//------------------------------//
// The Dash & The Firey 
// Story: The Dash & the Firey 
// by Sweetapplejacker 
//------------------------------//

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Speed. 

The sense of the world blurring as you zip along the track. 

The moment when all else fades away till there is nothing but you and your car. 

All sound except the roar of your engine, all smells but the smoke from your tires.

And the feeling of death waiting for just the slightest chance to embrace you.

That is what Krystal lived for. That was her life and that was her way. To be the best, the fastest and the one that lives like tomorrow was just a option. The feeling of right now is what she loved, even sometimes a little to much.
She was a racer, she was a devil of the petrol and to her the road was her religion. To her nothing was out of reach when she was behind the wheel.

She worked for the Royal Equestrian Race-Ways or RERW for short. She was on of the favourites as well, people all around would go and cheer for "Rainbow Dash", The fastest racer in all of Equestria. She even was know for her stunt work in a few shows and events.

Krystal's parents were on either side of the pole regarding her life. On one hand there was her mum; Samantha Fly. She was the owner and head-mechanic of "Fiery Fixes", One of the top automotive repair and custom creation and parts for cars anywhere. She was always seen wearing her light-pink over-all's, dirty with grease and oil spills from Celestia knows when, A grin on her face in front of an engine and a frown in front of the fire belching stove, more at home around a car then around her own home. Their home was even a couple of floors above the shop. Her hair was a deep sapphire blue that was cut at eye level and stuck out like clumps of spikes but was longer at the back, usually style into a ponytail. She was all for Krystal's love of cars and racing and encouraged it as much as she could get away with. She had a reckless nature that seemed to have passed onto her daughter.

Her dad was another story. He dad, Toby Dash, was a teacher of Art at Cloudsdale university and had a more, shall we say, negative view on the matter. He was scared that Krystal was going to hurt herself and others and tried to find other outlets of her recklessness, trying to get her to paint, write, hell he even took her paintballing in hopes that it would get it out of her system. In hindsight it made her more brash and confident when she beat him three ways to Sunday. He was almost famous for his brown tweed jacket or as Krystal called it "The Egghead Jacket", and his ruffled crop of rainbow hair which he passed to his daughter. He was a quiet and humble man, but was always looking out for his family even if he didn't agree with what they chose to do. He had wanted her to go to Uni after she finished flight school but was unable to talk her into it, or better yet, hype it up enough to spark her interest. 

Krystal was happy, se had everything. She had a job she loved, a dysfunctional family that she loved and won't change for anything.  
Then everything changed when the fire nation attacked.

And its times like these that when you never see it coming. When your whole world and life is turned up onto itself.

You think to yourself, "Why did this happen to me?" or "Celestia, am... am I dreaming, please let this be a dream." 

It is something that's never easy of anyone, let alone a person with such a strong and confident view on their life.

It's when all of that is taken away from you.

////////////////////////////////////////

"-aya you are the most randomness person I have ever met, why would you want to throw a party for some getting their house broken into, I mean, that's a pretty weird reason to throw a party."

Krystal was talking on her phone to her best and weirdest friend Taya Pie while she was driving down the road in her dark green Hyundai Elantra with a smile on her face and a little over the speed limit. She was on her way back from the raceway so the sun was starting to set casting everything in a orangey-red light. She flicked her indicator as she turned the corner into the main street of her town. She rolled her eyes at her friends reply about how it would be that much better cause it was unexpected. Krystal noticed in the distance behind her red and blue lights flashing just starting to come around the corner.

"Aww hell, I gotta go Tay, I'm driving and there are cops coming." 

With a quick goodbye she hung up the phone and assumed the "Good Samaritan" driving position. Back straight but relaxed, both hands on the wheel but one is merely just resting on the side of it and her eyes on the road in front of her. She could see the light getting brighter and now could hear the siren as it wailed and then zipped past her followed by a fire-engine. Krystal waited till they were around the bend and couldn't hear the sirens till she relaxed. She fiddled with the radio trying to find a cool song to listen to as she turned into her street. 

"Hi welcome back to H77.5 and once again I'm your host Jarrad, That was Olly Murs hit "Trouble Maker" and now we have something a little different, this is done by an artist called "Chain Algorithm", if ya haven't heard of him I suggest you look him up on youtube or something, but till them here is one of my personal fav's "Forest of No Magic."

Krystal hadn't even heard what the host's name was. She was more concerned about the group of police, fire-fighters and reporters that were clustered around the outside of her home. Well, what was still standing.
All that stood of upstairs was a plume of smoke and two walls that were blackened and crumbling and dripping with water. The downstairs and garage was riddled with blackened scorch marks and little curious holes. 

