook my head letting him bombard me with every make-believe rule I was breaking. A sharp pain went through my head forcing me to snap my attention at the NOS box. UGH! I tipped the box to left to balance it out. It didn’t take a transparency spell to know those stupid bottles were bumping around inside. Knock it off, my inner pony shouted! The box tipped over to the right.

Vin reached up, pushing the box into a balanced position. “Yeah, I’ll admit I’m a bit fickle when it comes to picking a glider type, but man there’s just something about the way an import feels that just makes me melt for them. Muscle gliders though, man those give me the power I enjoy using,” I admitted. Vin squawked a laugh.

Glider silently agreed, but her face lit up more when I talked about muscle gliders. From the looks of it, our other two friends, including Candle Light, seemed to enjoy imports. “Yeah, Diesel Fuel’s a big muscle head, but don’t let that fool you. Believe me he’s an expert on every kind of glider, autowagon or anything else you can race with.” Sweet. Sounds like he knows his shit.

That reminded me of the coolest glider I had ever seen. It was owned by the same stallion that tested his gliders on that dirt path near the ruined bar. Hoofs down the best one he ever drove was the ’70 GTO painted as black as Luna’s beautiful mane. Not to mention it looked just as beautiful. Sorry Princess Luna, but that glider is sexy, kind of like you … oh I really hope she never hears me say that.

I felt my muzzle burning a little.

Engines. Gliders. Oh, yeah! The GTO! Man, that thing is more of a beast than that Mustang ever will be. Just from sitting at the bar I could practically feel the engine’s rumble shaking every broken bottle in the area. Just give that thing a blower and it would strike fear into Sombra himself! I’d love to race that machine just once. I voiced everything about the GTO, minus the Princess Luna bits, to every pony while I turned towards the market café.

Lucky seemed to respect everything I was saying. Same with the others. No trash talk, aside from a few bits that were really just meant as jokes and nothing more. “Now see, I’m an import stallion. I love the Skyline’s and Evo’s, but I have a real fine respect for the exotic super gliders and autowagons from Auhbu Dhabi,” Lucky admitted. Holy shit, damn. We’re talking the Edgisal Towers now. Man those rich ponies don’t shit around with their gliders. That place is way above Equestria’s paygrade. Seriously, that place makes this place look like a bucking dump. No, that’s too immature, the pictures make Equestria look like a dump.

If this were the old Equestria then we might be in some competition for the nicest place to live, but sadly, because of one stallion we lost. But enough about that, I wanna talk about those super gliders! Zero to sixty in under four seconds, minimum, top speeds of up to two hundred thirty wing power! Stops on a dime. Is any pony else around here getting aroused by this? No. Right … neither was I.

Lucky was in deep thought about those gliders as well. I could picture what he was picturing, a fast glider unlike any other blazing down the desert streets. “I hear DJ-Pon3 owns a Koenigsegg Agera One.” My jaw dropped. I closed it when I realized I had no idea what that was. Seriously, the books from my old living arrangements had jack shit to say about super gliders other than the fact they were fast. “She won a Cannonball Run once with that very same glider. Supposedly she got it from a friend, but I can’t tell you anything else since I don’t personally know her.” DJ-Pon3 is a she? You learn something new every day. “I think she stills takes it to special events in Maretonia and Saddle Arabia. Don’t know how she gets out of Equestria though since they closed us off to the world.”

That actually did raise some questions. I know for a fact that money can’t get you out of here. You could have all the money in the world and no pony would dare let you leave here. If they know you’re from Equestria then they know you have spores. Those spores get out then we have a problem on a global scale.

I started to question how Not Important got into Equestria. Then again if she’s trying to escape something from her past it would explain why she moved from her former home to here. Well, I probably won’t ever see her again, best not to dwell on her past.

We all pulled into the market café, notably with less tilting boxes then I was expecting, and unloaded everything. There was a lot I needed to do. “Come on,” Glider galloped over to my Mustang, “Let’s get the wingspan prayed open. Vin, Lucky, you guys get started on the Eclipse.” I trotted up to the left wing while Glider gripped the right. Once I had a stable grip we pulled!

AGH!

STUPID THING WON’T BUDGE! COME ON! UGH! COME ON!

We both looked at each other, practically holding our breaths at this point. Glider let go with a loud exhale. “Alright, hang on,” she said with a pant. Then it hit me. I wasn’t using my telekinesis. We gripped the wingspan again, this time with my horn lit. “Pull!” With another mighty heave we slowly pulled the wings out inch by, metallic screeching, inch. Dust clouds rose up making me sneeze. Giving the wingspan one last good pull, I fell back while the rest of the wingspan ejected out.

