//------------------------------// // Lap 2 (The Road Less Traveled) // Story: Highway 35 // by raven618 //------------------------------// The air was thick with excitement the next morning. Each of the old drivers had done their best in briefing and training their new teammates on what they could expect on the other side of the portal. Rainbow tapped on the door of a purple Chrysler Thunderbolt, drawing the attention of the tan skinned, white haired driver inside. “You all ready, Gilda?” She asked. “Waiting on you, Dash.” Gilda had grown up with Fluttershy and Rainbow but had moved away when her father remarried. “Don’t expect the same luxury once the race has started.” She added. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.” Rainbow ran ahead and hopped in to her Deora II. Helmet on, she led her team out onto the starting track. Rainbow took the lead position, with Rarity and Pinkie flanking her left and right respectively. AJ and Sunset took the outside spots. Behind them, Twilight and the other original racers lined up with their team leaders. The new racers fell into rows of five, with the Wave Rippers team, followed by the Street Breed, and so forth. “Are you girls nervous?” Applejack asked the three youngest racers. “Not a chance.” Scootaloo said. Her silver Backdraft car purring like a kitten. “Me neither, Sis.” Apple Bloom’s Sweet 16 II was built very differently from the other cars she had driven (all two of them). But she had put a good few hours into practicing on the training track, and now she felt like she could take on the world. Sweetie Belle on the other hand, was shaking in her seatbelt. Of the three, she was definitely the most casual driver, and was having some very strong second thoughts about this race in another dimension. She had no time to voice these concerns, as Luna’s voice came in over the radio. “All drivers, check safety harnesses.” Anyone not wearing their seatbelt quickly let them snap close. “Indigo, check your dash-cam. There seems to be a malfunction.” The blue-haired Scorcher punched the camera, clearing up the static. “Ah! That’s got it.” “Activating starting drone.” The stoplight lookalike flew above the awaiting cars. Tensions were high and engines were burning. “Good luck, racers.” The drone signaled green. The dust picked up was enormous. Drivers like Fluttershy who had open air cars were pushed back as they tried to clean the dirt out of their faces. Rainbow had lost her lead already when Rarity and Pinkie both shot ahead of her, then moved together, forcing her back. Rarity looked ready to move ahead, but Pinkie hit the Nitrox 2 booster first, rocketing her ahead into a very strong lead. “Wee-pa! I never get tired of this!” The team leaders quickly shot ahead to try and catch up, the rest of the racers following right behind them. Sweetie Belle shot so far ahead she almost landed on top of the car in front of her. Luckily for her she missed, and that the driver was Cadence. “Woah! You alright, Sweetie?” “Sorry! Sorry!” She apologized as she checked her speedometer: 300 MPH. Ahead of Pinkie’s car, just before the flatland gave way to the jungle, a giant portal burst into existence. The new drivers each were astounded as all shreds of doubt were ripped from their minds as the very real truth about what they were getting into stood before them. And Pinkie Pie’s Twin Mill was leading the way. = = = Pinkie jumped out of the portal like a missile, and very quickly had to pull into a left turn as the track curved around the side of a mountain. “Oh man! Watch that first turn, kiddies, unless you’ve got wings.” The other racers erupted from the portal; Sunset’s Roadrunner spun out into a dead stop after a collision. To add insult to injury, she was then hit again as Scootaloo momentarily lost control of her car. “Hey, Scootaloo! Ever drive a car at 300 miles an hour?” Rainbow asked as the two maneuvered through the winding course. “Heh! Only in my dreams.” She quipped back. As the two rounded another bend, Gilda and the seventh member of the Wave Rippers, an orange haired boy named Sunburst, were having a less graceful time as their cars knocked into each other. “Ow! Hey! Watch it!” Sunburst whined, “We’re on the same team!” “Seriously? If you can’t handle a little bump-draft, get off the road.” The track took a hard U-turn, which Gilda planned to drift through. Rainbow and