Krystal slowly pulled up, no emotion on her face. She was silent. She turned her car off as reporters swarmed her car. Slowly she opened her door to the flashes and zaps of white from the cameras. All sound was either blurred into one or didn't exist as far as she was concerned. It was like a haze of colour that was just dancing in front of her eyes. Nothing was coherent. She found herself walking towards her home. Towards the place she had grown up. The place that held her childhood. The place she knew she could always come back to when she was in trouble or hurt or scared. The memories stared to come back to her. The time she had gotten sick from being out in the rain when she was eleven and her dad had taken a week off work to nurse her. The hours she would spend with her mum under a car getting dirty from oil and grease. The dinners they would spend laughing and having mock fights. The times where she would argue with her dad and then storm off only for him to come and find her and talk it out. The times where she would bring a boy over and her mum would dolt on him and her dad would nearly throw him out the window. Her mum surprising her with her own car, and then getting her into the RERW. Her mum who tried to open the doors to her future and her father who was always there for her. All the "I love you's" she said and all the times she didn't. 

Police tried to stop her as reached them but none of them had the heart to really try. They could see it in her eyes. The eyes of someone who is not believing what they are seeing simply because the moment they do, they are going to fall to ruin before them. 

And that moment came with a pair of clothing.

A man in a hazard suit dug up the moment of breaking point for Krystal. 

It was a light pink pair of over-all's, singed and blacked with a hole where the fire had chewed through it and a brown, tattered tweed jacket, with burns covering the back of it. 

But the worst part was the Initials carved into the clothing. 

A pair of S's with a evil smile.

The Sadist Saints.

There a few different kinds of cries the human body makes, the first is that of an infant that needs something, the next is the one of fear, usually it is embarrassing and something to have a laugh about with friends later. The cries of someone that has just lost everything important to them....will haunt your heart for as long as you live.

Krystal fell to her knees and she gave a cry that would haunt everyone there for the rest of their lives.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO"

If you have ever lost someone very important to you, then you already know how it feels; and if you haven't, you cannot possibly imagine it. 
///////////////////////////////////

Time moved on as it does. The police had written up the incident as a gang attack. The chief of police had tried her best to be gentle as she explained about the next part of the report. The explanation of what gang had just killed her parents and left her without a home. 
"The Sadist Saints were the obvious culprits. They had been causing trouble for us for years now. They are a street gang that dabbled in smuggling of money, drugs, people, organs, you name it, they moved it. They also are a street racing gang. Their leaders name isn't known but the alias "Pinkamena" is all we have on her. They tend to be young to middle-aged; both male and female, and have very little restraint. We are trying all we can to bring them to justice, but it may take some time."

But Krystal wasn't interested in that stuff at the time. She was too busy dealing with her pain, the organization of her parents funeral and of course, what she planned to do after. The world was a mess and she had no idea where to go. She had been staying with her fathers closest friend and college for the last couple of weeks, but it was like she wasn't even there. She just existed. 

She had dropped out of the current racing rounds, she didn't go out, she hardly talked. She simply existed until the day of her parents funeral.    
//////////////////////////////

The rain was cold as it fell from the sky onto the black umbrellas that shaded the crowd the was standing silently, as a whole around two mahogany coffins. All but one. Krystal stood at the centre of the semi-circle, directly in front of the two people she loved more in this world. She didn't hold an umbrella, letting the rain wash over her as she stared at the boxes in front of her. The cold mid-morning breeze caused the crowd to shiver and huddle closer together, partial for the need to know that they ones they loved were still there. The minister began the to speak. He spoke about life beginning and ending and how they are not something to be saddened by, but something to be reflected about. How the end of one thing was simply the beginning of something else. How life is the reason we die; and that it is life that gives what we need to deal with said death.

Krystal felt a hand move to her shoulder and she held onto it, sobbing slightly as she listened to the words.
Member of the crowd then came for and said a few words. One by one the people that knew her parents stepped forward and made a small speech that they had prepared for the occasion and then placed a white lily on each of the coffins. Krystal had no such plan. 

She stepped in front of the coffins, her tears masked by the rain.
"Hay mum, hay dad. I.. I wish we had some more time together. I wish that i had said so much more to you guys, and something's I wish I hadn't said. I want you guys to know that I'm sorry for the way that I have acted at times and I know," Krystal paused to stop herself from losing control and breaking down right then and there. ",I know that I wasn't always the easiest person to raise. I um, ahem, I'd like to say thank you for having me. You had me when you were fresh out of marriage and um.. you loved me, cared for me." 

