Running Down A Dream
The wind rushes through your hair as your dark blue, convertible Ford Mustang flies down the expressway. The car’s speakers are blasting some music from one of your CDs in the radio, which is almost barely audible as a result of the cacophony of wind and noise inside the vehicle’s cabin.
You wouldn’t have it any other way, though, and can’t help but smile at the whole scenario; a beautiful sunny day with clear skies, an almost empty highway, devoid of most of the usual traffic; and your marefriend, Nurse Redheart, who is seemingly enjoying everything as well.
Her bright pink mane, which was usually done up in a bun while she was at work, was instead “undone”, and the wind flows through her long hair as she stares ahead at the road. She has a content smile on her face as she looks up at the seemingly endless miles and miles of road that lay ahead. She loves long cruises on the open road; one of the few things she was glad that Earth had, and wished that her old home of “Equestria” had before she left it.
The ivory mare turns to you, a blissful smile plastered on her face. Her big, light blue eyes dreamily gaze up at you, as you take your eyes off the road for a moment to look back at her.
“Having fun?” you ask her with a smile of your own. You lovingly wrap your right arm around her seat, holding onto the steering wheel with your other.
“Yep!” she replies. “This ‘Mustang’ of yours is awesome! It’s so fast! Loud… but fast!” Her mane is still whipping around in the rather violent wind, but she doesn’t seem to mind, which to you is all that matters.
“She’s an old car, don’t get me wrong… but I wouldn’t trade her for the world.” you say, approvingly patting on the steering wheel with your hand for a moment, making the mare giggle.
“Same with you, Red.” you say, lightly booping the giggling mare on the nose, making her involuntarily scrunch up her muzzle in frustration. God damn, that’s cute.
“I- I’m not old!” she says, her cheeks appearing flustered.
Your smug smile vanishes in an instant; the last thing you want to do is offend an adorable creature like this one.
“What?” you ask. “That’s… that’s not what I meant at all, hun!”
Her smile reappears on her face once again, as she laughs a bit at your overly-defensive response. “I know, dear, I love you too.”
The mare leans over and gives you a quick peck on the cheek, as you swiftly turn back to look at the road. Did it just get warm in here, all of the sudden? You could’ve sworn that you’d just replaced that troublesome AC condenser...
“Hehe, you’re all flustered now, how cute!” she says, pointing a hoof up at you.
You clear your throat and adjust your collar a bit, before turning back at her as she giggles at your expense.
“No, I think it might be uh… sunburn… yeah. Remember when we went to the beach last week? That sun was out all day!”
Redheart picks up her white nurse cap off the car’s floor, emblazoned with a bright red medical cross on its front.
“Hun,” she says, gesturing to her hat. “I’m a nurse, remember? I’ve seen quite a few bad sunburn cases in my time. And that isn’t a sunburn.”
“Okay, maybe it’s cloud-burn then, but that’s all it is, I swear!” you say, assuring the mare.
“Right…” she says, leaning toward you once again, a mischievous grin on her face.
“Red… what… what are you doin-” you begin, before the mare surprise- smooches your cheek once again.
Your face becomes visibly more red as she closely examines you, her big eyes squinting intensely as she studies you.
“A-ha! I knew it!” she replied, triumphantly raising a hoof up in the air. “All those years of college weren’t completely wasted, after all!”
“I’m just… gonna… look back at the road…” you say in response, awkwardly clearing your throat once again.
For the next few moments, the two of you sat in the (relative) silence of your car, simply enjoying each other’s company, and the gorgeous weather. Eventually, you pass under a large green sign that stands over the highway, which read that Exit 9 was in one mile.
“Hey, do you wanna get off here?” You ask. “I’m sure you don’t wanna go too far away from the house on our little trip.”
“Yeah, that’s fine.” the mare replies. “I’ve got my next shift in a couple hours anyway, so I might as well start getting ready.”
“Alright.” you say in response. Once you reach the exit, you slow down your car and make a sharp turn onto Broadway. The road here goes through a relatively bad neighborhood, but for some odd reason, crime was never particularly a problem for its citizens, as far as you knew anyway. Just a few abandoned buildings, and burnt down houses.
