The Fast, Dangerous and the Furious

Chapter Twenty Four: Peace Within

Not too long after I galloped away from the library did it start pouring like Rainbow Falls. Shortly after being soaked to the bone I forged a half protection spell over my entire body. Fortunately my saddle bags protected everything inside from getting soaked.

“By the time this weather is fixed I’ll be a master at this spell, or you know, a master of making umbrellas out of spells.”

I passed by another stallion with an umbrella saddle on. His attention was focused on some coffee shop giving me time to take a glance at his watch. Somehow I had spent the entire day with Discord. Picking up my pace a bit, I kept galloping until my hooves finally touched down at Diesel Fuel’s home.

Slowly walking up the wooden steps in the back I nudged open the door letting my protection spell vanish at the steps. The kitchen was dark, almost completely dead silent aside from an announcer’s voice coming from the TV in the living room. “Hello, anypony home?” I said to no pony specifically. Something made the couch squeak. Some of my attention was spared at the noise while I grabbed a Pegasus Breed from the fridge.

Popping the cap off, I took a few steps into the living room having my attention drawn to a race on TV. Several gliders went by the camera while the pictures of the fliers were displayed showing their position. Candle Light’s soft voice spoke up to me, “You’ve been gone a while.” My gaze went up to the clock mounted above the television. The logic of spending the entire day at the library didn’t make much sense to me, I could do that with gliders, but with books it was an entirely different story. “Where’ve you been stranger?”

“Reading,” I replied a little too bluntly, “and getting these.”

I held up the bag of bits Page Turner had given me in exchange for that rare comic. Sadly, I don’t remember seeing any new comics, but that also meant I got to keep my bits. Silver lining at least. “It’s not fun being broke is it,” she asked with chuckle. I shook my head taking a drink from my levitating Pegasus Breed. With a slight sigh, Candle Light got up, pulling me away from the living room. “Come on, it’s getting late and I’m hungry.” Food. That sounded good!

“You’re paying right?” We both started laughing while stepping out from the house.

*** ***

Zebra music.

All I’ve heard since I was born was hip hop, rap and the occasional symphony. Keep in mind that I prefer the first style of music to anything else, but zebra music. It had a completely different feel to it. According to Candle Light this was a place that Vin had recommended to her a while back.

Around our table were masks, trinkets and other décor from the zebra homeland. It. Was. Beautiful. The punch here, which was mixed with some other top dollar drinks, was tasty as well. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you,” I said setting my wine glass down. With a look of curiosity on her face, Candle Light hummed signaling me to continue. “So how does O’Conner fit into all this?” As if on que the entire atmosphere around me went from energetic to tense.

There was a very low sigh from Candle Light that sounded as tense as the air around us. Picking up her wine glass, she took a drink, set it down and lightly tapped her hoof against the table. Gently letting her hoof stay put on the table, Candle Light took in a slow almost depressed breath. “Well there’s a lot of history there.” She said looking at me with a bit of hurt in her eyes. It wasn’t from me though. I knew that for a fact.

I hummed to myself. “I’ve got time,” I told her with a calm and understanding tone. If she didn’t want to talk about it I wouldn’t push any further than I already have.

Candle Light kept quiet staring at her wine glass most likely mulling over how to phrase her story. I started to question if Glider had even mentioned to Candle that the Eclipse I bought was from O’Conner. Should I mention that to her? “Last year the owner over at Always Evolving hired a new stallion. A couple of weeks past and during that time O’Conner would stop by every day for a tuna fish sandwich.” My eyes widened at the very thought of her serving me another tuna sandwich. The insides of my stomach were screaming at me not to go down that road again. “One day, Vin decided that he had enough of him coming around and they started beating each other to a pulp. My brother stepped in, tore O’Conner away from Vin, they went back and forth a few times before my brother fired him from Always Evolving.”

Wait. Step on the brakes there. Diesel Fuel fired O’Conner from a store he didn’t even own. That’s kinda cool.

