Her eyes drifted up to the area in front of her as she readied the shard of glass. The area wasn't big, but it was a dead-end that had simply widened a bit. Enough to fit a small limousine.
She stopped upon seeing the machine parked a dozen feet away from her, her turquoise eyes widening.
It was a car, but not the kind she was used to. It was small and had a boxy wedge-shaped design. Zipp dropped the shard of glass and stood up, wiping the tears off her face before walking over to the car.
It was painted Holographic White, the plethora of rainbow colors dazzling her eyes as she lightly changed her point of view of the car. She had only ever seen one car with Holographic Paint, but it was an advert for one built by Unicorns. TVR Tusc... something. So seeing another car with such a paintjob was a real treat.
Her eyes noted the lack of headlights. She only saw the square indicators, a styling choice long since lost to time and trends. Who cares about simple designs when you could have overly complex curvy sequential lights?
The rims were of star-like design, being the same Holographic White Color as the rest of the car. Zipp's eyes widened as she recognized the name in the center of the rims.
HRE
"These are HRE 505s's..." She murmured, bending down and rubbing her hoof on the center of the Front Right Rim. "These haven't been made in... I don't even know how long. Centuries maybe..."
She stepped back and noted the vents situated just behind the doors. She tilted her head a little as she noticed how short the front was. It was far too small for any good engine unless it was a sub-one-liter three-cylinder with a powerful turbo.
"Is this car... mid-engined?" She wondered.
Noticing the wording on the door, small chrome letters, she tilted her head in wonder.
TwinCam Supercharged
Superchargers were more of an earth pony thing. Or at least, it wasn't a Pegasus thing. You would never see any cars in Zephyr Heights with Superchargers. Only Turbo's. Twin, and Single Setups alike. So this car was a complete enigma.
The rear was again, simple. Rectangular Taillights above rectangular reverse lights and indicators, sat upon a black rear fascia. The rear pedestal spoiler held a single wide brakelight. Zipp liked it.
And in the center of the fascia, in between the lights, was the all-important license plate.
Canterlot
SCR1979
"Canterlot?" She wondered. "Why do I feel like I should know that name? Hm..."
She noticed some wording just above the fascia, on each side. Her jaw dropped.
TRD Supercharged
Toyota MR2
And directly to the left of the license plate, were even more words.
TwinCam 20V
"No way..." She was almost totally speechless. "Toyota... that company hasn't existed in... in... centuries..."
Toyota would have been nothing but a myth if two cars hadn't been sitting in that museum. She thought. That one beat-to-crap red pickup truck, Hilux I think it was, and the other blobby sports car. Supra? Yeah. Supra.
She put a hoof on the spoiler and looked at the car. "That's why I recognized you... you're an Ancient Antique... A Toyota MR2 SC Group B, one of one hundred models equipped with a 4A-GZE 20 Valve Silvertop directly from the Toyota Racing Division... You produce 280HP from a supercharged 1.6 Liter Inline 4 that revs up to 10000RPM..."
She walked around the right side and glanced at the interior. It was Right Hoof Drive and in immaculate condition, with original upholstery and analog gauges to boot, this car was a real classic. No, Ancient Antique as the pegasus had already put it.
"Lightweight with a rigid body..." She murmured, rubbing the body. "The perfect combination for Group B Rallying..."
Curiously, she put her hoof to the right door handle and pulled. And to her surprise, it opened easily.
"How... how are you here..." Zipp asked the MR2, hoping for an answer. "You're so old, yet you're completely original. And you're just... sitting here. You had to have been parked here recently. I came to this exact place the other night and you weren't here..."
The Flightless Pegasus slowly got in and sat in the bucket seat, feeling the Recaro Seat grip her fur. The car didn't smell new, nor did it feel new. It felt like someone actually used the car. It felt great. It felt anything but a few centuries old.
Her eyes drifted to the odometer, curious to see how original this car really was. Those same eyes widened.
21770
"No... How..." She looked around the car. "How can a car so old... have so little miles..."
For some reason, she let her wing shut the door. She didn't know why. It felt like instinct. She was suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of safety. She felt like with this car, she was immortal. She didn't even feel like it technically wasn't hers. It felt like she had just picked it up from the used car dealership.
She glanced down to the center console, once again surprised at what lay there.
"Sweet mother of... It's a stick shift..." She whispered, staring at the 5 Speed Stick Shifter. Five forward gears, one reverse gear. The emergency parking lever sat next to it, angled up.
Zipp put her hoof on the shifter, feeling it. She looked down at the hoofwell, spying the three pedals. She couldn't even smirk, preferring to feel the clutch with her rear left hoof. After giving each pedal a good feel, she rested her hoof back on the clutch and pushed it in.
She grabbed the stick shift and glanced at which gear was which. Then, she put it in first gear. A sense of happiness filled her as she shifted into second gear. She went through the last three.
"Up the mountain, across the stream, and down the river..." She looked down at where the stick had ended up, not knowing why she said what she did. She smiled as she brought the car out of fifth gear and left the shifter in the center.
She looked forward and relaxed into the seat, placing her hooves on the original steering wheel, bearing the letters MR2 in the middle.
A cheeky smile appeared on her face as she peered down to look for the ignition and was, again, left confused.
"Where's the button?" She asked.
Where she'd expect a button to start the car, she found only a small keyhole. It was silver.
"Is this a key for the button?" She noticed a silver key sitting on top of the steering column and wasted no time grabbing it. She was surprised to find that it had a Toyota badge on it. "Huh.."