Scootaloo, however, had both slowed down to pass it. Gilda’s front fender smashed into Scoot’s back end, causing her to throw off Rainbow. Sunburst then collided with all three of them as he failed to execute the turn at all. “Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy asked as she, Twilight and Shining all pulled to a halt next to the crash. “Are you all okay?” “I should have stayed home today.” Was the response she got from the ginger driver. = = = Up at the front of the race, Pinkie and Rarity had left the other racers far behind in their bout for first place. Rarity’s Slingshot was far more maneuverable, but Pinkie’s car was a lot bigger, and she couldn’t find a way to pass her. “Give me some room, Pinkie! This is my race to win.” “Please. I could win this with my eyes closed.” “With your mouth closed would be better.” “Well, you know what they say, ‘Actions speak louder than words.’” “What does that have to do with anything!?” During this banter, Rarity had managed to faint out Pinkie and the two were now side by side. Until the track split in half. Each half coiled around into a corkscrew that crossed over the other. They had to maintain their speed or risk falling into the jungle below. The corkscrew ended in a jump, which both cars hit at the same time. Unfortunately, that meant they hit each other mid-air, and spun out upon landing. “Oh, fine work. Now we’re both out!” “You act like this is my fault! I’m not trying to come in last.” “You won’t have to try to do that!” A third voice hit their ears as Applejack, Spitfire, Sunset and Zecora all passed the two former leaders. “See you at the finish-line, Pinkie.” Rarity said. She put the car into reverse, driving backwards along the track, before spinning around and taking off after the others. Pinkie was about to follow them, when she saw something that gave her pause. Next to the orange track they had been racing on was the start of a purple track. The orange track wove through the mountains, rising and falling with each peak. The purple track banked left into the jungle, but it looked like in merged back up with the main track later on. “Hey Roadbeasts. I’ve got an idea.” The rest of the Roadbeast team had just hit the corkscrew. “What’s up Pink?” A blue hair girl, Vinyl, asked. “I think I’ve found a shortcut.” “Uh, aren’t we supposed to stay on the track?” a yellow skinned girl with blue and pink hair, Bon Bon, asked. “We’re supposed to win the race, and that’s what I’m gonna do.” The team had caught up with their leader. “Now, you can be with me, or be last.” A mint colored girl driving a black cat-like car looked at the other racers then answered for them as they each followed the Twin Mill onto the alternate route. “We’re with ya, Pinkie!” = = = In last place, the Wave Ripper team were finally picking up some speed after their self-imposed wipeout. “Hey, Rainbow, do you see that?” Twilight called out, “The Roadbeasts are taking another route.” Sure enough, the signals from the Roadbeast’s cars had broken off from the main group. “Could be a big mistake, Twi.” “They could end up lost.” Shining pointed out. “Yeah, or in first place.” Gilda countered. “Gotta take chances to win.” Scootaloo added. Their team hit the double corkscrew. “Alright. Shining! Take Gilda and Sunburst and keep on the main track.” “You got it chief!” He answered. “The rest of you, let’s break some barriers.” The team split off into two groups. Switchback leading half into the mountains, and the other half following the Deora II down into the jungle. = = = A little further ahead, the actions of the two teams did not go unnoticed. “Think we should turn around and go after them, Teach?” A pink skinned girl with citrus hair asked from inside her green Street Breed Road Rocket. Cadence looked at her computer. Although each car had a GPS signal that the other cars could track, the actual layout of the map was just an empty grid. Unless, you were Street Breed, “Coco, I want you to check your eye-in-the-sky.” “Oui.” The young Prench girl had been using her navigation drone to warn her teammates of any dangerous turns or obstacles ahead of them. She transferred the data from her Side Draft to Cadence’s Firebird. “That’s what I was afraid of.” She said, after a moment. “Keep on the main course. The shortcut is off-limits.” “Yes Ma’am.” Sunny Flare answered. She was the daughter of one