Chapters Vinyl found herself driving at high speed down the freeway trying to polish her skills. As she weaved between traffic cars, she noticed a pair of headlights in her rear view that seemed to be moving faster than the others. Vinyl adjusted her mirror and looked closer. The car that was chasing her was a blue Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R!
"ANOTHER GT-R?" Vinyl shouted out loud. "That's not possible! I'm the only one who can drive a car like that around here!"
The R33 was closing in on Vinyl's rear bumper. Vinyl floored it and shifted into a higher gear. As she began to pull away from the R33, she noticed something in her rear view. She wasn't pulling away anymore! The R33 was getting closer! They rounded a corner at over 270 kilometers per hour, and Vinyl's patience was running low.
Vinyl's brain was a mess of crisis. "There's NEVER been a car that could keep up with my R32 for this long!" she shouted to herself. "Is this a nightmare!?"
The two automobiles passed a semi truck, and Vinyl looked around. The R33 was nowhere in her rear view. "There's no way she could have just vanished into thin air like that....." Vinyl said to herself.
She looked back at the road ahead.
The rear lights of the blue R33 poured into her eyeballs as she saw the R33 was now in front of her and pulling away! "NO!" she screamed out loud. Vinyl, who was not used to having cars outrun her, pressed down on the accelerator pedal as far as it could possibly go. She shifted into fifth gear and kept pressing on the pedal with the angriest scowl of a face she'd ever made! As she kept up with the R33, she didn't consider that she was working the engine near its limit. She kept pushing the car on and on in this state, determined not to be outrun. The tachometer rose into the red. The car's temperature warning came on. Vinyl was so concentrated that she didn't even hear it beeping.
Suddenly, Vinyl felt a tremendous shock as if an earthquake had struck. An enormous BANG pounded against her eardrums like a gunshot. Vinyl's anger instantly turned to fear as a cloud of black smoke completely covered her windshield.
She had blown the R32's engine.
The poor sports car spun out like a meteorite as smoke sprayed out of the grille and hood. The smoking comet came to a stop in the middle of the road.
Vinyl immediately got out of the car to check the engine. The white unicorn lifted the hood to be greeted by more smoke, which hit her in the face and made her cough. Once the smoke cleared, she peeked her hear in at the engine.
It was damaged and covered in ashes.
A tear formed in Vinyl's right eye, and it slid down her cheek and fell onto the tarmac road below.
"I-I'm sorry." she said, trying to hide her sadness.
"I'm sorry I let this happen to you."
The next day, Vinyl showed up at a car repair shop. "I'm looking for a Nissan RB26 Engine." she asked. "Do you have one in stock?"
"We have something similar." said the repair man. "We've got a selection of turbocharged inline 6 engines that might be able to fit into a GT-R."
"No way." said Vinyl. "I'll only settle for a Nissan RB26. They're the fastest, and I love my dear R32. I want her to feel like herself. If I put any engine other than an RB26 in her, it would be like making a Stallion wear a bikini and making a Mare wear trunks. It would feel weird."
The mechanic giggled. "Well, since you put it that way, maybe I could get you a Nissan RB26 engine. But on one condition."
"What?" asked Vinyl, ready.
"You see, I've got some employees on strike here. If you can do their jobs for 'em today, I'll order an RB26 for ya." replied the mechanic.
Vinyl sighed and went to get an auto worker's uniform.
As she walked into the garage, she saw something that caught her eye very quickly. The familiar shape of a blue Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R was visible across the room. She ran over to it and tried to find its owner. Sure enough, it's owner walked out of the customer waiting room and, in a British accent, said, "Please stiffen the suspension, will you? And I'd like the differential to shift a little more power to the rear wheels."
Vinyl knew this pony's face (and her bow tie) anywhere. Octavia Melody stood a few feel away from her.
"Octavia!" said Vinyl.
"Vinyl!? What are you doing here!?" asked Octavia.
"Never mind what I'm doing here!" said Vinyl. "The real question is, what are YOU doing in an R33 GT-R!?"
"I actually knew all along that you were street racing." said Octavia.
"YOU WHAT!!??" Vinyl said, surprised. "Why the heck didn't you tell me!!? That's something you shouldn't even think about keeping secret!"
Octavia sighed. "You see, I was worried about you at first, but then I came to.....well........"
"You don't want to admit that you enjoyed racing." said Vinyl.
