Hexes and Horsepower

by ShadowFall

Ch. 2

“Woooo, whooo! Go Rarity!” Pinkie waved her foam finger with Rarity’s name printed on it before glancing back to Rainbow Dash, “No offense, Dashie!”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes with a chuckle and waved back before she walked up to Rarity again, “Alright, fashionista. You know the rules.”

“Of course.” Rarity shook hands with her friend before donning her helmet, “May the best driver win.”

“You mispronounced car as driver.” Rainbow Dash slipped her own helmet over her head, and held up two fingers, “Two laps. No automatic. Hope you know your gears’ sweet spots.”

Dash climbed into her set of wheels, and secured her neck brace. Seatbelt locked in, she ignited her five-liter V8 engine. The turbocharged combustion machine roared to life as the key was turned. A little pressure on the gas pedal revved the engine, provoking the beast to roar at its opponent. The silver horse logo on the front gleamed as Rainbow Dash ushered the car to the starting line.

Rarity got her safety gear in place, and rotated her key. The sharp, yet powerful growl escaped from the hood as the AJ Gen III V8 engine awoke from its slumber. Another rev was given by Rarity, containing a more menacing drone than a fierce roar that came from her adversary. Slinking towards the starting line, as if it were the predator it was named after, Rarity’s car stopped parallel to Rainbow Dash’s.

The straightaway gave into a banked curve to the left, to which Rarity was closer. Dash knew that making the tighter turn wasn’t always the way to guarantee victory. The straightaways would test a car’s power, and she was genuinely looking forward to seeing how Rarity would keep up.

Sitting on top of the flat roof of the garage, three of the women spectated what was about to unfold. Twilight, Fluttershy, and most prominently Pinkie Pie were watching with great interest and enthusiasm.

“I’m glad that Dash’s track is finally getting a good race. I hope that she filled in the pothole halfway in.” Twilight turned back to Fluttershy, “She did, right?”

“What?” Fluttershy held a cupped hand to her ear, revealing the earplugs she was wearing.

“Fluttershy! We’re on the roof! It’s not like we’re next to the track!” Twilight spoke louder but quickly gave up when Fluttershy still made the expression of not being able to hear what Twilight was saying.

“Oh, nevermind.” Twilight gave up and witnessed Applejack walking towards the side of the track, brandishing a green flag.

“Alright girls, let’s not kill each other out there! Ah’d hate to see a big dent in any of your rides!” Applejack raised the flag, both drivers gripping their steering wheels, their right feet aching to blast off their brakes and slam the gas pedals.

“Oh, it’s gonna start!” Pinkie drew a pair of binoculars from deep within her hair, and pressed them to her eyes.

The racers glared ahead. They only looked towards what lay before them, and not to who might pull into that place.

“On your marks, get set-” Applejack swung down the flag, “Go!”

The tires of the Mustang and Jaguar screeched as the gas felt the full force of both of the drivers’ boots. Smoke plumed from the bottom of the back wheels before both cars shot past the starting line and charged down the track. Both racers shifted quickly from their first gear to their second instantly, resetting the rpm needle back down and letting their cars gather more speed.

Second gear was all they would need for now as the first turn approached. Rarity was given the opportunity of starting on the left side, giving her the tighter turn. With a sudden crank of the steering wheel and a quick tap on the brakes she unbalanced the car, throwing it into a drift around the curve. Rarity kept her eyes on the road, glancing at her mirror to find Rainbow Dash attempting to match the drift behind her.

However, the raw power of the Mustang and the weight force it into a wider turn, allowing Rarity to keep the advantage of navigating a sharper move.

“Nice…” Rainbow Dash thought to herself, “But you’re no match on the straightaway.”

She eased onto the pedal and steered her car so Rarity’s Jaguar wasn’t blocking her advancement. Third gear was quickly punched in, and the RPM gauge reset once again. The Mustang started to gain ground on the Jaguar easily, the powerful engine roaring as it chased its prey.

Rarity switched into third gear as well, but the pure power of the Mustang was giving her opponent more and more speed. A glance again in the mirror, and indeed, the object was far closer than it appeared. She could have sworn that a look of pure bloodlust pierced through the tinted visor of Rainbow Dash’s helmet.

Then, more curves started to come up ahead. The straightaway had ended, and now the racers would find themselves in a series of successive turns. Perfect for the Jaguar. Not a moment too soon, Rainbow Dash was neck-to-neck with Rarity. The first turn went right, which would steer into a wide half circle heading left. Rainbow Dash had the right of way as she was closer to the right-side curve, and threw her car into a drift, with Rarity trying to match a wider drift on the outside of the curve.

“Shoot.” Rarity bit her lip as Rainbow Dash overtook the Jaguar, and found herself also hugging the wall of the left-sided turnaround. Rainbow Dash was ahead now, and Rarity could only feast her eyes on Rainbow Dash’s self-referential vanity plate.

More turns lay straight ahead, both cars dropping a gear to navigate around as perfectly as they could. The screech of the Jaguar fought against the growl of the Mustang. Had it not been for the specially modified AJ Gen III V8 engine of Rarity’s Jag, the Mustang would have left her in the dust. Both coming out of the turns, were at each other’s sides again. The straightaway was ahead, leading to the finish line, marking the second lap.

