Two days of training outside Manehattan where no one would see us.

Three days of journey to the next battle: Apple Loosa… I think there is a hidden message in that place's name that I need to put my eyes on, but I let it slide since I had to explain to Cheerilee everything she needs to know about Road Kill and how to keep us alive from any crazy fanatics who want to tear us to shreds.

Bumpy road with spilled soda on the counter and an angry mare nagging me the road was annoying as heck… yeah, I had to say that but moving on.

Hayseed started to fill us about Apple Loosa, the town of apple pies, friendly smiles and lots of apple trees… and also where he was born and raised before he moved to Manehatten and started his new life.

Like Ponyville –and any place twisted metal takes place- that place where used to be smile and apples is now buildings destroyed to many pieces and the smell of burned tires could be smelled from miles away, but unlike it the town of Apple Loosa is an open with no place to hide which is no wonder seeing how the place located in desert, unless you consider to hide in an orchard of apple trees which you can only get grant to go within if your vehicle is either as narrow as a bike to pass through it or bulky as a monster truck to crush through it -which is a useless move since you will leave a huge lead to your location-.

So as far as I understood from his explanation, Road Kill would've been destroyed if it weren't for the upgrade he installed within the car.

Speaking of upgrade, Road Kill got a small features thanks to my 'peak performance' from my previous match, Hay Seed collected the rewards, split some for me to buy something the TW card can't access and brought every piece he can maintain to make the car less shaky and more firm toward the incoming challenges.

When a contestant wins a fight and survive another day they get two rewards, your typical cash reward and the loot from the defeated… also known as dead contestants destroyed cars.

Yes, I was riding Road Kill with pieces from the ponies who died from my previous battle… one of whom I killed which made me feel uncomfortable.

Cheerilee, being a good student she was –Which is silly and ironic to me- learned all the things needed to be the decent navigator gunner she needs to be, mostly thanks to Hay seed's instructions –I helped- she claimed to be ready, but deep within I knew she won't be the moment the fight starts.

The long road of awkward silence and interesting sceneries gave me and my new companion the chance to plan ourselves for the incoming battles.

Thanks to my cowardice act –thank you for reminding us once again miss Cheerilee- it was assured the contestants will try to take us down first to secure an assured victory and either go into hiding or continue hunting down the unfortunate, so the plan was to find a crowded endless rain of bullets and rockets battlefield, it was risky but she thinks with us in the middle of the madness the chances of the enemies having the time to be very aware who is easy enough to target are lower…as long everyone has a vehicle as rusty as ours.

The second is the benefit and the things need to be aware of the place, Hayseed took his sweet moments to think of few but the only things he thinks of is there is undamaged building –Surprised- and it contains lots of apple pies.

I had thoughts on why an apple pie storage wasn't damaged, and I may pass by to confirm it.

As for the downside there was one as well but it was deadlier than an apple pie, thanks to Discord little desire to "Spice things up" he thought it would be nice enough a race of enraged buffalos a small base filled with all form of arsenals prepared to destroy any trespassers who cross in their sight, their HQ lies between Apple Loosa and a place known as Dodge city who are lucky not to see the bloodshed thanks to how high the fort the buffalos have.

Based on their location to ours we were heading toward their fort, Thankfully Hayseed assured me they will attack us once the fight starts so we are safe for now… How convenient.

Unlike ponies of Apple Loosa who left the place in hurry, the Buffalos took the whole destroying land thing with salt and rage and decide to destroy every car they see, discord could've finished them off with a motion of his claw –or paw- but he saw potential in them and decided to trick them, disguised as a soldier of princess Celestia he gave them arsenals and fooled them into thinking they are doing service to the pony and buffalo kind… little did they know they were servicing Discord the mischievous.

What's stopping them from attacking us the moment they see us? A few days later since the whole arsenal deal, Discord showed up another day as himself and threaten them not to do anything rash and wait till the massacre starts.

Looking back at the cars I dealt with I felt there is no way they can stand against a moving target armed with all form of rockets and bombs meanwhile they are sitting ducks so I called on Hayseed that they could be dead from previous year match… and Hayseed decided to give the full painful version.

It's true that the buffalos can't stand a chance regardless how prepared they are, which is why Discord added two things to make things fair for them and make my stomach have a hard time finishing the French fries I try to eat while ignoring Cheerilee's glare.

