Motorization

The motorshow was going on without a hitch. Ponies, griffons and some other creatures were walking here and there, fascinated by cars of all sorts. For some reason, the most adored by public was a Le Mans racer Chevrolet Corvette, which had Allan Anderson's and Rob Luerre's names on its doors for some reason. Though, the car did really look good: white body with blue sides, and big numbers "23" everywhere. And what about Cider... He was standing a bit aside, talking with Twilight and Rarity.

"...And then, I decided to do a burnout. Well, since we have quite a lot of spare parts and tires," the man said while leaning to the nearby KAMAZ racing truck.

"Well, that was quite a show, I must admit. Though, that... "Burnout", as you call it, looked not elegant, but vulgar!" Rarity stated.

"Still, the crowd loved it, so I guess that everything goes well so far," Twilight grinned. "Besides, I've already managed to sign a couple of contracts with a few manufacturers, so after we test all these cars and parts properly, we will have our own automotive industry."

"Sounds awesome, Twi. I hope that this whole initiative will work out," Cider chuckled.

"So do I, Cider, so do I... Well, I think me and Rarity must get going -- Luna wanted to see us for some reason. Don't get bored over here!"

As Twilight and Rarity walked away, Cider decided to walk around the place, too. Ponies, dragons, griffons -- lots of species were gathered at the motorshow, and this made quite an unusual sight for the man. But, as he walked, he felt someone's hand, tugging on his firesuit. As he looked around, he saw three fillies about the age of 16-17 years old, as much as he could tell. But still, as most of grown-up ponies were taller than him, and these three fillies were just as tall as he was, it was really hard to tell. One filly had a yellow coat and a red mane, another was a white unicorn, and the third had a sort-of orange coat with purple mane.

"Hello there. Anything I can help you with?" the man asked, offering a hand. As the fillies shook it one after another, the orange one started to speak:

"Hello there! My name is Scootaloo, and these are my friends: Applebloom and Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo gestured to her companions, and Applebloom with Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement.

"Pleased to meet you, young ladies. Name's Cider. But anyway, do you need some help or you need a company to chit-chat?" the man said with a smile.

"Well, I'm here to support Rarity," Sweetie Belle spoke, "But my friends came along. We were standing in the crowd, and watched you riding all these... Vehicles..."

"That was totally awesome! I loved the Ibra... Ibghraghi... Ibraghymm..." Applebloom mumbled, while trying to pronounciate the name of a vehicle.

"Ah, the "Ibragimych". That motorcycle, right?" the man corrected the filly, and she blushed.

"Yeah, that one... But anyway, it looked awesome! Shining chrome and black tires!" Applebloom managed to regain her confidence and squeaked in excitement.

"Yeah, first Russian chopper motorcycle, what can I say? Though I prefer cars. I've been a racecar driver, after all."

"You've been a racer? Rainbow Dash never told me about that," Scootaloo hummed, thinking.

"Seems like you know her personally, too? Yeah, not many people know about it -- they just don't ask," Cider laughed, "And knowing Rainbow Dash, she would definetely dare me to race her."

"Oh sure I would do that!" suddenly, a very familiar voice emerged from Cider's behind. As he turned around, he saw Rainbow Dash in her Wonderbolts flying suit along with a couple of other team members.

"Hello there, Rainbow. Long time no see," Cider shook the mare's hand, "However, I think I'll say no."

"WHAT?! HOW?!" three fillies shouted in unison.

"I've been told that you are one of the bravest creatures in Equestria, and now you refuse?" -- Scootaloo facepalmed.

"Yup. I've been told that Rainbow Dash is capable of Sonic Rainboom. Don't know what that is, but it sounds neat-o," Cider shrugged, "I don't think that any of my cars can develop a proper perfomance to catch up on her."

"Well... I am awesome, that's right," Rainbow Dash agreed, "But you don't even try to outperform me! And you call yourself a racer?"

"Yup. But you have an advantage in your magic flying abilities. Even if I wanted, I would have to race using outdated tech. I'm not sure if any of modern cars from my world can develop such speed as yours, and now I have at least twenty-years-old rarities, or even older."

