Shortly after the results were finalized Lightning began driving westward through Cape Castille. She had never been this south in Wing City for how long she had lived there. It appeared to be a manufacturing port. She wasn’t interested in the place itself, rather the roads that lined it. If she could memorize the roadways she could start finding the fastest routes through certain parts of the map. Of course, Aqua knew the place much better. Lightning could not always rely on her to do everything, so she began to work the place out herself.

She entered the small town on the eastern most side of the area and began to take a slow drive through it. She did not notice the group of three matte black Dodge Charger SRT8’s bearing down on her from behind. Not until one of them shunted her at high speed, jolting her out of her sightseeing. Whoever these ponies were, they were not arriving for a friendly greeting. Lightning floored it immediately and took the first left she saw. The unmarked vehicles began to give chase of her Camaro as she took two more lefts now heading east towards the shore. The path took a curve as the road gave way to the shipping bay which she navigated relatively easily. Another Charger came from her right at the next intersection and attempted to ram her. She quickly turned left narrowly avoiding the head on collision. She was now heading north. While navigating the road she began to dial up Aqua in hopes that she would be close by to assist. These weren’t cops, but she had an idea of what was going on. Luckily she got an answer from the unicorn. She took another right at the next intersection as she picked up with her tail still hot on her.

“Lightning?”

“No time Aqua, I have unmarked Charger’s tailing me.”

“Buck, where are you?”

“I’m heading north out of Cape Castille.”

“Celestia damnit Lightning, i’m in Eden Shores right now. I’m sorry, I can meet you at Westside but until then you’re on your own.”

Lightning would have interjected but Aqua hung up on her before she could speak. So much for that assistance. Her best bet was to meet her at Westside a few miles north. She took another left and was door slammed by the closest Charger. The hit dented the frame of the door, and nearly knocked her silly. She somehow managed to keep control of the Camaro as she continued. The Camaro may have been durable, but it wouldn’t take many hard hits like that. As she continued to follow the road two of the vehicles attempted to box her in on either side. She tried to force her way out through the car on her right, but the much stronger vehicle was just too much. That’s when her suspicions were confirmed. She noticed the heavy red tint on the windows of both Charger’s, the same as Rogue’s Viper. They were bandits sent by him, he was making his move on her already. Now her drive was stronger than before, she slammed her brakes hard. The move opened her sides and she was punted by the third vehicle behind her. The impact knocked her bumper loose but at the same time caused severe nose damage to the vehicle behind. It began to slow and eventually lost pace with its counterparts. One down, two to go. Now that Lightning was fighting back the bandits got more aggressive themselves. One tried to copy the move Lightning attempted and nearly scored an impact before Lightning dodged left. By this point they were heading straight through the Sandino Ranches.

Lightning turned hard left unexpectedly, faking out the Charger ahead of her and began heading to the highway. The Charger behind her followed easily as she turned onto the freeway. She wanted to get to Westside as quickly as possible, but she made a terrible mistake. Her Camaro was not nearly as fast as the modern Charger’s. The Charger that had missed the corner had caught up with her as well as the one that was still trailing her. One of them attempted to spin her, a move that would likely wreck her car if done successfully. Thankfully she kept the Camaro straight. The Charger went for a second attempt.

This time before it could make contact it was shunted loose by another vehicle. Another hit sent it spinning into the ditch. Lightning checked her mirror expecting a Subaru BRZ in it. She was surprised to find a Ford Mustang Boss 302 there instead. The one that had won the race she had just been a part of. The dark crimson flames of the classic car were vibrant and shone brightly against its black gloss finish. It flashed its brights, a signal that said whoever was driving the Mustang was there to help her. Lightning shifted right, giving the driver of the Mustang room to hit the other Charger. It slammed the door of the Charger with force repeatedly until it was knocked off the road and across the divider. That was all Lightning needed to escape.

Curiously the Mustang stuck around as she took her exit and entered Westside. It never sped away or took a different turn. Even as she stopped at the meeting place where Aqua was sitting in her Subaru the Ford stopped alongside her and was turned off. Whoever this pony was wanted to stay for some reason and Lightning intended on figuring out why. First she needed to speak with Aqua. She had to climb over the passenger side of her Camaro now that the driver’s door was jammed in by the broadside she had taken previously. She trotted up to Aqua'a BRZ as the unicorn in question exited her vehicle, a look of concern plastering her face.