Candle Light started chuckling at the thought of something else. Taking another sip from her wine glass she set it down and nickered. “That same night O’Conner threw down a pink slip wanting to take my brothers money and some respect.” I scoffed at the last part. “To some ponies that’s more important.” I replied with a silent nod. No pun intended, but I can respect that. “O’Conner lost, but not by much. Sometime during that night his glider was totaled, but since my brother hadn’t received it yet O’Conner still owed him a ten-second glider.”

Och.

I shook my head understanding the problem with owing a pony a ten-second glider without even having another one to use. My situation is a bit better than his honestly. At least I had two gliders that could be fixed up. “Come to find out, O’Conner was an undercover cop working with the E.B.I trying to get enough evidence to bust my brother for hijackings across Equestria.” Candle Light paused. Whatever was going on in her head was heart aching. She finished off her wine, immediately ordering another glass afterwards. “Soon after that O’Conner had my brother at gun point just before the gun fire started.”

Before I had the chance to ask, Candle Light held up her hoof. “The gun fire was from someone that had a falling out with my brother. It wasn’t from O’Conner’s gun.” I found myself letting out a sigh of relief. “There’s only one event I wasn’t there to see, but from what my brother tells me,” she stopped. Thinking. Trying to figure out something. “My brother tells me O’Conner gave him the keys to his Supra Mark IV.” The waiter brought another glass of wine to the table.

“Just let him go?”

Candle Light drank from her glass going over the events that had happened back then. This was good to know. Learning about the history of this family felt good. Even if the history wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. “Just so we’re clear, that glider I bought,” I started saying.

“Was from O’Conner, I know.” I was completely caught off guard. There wasn’t any real response ready for that. “I recognized the eagles on the wingspan, sure I’m not the only one that did.” I nodded cautiously. There was a question running through my head, but I couldn’t get the nerve to ask. “Listen, Runner if you want to hang out with O’Conner then go ahead, we’re not going to stop you or think less of you. Just don’t bring him near our home.” She took a long drink from her glass, when she set it back down half of it was gone. Hearing her call it our home was nice. Actually, if I tried to think of a place that felt like home right now, I would picture that house.

I feel better now. At least I know they won’t treat me differently for being near O’Conner. “Hey,” Candle Light looked up at me, “you want to go work on your glider?” I smiled.

*** ***

With a mighty heave and a ton of magic working with me, I lifted up the Eclipse onto O’Conner’s flatbed. Seeing as my other options for fixing it up were off doing some delivery there was only one other mechanic around that could help me out. Candle Light was a great mechanic, but she just didn’t have the touch I was looking for. It didn’t help that the engine needed a few pistons to replace the ones I fried. That was where Candle Light’s area of expertise ended, mostly because we didn’t have the money to replace them.

“Alright, let’s go see if that offer is available,” I said just as I pulled the flatbed out.

The downside was that O’Conner might not be able to help me either. Unless of course we could find another engine to strip down. Cannibalize it for the parts I needed. Where could I find another engine though? A junk yard would be ideal, but that would be hours of searching that could be better spent fixing my engine up instead.

Replacing the engine with my Mustang’s isn’t ideal. In fact that’s a bad idea for any race longer than a drag. Then my only other option would be to find another import with my kind of engine.

I pulled into O’Conner’s driveway, unhitching the flatbed after backing it near the open garage. As with all the other times, the moment I set hoof inside his garage my gaze, coupled with my undivided attention, was drawn straight to the beautiful Supra Mark IV. The hood was popped open while an earth pony reached down inside with a wrench. I slid into my transparency spell.

“Celestia that engine is nearly fully tuned to perfection,” I found myself saying out loud. My spell stopped the moment O’Conner looked up at me with his trademark smile.

“What’s happening, dude.” He reached a hoof out to me. I shook it, moving over to an open space to get a better look at the engine.

It was absolutely beautiful. There was nothing more that could really be done to it. Twin turbo with a two stage nitrous system that had just the right amount of juice to pump into the engine. “Yeah, I was just stopping by to see if that wrench-time offer was still available.” O’Conner nodded while he closed the hood down.

