End of an era... and the start of another
Celestial Lake Boat Speedway, outside Ponyville
Classic Motorboat League Finals
Cpl. Striker (No. 52) (Razorback) vs Jackpot Star (No. 56) (Satisfaction III)
Ladies and gentleponies, welcome to the Classic Motorboat League Finals! The announcer exclaimed over the speakers around the arena, followed by the cheers of the spectators. Lined up on the start line are our two racers, facing off for the Classic Motorboat League Championship right now! Racing from the right lane, hailing from Ponyville, your current Classic Motorboat League Champion, Corporal Striker and his boat, Razorback!
The crowd let out a huge cheer as they turned to look at the yellow-and-red V-hulled speedboat, the Razorback. And sitting inside it, in a yellow-and-red racing suit, was a blue-with-red-camo alicorn colt, named Striker.
And his opponent, racing in the left lane, hailing from Baltimare, racing for TehnoDrone Racing, Jackpot Star and her boat, Satisfaction III! The crowd cheered some more, as Striker looked over to his opponent, a green-with-blue-ripple-pattern 23s Alpha race-boat. This was Jackpot's boat, No. 56, the Satisfaction III.
Striker just smiled and turned his attention back to the waterway in front of him. This is gonna be a piece of cake, He thought to himself, clearly confident.
The competitors have three laps of the course to come out on top, winner takes all! We are about to begin! May the best pony win! The announcer exclaimed some more, and the overhead lights lit up...
Life was quite a bit for the alicorn colt known as Striker. Given the birth name of Comet Mustang, he was born in Ponyville Hospital to his pegasus mother, Nightlight Aura, and his unicorn father, Moonstone Mustang. Thanks to the efforts of Nurses Redheart and Tenderheart, and with constant support from Moonstone, Nightlight successfully gave birth to a healthy Comet.
But although he had a pleasant infanthood, when he reached foalhood and went to Ponyville Schoolhouse, he was bullied constantly by Babs Seed and her friends (no, I'm not talking about the CMC), due to being the only alicorn in the school. However, he never talked to the teachers and his parents about the bullying, keeping his anger bottled up inside of him. He should have talked to somepony about his troubles, as leaving his anger bottled up lead him to do something he regrets to this day.
One day, Striker ran into Babs, Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara on his way to his next class. They just followed him, constantly picking on him. Striker's anger kept building up, and he was going to snap. Then, Babs called him 'a Pegasus crybaby with a fake horn'. As the words left Seeds's mouth, Striker finally snapped. He picked up Babs with his magic, and threw her against the lockers. He then angrily trotted to Babs, and then repeatedly bashed her head into the locker! He did with such force, it left huge dents in the locker and caused Babs to start bleeding from her head. Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara didn't help Babs, not wanting to get attacked by the enraged Striker. The constant head-bashing went on for 5 minutes, when Cheerilee broke up the attack, and dragged away the enraged Striker, who tried to free himself from Cheerilee's grasp to try and hurt Babs some more.
Babs was rushed to Ponyville Hospital, with heavy brain injuries and multiple concussions. The doctors said that if Cheerilee had not stopped Striker, Babs would have suffered brain damage or would even have been killed. And while Babs was rushed to hospital, Striker was expelled from the school for good. And he was also banished from Manehattan, and was placed on a variation of house arrest, meaning he was not allowed within 100 yards of the Sweet Apple Acres, any other Apple family property and the Rich family's house.
Upon returning home, he got a massive scolding from his parents. Then, he was sent up to his room to think about what he had done. And while Striker tried to force himself to sleep, he could hear his parents arguing about something. He just ignored it, and went to sleep.
Things didn't get better for Striker the following morning. Over the next few weeks, his parents just ignored Striker, not wanting anything to do with him. It continued for 7 weeks, when, deciding he was sick of being ignored, Striker ran away. He ran as far as his little legs could carry him, eventually entering the Everfree Forest. After many minutes of running, he stopped, and started crying.
However, his crying was heard by a member of the Equestrian Army, who was off-duty at the time and who would later be Striker's best friend for life, Lt. Colonel Akula. Having heard Striker's wails, Akula rushed into the forest to find the source. And he found the alicorn foal, bawling near a bush, covering his body with his wings as best he could. But as he tried to approach the little foal to comfort him, Striker just slashed at him, in tears, screaming at the Changeling to leave him alone. But Akula didn't back down, and again, tried to comfort him. Striker slashed at him again, but Akula caught his hoof and held it. He covered himself with his other leg and his wings, waiting to see what would happen. Akula then covered his hoof with his other hoof, showing that he cared for the little foal.