She rested her hands and knelt next to the to coffins.
"I wish you guys didn't have to go, I wish I could bring you guys back. I wish i could hold you guys one last time and say "I love you" and then you guys would hug me back and say you love me too. I will see you again... but not yet... not yet..."

She stood and pulled two small bunches of flowers, one a bloom of Wormwood and the other a cluster of Asphodel's; and placed them into the heart of each coffin, the colours giving life to the dark brown. 

Krystal then stepped back and watched as her parents were embraced by the earth, never to be seen in Equestria again.

////////////////
Walking back to the cars was like a dream to her. She couldn't hear a lot, bar snippets of conversation from the people leaving.

"-ch a tragic event. I wonder how the poor dear is going to get alon-"
"-ya see the tits on that one at the back? i mean, if this wasn't a f-"
"-ve stopped the saints, if we had acted earlier. Now this is the result."  

This stopped Krystal short. She turned to find a woman and man talking a few yards away to her left. The man looked very ordinary and almost, familiar like she had seen him from somewhere but couldn't put her finger on it. He was wearing a brown lined suit with a bright red neck-toe and a lighter brown trench coat over the top. he was wearing a pair of black glasses that rested at the base of his nose. His hair was ruffled to look like a spike pompadour and looked like the same brown of his suit. He was looking very grim as he endured the low verbal onslaught coming from the woman. She looked anything but ordinary. She had bright orange hair with yellow highlights that was styled like backwards in a arc. She was wearing a black leather jacket with a pair of dark jeans. Krystal didn't recognise her at all. She was walking at a brisk pace next to the man while he held the umbrella over them shielding them away from the rain. 

"Excuse me!?"

Both of them turned to look at her when she spoke but both had different looks on their faces; the man had adopted a small sad smile as he regarded her, while the woman looked annoyed at first and then, after recognising her probably, he face fell into a natural mask. 

"Oh, hello there."

Krystal moved up to them quickly, her feet splashing in the puddles a little.

"What was that you were saying about stopping the saints?"

The woman turned to the man with a smug look on her face.
"Yes, what were you saying about that? We are just dy- um, we are curious."

The man shot her a look when she had nearly said something highly insensitive considering the circumstances. He then turned back to Krystal with a sad, and yet calm look on his face.

"I'm sorry, but there was nothing I or anyone else could have done. It was a fixed point in time. It had to happen."

Both woman's eyes turned to flames making him cringe.
"It HAD to happen huh? THESE ARE MY OLDEST FRIENDS WE ARE TALKING ABOUT!!"
"AND MY PARENTS!!"
"YEAH AND HER PARENTS, SO DON'T TELL ME ABOUT YOUR LITTLE POINTS IN TIME."

The man raised his hand, the one that wasn't holding the umbrella and looked around trying to avoid the stares that were now focused on the group. 
"Ladies, please keep it down, we don't want a scene."

"You better spill the beans unless you want a scene." 

"Alright, but first introductions are in order. This is-"
"Call me Spitfire."
",um, okay. She is Spitfire. We knew your parents from a while ago when they were in the WonderBolts."

Krystal shivered, but before she could say anything, he pulled an umbrella out from behind him and opened it and gave it to her which she accepted hesitantly. He smiled at her and continued.

"I'm sorry if I sounded harsh or uncaring, I assure you nothing would be further than the truth. I care a great deal, but if I or the WonderBolts had intervened a far greater tragedy would have occurred. That's how it goes with the universe, prevent one thing for something else to happen to take it's place."

Krystal scoffed and gave him an angry and confused look. School and theology wasn't Krystal's strong points.

"Small differences in initial conditions yield widely diverging outcomes for such dynamical systems, rendering long-term prediction impossible in general. This happens even though these systems are deterministic, meaning that their future behaviour is fully determined by their initial conditions, with no random elements involved. In other words, the deterministic nature of these systems does not make them predictable. This behaviour is known as deterministic chaos, or simply chaos."

He looked at two expressions of now full confusion. He rolled his eyes and then dumbed it down.
"Its the butterfly effect."

"OHhh"
"Oh, I know what that is. But what has that got to do with my parents not being saved?"

"Fantastic, now if your parents were save then a different reality would have been chosen instead of this one."

"That's would have been fine, with me. I would still have them. I don't care what you say, nothing could be this ba-"

"You would have died instead."

The silence that followed that little statement was suffocating. Krystal felt fear strike her for a few seconds. The fact he said it with such a calm face scared her all that much more.

"..what"

He nodded and looked at the woman who was looking back at him with a dark glare. Unabashed he looked back to the rainbow girl who was now standing once again in the rain as she had dropped the umbrella in her shock. He picked it back up and held it over her with his free hand.

