The girls reacted predictably to the news that they would be able to go home soon. You wanted to be happy for them, as well, but recent events hampered your happiness. On top of the FBI getting involved, you had just been informed that a race was going to happen only an hour from now, as "one last run before the heat drops". You were hesitant to take part, but your pride as the most wanted in Fairhaven won out, and now you were applying the finishing touches to your car of choice.
You always were a fan of Lamborghinis, and the Aventador was quickly becoming one of your personal favorites. All the classic look of a Lambo, with far more power. Sure, it had a habit of trying to kill you, but it wasn't anything that a talented driver couldn't handle.
"Whatcha doin'?"
You jump, possibly letting out an unmanly yelp as you whirl around to face the sudden appearance of Pinkie.
"Jesus, Pinkie, don't sneak up on me like that!" You take a few deep breaths. "Anyway, just getting ready to go to another race."
She tilted her head. "But aren't the cops gonna be coming even harder for you?"
"Not until tomorrow." You look past her, where you can faintly hear the other girls still talking. "Figure I could fit in one last race, right?"
"Ooh, can I go with you? Please please please-"
You cut Pinkie off by holding a hand on her head, stopping her incessant bouncing. "Sorry, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea."
She pouts. "But you already took Dash to a race! It's my turn now! Pleeeeeease?"
Oh god she's even doing the puppy dog eyes thing.
Sighing, you relent. "Fine, you can go."
"Yay!"
"Just go tell the others, alright? I'll get this ready to go in the meantime."
Nodding excitedly, she zooms off to the girls, leaving you to get inside the car and turn on the engine. For a moment, you contemplate leaving Pinkie behind anyway, just in case things went south, but before you can even decide such a thing, you hear the passenger door open, and suddenly Pinkie is sitting beside you.
"Alrighty! Let's goooo!"
You can't help but chuckle at her enthusiasm as you start the lift. As your headlights cut through the darkness, you got onto the highway, and started driving.
This race was going to be a bit less formal than usual. Rather than gathering at a single place, you and the other drivers were simply going to converge on a single stretch of road, and then, once the word was given, the race would begin.
One by one, you spotted more sports cars merging onto the freeway, all of you falling into a loose formation. This race was going to be a simple loop around the interstate, so everyone brought cars with speed to match.
You spy your friend pulling in front of you, driving an older model McLaren, along with a familiar face behind the wheel of a black Lamborghini, almost identical to your blue one. You want to question what that Seacrest guy was up to, but now was clearly not the time.
Your GPS lights up, and then the countdown starts. Pinkie squeals in joy.
3
2
1
GO
You floor it and shift into a higher gear, just as everyone else around you does the same. The sound of approximately eight supercar engines roaring fills you with a familiar thrill, and it isn't long at all before you find yourself in the zone.
As you move your way up the pack, you find that the Seacrest guy is persistently tailing you, yet makes no moves of his own to pass yet. Your earlier lesson probably still stuck with him.
It isn't long before you're at the front of the pack, weaving in and out of traffic as you continue redlining your engine. When a turn came up, you were quick to pop into a lower gear, pump the brakes, and slide around the corner before gearing back up and continuing, everyone behind you following in your skid marks.
Beside you, Pinkie was having the time of her life, judging by her constant cheering.
Curiously, you notice that the police scanner has been completely silent. Normally, they would at least be talking about reported street racers by now...
You roar into a tunnel, and the Seacrest guy starts to slowly gain on you. Not one to give any ground, you pushed your car to its limit to maintain the distance, bringing the two of you to the same speed.
You emerge from the tunnel, and you're just barely able to see a spike strip on the ground before a chopper flies down, nearly blinding you with a searchlight.
Blinking away the pain, you swerve around the strip, and you see about half the racers behind you fall prey to it, leaving just you, your friend, and the Seacrest driver.
Your scanner suddenly fills with a flurry of voices. "Ambush successful, we got some of them!"
"Be advised, we have drivers still on the move."
"Don't worry, those two won't make it far."
Wait, two? But there's-
Suddenly, your rear view mirror fills with blue and red, and you look back to see your rival's car now flashing brightly.
Cursing loudly, you swerve to avoid an attempt at a pit maneuver, as even more police flood onto the highway. You feel your stomach drop as you spot FBI written on the sides.
"All units, this is VRT captain Jones, we will now be leading this operation."
"Copy that, Jones. Requesting permission for tactical roadblocks."
"Granted. "
Shit, this was bad. They weren't supposed to be here until tomorrow! Why are they here ahead of schedule?
You think Pinkie said something, but you've tuned her out completely, now. You were entirely focused on the growing horde of police on your tail. At some point, your friend had caught up to you, and you saw him take an exit before you turned all your attention forward.
The chopper was still following you, constantly covering your car in its search beam. Ahead, you could spot several blue and red lights in a row.
"Rotor 1, VRT, he's not slowing down."
"Copy that. Box him in."
You don't even give them the chance to, as you slam on the break and spin the wheel, performing a clean one-eighty into the opposing lane. Shockingly, the cops tailing you are barely thrown off, and they match your maneuver almost perfectly.
"Subject is now westbound."
"Understood. Get some more tac units in front of him, ASAP."
One of them manages to pull alongside you, and doesn't hesitate to deliver a sideswipe. Shaken but unfazed, you return the favor, locking the two of you together as sparks flew.
"He's resisting, someone get in front of him."
"Roger."
Another cop speeds ahead of you, and you have just enough time to recognize the Seacrest plates before they slam on the brakes. You realize you don't have enough time to get out of the way, so you do something else instead.
You hit the nitrous.