We trotted over to the flatbed climbing right up to the Eclipse. The hood popped off right away giving both of us a glimpse at the job Candle Light and I did the night before. It was good, but not good enough for a race. “Good cause, ah, I really need the help,” I said with a sheepish grin.

O’Conner was shocked to say the least. His eyes went back and forth looking over every inch of the damage I had done. He could at least tell it was fixable, but it just wasn’t quite where it needed to be. “You had enough NOS in here to blow yourself up. Period. What the hell were you doing with that much spray?” He looked right at my eyes. I couldn’t bullshit him. At least I don’t think I can.

I turn faced the other way not wanting to say what I was up to right in front of a cop. Clearing my throat I slowly turned back to him, “street racing.”

“Didn’t quite catch that?”

“I was street racing in Fillydelphia,” I said rather too quickly.

O’Conner only gave me a smile that told me he knew exactly what I had been up to. There was no need to ask me, he knew. Although part of him just wanted to get to me. “This is nothing to a glider enthusiast and soon to be great mechanic.” His optimism was contagious. I was ready for this shit. Then I looked back at the engine having second thoughts. “How soon do you need the engine?”

That was a good question. So far I’d only been sitting around trying to come up with ways to track down Bolt Action. That problem didn’t seem like it would be too much of a problem now. Going off of what I know, he will more than likely use what he has to draw out his enemies in one place to wipe them out. Now it was just a matter of waiting for an announcement. “Glider mentioned something called the Cannonball Run. That mean anything to you?” His smile faded faster than his Supra Mark IV could run.

I didn’t like that look on his face. He knew something I didn’t. “You might want to rethink entering that race.” That shot my confidence down a little. Maybe, just maybe my Mustang could … no. It still needs a few more days of work. “It’s in a couple of days, not enough time for us to get another glider. Unless you know of a place we can get another engine for some spare parts.” He looked back at the engine. “Yeah, that’s all we really need. I’d offer some parts, but I sold you all of my gliders.” I thought so. That wasn’t really what I wanted to hear.

This was it then. There was no way I could buy another glider without getting more money, but even then finding a pony selling a decent glider with the parts I needed would take some time to track. There’s got to be a place I’ve been to that … no. No. It would work, but. “I know just where to get one, but I’m going to need your help.” O’Conner looked up at me noting that sounded a little cryptic. I nickered in agreement. “You feel like going to the carnival?”

“I’m flying,” O’Conner asserted galloping off to grab his keys.

*** ***

Pinkie Pie’s Fun Time Party ... Pinkie Pie’s carnival. To the guy or gal that named this place, you deserve a right good buck in the flank for giving this place such a complicated name.

It was still a dump. The fence that I once trotted past with my best friend now sat ajar almost to the point of falling apart. Mounted to the entrance were buzzing lights that looked to have been powered on after I used the generator to fix the coaster. Everything inside the fenced area was still a load of crap.

I rested a hoof on the fence bringing another one to cover my eyes. This place. This place is a complete horror show for my head. Memories from the last time I was hear came flooding back. Being able to make it out with my life the first time was nothing short of a miracle. O’Conner verbalized my own question. “Hey, you okay?”

Was I okay? There was no straight forward answer to that question. At least not while I was in this place. “I didn’t even burry her body,” I muttered almost quietly enough for no pony else to hear. A hoof was placed on my shoulder.

My head turned just enough so I could see O’Conner with one eye. “Hey bud, listen if you need to talk about this I’m all ears.” No words could describe how nice that sounded. This stallion hardly knows me, yet he still offers to listen to my problems.

“Just give me a minute.” I inhaled a long deep breath, prepping myself for the storm that was about to hit me if I allowed it to hurt me. All of those feelings of anguish and melancholy. Agony. Bitterness. I have moved on from them. Silver Shoe wouldn’t want me kicking myself over this for the rest of my life. I exhaled slowly.