"That's why your parents death wasn't prevented."

"Why? what did I do?"

Spitfire shook her head in annoyance.

"It's not what you did it's who you are and who you are related to that's the problem."

Thoughts whirled around Krystal's head. The most frequent one was..

"Who are you people?"

They both looked at each other, then back at her.
"I'm the Doctor, this is Spitfire; leader of the WonderBolts.

"The what? WonderBolts? sounds like a gay parade"

The Doctor made a face that said "You should have not said that."

"Excuse me? Gay parade? The WonderBolts are only the most talented group of drivers this side of reality."

"Pfft, I've never heard of you."

"Of course not, we are a street group."

"So you're a gang? So its a gay gang?

Spitfires eyes flash dangerously and growled in a low voice
"Yeah, the gang your mother founded is totally a gay gang."
///////////////////////////////////

You know that moment when you thought you knew someone and then it turns out they had another side of them that you had no idea was there? Krystal was experiencing that right now.

When her mum was a teenager she started a gang. They were a street racing gang. The WonderBolts. They were the most known next to the Smiling Sadists who were there rivals. They were amazing racers and even better mechanics but no one ever knew their names, they had titles or alias. Samantha or "Firefly" was their leader for years and was to be said undefeated. One day she just upped and disappeared, leaving the title to her best friend and right hand girl, Spitfire. Only she knew the reason she left. She had found love and was going to have Krystal, but she was worried that her enemies would hurt her or Toby, so she needed to leave. Spitfire wasn't happy but she understood.  

She had no idea what had compelled her to follow them to their car after telling her dads friend. Maybe it was the need to find out more. Maybe it was the universe pulling her to her destiny.....or maybe it was the fact that Spitfire had said, after she had calmed down, that her mother had left her a car if anything would happen to her.

They drove into a big and old looking warehouse. It was a hours drive out of town and in that time the rain had stopped. They passed a series of garage doors stopping at the tenth one. Spitfire hopped out of the car, slamming it a little hard as she walked over to the door. Krystal watched from the backseat as she bent and fiddled with the lock, smacking it a few times when it appeared to be stuck. 

"You're girlfriend is a bit violent."

The doctor turned in the passengers seat to look at her, It amused her to notice he was blushing a little.

"She may be a bit violent at times, but she is an amazing girl. One of the best companions I've had yet."

Krystal raised an eyebrow.
"What are you a player or something?"

He laughed at the question.
"No, companion means something different to me then you."

And with that he turned back to see spitfire finally open the door and walk back to the car.  
"Alright, Allons'y."

He hopped out of the car with Krystal following him, still confused about the question an they walked inside.

Inside was a two big bulky objects covered by sheets of cloth. Spitfire and the Doctor walked over and touched the one on the left, kind of like how someone touches a photo of a loved one. Krystal moved over as well with a look of curiosity, a fact that the doctor noticed and began to explain.

"This was your mother's car when she was the leader, apparently she never lost a race in this little devil. But that's not why we are here. This one is yours."

He led her to the other shape, leaving the fiery female to her memories of times passed. With a flourish he removed the sheets to reveal her car. Krystal's eyes widened at the car before her. She reached out and touched the bonnet gently, like a new born baby. The doctor smiled at her reaction.
" She only finished it a month ago. All the parts are the best and she did the customization herself. She put her heart and soul into making this for you." 

A small sniff filled the otherwise quiet room. Hiding her face Krystal rubbed the liquid pride that was leaking from her and turned back to spitfire, a look of determination in her red eyes. Closing the distance between them she looked up at the gang-leader.

"I want to join the WonderBolts. I want to make her proud. I want to prove that i love them in the best way how."

she lowered her eye and the next thing she said, she said it with such conviction that she could have convinced a Luna herself to let her join the "Nightingales". 

"By being the fastest and by never giving up. By never losing and by never forgetting them. And by racing with a purpose instead of just for cheap thrills."

Spitfire gazed at her for a full minute, her face unreadable. Then she smirked.
////////////////////////////// 

The music was pumping at the back of the a Frosty white Reko-Do, with its owner showing off its interior and engine to the mass of the crowd. The Street was full of cars doing the same thing. There was a every kind of car with every kind of paint and colour scheme possible. People were walking around everywhere either Preparing for a race or talking someone up or even showing some skin dancing for the masses. Spitfire just sat on the hood of her orange Mazda RX-7  It had a Nismo NE-1 exhaust; Turbonetics front-mount intercooler and plumbing. Nismo lowering springs; custom roll cage; ARC titanium strut tower bar. 19x11 Volk Racing RE30 wheels; Continental tires.  Rotora big brake conversion, front and rear. For the outside she had Nismo Version II front bumper, side skirts; Sunline Auto carbon fibre hood with red tribal shooting star vinyls running down the side. The interior Rear seat delete; Momo steering wheel; Nismo V-Spec Nur pedals; custom heads-up display for dash-mounted PC; MFD Xenarc gauges; Sony head unit.