of Cadence’s colleagues. She felt bad bringing her into a race this dangerous, but her skills behind a wheel could not be denied. Still, she would keep her and Rarity’s team safe. If only she could keep her family’s team safe. “Twilight. Shining Armor. Please be alright.” In hindsight, she should have been focusing more on her surroundings, then she might have caught the Dodge Charger R/T moving up into her space. The car’s driver, Misty Fly, was a more aggressive driver than she was a pilot, meaning she would push other cars out of the way. As she rammed into Cadence’s car, she inadvertently caused it to skid into Apple Bloom’s Sweet 16 II, which turned sideways blocking off Misty. This caused both cars to cause a fender-bender on Rarity’s Slingshot, which in turn caused her to jerk right, plowing into Spitfire. In a matter of moments, nearly all of the leaders had spun out. Key word being ‘nearly’. Behind the crash, Applejack swerved Mega Duty around the crashed cars. Right behind her, Sunset hit the gas, threading the needle through the wreak with only a miner bump. “Yeehaw! Looks like we’ve got the lead now, Sunset! The two of us.” “One too many.” She retorted before switching gears and poring on the gas. The two cars zoomed down the track, the leader spots now firmly claimed. = = = Further down the mountain, the rocks and stones gave way to massive trees and underbrush. The purple track wound down to the forest floor by wrapping around the massive trunks of the forest giants. “This shortcut’s looking good, Pinkie.” Vinyl Scratch commented. “Better than good, Vinyl, it’s beautiful in here.” Bon Bon added. The dappled light streaming down from the canopy was almost magical in nature. “So how about it, can I pick a shortcut, or can I pick a shortcut?” “You can pick a shortcut, Pinkie.” Maud’s emotionless speech was still odd to the team members who weren’t used to her, but the others barely seemed to notice. Unfortunately, they also didn’t notice that they were being watched. Zed 36 was tracking the team through a pair of electro-binoculars. And she could see that the track turned into a bridge to cover an expansive ravine. “A shortcut, cut short.” She said to herself. Pushing a button on her binoculars, a slingshot like apparatus deployed from the front of her car, the projectile being a ball of electricity and nitrox. Zed 36 activated the targeting mode on her binoculars, targeting a support beam on the underside of the bridge. Firing the ball, it made contact with true destructive force, obliterating the support beam, and the suspension wires, but the track itself remained where it was. “It didn’t fall!?” She was about to charge up a second shot, but the Roadbeasts were quickly approaching the now unstable bridge. To further complicate matters, the Switchback drove past the spot where she was parked. “Who’s that?” Shining asked himself. Back in the jungle, the Roadbeast team all safely crossed the bridge, but in doing so, caused it to become even more unstable. Right behind them, the Wave Rippers were making good time. “I see them!” Twilight said, “Up ahead!” “I can catch them.” Scootaloo said as she and Fluttershy accelerated. “Carefully,” Rainbow called, “we don’t know what’s ahead.” With each wave of Rippers that crossed, the bridge became even more unstable. Only to start collapsing just as Rainbow Dash crossed over the break point. Now she was trying to outrace the track crumbling underneath her. Gunning it, her car started bouncing as the increasingly uneven terrain began to outpace her. Twilight felt the vibrations of the collapse and checked her rearview mirror, only to see the Deora II drop under the rubble. Stopping her car, she quickly got ready to fire her tow cable in some effort to try and grab her teammate, only for the prism haired driver to reemerge, firing her jump boosters at full power. Rainbow got out of her car seconds after landing, shaking slightly from the adrenaline rush. She went to investigate the bridge, or what was left of it. Now there was only the ravine, with seemingly no way to cross it. = = = The Roadbeasts had seen none of this and were in good spirits about their shortcut, until Lyra saw something through the tree line. “What’s that up ahead, Pinkie?” “I don’t know what it is. But it looks like-” A giant silver wheel spun in the sky, just after a jump. It was massive, with three