That was harder than it needed to be.

I leaned back against the cabinets staring directly at rust covered metal on the verge of falling apart. My horn remained lit up and levitated a few different spray bottles sitting above Glider’s head. Rust-Be-Gone, was written on the label. I tossed one to Glider then started spraying my half of the wing span. A large shadow fell over us making me cautiously look up at the hulking pony, “Just let that sit for a while.” Diesel Fuel’s voice echoed around the tiny space. “Vin, Lucky, we got ourselves a street race tonight,” he said while turning his attention to me. “Runner, once you’ve got the Eclipse done head up to Sweet Apple Acres.” Glider waved her hooves around, leaning against the wingspan, trying to get the location of our race. At least I assumed I was racing. “Get this stallion ready, tonight were hitting up Fillydelphia!”

Which means I’m racing! My time has come bitches!

*** ***

It. Is. Done.

I repeated those words to myself several times while staring at my shadow along the white picket fence beside me. My thoughts were scattered between the quick fixes I made to some of parts connecting the wingspan to the blocks. Should be fine, but a test run will give me more data to work with. I came to a stop in front of a sign claiming this to be Sweet Apple Acres.

Looking around at hundreds of apple trees I began to notice Diesel Fuel wasn’t anywhere to be found. Well, no sense in waiting for him if I know how to get started. My hoof drew a line through the dirt at the edge of the fence. I looked up at the computer screen blinking to my right near the radio. With a slight tap the entire thing lit up displaying a model of my Eclipse with every new part I had added to it including a layout of the wingspan. So far everything was in the green area except for the wingspan.

“Looks like there’s some stress built up near the center rod.”

My hoof tapped the screen, enlarging the schematic image. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. I exited out of the schematics making a mental note to check it out later if I had time. A loud rumble caught my attention while I dropped four horseshoes down at my hooves. The shoes opened with a metallic hiss and closed with the same sound while all of my hooves slid perfectly into them.

A new accessory that hadn’t been in the District were horseshoes that were padded at the bottom to act like the tires on an autowagon. Sadly, I still have no idea what the hell an autowagon is. It’s like I was living under a freaking rock! The loud rumbling behind me pulled up next to my Eclipse. I looked dead at a glider with a matte grey paint job. A 68’ Charger. “So you’re into earth pony muscle,” I spoke as casually as I could to Diesel Fuel. He gave me a nod lining himself up to the dirt line. Import versus muscle a never ending tale.

Twisting the key in the ignition slot, my engine started up with a loud hum only to be drown out by the ‘68 Charger’s roar. I took another glance at my computer screen, everything was still checking out to be good. For the most part. My back hoof hit the gas pedal, revving the engine as loud as it could. “You ready for this, kid?”

“I might surprise you,” I said facing forward.

We both revved our engines making the sign hanging above us shake. I knew that wasn’t from my engine though. That was all Diesel Fuel. “First one to reach Ponyville wins. Let’s take the long way.” I nodded. My horn lit up and fired a flare off the lit up red. It turned yellow. Green.

VEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUU!

Diesel Fuel flung his fore hooves into the air, taking only two hoof steps forward while I pulled in front of him. My eyes widened at how much power he was putting out to pull that off. His fore hooves touched down pulling forward faster than I could get away. Taking a look at my wing speedometer I was clocking in at close to fifty wing power. Tearing my attention back to the road my back hoof hit the gas pedal back pushing me closer to sixty wing power.

In the matter of a second, Diesel Fuel put himself right next to me, loud rumbling drown out my Eclipse’s engine with little effort. Kicking the gas pedal back further my glider passed sixty five wing power while we approached a turn that was marked as being a quarter mile away from us. My back hoof hit the brake pedal and I slid towards the turn. Diesel Fuel let off the gas going for a wide turn, which was expected since he was boasting that much horsepower.

Dust flew up from under me while I tried sliding my closest to the fences edge. The horseshoes under me slid out inch by inch until I was almost ramming into Diesel Fuel’s Charger. He let off the gas, falling back into second while the edge of my spoiler hit the fence, chipping some of it off. I took one look into my rear view mirror and smiled. My hoof hit the gas pedal pushing me to eighty wing power. I was in the lead, ain’t no way I was giving it up now.