Slowly, Striker opened up his wings and stared into the changeling's red eyes with tear-filled eyes. Something about Akula's stare comforted him and eased his pain, it made him feel calm. Akula, after staring into the tear-filled emerald eyes of Striker for a while, he brought him in for a hug, which he accepted, crying into his upper leg a bit.
By the time Striker and Akula broke their hug, night had fallen. And the Everfree was no place to be after dark. Striker accepted Akula's invitation to stay at his for the night, and climbed onto the half-demon's back. And as the two proceeded out of the forest, Akula asked for Striker's name, which the foal revealed as 'Comet Mustang'. But Akula said he didn't want to use it, despite admitting that it was a cool name. Akula pulled a random name from his head, and decided to call him 'Striker', giving the alicorn his soon-to-be-famous name. Striker, in exchange, decided to call Akula 'Buddy'.
After a few days of staying at Akula's house, Striker decided to legally change his name from Comet Mustang to Striker, his name being the last painful reminder of his ignorant parents. Also, Akula managed to seize custody of Striker in a legal case which he won. According to Ponyville law, Akula was now technically Striker's father. But the alicorn, who now started to go through colthood, still thought of Akula as his 'Buddy'.
Then, Striker stumbled upon some photos of some of the new ships that were joining the Equestrian Navy. Instantly, the alicorn became intrigued. And Akula noticed this. He told him that the Equestrian Navy was looking for recruits, and his age wouldn't be a problem if he wanted to join. He knew what his answer was going to be.
Days later, he was accepted into the Navy, and after passing training, he was assigned to the destroyer ENS Friendship. It was where he stayed for a few years, until Akula took him to see a speedboat race. Then, his mindset changed.
The motorboat was one of the newest inventions in Equestria, coming out alongside iron-hulled ships and automobiles. And with its invention, along came sports for it. This included boat racing events, such as the Classic Motorboat League, the Hovercraft Formula Championship and others.
One day, Striker approached his Commanding Officer and said that he wanted to resign. The C.O. asked why he wanted to leave, Striker simply said that 'he had found something he liked more than serving in the Navy'. After a moment of thinking, Striker's C.O. accepted his request to resign, and Striker handed in his badge.
Upon returning home, he told Akula that he had resigned from the Navy to join the Classic Motorboat League. Akula told him that the only way to enter the Motorboat League was to win a season of the Hovercraft Formula Championship. But before Striker could become upset, Akula then said that he had his own race-spec hovercraft, a Speedster 2000 model Akula named Unconditional, and that he would let Striker borrow it while he would build Striker a classic speedboat for the alicorn for when he won the upcoming season. And win the Hovercraft Formula he did. Despite being new to boat racing, Striker easily won his first season of racing, much to the surprise of his fellow competitors and the crowds.
He easily got into the Classic Motorboat League, where he decided he as going to stay, rather than advance onto the Sea Shark (Offshore) Grand Prix. And by the time he was ready to enter his first season of classic motorboat racing, Akula had finished building the boat Striker was to use during his time in the League. It was a beautiful yellow-and-red V-hulled boat with two distinctive headlight units at the front resembling extra cockpit canopies, a rear wing/tail fin spoiler assembly with taillights built into the tail fins, and three 650 HP Starich 5.7 inboards, each with a single Duran prop, giving the boat 1,950 HP. It also has a hydroplane-style cockpit canopy with air intake vents on either side. At the very front of the hull are five progressively-sized, v-shaped slots. On the sides of the boat is its racing number, 52, along with the boat's name on the spoiler. He had christened the boat Razorback. And Striker fell in love with the boat immediately. Now, Razorback has become his boat of choice.
Striker's mind was focused on the lighting up starting lights above him. He revved Razorback's engines, Jackpot doing the same with the two 1,000 HP Appleloosa Mk. VI inboards on her boat.
Then, the amber lights came on, one at a time, to the chants of the crowd.
3! Striker revved his engine more, waiting for the green.
2! Jackpot did the same, pushing her engines to the redline.
1! Both were ready to go, and within moments...
Go!!!!!!!!! The lights went green, and they slammed their hooves on their throttles. The two boats leaped forwards, but due to having one more propeller than his opponent, Striker had better traction to the water and therefore, he got a quicker start and shot into the lead.