gaps in its form, through which a car could pass through, but the fact that the wheel was spinning, made that idea very scary. “-we just hit a red light.” A second ravine, just as deep and imposing as the other, lay underneath the jump. If any racers wanted to complete this part of the track, they had to make the jump. But the chances of not getting hit by the wheel, or worse, crashing into it, seemed astronomical. “What do we do now, Pinkie?” “I- I’m working on it.” “Maybe we should turn around.” A.K. suggested. “There’s no going back, Roadbeasts.” A new voice joined the radio call. “Rainbow?” The Wave Rippers began appearing on the GPS scanners of the Roadbeast cars. “That bridge we crossed, it collapsed.” Rainbow explained. “Why, is there a problem with going forward?” “Yeah, a big problem.” At this point the four blue cars pulled up to the stop and saw the obstacle. To which Rainbow only had one thing to say. “Awesome!” = = = Back on the main track, Sunset and Applejack remained neck and neck as the track turned into a dimly lit tunnel that reminded Applejack of those subway-lines they had in Manehatten. A metal wall rose up in the middle of the track, separating the two racers from each other. “Hey, Sunset, ya one of us may be taking the wrong trail?” She waited for a reply, but none came. “Sunset? Can you hear me Sunset?” “Are you going to talk through this entire race?” Sunset saw the end of the tunnel coming up and aimed her car for a raised portion of the track. Both drivers hit the jump at the same time, but Sunset’s maneuver had her car rolling over Applejack’s, avoiding a similar situation that Pinkie and Rarity experienced. Sunset landed a little roughly, but she was still side by side with the Dune Ratz leader. = = = Most of the Roadbeasts and Wave Rippers had gotten out of their cars and were discussing the situation with each other. The great spinning wheel looming over them. “It’s a challenge alright.” Rainbow said. “Ka ‘a’a nui loa. The greatest challenge.” Fluttershy agreed. “Hey, Pinkie, you every try something like this before?” “Not since the last time I played miniature golf. You don’t want to know what my score was.” The pink racer admitted. “I know how we can do it!” Twilight called out. Everyone gathered around the Nomad. “I used my onboard computer to calculate the timing configuration of the rotation and coordinate with the distance of the jump.” Rainbow looked at Pinkie who shrugged in response. “Did anyone else not understand a word of that?” Scootaloo asked. Eight hands went up. “The computer gives you a green light,” Twilight reiterated, “and five seconds later you hit the ramp at a hundred and sixty-three miles per hour. Do that and we make it through.” “Is she loco or what?” Colgate asked. = = = Zed 36 zoomed their binoculars in on the racers as they lined themselves up for the jump. They then moved to target the spinning wheel with the nitrox slingshot. = = = A.K. had volunteered to jump first. Her Ballistik purring like a jaguar. “I’m all set up here, Sparkle. Tell me when.” “I’m starting the timer now.” The internal computers all registered the jump timer. “Good luck everybody. Three. Two. One. Go!” Miss Yearling hit the gas and took off. The short turn between their starting point and the jump giving her enough time to accelerate to 163 MPH before she hit the jump. She watched the metal fan blade, which was thicker than her car, draw closer, before her car passed it and she pulled to a stop on the other side. “Made it!” She proclaimed. “You’re next, Vinyl.” Pinkie reminded the DJ. She checked her computer which gave her the green light and she turned on the gas. The jet engine on her Power Rocket getting her up to speed quickly, and she actually had to hold back on the gas to keep from going too fast. She crossed the gap with no problems. Scootaloo watch her monitor, waiting for the green light. She was off the moment it flashed. Her smaller Backdraft carrying her through the gap easily. Up on the cliff face, Zed 36 watched as more racers overcame the obstacle. She set the slingshot to target the center of the wheel. Another car cleared the jump. She raised her figure to press the firing button. Another racer began their approach. One press of a button and it would be over. She powered down the slingshot and gave the shortcut one last look before climbing back into her car. Back on the track, Lyra’s Power Pistons had just finished its jump with only a small spinout at the end. Fluttershy’s screen lit up green and she pushed down on the gas. Her gold Stingray moving up the track, gaining speed before hitting the ramp. She gave the speedometer a glance as she became airborne and her heart almost stopped. 