Chapters The world of Equestria was that of a more technologically advanced society than it was thousands and thousands of years ago. Those many years ago, Princess Celestia discovering a mirror shaped object that was able to transport her to a world filled with a species she never imagined she would see in her lifetime, Humans.
Rather than simply close off the portal, she instead had her most prestigious royal scientists and explorers; study new land and its people. Through these explorations, they discovered many new technologies that had been foreign to them. Things like computers, phones, and robotics, all became sought after by the many in Equestria. One-hundred years after the exploration of such a dimension, architects, inventors, and business ponies alike were both amazed and intrigued by such fantastical building structures and technology, leading them to attempt to emulate what they had found and it proved mostly successful.
The outcome of such technological innovations led to an increase in the overall education of the population, both on Equestria and the human world. With this education came new forms of political ideology, with many ponies and other species desiring a democratic influence on their government. As a result of many rallying behind this new ideology, the 'Equestrian Constitution' was creating, giving much of the political power and duties to a Prime Minister, while Princess was left only with her authority as judge of the Day Court.
By the time Twilight Sparkle, one of Celestia's former students, received her cutie mark, the use of computing, cellular phones, television, and even automotive technology had expanded beyond Equestria. Although some minor changes were done in order to accommodate for the equine species, such as magic gloves which were charged to emulate the feelings and mechanics of a human hand, predominantly to help with driving automobiles, led to an economic boom as well employment increases. This, in turn, caused the population to rise.
As a way to accommodate the increasing population, Princess Celestia, the Prime Minister, and many other world leaders came to an ultimate agreement, that the current cities were too inadequate for the population and that action needed to be taken.
...Which now brings us to Ponyville...
The day after the reformation of Nightmare Moon, an election was held for a new mayor. After the following election days, the one chosen for the position was a pony that most felt was right for the job, Granny Smith. Between her family being one of the original founders of the town and her decades of life experience, voting for her just made sense
As a business pony, she began working on reforms for every business owner in Ponyvillian economics, starting with projects to construct larger buildings for the town. One of the buildings she suggested was the "Tower of Comradery", modeled after New York's World Trade Center, with few changes to the structure, mainly a statue of one of the founders placed at the top of the building.
It was otherwise a relatively normal day in Ponyville, with the streets having gradually died down as Celestia's sun began to set.
"Have a fantastic day!" Pinkie exclaimed happily, as the last customer left the small bakery.
In the back, Mrs. Cake began cleaning off the counter of the various contents strewn about, while Mr. Cake took to the tables, wiping each one down. The door rang once again, as a young grey stallion entered the store, a saddle bag on his back. He scanned the room to see if he arrived before the store could close; however, his eyes became fixed on the yellow colored equine. He stared at Mr. Cake a good ten minutes until the pink mare behind the counter attempted to call over the young unicorn
"Hello, earth to- whatever your name is- are you alright?" the young unicorn continued to stare.
In his bag, he pulled out a photographed picture. He looked at the picture, then back to Mr. Cake, the back to the picture repeating the same head movements until he finally stopped and stared at the slightly uneased stallion.
"No. Fuckin'. Way"
Mr. Cake face went from uneasy, to slight irritation. With good reason being that his two young foals were not out of hearing distance. "Sir," he began, "Are you going to buy something or-" before he could finish speaking, the stallion exclaimed a word, or rather, a name that Mr. Cake had tried so long to forget.
"Accelerator...is that really you!?" The moment he heard that name, his eyes widen in both ineffable shock and fear, for he had not heard that surname in years. In an attempt to steer the suspicious activity away from him, he quickly composed himself before replying back to the young stallion.
"I-I beg your pardon-" he stuttered, but was once again cut off by the awe-stricken customer.can't believe it's you..."
Entering the conversation, was a now curious blue earth pony. As she looked towards her husband, a sense of worry began to grow in her. "Is everything alright, honey?" she asked. Both males looked towards her in a state of surprise.
"Honey?" The stallion looked on in confusion before the realization finally struck him. "Wait, you settled-"
"I'm sorry sir the bakery is closed," Mr. Cake quickly walked over to the stallion and forcefully pushed him out of the store. Struggling to keep his stance, the unicorn began to bargain and plead with the owner, claiming several times that he was just there for a baker's dozen. Obviously, the stallion was having none of it. "Wait," he began as Mr. Cake had pushed him further and further towards the door frame, "Can I at least ask you one thing before you throw me out?"
"And what's that?" he complied
"Can I get an autograph?" With much gusto, the baker quickened his pace and pushed out the crazed unicorn. When he reentered the store, both his wife and employee looked at him with much confusion. Mrs. Cake then asked her husband about the event that unfolded in front of her.
Remembering such events, he began to blush a heavy tomato red, breaking eye contact with the two. "Well first off," he began, returning his look towards the two, "Pinkie, Cupcake I've apologized immensely about that game night, could we please just forget about that for a second." Although she was slightly annoyed by his forgive and forget' gesture, Pinkie and Cupcake decided not to go down that road once more.
"And secondly..." he trailed off, once again breaking away from the concentrated looks, "I want you to close the store, but could you call Twilight and the others over." With a slight look of worry on her face, Pinke made her way to the front door and flipping the switch for the neon sign from OPEN to CLOSED
Taken aback by her husband's suddenly serious tone, she made her way upstairs to gather her two foals. When she returned, she glanced at Pinkie, who was seen sporadically texting her friends at a quickened pace. "Carrot Cake," she began, "Please tell me what’s going on."
He sighed deeply before facing back to his significant other. "Honey...I need to be one-hundred percent honest with you..." He took a brief pause before finally finishing his sentence. "I've been lying about my past," he continued, as his wife's face contorted to that of absolute dread "My real name isn't Carrot Cake...It's Accelerator."
"Wait," Pinkie looked at her employer with slight mistrust in her eyes, "Are you telling me that-" Mr. Cake cut her off before she could affirm out her conclusion.
"That's right" he confirmed his pink co-worker. "I was known as one of the best drag racers in Equestria."
There was a moment of silence as the three bakers stared at one another. While Pinkie looked at her boss with immediate bemusement and confusion, Mrs. Cake, on the other hand, stared blankly at her significant other. The continuation of the silence caused Carrot Cake to sweat profusely, as he was unsure what her next words would be, “Oh gosh,” he thought to himself, “I hope she isn't upset-” His inner thought had been interrupted, as his wife erupted with a somewhat deep, and hearty laugh.
"Oh Carrot, don't be silly," she began, wiping the tears from her eyes, "A drag racer, where on Equestria's green earth did you get such an idea? "
He looked back at his wife with a look of relief but slightly hurt that she didn't believe him. Still, he knew he couldn’t keep the secret any longer, lest she learns the truth from some other source.
"It's true dear," He began, making his way towards the stairway. Curious as to where he was going, Pinkie and Mrs.Cake followed the yellow stallion to the second floor and quickly took hold of her two foals, both of whom had been playing in their play-pen.
Reaching the second floor, they found Carrot Cake, or rather, Accelerator foraging through his bedside nightstand. "Dear, what are you-?" before she could finish, he pulled out a silver key with a tiny flame decal on the side of the said key.
"As I said, I'm going to be more honest with you..." Not waiting for another second he stuck the key into the lock and opened the armoire, which sat in the left corner of the room next to the bathroom, and immediately began to take apart the interior, from the shelf planks to the various miscellaneous items that cluttered the space of the wardrobe.
Taken aback by such a random action, Pinkie stood confused, unsure of what to do in such a situation, while Mrs. Cakes attempted to stop whatever her husband was doing. "Honey! I don't know what you think you are doing, but whatever it is, we can talk about it."
But she was alarmed with good reason, because behind the padded interior, was another door, with a padlock in the middle. "Wha-how?" Her mind was at a complete blank. The look of the door had an almost futuristic style, as the color of the door was white and pristine, almost as if it were being opened for the first time, yet the small cloud of dust that emitted from the repository would say otherwise.
Before he unlocked the door, he gave one last look towards his wife, "Just don't freak out when you see this..." His voice dropped a slight octave as he spoke. He finally stuck the key into the lock, input a few of the passcode numbers, and after a few seconds, the doors opened, emitting a bright light with it. Once the light died down, what awaited inside completely shocked them. Pinkie was the first to react to the room, "By Celestia's balls!" she exclaimed, which quickly earned her a reprimand from her boss.
"Pinkie! Not in front of the twins-huh?" He hadn't noticed until now that the Cake twins were also lost in the amazement of the room.
The walls of the room were decorated with paintings of cars, most of them featuring that of a Toyota Trotter Sombrero AE86. In the middle of the room was an old lazy-boy chair and barrel, which was modeled, and used as a table. Said table held what looked like a bottle of whiskey, two shot glasses, and one drink glass next to a small container of ice. In the rightmost corner was a record player, with a large milk crate filled with phonograph records. The next to final decor of the room was a fireplace, which was surprisingly already lit when they entered
But what really caught the groups eye was the wooden board that hung above the fireplace, which held eight bandanas, each a different color, with the first being tan, slightly opaque, and the last having a checkered black and white pattern.
Stunned by the decor of the room, Mrs. Cake turned to her husband for further questioning, "Dear, what is all this?" She asked, her wide confused eyes gazing at him. "And those handkerchiefs," She trotted over towards the fireplace, "I've-" she paused, looking back at her husband, and then back at the board," I've heard a little bit about Accelerator," she admitted. "One thing I know about him was how after every race he wins, the defeated racer has to give up their handkerchief."
"Not to mention," the pink employee finally spoke up, giving one good look around the room, "That each of these bandanas belonged to the greatest drag racers of Equestria, Griffonstone, Mintoria, and even the Dragonlands!" She turned to her employer, still dazed by the sudden realization, "So you really are-"
The Cakes and Pinkie hadn't noticed but behind them were a familiar group of ponies that had been called prior to this new information. One of the ponies in said group exclaimed with excitement at the site of the room, stealing the next word that Pinkie was about to say. "Accelerator!" The rainbowed main pegasus quickly trotted into the room, staring in awe of the interior.
"So is this what you texted us about Pinkie?" The next to enter the room was the well-known fashionista and seamstress, Rarity. Her gaze soon followed the room, finding herself enthralled by the warm and inviting decor. "While I'm not a fan of such a barbaric competition as drag racing, I will say that you have some impeccable taste, Mr. Cake." Rarity complimented. The latter two who entered was the princess of friendship herself, and her fable assistant.
Rainbow Dash glared at the fashionista, slightly offended by the former remark, "What's so barbaric 'bout drag racing?" she asked, proceeding to go into a tangent on the sport. "The way your mane waves through the wind while you're going eight to one-hundred and twenty miles an hour, the sound of your tires screeching as you do a mad drift around the curve. The thrill and adrenaline you get from pulling sick moves-" she pauses to take a breath, "And finally, the cheer and respect you receive when you win a big race..." she finished, sighing in pleasure over the imagination of the subject. "How could you not find it awesome?"
"Wait," Spike began, entering the conversation, "Isn't drag-racing, like, illegal?"
"Oh blarg!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, "You seriously threw all that excitement, just to be some boring baker." She rolled her eyes and turned towards the door, only to be stopped by Twilight.
“Hey” Pinkie exclaimed, offended by her friend's statement
"Hold on Rainbow-" Twilight's objection was cut short, as a loud slam could be heard downstairs. While most of the group was taken aback by this sudden noise, Pinkie being her usual self, became curious and made her way out the room. Mrs. Cake, being the motherly mare she is, attempted to stop her pink employee. "Pinkie what are you ?" she asked, holding her two foals tighter before.
Confused, Pinkie turned to her employer, "What," she began, "It's probably just another customer."
Carrot Cake face-hoofed in response to her speculation,"Pinkie, why would customers want to break down our door, when they can see that we’re closed." Pinkie simply shrugged and continued on her way. "That mare," concerned for his employee, Accelerator followed her. Rainbow Dash quickly followed the orange-maned stallion, claiming, "I'll just be there for backup, 'case any shit goes down."
As the three made there way downstairs, they heard three voices: two almost identical males, and one sultry female voice. "Where the hell is that pony?" said one of the male voices, pacing around the room.
As the three ponies made their descent downstairs, hoping to get a good look at the unknown parties. Once they saw the strangers, one moment of realization came over them. These were not ponies, or equines for that matter, but rather, a trio of griffons.
"Griffons?" Accelerator gasped in surprise to sudden behind him. Turning towards the noise, he sees four familiar faces. "What are you guys doing here?" he whispered
"Well," Twilight began "After Rainbow left, Spike started following you as well," she stopped for a brief moment to glare at her assistant, who returned with an apologetic look and then continued with her explanation. "Then when we found him we noticed he was walking towards you three, and well, I got a little curious." She ended with a sheepish smile.