The two boats got to the first corner, Striker in the lead by half a car length. The track in question was a simple oval, with 3 laps around the track. However, despite having a lot of power, most of Razorback's weight is concentrated into the rear, leading to poor weight distribution and abysmal stability. This makes Razorback very difficult to control, meaning that the Satisfaction III would be able to catch Striker in the corners. However, while practicing with his boat when it was first built, Striker discovered the secret on how to control his poorly weighted speedboat through corners, so he is able to keep up with other boats through the corners.
Striker performs a Scandinavian Flick, sending Razorback into a huge powerslide, going into Turn 1. Remembering to counter-steer, Striker manages to hold the powerslide throughout the whole corner. Exiting Turn 1, Striker was still in the lead by a full car length. The two blasted down the back straight, Striker starting to pull away some more, performing another Scandinavian Flick going into Turn 2. Powersliding through Turn 2, he straightened out upon reaching the straight. Looking in his rear-view, he saw that Jackpot was a full 2 car lengths behind him.
Blasting down the straight, he looked at the spectators, all cheering for him. But one caught his eye. A dark pink unicorn mare with a red mane and blue eyes, named Rose Petal. But she also had a bulged out belly, and was wearing a ring around her horn.
This was because Rose Petal is a very important pony in Striker's life. She was the alicorn's wife.
The way that Striker met Rose is quite interesting. During his second season of racing in the League, he first encountered Rose in the season's finals. Rose had her own boat, a pink-yellow-and-green Marquise speedboat she named Ebony & Ivory. Racing for her own team, Kalimba Worldwide, she was able to advance through the ranks to take on the alicorn legend. But Striker completely smoked her during their race. Angry with her loss, she demanded a rematch, which she got. But during the rematch, she tried to copy Striker's Scandinavian Flick move, but instead she overcooked the flick, and ended up flipping her boat going into Turn 2.
But as the Ebony & Ivory started to slowly slip beneath the waters of Celestial Lake, with Rose trapped on the sinking bow, Striker throws the race and saves Rose from an early bath. And while rescue boats bring Ebony & Ivory back up to the surface, Striker takes a moment to chat with Petal, and upon laying eyes on each other, Striker and Rose fell in love at first sight.
Over the course of a few years, things only got better for Striker and Rose. In between League events, the alicorn and unicorn would go out on dates and drink milkshakes from the same cup. Every day after a race they would go to Sugarcube Corner, share some treats and discuss their races. They were well and truly in love.
It all came to a head during Striker's 5th season in the League. He was in the finals, readying to face off against one of the best speedboat racers in Equestria. But 5 minutes before he was due to the start line, Rose rushed into his garage. When Striker asked what she was doing there, she just rushed up to him and gave him a passionate kiss. They held the kiss for a few moments, when Rose pulled away and declared her love for him. Striker then, after a moment of processing what Rose had just said, declared his love for her. They then shared another kiss, when Striker was called to the start.
The race itself was one that would go down in Classic Motorboat League history. Despite leading for the first lap, Striker's opponent couldn't hold his lead and Striker won it in the end, by an incredible 4.9 cm. But as the two stood on the podium and received their wreaths and trophies, Striker asked if Rose could come up to the podium. When she did, Striker got down on his back legs, summoned a box with his magic...
...and proposed to Rose. Crying tears of joy, she hugs the alicorn tightly and accepts his proposal. Striker then slides the ring he got for her onto her horn, and they share a kiss, amidst the cheers and 'awws' from the crowd. They got married the next day, and after a night of passionate love-making, they were blessed with twins.
Now, after yet another night of pleasure, Rose was pregnant with Striker's third child.
The rest of the race was a complete white-wash for Striker. No matter how hard Jackpot tried to catch up with Striker, Razorback was just too powerful and too skillfully driven for the Satisfaction III to match. Striker ended up winning by two full car lengths.
Bringing his boat to a stop, and getting it onto his boat trailer for his blue pickup, he pumped his forelegs into the sky and shouted for joy.
Minutes later, the official presentation for the winners of the finals started. The announcer called out the names of Jackpot Star and another pony who had won the 'Battle For 3rd' race. They stepped onto the podium, and received a wreath each for placing 2nd and 3rd in the League Finals.
Then, the announcer announced the winner, And in 1st place, driving boat No. 52 Razorback, your 10-time Classic Motorboat League Champion, STRIKER!!!!!!! He leapt up onto the podium, punching his hooves into the air. He cut his celebration short to receive his wreath, a bottle of Canterlot champagne and the Classic Motorboat League Champion's trophy. Striker hefted the the trophy above his head with his magic, shook up the champagne bottle with his magic, pooped the cork and sprayed the champagne everywhere.