"Fine." said Octavia. "At the same time, however, something in my brain was telling me I should check on you. I wanted to see if I could keep up with you (in case you ever needed my help for anything), so I knew I needed the only car that can keep up with a GT-R; another GT-R."
Vinyl's eyelids raised at this statement. "Well, um, thanks Octy." said Vinyl. "But out of pressure, I've blown my R32's engine."
Octavia looked puzzled for a second, and then got an idea. "All the GT-Rs except the R35 use the exact same engine! So all we have to do is transplant the RB26 in my R33 into your R32 and you'll be good for the night until we can get you another RB26!!" said Octavia.
Vinyl's face brightened up. "Of course! My baby's saved!" she said, smile bright on her mouth.
Octavia ran in and ordered one of the mechanics to take the engine out of her R33 and put it in the 32. And sure enough, being the same engine that was designed for the car, the engine fit perfectly into the transmission slots and differential. Vinyl tried starting the R32, and sure enough, the headlights came on and a beautiful roar sounded from under the hood. Vinyl smiled.
"Thank you so much, Octavia." said Vinyl. "I'll be sure to return your RB26 when an RB26 of my own arrives."
"Don't mention it." said Octavia. "What else are best friends for?"
Nightfall was already beginning to happen. The city lights were turning on. Vinyl looked at the clock in the garage, and it was 10 PM! "I'm almost late for a race!" Vinyl said, panicking. "I'll see you later!!" Vinyl threw off the mechanic jumpsuit she was wearing and tossed it into a locker.
Vinyl gunned the engine of her R32, and the car took off out of the garage and got onto the road bound for the expressway.
As the R32 rocketed down the expressway bound for the agreed location, Vinyl thought she saw other speeding cars. Sure enough, more racers were going to attend the car meet at the location. She could see a Ferrari F430, a Mazda RX-7 FC3S, a Bugatti Veyron 16.4, and a Ferrari Testarossa trying to pass her. She looked in her rear view mirror to see the Testarossa trying to pass her. Vinyl smiled and pressed on the gas pedal harder. As she shifted into fourth gear, she could see all four supercars getting further and further away from her. She smiled again and looked back at the road ahead. "It's kind of nice being a GT-R owner." she said. "Nopony can catch you no matter what."
Rainbow Dash smiled as she drove her car up to the start line. A long city expressway could be seen in her view. She gripped the steering wheel of her R and said "I've been waiting all day for this."
Naturally Aspirated pulled up beside her in his Corvette. Vinyl walked up in front of the two cars. "We'll start on five!" shouted Vinyl over the two cars' roaring engines.
"Five! Four! Three! Two! One! GO!!!" shouted Vinyl. At that second, she was nearly knocked off her feet as the two cars roared past her.
The R34 instantly took the lead. Vinyl smiled as she saw this. "Go get 'em, Rainbow." she mumbled to herself.
As Rainbow's R pushed by Naturally's Corvette, Naturally began to break out in sweat. "I never would have guessed that a car with so much less horsepower could be so much faster than me. I'll have to shoot directly to my last resort right now." he said. In a curve, the Corvette took the inside and pulled alongside Rainbow Dash's R34. Rainbow looked toward the inside of the corner. She could see the window of the Corvette roll down, and a handgun was pointing out at her! Rainbow Dash's eyeballs shot open as she swerved to the outside!
Rainbow's sudden change of direction proved a bad idea, as the split second decision had cause her to swerve straight off of the road. Her GT-R plummeted off of the elevated motorway and landed on top of a truck on a roadway beneath. Rainbow gunned the engine in reverse and drove off the top of the semi, trying to figure out what highway she'd landed on. Looking around, she found that she'd fallen on a road headed in the exact opposite direction of the race!
She tried looking for an exit ramp or something to get her back on the right road. Her eyes glanced over to the side just in time to see an on ramp leading up to the road she was on previously. She eagerly drove up the ramp at full speed, but at the worst moment possible, she way a "Wrong Way" sign. She wasn't on an on ramp, she was on an off ramp! A semi truck's headlight's came into view ahead of her. She immediately swerved and put two wheels on the guardrail as the truck just barely missed her! She drove up onto the right motorway and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
Naturally Aspirated, who thought he'd killed his opponent, was driving casually down the highway to the finish. Out of nowhere, a streak of blue shot by him at unknown speed. Naturally's eyes shot open as he realized it was Rainbow Dash's R34! He was horrified when he realized who it was. Instinctively, Naturally Aspirated's hoof pushed down onto the accelerator pedal and his car's RPMs soared. He was determined not to let Rainbow Dash cross the finish line alive, for if she even made it to the finish line, she'd be able to tell everypony that she'd nearly been shot by him!
