Perfect Shift

Lightning was eager to pull into an open door, where Emerald and Crimson awaited her behind the door. She popped open the door of the Nissan, tossing the keys to Emerlas who caught them seamlessly in her magic.

"Pristine, you did well." She commented, noting a lack of any scratches on her car.

"You set it up very well." Lightning praised the unicorns quick work.

"I know it inside and out, it was a matter of finding the right parts. Your friend made that job easy. Of course, now I need to reinstall my setup. Shouldn't take long."

"You didn't crack under pressure Dust." Crimson added. "You've got will power even I struggle to stand with, I'll give you that."

"How is Aqua doing?" Lightning inquired on Emerald's relative.

"She's looking into a new car, problem is she put a lot into that Subaru of hers. She's having trouble finding something in her price range that can actually keep pace."

"I'll look into helping her with that, in the meantime I'm going to get reaaquinted with the Porsche."

Finding it in the far corner, she went to open the door when she received a call. She pulled it up, but it was an unidentified number. Seeing it as intended spam, she declined the call. It was only to have the same number call her again immediately after. She accepted this call with a haste tone.

"Yes? What is it?

"Yes, is this Lightning Dust.?" The tone was of a stallion for sure.

"Your speaking with Lightning Dust, yes. What the fuck do you want?"

"Just to have a talk, but not on here. I'm outside waiting. Don't bother telling me where you are cause I already know."

"Hold up, first off. Go fuck yourself freak. Second, how do I know you aren't bluffing?"

"Does Rogue bluff?"

"..."

"No answer? Fine, then I don't see any reason you should decline. I'll be waiting for you to come out. I have all the time in the world." The mystery caller hung up immediately, leaving Lightning no time to recover and fire back.

She stepped out of the open door she had gotten into, and made haste to the exit. Crimson noted her an easy look coupled with her unusually high pace. She eyed him up as she walked by, morning with her head over to the door, beckoning the stallion to follow. He obliged, as both ponies excited into the night sky.

As she had feared, the were cars waiting outside. What made her even more tense was she recognized these cars immediately. An Audi R8 and Lamborghini Huracan, both of which were present when Rogue had stared her down not too long before. Leaning against the Audi was a stallion setting down his phone onto what Lightning presumed was his car.

They locked eyes as Lightning drew closer, but she approached cautiously. This stallion was obviously in it with Rogue, so Lightning was prepared for anything that might happen.

"Miss Dust, sorry to keep you from resting tonight."

"Yeah, very fucking funny. I know who your in it with and would you kindly get lost!" Lightning got well into the stallions muzzle, but he kept his cools without flinching. Oddly, it was Crimson who pulled Lightning off. He took control of the conversation.

"After all these years Carbon, you still haven't shaken his influence."

"Not much of a choice, he keeps me under close watch."

"You should have gotten out when we had our chance."

"I couldn't take any risks, he would have killed us both. If anything I saved your life."

Crimson locked eyes with Carbon.

"So why are you showing up now?" He questioned. Carbon glanced over at Lightning once again, and met Crimson' s gaze.

"It would seem some pony has stepped up to make him pay for what he's taken, I've made my move. He doesn't even know I've jumped ship."

"Yeah very funny, how the fuck did you get my number then. I don't give that thing out at Heartswarming parties."

"Well, turns out residents are well documented in police databases."

Right on queue, the Lamborghini's door opened up. A unicorn mare stepped out, one that Lightning recognized quickly.

"Of course, say how's those ribs of yours?"

"You managed to not break them, despite me being more of an IT pony than an officer."

"She pulled your records for me, she has quite the way with tech. It was just a matter of tracking you down without Rogue following us."

"Yeah, I don't see how I'm supposed to believe this. A lacky of Rogue and a officer trying to get help from me. Yeah sure, I'll follow you into a double ambush and have you pay that bastard a bounty. Look, at least you were pleasant but I have bigger fish to fry."

Lightning turned away from the pair and immediately felt a shock resonate through her body as she went completely limp. Crimson was caught off gaurd, and fell into Shadow's hooves. He didn't struggle, knowing his old pal would be easily capable of doing far worse. Lightning, still conscious, layer on the tarmac in brief paralysis as Copper pulled her along in her magic.

"I, or rather we, don't want any part of that punk. And as for your bounty, I may have been dishonorably discharged but I'm not afraid of breaking your legs and chucking you into the..."

She was cut off by the sound off the hammer from a 1911 going into battery behind her. Lightning barely caught a glance of a black unicorn standing behind Copper, a Gold plated pistol in his magical grip.

"Drop her, before I drop you." Zephyr's voice echoed his intentions clearly.

"You know...who You are messing with?" Copper attempted to use her background to her advantage.

"A discharge in over her head in high water. I said let go of her."

Without much of a fight, Copper cut off her magic and let Lightning down gently. Zephyr withdrew his pistol, and as the situation calmed Carbon and Crimson released each other.

The scene was tense, but as every pony began to dial back Lightning spoke up.

"If your still in Rogue's pocket I will personally make good on my promise to Spark."

"That's the whole reason I'm here. My name is Carbon Shadow."

"And why are you here?"

"Because Rogue has gone too far."

The drive to Port Murphy's dockyard was tense for Lightning, but she found herself ridding passenger in Zephyr' s Fiesta ST as they rode along the south shore.

"Seems like I showed up at a good time." He commented.

"Remind me, what are we doing?"

"V, asked me to pick up a driver for a job. Vitality has a new shipment of exotic cars coming in tonight. Problem is that they're black market. Can't find these things in any dealership, and they are hot. We pick up the packages and run for the quarry fast as possible. The better the condition, the more we get out of it."

"Any word on what we are looking for?"

"V has the details, she'll bring us up to date."

They pulled into the dockyard long after hours. Zephyr parked his Fiesta alongside the Chevy Camaro V was leaning against.

"Good your here..." She tossed them each a set of keys. "Zephyr your car is in a blue container on the far side, Storm you are in a silver just off that direction."

With a quick nod of acknowledgment, the trio set off to different areas. Lightning got to her container first and forced the door open. She found something she could only ever dream of.

A W Moters Lykan Hypersport. A true monster, with 3.7 Liter Twin-Turbo Flat-Six. A car that was only in production for four years. She squeezed her way into the car and sure enough the key matched and the car fired up. She peeled out quickly, not wanting to waste any time.

"Got my car." Dust confirmed. The sun was beginning to rise over the sky as she pulled away.

"Pulling out now." It was Zephyr, who spun in a quick 180 to catch up with V.

They had equally as powerful and collectable cars. For Zephyr. A Radical RXC, which was his Mercedes CLK after a month of steroids. As for V, the highly sought after next gen McLaren. The Senna, a car dedicated to a racer who made a name for himself with the company's racing team many decades before. As a train, they pulled away from the scene.

"Ladies and Gentlecolts, welcome to horizon!" V went ecstatic over the radio chatter as they made their way to the drop off point.

The ride was hazard free. They bypassed morning traffic with ease and had no cop presence as the shift change was right on schedule for them to go without being noticed. V and Zephyr shared a hoof bump as the rides were transfered. After some time, V was able to give Lightning a ride back to her garage. The day had well and truly begun and there was much to do for her as she exited.

"Hey Storm, you've been doing great out there. I keep my eyes on a lot of drivers looking for some great moments and you have been promising. Take care."

"No problem, thanks for the ride."

As the Camaro pulled away, Lightning finally had some time on her hooves. It was time to put the Porsche back into it's paces.