Silver Shoe, if you can hear this … thank you for helping me find our family. They say to live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die. Well you won’t ever die, because you will always be with me and Glider. I’ll tell you all about this when I see you again. I sure am going to miss you.

Setting both hooves firmly on the ground, I moved into the fenced area, O’Conner keeping pace right next to me. A ping pong ball rolled out in front of me, wind brushing my mane around. “Hey, just a heads up. Last time I was here, there was a horde of infected coming this way.” In retrospect that might have been better stated sooner. O’Conner didn’t seem to mind. He was ready to do whatever it is he does if things went south of the Badlands.

We found the shed with all the circuit breakers relatively fast, best part was the door had been locked which put my hopes up even more. With as much focus as I could muster up, I ripped the door off with my magic. “It’s not here.”

O’Conner looked at me in surprise. “Not here? Wouldn’t you mean it’s not here?”

“I mean it’s gone.” I spat back looking at all the cables that were left lying on the ground. My last chance of getting an engine and possibly earning more money was shot out of the sky. Loud rattling sounds made my ear twitch. Slowly peaking my head out the shed, my “Crap” came simultaneous to O’Conner’s “Shit.”

Infected screamed out, biting and scratching the fence with their sights all locked on the two of us. To many of them for us to stop with nine millimeter pistols. O’Conner whistled at me. “Hey, we need move.” My head frantically looked around for places to hide in. None were ideal for avoiding this many infected.

I mused over every little nook and cranny in this place. One place did come to mind. “We’re going,” I ordered while we both broke into a sprint for one of the buildings close to the hall of mirrors. Before O’Conner could ask where we were going, I shouted to him, “Anywhere but here!”

“AREGH! AREGH! AREGH!”

“AREGH! AREGH! AREGH!”

Clickers galloped through a hole in the fence while the other infected tore most of the chain link down pursuing us. Their teeth were practically dripping drool on my flank from how close they were getting. One of those sick creatures dove towards me, O’Conner came to a halt sending three bullets into the Clicker’s head. He turn tailed and caught right back up to me just before I bucked open a door to one of the buildings.

O’Conner bucked the door shut while my magic threw a large machine in front of it keeping us safe for the time being. Before either one of us had the idea to say something, we got behind another machine, pushing it in front of a hallway leading to the back door. Upon moving the hunk of metal out of the way, we saw it. “That’s the engine!” I exclaimed almost with a laugh.

We started looking it over before noticing there were more than enough parts to replace the ones I fried in the Eclipse. My hoof tapped the ground while I began trying to figure a way out of here. “Alright, we need to see about using the fire escape or maybe the air ducts.” A loud ear shattering metal bang caught our attentions. The machine barricading the front door budged, infected of all kind clawing their way in, some even having their limbs crushed. O’Conner faced the other barricade, both of us managing to catch a glimpse of a griffon bloater’s slimy fungus covered claws scratching the machine like a dog trapped in a kennel.

“Come on, we’re going up!” O’Conner ordered while I wrapped a levitation field around my newly acquired engine. Our hooves clip clopped like fireworks against the staircase, each step exploding even louder than the last one. Machines clanking against each other tore my attention away from the stairs, I had to look over the edge. The sight of infected, clickers and a bloater burned into my head like a nightmare, seeing all of them pile into the building’s ground floor. Their attention went straight to us.

Pain shot through my head in my attempt to levitate my pistol up. Leaning against the fourth floor stairs, O’Conner unloaded his clip while I frantically struggled to gallop up the third flight of stairs. Putting as much force as I could into my magic, which wasn’t a considerable amount, I flung the engine up to the fifth floor before unwrapping my magic from it. Immediately exchanging the engine for my pistol, I followed O’Conner’s example, unloading every bullet my nine millimeter had inside of its clip. Several infected took the hits, but none of them dropped.