Diesel Fuel wasn’t struggling at all. In fact, he was keeping as calm as he was before the race even started. The wing speedometer passed ninety miles an hour. The loud rumble from the muscle glider behind me grew closer. Shit, come on, keep it together. I could practically hear the loud shift in between Diesel Fuel’s gears.

VEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!

His fore hooves lifted off the ground again while he used the horseshoes to slide right by me. He touched back down putting a pony’s length between us. Damn it, come on. I shifted into fifth. My hooves picked up their pace as we prepared to turn left onto the final stretch. Hitting the emergency brake I slid towards Diesel Fuel while he went in for another wide turn. Once again I started pushing him towards the fence on accident. He looked over at me, down shifting to avoid my glider.

One quarter mile left.

I slid right in front of him, galloping at full force to put as much distance as I could between us. First a pony’s length. Then two ponies. The finish line was in my sights, the first edge of concrete was the end. Then the loud rumbling started growing closer to me. I took one good look in my rear view mirror. “Oh hell no,” I kicked the gas pedal back as far as it would allow me to push it. The wing speedometer clocked me in at one hundred twenty wing power.

Diesel Fuel put himself right next to me and looked right at my eyes. The loud shift between gears made me move away while his fore hooves and half of his glider went up into the air for a moment. As he set himself back down on the ground his machine pulled him forward leaving me three pony lengths behind while he crossed the finish line.

We both came to a stop at a refueling station. My breathing rate had turned into fast rapid pants. I put a hoof on one of the pumps while letting my glider keep itself propped up with its stands. There was only one thing going through my mind. “Dude, I thought I had you!” I shook my head. “Dead wrong,” I managed to say in between pants.

The weight of his staring was beginning to annoy me a little. It was like he was judging every little move I was making. There’s an off chance I might be looking too far into that. Like symbolism, complete bullshit more like it! “You’re running loose in the turns, your back end kicks out like that outside of a drag race, other racers will take advantage of that.” He had a good point. Some tinkering to the horseshoes needed to be done. With that in mind my gaze went to my computer screen. Tapping the screen a few times the schematics for the glider wingspan came up. The center section holding it together was still blinking red from stress.

I exited out of the whole thing leaving it a problem for another time. “Yeah, I noticed,” you know nearly running you off the road several times. I ran my hoof through my mane and scratched the back of my head going over all of the things I needed to fix before going to Fillydelphia.

“You’re still in though,” Diesel Fuel said with a voice deep enough to rival the oceans depths. I took a good look at him not understanding why he even needed me at the race. I performed badly enough in our race. For the love of Celestia I know he was just playing with me out there. Nothing more than a warm up before the real racing. “You did a lot better than you think,” he said staring off at the sign for Always Moving. “Do a few more runs, fix some of the issues when you get back to garage then we’ll head out to our race. If you do well enough I might have something to show you.” I chuckled with a nod. That would normally sound a little cryptic coming from any other stallion, but the look on his face told me there was something he wanted to show me if I could prove myself.

Tonight I’m looking to double the amount of bits I have, or if I’m lucky maybe even triple it. Diesel Fuel galloped off with his engine practically knocking over trashcans with its loud rumble. I went to work going over every scrap of data my computer pulled from the run. It wasn’t the best I could have done, but it wasn’t the worst either. Bar graphs were moving all around next to a line that showed my response time reaching each speed. I was topping out close to one hundred thirty wing power. “I need NOS.” The tanks we bought from Always Moving came to mind. “NOS is for serious racers,” I reminded myself, “well I’m a serious racer in need of some serious speed.”

*** ***

Gliders upon gliders were parked at an angle with their hoods open for everypony to see what the racers were packing. Mares danced upon makeshift stages, using balcony’s or fire escapes, each one rubbing up against the other to the point I was positive they were going to grab whatever room they could find then have at it. Every time that thought came to mind it made me chuckle. I have to admit I kind of wanted to join them if that happened.

“Ink Patch!”

The neon lights under several gliders lit up what should have been a dark alleyway hiding inside of Fillydelphia’s busy city. Cops, non-existent in this part of the city, thank Luna. All kinds of music mixed together creating a plethora of disharmonious sounds. Somehow, I managed to push some of that trash aside to focus on the one good song currently playing. Glider nudged me with her hoof. “Runner, don’t you even think about running off with them,” her head took a slight nod at the mares.

“H-Hold up, the way you rolled up. Mare you’ve got me wound up. Just sit right there an let me couch ya!”

But.

But. They’re looking me.

