Perfect Shift

Aqua Streak took a long sigh as she lay sprawled out in the spare room of the garage. She was healthy enough that she could walk around just fine, but she lacked any motivation to get on her hooves and do something. Her Subaru had meant everything to her, and without it she felt useless. Emerald had tried to coax her to come out for a ride but nothing was moving the oceanic earth pony from where she lay.

That was until Lightning Dust walked in, dreary eyed from the long night she had partaken in.

"This spot taken?" She inquired. Aqua frowned, but rolled off for the tired pegasus, who promptly fell onto her backside.

"You look like you drove through Tartarus." Aqua stated matter of factly.

"Wouldn't be the first time." Lightning replied with her own factual statement.

"Must be nice being able to do that every night..."

"Yeah, living on the edge of life and death. You have any luck finding a new car?"

"Nothing worth it with what I have...Perfect Shift was supposed to be my big break you know. Make a name for myself, I put everything I had into that Subaru. Now I have nothing but you and the others."

"Right..." Lightning pondered what to say next. "So was the BRZ all you ever wanted?"

"Fuck no Lightning. I mean I loved it to death, it was a great car. But I'm an aspiring driver. I want to move up, find something fast."

"Mhm..." Lightning knew exactly what to do. "You know what, get up and come with me."

"Lightning just let me..." Aqua started, before Lightning repeated herself more assertively.

"Get up, and come with me."

Reluctantly, Aqua followed the pegasus out of the room and towards the main work floor. The pair passed by McClare who was working on a car with a drape over it.

"Working on a project?" Lightning asked, intrigued by the stallions sudden increase in productivity.

"Just a job for a client of mine, I wanted to treat it with special care. With some work it'll look good as ever."

Passing by, they moved over to the Nissan Silvia that Emerald had given to her. Lightning drove, with Aqua riding shotgun. She left the garage and began heading south.

"So where are we going?"

"Not far, just around the corner. I wanted you to see for yourself."

As they passed by the speedway, Aqua decided to keep the conversation going.

"So why are we riding in the Silvia?"

"I need a moment of downtime, do some drifting, I need a break from all the high stakes right now."

"You? needing a break?"

"Even reckless daredevils need some time off. Besides, I'm dropping you off with Crimson."

That caught Aqua's attention, even making her blush slightly.

"Why Crimson?"

Lightning waited until they pulled up to the dealership to answer that question. Crimson and his Mustang were there, as was another car. Aqua squinted, almost unsure if she was seeing correctly. The Silvia pulled in on the other side of the car, it was an Infiniti Project Black S. Just as the Silvia was parked, Lightning opened up the compartment in front of Aqua and fished out a set of keys that bore the Infiniti logo on it, giving them to Aqua. The sea colored earth pony was hesitant at first, but took the keys and both mares got out.

"You almost made me wait." Crimson remarked sarcastically. "Here I was thinking you were quick."

"Sorry buddy, but that fire your spitting doesn't burn me. You don't mind pulling our friend around in her new car do you?" Lightning inquired.

"Been itching for it, see if her blue is cold enough to put out my fire."

"I don't know, you are red hot...in more ways than one." Aqua remarked, in a flirtatious tone.

Crimson blushed, Aqua held her hoof to her mouth realizing she said that out loud, and Lightning awkwardly backed out of the way.

"Great talk you two, I'm going to head out for some drifting." Lightning retreated to the Silvia, now visually reacting to what was to her...obvious flirtation.

Aqua momentarily turned her attention to the Project Black, the car was a pretty penny for a sedan, but it could hold it's own on the streets. It's ride height also meant that she could still use her knowledge of the city without having too many unhealthy bumps in her rump. It wasn't much, but the fact that Lightning went out of her way during this whole situation to replace Aqua's car with an equal if not better ride really felt special to the earth pony.

"So, word on the streets is you aren't afraid of being dirty." Crimson continued.

"Afraid? being dirty is part of my driving style."

"We'll see about that. I hooked some off-road tires to my ride, try and keep up."

"Beat me? at my own game? Try me. There's a spot just around the corner."

Aqua led Crimson to the highway on the eastward stretch leaving the neighborhood and soon turned off onto a stretch of gravel road. The two cars stopped beside each other, lining up for a muddy experience through the cities marshlands near the southern coast.

After a moment of hesitation, The Mustang bolted. It's off-road tires and tuned engine giving it a noticeable jump compared to the Project Black, but Aqua was in her element, she knew her prowess would carry her in this race. Their race took them south just outside the Mendoza Keys, and despite the new tires Crimson's Mustang was noticeably uncomfortable over the bumps.

There was a break in the road ahead, the pair careening over across a paved road. Fortunately it was quiet in the early morning hours, and traffic was not a worry. Aqua got as close to Crimson's tail as she could without getting alongside him. She knew there was a parking lot just ahead, a patch of pavement where her road tires could grip in and allow her to pass. The transition was coupled with a sharp bump, but with traction on her side she pulled alongside and around the Mustang just before rejoining the dirt.

They were in the wetlands now, the ground was damp and swamp vegetation grew all around as they weaved around small bushes and darted through small marshes. Not too far ahead was a small acces tunnel that ran under the main road. They could only go through it oneby one, so Crimson conceded and followed the Infiniti through without argument.

