Author's Note

Hello there. Well, I've been listening to Sviridov while writing this chapter. Some powerful music to fit, eh?

The race day

A lot of events have happened in Canterlot during the last couple of days. The news about the upcoming race were spreading quickly, and as Spitfire managed to get an official status of it from the city administration, a massive construction covered the Canterlot's streets. The main strip quickly became a start-finish line, with pit-lane, spectator's area and the race control tower. The territory of the Canterlot University was heavily modified, too -- steel barriers covered both sides of the track, as well as spectators. All other changes like closing the crossroads were minor.

And that comes to it -- Twilight and Cider were going through the mountain pass in their cars, warming them up. Cider's car was a Porsche 956, and Twilight's was a Peugeot 905 Evo. As they slowly entered the city, they saw the tribunes roaring in excitement. The man felt something twisting in his stomach -- a feeling, that he hadn't felt for a long time.

"Well, here we are again," he thought, "Just like in the old days."

And when both cars reached the start-finish line, Cider saw that Spitfire's been standing there already. So, he turned off the engine and got out from the car.

"So, here we are, captain," Cider said without taking off his helmet, which made his voice muffled, "Where are your crew?"

"Workers are in a pit-lane. It was hard, but they've finally learned, how to use a pit-board," the yellow pegasus chuckled. "So, how do you like the crowd at tribunes?"

"It has been long since I've seen anything like this for myself," Cider said, while looking around. "Anyway, where's our counterpart?"

"Right above us!" Twilight said, while coming towards Cider and Spitfire. As both looked upwards, they saw a quartet of ponies in flight suits passing above them, recieving an excited roar from the spectators. They were flying in a "diamond" formation, with Rainbow Dash in the lead. And after passing above, the Wonderbolts team has descended right in front of the start line.

"So, you already know our Rainbow Dash," Spitfire spoke, as cyan pegasus has landed, "Meet the other team members: Soarin, Fleetfoot and Cloudchaser."

"Pleasure doing racing with ya'," Cider shook the newcomer's hands, "Hope that this will be a good challenge."

"Easy-peasy. We will show you, that all your fancy cars are junk, compared to our perfomance!" suddenly, Rainbow Dash has interrupted the man's speech. As she recieved a deadly glare from him, she smirked. But then, she suddenly noticed Twilight. "Hey, Twilight! What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to race, obviously. Don't you see a second car?" the purple alicorn said with a sigh. As Rainbow Dash looked around, she saw that there were standing two prototypes, instead of expected one.

"Wait... Does that mean, that you will race AGAINST ME?" the cyan pegasus said, being confused and shocked. "Why?"

"First -- to test new technology, that you are trying to ignore. And second -- to teach you a lesson, that sometimes it's better to keep your big mouth shut."

After a couple of seconds of processing everything, Rainbow Dash's face fell. "So, that's what you want, huh? Well, let it be. I'll show both of you, that this is just a big pile of junk," she said, pointing to the prototypes. As she did so, she took her position on the start line.

"Well, I guess we're ready to start. The race will last for three hours. Twilight and Cider are allowed to change their cars, if necessary," Spitfire said, "Get inside your cars and warm up. There will be a marchal with a flag, who'll start the race."

"Good. Thanks, Spitfire," Cider replied, and walked towards his Porsche. After giving it the last glance, he got inside the car and buckled himself. After checking everything, he pushed the start button, and the prototype roared. Pretty soon after it, the man heard a whizzing sound of Twilight's Peugeot, too. And after that, he could only wait.

"Alright, man up. You may not win. But at least show that fat-ass that you have guts," Cider thought, increasing his grip on the steering wheel. Minutes were passing slowly, and Cider felt himself in a hot car very uncomfortable. As he looked around through the windows, he saw that all of the Wonderbolts stood on their positions, too. And, as he noticed a marchal with a green flag, that hovered a dozen of meters away, he felt the increasing nervousness. As marchal looked around, and gave a satisfied nod to someone, he faced the competitors and lifted the flag above himself.