Once again every battlefield Discord sets for us have a risky yet rewarding location, Ponyville have the unstable clock tower which contains the healing station waiting for the lucky ones who reach it, but the risk is once the clock falls you are done with no point of return regardless of your car defense... and the buffalos are the risk and the reward lies within the fort of theirs which contains a magical weapon capable of annihilating any enemy from any distance… known as the 'sniper.'

Due to how high the buffalo's location is along with their fort, they basically cover the entire area and see any enemy all around the town, and with the sniper weapon, no enemy will survive.

The sniper: A self-explanatory yet rare weapon which confuses me on how Cheerilee will use it, Hayseed explained it's a team group effort like using a regular rocket, meanwhile in rockets and bombs my job is to aim the car in front or behind the enemy so Cheerilee can press the button and release the pain, the sniper is different, in this one the gunner is the one who aims and try to find the most damaging area as possible (the driver's head) meanwhile the driver wait for the command to press the button located next to the wheel easy to see and press… the longer the wait the easier and deadlier the gunner can find the soft spot.

That was the first curse, the curse of giving the contestants a reason to attack the buffalos who both got fooled and want to defend their loved home.

The second one is that the Buffalos do die from this, but two scenarios happen: If the Buffalos survived or some of them Discord appears as the soldier and once again give them a sense of hope to avenge the dead…. If all of them get killed by some bloodthirsty contestant, the all generous one revive them from the dead and give them the blessing of forgetting what happened that day, and no one is allowed to tell or mentioned it to them unless they want to be disqualified or join them with whole defending the fort.

It was horrible, and I knew it wasn't the end of Discord's list of madness.

So my second battlefield was an open field with a very narrow orchard we can't enter and an armed fort ready to reward whoever crazy and emotionless enough to enter and obtain an instant win weapon.

Joy

We were close enough to our destination but Cheerilee insisted me to end the day in Dodge city seeing how we arrived early thanks to my 'Splendid driving skill' which I am glad she liked… yes, I am aware it was sarcasm.

Dodge city, another landmarked by Discord to be a safe area from his blood shed contest of his. Meanwhile, Manehatten was a city of any kind of opportunities and is the place for car companies to welcome it's desired customers, Dodge city is the place for contestants to both relax and prepare themselves mentally if they arrived early enough, which once again… we did one day before the fight begins.

I drove slowly around the city looking around, a desert city with folks wearing an old west attire to blend in with their old-fashioned environment of theirs, one thing ruined it is the four-armed cars parked next to a small hotel.
Parking my car in the car cleaning service -thanks to my nagging partner who got tired from the mess inside my car, which I still understand seeing I ran out of place to throw away the leftovers in the car for I am a clean person who cares about the environment- Cheerilee went to the hotel to check if there is any room left for us to sleep in, as for me seeing how it's not night yet I walked around the city and see if anything catch my interest.

The ponies of dodge city, although their city is meant to welcome tourists with all form of cozy service… the ponies didn't show the same beauty.

Every turn I took, every building I went in I took a glimpse of multiple emotions, some were hostile, others were scared and more.

I very much understood why they were this angry, but they could've kept it within themselves till they are inside their home where they can release their emotions somewhere I won't feel bad, but then again they were doing this whole façade a long time that their mask of fake smiles got more and more smelly that they want to smell fresh air… I hope they do it when I leave this place.

One more building for me to browse around before I come back to Cheerilee and see whether we will sleep under a ceiling and four walls or the car with her sleeping behind taking the best seat.

'Sewing kit and family cloth shop' was the lucky last building, I admit I was about to groan but the clothes I witnessed in the display glass made me shut my mouth and hope they have what I seek.

They had safety clothes for crazy drivers –they wrote 'for crazy drivers under it- the thing I wished for ever since my eyes lied on that add in Manehatten, although it wasn’t as appealing or promising as the add it still looks like it a lot of time is perfect.

The shop was as small as a retail store used to be next to my home, it only showed one set of clothes for each corner, Pajama, western, poor, and finally, the twisted metal and bones clothe.

The owner of the shop, a grumpy short old stallion with sewing kit mark, light blue fur and black hair with few white streak showing his age if the long beard reaching the floor wasn't an enough proof, who thought waiting for me to finish drooling on the display won't end anytime soon screamed at me and asked me if I will buy or not.

After discussing the price, color and measure the clothes I am wearing he informed me my size makes it easier to finish it tomorrow –Which I was flattered-

Before I left the place the doorbell rang show a little blue filly with a needle attached with gold string mark crying with red eyes, she ran to the old man who lost his grumpiness suddenly.