A presenter steps out in front of the podium, with a microphone on his leg. He walks up to Striker, grabs the microphone off his leg and spoke. "Striker, this is the tenth time you've taken the League championship title. You must be absolutely thrilled!" The presenter the turned the microphone to Striker.
The alicorn leaned down, and spoke. "Yeah, I'm very happy. I mean, ten-time League champion is very impressive. There's lots of other drivers that will give you a run for your money, and might beat you if you make one mistake, so yeah, I'm very happy!"
"Is there anypony that you'd like to dedicate your win too?"
"Actually, yes," He paused for a second, before giving his answer, "To my wife actually, who's somewhere in the crowd," Rose then waved at Striker, so he could see her. She then blew him a kiss, which he returned, "There she is! She's styling! This win is special to me and Rose because... well, we're expecting our third foal to be born in a few months,"
"Aww, well ain't that just sweet! Anypony else?"
"Yeah, two more. I'd really like to thank my parents. My birth parents, who I wish were here right now," The was a long pause before Striker continued, "If they decided not to have me, I wouldn't be standing here right now,"
"Well, congratulations on yet another victory and congratulations for your new child," And with that, the presenter started to walk off.
"WAIT!!!!!" Striker cried out, causing the presenter to stop and turn around. "I have something else to say!" With a shrug, the presenter turned around, and handed Striker the microphone. He took it in the grasp of his magic, and brought it up to his muzzle.
What he said next, shook the boundaries of motorboat racing in Equestria for years...
Striker was driving home from the Celestial Lake course, Razorback on its trailer and Rose Petal snuggling against him. As he drove home, he decided to turn on the radio and listen for some music. So, he turned on the car radio and tuned it to his favourite station.
It's currently 4:28, and coming up next, is Silver Spanner with Sport, The newscaster said, when an ad began to play. Striker just ignored the ad, and then the Sport news began.
The world of motorboat racing has been shaken to its core upon the announcement of 10-time Classic Motorboat League Champion Striker's retirement from professional boat racing during the presentation of the League's end of season results. The only thing he had to say on the matter was that he wanted to spend some more time with his foals and that he had another foal on the way...
Striker turned off the radio and decided just to drive in silence. Upon announcing his retirement from pro boat racing, he had copped a lot of flak from fans, competitors and media representatives. Deciding to just ignore them, he continued to drive home.
After only a few minutes of driving, he arrived at his house. A little two-floor house with a car port attached to the side. After marrying Rose Petal, Striker used his winnings to buy themselves a nice little house in Ponyville. Although it wasn't the kind of house you'd expect to find a legendary alicorn/champion boat racer living in, for Striker and Rose, it was perfect.
Striker pulled his pickup and trailer into the car port at the side of the house, and woke up Rose. "Sweetie, we're home," He told her softly, planting a kiss on her forehead. Feeling her husband's lips on her head, Rose opened her eyes and smiled.
"Thanks, love," She said, looking into her husband's emerald eyes. She then leaned in and kissed her husband lovingly. After sharing their loving kiss for a while in the car, Striker broke the kiss and got out. Rose did the same. They then walked up to the door, unlocked it and went inside.
Immediately after walking through the door, Striker was tackled down by his two foals. His daughter, Midnight Harmony, and her twin brother, Golden Vision. Midnight had inherited her father's blue coat and wings and her mother's blue eyes. Her mane was identical to Princess Luna's, although minus the flowing. Golden Vision had inherited his father's eye colour and his mother's horn. He had a golden coat and matching mane. And due to their young age, they didn't have their Cutie Marks yet.
"DADDY!!!!!" They both cried, as they tackled Striker to the floor, snuggling him all over.
"Kidos!" Striker replies, giggling a bit as he snuggled his kids back. The kids got off of him, and rushed up to Rose. However, Striker stopped them by picking them up with his magic. "No, kids. Mommy needs to rest," He then told them about his wife's pregnancy, in a way that they could understand. With that, he allowed Rose to start heading upstairs to get some rest. When he was sure his wife had safely made it up the stairs, he put down the twins.
"How was work today, daddy?" Golden asked.
"It was pretty good," Striker replied.
"Did you win, daddy? Did you beat them good?" Midnight asked.
"You bet your little muzzle I did!" Striker booped Midnight's nose, causing her to giggle. "How was your day, you two?"
"It was great! Miss Cheerilee taught us all about the use of force in energy conversions, and kinetic energy!" Golden happily announced.
"Yeah, but we have homework to do," Midnight complained, making an adorable pouty face.