"Finally", the man thought and pushed the gas pedal. The engine's roar became furious, as the car eagerly wanted to shoot from its place towards the victory. And all of Cider's attention was concentrated on the flag, that the pegasus was holding. It was hypnotizing in some way -- the man couldn't blink or look away from it. Cider felt how the drop of sweat ran across his cheek, but he didn't look away.

But then, the flag in a pegasus' hand went down, and the race has started. Cider furiously released the clutch, and with a massive wheelspin, his Porsche shot forward, leaving everyone else behind. Twilight started right after him, leaving confused Wonderbolts behind, as they were just taking off.

Cider felt a massive acceleration on himself, as he was furiously shifting gears in order to create as much gap between him and Rainbow Dash, as possible. As he looked in the rearview mirrors, he saw that behind him was only Twilight in her Peugeot. However, as their speed exceeded 220 kilometers per hour, he saw that Rainbow Dash wasn't losing her time, either. After a rather smooth take-off, she was rapidly accelerating, too. Her wings were flapping in a fast rate, and the airflow after her was literally visible. And, as Cider and Twilight reached the first corner, Rainbow Dash has been already right behind them. And, while cars needed to slow down to turn, she easily passed the Peugeot. However, as she got behind the Porsche, she got caught herself in it's zone of massive underpressure, caused by its wing. So, she lost her stabilisation and nearly hit the ground, but managed to get out from the way of Twilight's car, and the alicorn easily got back on her second position.

"That's interesting. I'll be more agressive, then," Cider smirked, while checking the rearview mirrors. As he pushed the gas pedal, his car quickly made a big gap between him and the rest of competitors. However, as Twilight still wasn't very familiar with the car, a couple of Wonderbolts overtook her. And when the group has entered the territory of the Canterlot University, Fleetfoot and Cloudchaser quickly caught up on Cider as well, because he had to lose a lot of speed at narrow roads. And no matter how hard he tried, the man let the pair of pegasi slip past him. However, he didn't get upset, as he knew that he would catch up on them at the mountain pass.

However, the situation behind him was getting hot. As Twilight was struggling with Soarin, Rainbow Dash easily overtook her, and was catching up on Cider. And when the group has entered the mountain pass, the situation even became hotter -- nor Rainbow Dash, nor Fleetfoot and Cloudchaser could keep accelerating effectively because the road was going upwards. On the other side, Cider's and Twilight's cars were rapidly accelerating after a slow University section, and quickly passed by all the pegasi. More than that, the turbulence of their cars caused the Wonderbolts to pull back, and the gap between two teams was widening.

"Got to keep that up," Cider thought to himself, "After we begin our descend, I'll barely have a chance, if I won't block their way." And while he still had a chance, the man kept pushing the gas pedal, enlarging the gap. Twilight was following behind him, keeping her Peugeot a couple of meters away from Cider's Porsche.

And, as both cars crossed the highest point of the mountain pass, they began to descend. Again, the acceleration pushed Cider more into his seat, and after a few corners his Porsche exceeded the speed of 360 kilometers per hour. However, as he took a quick look into his rearview mirrors, he saw that the Wonderbolts were catching up on him and the Peugeot. And more than that, Rainbow Dash was in the lead, moving so fast that the compression of air in front of her was visible. Cider knew, what that meant -- she was going to perform a Sonic Rainboom, and now nor him or Twilight can stop her.

"Now we can only hope, that we can outlast her," the pilot thought, giving a quick glance to the speed gauge. After a few tweaks with the wings, the car was showing 390 kilometers per hour right after entering the city. The speed itself was incredible, but still, it wasn't enough to get rid of Rainbow Dash, who was closing up, as well as Soarin, Fleetfoot and Cloudchaser. The Porsche's engine screamed on top of its exhaust, doing its best to make spectators on the tribunes temporarily deaf, but then, it was literally buried under another booming sound, that was much louder. Cider didn't even have a chance to have a look at the rearview mirrors -- first, Rainbow Dash overtook him with a multicolored trail after her, and then, a rainbow-colored blastwave shook the car, giving it a good impact, and increasing its speed at 15 more kilometers per hour. The man was stunned by the force, that consisted in Rainbow's wings -- if she can do THAT, what kind of a competition that is?