158 MPH. The back of her car was clipped by the wheel. Fluttershy’s car went into a violent tailspin. While her car still managed to land on the track, the collision had knocked one of her Nitrox 2 containers off the car and it had become lodged in between the outer ring of the wheel and one of blades. As the outer wheel was turning in one direction and the blades were spinning the other direction, the bottle was getting ground against the wheel as it spun, creating friction, creating heat, creating a chemical reaction within the Nitrox, which caused it to explode. Twilight and the other racers stared in shock as the blue explosion rocked the floating wheel and Fluttershy’s car landed roughly on the track. The pink haired girl was in tears at the thought of just how close to death she had been. As Lyra and Bon Bon tried to console her, Twilight got on the horn to give even more bad news to Rainbow and Pinkie Pie who were still on the other side of the jump. “We’ve got trouble, Rainbow. It’s turning at a different speed. I can’t time the rotation. I can’t tell you when to start.” “What do you think, Pinkie?” Rainbow asked. She thought for a moment before steeling herself. “I came here to race. I say we go for it.” Rainbow smiled before tightening her grip on the steering wheel. “Let’s do it.” Both cars gunned their engines and took off down the track. “Can they make it?” Maud asked, concern for her sister slipping into her voice. “I don’t know.” Twilight admitted. Fluttershy had stopped crying and was now clutching her hand over her heart in worry. Pinkie and Rainbow tore down the track at the same speed, the adrenaline rush clearly visible by the smiles on their faces. Pinkie’s cry of “Wee’pa!” summing up the pair’s thoughts as they hit the jump and flew towards the spinning jaws of death. The crossed the wheel just as the broken blade of the wheel passed. Both cars slammed into the blunt end of the blade and were ricocheted onto the far side of the track with only a scratched roof to show for it. Behind them, the wheel was rocking violently in its stasis field, before large cracks formed along its surface and the whole thing went kabloowy. “We’ve got a race to finish!” Pinkie announced as the drivers all either took off down the road or got back into their cars. “Fluttershy, you alright?” Rainbow asked. “Yeah, I’m alright. You?” “All systems go. Come on, let’s finish this race. I hope Gilda and the others are making better time than we are.” = = = As a matter of fact, Gilda was running interference on the other racers so that Shining Armor could catch up to the leaders. After coasting around a bend, the Switchback pulled up between Mega-Duty and the Roadrunner. “Hey! How about giving one of the new guys a shot at first place?” Sunset looked at the bluenette boy incredulously before shaking her head. She then leaned forwards so she could make eye contact with Applejack and gave a slight jerk of her head with a massive grin on her face. Applejack nodded her head in understanding. Sunset turned her eyes to the road before wildly swerving her car at the same time as Applejack. Forcing Shining Armor to spin out. This coincidentally happened right at the point where the purple shortcut track remerged with the main track. Sunset and Applejack continued jostling for first place with each other. “I’m gonna pass you.” Sunset warned. “You’re going to try.” AJ countered. Both drivers hit their Nitrox boosters and burned down the track before rounding a bend and seeing the unmistakable glow of the portal. “There’s the portal!” Neither girl was willing to let the other have first place so they kept on the gas all the way in. On the other side of the portal both cars emerged at the same time and landed simultaneously. “What was that you said, Sugarcube?” AJ said as she and Sunset both rolled down their windows, “Was it, ‘I’m going to pass you?’ or ‘I’m going to tie you?’” Sunset Shimmer just smiled, “Next time.” And with that, she drove off as Shining Armor emerged from the portal earning the new guy third place.