Then, Rainbow Dash floored the gas pedal all the way down. Her Mustang jolted as nitrous oxide rushed into her engine, the car roaring as it easily started to gain ground against Rarity’s Jaguar.

“And there’s the nitrous.” Twilight said to herself as Dash’s car pulled ahead of Rarity’s effortlessly on the straightaway. In just a second, she had overtaken Rarity’s Jaquar by a hoodlength.

“What?” Fluttershy put her hand to her ear again.

Rarity pursed her lips under her helmet as Rainbow Dash had pulled ahead an entire car’s length ahead of her, giving her the first priority to cross the finish line into the second lap. Rarity could only watch as the Mustang drifted into the turn after.

“Alright…” Rarity downshifted to match the drift, “It. Is. On.”

At the second she came out from the drift, she floored the gas pedal as she approached the next set of turns. Rarity didn’t drop a gear as she slid through each of them, almost touching the boundaries of the track. Skidmarks were painted again and again as Rarity kept at the turns, slowly gaining ground on her opponent.

Rainbow Dash glanced into her rearview. The fashionista was catching up, and she was catching up fast. That Jaguar had impressive handling and maneuverability, but Dash was ahead. As long as she stayed in front, the final straightaway to the finish would be all hers.

Even through all of this, Rainbow Dash could feel her grip tightening. She hadn’t had a good race like this in a very long time. It felt almost as good as outracing Flash’s Camaro after graduation.

“Alright Rar’, what’re you hiding in that car?” Rainbow Dash thought for a split second as the last turn to the final straightaway was ahead. A glance into the rearview, and Rarity was getting close from all of the perfectly handled turns. It was if she could feel her determination to win.

But not this time.

Dash threw her car around into the half-circle curve, and straightened out for the finish. A car length behind, Rarity equalised out.

Rarity opened up a switch’s guard, and thumbed the device forward. A thunderous roar screamed from the Jag as its engine was pushed into overdrive. The speedometer climbed rapidly as the massive amount of Nitrous Oxide was dumped into the engine, throwing the car far over Rainbow Dash’s speed.

“Woah, what the hell?!” Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but say aloud as Rarity’s Jaguar blazed past the Mustang, showing no signs of slowing down. She watched in horror and amazement as Rarity’s car came right next to hers, neck and neck once again as the finish line and Applejack’s checkered flag came closer and closer to them.

SHROOOM!

VRENNNN!

Applejack waved the flag down just as the cars passed through. She didn’t need a high-speed camera to see who won. Rarity had won by the length of a headlight. Rainbow Dash eased into the brakes of her Mustang as Rarity did the same, the Nitrous shut off.

“Yeah! Woooo! That was amazing!” Pinkie Pie waved her foam finger around. Fluttershy had her hand on her chest, feeling her heartbeat slowly reset to its normal speed, and Twilight called down to Applejack.

“Who won?!”

“Rarity! By a headlight!”

Twilight looked back at the stopped cars and smiled. What a great chance that it was Rainbow Dash’s turn to plan this hangout at the track.

Then, but doors of the cars opened after the engines were shut off. Rainbow Dash and Rarity, clad in their helmets removed their neck braces and walked towards each other.

Then, Rainbow Dash took off her helmet, revealing the glowing smile underneath.

“Good race, Rarity.” she outstretched her hand. Rarity’s helmeted face looked down at it, tilting slightly as in surprise. All of a sudden, she quickly removed her head protection and took Dash’s hand immediately.

“Oh my god, forgive me for being so rude! It’s just that-” Rarity was about to start.

“Yeah. Usually if I lose, I’m not happy about it. But this isn’t high school anymore, fashion girl.” Rainbow Dash chuckled.

“Good race.” Rarity smiled back, and both glanced back to Pinkie cheering.

“Awh! That’s so sweet!” she scrunched her face with her hands, “Now I gotta make two parties! One to celebrate Twilight getting into Wendigo, and for this awesome race! Oh, I’ll make a cake version of both of your cars!”

“Pinkie, let’s take life one party at a time.” Twilight giggled as she patted her friend’s back.

“One party at a time?!” she outraged, but was quickly interjected by Fluttershy.

“I thought that was amazing. Even if it’s loud, it was so great to watch.” Fluttershy nodded as she climbed down to meet the two returning racers, who were already deep in conversation.

“So, ya gotta tell me. How much nitro do you have in that thing?!” Rainbow Dash begged for the answer.

“Let’s just say… absurd amounts. I honestly should get it removed before I go back on the road.” Rarity chuckled back.

“Forget that! The next time Fast Track comes over with his Porsche, smoke him!” Dash offered.

“Maybe. But get that pothole on the third turn fixed. I almost hit the thing.” Rarity pointed out before walking back to her friends.

Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her head, “Oh yeah. Keep forgetting about that.”