"Alright, no time for feeling bad. Gotta' make her regret," Cider mumbled to himself, noticing that all other Wonderbolts kept themselves a few meters after himself, and on the same level as Twilight's Peugeot. However, they easily overtook both cars, as they lost their speed to turn to the start-finish line. And, as Cider kept himself right after a pegasi, he saw two pit-boards with his and Twilight's designations:

RBD-LEAD
+0.15.52
P1

RBD-LEAD
+0.16.32
TWI

"Fifteen seconds on a first lap... That will be even tougher, than I though," Cider thought to himself. But he didn't want to let down his own sense of pride -- even if he couldn't keep up with Rainbow Dash, he could at least compete with the rest of the Wonderbolts. And the man felt, that Twilight felt the same way. And both cars used their advantage in speed before entering the first corner to overtake Soarin, Cloudchaser and Fleetfoot. The race was only warming up...

Cider was dripping with sweat, however, he felt how he was overflowing with energy. His calculations were right -- Rainbow Dash was tired after a first hour of the race, and slowly, but surely was losing her tempo, as well as other Wonderbolts. Of course, Twilight was tired, too, but she kept herself upright, and she managed to lose only 30 seconds before Cider pulled over the pit-lane to change a car. As he saw, how the team was waiting for him, he drove closer and stopped his Porsche 956. He quickly got out from the car, and headed to the another one, that stood a bit farther -- the yellow Porsche 962. As Twilight's Peugeot passed by, she also got out from the car, and headed to her next vehicle -- Jaguar XJR-11 in "Silk Cut" livery. And after a minute of buckling themselves, both Cider and Twilight roared out from the pits. As they lost a lot of time, Cider noticed, that Rainbow Dash was coming from behind -- because of the gap she made at the start of the race, now she had an advantage of one lap. However, she's been tired already, and was flying with a speed of a regular Wonderbolt, and couldn't perform the Rainboom. And, as Cider's car accelerated, it came out from the pits just a dozen of meters away from the cyan mare.

"So, you're tired, huh? Now we're talkin'," Cider smirked to himself. Rainbow Dash was literally blocked between Cider's Porsche and Twilight's Jaguar -- Cider was maneuvering roughly, trying to catch Rainbow in his car's zone of underpressure, and Rainbow was trying to avoid both his car and Twilight's attempts to overtake her. And that was it -- for a half of an hour, the situation looked like a mess, where everyone was overtaking everyone, and slowly catching up on other tired Wonderbolts. As the trio of Soarin, Cloudchaser and Fleetfoot was spread all across the circuit, pretty soon both Cider and Twilight regained their respective second and third positions, keeping Rainbow Dash between their cars. However, after another round of going through the mountain pass, she decided that she needed to go rough. With all the strenght that she had, she managed to accelerate and slam into Cider's car.

"DAMN!" the pilot cursed, regaining his bearings after the hard impact and letting Twilight slip after Rainbow Dash, due to the loss of speed. As he glanced over the dashboard, he saw that a small red lamp on it started to blink, signalising that one of fuel pumps has stopped thanks to the impact. "MOTHERFUCKER!" Cider shouted in anger, but quickly regained his sanity.

"Alright... No other choice that to go in that CART racer. Don't know, will it be enough for the rest of the race..." Cider mumbled, and hit the pedal to the metal, trying to gain up on Twiligh and Rainbow Dash. However, they've already been far away... So, as he reached the pits, he lost a sight of them completely.

"What's the matter? You were supposed to stay on the track for at least half of an hour!" somepony from the Wonderbolts team shouted, as Cider got out from his car and ran towards the CART formula -- the Porsche 2708 racer.

