Roar Of The V8s

Queensland Raceway
5:00PM

"So, where has your crimson ass been the last month?"

Viral had to take a step back, not expecting Neon to meet her face to face right at the door. But, she softened up. This was going to come eventually, she figured it was best to deal with it now rather than later.

"I missed you..." Was all that Viral could get out, before Neon cut her off.

"Well if you missed me Sheila, why didn't you tell me you were coming out of retirement?" Neon asked her, with a clear hostile tone in her voice.

"Neon, I'm sorry. I needed..." V tried to explain.

But Neon wasn't having any of it and she cut her off again. "Viral, do you have any idea how much my life relies on what you do? I fully committed my entire life to you when we met. I once thought about being a driver too, but I doubled back and became an engineer. And I was happy with doing that cause it led me to becoming partnered with you." Neon turned and let her into the trailer. "Now believe me, we have a lot to catch up on. And you have a lot of things to answer for."

Viral breathed. She knew that what she had done was controversial, but she knew it was right. "Neon, I wasn't trying to avoid you, I swear. I didn't want this. I was worried that what happened would make the fanbase blow up and I didn't want anyone else caught in that. It was my decision, it was respect."

"Viral, while I understand why, trust me, every person between the ages of 14 and 20 on Twitter are having a pissing contest, but there are some things you need to share. Do you know what it's like having your closest friend vanish into thin air and not even say goodbye?" Neon began to shed tears and her voice began to break. "I thought I'd lost you. I didn't know what to do without you."

Neon continued to let out her frustration, not even letting Viral get a word in to explain herself for what she had done. "I was fortunate enough to have an engineering background from when we met in Arden. I was actually able to hold something together back in England. Believe we I was about to take up an offering from McLaren. You know how much of a dream that was for me before we met? Working for McLaren."

Viral could only look off to the side in embarrassment. Neon was quick to put on more pressure.

"Not much of that pretty voice wants to come out today, huh?"

Finally, Viral let out a sigh and made an attempt to explain herself.

"I knew you were going to get heated about this, but I didn't tell you cause I didn't want you to be caught up in the commotion. I've never even been able to work without you. I spent 4 years in America without you, and while I did well, I never hit my peak until we met. Neon, I would never want to race again without you in my ear.

"Oh that's sweet, you're really lucky then. I only agreed to show up because you were here."

The unicorn pressed her snout against the pegasus' own.

"If it wasn't for what we've done together, I wouldn't want anything to do with you."

"And yet, here you are." Akula stated flatly, coming from the front having heard the commotion. "And I'm glad that both of you are here, cause I wouldn't want one without the other…"

Both mares took their eyes off each other to turn to the changeling that had entered as he continued.

"After all, I haven't met a closer Driver and Engineer combo in my entire career. It's like you said Neon, you both have done a lot together. So, right now, we all need to put what happened behind us and look forward. More importantly, I need you two to be the tandem I know you both can be."

Both of them were silent for some time, and it was Neon who broke the silence first with a deep regretful sigh.

"He's right, we've got to find that magic again."

"Agreed…" Viral added, turning to Akula. "And I know we can."

Akula mustered a toothy grin, satisfied that his two puzzle pieces fit together just as he needed them to.

"You don't suppose we should…catch up on lost time?" Viral suggested. "Share a little of what we've been doing these last few weeks?"

"I dunno about that, Viral. All I have to share about the last weeks is nothing pretty..."

Many weeks ago...
13th December, 2021
Etihad Airways Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi

An air of uncertainty and dread hung over the Yas Marina circuit. It was the final race of the Formula One season and it was all down to the wire. Akula vs Viral Velocity, best friend vs best friend for the World Driver's Championship. It had been that way the whole season.

However, following the controversial ending to the main event where Max Verstappen won the World Championship under dubious circumstances, everyone's eyes were on Akula. Because the way he reacted when Max crossed the line first... Some would say it was downright assault, some saw it as a venting of anger.