She was the old man's granddaughter and she was harassed by one of the contestants of the fight, telling her how she should tell the old man to lower the price of his finest set of clothes unless she wants bad things to happen to him along with everyone she holds dear… it was terrible.

The old man, Sewing kit –Yes, this is his name in case the shop mislead you like I did- assured her nothing will happen to this shop, not with the contract he signed protecting everyone he holds dear.

Being the curious guy I was –and still am- I decided to ask the filly with the most gentle way I can master "who were the ponies who said that?"

Sewing kit went back to his grumpy mode and told me to 'go away or else I will sew you to your monster wagon of yours, you drivers love so much' but I ignored him and shown the most peaceful look I can master to little filly.

She wasn't comfortable at first but after few seconds she decided to let the pain off her chest and tell us.

"They were Three mean ponies 'Mistah', they wore weird dead pony bandanas and had weird saw hair like, it is like they decided to go to mister hammer head's carpenter shop instead of a regular barber shop, one of them is a unicorn while the other two are earth ponies."

This gave me small chuckle to her innocence and I assured her these mean ponies won't dare to harm any of your family for the match starting tomorrow, and I knew these kinds of cocky folks are destined to… 'go back home and try to be better ponies.'

The little filly was confused at first but after few second of me comforting her she thanked me and informed her granddad she is going back to work.

I may be a pony hater, but hating small children? Now, this is childish.
Sewing kit looked at me with a hard gaze, try to understand what I am trying to come from this act, I simply replied to him saying "All I did is telling the truth… besides I can't stand by and watch innocent child cry like this, someone needs to show those ponies a lesson" and then I left the shop.

Good news

Cheerilee found room for us to sleep in.

Bad news

It had one bed so I had to use my motel couch sleeping experience and let her sleep in a very comfy bed.

But before I end my day I took a small peek at both the competitor's cars and the buffalo's fort.

Cars with all form of shapes, big and small, with its breathtaking colors –Sarcasm.-

Among these intimidating cars lies one that raises my suspicion on who bullied the poor filly.

Pickup truck colored black, with a painting of pony skull facing front and flaming bones insides, barbed wires and spikes attached all around it to give warning to anyone thinking of ramming them, and what sold me the most is a grenade launcher in the box with a padlock attached for any thievery attempt.

Mark the car in my mind I put my focus on the Buffalo fort who didn't give enough justice to its name for I see the title 'the castle of the buffalos' is more fitting.

Due it's a night I only saw how big the risk is, it was pretty obvious only destroying the place is the only way win, that's all I could see.

Cheerilee and I spent the last minute's exchange our discovery before we hit the hay.

After I explained mine, Cheerilee started to lay the things she thought was worth mentioning.

When we split our path and headed to the hotel she encountered few of the contestants, only five she met and thankfully none of them were as aggressive as the masked skull ones, but still secretive to their plan and not in mood to say hi to the ones they will fight against, but to her luck she met a mare she used to know who isn't part of the contest, her name is Drepy hooves, a friendly Pegasus mare who used to live in ponyvile –How many ponies lived in that place?- she works as a mail mare who delivers mail and shipments of all kind no matter where you live as long it's not dangerous, the price gets high based on how big and how far the place you live away from Clouds Dale.

Finish delivering mails for the people of Dodge city, Derpy had some time for some old chat with her old friend, they spent in talking about their life, how things working out and why they are here and all that.

It was no surprise to me that mailing mare friend of her wasn't happy when she discovered one of her friends from old home was part of this nut job game, and for the sake of lighting the mood for me she told her shocked friend who she was driving with… lots of gasps came from both Derpy and the staff members who were doing their job before they heard the name of the infamous Couch Potato… I see I made a name for myself.

Apparently, my cowardice act not only turned me into the most hated pony in Manehatten but also in the whole horsy world… what am I am talking about? When I won the last match, Discord was supposed to mention my car name for the sake of anonymity since there are ponies who… play unfair, and guess what? He mentioned my name.

Another reason why I need to install defenses to my department when I win this… if I win this.

Shrug Cheerilee off and remind her that we have a rough day I slammed my face on the couch and tried to think of every food I can think of, for I knew I won't sleep with the sound of death wheezing on my head.

Tomorrow will be a beautiful day

Author's Note

I am sorry for the long wait, but you know how life works, attacks you the moment you let your guard down