Accelerator sighed "Spike," he looked towards the purple dragon "While I'm glad you were concerned for the well-being of the girls, you should have just stayed with them." He turned his attention back to the three griffons, who were now looking back at the group with annoyed faces.
"You guys finished with your little tea party," mocked one of the male griffons, whose feathers were rust-colored, and wore a red leather jacket, with zippers on the pockets.
Pinkie, not realizing it to be a rhetorical jab, nodded in response. This got a giggle out of the white feathered female griffon, who wore a red crop top, and black mini-skirt. "Come on Will," she scoffed as traces of her thick Italian accent could be heard, "You can't seriously believe that's him."
"Oh don't worry Maria," he reassured her, "I'm one hundred percent sure it's him." This got a quizzical look from the other male griffon who also had white feathers and wore a short-sleeved shirt over a long sleeved one.
"And how do you know that?" he asked, crossing arms in suspicion.
"Well it’s simple Duncan," he assured his skeptical friend, "Let's ask him about one of the other racers." As soon as he said that, the two griffons, and Accelerator, who was now beginning to sweat at the following words. "You know," He took a step closer to the stairway, "My father... the one that he killed."
New Challenger, Same Fight
"My father, the one you killed..." The air in the room grew cold as the brown griffon blurted this out. Not only was the accusatory remark the cause of the grim mood shift of the room, but it appeared that the formerly known, Carrot Cake, had been afflicted by his assertion. Though most of the group didn't want to believe such a charge, the expression plastered on Accelerator's face told them a very, disheartening truth was soon to follow.
Of the group, Rainbow Dash, whose face had turned a slight shade of rose from confusion, and irritation, took an umbrage to such accusations and began walking closer to the main griffon of the group, chastising him for such implications.
"Look here buddy," she began, getting closer to the large-beaked griffon, "I don't know who you are, you better back the fu-" she stopped herself mid-sentence remembering that the twins were in ear-shot of her; wanting to be a role model to ever young Equestrian, she corrected herself "- you better back up whatever crap you're spouting, because I don't believe that for a second!"
The main griffon began chuckling at Rainbow Dash's offended outburst, "Man, oh man-" he sighed, running his talons through his hair, "I forget how stupidly gullible, and optimistic you ponies can be sometimes."
"What the heck are you talking about!?"Rainbow Dash growled growing more infuriated by the minute.
Eye to eye, Will told them the story of his deceased father, "It’s like this," he began, "in case it wasn’t obvious, my dad was a racer, an’ a damn good one too. He’d even take me to see him race, even when I was just a chick.
"He was also an upstanding kind of griffon, always made sure I only watched when I wasn’t in school.”
Rainbow Dash seemed slightly perplexed by the direction of the conversation, “Okay, so you’re dad liked to race and helped you keep your beak clean, what’s your point?”
"I was getting to that!" Will growled in annoyance, "My dad was an amazing racer and I used to look forward to his races as they were some of the only times I got to see him, used to be something I had fond memories of," the griffon smiled a bit, before his smile sank into a frown, "at least, until…” he paused during his reminisces looking over towards the mustard yellow stallion, "Hmm-" he closed his eyes, "-you know, that part always gets a little fuzzy, mind explaining how you careened my dad off the road."
"There you go again," Rainbow shouted. "Spouting more BS again, I already told you that if you-" she hadn't seen it, but the rest of the group noticed the sudden vacant look in Accelerator's eyes.
"It was an accident," he admitted, his voice quavering in the process. Ignoring the looks of the horror of the others in the room, he reluctantly began explaining. "It was intensely rainy that day, I didn't want to race at the time-" he paused briefly, the grim memory lowering his voice. " But, my damn pride got the better of me, I wanted that checkered handkerchief so bad I had completely ignored the weather conditions. I just wanted to win so badly." He took another pause before he finished his admittance. "Even if it meant certain death."
Everyone in the room, mostly the ponies, looked at the stallion with a mix of fear, pity, and a bit of betrayal. The pony who they thought they knew, the kind caring to father of two now felt like nothing more than a lie, a dark, morbid, and all-out horrible truth.
Will took notice of the group's faces and decided to make a snide comment at their expense. "You know it's funny," he began, a grin growing on his face, "You ponies always joke about how greedy griffons are, yet you had no idea that your so-called friend-" he walked over to Accelerator, grabbing him by the collar, and lifted him to his eye level,"-Was nothing more than just a greedy, dirty killer-"
"So!" Everyone seemed to snap out of their stupor, as they looked towards the source of the voice, belonging in question to the Princess of Friendship's fabled assistant. " I mean, I know what he did was wrong, but can't you see he's been through enough."
“Been through enough?” The griffon repeated the last part in his mind, dropping the former racer to better process the last bit of his statement. “Been through enough!?” A vein formed on his forehead, his teeth gritting attempting to quell his angered shout. "What the hell do you mean, 'Been through enough !?" He practically spat those last words, practically frothing at the mouth as he did.
He growled intensely, his vein beginning to pulsate.
Noticing this, Spike slowly backed away, trying to stutter out a response, "I-I mean," he began "Changing his identity, moving to Ponyville, starting his whole life over. I mean, when you think about it, he was probably suffering over this for a long time, right?"
The aforementioned yellow stallion lifted his head, his eyes lightened by the dragon's revelation, quickly agreeing with the biped. "Y-yes," he stuttered, "Ever since that day, I've been lamenting about over the entire incident. I even contemplated going to the funeral, but." He lowered his head once again. "I was afraid about what would happen if I went, I thought you would kill me once I got there..."
"Oh, honey." The racer's wife went over to comfort him, "No matter what you did, you know I'll always forgive you." Quickly, the other ponies and one dragon began hugging the depressed the stallion, who now had tears forming in his eyes, silently thanking them for their understanding and forgiveness. Even with his gruesome and iniquitous past, they still forgave him. At some point, Accelerator could feel a few strings of tears streaming down his cheeks.
“I'm so lucky to have a family like you!” He thought to himself as he hugged his friends and family tighter.
This warm moment was cut short, however, as the trio of griffon began to chuckle. Annoyed once again, Rainbow Dash faced them once more. "What's so funny!?" The feathered trio quelled their laughter and looked at the cyan pegasus with excitement.
"It's just-" he exhaled sharply, attempting to calm himself from the outburst, with 'attempt' being the operative word, as it took a good minute or two for them to quell their giddiness. Once they were calmed down, and finally noticed the annoyed glares pointed towards them, they explained their sudden eruption, "-This is exactly what we were expecting!" he happily exclaimed.
With a few confused murmurs spreading across the room, Twilight questioned Will’s statement, "What exactly do you mean by exactly what you were expecting' ?"
Smirking, the griffon explained himself, "As I said earlier." "You Equestrians are so damn forgiving and pacifist-like. We figured this would happen, and with that in mind, it makes things much easier." Once again, his statement was met with confused glances. Noticing this, he explained or announced rather his plans. "You see, I didn't come here to kill ya,'" he revealed, receiving a mixture of relief, and suspicion from the group of equines. "The real reason I'm here is to avenge my father in the best way possible."
"Which would be...?" asked Pinkie
Smirking once again, the rust-colored griffon glared at the stallion, "I, Will Talson the Third, challenge you, Accelerator, to a race. If you lose, I get not only get all your bandanas but your title of ultimate drag-racer as well!" A chorus of gasps were met with his demand, most of them belonging to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie, "So," he reached out his talons waiting for the baker to shake, "We have a deal?"
Accelerator, surprisingly, was shocked, not by his opponent’s demands, but by his sudden offense over the griffon's demand. Why would he care? More so, why should he even care about such a thing?
"I'm sorry mister Talson," he replied, "But I'm going to decline your challenge."
The pupils of Will's eyes shrank to the size of a button, he genuinely wasn't accounting for any kind of retaliation, especially from the ultimate drag racer himself. Befuddled, he glared at the baker. "What do you mean you decline?" he censured, staring daggers at the stallion.
"Listen," he began, glaring back at the griffon "I'm sorry about what happened to your father, and I know that no amount of apologizing will fix what I did, but-" he paused, turning back to his friends once again, and turned back to the griffon."-I'm done with racing. I walked away from my title a long time ago and it has no value to me now. The only things that matter to me are my friends and my family; If you want the title, fine, but I won’t risk my life over something I have no interest in now."
There was a long, tense silence between the two, in fact, the entire tension of the room was so strangely strong, that it felt as if the thermometer had dropped below zero. The only noise to be heard in the room was the grinding of teeth made by Will. The vein reappeared, pulsating once more. He wanted so badly to scream, to attack the yellow stallion, but what would be the point, he's already given up on his passion. And like his father told him It ain't fair for a big man to pick on the weak. His anger quickly subsided. "Fine," he hissed, turning back to his comrades.
Confused, Duncan clutched Will's shoulder. "Hey hold up," he opposed "You looked like you were about to jump this guy, what happened?"
"Let's go, he's not worth it." Holding open the door, he motioning his two friends to leave. As they were exiting the establishment, Will faced the ponies once more. "Don't think this is over," he declared angrily, "I'm getting those bandanas, one way or another." And on that note, he finally exited the store, leaving behind a group of scared, and irritated ponies.
"Do you think they'll do anything rash?" asked Cupcake, her voice slightly quivering with fear.
Rainbow Dash went over to quickly console the blue mare. "Not while Twilight, me, and the other girls are around."
"And why is that?" the blue earth pony asked.
Rainbow explained herself, although slightly disappointed as the mare seemed to have forgotten just who those griffons were dealing with, and had forgotten just how powerful the girls were."Because we've protected Ponyville-" she was quickly interrupted by Pinkie, announcing a bit of news for the other.
"Actually-" she turned her phone to show the front of the screen, "-we protect New Mane City now." On the top screen of her phone, a recent poll showed a bar graph representing voters, and a large majority seemed to have chosen the yes option of changing the name.
Again, it was a little disappointing to the cyan pegasus, but that didn't stop her from her speech "Ponyville, New Mane City, whatever," she returned to the mother. "What's important is that with us around, you guys have nothing to be afraid of, right?"
She was indeed right, the Mane Six had faced off against far more dangerous foes s. It didn’t matter if the threat was minimal or world ending, they always bounced back. Accelerator, however, was unsure about the idea of having somepony else fight his battles.
"Look, girls, I appreciate it and all." He trotted over to the door and opened it, "But, I don't want you getting too involved in this."
"What do you mean by that?" asked an offended Rainbow Dash
"I know you girls can take care of yourselves," he admitted. "But you don't truly understand how dangerous this is, the world of drag racing can be very...unpredictable."
Dash’s expression quickly turned deadpan. “You do remember the time we fought and defeated a literal Spirit of Chaos right? Kind of hard to get more unpredictable than that.”
However, before either party could offer a follow-up a white hoof gently tapped Rainbows shoulder. "Rainbow, darling, perhaps it's for the best we take Mister Ca, I mean, Accelerator's warning." The speedster looked back at Rarity with annoyed eyes but promptly submitted to her request. Without saying a word, she left, with the other girls followed suit. Eventually, the bakery was empty, save for its inhabitants, an immense feeling of concern for both the family and their now departed friends still hanging in the air.
Before exiting the shop, Spike, being the last one out turned to the family of four, "If anything happens just give us a call, alright." The family replied with a slow, yet swift nod. Once they were gone, the remaining ponies opted to simply return to their rooms and turn in for the night.
Although most of the family was asleep, Accelerator mind still pondered at the words of the griffons.
“Knowing his father, I wonder what they have planned?”
In the alleyway of a cafe, the trio of griffons could be found talking to a strange hooded figure. Said quietly inquired about their recent encounter with the former racer.
"So how did it go?" the dark figure asked.
"He said he declined 'er some shit," replied Duncan igniting a lighter to light his cigarette. "Coward said something about 'I have to protect my family or something, " he attempted to imitate the baker's response to Will's challenge.
"Well there is nothing we can do about it now," complained Maria "What we should be doing is planning on how we get back at those guys?"
While the group pondered, the cloaked figure assured them of a plan that would surely guarantee them of those bandanas," Oh don't worry, I have just the idea." Before they could ask what it was, the trio was engulfed by a bright violet light and soon found themselves in a familiar bakery.
Same Fighter, Different Challenge
As Luna's moon sunk below the horizon, the night sky began to brighten into a nice pinkish-yellow haze, followed by the familiar illuminating ball of light and fire courtesy of their celestial monarch.