My pistol retreated back into its holster, my magic swapping back to the engine that was hurdling towards the third flight of stairs. With a large jolt, my body moved forward trying to keep the engine in my levitation field. An infected dove at me just as a bullet went through its head. My eyes clamped shut, each of my hooves taking a slow step forward in time to my engine slowly rising back up. “Is it just me,” O’Conner called down,” or are these things getting harder to kill?”

“I was thinking the same thing.” I wheezed out between large gasps for air.

Once all four of my hooves reached the fourth floor, O’Conner and I galloped for the next set. Hordes of desks piled on top of each other forced us to turn towards a hallway to our right. Weaving through the junk left behind we came to a locked door. My hoof jiggled the door handle several times. O’Conner reloaded his pistol, bucking a nearby desk against a few others to form a small barricade. “Get it open. Now!” My hoof scooped up a bobby pin and screw driver.

Okay, we can do this. How do I do this?

I went to work trying to pry the lock open. If Silver Shoe can do it, why couldn’t I? The bobby pin broke. With a groan I picked up another one lying near me. O’Conner’s gunshots rang through my ear, it didn’t help that the infected’s screaming was giving me a headache. “Screw this, I’m not a bucking toaster repair pony!”

“What?” O’Conner shouted back at me.

The engine flew forward, smashing a large gaping hole in the door. I turned back, bit down on my friend’s mane, then pulled him through the door. My engine was put to the side while my magic pulled the desk barricade back into the door frame keeping our unwanted guests out for the next couple of minutes. Loud screams mixed with crunching wood kept part of my attention while I focused on what to do next.

Stacks of bookcases and other material were blocking our way down the stairs. There was a staircase going up to the next floor. With a nicker I galloped off with the engine in tow. “There, come on, let’s go,” I muttered to O’Conner while we frantically put more distance away from the barricade.

Several doors later, we became trapped inside of an office using all of the left over junk to keep the door shut. Now it was just a waiting game. At some point the infected would fall asleep and we could escape. On paper it sounded like a great plan, but in reality this was going to take forever.

I paced around the room looking for supplies, refusing to give up on escaping. This wasn’t the best place to be, but I’ll enjoy this breather while I’ve got it. My engine was put to the side. “Any bite marks?” I asked curiously once I realized my back had been turned to my friend for a good minute or so. O’Conner shook his head, doing a few turns to show me he was bite free. “Same here.” Taking a seat on my haunches, I scratched the back of my head.

From what I gathered on the way over here the fire escape was on the other side of the building. On our side of the building was a steep drop to several large glass shards. Silence fell on us for several minutes. Occasional Clicker noises caught our attention which usually sent a sharp icy cold chill running up my spine. Those sounds were still unnatural. “So how’s Candle Light,” O’Conner commented as if he was still a part of my family.

I cleared my throat. Nickered. “So what kind of a name is O’Conner anyway? It’s not a typical pony name.”

That got O’Conner to chuckle. His hoof traced his pistol before he spoke up. “It’s common for stallions born near Griffonstone to have names like mine. You know O’Brian, O’Riley.” That earned a polite nod from me. While I had been studying Equestria not once had I come across that. He ran a hoof through his mane looking at the window.

“She’s good.”

O’Conner turned his head slightly. There was a small hint of a smile, but it faded in the blink of an eye. I turned to some footlockers on the ground, opening them up to find several empty ammo boxes with two screw drivers. A memory jewel was in one of them, cracks spider webbed all over it to the point it didn’t even show the still. “I heard you used to be a part of my family,” I intoned making O’Conner’s ear twitched. He hummed in response. “Care to tell me about it,” I muttered softly. He declined. “I’m all ears.”

His head slowly turned so he was facing me. There was a grin on his face. “Yeah, yeah I guess I will if you’re willing to listen.” I gave him a warm smile. My horn lit up, bringing over some jacked up fold out chairs. Once we were both as comfortable as we could actually be I was all ears. “Diesel Fuel was a suspect in a long list of hijackings across Equestria so the E.B.I put me undercover promising to help me earn a detective badge if I pulled through for them. Just needed to put him and the hijackings together.” And considering how well Diesel Fuel is at hiding it would stand to reason that he can hide evidence just as well. No wonder he’s the leader of the team. “Last time I saw Diesel Fuel I gave him the keys to my Supra.”