Near a run-down apartment building, you approach a traffic light that abruptly turns yellow as you are about to pass under it. “Ah, jeez!” you exclaim as it swiftly changes to red. “I was sure we had that one!”
“Well, we’re not in too big of a hurry, so it’s no big deal.” Redheart comments as your car slows to a stop below the light.
“Yeah, but still... “ you reply.
The road is completely barren. No traffic on the other side, waiting for the same light. No cars beside or behind you. No pedestrians walking around. Just you and your mare, anticipating for the light above to turn green.
While you ponder this thought, you hear a rumbling sound coming from behind you, that steadily gets louder and louder as it nears the traffic light. The source of the sound reveals itself to be a black, late ‘90s Chevy pickup truck. It stops next to your car on the left side of the road.
You pay little mind, until the passenger rolls down his window, and you hear a rather familiar voice say, “Hey Johnny, is that who I think it is!?” A familiar face then pops out of the car window, and closely examines both you and your car.
The man looks just like he did out of high school: long, blond mullet with matching goatee, and black aviator sunglasses. Yep, that’s Jimmy. He must’ve had those damned sunglasses on since birth.
“Holy shit, it is!” He exclaims. Jimmy leans his head back in the truck, and the two begin talking to each other in a hushed tone.
“Oh no…” you mumble to yourself, pressing your forehead against the steering wheel in mild frustration.
“What is it?” Redheart asks, appearing puzzled.
“The two ‘village idiots’ of high school, Johnny and Jimmy Henderson. Always sat right next to each other, far in the back of every single class we had together. They were loud, obnoxious, and had Fs in everything from U.S. History to Music Theory.”
You chuckle slightly. “Well, at least they both barely showed up to their classes, so we didn’t have to constantly deal with their stupid shi- shenanigans.”
Johnny, the driver, was repeatedly calling your name from his truck, but you hadn’t noticed. He honks his horn to fully get your attention.
“Holy shit, it is you!” the driver exclaims in his characteristically high-pitched voice. The remnants of his dark brown beard from school are mishaven ruins, he appears chubbier, and he has a rather dirty red baseball cap on his head.
Damn, Johnny really let himself go.
“Johnny! Jimmy!” you exclaim in fake excitement. “So nice to see you guys again! I haven’t seen you in forever!”
“Yeah, man! It’s been a long time!” Jimmy says. “Haven’t seen you since graduation.”
“You still driving that piece of shit ol’ Mustang?” Johnny asks with a laugh.
You mentally recoil at his words, but awkwardly laugh along with him. “Heh heh, yep. Can’t part with her yet, I’m afraid.”
“Oh, that’s too bad.” he replies. “You should sell that piece of crap and get something like this. A sporty pickup truck or something. These things are awesome!” he says, patting his hand on the door of his rusty pickup truck.
“Heh, yep, maybe some day.” you reply, silently hoping to God that this conversation comes to an end. You take a glance up at the traffic light above you.
Still red. Dammit.
Redheart’s been really quiet throughout this whole ordeal, as well. Maybe she’s hoping that they’ll go away too.
“Who’s the horse?” you hear Johnny ask.
“Horse, what?” you ask back.
“Your… ahem” he clears his throat. “...passenger. What, is it like your girlfriend or something?” he laughs. You giggle along with him, a bit nervously.
That was a pretty interesting conversation you had with your family, once you and Red decided to become a thing. Having to explain to them about how you were dating a pony that you met while she was giving you your shots at the hospital.
Your mom just told you to “do whatever makes you happy”, while your dad jokingly commented that she seemed “human-enough, because she talks and stuff”. You never do think he’ll fully accept that his son is currently dating what he considers to be a simple farm animal. But, here you are now anyway.
“Maybe she’s one of them ‘cosplayers’ or something…” Jimmy comments, a blank expression on his face.
“What, from like those conventions and stuff?” Johnny asks.
“Y-yep!” you hear Redheart chime into the conversation. “This whole thing’s a costume, from head to toe!”
“Yeah, we just got back from uh, Comic-Con, yeah!” you add.
“Really? I didn’t know they were in town…” says Jimmy.
“Yep!” you reply, your eyes frequently darting around between the two men and the traffic light.
It’s still red, what the hell?
“I’d… take the mask off to show you guys, but with all the wiring and super-glue and stuff, it’d take forever.” Red says.