A cool breeze passed through the city, with many ponies being elated to finally enjoy the calmer weather after a particularly hot couple of weeks.
Around six-thirty, the shops of New Mane City opened to not just a new day, but to a new city as well. Granted there were some who weren’t happy with the change, mainly shifting from a sleepy town to a bustling city, but it was something they would learn to adjust to.
Around seven o'clock in the morning, a horrible scream tore the city out of their stupor.
"What the heck was that!?" frightfully questioned a random bystander, who was on his way to the bakery.
It was prior to this event that Mrs. Cake, groggily, left her bed to begin her morning routine while her husband remained. However, even in his drowsy state, he continued to ponder on the actions that transpired the previous night, tossing and turning in stress, fearful of what the Griffins might do? Eventually, however, he decided to simply get out of bed and prepare for the day, finding no benefit in wallowing in his stress.
The maternal earth pony gazed at her husband with worried eyes, "I'm going to go ahead, and open up the shop," she said, waiting for a response from her husband. A grunt of approval from the bathroom merited Mrs. Cake to proceed down the second-floor hallway check on her two foals when an odd glimmer caught the corner of her eye. Curious, she made her way downstairs. As she got closer to the bottom, she heard what appeared to be pained moans, moans that belonged to a familiar pink pony., "Pinkie!?" she exclaimed with worry, and quicked her pace down the stairs.
Once she got to the front of the store, her eyes widened in horror at the sight in front of her. The entire store had been trashed, with furniture broken and splintered, many framed photos torn to shreds and frames broken, several claw-marks visible. Some were even burned or singed at the bottom, with the flakes at the bottom being a result of the burns.
But that's not what caught Cupcake's eyes, nor was it the equal calamity in the kitchen, what truly frightened her was the image of her pink co-worker. Her usual poofy hair was now flat, slightly darker colored mane while the top of her head seemed to be covered in blood. Additionally, her right forearm was badly scraped up. Pinkie's long sleeved shirt was torn in the middle and the collar of the stretched to where the collar of said shirt lowered to her shoulders. The final icing on this disturbing cake was that the pink mare's eyes, both as pink as strawberry ice-cream, with faint tear streaks visible on her cheeks.
Stirring about, Pinkie looked up and stared at her boss intensely and then whimpered "M-M-Mrs. Cake..."
Baffled by the image in front of her, Cupcake thought of the only rational thing to do at that moment, "Honey!" she shouted- or screeched rather-to her significant other.
Hearing her cries, Accelerator quickly ran down the stairs, and once he made it to the bottom, his face showed the same horror as his wife
"What the hell happened!?" he shouted, immediately going over to aid his pink assistant. Still shaken by the events of last night, Pinkie recalled the act of what exactly happened.
"If I remember right," she began, propping herself on the cashier desk, "All I heard was a whooshing sound..."
“I was at my apartment, doing my usual pre-bed stretches, when all of a sudden-" intrigued by the noise, Pinkie looked out of her window to see a bright light emitting in the bakery I wasn't sure if you guys were still up, or somepony was trying to rob you, so I took my chances on the latter. In hindsight, I probably should’a called you guys,” She tried to over a chuckle but flinched at still being sore.
“It all happened really super fast. The second I opened the door, somepony hit me with a wooden plan. When I finally came too, I saw... I saw,” She paused, grimacing after recounting the faces of her assailants. “I saw the three griffons from last night, the one who tried to challenge you, to be specific, holding something while the others, just finished breaking the last of the furniture.”
The trio of vandalizing griffins turned to the terrified mare. “Well look who's awake.” Will chuckled, his gaze locked firmly onto Pinkie.
Though terrified, Pinkie quickly found her voice, “Y-y-you won't get away with this when Twilight hears about-” her warning was interrupted when the female griffon severely slapped the poor mare across the face, resulting in a loud slap that echoed through the room.
“Ow!” Pinkie cried out, only to be immediately silenced, as a set of talons were suddenly wrapped around her mouth.
When she looked up she saw Duncan staring intensely at Pinkie “If you tell anyone about his,” he growled through his expression shifted to one of sadistic amusement as he pulled out a lighter. “Well let’s just say, your friends will get an idea what it’s like to be baked like one of their own so delicious pastries.” He emphasized his point by flicking the lighter on, holding the tiny flame close to one of the tables.”Got it?”
Despite Pinkie’s wish to retaliate she could tell the griffon would make good on his threat and offered a sorrowful nod in agreement.
“Nice to see you’re a lot smarter than you look.” He quickly closed the lighter and returned it to his pocket. He looked over at his partner.
“You manage to get the bandanas?” He inquired to Will, who merely raised a claw, filled with various bandanas, a satisfied smile etched into his beak. .
“Sweet, this was even easier than I thought.” The trio took another look at their prizes before making their way to the door, making Pinkie breathe a sigh of relief.
However, just as they were about to leave, Will turned back to the pink mare. “Oh, and just one more thing.” He took the plank of wood and walked up to the earth pony. “Nighty-night!” And in a single swift motion, smashed the plank over the mare's head, knocking her out instantly, only catching a glimpse of the trio leaving the store.
"And that all I remember," Pinkie recalled, wincing in pain from her head injury. Both of the shop owners were appalled by the story. Of the two, Mrs. Cake had it worse, her mouth covered in shock at the sight of her bleeding co-worker, made worse knowing she’d been violently attacked.
Accelerator, on the other hand, was absolutely infuriated, though not by the damage to his store. He could tolerate that, no, it was the threat to his family and friends that was making his blood boil over. "Those bastards," he growled, his eyes inflamed with rage. "How dare they..." he paused "How dare they threaten us like that!" His roar of fury actually causing the room to shake.
"Honey please," consoled Cupcake as she went to her husband's side. "We need to calm down before the kids wake up."
Her attempts, despite her husband practically shaking with rage, seemed to yield some result as e began pacing the room, quietly simmering down his heated anger. During his tirade, Pikie made a suggestion, "Maybe we should call the police."
"That won't do any good," Accelerator objected, continuing his pacing.
Baffled by such a ludicrous the objection, Cupcake retorted, "What do you mean it won't work?" Her husband sighed and looked Cupcake dead in the eyes before explaining himself.
"Because I know how they work," he explained, "Or to be more specific, I know about his gang, even if one of them is arrested, they'll keep coming back. Trust me, I know from experience how these things play out." Cupcake wanted to retort, but with the life her husband had, she chose not to press further, why question somebody who had already experienced such a dangerous lifestyle.
As the formerly known Mr. Cake was going to search the kitchen for any major damage, he found a note on the counter of the cashier desk. Intrigued he picked up and read it.
Dear Accelerator,
If you got this note then that means you got our message, a.k.a, your stores' current condition.
I thought I'd just let you know that those bandanas of yours have been given to their proper owner, us, seeing as you've turned you back as the pitiful, fucking, coward you really are.
But, since I'm so nice, I'll give you a chance to get them back. Meet me in Goldonia , Griffonstone at eight-thirty on the dock to get them back.
That is if you have the stones for it
Signed,
Will.
"Honey, what’s that?" His wife asked with a concerned look.
Accelerator didn't answer her question, instead, he marched over to his pink co-worker. "Pinkie I'm gonna need you to call the girls again-" he turned to his wife "-and Honey, I'm gonna need you to close the store." Before she could respond, the determined stallion began walking upstairs
"Honey, please tell me what's going on!" pleaded Mrs. Cake
He turned back to his wife with a reserved, but determined look. " I’m going on a business trip…” he continued to walk up the stairs, ignoring his wife’s pleas.
The afternoon was beginning to set, as the Cakes and the 'Mane Five', specifically Rainbow, Rarity, Twilight, and Fluttershy, the latter of whom was attending to the pink mares wounds, while Spike helped the cleanup and refurbish some of the broken objects of the shop.
While they were working away, the cyan speedster continually grumbled to herself about the break-in, chastising herself for not helping the family sooner. Hearing this, the caretaker, and local animal nurse of the group went to console her friend.
"It's alright Dash, none of us knew what happened-"
"But that's the thing," she interrupted her friend, startling the yellow pegasus, "I should have known, it's my fault that Pinkie got beat up like that," Rainbow turned her attention to the debris of what used to the table, "I swear, if I ever get my hoofs on those guys..." The Cyan pegasus’s voice cut off, drowned out by an angry growl as her wings flared.
"Rainbow," Pinkie began, going over to comfort her angry friend. "I don't mean to sound harsh, but those guys would have been all over you too, there's no telling what they could have done if you were there." She looked sadly at her friend, hoping the message got through to her.
Soon Twilight joined in on the conversation, siding obviously with the two other mares. "They're right Rainbow," she began "There's no telling what those griffons could have done to you." She placed her foreleg over the pegasus's shoulder.
Rainbow Dash wanted to object, but she submitted to their plea "Your right Twi, sorry.." The three mares hugged their friend.
The sweet moment was cut short, as Rarity coughed, as a reminder of their predicament. "Um, I don't mean to ruin the moment," she apologized "but I'm finished with the kitchen, and I was just going to ask Mr. Ca- I mean," she corrected, "Accelerator if there was any other damage to deal with."
"Speaking of which," Spike added, "Where is he anyway?"
Just as he said that a creaking sound could be heard down the stairway. Turning their heads, they looked at the tall figure and gasped at the yellow stallion, Rainbow's eyes widened in surprise and excitement.
There at the end of the stairway, was Accelerator, wearing a familiar black leather jacket, and sporting a spikier, yet slicked back hairstyle. "Sorry I took so long," he apologized as he trotted down the stairs, his wife in-toe, "I just needed to get back in the swing of things." He strongly emphasized the 'swing' part of his statement.
Among them now was the real, genuine, ultimate drag racer himself.
"Accelerator?" Twilight gazed at the stallion in amazement.
Last time on our journey, our hero Accelerator, formally known under the moniker of Carrot Cake, meet with three griffons; Will the lead griffon, challenged our lanky protagonist to a race for not only his title, but for his past rewards as well, the rewards being his collection of bandanas he procured from his racing days.
After declining his challenge, however, the three meet a mysterious pony, dawning a dark fuchsia cloak. While talking to the aforementioned pony about their scheme, the hooded individual teleports them inside the bakery, where they not only destroyed the building and stole racehorses memorabilia, but attacked said pony's employee Pinkie, and threatened to kill his family.
With an iniquitous threat such as that, and with a note left by the three perpetrators; challenging the stallion once more, he concedes and enters the world once more like his true self.
Now we come back to the story with our hero and his friends and continue on with this titillating adventure...
Flying above fifty-thousand feet, Accelerator and his friends were sitting on, what was revered as Equestria's best air travel system. You see, during the expansion of automotive technology, many equestrians were ecstatic about the idea of travel that would take less than five days, and in the air no less.
And of course, they would be given extensive training.
This gladdened the pegasi population, and as such, allowed a broader demographic of equestrians and other species to join flight schools.
With such a new way of travel, this boosted ideals for the equestrian stock market, which brought much revenue to many countries with winged species.
With leather seats, faux leather mind you, as well as much needed security measures to ensure the safety of both the passengers and the pilot, the Equestrian Airlines accommodated for almost anything and were prepared for anything- "Are we there yet" -except for annoying passengers. While they were at the airport, the group were elated to find out that, mainly because of Twilight and Spike's royalty status, those who are relatives or friend-slash-co-workers of royalty would be suited for first class seating.
Entering the plane, the group's perception of what first class flying was like was completely different from what they saw.
For example, while the seats were made of the same material as the economy class, they were also patted with heating pads, as well as a vibration controller. Rather than sandwiches and chip snacks, first-class passengers are given a variety full cooked meals such as french toast, Belgian waffles, sausages, bacon, and eggs(for omnivorous passengers), vegetable lasagna, quiche, curry, etc, as well as a complimentary drink of sparkling wine, or Hot Chocolate. There were pillows and blankets in the back pockets on the seats.
With all those accommodations, you'd think first-class would be enjoyable, but to Accelerator's and Applejack's dismay, Pinkie, who soon recovered from her injuries, as well as returned to her old persona, puffy hair included, she annoyed the group with childish travel games, and an abundance of questions, the one most asked being...