"So, you're scared of losing to me?" Rainbow Dash grinned mischievously.

"Nope. Just being careful."

Rainbow's face fell in deep thought. When she heard that Cider was a racer, she immidiately told herself that she would beat him in a race. And now he was... Just saying "no"! But then, an idea came to her mind.

"So... You say that you're not afraid of racing?"

"Uh-huh."

"But you will not race?"

"Nope."

"Well..." -- Rainbow brushed her hair and leaned closer to Cider. "I will tell everyone that you have a crush on Spitfire," she whispered.

"Very dumb of you, Dash," the man grinned, "So freaking dumb. Do you think I will buy that? Spitfire is one of the prettiest ponies in Equestria even for myself. I bet that colts would literally run after her, if they could keep up. So even if you tell that nonsense to everyone, why anyone should care about it?"

Cider's reaction catched Rainbow Dash off guard. She felt how the anger was boiling up inside her. Frustrated, she turned to her Wonderbolts pals, and shouted:

"Well, fine! I leave this stupid show of yours! Be pleased to gawk at your stupid pieces of junk, that can't even catch up on me! They are useless as racers, and so you are! Your name is Failure and your cars are named Junk!"

But after saying these harsh words, Rainbow Dash noticed how the crowd around them became silent. Everybody was staring at her and Cider, who's anger was boiling up, too. He slowly walked to the pegasus, giving her a death glare. As he kept walking, Rainbow Dash couldn't move, drowning in his furious eyes. His face became stern, and his palms curled up into fists. As he came to the pegasus, he grabbed her by her flightsuit, and hardly pulled it, so she fould face him.

"My name is Nikita. You can translate it as "a winner". Nothing close to a failure for me," Cider said roughly. "Next week, main strip, 7 p.m. You will recieve what you're searching for, and after that you will never speak to me again. Got that, ye' basterd?"

After recieving a nervous nod from the pegasus, Cider released her, and walked away, past the shocked public, shocked filles and even shocked Spitfire, who was passing by. As the Wonderbolts' leader looked around, she only managed to say with a confused look:

"What?.."

A cold wind gave Cider shivers, as he stood at the beginning of an empty main street of Canterlot, which shot like an arrow through the city from the castle's gates. All around the place were standing racecars, those that he wanted to test before the big day. Most of them were Group C Le Mans prototypes and Can-Am racers, but there also were a few of Group S prototypes, such as Lada S-Proto and Lancia ECV, a couple of outdated, but still fast Indycar racers, and a number of curcuit racers, such as Lada 2908 LSGA or Alfa-Romeo 155, the legend of DTM. The man even considered using a Porsche 2708 CART racer, just to be sure. Quite a stack to choose from, and Cider needed the fastest car availible for the upcoming race.

"Chocola," the man asked the mare from the hotel that was standing nearby, "Tell me honestly -- what do you think of this idea? Idea of beating Rainbow Dash on the track?"

"Well, to be honest... I don't think that you will win," the mare said, while shivering from the cold wind, "But you must give it a try. I repeat again -- I saw, what happened yesterday at the motorshow, and what you are going to do, is the best thing to save your pride. Even if you will not win, you at least have to try."

"Thanks for your opinion... It's all I wanted to hear," Cider's face remained content, but his voice lightened up a bit. As he put on his helmet and racing gloves, he walked to his first car -- Lada 2908 LSGA. After getting inside, he closed the door and started to work with its tech.

"Ignition... Primer... Fuel pump... Anti-fire... Green lights are out. Start," the man mumbled to himself after switching all the levers, and starting the engine. After a few coughs, the car roared, warming its flaming heart up. After a couple of minutes of standing by, Cider gave a sign to Chocola, and she put out a stopwatch. The man revved up the engine, and as soon as the mare gave him a sign, shot towards the unknown.

As the car was speeding up, Cider felt more and more courage. Second gear, third, fourth, and the fifth... Speed was increasing rapidly, and as the car passed the half of a street, it was exceeding 220 kilometers per hour. The man felt a sensation, that he has forgotten long time ago -- his body was filled with adrenaline, and a wide grin emerged on his face. Just like when he was 16 years-old boy, and he passed his first test in a Formula-3 racer.

