Lightning Dust had not slept the night before, she couldn’t stop reliving the events in her dreams. She had arrived at the garage late at night while McClare was asleep. He knew that she would be late but he didn’t expect her to be alone. Lightning hadn’t told him about Neon until he brought it up. His face was a mix of recognition, anger, and regret. He went to his personal room shortly after where Lightning could swear she heard him sobbing, but could she blame him? Neon had been his friend since they were foals and she had been killed in cold blood over a race.

Now Lightning was sitting down in the maintenance area of the garage next to her Supra, the only car now occupying it. She had been there for the whole morning blaming herself for Neon’s death and the state of McClare.

“If only I could still fly, I could have pulled her away. Why does it have to be this way!” She thought aloud, stomping her left fore hoof in anger.

Her anger was interrupted by a buzz like vibration coming from the Supra. The tablet she had been given the night before was sending notifications through to her. She put aside her anger temporarily and picked it up opening the notification, text appeared as she did so.

C-Class Rules and the League Schedule

Congratulations to those who qualified for the Perfect Shift League, as well as escaping that ambush from the authorities. That obviously wasn’t planned for the night.

Anyway today marks the first two weeks of the league, the C-Class stage. First off if you are not currently using a C-Class vehicle, you must acquire one in order to participate in the first stage, those who do not within the next week will be automatically eliminated. Now there will be 5 league events in the upcoming days we have marked on each of your calendars, the first one is two days away, the event is optional and has restrictions to enter. Feel free to participate in any unmarked race that you wish, we will keep track of your records using your tablets info.

Points will be given to racers based on their performance in and out of league events. 5 points if you win the race and 2 if you place top 3. We have supplied a map of the city with event locations for those who are uninformed. The 20 racers with the most points will be exempt from the last chance races for B-Class. Each of your tablets have been updated with leader board stats. Of course everyone is at zero but feel free to check your place and competition. We are currently at a dead set 100 participants but we plan on limiting that to six for the final race. We will also set bonus points for those who can outrun the law successfully. I will be tracking bounty in a separate leader board and the racer with the highest bounty at the end of the stage will receive a free gift, one from my personal collection.

Lastly make sure that if you ever change your current vehicle, update it in your info tab so that we are aware, We can’t give you points if you don’t have the listed vehicle. Best of luck to all racers and remember, don’t get caught!

Vitality, Head Organizer of Perfect Shift

Lightning processed the information as she read the text, and noticed the new tab on her tablet labeled “Leader Boards” She pressed it and was brought to a list of names of each racer she was up against, as well as their current vehicle and the number corresponding to their points acquired. She scrolled through the list of names and found herself along with the info she put in the night before. She also saw the “Change Vehicle” option and noted it for when she would need it.

She opened up the map of the city she had received and found many events that were going on. Most of them were either in progress or already full on participants.

“Makes sense, there are a hundred racers looking for points right now.” Lightning noted

She had to look for a bit before she found a race that had an open slot, it was towards the west side of the map outside the city, a sprint race out in Rockville. No other league members had entered it but the limit was six with five already present.

“A small group looking for some competition, sounds like an easy one. Better get going.”

She had wanted to let McClare know but it was best to leave him to his emotions, he likely had a busy day already. She hopped in to the Supra, bringing the tablet with her, and drove of towards her destination that she had marked.

She arrived 20 minutes later, driving at standard pace to not draw any attention from anyone else. She was met with 5 other vehicles, most of which were Volkswagen's except for the Orange Mazda RX-8 line up behind them all. An orange mare with a black mane and tail got out and approached her Supra as Lightning rolled down her window. The mare called back towards the other racers.

“Get ready girls, we got a taker!” She ordered, then turned towards Lightning.

“Who might you be?” Lightning asked

“Name’s Hotshot, me and my friends here usually come around here to race twice a week. We heard that the Perfect Shift league is starting up so we sent out a request, looks like you were the taker?”

“Yeah, call me Superstorm. Just got into this gig last week actually.”

“You don’t say. Well then, why don’t we'll see if you can keep up. I’ll take your tablet and lock your info in so we can send the results.”

Lightning handed Hotshot her tablet. After a few seconds she handed it back and Lightning set it next to her.

“Alright your good, let’s get this show rolling!”