"Are we there yet?" Pinkie groaned as she took another sip of her cola.
sighing heavily, the orange farm mare glared at her pink friend in annoyance, "For the last flippin' time," she grumbled, "we're not there yet! If you remember what that mare at the desk told us, 'we land at Silverstein airport at approximately six-fifty five-" she placed her right foreleg on Pinkie's shoulder "-now would you please shut up,"
"Sorry," Pinkie apologized, "It's that, I've never been much of a plane pony, so I'm not used to sitting in one area for so long." Hearing this, Rainbow, who was sitting in the window seat, one row to the right of the three, sided with the pink mare "Your telling me," complained the cyan pegasus as she turned to face them, "I'd rather be flying over the open sea than sitting here beside some fat, drooling, stallion for Celestia knows how many hours." Unknown to her said overweight stallion took an umbrage to her complaint, huffed, and went back to listening to his music, and reading his newspaper.
Rarity, who was sitting to the right of Fluttershy, and to the left of Spike, scoffed at Rainbow's criticism, "Oh come now Dashie," she said assuringly ", as a world-class designer, the world of air-travel, once you get used to it, can be quite enjoyable."
Both Spike and Twilight hummed in agreeance, "She's right Rainbow," Spike complied, swallowing what seemed to be the last bite of his ham sandwich with a melted tanzanite spread, "not to mention the food here is incredible, the drinks too, they have the best-imported wine from-" he stopped mid realizing that not only that what he was about to reveal was against the law, but that Twilight, his surrogate sister, was one row over.
"What was that Spike?" Twilight questioned suspiciously.
"Nothing!" he exclaimed, shielding himself behind his wings.
Glaring at the purple drake, Twilight turned her attention to Accelerator, "Anyway,' she began "we should be landing at Silverstein airport in just a few minutes." Accelerator replied with what seemed to be a bit of a forced smile. Seeing this, Applejack, asked the disheartened stallion, "What's wrong sugar-cube?"
"Oh come on," Rainbow exclaimed, her back still turned to face the stallion "You didn't get the title of ultimate drag-racer for nothing. Where's your spirit?" Accelerator looked at the pegasus with dejected eyes, feeling slightly ashamed. Realizing this, Rainbow thought of something and stared at the stallion, "Who are you?" she asked incredulously.
"Accelerator," he mumbled continuing to look at the ground
"I said, who are you?" she asked once more in a more demanding and raised tone of voice.
He answered again, but this time, for whatever reason, he felt a bit more determined and lifted his head slightly "My name is Accelerator." he said in a more uplifted tone.
"Who are you!" she suddenly exclaimed
"My name is Accelerator damn it!" The patrons aboard the plane looked in confusion at the scene. Standing tall, the yellow gangly stallion regained his determined look of passion. The two bumped hooves, "Your right," he complied "I don't know why I was so worried, I'm definitely going to win!"
"That's what I like to hear!" Rainbow praised his declaration.
Before they could continue with their pep-talk, a griffon stewardess walked up to the two, "Excuse me, sir, could you please keep it down."
Accelerator looked around to see everyone on the plane glaring at the stallion in annoyance, his cheeks became pink with embarrassment, "Oh, um, sorry." after apologizing, he sat down back in his chair.
Just as he sat down, the intercom on the plane came to life with the voice of the pilot, "Attention every pony," he announced, "we are now arriving in Griffon Stone, please be sure to grab your luggage, and thank you for flying with Equestrian Airlines."
As the plane was beginning to decent, Rainbow looked back at the stallion once more, "You ready?" she asked determined
"As ready as I'll ever be!" he replied with the same gusto.
With the group out of the plane and out of the airport, Applejack called for a taxi, "Where to?" asked the driver, who seemed to have a bit of a Manehattanites accent,
"Just to the Goldonia Hotel, sugar-cube." As he was about to turn his meter box to the regular setting he noticed Twilight was sitting in the car, Princess Twilight to be exact; he raised the box to about ten notes more, and left for their hotel. But before they made it to their temporary sleeping quarters, Pinkie suggested they get something to eat, or maybe go sightseeing.
He eventually complied and asked the driver to take them to the main city and, with the promise of Rarity, would pay extra. Nodding, he took a right turn into a tunnel; the tunnel was seemingly dark, but once out of the dark tunnel, the group's eyes widen.
As they exited the tunnel, the group was assaulted with bright lights and loud noises of the many griffons around them. Once their eyes had adjusted, the scene of Goldonia could be compared to that of Dragontown , or Akittybara, Nippone. The bright red lights of the district shone greatly, as did the giant billboards that used every instant of spotlights. The main area of the city was like a giant park, with the middle section showcasing a large water fountain-like statue of their past leader. Past that was the food district of the city; there was a large walkway that was illuminated by the various orb-like lanterns, where many could walk and either enjoy their leisure or eat at one of the many brightly-lit restaurants in their vicinity. And beyond the food district was the main city of Goldonia, the heart of the country of Griffonstone: A large metropolitan area consisting of tall buildings and small, yet very popular shops. Within the city, there were a variety of museums on the not only griffon history but the history and cultures of other species as well.
The mix of modern and traditional theme caused Applejack's heart to go a flutter, "Well I'll be..." her eyes wandered the various bright alleyways and small shops surrounding the district, " It's so beautiful." To her right, Applejack saw a group of young Griffonesses wearing traditional dresses, most of which were heavily inspired by traditional Chinese clothing. The mixtures of colors in their clothing were truly something to look at.
"It's almost breathtaking," commented Spike, as he too was awestruck with the image of Goldonia as he stuck his head out the same window as Applejack, the large skyscrapers mixed with the traditional culture of the eateries and clothing boutiques. Rarity began thinking of opening a line of her store here in Goldonia.
As the driver continued to drive through the large town, and with most of the group looking around the sights, Pinkie finally found one familiar eatery that caught her eye, "Guys," she called to her friends "what about that place?" Looking out the window, everyone was what appeared to be an average restaurant, one which apparently sold ramen, scones, and equestrian imported hay. Intrigued by the shop, Twilight called for the taxi to stop, and as soon as it did Twilight caught a glimpse of the meter price, and gasped, "ninety-eight notes!" she exclaimed
"Well with you bein' royalty and what not, the price goes up a bit more than for normal griffons" the taxi driver explained. Disgruntled, Twilight was about to lecture the griffon, when Rarity stepped in "Here you go, sir," she handed out about one hundred notes to the greedy griffon, "and remember, just because we are of royalty does not mean you can simply overcharge us."
As he took the money, the driver seemed to have a sudden change of heart, as he turned to the group, "Hey I'm sorry about that," he apologized, averting from the group, "It's just a tough economy you know, how about I give you guys a ride back to the hotel free of charge."
Most of the group nodded with his proclamation.
Exiting the car, the driver told the group that if called him, he'd come back to get them, and then proceeded to give out his phone number to the white unicorn. After that, he drove off, "Wow Rarity," Twilight said in a surprised tone "nice save."
Rarity replied with a giggle "Well like I always say, generosity will get you everywhere."
"Really," AppleJack questioned suspiciously, "Because I've never heard you say that-"
"Well I am starving," Rarity interrupted, peeved by her friends criticizing,"let's go shall we."
As they entered the shop Rainbow began talking about the race, and as she kept talking she bumped into a griffon with white feathers and long feathers atop the griffon's head that reached to their neck, said feathers made it seem like the griffon had long hair. "Sorry about that," she apologized. Instead of apologizing, however, the griffon turned around to face the cyan pegasus, and soon, Rainbow was met with a familiar face...
"Gilda!"
"Dash!" The griffon shouted as she looked at her equine friend.
Rainbow stared back at her avian friend as well, elated to see her "I can't believe it's you, how are you-" she stopped mid-sentence as she took a double take on her friend's appearance, something was different, one very noticeable thing was different about Gilda; one very egg-shaped thing was different about her. Looking down, not only did she noticed Gilda wearing an apron, but a baby carrier that held an egg. "Wow," Rainbow gasped at the sudden news "Gilda, you-you're-"
Her friend interrupted her and completed the rest of her statement, "Yep," she replied "Not only do I own this joint-" she then pointed to her egg, "this little guy here is my son," she continued, "a.k.a my next of kin who's gonna take over the biz'."She said jokingly.
Pinkie and Rarity walked over to Gilda, admiring the vibrant color of the shell, as well as the softness of the shell as they carefully touched it. While the rest group was intrigued, and even excited by this news, Rainbow was somewhat taken aback; don't get her wrong, she was glad for her friend, but the fact that she hadn't told her about this soured the moment.
"Oh, my," Pinkie said, amazed, "what's his name?"
"Also," Rarity interjected, "Who's the lucky stallion?"
Just as she asked that the door to the kitchen opened, another familiar character entered the conversation, or rather, another familiar stallion. Entering now was a tan-coated stallion with a brunette mane, wearing an apron, as well as, sporting a chef's hat, "Hey babe did you get those new-" he stopped when he noticed the group; especially when he noticed Rarity, "Oh, hey guys." he greeted the group casually.
"Carmel?" Rarity said, shocked by the stallions appearance "My, I haven't seen you in ages."
"Me either," Spike commented, rubbing his chin in speculation. "What are you doing here?"
Caramel chuckled slightly before answering the two, "Well," he began "I think I met Gilda when she was in Ponyville a long while ago-" before he could finish, Gilda interjected, or rather, specified that events that lead to their courtship.
"Oh yeah," Rainbow begrudgingly confirmed, remembering how, explosive, their fight was...
"And don't let me see your ugly mug around Ponyvile again!" Gilda walked out of the bakery with a few bruises on her beak.
But after what happened in the bakery, after she almost punched that stupid pink pony and how dash had to take the fall, how they ended up screaming at each other and got into that fight, she might as well cancel the trip altogether. All that planning, she thought to her herself, grimacing at the idea of what was supposed to be a fun weekend. I canceled plans with my old man for the opening of our restaurant, took off work, all that just to come home this early- tears were beginning to swell in her eyes -to go back to my empty apartment, alone. Unaware of her surroundings, she was about to crash into that local pub, luckily she stopped just in time before she could hit the wall. "A drink," she mumbled to herself "after the day I've, I don't deserve one-" she paused "but I need one."
Wiping the tears from her eyes, she entered the bar and quickly found a seat at the bar table and seated herself on the stool. She contemplated asking the bartender for a drink, but with what little bits she had in her purse, that she and Dash would just share in paying whoever was serving them, and that fact that her voice was a little hoarse from the fight, and from crying, she decided against us and just sat there. Lucky for her there were many ponies in the bar at the time, so the bartender hadn't noticed her, yet.
Gilda sat there, and continued to sulk; it was unlike her to act like this, she wasn't the type to just feel sorry for herself, but what could she do? Her best friend, or someone whom she thought was her best friend, just dumped her for someone she barely knew, or at least that's how the griffon-hen speculated the friendship she had with the other ponies.
Not only that, she yelled at her; and it wasn't just like the joke kind of yelling when they would impersonate, the coach, or yelling whenever they got into a heated debate, her yells was almost hate-filled; she yelled at her like she was some punk kid or some pervy, drunk stallion, but that hate was directed at her. She rested her head on her arms and attempted on to think about that donnybrook that occurred earlier.
To her, it seemed like minutes had gone by, unknown to her, though, the bar began to clear out, and soon, only her, the bartender, and a few other patrons, most of whom were elderly stallions, remained. She was a bit confused by the fact that no one seemed to jostle her or anything, I guess they thought I was already drunk or something , She thought to herself.
As she was about to flip open her phone and check the time, the bartender, a brunette, and the caramel coated stallion placed a glass of whiskey in front of the griffon. Confused, she looked up to see that looking back was the stallion in question.
He hummed a bit before asking the depressed griffon, "You looked a little down," he began "what's a broad like you gotta be sad about?"
She would have called him out for giving her such a chauvinistic name, but she didn't even have the energy to yell, "Look, buddy-" she pushed back the shot glass "- I'm not in the friggin' mood." She waited for some sort of insult, or objection from the stallion, but instead, he stared at her intensely, as if he was looking into the eyes of her soul. Confused, by his action, she backed up, what's this weirdo doing-
"You got into a fight with your friend didn't you?" he asked inquisitively. Gilda was slightly taken aback by his words; how was he able to guess that quickly?Was this guy some kind of mind reader? , she pondered, he doesn't have a horn, so...whatever, even if he is right- "No," that doesn't mean he has to know the truth. "I just came back from a funeral."
Caramel gave the griffon an inquisitive look before asking her "Really?"
"Yeah," she said confidently.
"Then how'd you get that shiner?" She probably should have noticed the large black eye that her former friend had given her. Handing over a very convenient mirror, Gilda got a good look at herself; not only did she have a black eye, but her eyes were red from crying as well. "So," he began, a smirk on his face "Am I on the money or-"
"What do you want?" Gilda asked bluntly "If you lookin' for a cheap lay you've got the wrong girl." she stared at the bartender in anger, weirdly hoping she would get a chance to start a bar fight, or at the very least kick some ass.