As the car reached the first corner, the man dropped the speed, and entered it sharply. With the screech of tires, Lada passed the corner, and came to the edge of Canterlot, as the street was literally placed on the edge of the mountain. Shifting the gear, Lada shot forward towards the great greenery of Canterlot University. The engine echoed all across the empty streets, as it was still to early forponies to go out. Cider maneuvered between the buildings, as green gardens and fields passed by. The roads of the University were smooth, yet constant changes of leveling couldn't let Cider to rest even for a second.

As the car passed the University, the man found himself in some sort of a chain of mountains, as the road began to climb. Cider could see snow hats on tops of the mountains, and strong winds that slowed him down. The mountain road itself was smooth, and driving on it was pleasant. Smooth level changes weren't much of a trouble for Cider, as he enjoyed the ride. Pretty soon, though, Lada finally ascended to the plateau on the top of the mountain, and after the few turns of the road, came to a steep descent. Pretty soon it exceeded the speed of 260 kilometers per hour, and Cider had to maneuver rapidly, to keep up on the speeding car. As the man saw that he was approaching Canterlot from the side of the mountain road above the castle, he couldn't help but give a glance to the Canterlot panorama.

"Looks fabulous..." the man thought, as the car entered the city at high speed. Cider was passing one quarter after another, and everything looked like a blur to him. Though, as he passed a couple of kilometers, Cider saw that he was approaching the place, where he started -- the royal castle's main gate and the main strip of Canterlot. As he turned towards the main street and passed Chocola by, he started to slow down. After going for a couple of hundred meters, the man turned his car around and drove to the standing mare. And after Cider stopped the car and got out, he reached the stopwatch to look at his time.

"Twenty kilometers of public roads without a proper warm-up in less than 10 minutes, huh? Looking good," Cider hummed, being satisfied. "And what do you think, Chocola?"

"That's pretty fast, if you ask me! But I think that Rainbow Dash is faster," a mare smiled sheepishly.

"Well... We still have a lot of cars to choose from," the man shrugged and walked towards the Mazda 787B prototype. It was a very delicate car -- despite having big barrel-like wheels and 700-BHP rotor engine, it looked like a precious woman to Cider, with all its curves, big headlights that looked like eyes, and of course, its green-and-orange livery, with "RENOWN", "CHARGE" and "MAZDASPEED" stickers all around its body. As Cider went along, he came to the right side of the prototype and got inside through the opened door. After investigating the interior, the man managed to get in and buckle to the seat. Of course, he managed to study the manual before actually beginning the tests, however, controls looked very unfamiliar -- pedals were placed tightly, the steering wheel was much bigger compared to Lada's, and the gearbox shifter... Well, maneuvers with it were quite hard to remember -- first gear would engage when the pilot would pull the shifter towards himself, second and third gears would require pushing the shifter towards the torpedo, and fourth with fifth gear needed a pull towards the driver again... Quite a lot of stuff to handle.

"Alright... Nice and smoothly..." Cider thought after turning all the systems on. Without further hesitation, he pushed the starter button, and after a couple of coughs, the engine released a thundering screech, which was stunning even for Cider himself. As he played with the gas pedal, warming the car up, the engine picked up the tone, waking up ponies all across Canterlot.

And within a couple of seconds, as Cider saw the signal of Chocola, the green-and-orange Mazda shot forward faster than the wind itself.

"That was..."

As Cider shut himself up for a couple of seconds, he shrugged and only managed to say:

"I don't know. That was just awesome."

"I don't have proper words to describe, how fast it goes..." Chocola said, trying to not tear her face apart with her grin. "And the sound -- it souded like a screech of a wild animal! Horrible, but so powerful! And with that car, you have a good chance of beating Rainbow Dash."

Cider and Chocola were standing nearby their improvised car park, drinking coffee. A lot of curious ponies were looking at them, whispering. Some of the bravest were hanging around the cars, taking photograps or occasionally ask a question or two about them. They were simply too stunned to carry on.