Of course, it was far too late to stop Rainbow, for her R was already too far ahead to catch up to. All hope in Naturally Aspirated's head vanished when Rainbow'd GT-R crossed the finish line first.
"He tried to kill me!" shouted Rainbow Dash. "He has a gun!"
Vinyl's eyes shot open. "He WHAT!?"
Muscle Power made a strong scowl. He directed his expression to Naturally Aspirated, who was standing in a nervouls stance. "I told you to only use that gun if you were absolutely sure they couldn't get away if you shot them." he said. "Now that you've destroyed any trust they may have had in us, Vinyl may not accept a race with me."
"I'm so terribly sorry, boss." said Naturally Aspirated, trying to look as ashamed as a stallion can be. "I WAS certain that I'd kill her. I don't know what went wrong."
"You aren't an idiot." said Muscle Power. "So quit making yourself look like one."
Vinyl looked over at the two stallions. "We've had enough out of you." said Vinyl. "We're out of here."
Muscle Power was desperate to race the supposedly unbeatable R32. "Please don't judge me by my teammate." he said. "This could be my only chance to race you."
Vinyl scowled. "And this could be MY only chance to avoid getting shot by some maniac!" she protested.
Muscle Power sighed. "See, Naturally?" he said. "Now you've blown my chance to race her. From now on, you'll only be my mechanic. As long as you live, you'll never be a driver for my team again."
"Yes, sir....." said Naturally Aspirated, whose facial expression resembled that of a teenager who was just handed a detention slip by his teacher.
Listening to them converse, Vinyl and Rainbow looked at each other. "Don't race them." said Rainbow. "Let's just get out of here. They're crazy."
Vinyl looked up at the sky and thought to herself. Rainbow Dash was almost certainly right. But there WAS an 'almost' in that sentence, right? Maybe racing Muscle Power would be an unforgettably exciting dogfight. But then again, maybe it would be unforgettable in the other way.
Vinyl thought for at least twenty minutes, just standing there in the moonlight.
Finally, Vinyl formed a serious looking scowl on her face.
"Let's do this race," she said.
Rainbow Dash's mane spiked up and her eyeballs shot open. "WHAT!!?" she yelled. "Are you trying to get yourself killed!!!??"
Vinyl looked at Rainbow Dash. "I like to live dangerously. It's what I do. Otherwise, would I have started driving a race car in the first place?"
Muscle Power overheard. "You will?" he asked. his face brightened up at this statement.
"I'll race." said Vinyl. "C'mon, R32."
The Moment Equestria Stood Still
The two cars pulled up at the start. Rainbow Dash started the countdown. The second she shouted "GO!" she felt the ground shaking beneath her as the two machines blew past her. She was knocked to the ground by the air flowing past, but got up just in time to see the two cars vanish into the night. "Go get 'em, Vinyl." she said to herself.
The R32, of course took the lead as the two car sped down the highway straights. "I never thought a car with such less horsepower could be so much faster." said Muscle Power to himself. "This race should be just as exciting as I hoped it would be."
Vinyl sat with her arms around the steering wheel, a serious look on her face. "Yes. I feel tension as if my blood is boiling....now THIS is a race! I'm going flat out until the end! HOW LONG CAN YOU KEEP UP!?" she said out loud.
The two machines swerved to avoid a large truck in the way. When they regained their lines, they were side by side. Vinyl looked over at the Charger beside her. She smiled and floored the gas pedal. The Charger quickly fell behind her.
Vinyl smiled as she began to talk to herself. "This is the fastest car on the professional racing circuit, and it's the fastest car here! It won the Bathurst 1000 four years in a row. Even the "GT-R" badge on the rear is the legendary symbol for invincibility! Can he get close enough just to read it!?" she said.
The fastest machine on the highway was indeed the 32, for she was beginning to completely lose sight of Muscle Power in her rear view mirror. "This race will be a piece of cake." she said to herself.