"Fuel pump! Will fix it after the race! Get the engine runnin'!" Cider shouted back, as he was getting inside the tight cockpit of a car. And while he was buckling himself, he heard a cough of an engine, and right after it, its mighty roar. Without further hesitation, he kicked into the first gear and started with a big wheelspin, leaving a big cloud of smoke after himself. As the acceleration was pushing Cider more into his seat, he knew that he wouldn't last long. The pilot looked around the environment -- tribunes were colored orange in the rays of Celestia's setting sun, as well as the road. As he got out from the pits right in front of Soarin, he caused him to stumble for a bit. The colt tried to keep up, but it was worthless -- he was tired, and the car's perfomance was outstanding. And Cider started to gain up on Twilight and Rainbow Dash.

Lap after lap, second by second, Cider was catching up. After 20 minutes from his last stop, he overtook Twilight's Jaguar and the cyan pegasus. He could see the confused look of Rainbow Dash, as his dark green racer passed by her like a wind. And Cider didn't want to stop -- he had a whole lap between him and Rainbow Dash. With each lap, he saw a split time between him and the cyan mare on the pitboards --"RBD-LEAD +6.15.52 P1", "RBD-LEAD +5.10.52 P1", "RBD-LEAD +3.45.13 P1", etcetera. And when the timer on the man's wristwatch showed that he had only a couple of laps left, he saw that he finally gained up on Rainbow Dash. She was alone, as Twilight left the confrontation to change the car. And, fighting the pain and blur in his eyes, the pilot stepped on a gas pedal. Rainbow Dash tried to keep up with him, but eventiually she left the racer's rearview mirrors. And Cider was only making the gap between him and the mare only wider.

As he passed the start-finish line, he saw a sign from a marchal, who sat on the top of a control tower along with Spitfire, and a pit-board with "P1-LEAD -3.14.32 RBD" designation. As he saw the marchal's pointer finger, the pilot knew -- it was his final lap. He was one lap away from winning. So, with mind-blowing speed, he passed by. He quickly got through the first corner, recieving a tunnel visionary syndrome. His head felt heavy, his muscles ached, but he couldn't stop. After passing the University section, the pilot stepped on a gas pedal again, and the car shot upwards via the mountain pass, screaming furiously with its engine. And after passing the track's highest point, it shot downwards, exceeding the speed of 400 kilometers per hour. But...

But, when the man's car entered the city, the engine started coughing. Not realising what's going on, Cider instinctively shifted the geearbox to neutral, and stepped on a gas pedal. But, right after a few coughs, the engine's stopped. With all the will he had, Cider looked at the fuel gauge.

"Empty..." he mumbled. The car was rolling down the street, using its own inertial forces. However, despite being tired as hell, despite having the grey fog before his eyes, the man refused to give up. As the car was losing its speed, it had enough inertia to get through the last corner. Cider looked around and saw Rainbow Dash, quickly gaining up on him. So, he unbuckled himself, and got out from his Porsche. With all the strenght he had, he started pushing the car towards the finish line.

"COME ON! COME O-O-O-ON!" Cider shouted, beating the roar of tribunes in his head. He panted heavily, his muscles were on fire, but he couldn't let go of his car. He had 50 meters between him and the finish line. And right above the finish line, was hovering a marchal with a checkered flag, being ready to throw it down.

As Cider pushed forward, the formula started to roll. Slowly, but surely it was covering the distance, meter by meter. Cider didn't dare to look behind to check up on Rainbow Dash -- he didn't want anything to distract him. He was screaming in agony at the top of his lungs, pushing with his burning body, and keeping his blood-filled eyes shut. But, he couldn't handle it -- just a couple of meters from the finish line, he felt how his mind slept away from him, and he lost his balance. As he fell on the ground, he remained conscious for a couple of seconds -- he saw an orange sky above him through the visor of his helmet. He saw that someone was hovering above, getting closer and closer... But he didn't see, who it was. He snapped out from the reality.