"Still, this car is hard to drive. We need to survive a three-hours marathon, and despite being fast and pretty," -- Cider made an unsure gesture towards Mazda with his free hand -- "I remember that it has sort of a weak chassis. I don't want it to break apart. Besides, no differential, tight cockpit, and an enormous steering wheel would tire me in less than an hour. It's dangerous not just for our victory, but also for the safety of others. So we'll continue our tests."

"Sure. Just let's finish our coffee first, m'kay?" Chocola closed her eyes and giggled.

"Okay then. The next car to test will be... Hm-m-m..." Cider hummed in thinking, looking at standing cars. "Let it be... A-ha, Peugeot 905 Evo."

While Cider and Chocola chatted, they didn't notice that someone else was coming their way. And when they noticed, they saw that it was Twilight Sparkle herself. The man suddenly felt himself uncomfortable, though Twilight didn't show any signs of being angry or annoyed. More than that, she wore a warm smile on her face.

"Good morning, Cider! Testing your vehicles already?" the princess asked.

"Yeah, sort of..." -- Cider rubbed his head with his free head, being a bit nervous.

"Oh, that's great! What cars have you tested already?"

"Mazda 787B and Lada 2908 LSGA," the man replied, "Now we're having a break."

"Cider wants to show his best result next week! I think that he has a good chance against Rainbow Dash," Chocola added innocently, and Cider's face fell down.

"What are you talking about? Did you set up a race with Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked, being confused, and came closer to the pair. Chocola's eyes widened in disbelief.

"YOU DON'T KNOW YET?!" she shouted in Twilight's face, as she was forced to close her eyes. "Rainbow Dash called his cars a pile of junk and himself a failure at yesterday's motorshow! So Cider will race against her next week for his own glory and pride!"

Twilight's eyes shot wide in disbelief. "Cider... Is that true?" she asked in a downed voice. The man only gave a short nod. "My... Goodness..." the alicorn said and leaned on a nearby-standing Mazda.

As time was passing by, a heavy silence fell upon the trio. And while Chocola didn't have anything particular on her mind, Twilight and Cider were thinking. Twilight -- about how in Equestria Rainbow Dash managed to ruin her friendship with the human, Cider -- about what he would need to beat Rainbow Dash on the track. But eventually, he finished his coffee, and after throwing an empty cup into the nearby trash bin, he picked up his helmet and walked towards the Peugeot prototype.

"Chocola, ready up the stopwatch. Time for another run," Cider said, sighing. "Twilight, would you like to watch? Maybe you can tell something cool after my run, or maybe even look from uphigh."

"Yeah, sure..." Twilight said without much enthusiasm. This was going to be a lo-o-ng day...

"To sum everything up -- all of these cars are pretty equal, except for rally prototypes and touring cars," Cider said with a sigh. "And all these cars still don't have enough perfomance! More than that, I don't have enough perfomance in myself!"

The man sat on the ground and leaned to a Porsche 917 Can-Am prototype, covering his face with his palms. He was exhausted and dripping with sweat, and what annoyed him for the most, every car he tested wasn't just good enough. There was only one left that he didn't take out for a ride, but he knew it wouldn't be any better than the others. Chocola's mood was basically a reflection of Cider's -- she's been helping him a lot while he'd just arrived to Canterlot, and she couldn't watch him being in bad mood. And what about Twilight... Well, she was angry. As Cider was testing his cars all day long, she did a little research on what happened back at the motorshow. "I can't believe Rainbow did this! We need to have a serious talk. Why does she act so self-centered sometimes?" Twilight thought to herself, "Alright, I'll think about it later. But now..."

As the alicorn looked around, she saw quite a big crowd, gathered around the cars. Especially the green Porsche 2708 CART racer. Its polished body shined in rays of setting sun, and its massive wings looked like razors, designed to cut through airflow like a hot knife through butter.

"Hey, Cider," Twilight said, coming closer to the pilot, "Have you mentioned anything about the race distance?"

"Only timing. Three hours of raw competition," Cider answered. "And why do you ask?"