Instead of badgering the griffon for lewd acts, however, he poured a glass for himself, and looked back at the griffon, "You know," he began, his smile faltering a bit, "I've seen a lot of mares through my life as a bartender, but none as blunt or passionate as you are."
Gilda scoffed at his words, seeing them as nothing more than meaningless things just to bed her.
"How so?" Gilda asked inquisitively
"You're violent, you emotional," he went up closer to the griffon and took her talon "and most importantly-" he began rubbing her talon "You're not just here to talk about yourself."
"Well," he began "You might be inclined to believe that, but," he hopped over the bar table, which took Gilda by surprise, "I think that, in terms of emotion, Violence can sometimes show how close you are to somepony, or how much you care for somepony." After he finished his statement, Gilda took a quick sip of her whiskey, got up from her stool, and walked towards the entryway.
Feeling as though his words were unheard towards the griffon, disheartened, the brunette-maned stallion went back behind the desk to continue his work, when suddenly, Gilda turned back to face the stallion, "You know I was planning on canceling my trip out here because of the fight," she explained "I'm not one for vacationing by myself, and I really don't wanna go home alone again," she paused as her cheek grew a brighter red "Maybe you want to hang-out sometime?"
Caramel placed a chin on his hoof as he thought about the offer. "Well," he began "this place opens around twelve o' clock;" he looked back as the griffon with eyes not of concern, but with joy, "but I think I can get one of my friends to hold down my shift."
Gilda looked at the stallion happily, and after exchanging phone numbers, Gilda left the bar somewhat lovestruck. "Maybe this trip went better than I thought," she said brightly. She spread her wings open and flew off into the night with a brightened mood.
"And that's basically how we met," Caramel finished as Gilda got back to the group's food, and joined back in the conversation. "After that,' he continued "I ended up moving in with, then one thing leads to another, then-"
Gilda interjected "Then, after my pop said he was passing the business down to me, we went out to celebrate, had a few too many to drink; we went back home, got a little excited, and then-" she said as she proceeded to point at her egg. "a few months later I ended up 'eggnant' with this little guy."
"Eggnant?" Twilight asked inquisitively, stifling back a chuckle over the silliness of the name.
"It basically the term griffons used, then we've had the egg inside of us for three weeks," she explained "and after it comes out, the egg acts as an incubator like it normally would, but instead of just leaving it at home we take it with us, because it feeds off of our energy, which is why we came up with the term 'eggnant"
Almost out of nowhere, Twilight took out a notepad and began to take some notes "fascinating" she commented.
Not wasting another minute the group began to eat.
Her friend looked back at her with saddened eyes, "It's just," she began, "I didn't realize that our fight cut you that deep. I didn't know that you lived alone, so..." Rainbow suddenly stopped when, almost out of nowhere, Gilda hugged the dejected pegasus. "Whoa!" she exclaimed, taken aback by her sudden gesture. "Gilda what are you-"
"Don't beat yourself up Dash," she assured her, in an oddly soft voice "you didn't know, what's in the past is in the past-" she released the pegasus and placed her talon on her shoulder "Sure, we had a bad fall out, but," she looked back at her lover, "but because of that, me and Caramel were able to get together, and more importantly, for once, I didn't feel so alone. I had many friends back in Griffon Stone, so just being with someone like Caramel made me feel not so isolated."
Rainbow was slightly baffled by Gilda's words; to believe that such a violent event, would create a positive outcome as this, not only that surprise Rainbow Dash but her friend's sudden change in tone as well. Her usual gruff demeanor was replaced by a softer, almost motherly tone. She sighed and later thanked her friend for her words of encouragement, "Thanks, Gilda," she said appreciatively, "I guess just seeing you again, our history together, and how much you've changed just, kinda got me all emotional and whatnot."
"Hey no problem, besides-" Gilda stretched her arm around the mare "What are friends for." after a few laughs, most of the gang finished eating, it almost seemed like they had forgotten the challenge that Will placed on Accelerator. As Rainbow was about to pay, Gilda told the pegasus, "It's on the house."
After a hug-filled good-bye, they finally left the restaurant, and as soon as they did, Accelerator pulled out his phone and flipped it open. his eyes slightly widened, as the time reads: eight-fifteen, "Oh crap," Accelerator exclaimed, "it's almost eight thirty, we need to get to the race pronto."
"Not to worry," Rarity assured the stallion "I'll simply call our taxi-stallion, and he should be here in a jiffy." Accelerator sighed in relief hearing that. However, as soon as the phone's receiver picked up, his worry intensified, "Hello, welcome to Mama John's how may we help you," on the other line was not that of their gruff taxi driver, but instead, it was a squeaky sounding teenager, who had repeated the same line he's told other customers in an apathetic tone.
Rarity looked at her phone in a mix of befuddlement and anger, "That-" she began, her voice slightly quivering "That piece o' shit, feather-brained, taxi driver fuckin' gipped me!" her friends, although shocked by her sudden outburst, quickly shushed the white unicorn for the use of that derogatory term, The one shushing her being Applejack.
"Look here, sugar cube," she whispered to the fashionista "You can't be sayin' that kinda stuff," she looked around in case anyone heard her outburst, "especially in Griffon Stone!"
It took a while for her to calm down, but finally, Rarity's anger simmered, she coughed and then apologized for her outburst, "Sorry about that darling's, that was utterly unladylike of me."
"We can talk about your hidden racist tendencies later," Rainbow dismayed which caused the fashionista to look down at the ground with dejected eyes, "we need to get to the race and fast."
"But how?" Spike asked. Looking around, the purple drake's eyes widened with excitement, "Hey look!"
Looking over the group found another taxi, an empty taxi to be exact. Concerned, Twilight asked her surrogate brother, "Spike what are you suggesting?"
"I'm just saying," he began, his eyes looking away from Twilight "Maybe we can 'commandeer this vehicle' -" he brought up his and started doing air quotes, "for an 'emergency reconnaissance mission' if you catch my, Tokyo Drift."
Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack were shocked by Spike's speculation, while the rest of the group cringed at his pun, "Are you suggesting we steal this taxi!?" Twilight exclaimed.
"Hey, if there's anything I've learned from Grand Theft Chariot," he explained, "It's that in order to get anywhere, it's that you gotta think fast, and be quick."
Elsewhere
In a random alleyway, with loud music blaring the street, a long line of cars could be seen, as well as a large community, of griffons most of whom were either lounging around, playing dice or drinking. Sitting on the hood of a black, Ford Mustang, modified with a few boosters and hydraulics, was Will, who was tapping on his chin at a rapid rate as his patience running thin, "Where the hell is that bastard!" he growled, looking back at his phone, " it's almost nine!"
"Maybe he wussed out," Maria commented, taking another drag of her cigarette, "knowing what he is now, its possible he probably just called the cops."
"Wait," he objected "didn't that guy say-" Before he could finish his rebuttal, the sounds of screaming, and screeching tires could be heard in the distance; soon the noise grew closer, and soon a grundy yellow taxi pulled into the alley-way and made a full stop just before it could hit any of the other cars. "Who that hell was that!?" Will shouted in anger.
"For the sake of my family," Accelerator began, "I will defeat you." both he and Will glared at each other intensely.
The two stood in silence for what felt like a minute, that was until the announcer of the competition broke the silence via megaphone-speaker. "Alright racers," the young announcer shouted, "Rev your engines!"
Author's Note
I decided to add in the Gilda and Carmel part into the story because of a bonus chapter I have a plan for them.
But with that out of the way, now the big race between young and old is about to commence!
A Racer's Resurgence: Accelerator v. Will
The once purple-golden haze of the sun had died out, and was now replaces was a dark blue sky. The moon shone brightly in Griffon Stone, as most of the citizens had gone to bed, well, all except for those in south Goldonia: the second city that never sleeps.
In a large alleyway, filled with various, cars two racers were beginning their competition. From the sleepy suburbian-city, Accelerator, known formally under the moniker of Carrot Cake, got into his car, which was a Neighsan Z-Car, and prepared for his competition, with Will doing the same. However, the worry he felt from the plane ride over began to grow, It's been so long since I've ridden in these, after disappearing from the racing scene and starting a family, Accelerator was more accustomed to Minivans and compact cars than the stick shift of the car he was sitting in.
However, that did not deter the lanky stallion, as he buckled his seat-beal and both physically, and mentally, prepared himself, I can do this...I can do this , he repeated in his head multiple times.
On the sidelines of this race were four of the 'Mane Six', huddled in a small circle as various griffons were crowded around them. "Gosh," Applejack uttered, shocked by the turnout of this race, "I wasn't expecting for there to be so many griffons."
Rainbow, who was hovering over the farmgirl, criticized the mare, "Well duh," she began "Accelerator's in the race, any racing fan would sell their soul just to see this! Like this one time..." unexpectedly, Rainbow began her constant experiences with certain races she attended.
As the farmgirl absentmindedly nodded to her friend's ramblings, she noticed Rarity looking down with a saddened expression on her face; Twilight also noticed this, and asked the white mare in a concerned tone, "Everything alright Rarity?" she asked.
"it's just," she paused and then looked straight into her friend's eyes "Twilight dear, do you think I'm racist?"
The librarian was taken aback by her friends accusive question, "Rarity," she began " of course not, why would you say that?"
Rarity sighed before explaining herself "What I said about that taxi driver, that fact that something as despicable, and crude was in my vocabulary, I shouldn't have even thought of that word, to begin with."
With a concerned look on her face, Twilight placed her hoof around the fashionista," Rarity it's not your fault," she consoled "It was just the heat of the moment, not to mention the trip here was pretty long." Twilight then pointed to both Spike and Rainbow Dash, "Besides, if you were racist, why would you hang out with Spike, Rainbow, and the rest of the girls-" she turned to her assistant, "right Spike?"
The aforementioned assistant did not answer her, but instead, gazed longingly at a female griffon who almost had the same figure as the girl griffon that attacked the Cake's shop; wide hips, a slightly curvy figure, and the same small beak. The only difference between her and the other griffon was that the feather part of her body was gray, while the lion part was black.
The one thing that peaked Spike's interest was the griffon's round backside, as he's said before to his 'many' guy friends, he was an ass man. through and through. His crush with Rarity seemed almost non-existent as she stared at her rump, slightly mesmerized by it, "Damn," he muttered under his breath, biting his lower lip in desire.
"Spike?"
"Suga', when'd ya get so, fly,"
"Spike!"
Spike suddenly snapped back to reality, quickly looking around his surroundings, before turning to an annoyed Twilight, "Wha, I wasn't doing anything," Spike stuttered out of fear of being caught.
Twilight glared at her assistant with suspiciously "Right," she said in a doubtful tone "Anyways I was just trying to comfort Rarity about that outburst back at Gilda's restaurant, but," she turned to see what the drake was looking at, "you seemed to be really focused on that griffon."
Intrigued by the conversation, Rainbow ended her ramblings and interjected "Were you checking her out?" she questioned as she lowered herself to Spike.
Defensively, he put his hands up in a waving motion, "I-It's not like that," he said nervously.
While this was happening, Rarity, who overheard the conversation, sprouted an idea that elated the mare, By supporting Spikes infatuation with that griffon, in some way, I'll become culturally diverse if the two become friends, and as such, would allow me to spend time with her in order to better myself, she giggled at her plan Rarity you genius! Rarity cleared her throat as she made her way towards the nervous drake "Oh Spike," she began "I think it's perfectly fine for you to have a crush on that griffon ."
Rainbow Dash smirked, "That's funny, considering your little outburst,"
The white unicorn turned to the mare with a slightly offended look "Hey, I'll have you know that-"
Before she could continue her defense, Pinkie quickly shushed her, " Shh, the race is about to start!"
Most the group looked back towards the street where the cars were parked, while Spike turned his attention towards the griffon, who seemed to be having some kind of argument with a muscular, male griffon. At first, they were casting glares at one another, but soon they began yelling at each other, and soon, the male griffon forcefully grabbed the female's wrist.
The girls were seemingly unaware of the dragon's sudden disappearance.
Squeezing through the horizontal gaps of the street bumpers, Spike jogged towards the two griffons and stepped in the middle of the two, pushing them away from one another, "Hey you two," he called out "break it up!"
The male griffon, who on closer inspection, had a tattoo of some random rock band on his left bicep, glared down at the short, teenage, dragon. "Piss-off pipsqueak," he said, growling in irritation as he pushed the drake aside, "This is between me and my girl,"
His supposed girlfriend glared at the griffon, "Oh don't you 'girl' me you ass," still glaring at the muscular griffon, she quickly walked over to the drake, "After this race is done, we are so over!" To get back at her boyfriend, she wrapped her arms around the drake. Said dragon was blushing because of her warm embrace.