"You alright?"

"Sore, took a nasty hit when I entered onto the freeway. I'll be fine."

"Looks like your new car is a different story. May I ask what happened to your Supra?"

"Don't worry it's back at my garage. A friend of mine let me borrow his ride for a league race. He might be upset about what happened to it, but he'll forgive me when he finds out it was Rogue's doing."

"Wait, unmarked Charger's. That was what was chasing you right."

"Matte black, red window tint. All three of them."

"Call yourself lucky, if he actually saw you as legitimate threat he would have sent more." A third voice interjected. This one was a stallion. Lightning and Aqua turned around to find the driver of the Mustang out of his car. He was a well built earth pony stallion. His cutie mark depicted a similar style to that of Aqua's only instead of a tidal wave it was a burst of flame roaring out from behind the wheel. Despite his comment being directed a Lightning, Aqua was the first to respond to the new arrival.

"Who are you? I recognize the car, you were at the Heats just like us."

"Yeah, I was. I'm sure you're both aware that i'm racing in the league too. Name's Crimson Flare, you can call me Road Burner."

"Well, I guess I should thank you for having my back there."

"It's a little more personal than that. I've been fighting him off for months trying to drive his crew out of the city. He's too stubborn for his own good and now that he has powerful rides he's become unstable. Spark was competitive for sure and maybe a little bit rough on the edges, but she raced fair and clean and she had respect and a reputation to keep."

"So you knew her?"

"We weren't friends, but we were acquainted, and i'll be lying if I said it didn't hurt to see what happened myself. I saw potential in you when I watched you race, now I see a fire that won't be quenched until Rogue is dealt with. I like that, so call it what you want but i'm here to help."

Aqua was the first to notice the problem building itself in the background.

"Aren't you both in the league? I'm helping her too but in case you forgot I didn't make the cut, so i'm just playing my part. You both qualified, wouldn't you technically be rivals?"

"Not if we're working for the same cause. Besides, I prefer friendly competition." He turned his head towards Lightning. "I'm sure you saw what that Challenger got by putting his nose where it shouldn't have been."

Lightning may have cringed internally but she was glad this pony was on her side, and she was making progress. She now had two allies. With both Aqua and Crimson at her side as well as McClare helping at the garage it was looking more likely that she had a chance of pulling off the unthinkable. There was a long way to go, but progress was being made.

After a brief moment and a swift farewell the trio retreated to there cars. Lightning glanced at her tablet to check the time, it was just after 5PM A notification had also made itself apparent, another one straight from Vitality. It was a race notification, but this one was a mandatory event. One meant for the entire league.

Attention, Class B qualifiers will be taking place in 3 days.
Class C Restrictions in Place
Racers will be separated into groups of eight, top five in each race advances. I have already linked the grids for each race in an attachment with this notification. Feel free to check it to know who you'll be up against. May the best move on

Vitality, Head of Perfect Shift

Lightning arrived at the garage shortly after leaving the meeting with Crimson and Aqua. After a short explanation to McCalre as to why the door on the Camaro was caved in Lightning retrieved her freshly painted Supra from its place in the garage. McClare made sure to tell Lightning that he switched out the temporary Nitrous system with a full kit with recharge. Now she could use it more than just once, giving her a small advantage over some of her competition. Before leaving she checked her listings for the qualifier. Most of the list was normal, however when she looked at the list more carefully she found two outliers that had her concerned.

Qualifier Group D
Jackal
Vector
Ash
Road Burner
Ace
Rogue Rush
Super-storm
Bandit

More concerning of the two was Rogue, this would be the first time since the Heats that Lightning would not only be face to face with him, but also racing him herself. The second was that Crimson was also in the same race as them. He was obviously willing to help, but when a place in the next stage of the league was on the table... anything was possible. She might have to watch her back in the future. For now she only needed to look to the future, the race was still three days away and anything could happen in that time. The door opened and she once again brought her Supra into the open city roads.

Author's Note

The first true confrontation is coming up soon, but how will Crimson play his part in the upcoming Class B qualifier? That will become apparent soon enough, but first, Lightning needs some upgrades for her Supra and McClare knows just the place to get them.

Have a good day everyone and Merry Christmas.