That still didn’t make sense to me. You’re a cop. There’s an oath you swear to that you are obligated to stick by no matter what. Being able to arrest the ponies that do wrong is your job. With that said you can’t go around giving your keys to a suspect. “Why’d you do it?”

“I owed him a ten-second glider.”

There was no waver in his voice. No part that gave any sign he regretted passing those keys to Diesel Fuel. His face didn’t reveal anything about the events prior to me arriving. It almost looked like he didn’t even understand why he did it himself. O’Conner faced me. “The only reason I’m still on the force is because of Princess Luna.” There was a look of skepticism on my face. That can’t be true. “I’m serious. See, Princess Twilight started the program with the idea that ponies deserved a second chance, which was brought about after they originally stopped Nightmare Moon.” My knowledge of the police force was limited by a good margin. Somehow I knew he was right about that. After all he went through a lot trying to get a detective badge. I do, however, know all about Nightmare Moon being turned back into Princess Luna.

With a polite nod, I processed everything he was telling me carefully. What he was saying, it answered a lot of my questions, if not in the way I expected them to be answered. Taking in all this information, I looked up noticing an air duct was out of place. Several screws were still holding the metal in place but only just. My hoof nudged O’Conner. His gaze joined mine while I floated the screw drivers out. “You thinking what I’m thinking?” He only chuckled at me, taking one of the screw drivers with him.

I lit up my horn wrapping O’Conner in a levitation field that slowly lifted him along with my screw driver up to the air duct. Slowly taking out all of the screws holding the duct in place we eventually removed them all allowing it to slide out of place to form a ramp up to the rest of the duct. O’Conner landed on the ground staring at the engine. “How do we get this thing out?” His observation was dually noted ahead of time. The engine was far too large to fit inside of the duct, but that wouldn’t be a problem so long as I could see where I was levitating it.

O’Conner moved quietly over to the door, peering outside after moving our failed attempt at a barricade. With my focus locked solely on the engine I lifted the metal beauty up with my magic, sliding into my transparency spell. “What kind of spell are you using over there?” I gave him a quick explanation moving into the air duct. Once everything was good to go, I called out to O’Conner demanding he open the door right away.

I looked down noticing the door was wide open now. With an incredibly slow exhale, my horn began glowing brighter, moving the engine outside towards a window where the air duct ended. O’Conner rejoined me right away having shut the door again. The walls around me felt like they were beginning to close in. My breath began picking up. I just pushed past the feelings of anxiety.

Anxiety was another problem of mine that needed to be dealt with. I prayed to Celestia my will power would be enough right now to overcome it once and for all. O’Conner gave me a light nudge to ensure I was alright.

With a low inhale, I kept moving, slowly but surely through the tight space. The engine bumped the duct making it groan in protest. My head tore away from the engine looking straight at O’Conner’s ocean blue eyes. His hoof went up signaling me to calm down. At this point I could feel my heart ready to explode like a hundred confetti cannons.

Screams from the infected echoed all around us. Even such a small noise was enough to draw their attention. Incredible. Scary, but incredible all the same. Having finally arrived at the window before us my engine was ready to escape the harsh infected building. My horn engulfed itself in a second, then third, casing of magic doing everything with my magical prowess to lift the window up. It wouldn’t budge. Stupid thing wouldn’t even rattle.

My breathing became short yet heavy pants, my body beginning to feel the full force of using two spells at once. Even with my near mastery of the transparency spell, which only consumed some of my magic now, the weight of the engine combined with the levitation spell was becoming more than I could bare. Glass shattered forcing me to turn my attention from the duct to the window. In my tired state I hadn’t even realized the engine hadn’t stopped moving.

“Alright, now we just need to,” I fell forward.