Spike became slightly giddy by her embrace, Holy crap!
The griffon stared at his former mate with a somewhat shocked, before turning to the flustered dragon with seething anger, "You sonovabitch," he grabbed the dragon by the collar of this button-up shirt, and then pushed him against the wall in a rough manner, "I'm gonna enjoy beatin' the hell outta you!"
As the griffon rose his fist to prepare his assault, Spike looked around fretfully for any means of escape, his wings frantically flapping in distress, Com' on Spike think, think! While his head swiveled, his direction turned to that of his friends, who were looking at Accelerator with excited, yet worried, eyes, Bingo! "Listen here shit-for-brains," Spike insulted the raging griffon "if you don't put me down, and walk away from the lady, your gonna have a bad time with my gang!"
The griffon, who had Spike high up against the wall, became suddenly pale at the dragon's words, "You don't mean," he began to breathe heavily, shaking in fright, "You're with the 'Diamond Scale gang'!
Spike stared back at the terrified griffon in confusion, "What are talking about-" Spike stopped mid-sentence as he realized why the griffon was shaken in fear, The Scale Gang, Spike thought; the notoriously violent gang that terrorizes the southeast of the Dragon-Lands, he must think I'm with them. A wide, evil smirk, grew on his face, might as well take advantage of this opportunity. "I-I mean, that's right," the dragon uttered out, proudly, "and If you don't step away from the lady," Spike closed in on the petrified griffon's face "Let's just say having your wing cut off will be the least of your problem."
With that threat in mind, the muscular griffon quickly released the dragon and ran out of the alleyway, completely forgetting his significant other. Once the griffon was out of view, Spike turned to the female griffon, "Hey, are you alright?" he asked.
The griffon, in question, smiled at the dragon, "Yeah I'm fine," she assured him. She then bent down to his height as to get a better look at her quote, unquote, savior, "thanks for getting rid of that guy, he was an asshole anyways," she said in a thankful tone, and then introduced herself "My name is Lynda by the way."
"Name's Spike,"
Lynda looked at Spike in confusion, "You mean you're the dragon that saved the Crystal Empire?" she asked doubtfully.
Spike then began slightly sweating, in fear that she would figure out his charade, "Uh," he paused, trying to conjure up a random story, Think spike, think! "Yeah, I just happened to be there for some..reconnaissance with the boys, some crystal pony though he could get away without paying," he hunched over and punched his palm, "Well we'll see how he's gonna pay when he's nothing more than crystal shards!"
The griffon's eyes widened in excitement when she heard that, "Oh," she gasped with fake shock, " so I'm guessing' your the guy that does all of the dirty work?"
"Well," Spike began as he popped his collar, "I think dirty's an understatement."
Before he could notice it, Lynda wrote down her phone number and handed it to the drake, "I'm checking out of my hotel after this, but, if you still wanna hang out, just call me, 'kay?"
Spike didn't know how to feel at this moment, the lovestruck dragon looked up at the griffon with a dumb-smile, "O-okay," without saying a word, the two turned back to the track seeing that the race was about to begin, as both cars were revving.
"Ladies and gentlemen, chicks of all ages," he announced, "I welcome you to the most spectacular, out of this world, bat-shit exciting event!" The announcer walked out, microphone in hand, he wore a blue long-sleeved jersey, a pair of overtly red sunglasses, and a large pair of headphones around his neck, "To my right we have our boy, Will!" hearing that name, the crowd exploded in applause, while the name six, and spike, were booing him, "And to my left-" he turned to accelerator's car "We have the stallion, the myth, the legend; all the way from New Mane City! Accelerator!" The young griffon announced, elongating the name; the crowd once again made an uproar of an applause.
After he announced the two opponents, Maria walked from the sidelines, and into the far middle path between the two cars, "You boys know the rules," she announced, "the first one back here wins-" she quickly held up the white starting cloth, "are you ready?"
The two racers glared at one another at one another, with Will grinning greatly at Accelerator, "You ready?"
"Three!"
The yellow stallion turned his head slowly towards the smirking griffon and continued staring at him.
"Two!"
"As I'll ever be."
"One!"
Will's grin grew as he continued to rev his car, "Then bring it, old man!"
"Go!" Maria quickly flew out of the way as the two cars sped off.
Will Vs. Accelerator (Griffon Stone)
The two raced down the alley, their engines revving with such vibrato. Both were neck-and-neck, pressing hard on the pedal as their speeds reached almost 100. Finally exiting the alleyway, the two found themselves in a conveniently abandoned part of the town. Although it was abandoned, it was not entirely closed to the public.
Accelerator pressed hard on the pedal, "Holy shit," he exclaimed, "I haven't felt like this in years!" The two raced through the empty city, exceeding speeds of almost one-hundred and ten. A quick turn curve in the road was soon headed for the two racers, while both were prepared, Accelerator still felt the same unease that plagued him when he before the start of the race. The two quickly turned their steering-wheels and successfully completed the turn, now with Will taking the lead.
"Dammit," Accelerator cursed himself, "I need to catch up!" Although slowly, but surely, the lanky earth pony was slowly catching up to the griffon, pressing harder and harder on the pedal
The wide grin that was plastered on Will's face was soon diminishing as he looked in his rear-view mirror and saw that the famous racer was slowly catching up to him, "The shit is this!?" The griffon shouted in anger as the stallion grew closer, 'He's getting too close, I need to lose him,' as the young racer turned to face the road, he saw a fork in the path; on one path, it leads to a cliffside that mostly truckers or other large vehicles would use, to the right was generally safer and lead to a large park that most would go to during the summer. "Heh," the smirk on Will's face grew once more, "I think it's time to that bastard a little-" Will then drove past the warning sign that specifically to drivers that it was only for larger vehicles, "culter shock."Fortunately, of the schemeful griffon, the old racer did not see the sign and followed him.
By the time they were out on the cliffside road, nicknamed, Black-hole road because of its two-lane only function, Accelerator's eyes widened with shock, "W-what the hell are we doing on this road!" he exclaimed.
As the two continued to drive, by this point they were now on the outskirts of the quiet city, and entered the cliffside of the track; while Will continued to drive with great determination, Accelerator, on the other hand, began to feel the unease rise in him, this what I was worried about , he lamented, all this danger - coming up upon the two was another sharp turn, and while Will turned successfully without missing a beat, the baker had to slow down in order to make the turn, giving the griffon another lead, this is exactly why I left this game , suddenly something caught Accelerator's eye, to his right outside the car, was a large billboard displaying a happy, smiling, griffon family enjoying their day at the park, "But-" Accelerator then pressed his hoof on the gas, memories of his wife and children flooding back, "I'm doing it for them!" Fully determined, Accelerator prepared for any obstacle the approached him
Looking back at his rear-view mirror, the headlights of Accelerator's car were growing in his mirrors, causing Will to grin greatly, "Gotcha, bitch!" Driving around a curve, Will was met with another fork in the path, this time, however, the first path had a large empty gap in the road that, even with the speed of about 200, would surely be the end for any racer, the second, was a path that lead to a long road that, when the two merge once more, would eventually lead back to the city, and towards the entry alleyway.
Grinning greatly, Will opened the sunroof to his car, stuck not just his head, but his whole upper body outside the top, setting the car into autopilot, and extended his large wings out and with the help of a sudden gust of wind, it almost appeared as if he was actually lifted his car, and flew over the large gap, and onto the rest of the road.
Accelerator immediately stopped his car after seeing the griffon's amazing feat, his mouth was agape at the sight, but said amazement was short-lived, once he realized what had happened, "Ah, shoot," he cursed himself. Looking to his right, he saw the longer path, and unaware of the distance of this road, decided to take it.
I had almost seemed like a good hour or so after the two competitors split off from each other, unaware of each other actions, Accelerator continued on the long path, slowly reaching the lights of the city streets where he and Will would meet up, "It's almost been an hour," he complained as he drove through the forest trail, rows, and acres of trees aligned perpendicular to the road, creating an almost smooth path, "Was this part of his plan, he'd take the high road and I'd take the low road?"
After the last bit of trees, Accelerator finally made it back to the streets where the race had begun, his moment of joy was short-lived, however, once he saw that Will had also made it, and was closer to the alleyway than the stallion, Oh no you don't '! pressing hard on the accelerator, and gripping the wheel tight, the baker rushed out of the forest trail and o the streets, where he had almost caught up with the griffon's car.
Racing through the entry of the alleyway, the two were neck-and-neck, and were nearing the finish line,
The two racers were nearing the finish line, but as they were, something in Accelerators mind caused him to reinstate his worry from before, It's been nearly a good thirty, hell, maybe forty years since he'd done this, although he knew the basics of the race, there was still something caused to become cautious, almost to cautious, "W-wait, how do I break again?"
"It's Accel" the announcer shouted at the stallion drove a bit ahead of the griffon, Will as so did the same, as he drove a bit ahead, "it's Will!"
With the finish line only some minutes away, Will grew a grin on his face, "Time to go turbo." as he said that he pressed a small blue button on the side of his steering wheel, and in a matter of seconds, Will got a full lead in front of the stallion.
"Wait, what!?" Accelerator shouted in shock at the griffon's sudden gust of speed. Before he could even think of any last action solution, or even blink for that matter, it was too late-
"And there you have it, folks," the party griffon announce, "Our boy, and undisputed champion, WILL is the winner!!!"
Using a parachute to stop his car, the Griffon's speed slowly went down, and with the use of this breaks, stopped the car altogether. As the griffon exited the car various griffon groupies ran onto the track, and ran towards the griffon, congratulating him immensely on his win, "Pfft, was there ever any doubt!" he said jokingly causing many of the griffon hens to laugh and giggle.
While the griffon was getting friendly with his groupies, Accelerator just sat there in the car, looking at the sight in front of him with a mix of shock, and confusion, I-I lost ? he thought to himself, ignoring the four mares that ran up to his car.
"Um, Accelerator," Pinkie was the first to speak, "what happened there?"
"I-I don't know," he admitted, "all of a sudden it was like he got a second boost or something..."
"Its called turbo boost, retard." the group turned to see the victorious griffon with an armful of griffonesses,"You know you said you were the best drag racer in the world but-" he smirked, "I guess you can't teach an old bastard new tricks, huh?" the griffon, as well as his groupies, erupted with laughter, causing the group of ponies to cast him a dirty glance, especially from Rainbow Dash.
"First of all dumbass it 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks-"
"Hrmm," Will hummed at her correction with a grin, "I bet an old bitch , like you, would probably relate to something like that," he and his groupies once again laughed at his jest.
That was the last straw for the rainbow-maned pegasus, "Oh, you want me to be a bitch, huh," she shouted in anger, rolling up one of the sleeves of her sky-blue letterman's jacket "I'll show you how much of a bitch I am!"
Before he pegasus could even fly up to the griffon, she was stopped by a forceful yell, "Rainbow, stop," turning to the source of the voice, she saw Accelerator outside of his vehicle with a saddened look on his face, "It's not worth it."
The pegasus stared at the stallion with a shocked expression, "But-"
"I said it's not worth it!" he exclaimed, causing the pegasus to lower down to the ground, and simply glare daggers at the griffon.
"Ha," the griffon chortled, "You yapped on about how fucking loved the ultimate drag racer, but now that I'm the guy, you can't fucking stand me?"
"Your damn right I can't!" she yelled back at the griffon. Will simply shrugged and walked away from the dejected group, talking and laughing with his groupies along the way, "Let's just get back to our hotel,"
As the group was about to walk, Twilight turned back with a confused look, "Where's Spike?" she muttered to herself, as the group began pilling back into the now de-plated taxi car. Looking around, she saw the purple dragon chatting up a young griffon hen, What is he doing, "Spike," she called out to him, "Come on let's go!"
The purple dragon, as if on cue, turned his head, an expression of annoyance, and worry showed, dammit Twi, not now ! Spike turned back to the griffon with slightly saddened eyes, "Sorry, I gotta go, it's a-" he paused for a bit, thinking of another lie, "recon' thing, I'm just staying with the princess because a certain somepony owes us," he crossed his arms in an attempt to look 'cool.'
The griffon hen giggled, "Well, just don't get too dirty when you're done-" she lowered down, and kissed the dragon on his cheek, "well the have fun, Spike," getting up, Lynda began walking out of the alleyway, leaving behind the love-struck drake.