I told her about Daring on the way here. Probably not the best idea now that I’m surrounded by all this potential. Taking another glance at the mares I turned my attention back to Glider. She kept walking through the crowds of griffons, ponies and the occasional buffalo looking at the competition. “No pressure, but you’re racing against me tonight,” Glider proclaimed with an overly confident smile. That was expected. Honestly there’s always something that puts a downer on things. Contrary to what I was thinking, I actually wasn’t feeling that way.

“Hope you’re ready to have your ass served on a silver platter,” I jokingly teased back.

“You’ll need more than a few fancy parts,” Glider shot back with a smug smile.

“I’m here till the suns gone, twisted an sun burnt! Can’t nopony stop us! Let’s go insanity!”

Hip hop music blasted out from the speakers next to me making me miss the next thing she said. It was something hilarious though, because she said it with a large grin. I just rolled my eyes, not paying any of her taunts attention. Actually, all music and beautiful mares aside I’m feeling pumped for this race. It doesn’t even have anything to do with the fact I’ve got two large tanks of NOS strapped inside the glider blocks.

“Is you down? I’ll make the film of the year. I think you and your mare should give me some of that! We’ll go delirious!"

My eyes went down to some of the hoods popped open. Several decent engines were on display, most of which were able to rival either a Rainbow Dash of Apple Jack engine just at a glance. I couldn’t help but crack a smile at that. Most of these engines were looking to put out as much power as either one of those engines, but even if you could do that you’re still racing the road. That’s how I’ll win, race the road, that’s all I gotta do. Race the road. “What are you using tonight,” I asked turning my head to her 240SX.

VEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMMMMRRRRRRMMMMMMM!

A cherry red RX-7, fitted with aftermarket parts to look sleek, with racing stickers plastered all over it, pulled up into the alleyway catching a few mares attention. Stepping out from underneath the beautiful machinery was Diesel Fuel with his reputation putting him almost at the center of attention. Crowds of people greeted him while Glider scoffed. “I’m cutting loose my 240SX. Just added some new parts to it the other day, used most of today to break them in.” Her voice trailed off.

“It will get ugly, while I’m out an’ cruisin’, think I need some wing mares! Get me some that! I’m straight outta Sunsota, smellin’ like that poison blue!”

The thing about street racing, it always has the best music. As I passed by the stallion playing the song, I took a look at the computer screen taking the name of the artists. Ink Patch and DJ-Pon3. Before I could see the name of the third artist I was pulled off to another set of gliders. “I really like this song!” I nodded recalling Silver Shoe never told me her favorite song. That brought a bit of hurt to me, but not enough to ruin my night. I couldn’t help but wonder what the singer meant by poison blue.

“LA-LA-LA-LA-LA. LA-LA-LA-LA-LA! Now come and take a ride here, okay!”

“Did Silver Shoe ever tell you what her favorite song was,” I asked trying not to seem too interested.

Glider just gave me a sly smile. I took that as a yes. She thought about that request for a minute before finally deciding on an answer. “I’ll have to play it for you sometime.”

Lucky Clover put his hoof around me, yanking me off to the side to look at some more gliders. Or … mares. I wasn’t really sure since both were in the general area of where he was dragging me.

It took me a moment and Lucky Clover practically shoving my face into one of the beautiful engines to get what he wanted me to look at. Most of the gliders around us were imports, which I was beginning to get accustomed to seeing. Several of them were boasting a Rainbow Dash engine that looked to be fully tuned. I felt a pang of jealousy seeing as my engine wasn’t fully tuned yet. “See anything you like?” As he said this, I looked up at a few mares paying me no mind. Yeah, actually there were a few things I liked.

A few gliders across from me was a stallion and mare mixing music together with a colorful light show from their glider’s neon lights. Tearing my attention away from the mares I took a look at the other engines around me. From the looks of it I actually stood a chance at smoking some ponies tonight.

Several mares came up to me and Lucky, they weren’t flirting, it was more than that and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t enjoying it a lot. Another mare bumped me from behind, I turned and stared right at Glider’s eyes. She shook her head looking right at the mares. “Reeeeeow. I smell,” she sniffed the air, “skanks. Why don’t you three just pack it up before I leave my hoof prints all over your faces?” They all nonchalantly looked around, one by one leaving the scene before Glider got pissed off. I had learned that this wasn’t her pissed off look, just mildly upset with some of her friend’s choices. I opened my mouth. “Yeah, whatever,” Glider quietly growled. I closed my mouth. “Remember, there’s a lucky mare you’re after. I see it in your eyes and I want to meet her.”