"Alright, I'll leave you to the backroads from now on." Crimson admitted defeat to the Infiniti, wanting no more of the wild ride. "I think I'm better off running the roads."

"Suit yourself, sometimes getting dirty can be a bit relaxing. We're coming up on Cape Castille, let's get to the main road and head back."

Aqua and Crimson turned left at a fork in the path and saw a break in the trees where Cape Castille's foundry buildings poked through, but just before they could rejoin on the paved road the familiar Carbon coated Audi R8 came to a sudden stop right in the path of the two earth ponies.

With the Audi having suddenly occupied the space Aqua's Infiniti was heading towards she slammed on the brakes and locked the wheels of her car. It stopped just before plowing into the side of the car in front of her. Crimson came to a more gradual and smooth stop, but did not hesitate in stepping out of his car to once again meet face to face with Carbon. Carbon was also eager to jump out of his car and seemed to be in a hurry to get face to face with Crimson.

The two earth pony stallions pressed their snouts up against each other, Crimson with confusion and anger, Carbon's blank expression unusually absent from his demeanor.

"You were following us again." Crimson bluntly assumed, considering Carbon had not only been doing such work often, but just so happened to stop right in the path of their race. "Stay out of our business, or I will bury you in the bay with your partner in crime."

Aqua only dared to watch the two butt heads, but she was definitely weary of trouble. She had been blind sided once, she would not fall victim to a surprise again.

"Crimson, so far the only time I have shown myself to you was with good intentions."

"The only time you showed yourself your unicorn cop friend tried arresting one of my friends and put us in a stand off, speaking of which, where is that little unicorn. You've seemingly been dragging her around like an adopted pet for the last few days."

Carbon and Crimson remained with their eyes locked for what seemed like a century, Carbon didn't want to back down from Crimson, even though he needed his trust. Crimson didn't dare step down knowing what Carbon could do if he showed any weakness. Not to mention the threat of Rogue being possibly anywhere nearby.

"How much do you trust me Crimson?"

"I don't trust you long enough to run a quarter mile."

"Then at least get off the line with me here."

Carbon matching Crimson's drag race metaphor with his own similar statement got into his head just enough for his eyes to widen ever so slightly, but Carbon could see it. He very slightly backed off from the standoff.

"I've been trying to work with you for days Crimson, we're on the same side here. I just needed to convince you." Carbon's tone was not of his standard, flat, matter of fact nature. There was some genuine emotion in his words. He was trying to get Crimson to see that he was telling the truth. Aqua was seemingly moved by the conversation as well. She too got out of her car and joined the two stallions. Carbon nodded in her direction, acknowledging her presence. "Glad to see you in once piece."

"I've seen better days, so you know then?"

"The Snake leaves his den and comes back battered and bruised, that can only mean he went hunting and lost a fight." He nodded in Crimson's direction "Burn marks all over his skin, had to hide my smile."

"You can smile?"

"I do have emotions Crimson, I'm just really good at putting them aside. Let me ask you again. Do you trust me?"

"Convince me." Crimson demanded. "Where's your unicorn friend?"

"Copper...yes. That's what I was hoping you'd ask. Rogue's using her as a bargaining chip."

Crimson couldn't make sense of this.

"So what, one minute he opens the entire world up to her and next he has her hostage?"

"I made the mistake of disclosing that she was a wanted discharge. That she stole her car from the impound lot and was on the run from her former employers. So he took her and held her ransom to the authorities, saying he'd turn her and the car to them for two favors."

"Sick bastard." Aqua chimed in.

"One of the many reasons I turned my back on him, if the blatant vehicular assault wasn't already enough. Anyway, he ransomed himself protection from being arrested until the police can prove two bounties to him. Only then did he agree to turn Copper over to them. One of them was Vitality..."

"He's trying to get the organizer taken down?" Aqua was stunned that an active participant in the league was for some reason trying to get it shut down.

"Turns out that sending him with his tail between his legs was enough to get him to forget about the league and focus on making sure that he takes care of any pony that can outrace him."

"He can't beat them on the street, so he stacks the..."

"...deck in his favor, now you're catching on Crimson."

"I always knew he was a backhand dealer Carbon, if anything it was you who took forever to catch on."

"Little does he know I already flipped his deck and dealt the aces to myself. He still thinks he has me in his pocket."

"You clever old bastard Carbon."

"Sorry to cut in gentlecolts, but you said there were two bounties Rogue set. One of them was Vitality...who was the other?"

"Well I think it should be quite obvious to both of you, but if you don't mind me asking, have either of you seen Superstorm recently?"

Aqua and Crimson locked glances, knowing exactly what he was referring to. Meanwhile, in the distance to the northeast on the Mendoza Keys bridge, the faint sounds of sirens and screeching tires could be heard as a Nissan Silvia came to a sudden stop along the bridge. Ahead, four Dodge Charger pursuit vehicles converged to form a blockade, forcing the Nissan to stop it's forward momentum.

Lightning took a second to assess her situation, four cars ahead, two behind, and not a lot of space to maneuver.

"Well, this is going to be an experience." She remarked, throwing reverse and spinning the wheels. "But who's to say I don't live for these kinds of experiences?"