Spike's longing gaze was interrupted, however, when Twilight called out for him again, "Spike!"
"Shit's sake," Spike muttered to himself, "Coming!" he quickly ran over to the group, phone in hand preparing for the griffon hen's number.
The glowing sun rose over the country of Griffonstone, as another day began for the city; however, the same can't be said for a certain lanky stallion, who laid in his hotel, his mane slightly disheveled, after losing the race to Will, Accelerator and his friends, walked back to the stolen taxi cab, which of course had the plated pried off, courtesy of his pink employee, and drove back to their hotel, or rather, to an empty lot to leave the car, and then walk back to the five-story hotel.
Why, the former racer though to himself, as he lay in bed, the television in front of him playing some crime-drama. Accelerator wasn't sure why, but something about the race last night made him, losing the race, having his old title taken from him, being beat by someone so new at the game; why did this upset him so much? "This shouldn't matter to me," he assured himself, turning to the other side of the bed and looked out at the window, attempting to hide this feeling, but it was of no use, the irritation, the anger, the pain of losing his title, "but why am I so upset."
"You damn right you upset," the lanky stallion widened his eyes, and turned to find the source of the voice, only to see that it come from the television; more specifically, it came from a Zebra on the show that was playing, the zebra stallion was glaring at a blonde-mane mare wearing a suit, mascara running down her cheeks, "I'm angry, too," he shouted at her, "That corrupt motherbucker, is trying to go for mayor, of West Baltimare of all places! Shhheeeeeeiiitt, mare, you got every right to be upset!"
Heh, yeah the saddened stallion chuckled, laying back down and looking out into the window, which, unsurprisingly, had a door that would allow and winged species to enter through that way, but that mattered little to the former racer.
"E.B.I open up!" a familiar voice on the other side yelled, demanding the stallion to open the door.
Slowly, the stallion rose from his bed, and walked over to the front door in a sluggish manner, What do the girls want? He looked out the peephole of the door, to see two smiling ponies with worried expressions,
"Its Rarity and Rainbow dash darling," Rarity announced, "We didn't see you at breakfast, is everything alright?"
Hearing her concerned question, the lanky stallion sighed heavily before replying, "Yeah, I'm fine," he lied to the two, hoping they would just leave him be, "I just wasn't hungry,"
"Cel'," Rainbow dash called to the stallion, nicknaming him, "Don't think I don't know when you're lying to me."
"But, I'm not Rain-"
"Bullshit!" she exclaimed irritably, in unfortunate earshot of a unicorn mother and her foal, clearing her throat to notify the two of their presence; the mother turned to the pegasus with an angered glare, causing the pegasus to chuckle sheepishly, "my bad..." the mother turned her nose up at the embarrassed pegasus and trotted away from the pair in a huff.
"Really smashing, Rainbow," Rarity said sarcastically, glaring at the mare
"Shut up," she exclaimed, and turned back to the door, "Anyways, I know you're lying, don't tell me you're just staying in there because of the race?"
As soon as the rainbow maned-mare brought up the race, the racers thought suddenly came back to him, I shouldn't care, I shouldn't care, he thought to himself repeatedly, hoping again this feeling would go away, "listen, rainbow," he began, "I don't care if I lost the race or not, I told you once already, I never wanted to be part of that life- if anything, I'm glad he took my title away from me," he turned from the door, and began walking back to the main room, to lay down, and watch more television, "I won't have to deal with that...that burden," he seemed to stutter before he said 'burden'.
Rainbow, was not just going to let the stallion sulk in his room, "Listen 'Cell'-" she began pounding on the door, causing the snow-white mare to look around with an embarrassed expression, hoping no one heard the mares loud bangs, "You can hold up in your room all day, but I won't let, that little bitch of a griffon got lucky, but- "
"If you're going to say to just go up to him, and challenge him, just stop," he told the pegasus rather bluntly
"But-"
Before the mare could continue, the door finally open, and in front of the two mares was a sullen looking stallion, his tired expression shown greatly on his face, "Dash, he has all of the bandanas,..."
"So?" she asked
The former racer sighed, "In the drag racing world, many of those who have different levels and ranks based on how well they drive, those who have only one bandana means they're newbies, or only just started getting into the scene, the more bandanas you have, the higher your rank; that's why the only way to increase your rank is to challenge those to a race, but you can only race those who have the same rank as you; ones against ones, and twos against twos, so one and so forth-"
"But darling," rarity soon spoke up, with a look of confusion on her face, "Why can't you just go up to him and challenge him for the things back?"
"Because I'm a lower class," he stated with an irritated tone, "after that race, he not only took my previous ranks but my title too, the only way to get back at him would be to do it all over again."
"Which is why we just buy a bandana and-" Rainbow suggested, only for the lanky stallion to yell at her, greatly irritated by her simple logic.
"Do you really think it's that easy, dumbass!" the two mares flinched at his words, for as long as they have known him, he was never on to insult, or at least swear at anypony, but for him to call them something so rude was almost alien to them, "I have nothing no rank, no title of my own-" he looked at the ground, his anger slightly simmering, "I can't just go back out there like its nothing, I can't just "buy another one", it's not that simple-" he faced his head back up at the two worried looking mares, "But like I said, I don't care, I'm glad I lost my title."
"But-!"
"Don't bother me anymore, okay," he told the mares with a saddened voice, "just, go to breakfast already." before either of the two could stop him, he slammed the door and walked back into his room, leaving behind two startled mares.
Rainbow dash could believe her eyes, she had never told the stallion, but in her early teen years, she'd always watched one of his races, on some of the old Equestrian internet chat-rooms, with great excitement; she'd admired the stallion as if he was her own father, even though she already had one, she saw Accelerator as a great father figure than her old man, she had always dreamt of the day of meeting him, signing his autographs on one of the bandanas she had burst from her local 'Trot Topic', secretly hoping to be one of his groupies, but she had always kept that as a secret.
But to see the stallion she had admired, somepony how she respected the hell out of, just give up his dreams like that, she understandably infuriated, she quickly turned away from the broken stallion's, door, and began walking towards one of the elevators with an anger expression, Rarity turned to her irritated friend, attempting to stop her, "Rainbow Dash?"
"You heard him Rarity," the rainbow-maned pegasus told the unicorn, with a low tone, "Let's just go, let the little bitch baby have his tantrum," she quickly pressed one of the arrow buttons on the wall next to the elevator, and in a matter of seconds, the door opened up and the angered pegasus, as well as the concerned white unicorn, entered the elevator without another word.
On the first floor of the hotel, many griffons, ponies, and other various species, were in the dining hall, grabbing their various breakfast dished from the self-serving line, and sitting down at one of the many tables with their friends, families, co-workers or by themselves.
Eating at one of the tables was a certain group of five ponies, and one dragon eating their various foods, while the ponies, being herbivores, simply ate toast, pancakes, cereal, and other wheat-based product, their dragon friend, gorged various strips of bacon, and a few donuts that were smeared with an amethyst-gem puree, and a small section of scrambled eggs.
"Can you blame me," Spike said, taking another bite of his pork delights, "If their's nothing I love more in this world, bacon is just one of my favorite three B's!"
"Three B's?" the apple farmer asked
"Bacon, Boobs, and Babes," the drake explained in a rather lax tone,
Hearing that, Twilight cast a glare at the teen dragon, while Applejack and Pinkie began chuckling, "Spike!" she exclaimed, looking like she was about to reprimand her assistant,
"What," he said, with a perplexed tone, "I'm telling the truth."
"He's got ya there Twi," Applejack interjected wiping a few tears from her eyes, after the laughing fit.
Once Pinkie had calmed down as well, she stopped smiling immediately, and then began rubbing her chin, pondering, "Wait," she began, getting the attention from most of the group, "Wouldn't boobs, and babes go under the same thing?"
Once again, before Spike could ask the duo, he noticed that Rainbow Dash had an angered look on her face, a look that told him that their mission was not as successful, "I guess it didn't go well?" he asked, the rainbow-maned pegasus looking at the drake with a 'no-shit' kind of expression.
"He seemed very adamant about not leaving his room," Rarity stated with a dejected look.
"Hmph," rainbow dash huffed, "Let that sad sack stay in his room, maybe after he has his friggin' hissy fit, he can actually face us like a stallion," the irritated mare quickly got up and left to get her food from the line, leaving behind the concerned group.
"I thought Accelerator was alright with leaving the whole, drag racing thing behind," Spike stated, before eating another piece of bacon, talking in between his chewing, "I me'n, ishn't that what he shaid back at the bakery?"
"First of all," Rarity began, "Spike, please do not speak with your mouth full, especially not with meat in it," hearing the mare's plea, the teen dragon quickly chewed his food, and then proceed to swallow it quickly, smiling sheepishly at the mare, after that, she continued, "and secondly, you're right Spike," the unicorn admitted, "when we tried to get him out of his funk, he told us that, and I quote, "it finally felt good to have that burden leave him", but he seemed to stammer quite a bit before he said burden,"
"Maybe there's still a part of him that wants to keep doing this," Pinkie suggested, "Like even though he wanted to quit, something in his heart is telling him that, he should give it a second shot." Once the mare had finished, most of the patrons of the table looked at her with slightly surprised eyes, "What?" she asked, perplexed
"Ah'll be honest, I wasn't suspecting you of all ponies to guess that," she stated, "No offense,"
"None taken,"
"Anyway, it could be possible, Pinkie," Twilight agreed with the mare, who smiled at her, "Maybe there is a bit of an emotional connection,"
"I guess we'll find that out tonight once her leave here,"
"Or maybe, you'll find it sooner than you think," a new voice had suddenly entered the conversation, the group, as well as a Rainbow Dash who had come back from the line just in time to meet the pony, or rather, the griffon behind the voice, the griffon in front of them, was of a medium build, he was lanky, with well-combed feathers that, at the end of it, pointed out at the back of his neck; he wore a jaded-blue jacket, and underneath wore a white dress shirt, without the group noticing, he simply walked over to the Equestrians, while everyone was surprised by his appearance, Rainbow Dash, still irritated from a few moments ago, demanded why the griffon was here
"Who the hell are you !?" she questioned
"The griffon that'll help bring your friend some honor," he stated in a very serious tone, the griffon pulled out a chair and sat with the perplexed, yet cautious, group. Not waiting for another second, the griffon quickly introduced himself, "The name's Alfred," he stuck out his talons waiting for a handshake.
The mid-morning day continued on as many griffons, and other species alike, went about their day, whilst many tourists were simply walking around, talking in the Griffonstonian culture. At what looked to be a somewhat old mechanic shop, a taxi cab had stopped right in front, and once the car door of the vehicle open, four familiar faces stepped out of the car, "This is the place Al' talked about right?" a pink mare asked the lavender alicorn in front of her, who instinctively looked down back at the numbers that were written on a sheet of napkin.
"303 Ravenclaw Boulevard," she repeated, looking up at the emerald street signs to see she was correct, "Yep, this is the place," In front of the four cautious mares was well-known mechanic shop to the normal public, but to those who lived in the east side of Goldonia, it was something completely different. A while ago back at the hotel, after the mysterious griffon had presented himself and shook their hooves, he continued on with his introduction, he then said his last name that made many of the patrons of the table become slightly defensive.
Wait, you're his brother!? the rainbow-maned pegasus shouted, causing some ponies to look at her with confused stares after her outburst, Twilight quickly attempted to quiet the mare
"Unfortunately, yes," the griffon replied with a stoic look
Pinkie was the next to speak, giving the griffon a confused glare, "Wait, what do you mean by, 'unfortunately'?"
Before he began his explanation, Alfred sighed heavily with an annoyed expression, "My brother is a complete and utter embarrassment to the racing sport," he claimed, rather bluntly, "He may be the sec- or I guess now, best racer in the world," he quickly corrected himself, "But the way he uses it, just for the fame, the money-" he clenched his teeth in anger, "he doesn't deserve it."
"Then" Applejack began, "Why don't you just take it back from him?"
The griffon gave the mare an annoyed look, "Do you think I'm crazy enough to enter those kinds of competitions, Unlike my dad, may he rest in peace, and my dumbass brother, I'm not going to follow in their paw-steps, and risk my life for something so asinine!" after his rant, he took a sharp inhale, and then quickly exhaled, "but," he continued, "I'm not going to let your friend lose to someone like Will,"
"And if you're not goin' to enter the race, then what are ya plannin' to do?"