Striker just ruffled up Midnight's mane, making her giggle. "Okay, keep going on your homework, you two. I'll be upstairs if you need help," He told them, now ruffling Golden's mane.
"Okay, daddy," Midnight said, before she and Golden rushed off to continue their homework.
After letting the foals go to continue their work, he trotted up the stairs, and entered his and Rose's room. Rose was just about to get into the bed when she heard her husband enter the room.
"Do you want me to look after the kids tonight?" Striker asked.
"Yes, that would be very nice of you," Rose replied, walking over to the alicorn, "Pregnancy's been a full-time job for me, and the stress of looking after the twins is not good for the foal," Striker and Rose just stared into each other's eyes for a moment, when they took each other's lips for another kiss.
By the time the kiss was done, a string of saliva connected Striker's lips to Rose's. Rose then turned around, trotted over to the bed and, once at the end of the bed, she rubbed her bloated belly. "Oh, honey. I can't wait until the day our little bundle of joy is born!" But the moment she said this, she was forcefully turned around by Striker, who looked at her with half-lidded eyes.
"How about we... speed up the process?" Striker cooed, before letting out a sultry growl and pushing his wife onto the bed and hovering over her. Rose giggled at her husband's eagerness.
"Oh, you horny stallion!" Rose giggled out, as Striker started to lick her neck and then her chest. She let out a gasp, when Striker started to lick her belly. "Careful of the unborn foal!" Rose exclaimed, worried that what Striker was planning on doing would hurt the unborn foal inside of her.
Striker then moved away from his wife belly, and started to proceed downwards...
...when there came a knock at the door. Immediately, Striker pulled away from Rose and asked who was there. "Daddy? Are you in there?" Midnight's cute little voice asked from the other side of the door.
"What do you need, sweetie?" Striker asked.
"Somepony was just at the door, and slid a letter under the door. And the letter is for you, daddy!" Midnight explains. Striker was immediately confused. Who would send him a note at this hour?
Then, he snapped out of his little moment of confusion so he could answer his daughter. "Uh, okay, sweetie. Just slide it through the door and I will look at it. Thank you for telling me,"
"You're welcome, daddy!" Midnight said, sliding the letter under the door, and headed back downstairs to continue her homework.
Striker pulled away from his wife's nethers, got up from where he was kneeling and turned on the lights. He picked up the letter, sat down on the side of the bed, opened the letter and read it. This is what the letter said:
Dear Cpl. Striker
You don't know who we are, but that doesn't matter right now.
We saw you race today at the League Finals. You truly have potential in the world of speedboat racing. But when we heard that you were planning on retiring, it shocked us. But after suffering a few minutes of shock, and after a few minutes of *blanked out word* rage, we then realized that you retirement has now become the perfect opportunity for our organisation.
In case your wondering what we mean, here's a little something-something. There is no signing up with us. Access to us is by invitation-only. Nopony even knows who we are or on which watery location we’ll race next. But if you’re good enough and have what it takes to be one of us, don’t worry, we’ll find you. Only the best boat drivers in Equestria are accepted, and are sent an invitation.
Cpl. Striker, you just so happen to be the next pony that has been sent an invitation to compete in our annual boat racing event as our 16th and final racer. When you're ready to accept your invitation, head to 112 Appleloosa Way, Appleloosa within 5 days of receiving this letter, with this letter and your boat with you as proof of you invite. We can't wait to see you for the first race!
Kindest regards,
L.D, R.T and S.F
Striker just sat there, slack jawed. After a few moments of shocked silence, he turned to Rose, and asked, "What do you think, honey? Should I accept this invite?"
Rose just looked at him, then to the note and back to him again. Then, she smiled. "Oh, honey! I think this is a wonderful opportunity! You should go for it!" She gave her opinion.
"But... what about settling down with the kids... and the unborn foal in your womb?" Striker asked.
"Honey, this looks like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! You get to compete with 15 of the best boat racers in Equestria! Not everypony can say that about themselves!" Rose urged, sending Striker into deep thought.
After weighing all of the positives with the negatives, Striker let out a deep breath and said, "Ok. I'll do it," Rose leapt up and hugged Striker tightly, happy that he had taken the new opportunity.
But little did Striker know, was that we was about to enter the darker corner of racing...
Author's Note
The very first Hydro Thunder story on FimFiction! YAY!!!!!!! 
For those of you who know about the game, or have played any of the Hydro Thunder games, be sure to like, favourite and leave a comment!
Stand by for the next chapter:
It's coming in fast!!!! 