As Hotshot climbed back into her RX-8, Lightning’s tablet changed to show a GPS model with a map of the sprint race and the total distance of said race. It was a relatively short race, mostly on the west outskirts of the city and finished in the Sandpiper Forest near the freeway junction. The red lights came on and Lightning, Hotshot, and the other racers began to rev their engines. Lightning prepared for a perfect launch as the lights became yellow and as she hit redline on her final rev the light became green. She got the best launch she had ever previously gotten, immediately getting alongside the R32 in front of her. Hotshot had similar success and got around the other R32 in front of her. Lightning was able to block coming into a wide right turn to secure third ahead of Hotshot and soon caught up to the other two Volkswagen’s in front. Just down the road was a very long straight road. Lightning was able to easily out perform every opponent except Hotshot's RX-8 which tailed her still even as she cleanly passed the other opponents in front of them. It was a long road ahead until the next set of corners, though the road was very curved. Lightning couldn’t get the top speed she needed to widen the gap. She found Hotshot’s RX-8 in her rear view as they were coming up towards a very wide right near the north river. All that was left were two corners, a long and wide left that could likely be taken flat out followed by a sharp U-curve just before the finish straight. Lightning ruled out the possibility of turning the turning the corner without sliding, but the problem was the left turn before it. Then she remembered something that Neon had told her about the day before the heats.

“This won’t happen very often but if you find a corner that comes before another sharper corner, you might be able to inertia drift. It takes practice but all you need to do is slide the first corner then hit the brake, change direction and re-apply the throttle. It takes some practice but it helps save time in tight spots.”

“Who needs practice when your gifted.” Lightning gloated to no pony in particular.

She knew she had only one chance. Mess up and she would lose all the time she gained on the other racers. The first part of the corner was simple, slid the tires out to get some spin, then hit the brakes. It was only a tap before she turned the wheel the other way and then applied gas. It worked for a second until she got too much wheel spin into the corner. She was able to slow down enough to stop a spinout, but the time lost was enough for Hotshot to catch up on the final straight. Lightning barely managed to keep in front before crossing the line. She won, but it had been closer than she would have liked. After the other racers finished she met back up with Hotshot to send results back to the league.

“Nice run you had there, by the way the girls think you’re crazy.”

“What, Why!?” Lightning asked, both annoyed and confused.

“Really, you’ve been racing for a week and you try to inertia drift. I’ve seen ponies who win races every day try and fail to do that same stunt you just tried to pull. I could have easily passed you there but I gave you the benefit of the doubt because I knew it wouldn’t work.”

“I like to try new things, what’s wrong with that. I thought i could make up some time on the last two corners.” Lightning explained.

“You sure, or is it part of that inner pegasus spirit that still wants your friend back?”

Lightning was dumbfounded, she had her wings still hidden behind her in the seat. Could this pony somehow see them? Before she could answer her own internal question, the pony before her answered it herself.

“Just because I wasn’t there that night doesn’t mean word won’t get around about what happened. Spark was killed in an accident during the final race of the heats, and her friend, who qualified earlier and just so happens to be a pegasus, jumps out of her white Toyota Supra to be the hero only to watch the car in front of her ignite. The same Supra that happened to show up today to race us….”

“It wasn’t an accident!” Lightning screamed furiously, her anger not being able to be withheld. “I saw it happen, I know who took her life, and I will not let him get away with it.

“I’m aware of that rookie!” Hotshot interrupted. “Rogue Rush isn’t known for playing nice. Honestly though, that’s the final straw in my book. Racing dirty is bad enough, but you don’t wreck another racer like that, especially if it puts their life in danger.”

Hotshot paused, then sighed and began again.

“I have to tell you something. Rogue isn’t a stallion to poke at. I’ve heard he has backup in a crew called “Blackout”. If you’re going to take him on, you’re going to need help. I can’t do anything personally, but there are others who can. Find ponies you can trust that will have your back.”

Hotshot finished uploading the results and placed the tablet beside Lightning.

“Trust me, once he realizes you’re after him, he won’t be afraid to put you in the same place he put Spark. I got to go, but you got my support. Good luck.”

With that, Hotshot left in her Mazda along with her friends leaving Lightning Dust to comprehend what she had just heard. One thing was clear though, she knew now that she couldn’t take down Rogue alone. As she drove back to the garage she thought hard about one thing, who out there could help her. McClare was the first to come to mind but she needed more, some pony who could actively be of assistance when she was in need. Little did she know, a Subaru BRZ had started following her back to the garage, inside which was the first of many ponies that would become her friends.

Author's Note

Finding the right place to set this race was a challenge at first but it worked out in the end. I hope you all are ready for chapter six coming soon.