Now that I think about it there were only two mares in this family. I feel bad for her if Candle Light decides to serve us something with hot sauce mixed in. From what Lucky let slip, Vin doesn’t do very well after a night of extra spicy hot sauce served with horseshoe fries. “What is it with you and trying to meet ponies I know?” Kind of a stupid question, but I had to ask.

She chuckled, pulling me to her glider across the street. “If there’s a chance that our family can grow, then I want them here. It’d be the same if Silver Shoe met someone out there, at the very least give them a place they can call home regardless of if they want to stay.” I felt a warm ball welling up inside heart. Only the real family members stay behind. Glider gave me a soft push with her wing while guiding us over to a stallion checking out her glider. Behind him was a sunshine yellow glider with a hint of dark gold highlights near the wingspan. Naturally, I assumed it was his.

“Runner, this is one of the local racing nuts,” she said giving the stallion with a flannel jacket a gentle shove. He gave her a hug turning his attention to me. His eyes looked me over several times before looking at Glider. “This is Transmission, he’s got a last name to but he can’t pronounce it so …”she trailed off.

“Hey wassup snowman, I seen you checking out them engines over there,” his hoof pointed at a few of the gliders I had looked at. Another glider enthusiast. If I didn’t say it before I’ll say it now. I love this family. “That’s my ride over there.” He pointed straight at the gold trimmed glider that was starting to look more like a beautiful work of art. Glider trotted off to her 240SX leaving me to converse. Turning my attention back to Transmission’s glider, I could see it was highly customized, more so than mine was.  “I’m not cutting her loose here though, see I went legit not too long ago. Got on the Sunshine circuit, you hear about that?”

I nodded. “Hell yeah man, I read about that. You’re best time was ten seconds right?” Transmission stuck out his hoof and I bumped it with mine. I pointed to my Eclipse. “That’s mine, had to replace most of the parts, but hell it was worth it.” The stallion did a double take like he had seen it before. Shaking it off, he looked back at me. “I hope someone’s ready for second place,” I called out to Glider.

“Oh, so someone has jokes now! I’ll remember them when I’m holding the prize bits.” Transmission snorted hearing Glider come back at me. “It’s a three bag buy-in so make sure your broke ass can pay for it!” I rolled my eyes. Yeah, yeah. I’m good for it! Just need to win a few races to start paying you all back.

A few ponies started gathering around a spray-painted starting line. I galloped over to my Eclipse, slid underneath it, strapped everything on and pulled out next to Glider. She looked over at me, nudging her head at the ground. Taking a glance down I noticed my fore hooves were past the red line. I took a slight shift back making her smile. Behind me the other racer’s scowls were burning into the back of my skull, which brought me back to a few not so happy times with a pony that could actually burn my head.

“These beats make ya all pop!”

Both of the speakers sticking out from the 240SX began vibrating to the point I felt myself shaking against the mighty boom of the bass. Going straight for several switches near my radio, I flipped them up. My computer screen slid out from its hiding spot, folding up so I could view all the stats from my last run. Different colored graph bars escalated and descended with all kinds of labels popping out from them. I cleared it all away. Tapping the screen a few times I brought up my two stage NOS system.

“Hell yeah were going digital. Yeah we’re going digital! Now let’s pop and lock this mother down!”

You’re going to win. You’re going to win. I’m going to win.

I repeated those words to myself several times before closing my eyes. Words of encouragement went through my mind along with a few thoughts of Daring waiting for me at the finish line. It might be a little naive to picture her there, mostly since getting a mare like her into a stallion like me wasn’t plausible, but if it helps me win then I’ll think about it.

My horn lit up floating out my last three bit bags full of gems. A pain shot through my heart while I set them down in Diesel Fuel’s hooves for safe keeping. The other racers, a hippogriff and buffalo, did the same. My back hoof revved the engine a few times. Several small windows appeared next to my NOS system displaying a few more statistics in the background. That same damn red stress line on my wingspan was still there. “Shut up,” I found myself saying quietly. My hoof hit a few buttons forcing the other programs to leave me alone. Reaching back to one of the NOS tanks, I twisted a knob until a low hissing sound caught my attention.

A mare dressed in a fine fitting bright yellow shirt stepped out in front of us with a white checkered flag in her mouth. Ponies whistled at her as she held the flag high up into the air. She brought it back down and each one of us shifted into first before taking off at full speed.

With a quick zip I pulled myself into first place keeping Glider well inside my rear view mirror while the buffalo with all his muscle kept me running for my money. Literally. Our hooves all pounded the street together with the half a mile finish line in our sights.