---

The Rainbooms decided to stick around longer than usual, each of their cars parked neatly in the not-so-neat parking lot under the stars. Applejack had started a fire in a small barrel, and Pinkie had brought marshmallows. Something she always seemed to have handly somewhere just in case.

“Hey, how do you think Twilight back in Equestria is doing?” Rainbow Dash turned towards Twilight.

“She’s still been sending letters every week. Just seems that her life never ceases to stop being exciting.” Twilight suddenly pulled her marshmallow from the fire, ablaze, “Crap! Shoot!”

As Twilight was trying to desperately blow on the marshmallow to extinguish the flames, she gave up and let it melt off the prod and into the barrel, “Another, Pinkie?”

“Sure!”

“Well, ah gotta admit. One heck of a race ya’ll put on back there.” Applejack pressed her marshmallow between two graham crackers.

“Heh, thanks.”

“Why thank you.”

The women eventually found themselves staring at the makeshift campfire, unable to bring up another topic. The fire had died down, little embers rising from the barrel as it was getting later and later into the night. At this point, they agreed to say their goodbyes.

“Well, was a blast hangin’ with ya’ll today, but ah’ gotta get up early.” Applejack got up and waved to her friends, “See ya’ll round.”

Fluttershy yawned and stretched her arms, “I think it’s getting pretty late too… goodbye everybody! That was an amazing race…”

Rainbow Dash smiled and waved her hand back at her friends as she got up as well, “Alright everyone, take care.”

With that, she stretched as one by one, her friends poured out to the parking lot, started their respective cars up, and left. Rainbow Dash put a hand to her mouth as she yawned, closing up the gate to the track, and locking up the garage. Stepping towards her Mustang, she unlocked the door and climbed inside.

“Don’t worry bud, we’ll get her next time,” she thought to her car as she put it into reverse, straightened out, and headed back out onto the road away from the raceway. Her headlights lit the way in front as she kept the speed limit, despite no surveillance around the road she was driving on.

“Ugh, why does the track have to be so far from home?” Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but mutter out loud as she came over the hill and peered at the city that crawled into view below, all of its nighttime lights illuminated. She was heading straight home for some much needed shuteye.

Reaching the city, the continuously hypnotising allure of the street lights made the shadows in her car seem to crawl towards her then snap back, though it made no difference to Rainbow’s alertness. Ahead, a traffic light turned red. She exhaled as she put her foot on the brake, drumming the fingers of her right hand on top of her steering wheel.

The light changed, but the next one down the street flipped to red. She grumbled and stopped for that one, too, waiting obediently but not patiently until it changed.

Accelerating from the light on an empty street, Rainbow Dash muttered, “Why is every red light coming up for me? I swear to god...”

She groaned as she braked for the fifth one in a row, just in time to see a motorcyclist stop in the lane beside her. The biker was clad in a black leather jacket and blue jeans, sitting astride a black Kawasaki Ninja. The windows were down in the Mustang so the cool and crisp outside air flowed into the muscle car. The red light kept the two parallel, unmoving from their idle vehicles.

The light never seemed to change. Rainbow Dash glanced down the streets to her left and right, and sure enough, there were no approaching cars. The biker was doing the same, though more urgently upon closer observation. Still, the signal refused to shift colors.

“Fuck! It’s been two minutes!” she shouted, her teeth grit. The biker turned their head towards the voice, then back to the road.

Suddenly, the helmeted head swung back to the Mustang. The concealing visor couldn’t hide the obvious fact that the rider was eyeing her. Rainbow Dash gave a bit of a glance back towards them, and noticed that the shade of red around her had turned green.

“Finally.” she accelerated away from the light, as did the motorcycle. A police car headed the opposite direction, the rider’s head turning as it went past.

And yet, there was one more red light.

“For god’s sake.” Rainbow Dash sunk herself backwards in her seat, tightening her fingers around the wheel as she came to another stop.

Rainbow Dash and the biker were still stuck together, fated to hit red light after red light. It was almost like a temporary camaraderie. The rider glanced at her gain. Rainbow Dash nodded back.

The biker twisted the handgrip, revving their bike. Rainbow Dash glanced at the stoplight. The challenge was clear.

But looking at the Kawasaki Ninja, Rainbow Dash knew that even her Mustang couldn’t compete. The motorcycle’s power to weight ratio was off the charts, it was literally one of the fastest in the world. She shook her head.

The biker revved again, all the way to the Ninja’s 14,000 RPM redline. They clearly wanted this race. It killed Rainbow Dash not to give it to them, but she wasn’t going to try it. Two losses in one day might be too much for her to bear.

Again, Rainbow Dash shook her head. The biker’s expression was impossible to read through their visor, though they looked surprised.

But that was nothing compared to Rainbow Dash’s surprise at what happened next. The rider reached up to the back of their neck, under the high collar of their leather jacket, and pulled out a wave of scarlet and gold hair.

The light turned green and the biker was off like a shot. Stunned, Rainbow Dash grabbed a gear and put her foot to the floor.

Comments

[Speedy Silverstreak]

I was wondering when Sunset Shimmer would show up

[Harmony light]

Sunset was just waiting her time, love the story so far can't wait to see more