"I just want to know, would you like to use only one car or a few different ones," Twilight smiled, "Because I think that we have a few good reasons to do so."

"I'm interested. Go on," the man stood up from the ground and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"First, you won't need to change tires and refuel. Second, I can gather much more information from you after the race, and I will have more samples to test. But the most interesting thing is... Well, you can use this," -- Twilight pointed a finger towards a Porsche racecar -- "I heard how you complain about your own physical strenght. You can use this for the last section of the race. It will be your trump card."

Cider held his chin, thinking. Twilight and Chocola could almost see, how gears inside his head were turning. And eventually, he said:

"I guess, we can give it a try... Twilight, you'll get the engine running with the starter when I give you a sign, it's lying under the diffuzer. Chocola, you will operate the stopwatch. Move, people!" Cider commanded with regained enthusiasm. As he put on his helmet, he ran to the racecar and got inside. After buckling himself, he gave an o.k. sign to Twilight, who's been already standing behind the car with the starter. And after a few coughs, the engine roared furiously, scaring the nearby crowd. However, nobody walked away.

"Alright, pal... This is your last ride for today. Show them your maximum," the man mumbled to himself, though, he couldn't hear anything aside the thundering V8 behind him. After shifting to the first gear, Cider carefully tested the gas pedal, and lined his car up with Chocola. As she lifted her free hand, the man revved up the engine, making himself deaf for a second. And as he regained his bearings, the mare has thrown her hand to the ground. As Cider carefully released the clutch pedal, the racecar began its movement. At first, it was slow due to the man's caution, but as he hit the throttle to the floor, the car shot forward like a bullet.

"MY FUCKING GOD!" the man could only think, as acceleration pressed his body deeper inside his seat. He could only watch, how everything outside the cockpit was becoming a blur, and quickly passed by. And the speed -- oh boy, it looked more like teleportation to Cider. He managed to reach 320 kilometers per hour before the first turn. As the driver hit the brakes, his head immidiately shot forward, almost reaching the steering wheel, as Cider wasn't aware that such G-forces take place in a car like this one. And when we was passing the first corner, he felt himself like a plushie toy, being thrown inside a washing machine. The man would even think, that junior Formulas that he drove at past, had literally nothing in common with this CART racer... If his head wasn't empty due to suffering big G-forces.

The next section of the track, that came through the Canterlot University, was truly a hell even for our soldier-slash-racer -- turns were sharp, rear wheels would slip from time to time because of enormous amount of POWER, and the man himself just tried to keep his head on his shoulders. They started to hurt badly after a couple of turns, due to their tension.

The third section of the track was a great relief for Cider -- mountain road was fast and smooth, and a cool air from the upper side of the mountain chain rushed through the car, cooling down the man's muscles. "Alright, I can have a little rest at this part of the track during each lap," the man thought to himself after regaining the ability to do so, "Wonder how fast Rainbow Dash can go here. She will probably lose a lot of energy due to these strong winds."

And, after going through the passage at the top of the mountain chain, the road fell downwards, and for another time, Cider felt an enormous acceleration on himself. As the car quickly exceeded 360 kilometers per hour, it felt like being glued to the road, thanks for its massive wings. As Cider was rapidly turning the steering wheel, his neck began to hurt again. However, when he literally thundered into the city, he took a quick look at the speed gauge.

"FOUR HUNDRED! AWESOME!" the man shouted, though nobody could hear him, even himself. Crossroads and quarters whizzed by like a blur, and the only thing the man could focus on, was the massive golden gate of the Royal Castle on his left, just a mile away. And after a few seconds of thundering through the streets of Canterlot, Cider finally hit the brakes, feeling how his head wanted to go off his body. As the car came to a complete stop in front of the castle's gates, Cider shut down the engine. But he didn't come out from the car just in the next second, however...

"Awesome. Must do it tomorrow," he thought to himself, releasing the steering wheel from his grip and resting his hands on the knees. And, as he didn't really care, he didn't notice, how the crowd around the place was booming with cheers and applauds, and how Twilight and Chocola were standing with their eyes being as wide as saucers, and with their mouths open...