"That R32 is seemingly even faster than everypony said it was." said Muscle Power to himself. "How in the world am I going to keep up with it? Am I supposed to just MAKE myself win?" he asked himself. He reached over into the empty passenger seat and pulled up a phone. He looked down to quickly text somepony, and then threw down the phone. "They'll take care of her." he said.
Meanwhile, Vinyl was about 500 meters ahead of the Charger, and was feeling quite cocky. Suddenly, all of her cockiness turned to shock when she noticed another car pulling out of traffic and tailgating her. "Who's that?" she asked herself out loud. She felt an extremely sharp jolt as she was bumped. She looked hard into her rear view mirror, trying to see what kind of car was bothering her. It was a 2005 Ford GT, and its driver was sticking his hoof out the window holding something metallic. Vinyl looked back at the road ahead and heard an ear-piercing BANG. The item that the GT driver was holding was without a doubt a gun.
Vinyl broke out in sweat and fear as she swerved around trying to avoid getting shot. "I knew I shouldn't have battled this guy. I just knew it. What the heck was I thinking when I said that I enjoyed living dangerously!?"
The GT driver looked ahead and could see a perfect shot. He aimed his gun straight ahead and was ready for the perfect shot at Vinyl's LR tire, when the gun was suddenly knocked out of his hoof by a huge jolt. He looked to his side to see that somepony else had rammed him: a blue Skyline R33 GT-R.
Beforehand, the RB26 engine that Vinyl had ordered had already arrived, so Octavia had them drop it in her R33 so she could go and check on Vinyl. Fortunately, she just happened to arrive at the second Vinyl needed her most. Vinyl looked in her rear-view to see Octavia's unmistakable R33. "Tavi!? I thought her car had no engine! Wait, they must have gotten another." she said to herself.
The R33 bumped the GT off its course and sent it spinning. The GT eventually crashed into a guardrail and broke down. Vinyl looked in her rear view and smiled. "Thanks, Tavi." she said.
Muscle Power was wide eyed with shock. "Who just took out my driver? Who's in that blue 33?" he kept asking himself. The three machines raced down the highway, the two R's pulling ahead with ease. Muscle Power had no weapons at his disposal. All he could do was accept his loss. Eventually, the finish line came into sight and the three cars came to a stop with Vinyl in the lead. Octavia got out of her car first, proceeding to order Vinyl and Rainbow Dash to leave. The two ponies did so, and once they were gone, Octavia proceeded to slap Muscle Power silly. This was much to Naturally Aspirated's delight.
"I'LL TEACH YOU TO MESS WITH MY FRIENDS!" the fair pony shouted as she smacked Muscle Power with her purse over and over again. Finally, Muscle Power was so worn out of being slapped by a noblewoman like Octavia that he tried to talk his way out of it. Octavia simply left her demands and drove away, expecting that she'd gotten her point across.
Vinyl and Octavia were both happy to enjoy a month's supply of free car parts, provided by Muscle Power's team.
However, one pony who watched the race was now wondering if she should challenge Vinyl......
THE END........?
Rainbow Dash met Vinyl at the town square, and they sat down on a bench to talk. "You see, I was fired recently." said Rainbow Dash.
"I bet that must have hurt." replied the DJ.
"It did. That's why I want to be on your side. I want to help you out." replied the pegasus.
Vinyl smiled. "It's always good to have friends."
They shook hooves.
That night, Rainbow Dash and Vinyl began to start practicing driving together. Using some money that Vinyl "borrowed" from Octavia, Vinyl bought Rainbow Dash a GT-R of her own. Rainbow Dash's GT-R was a newer model. It was a blue Skyline GT-R R34 V-Spec Nur, which was distinct from Vinyl's black R32. Regardless, both cars shared the powerful inline 6 engine known as the RB26, and they both shared Nissan's ATTESA ETS Traction System. Not to mention, they both shared All Wheel Drive. And of course, they were both Skyline GT-Rs. Rainbow Dash found her R34 to be very easy to control, and mastered the car in no time.
Vinyl, curious to learn more about how the GT-R had changed since the R32 came out, decided to test drive Rainbow's R34. As expected, it was just as fast. But it also had some improvements. As Vinyl drove the car, she found that it corrected the R32's one and only weakness, which was stubborn understeer. In short, the R34 was the perfect car. Vinyl could easily tell that she had chosen the right car for Rainbow Dash.