The moment Max won... Akula had snapped, walked right up to the Red Bull pit box... and attacked Christian Horner. He grabbed the Red Bull team principal from behind, pulled him out of his chair, threw him to the tarmac and wailed on him with serious ferocity. It took the whole Red Bull, Mercedes and Aston Martin pit crews to separate the enraged changeling from Horner and even then they were struggling to keep Akula from beating Horner to within an inch of his life.

Christian came out of the scrap with a black eye, a broken nose, multiple cuts on his face and a few minor fractures in his jaw. And Akula came out with a shot passion for racing, sore and bloody hooves and a $200 million fine from the FIA. After that, Akula stormed into his trailer, locked the door and refused to come out.

And there he stayed for a long while. No one could convince him to come out. Not Bono, not Wolff, not Lewis or even Viral, his own best friend, could get him to emerge from his trailer. He didn't even attend the pre-race press conference which he was required to attend, being in contention for the title.

Everyone was hedging bets on what was going to happen next. That Akula would race and he would beat Viral convincingly. That Akula would try to ruin Viral's race and take her out on purpose. Or that he would also take as many petty revenges on Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash during the race as he could to ruin their final race with Red Bull before season's end.

However, no-one was expecting what actually played out to happen. That he would quit the final race 20 minutes before the start of the race and pull out of his contract to race for Williams in F1 next season. Of all the people and ponies it hit the hardest, Neon was definitely one of them.

Neon was fully expecting Akula to race. She had been friends with Viral long enough to get to know Akula, she thought she could know what Akula was going to do. The news that Akula had walked away shocked her to her core. But she was more worried how Viral would react to this. She paced the Aston garage back and forth, back and forth, not sure what to do.

She didn't have the heart to tell Viral that Akula had walked away, in fear that it would cause her to give up on her best shot of a World Championship since 2019. And so, the #24 Aston Martin remained on the grid, now on pole, given that the Mercedes of Akula was originally on pole.

But then... moments later, the engineers got a shocking message... 'Pack it up, we're not racing.'

This came as a serious shock to Neon. What did they mean, they were not racing? Then... it hit her. She mindlessly walked to see Sebastien Vettel and Lawrence Stroll, asking them where Viral was. It was then that they gave her the message... Viral had walked as well. She wasn't going to race without her best friend.

Neon was horrified. She tried to call Viral... but got no response. Again and again and again and again, she tried to call Viral. But was only met with her ringtone. But there was one question on everyone's lips... where were they?

Little did everyone know, Viral and Akula had disappeared to the airport and were catching flights back home. They had nowhere else to go at the time... but home. And the moment they stepped onto their respective planes and took off from Abu Dhabi... they vanished.

"There," Viral finished up her story to Neon, "Now you know."

Neon... she was speechless. Almost inconsolable. She had given up on a career with McLaren for this, a chance to be with Viral again. But her explanation of the events only weeks prior only gave her more questions. "Viral, I love you like a sister I never had. But for Luna's sake, why didn't you ever call me back? Why did you keep me in the dark about this?"

Viral hung her head. She knew that probably wasn't the right thing to do, leaving her friend in the dark about what was going on. But what had happened, happened. There was nothing she could do to fix that. "I... I wasn't in my right mind... I just wanted to be alone, but I knew it was wrong to leave you in the dark... I am so sorry..."

Neon grabbed ahold of Viral's shoulders, looking deep into her eyes. "Listen, Viral. What you did was wrong. You should have at least told me what was going on. I would have understood."

Viral now had tears in her eyes. She knew what she did wasn't the smartest thing. She wished she could make things better. But what could she do? She could not go back in time. What happened, happened. There was nothing they could do.

It was at this moment when Akula stepped in. "Neon. Listen to me. We all did things that day that we regret. I should know. But it's best that we forget about all the mistakes we made and move on with our lives. We have something new and fresh to get back into the swing of racing again and I would hate to do with without my two friends by my side. Let's just let what we did go, look and focus to the future."

That lit a fire back under the mares. The changeling was right. This was something new. A whole new series, in a whole new set of cars, on a whole new set of track in a whole new country for them to travel around. It was time to let bygones be bygones and get back to doing what they loved.

Akula called them in, raising a hoof. The two mares placed their hooves on his. And Akula smiled. It was time for them to do this. And do this right.