After hesitating for a second, Zipp put the key in the keyhole. It slipped in perfectly, equivalent to a hot knife through butter. And finally, ready to look for the ignition button, she turned.
krrr-chuhka-chuhka-vrooOOOOOoooooooommmmmmmm-brbrbrbrbrbr-
Zipp yelped as the engine roared to life, all the gauges shooting up except for the RPM gauge, which flicked up to 2000RPM before moving down to rest at about 950RPM.
A second after being filled with fear, she felt invigorated. She didn't know why, but there was something about literally cranking a car to life that felt... amazing. No, that was the understatement of the year. There was no word that could describe it.
She placed her hoof on the gas pedal and revved it a little. She could feel the engine behind her, rumbling with power. She was in control of a beautiful machine. If she were to really try to put the feeling of revving an engine into words, well... She felt great and powerful, she felt safe, and she felt invincible.
vrooooOOooommmm-vrrOOOooommmmm...
"Oh... yes..." She whispered as she listened to the Roots Supercharger whine with the engine, producing the most satisfying sound. "You can never get this tone with a turbo... that's for sure..." She found herself smiling like a goofball. Something she hadn't done in a long time.
Noticing the lack of interior lighting, and that there were no headlights present, she looked around for the light switch. She found it immediately and turned it to full bright mode, a little excited to see how the MR2's lights worked.
Oddly enough, she did see lights flick on outside, along with the interior lights, but the way they turned on was strange. It was like they had popped out of the hood.
Curious, Zipp got back out of the car and walked to the front. The MR2 continued to show surprise as it was revealed to have pop-up headlights. Pop. Up. Headlights.
"Retractable Headlights... Ohhhh... I think I'm in love..." She continued to smile as she got back in and closed the door.
Her adventurous side caused the pegasus to put the clutch in and push the parking brake down, releasing it, before grabbing the stick shift.
"Take to the sky..." She whispered as she put it in first gear, stepping on the gas and letting off the clutch. The MR2 began to move forward and through the narrow crevice she had used earlier.
She cruised along at around 5 miles per hour for a few before slowing down as she exited the crevice. She now faced the Iroha Highway.
"Pipp..." She began. "Oh Pipp Pipp Pipp... you will NEVER get your crummy hooves on this car. I will never allow you to use my Ancient Antique as a marketing product for your stupid social career. This is my car. Nopony is allowed to take it from me..."
Instinctively putting the left blinker on, she pulled out onto the road and listened to the supercharger quietly whine behind her as the revs climbed to 4000RPM.
"Down the valley..." She said as she shifted into second gear, accelerating to 25MPH. The speed limit of the road. She remembered to quickly put her seatbelt on before steering through a gentle left curve.
The car felt great as she drove around a few soft chicanes. It was responsive, the Mid-engined, Rear wheel drive layout was a real treat, and felt much different to the Lamborghini Reventon she had the pleasure of driving a few months back. She, again, didn't get it.
This car was different then any modern sports car, or supercar. It had no ABS, no Traction or Stability Control, Hydraulic Power Steering, she loved it. She felt connected to the road.
She slowed down and turned around the first of many many hairpins, 27 over the whole course to be specific, feeling the tires out. They felt brand new and built for performance, showing no signs of losing traction at this slow speed. Upon exiting, she blipped the gas and shifted into first gear, bringing the revs up to 3500RPM.
"Ohhh I'm in love... your short wheelbase let me take that corner with zero issue." Zipp said, rubbing the steering wheel.
As she drove around a few curves, she couldn't help but wonder why cars hadn't evolved very much since their invention... however long ago. Along with technology in general. It felt weird. Heck, she heard that the Honda Civic FK8 is a carbon copy of the same car from who knows how long ago! And computers had been around for, again, however long. Computers were far older than her, Pipp, and Haven combined.
What made Toyota go defunct so many moons ago? She wondered. Honda, Lamborghini, heck, even that one Earth Pony Manufacturer, Ford, have all been around for centuries. So how come they've made no progress?
She daydreamed about the first time she sat in a car. She was a filly, and if she was correct, the car in question was a Nissan Skyline C10 Station Wagon. She had only sat in it because she had admittedly gotten lost and wound up on a sweet old mare's property, who happily let her steer the car as they made their way back to the castle. She couldn't help but smile as she refocused on the sharp left hairpin just in front of her.
"Wait- OH SHOOT!" She yelped as she jerked the car to the left, severly upsetting the balance. Tires squealed as the car slid around the inside, exiting as Zipp countersteered and let go of the throttle and brake. She stabilized the car and slowly continued, realizing what she just did.
"I just... did I just drift?" She chuckled. "I just drifted a century- no, multiple-century-old car around a hairpin. Isn't this road layout as old as this car? Maybe older? Hm. Heh, that... actually felt pretty good."
She didn't know why, but she found herself accelerating a little. The engine revved right behind her, the supercharger literally whining for more. She smiled as her speed increased to a brisk 30MPH, the engine now revving to 6000RPM.
As the second Hairpin approached she braked and steered left, then jerked right to drift into the hairpin. The tires echoed through the Iroha Pass as they were pushed past their limit of grip. Zipp countersteered and pressed the throttle, yelping as the MR2 suddenly oversteered and spun around. She hit the clutch and brakes and brought the MR2 to a stop.
She breathed for a few, wondering what she had just done. She had, for the first time ever, spun out. And for some reason... she couldn't help but smile.
"Heh heh... ha..." She laughed at herself. Even though it was scary at first, it felt nice to learn the limits of the car. She felt at home on this pass. No screens broadcasting her every move, nopony trying to act all cool or professional around her, it was just her, a multi-century-year-old car, and the Iroha Pass.
"Ohhhohohh..." Her eyes narrowed, and her smile broadened. "Let's do this."
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
The tires squealed as Zipp put the pedal to the floor, straightening out the car and speeding down the pass and into the night.