You brace for the impact, but even then you can feel your bones rattled by the hit, and you can tell that your front bumper is shattered now. Still, it did the job, as the driver in front of you was spun to the side, their rear end mangled. Another cop hit them, which left you only one to speed away from.
"Be advised, subject is still mobile."
"Tactical units are in place."
You speed back into the tunnel, and take the first exit you see, emerging into the open night sky. You were near the middle of downtown Fairhaven now, and you could spot several police cars pulling towards you, both FPD and FBI.
"We're off the freeway, repeat, subject left the freeway."
"Acknowledged. Keep pressure on him, don't let him get away."
You turn down the first empty road you see, and you haphazardly weave along the road, avoiding both traffic and parked cars.
You take every turn you can, hoping to shake the cops off your tail. And while it works for some, those VRT bastards were still stuck to you like glue. They certainly knew how to drive, in any case.
The chopper had dropped out of view behind the buildings, but you could still hear it somewhere nearby. And you knew that as long as it was in the air, you weren't getting away.
"Rotor 1, all units, we now have the downtown district blocked off. He's not going anywhere."
Fuck.
Sure enough, as you kept weaving through the streets, you'd find police blocking the roads, through a combination of the usual SWAT vans, heavier SUVs, and spike strips. They kept forcing you to swerve back into the deeper part of the city, and you knew it was only a matter of time before you were cornered.
Suddenly, you spot a parking garage up ahead- the same one you went to with Rarity and Fluttershy, in fact- and you get an idea.
You make your way inside, before drifting up the spiral ramp.
"Be advised, subject has entered the parking garage."
"Get inside, corner him. We got him now."
As soon as you made it to the top, you drove to one side of the building, before slamming on the brakes and whirling around. You then rocketed towards one of the pre-placed ramps, the chopper flying uncomfortably close.
You hit the nitrous, and a moment later, you're airborne.
You're only halfway aware of Pinkie's screaming as you sail through the air, just barely landing on the other side of a row of SWAT vans. You waste no time in tearing back onto the freeway.
"All units, he got past the blocks, move to intercept ASAP!"
"Rotor 1, all units, following suspect, heading northbound."
As you emerge into the night, you're once again almost blinded by the chopper, which almost caused you to slam into a semi trailer.
You look behind you, and are satisfied by the lack of blue and red lights. However, you knew that as long as the chopper was in the air, you wouldn't be getting away.
You try to cut through the construction site in hopes of shaking them off, even if for just a moment, but the search beam stays firmly planted around your car, no matter what you do.
As you continued down the highway, however, you finally heard the first set of good news in a long while.
"Rotor 1, all units, I'm running on bingo fuel here, gonna have to break off pursuit for the moment."
"Acknowledged, more units should be there in about three minutes."
Shortly after the helicopter flies off, your phone rings, and you hurry to pick it up and answer it.
"Hello?"
"Hey man, you didn't get nabbed, did you?"
"Still good here. And you?"
"Good, but I have a problem. The feds apparently found out where I was living, and now I got no place to go. Mind if I crash at your place a little bit?"
You hesitate. Even though the two of you were friends, you had never really shown him your garage and home. Partly because he never seemed to care enough to find out, partly because of some sense of paranoia from yourself.
"Where are you right now?"
"I just passed the abandoned airfield, why?"
"You got a tail on you?"
"Nope, still good, for now."
"Turn around and go into the airfield. I'll meet you there in a bit."
"Gotcha."
He hangs up, and you let out a deep breath. You had no idea if this was a good idea, but it was all you had at the moment.
Beside you, Pinkie looks like she was able to calm down, but only barely. She doesn't say a word, though, which is a bit disturbing.
You pull into the airfield, and shortly after you see red and blue lights projected through the trees, racing down the opposite way you came. Looks like you were just in time.
You pull up to your usual spot, and not too far away you see a familiar McLaren, although it was now banged up to hell.
You quickly dial up your friend. "Park right next to me, on my left, and we'll go inside."
"Wait, what?"
"Just trust me."
You hang up, and then your friend pulls alongside you. Once you're sure you're both in position, you press the button to lower the lift. There was just barely enough room for the two of you, and you could see the shock on his face when the platform started lowering. Once you were at the bottom, you parked your car right next to the lift, and turned it off and got out. Pinkie did the same, still not saying a word.
Your friend got out of his car, next, and he couldn't help but gape at the impressive collection of cars around him. "Dude, man, where did you get all these?"
You shrug. "Won some, bought others, never really got around to getting rid of any."
He gestured towards the ceiling. "And- And what about this place?"
"Stumbled on it back when I first came to town. Turned it into my safehouse."
His gaze falls onto Pinkie, and you see him smirk slightly. "You must have a bad habit of dragging girls into trouble, you know?"
You shrug.
While he takes a closer look at some of your cars, you turn to Pinkie, who had an unreadable look in her eyes. "Hey, Pinkie, do you think you could-"
Suddenly, she gets in your face, grinning like mad. "That. Was. So. Cool," she whispers, evidently barely holding herself back from screaming.
"Uh, glad you had fun?" You gently push her away. "Anyway, go tell the others about... well, all of this, okay?"
"Okie dokie!" She gives a small salute, and walks towards your home.
You sigh, and look back at your friend, who was currently ogling your own Corvette. You wanted to say that this was a setback for your plans of getting the girls to Paradise, but something occurs to you... You did entertain the possibility of a second driver, so why not...?
Though that brings up the question of whether or not you tell him the truth about the situation. After all, you didn't believe it until Twilight demonstrated, and you would hate to make her do that again. Of course, you could always try and lie your way through, but... for some reason, something about that idea doesn't sit well with you.
You shake your head as you walk back to the others, seeing your friend start to follow you in the corner of your eye. You'll figure something out.