I shifted into second, then third. The wing speedometer clocked me at sixty wing power. With a loud thunderous clap against the ground, the buffalo pushed passed me almost effortlessly with the hippogriff following right behind his bumper. I shifted into fourth and punched the red button.

My horn lit up making my entire glider transparent while I stared at the liquid being sprayed into my engine. Everything blurred together while I just went! I went forward, passed the other two bucking racers straight towards that spray painted line.

Everything around me slowed down almost to a halt. Something didn’t feel right. This entire race, while designed to be short, was missing something. My eyes cautiously turned to the rear view mirror. The pumping from my heart sounded like a giant drum being hit by DJ-PON3 with a large mallet.

Right. Behind. Me. Glider was literally on my ass with her hoof right above her NOS button. As she pushed it down everything felt like it was moving at regular speed again.

Glider galloped passed me as I panicked! My hoof shot out, hitting the second red button. Loud hissing caught my attention while the entire NOS system on my computer screen was replaced by my wingspan schematics. The entire thing was blinking red while the NOS sprayed into the engine forcing me to gallop even faster than I could muster up. “I said shut up!” I yelled out at my computer. The red bar disappeared. Part of my hood ripped off with an annoyingly loud metallic tear just before hitting the top of a building.

FLA-CLUNG!

Another metal piece snapped behind me, letting both sides of the wingspan slide out. Both parts of the metal span scrapped along the ground creating noises nopony could stand to hear. Sparks flew out everywhere, as if the engine was strapped to fireworks, while Glider passed the finish line. A painfully loud exploding noise came from the engine bay. I looked around frantically at my computer while everything just shut off. The horseshoes tried to unclasp themselves from my hooves. One of them flew out from underneath me nearly hitting an innocent bystander in the face.

I came to a screeching halt with smoke blowing out every open end in my Eclipse. My chest puffed in and out. Sudden realization washed over me. Those were my last bits.

Oh shit. Oh. Shit. This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening to me.

I cursed several colorful things that would make Daring Adventure smile at me. What made matters worse was that not even her coy smile was able to warm my cold heart right now.

Moving one hoof in front of the other, I slowly walked forward trying to come up with some way to earn money. Everything in my head was empty right now. No plan. No major heist that could earn my money back. I was currently every variation of the word screwed.

The walk to the finish line was shorter than I had thought, but I could feel every pair of eyes on me. The pit of my stomach started welling up. This was what it felt like to literally lose every single bit you owned. I looked up with a smile. “What are you smiling about,” Glider asked me with a chuckle.

“Man, I thought I had you, I didn’t have nothing!” The crowd started laughing. Not because I thought I had her, but because they knew I didn’t stand a chance the moment I saw Glider’s tail swish past me.

Diesel Fuel walked up to my glider, he looked down, right into the engine bay. His hoof tapped the spoiler a few times before he looked dead at me. “You thought you had Glider,” he said looking around at each racer, “he thought he had Glider. You thought you had her?” I cautiously looked around at the crowd. Some of the mares were laughing making my pride go straight down the drain of the house I buried a lot of stuff under.  The color in my face flushed. “Let me tell you something, you didn’t have the bits you bet. Almost had Glider,” he scoffed. His gaze returned to me. “Ask any racer, any real racer. It don’t matter if you win by an inch or a mile. Winning is winning.”

And let that be a lesson to hold on to.

A wing brushed up against me. It took a minute to notice everypony had practically forgotten about me while they got ready for another race. I stepped over to the sidewalk, unstrapping myself from the burning piece of crap I had turned the glider into. “Hey was that fun,” Glider asked brushing her wing against me, “Don’t look so down.” I looked up at her not knowing what to think. It’s bad enough I already owe them one crap ton of gems, but the fact I’ve got a few other things bearing down on my head right now isn’t really helping my self-confidence which is really starting to go below the safety line.

And suddenly I envisioned Daring laughing her ass off with Silver Shoe. Both of them talking about some things I’d rather not say out loud or even in my head. In fact it didn’t help that their words were making me feel very inadequate. However, there was one good thing in all that. The fact they were getting along in my head suggested they could have been great friends.

“You going to give me my bits back?”

Glider scoffed shaking her head. “Hell no, but you can earn every bit back at the Cannonball Run.” I paused, staring right at the ground.

The what?

My gaze rose up to meet her. She was giving me a smile. Obviously she was seeing something I wasn’t.