Both of us let out a yell, well, I yelled while O’Conner threw his hooves up trying to slow himself down. The duct turned into a partial slide at the bottom, throwing both of us outside the building right into a dumpster. O’Conner rolled onto all fours with his trademark smile in full bloom. “Oh shit!” I looked up as he said this, noticing the engine falling down. My horn lit back up catching the hunk of beauty before it could hit the ground. We both let out a sigh of relief.

Infected broke some of the windows reaching out for us with their hooves. Reloading his pistol, O’Conner put the gun in his mouth before galloping off with me to the exit. Behind us, the bloater smashed part of the wall down letting the infected roam after us with the intent to rip our flesh into confetti. Two Clickers stumbled out in front of me, both being taken out by O’Conner’s skillful marksmanship. With the infected hot on our trail, we bolted past the buzzing lights, steering clear of some cable that snapped the moment we galloped under it.

O’Conner slid underneath the Supra, strapping himself in almost completely on instinct alone. I jumped on top his machine making sure to grab the ‘oh shit’ bar hidden in the back. The ajar fence came crashing down near us, startling O’Conner into galloping off right away. My eyes looked straight into his rear view mirrors taking note of all the infected closing in on us. With one swift kick to his gear shifter, O’Conner lifted the glider into the air leaving the infected behind.

My engine was safely in tow behind us, never once losing any altitude from our frantic escape from the slowly disappearing infected. Once we had several good miles between us and the carnival, I could hear O’Conner saying something. “You hear that?”

I held my ears up listening for something. Nothing. Nothing but the sound of a finely tuned engine! “No infected,” O’Conner stated matter-of-factly to me.

No infected.

*** ***

VVVVVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRRRRUUUUUM!

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUMM!

VVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMM!

My back hoof pushed the gas pedal down as far as it would go, revving the engine enough to shake several tools scattered around O’Conner’s garage from heaven. I held the pedal down once again, taking in the beautiful hum of my nearly fully tuned engine. O’Conner nudged me taking a few steps back. “YES, YES, YES! GIDDY UP BOY! WOOOOO!” Easing off the gas pedal, I took the key out letting the engine noise die down before we attracted too much attention.

O’Conner picked up a rag, cleaning off his fore hooves with his smile stretching ear to ear. It took us several hours to get it done, but in Celestia’s name it was done. This was what I was looking for. Everything that needed to be done to it was done. No. It wasn’t just done. It was phenomenal. “This one’s for you Rainbow Dash,” I said with a chuckle. O’Conner looked at his poster of that very same mare. He couldn’t stop smiling at it. “When did you become her fan?”

I stepped out from underneath my Eclipse, still grinning at all the work we had done, ready to hear yet another O’Conner story. It was hard to explain, but his stories were always fun to listen to. He looked away still grinning ear to ear. “Ever since I was colt. The only thing that comes close to rivaling how much I admire that mare is my love of the ocean.” My horn lit up, levitating up two ice cold Pegasus Breeds from a cooler. I popped the cap off one of them while leaning against the Eclipse’s spoiler. “You know Rainbow Dash actually broke the wing power record in Equestria. Two hundred wing power without a glider or NOS pills.”

I let out a very low whistle listening to that accomplishment. That was an impressive feat that I knew I would never overcome. There was fast, then there was faster, but Rainbow Dash was the very definition of speed. O’Conner looked out at his Supra parked out in the driveway. “Fastest I’ve ever been is one ninety seven, just under two hundred.” I looked at him impressed. That was something to feel proud of. “It’s all about the setup though, I can break it if I had the right set up, man. With the right amount of skill.” We both took a drink.

After downing half my bottle, I turned my attention back to the Eclipse. Now if I can just keep this machine in working order before the race I’ll be set.  I reached out a hoof to O’Conner, he shook it. “Thanks for all help.” He tipped his Pegasus Breed to me.

“You owe me a race though.” His smile was still there. Edging me on for a race. I’m perfectly fine owing a pony a race. “See you at the Cannonball Run.”