Saying that the forest the track had been built in was magical would be a massive understatement. Not only were the trees and shrubs giant sized, there was also plenty of calming and wild ambient noises from unseen wildlife. These sounds ranged from chirping, to buzzing, to the occasional howl, and even rushing water from camouflaged rivers. There were also several small rock formations, some having caves inside them where dimly lit yellow lights danced throughout the shadows.
The Candy Crushers drove across the purple track, eyes switching between it and the forest around them. Pinkie was arguably the most wide-eyed at the sights being presented before her.
"Wow, I've never really seen a forest, only saw rocks on the old farm or trees alongside streets of the city." The team leader exclaimed through her radio.
"Wrong Pinkie, we had trees on the rock farm. They just didn't have leaves." Maud, her sister and fellow teammate pointed out in her trademark monotone voice.
"Oh yeah! How could I forget about Willow? Good times..." Pinkie said as she embraced the faded memory, before quickly going back to focusing on the track.
Their road spun around a few more trees before taking a sharp spiral towards an open cave. Inside, the rocky walls were illuminated by glowing yellow crystals along with the their vehicles headlights. A few rouge archways were placed over random spots on the track, faded symbols well beyond decipherable were plastered on them, but that didn't keep Maud from noticing them. Still, they didn't really matter to the race, so she ignored them and continued driving.
The track guided them out of the cave and back into the forest, where it twisted and fell a couple of times before straightening out. Way ahead of the team was a massive canyon, the track acting as a bridge between the two cliff-sides.
It had a handful of black support beams, but it didn't look very stable to the naked eye.
On one of the cliffs surrounding the bridge, a pitch black car was parked next to the red track, its driver looking out at it.
The drivers body was covered with a black racing suit, their eyes hidden behind a tinted visor on their helmet. They were looking through a set of high tech binoculars which was currently scanning the structure of the bridge. The driver turned the binoculars over to the start of the bridge, and beneath that helmet, grinned.
"A shortcut, cut short." They said out loud, before pressing a button on the binoculars.
The black car next to the driver suddenly opened up, extending a strange device outwards. A blue ball of energy formed in the middle of the machine, standing by for launch. With another button press, the ball of energy was fired from the machine towards the bridge.
The blue ball met its mark, smashing an assortment of support beams into pieces. But to the drivers surprise, the bridge still stood.
"Wha- how did it not fall!?" The driver questioned out loud. They were ready to press the button again to fire another shot, but the Candy Crushers had already reached the bridge and were speeding across it.
With a grunt of annoyance, they recalled the energy launcher back into their car and hopped inside, before driving back onto the track and into the race.
"The Candy Crushers should be just up ahead." Starlight exclaimed, looking at a GPS tracker on the monitor.
"I'll catch them!" Scootaloo claimed, shifting up and speeding past Starlight with relative ease.
"That kid's confident, I'll give her that." Soarin commented, watching Spinebuster take off.
The Prism Riders soon ended up on the bridge that was now beginning to crumble under itself. Starlight took note of the numerous cracks across the bridge, before quickly turning to the right as part of the bridge below her car broke away.
"UNSTABLE BRIDGE! EVERYONE FLOOR IT!" She shouted to her team over the radio, before slamming on the gas pedal.
The Prism Riders quickly sped up, dodging falling pieces of the bridge as they went. Rainbow Dash being in the back had the worst of it, every crack that anyone else dodged with tripled by the time she crosse it. As they began to reach the end, a massive crack split across the track, breaking it off from the rest and began tilting upwards as gravity tried to pull it down.
"This is gonna be CLOSE!" Rainbow stated, not blinking at all as she stared down the end of the track.
She sank her foot on the accelerator, forcing her car to go even faster up the steep slope. Several audible cracks filled her ears, but she remained focused on her target, determined to reach it. Right as the track began to fall into the large canyon, the Deora ll cressed the end and flew through the air towards the more stable track, her team watching with anticipation and worry.
Her car landed hard on the track, but it had landed regardless, its tires screeching as the brake pedal was depressed. Rainbow leaned back in her seat and let out a sigh of relief. She'd made it...
Ahead of the Prism Riders, the Candy Crushers rounded another corner, Pinkie Pie leading the pack.
"We've got this race on.. is that a wheel?" Pinkie questioned, before hitting the brakes and looking up at the object that was floating before her and her team. It was a massive chrome and green wheel that was somehow hovering over a large canyon, the track breaking into a jump right before it.
"How are we supposed to cross that?" Colgate asked, gazing in awe at the rotating obstacle.
"No idea... " Pinkie Pie muttered quietly, before slowly raising up her phone and snapping a picture.
Applejack shifted her car up a gear, her emerald irises locked on Crazy 8s as it sped down the track. It had taken a while to maneuver around the chaotic mess of cars, but Applejack had managed it, coming out completely unscathed. She was also managing to close the gap between herself and the new leader of the race.
She shifted up again, lowered her brown boot on the gas pedal, and drove alongside Crazy 8s. The two cars roared as they shot down the track towards a tunnel that split their path in two. Crazy 8s pulled to the left while Applejack kept right, a shiny metal wall now blocking their views of each other. The cars rapidly accelerated through the tunnel, quickly reaching the light at the end.
Applejack noticed a jump just beyond the tunnel and shifted up one more time. She hit the gas pedal hard, jerking Roadrunner forwards. The car shot out of the tunnel and through the air, Crazy 8s right beside the Smashers leader.
Applejack glanced through the drivers side window just in time to see Crazy 8s flipping over her car and landing on her right, all four tires hitting the red track in unison.
"You've got quite ah few tricks up yer sleeves don't ya?" Applejack commented through the radio to the driver next to her.