“And painful!” you add.
“Yep, it’d be really painful! Took a ton of work to make this thing!”
“Uh-huh…” Jimmy says, a rather bewildered look on his face.
Johnny calls your name once again, and you look at him expectantly. He revs up his pickup truck’s engine, making a loud vibrating noise that shakes the ground below you. “How do ya like that, huh!” he says with a smile.
“Not bad at all!” you reply.
“Yeah, but what about you?” he asks. “Rev up that piece of junk you call a car!”
Well, might as well play along. Anything to end this awkward conversation about Redheart and her “costume”.
You rev up the horses in your Mustang, making the two men laugh and smile in excitement. “Woo-hoo! Sounds nice!” says Johnny.
Jimmy points a finger at your car, then at the stop light overhead, which still remains red. He has a mischievous grin on his face, and you know exactly what he has in mind.
“A race? I dunno, man…” you say.
“Hey, come on, dude, it’ll be awesome!” he says.
Johnny continuously revs up the truck’s engine, and is gesturing for you to tag along with him.
You sigh, then look over at your marefriend. She has an anxious look written all over her face, so her stance is pretty clear on the subject.
You also gaze around at your surroundings. No people are walking nearby, no cops around...
Turning back to Johnny, you groan. “Ah, what the hell.” you say, revving up your engine as well. The two men go wild with excitement; shouting obscenities and throwing their hands up in the air as Johnny repeatedly revs up his truck.
“Hun… honey, please don’t…” you hear Redheart say, lightly tapping a hoof on your shoulder.
You turn back to her, and say “Hold onto something.” You give her a reassuring smile, but she still has a very nervous look on her face.
The mare says nothing in response, and you turn your attention up to the traffic light, which after all this time, still remains red. You stare intensely at the light, which you presume at any moment, will give you the go-ahead.
“Come on, you bitch! Turn green already!” you hear Johnny scream.
“Yeah, let’s get this shit started!” Jimmy exclaims.
For once in your life, you agree with them. The sooner you can get this started, the better.
Glancing back at them, then at the red light, you see Johnny’s face for a brief moment, and he looks completely mad. His eyes are wide open, and he throws off his old baseball cap in excitement as he shouts “Come on!”
You look at the light once again, and it finally turns green.
Tires are screeching loudly from both of your cars. His pickup truck flies forward, launching past you and the few cars that are waiting to turn. But instead of following him, you remain spinning your rear wheels, one foot on the gas and one on the brake.
“What’s going on!?” Redheart shouts over the deafening noise and screeching of your tires.
Slowly letting go of the brake, your car slowly moves forward, leaving a thick cloud of white smoke and stench of burnt rubber in its wake.
Taking your foot completely off the brake, you resume traveling at a normal pace, well below the speed limit. You turn, and casually pull into the apartment building's parking lot, as if nothing happened. Johnny and his truck were long gone.
You hear a very faint “where’d he go!?” in the distance, and see a set of red and blue lights pop up in their direction, followed by a siren that you’re sure sounds very familiar to the both of them. You can’t help but laugh at what just transpired.
Redheart’s mouth is agape, as she pieces together in her mind what just happened. You pull into one of the many empty parking spaces in the lot, and come to a stop.
“Did you… just…” she stutters, quite literally speechless.
“What, did you think I’d really want to race those guys? They were assholes!” you exclaim. “And besides…”
“...I’ve never done anything like that before… burnouts, yes. Street races, no.”
The mare seems out of breath, as she pants heavily, desperate to regain her composure. You put a hand on her hoof to give her support.
“That was… that was insane!” she exclaims.
“Yeah…” you reply. “And we’ll never do it again... I mean, unless you really want to-”
“No!” she shouts, throwing her hooves up in the air.
“Okay, okay.” you say in response. “Never again.”
She sighs. “Good… You humans and your cars… so weird.”
“Wanna go home?” you ask.
“Yeah… drive a bit slower though. I still need to catch my breath…”
“Alright, we’ll take it easy this time.” you reply, reaching for one of your CDs in the glove box. Eagles: Greatest Hits.
“We’ll ‘take it easy’ huh?” The mare says with a giggle. “I see what you did there…”
You smile back at the mare, and put your CD in the radio.
“Let’s go home.”