Next to her car was the Doctor and his vehicle; A dark blue DeLorean DMC-12 and he was still wearing his suit while Spitfire had changed into a brown leather flight jacket with a silver tang-top and long denim jeans. No one had a clue what his car had, he wouldn't let anyone near her. He always would say that they wouldn't understand her and that she might get annoyed. Both were scanning the crowd, looking for a certain someone. And she didn't make them wait long. Krystal turned the corner in a cyan Honda S2000, and made her presence known. 

vvrrrRRRRRRRRROMMMMMMMMMMMmm

She screeched down the road and stopped a few yards, her engine purring angrily. the crowed parted, cheering and whooping for her little entrance. The S2000 pulled into a empty spot and she turned off as the driver exited her. She was wearing a Light blue shirt with a picture of a cloud with rainbow lightning on the side and a purple, small waistcoat. Her Rose eyes shone over her smirk and from under her mess of rainbow hair. Walking to the front she opened the hood to let the vultures see their fill. The paint-job distorted from cyan to every colour the further from the bonnet it got, giving the car the look like it was moving at the speed of light. it had a Perrin intake system; Cobb tuning ignition system, cat-back exhaust; Remus Racing header, downpipe; Mobile One engine oil; pseudo front-mount intercooler.NSX-R prototype suspension, front and rear sway bars, chassis bars. NSX-R brake rotors; Project Mu pads. Enkei NT03+M wheels, 18x8.5; Continental ContiSportContact2 tires, 285-40/18. The exterior had Veilside front and rear bumpers, side skirts, vented hood; pseudo roof scoop and the interior had Velside seats, steering wheel; Takata harnesses; custom roll cage; Cobb Access PORT.


She walked over to the leader of the WonderBolts as people swarmed the "Sonic Rainowboom". when she reached her they just looked at each other and nodded. 
"You ready for your test?"

"Are you ready to lose?"

A chuckle made her look to the left to see a tanned, bald man wearing a white tang top with black jeans and a Tall blonde guy wearing a button up shirt and jeans smiling at her. 

"What's so funny." 

The bald on nodded towards the Doctor and spitfire with a half grin.

"These two have never being beaten by anyone except me. So good luck. Come on O'Conner."

The too left with grins and leaving a challenge in the air that now was about to be taken. 
"Well then, lets see if i can flatten the two raining champs huh."

Spitfire grinned and just pulled her keys out swinging them on her finger. 
"Well, then.... Ready Rainbow Dash?" 
////////////////

Three cars lined up at the lights. Two of them reeving to intimidate the other while the other made a weird whirring sound. 
All three of them look at each other and smile. The lights go green.
Both spitfire and Krystal shot forward like bats out of hell, the Doctor being left in the dust for leaving his brakes on. 
In that second, Krystal felt happy for the first time since her parents died a month ago. She felt at home with the world blurring past her windows. She felt shudders of her car as she rounded corners on the heels of spitfire, she felt like the car was apart of her. she felt like her mum was sitting in the passenger set egging her on and her dad in the backseat with both the left, right and middle seatbelt's somehow tired around him. She smiled her first genuine smile. She was in total control and for a moment it was like nothing had changed. She looked out her right window into the amber eyes of her mums oldest best friends. And she floored her pedal as they turned down the straight of the road. Rainbow and Spitfire were neck and neck, neither gaining more then an inch. They were both closing on the finish when a flash of light and the Doctor came zooming past them, going so fast he left tire tracks of fire.

Krystal felt her jaw drop as she slowed to a stop and got out of the car. She walked up to the doctors window and glared at him until he lowered the window. 
"I'm sorry."

"HOW THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT?"

"A better question would be, "Did you pass". and I have a feeling that you did."

"Wait, what?"

"He is right, as usual."

Krystal turned to spitfire, who was standing next to her. 

"You made it kid, it's been a while since someone has given me a run for my money."

She raised her fist and made the universal gesture that even someone as strange as the Doctor could understand what it meant. Krystal stared at the fist for a second then grinned widely, smacking her fist against it.

The doctor looked at them both with a smile as they chatted about future endeavours, namely tracking down a certain Pinkamena. If only they knew that this was the beginning of some truly outrageous and sometimes unbelievable adventures. But that would be telling. And a Time lord never tells anymore then he should.

////////////