She didn't expect any response but did hear a slight chuckle through the radio from Crazy 8s. Then, the car shifted up and sped up, but Applejack wasn't going to let this mystery driver leave her in the dust again. She hit the gas, making sure to keep pace with the car ahead of her.
As the two leaders battled for first place, the Prism Riders had managed to catch up completely with the Candy Crushers, both teams now staring at the chrome wheel spinning before them.
"What are we supposed to do now?" Scootaloo asked, glaring at the wheel.
"Not sure, this is something new." Rainbow claimed, scratching her head. How is a driver gonna get past that? Turns out the answer was in a blue and purple Chevy Nomad, or more specifically, the driver inside.
Starlight Glimmer finished entering a code into her cars monitor, grinning once it started operating. "I've figured it out."
Rainbow and Pinkie who were both out of their cars quickly walked over to Starlight's vehicle, eager to know what Starlight had done.
"What did you find?" Rainbow questioned.
"Is this wheel powered by alien sonic waves? Or force welding creatures who are using the trees as camouflage? Or--" Before Pinkie could continue, Rainbows hand was pressed against her mouth.
"No Pinkie, it's just a machine that's probably powered by the sun. It's spinning at a constant speed programmed into the motor that is likely located inside its main flux chamber. By calculating the speed fluctuating and timing each rotation, I believe we could match are acceleration to drive between rota---" Starlight cut herself off, quickly realizing that Rainbow and Pinkie both didn't know what she was talking about. Her reason to assume this was the fact that both had fallen asleep against each other and the car.
Starlight gave gave an annoyed sigh, before honking her car's horn, startling the two awake. "In other words, I can time the speed of the wheel and link it with are cars so we know when to jump." Starlight simplified.
"Great! Let's get back in this race!" Rainbow shouted, sticking true to her name and dashing back to the Deora ll.
Pinkie Pie ran over to Balistik, quickly hopping in and starting the engine which purred back to life. Starlight pressed a few buttons on the console, which sent a timer to each of the drivers monitors. The drivers quickly lined up in a single file line, Colgate being at the front and Pinkie in the back.
After a few minutes of getting ready, Pinkie switched on her radio. "You ready Colgate?"
"Ready as I'll ever be... " Colgate answered, before watching the count down on her monitor.
Three
two
one
zero!
Colgate floored the gas, causing her car to jerk forward violently, her eyes constantly switching between the speedometer and the road before her. She stopped hitting the accelerate once the speedometers needle it reached 163 mph and watched as the wheel came closer.
Colgate shut her eyes as part of the wheel came closer to her side. But before it could hit, her car made it through and landed on the other side with a hard THUMP!
"Alright Maud, you're next." Pinkie exclaimed.
Her sister didn't even hesitate once the timer struck zero. She hit the gas, quickly accelerating to 163 miles per hour, and maintained that speed until she was through the wheel and on the other side, her expression never changing.
Starlight looked at her monitor as it counted down, before hitting the gas pedal herself and getting ready for the jump.
The rest of each team managed to make it through the wheel without a scratch, until three cars remained on the starting side. Scootaloo took in a deep breath, before hitting the gas as the timer struck zero. Spinebuster shot down the track, its driver gripping the wheel tightly. She didn't even notice she wasn't going the right speed until it was to late.
As Spinebuster flew through the air, it was dinged on the back by the wheel, causing a Nitrox 2 tank to fall into it. Scootaloo held onto the wheel for dear life as the world outside the windshield spun around her. She shut her eyes, waiting for the car to stop spinning.
Spinebuster hit the ground hard, bouncing a few times whilst still spinning until it finally stopped next to Maud's Vulture. Everyone let out a sigh of relief when Scootaloo stuck her thumb up out the window, signalling she was ok. That relief was vanquished immediately as an explosion rang from the wheel.
The Nitrox 2 tank had been broken open, exposing the fuel and causing it to explode in the wheel. Starlight noticed a warning on her monitor and flipped through a few images. "Oh no,"
"We have a problem you two, the wheels turning at a random speed, I can't mark it down. Your starting light just broke." Starlight exclaimed to Pinkie and Rainbow, who quickly turned to look at each other through their cars windows.
"On my mark?" Rainbow asked.
"Let's show this wheel who's boss!" Pinkie cheered, revving Balistik's engine.
"Three, two, one, HIT IT!" Rainbow Dash shouted.
The two cars took off at the same time, soaring down the track towards the out of control wheel. They came up to the jump, and drove off it without hesitation, trusting their vehicles to get them through the unstable obstacle. The two cars flew through the air and right into a hole the Nitrox 2 had made in one of the wings of the wheel, and out the other side. Both of them nailed perfect landings alongside their fellow drivers, neither car scathed in the slightest.
"That, was, AWESOME!" Rainbow Dash emphasized, looking in her rear view mirror to see the wheel. Right as she did though, it began to crack.
The wheel let out a loud whirring noise, before exploding all together and its remains fell into the canyon below.
"Well that party's over, let's finish this one!" Pinkie said, before taking off down the road, everyone else right behind her.
Applejack and Crazy 8s were neck and neck as they rounded a corner and drove up a mountain. Applejack eyed the Nitrox 2 button, before hitting it. Roadrunner sprung up on its back wheels and shot right past Crazy 8s. Crazy 8s' driver did the same, causing the two to remain side by side as they approached a jump.
That jump however turned out to be the portal as it appeared right after the track ended. Crazy 8s and Roadrunner were headlight to headlight as they drove off the track and into the portal.
The two cars appeared back on Earth in a different desert than the starting one, this one having some trees scattered around. Night had rolled around so the two cars quickly flipped on their headlights, before driving towards another cubical structure.
Applejack looked over at Crazy 8s as she drove, before scratching the side of her head in confusion. "Who won?"