Opening the door with her magic, the quartet, entered the entry room of the shop and were greeted by a peppy young griffoness receptionist, wearing a light-blue dress shirt, "Hello there," she greeted, her eyes widen the moment she saw the princess, "how may I help you four today?" Twilight went up to the smiling griffoness, and repeated the same instruction from the griffon at the hotel-
Go to a garage shop called, Mama Auto's Mechanic Shop, there, go to the receptionist and ask her for a griffon hen by the name of Mildrid.
"Yes, We're to see a griffon by the name of Mildrid?"
"Hold on one second," the young griffoness told the young alicorn, who was seemingly calm at first, but the moment she picked up the phone and put the speaking end of the phone to her face, she began loudly whispering with an excited tone.
"Ma'am you're not going to believe this-" the receiving part of the phone began talking to the young griffon, likey asking about her excitement, "There is an actual princess in our shop-" the other end responded with a skeptical tone, "No I'm serious," she assured the other voice, "an actual celebrity, here, in fact, she was asking for you-" once again, the voice on the other end responded, "Alright then, goodbye," the griffoness, with the same elated expression on her face, put the phone back into the receiver, "Alright, Miss Mildrid will see you in a few minutes," she told the group, "just wait here for a bit-" the griffon pointed to a row of seats lined along the wall.
"Okay, thanks," Twilight thanked the smiling griffon and sat in the same row of seats where her friends were. After a few minutes had passed, with most of the girls reading various magazines, or just talking about what they had planned for the rest of their trip, the greyish-blue double doors perpendicular to the seats opened up, walking through, was an elderly griffon hen who wore a light-blue, and her head covered with a purple headscarf that had been dirtied with grease and oil.
Most of the group turned to the griffoness with relieved, welcoming smiles, while their cyan furred friend turned to the griffon hen with an indifferent expression, "You must be the princess Agatha's been talkin' about," she said, she, as well as the group, turning to the smiling and slightly embarrassed griffon hen, who quickly waved at the group, the Twilight as well as the other, returned to gesture, "Jus' follow me to the garage," she directed the four, "we'can talk about whatcha need," Mildrid turned back to the doorway, where various sounds of engines revving, working machinery, and other loud mechanical sounds could be heard even all the way through the hallway that connected the two rooms, Twilight, and the others soon followed her.
"It's my pride an' joy," she told the mare with a soft tone glance at her photos herself longingly, "It used to just be my pop's shop, but after I helped a few times in the garage, I started working here full time," after she said that, the door to the garage was a mere few inches away from the group, and without hesitation, the elderly hen opened the door to revile the garage, and the workers inside.
Many of the mechanics could be seen working on various cars in the shop, and some, apparently, even working on monster trucks, which could be seen, as two, bulky griffons were carrying a large engine for the giant vehicle, while most of the group was more glancing at a few of the more interesting, and large, vehicles that were inside the shop, a certain white unicorn began ogling the two bulky griffons, staring at the small bit of chest fur that stuck out of their jump-suits, "Mmm," the unicorn hummed, "I never fancied car-shops, but-"
"Rarity!" the unicorn turned to her friends, most of whom had entered the elderly griffoness office, Pinkie called out to the mare for attention, pointing at the door with an expression of bemused, annoyance.
While the size of her office was quite regular, the decorations she had hung about the wall gave it an almost, mother-goose type feeling. Several pictures of younger griffons, griffon cubs, possible her grandchildren; another framed picture, one was of the griffon hen, when she was younger, wearing a white wedding gown, and to her right, a lanky male griffon wearing a white wedding suit, the two had bits of cake and cake frosting on their face, and looked at one another longingly.
Sitting in her swivel chair behind her large, oak wood desk, the hen began talking to the group, asking them what brought them down here, and giving her usual spiel about, "Any need for an oil change", or, "You girls havin' any car trouble," the usual; but, before any of the girls could respond, the griffon got up from her seat and turned to revile to be a small portable stove, next to the stove a small holder of different tea's, and as for what sat on top of the small stove was a black kettle pot.
Without any hesitation, Twilight negated the hen's offers of car assistance, and got her he asking Mildrid, "We're actually not here for that," Twilight told the griffon, who cocked an eyebrow at the mare's statement, " We're because, of a certain someone,"
"A certin' someone?" Mildrid repeated with a questioning look.
"Do you know of a griffon by the name of, Alfred Talson?"
The griffoness eye's widened a bit at the mention of that name, "Little Al," she reminisced with a bit of a saddened look, "I haven't heard from him since the last time his dad came here-god rest his soul-" she said, putting her hands together in a little prayer.
"So you do know him," Twilight asked.
The old hen nodded before she got out of her swivel chair, and turned to the steaming kettle, "I still remember," she muttered to herself as she took the black kettle off the stove, and began to pour the drink in her teacup, once she was done, she set the kettle back on the stove and turned the heat off.
"That sounds a lot like him," Pinkie commented, "he seemed really adamant about not joining the race,"
"Race?" Mildrid cocked her eyebrow in confusion, "What race?"
"That actually what we wanted to talk to you about," Twilight explained, "You see, have you ever heard of Accelerator,"
"The fastest racer alive," she remarked, "yes, I've heard of him,"
"Well, the thing is," the princess paused, unsure of how to explain it to the hen, "You see, he-"
"Lost a race to some son-of-a-bitch griffon and lost his title"The rainbow maned pegasus interjected abruptly, causing her to receive many glares from her friends as she slouched back in her chair.
"Rainbow!" the alicorn exclaimed at the frowning pegasus, before sighing deeply with a displeased expression and turning back to the griffon, "Sorry about that," she said, "but Rainbow is right, Accelerator has lost his title to a griffon named Will last night, and by the looks of it, he seemed really upset about it,"
At the mention of his name, Mildrid's eyes widened with a surprised look, "Really now," she said before taking another sip of her tea, "Hmm, I knew he was goin' to follow in his daddy's pawsteps, but I never expected him to beat Accelerator,"
"Which is why we came to you," Twilight stated, "Alfred told that we could possibly get us a new handkerchief for our friend,"
The elderly griffon's eyes widen at Twilight's words, "Get?" she repeated in an almost offended tone, as she chuckled a bit, "Princess Sparkle I don't just get any ol' scarf-" the hen quickly rose from her seat and turned to the curtains behind her-" I make'em," with a swift pull, Mildrid moved the curtain to reveal a rather large shelf filled with several handkerchiefs of various texture and colors ranging from singular to multi-color.
Most of the girls seemed, almost in awe at the mass collection of not just the handkerchief, but a large number of materials to do it as well, "Wow," Pinkie whispered as she gazed at the large self, "So, you made all these?" she asked with a raised tone.
"Ever since my pop handed this shop over to me, I've encountered a few, characters in my time," she explained, "From the usual family road trip to the novice biker, for as long as I've worked here many creatures have come an gone-" she turned back to the four mares, "hell, I was about forty or so years old, when these kids started that rule, so when word got out that the local mechanic that not only helps soup up cars but knits too, it didn't take too long for them to put it together and well, the rest is history,"
"I must say," Rarity began, "this is quite impressive," While most of the girls seemed to be somewhat impressed by the collection, Rainbow's irritated expression remained the same.
Looking over to the pegasus, Mildrid soon had a concerned, yet inquisitive expression on her face, "What's wrong there dearie?"
Rainbow scoffed, "I don't see why we're doing this, if that stallion wants to sit in his room all day and bitch and moan, then I say we let him wallow," her statement caused many disapproving glares, all of which she ignored, to be pointed at her.
"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity reprimanded loudly.
"Tch, you know I'm right," she rebutted, "You were with me when we tried to get him down for breakfast, he was acting like a-"
"Little bitch?" As if on command, everyone turned to the elderly griffon who had a worrisome expression. Despite her expression, however, she began to chuckle, "You know Ms. Dash, you remind a bit of Will, just from looking at you I can tell you are a mare who's always ready for action taking chances and whatnot, right?"
"Pretty much," Rainbow responded, slightly offended by the griffon hen's comparison.
"Will was always like that too, ambitious, high-octane, ready for anything-" her smile began to lower with a frown as she reminisced, "but while he's still somewhat ambitious, something changed about that kid after his father passed,"
"Changed," Twilight repeated with a curious expression. The hen sighed for a second before, getting back in her seat, and proceeded to pour a bit of tea into her cup before she began her explanation.
"Let me tell you, girls, a little something about Will's father, Gerad, you see," the hen paused to sigh before continuing, "He isn't his real father," that statement cause the mares, except for Rainbow who simply changed to an expression of surprise, murmurs, "When Will was just a chick, his real father left him and his mother. Ever since then, that rooster became a troublemaker, he'd constantly get into fights a school, act up in class, and nearly came close to failing grade five."
"But, it was around the time when he went into grade six that his mother started dating, and would soon marry, Gerad. Ever since that day, those two were almost inseparable, it was almost like something out of a romance movie," Rarity seemed to sigh with a dreamy expression when Mildrid said that "not just that, but the boy's really started looking up to the guy, he was such a great father to the both of them," that saddened smile that wore on the griffon hens face began to falter in to a frown, "But then-" but before the griffon could continue, Pinkie quickly interjected.
"Actually," she began, "we already know about how his dad died,"
Mildrid cocked her eyebrow with an inquisitive expression, "Really now?"
"Yeah," Twilight interjected, "Yesterday, he and a few of his other friends came into Accelerator's bakery and challenged him to a race, but when he turned him down they ended up breaking in and trashing the place," the princess looked over to Pinkie, "and threaten to kill my friend as well,"
That last statement caused Mildrid's eyes to widen in shock, although she was never around, whenever Gerad came to the shop she would talk to the kids while her other workers helped with their father's car. While Alfred had his beak seemingly stuck in front of his Gameboy, she would always speak to Will and show him around the shop. He was usually a hardheaded, but kind boy, but hearing about how he threatened to kill, "You...You can't be serious,"
"You have my word ma'am," the alicorn reasured the mechanic. As if on cue, Twilight turned to her pink friend, and signaled her to show the large injury given to her by the griffon trio, the sight of such an injury shocked Mildrid, "From what Pinkie said, Will whacked her over the head with a wooden plank and knocked her out, and left a note challenging Accelerator,"
There was a pause once Twilight finished her sentence, a disappointed frown wore on the griffon's face. With how much Will admired his adoptive father, she thought he'd learn better from his non-revenge lessons, but, it seems that those lessons didn't stick. Breaking the silence, the mechanic finally spoke, "Even after his death, I thought that boy would learn better from Gerad, but I guess we were wrong-" she turned her chair to look back at the shelf of bandanas behind her.
Soon, the hen's displead expression became stern, and with a swift turn, she turned back to the group of four, "What color does your friend like," she asked with a determined voice, which excited most of the girls.
A clear expression of excitement was clear on Twilight's face "So, you'll..."
"As much as I love Will, that little griffon needs to learn some manners," she stated as she turned back to the shelf to begin her work, "so, in order to set that boy on the right path, someone like Accelerator gonna have to teach him why you don't mess with old school!" Mildrid grabbed a few supplies from the shelf, and, previously clearing the desk, place them down to begin her work, "If you want, you four can wait in the receptionist room until I'm done, this won't take long,"
Back at the hotel, while AppleJack was relaxing in her room, enjoying the lazy day, and Accelerator continuing to sulk in his room, the early afternoon seemed slow. However, for one certain dragon, who found his way to the computer area of the inn, he found something very interesting.
After Twilight and the other three left, Spike went off to do his own sort of, preparation of the former racers resurrection.
Typing away at the keyboards, the purple drake finally found what he was looking for, "WheelsAroundtheWorld.org" Spike muttered as he read the site's name. Talking to Alfred beforehand, Spike learned of a confidential site, that listed a large amount of information on various races, as well as racing based news. With a site relating to drag racing, it would make sense for it to be kept secret, the only way to access the site was through a password, but unfortunately, even Alfred did not withhold that information, so once Spike began his search and found the site.
it took a few guesses, but eventually, after entering the name Accelerator , he was finally able to access the site. The site was like any regular forum website, or as normal for a site about an illegal sport that is. So far, the page was littered with nothing but community topics, and news, but nothing else really stood out.
As Spike scrolled through the various links of topics and news, one thing caught his eye, "What's this?" the drake moved the mouse cursor over to the like simply title, Race1004 and clicked on it. The moment he did, his eyes were met with not only a list of names but a few photos as well, and below the list was a score sheet that read from ten days in the future of today's date, to the end date of the end of this month and a bit into the next.
It didn't take Spike too long to put two-and-two together to realize what this was, and soon, the drake began to smirk, "I think 'Cel just got a jumpstart," Spike right-clicked on to the page with the list, and proceded to click print.
Author's Note
Sorry for the wait