Both the R32 and R34 were unbeatable machines, both bearing the same "GT-R" badge on their trunks. The only thing the two Skyline GT-Rs didn't have, however, was somepony to race against. However, they wouldn't be missing this factor for long.
Word of Vinyl's R32, which had gotten its name out weeks before (in the previous story), had been attracting more fans than ever before to the underground racing scene. However, its name was about to attract a new face in town. One who wasn't there to witness, but one who was there to battle. One who was there to conquer.
A young stallion who went by the name of Muscle Power had read about Vinyl's "unbeatable" R32. Fortunately for him, he had just gotten his tuned 900 horsepower drag-spec Dodge Charger ready for the races. And his first wish was to be able to race Vinyl and end her winning streak once and for all.
Vinyl received a letter one day from an address she didn't recognize. The letter went something like this:
"Dear Vinyl Scratch,
Vinyl immediately considered calling Rainbow Dash. But then, she began to think. She had very easily beaten cars with more horsepower than her R32, and therefore, perhaps Muscle Power wasn't as powerful as she claimed himself to be. A rear wheel drive car, as Vinyl knew, could not bring out the full potential of its engine. And still, a rear wheel drive car cannot use all of the power that it is able to bring out for long periods. But then, Vinyl began to re-think.
"Maybe 900 horsepower would be enough to lose me in the straights so that the corners wouldn't be enough to get me caught up." she thought. "Wait, no, no, no. That's ridiculous. There's never been a car that can outperform a GT-R. That simply can't happen."
Eventually, she decided to try and meet up with this potential opponent. Luckily, Muscle's phone number was provided in the letter, and Vinyl gave him a call.
Throughout their talk, Vinyl mentioned that she had a teammate. Muscle Power also had a teammate of his own, whom he referred to as "Naturally Aspirated". Naturally Aspirated drove a tuned Chevrolet Corvette C4 which carried 650 horsepower. Vinyl thought about having a team race. In the end, it sounded like a good idea. Vinyl approved of the race, and they agreed to meat with their teammates on the Ponyville Expressway at 2 in the morning.
Vinyl called Rainbow Dash and explained the plan. Rainbow Dash, incredibly eager to race their new opponents, decided to go ahead and drive to the agreed location early.
"If Muscle Power and Naturally Aspirated are really as fast as they say they are," said Vinyl to herself, "I'm going to need to train myself before I get to race them."
Once Vinyl pulled to a stop at the car meet, she could make out a Dodge Charger and Chevrolet Corvette parked amongst the other racers' cars. She smiled and walked over.
Muscle Power was talking with Naturally Aspirated when he noticed Vinyl walking up to him. "Are you the legendary R32 driver?" he asked.
"That's me. Call me Vinyl Scratch." said Vinyl, trying to look tough.
"Hello, Vinyl." said Muscle Power. "Are you ready to lose?"
"Lose? Not to someone without All Wheel Drive and a Turbocharger." said Vinyl. She could already tell she didn't like this pony.
"HA! Turbo technology is for ponies who are just too weak to rely on pure power." said Muscle Power, laughing to himself like a school bully. "All Wheel Drive is for the exact same ponies I mentioned with Turbochargers."
"Now you're just being a jerk." said Vinyl.
"So what?" said Muscle Power.
"So you shouldn't be a jerk." said Vinyl, trying to maintain a tough attitude and look.
"Well, just because I SHOULDN'T be a jerk doesn't mean I WON'T be a jerk." said Muscle Power, trying to look cool. "Freedom of speech, dude."
"I'm not even a dude! I'm a girl!" said Vinyl, cheeks red.
"Shut up and let's race. We didn't come hear to chat." said Muscle Power.
Rainbow Dash, who had been waiting at the agreed location all day, just happened to notice them at this moment. She ran up and heard the conversation. "Hey!" she shouted. "You can't talk to my teammate like that!" she said.
"Can I?" asked Muscle Power.
"He can." said Naturally Aspirated, just now joining the conversation.
"So, how are we gonna do this race?" asked Vinyl.
"Your teammate her will race against Naturally Aspirated here and you'll race against me." said Muscle Power. "That's how it works when teams race each other."
Vinyl looked at Rainbow Dash. "I guess that works." said Rainbow Dash. Vinyl nodded her head and they walked to their cars.
