Into The Track Verse

by Fast Track

Section 2 - Chapter 1: Rumble in the Jungle

Taking place in Fast Track's Universe

We find ourselves on the outskirts of the Everfree forest in the middle of the day. Along the main route path into the forest surrounds the endless wild plants, towering trees with twisted branches, and the many strange, bizarre animals who dwell within the dark jungle. Sounds of the animals' noises, big and small, could be heard echoing through the depths. Heading down the dirt road path into the forest was none other than Fast Track, the only pony brave enough (or foolish enough) to enter the forbidden forest, in search for the next fragment of the Amulet of Harmony and Discord.

"Well, what do you know?" Fast Track says as he makes his way to the entrance path. "I travel along far enough overtime, and my new 'Track Sense' leads me to another fragment." Fast trots a few meters along the path into the Everfree forest, until his senses go off the wall. He peeks ahead and sees a glowing purple object overhead, just a few steps away. "And there's the Amulet fragment right now... just sitting there... right in the middle of the road... just waiting for me to grab it..." Fast feels hesitant to go over, for this scenario felt a little too simple. He slowly tips over to the fragment, making sure he takes notice of everything around. "It's quiet, too quiet. Why do I get the feeling that this situation is too easy?"

As Fast Track trots over, his left front hoof trips a thin wire that loosens a rope near a tree and causes the sound of gears to grind. "Uh-oh! That could only mean one thing" Fast Track looks above his head and notices a giant wooden cage careening towards him and quickly leaps out the way. "IT'S!" Fast then hears the sound of darts whistling in the wind, shooting at him at high speeds. Fast quickly ducks and slides under the poison darts' trajectory. "A!" Fast then notices a patch of large, loose forest leaves bunched together over the path. As he reached the edge of the pile, the leaves fall down revealing a dug up hole with rusty nail spikes at the bottom. In quick reaction, he jumps over the pit. "TRAP!"

When Fast makes it to the other side of the last trap, he falls face first on the dirt, inches away from the fragment he was tracking before just right in front of his eyes. Fast Track takes a deep breath of relief after that adrenaline rush, "Whew, well, glad that's over." Then out of nowhere, a small metal rod that looked similar to a garden sprinkler popped out from underneath the fragment, and pointed it's nozzle at Fast Track's face. "Oh, come on!" he exclaims in extreme frustration. A red mist was released from the rod nozzle, causing Fast to blackout.

As Fast Track looses consciousness, a figure walks towards him over to where he once stood. The only thing he saw were yellow hooves as they walked along the dirt road, the last thing he could hear was a hazy voice. "Rest now my prey, for when you wake up, we will begin the hunt!"

*****

Time passed as Fast Track slowly begins to come to as he laid on the forest ground. A faint voice in his ear begins to be heard, "Fast Track, wake up! Please, can you hear me?!" As Fast wakes up, he recognizes it as Princess Celestia voice in his head. "You have to get out of there now!" Celestia whales trying to get Fast Track to get up again.

As he begins to open his eyes to see where is, he has the feeling that drops of water are running down his face. Fast Track's eyes are halfway open, he uses his front hoof to wipe the water off his face to examine what it was. The water on his hoof was slightly green and smelled like bog water. "What is this stuff?", he whispers to himself. As he checks his hoof, a sudden growl could be heard. Fast Track's eyes are now fully open as he slowly turns his head upwards to see where that noise and strange water was coming from. He looks up and sees a gigantic, drooling cragadile peering at him. It stared at him with a deep menacing look, and drooled over his body as if it was ready to maw on him for a snack.

Fast Track freezes in place from pure fright from what he sees. "Maybe, if I'm silent and stay perfectly still, it won't respond and go away." Fast thinks to himself trying to re-ensure that he might make it out of here alive. Then suddenly, the huge cragadile opened up it's enormous mouth letting out a huge roar that felt like it shook the ground. As it let out it's roar, Fast caught a glimpse of it's layered teeth and green drool flying at him. Fast immediately started screaming like a little scared girl, as he knew he was about to be eaten. "AHH! My idea was stupid!"

Suddenly, from just above Fast Track's head, a mysterious figure leaped down from the trees, screaming "YEE-HOO!" with great excitement. He landed directly on top of the cragadile's head with enough force cause a huge THUD sound to be heard and knock the beast out cold. As the beast went down, Fast Track's petrified face looked up to see what mysterious pony just saved him from certain death. "Oh yeah, this cragadile didn't know what hit him. Literally!" The stallion said triumphantly as he stood atop the cragadile's head. The mysterious stallion turned around to face Fast Track, as he still laid there from what he just witnessed. He saw a yellow coated earth pony with a black mane, a yellow & black tail, a puffy patch of chest hair, and a bold-black-manly mustache on his face. The stallion came down from the beaten cragadile , and lend his hoof to Fast Track. "Hey there, the name's Dustykatt, Dustykatt Rhoades!"

Fast's jaw dropped from the shear implausible feat he'd just witnessed. He began to mutter, "W-w-what... w-what happened?!" As he tried to make sense of everything that just happened. "How did you do that?"

"What, this? It was nothing." Dustykatt said as he helped Fast off the ground and put his jaw back into place. "Would be a real shame if somthin' bad happened to ya. Wouldn't want you dying so early without a bit of a challenge now, am I right?"

Fast shock his head in confusion, then tried to speak. "I'm sorry, come again. 'Dying too early', 'A challenge'?! Did you expect me to be out here about to be eaten by some wild, feral beast?"

Dustykatt smirked as Fast was pondering 'bout the situation. "Yeah, pretty much. Who did you think put you into this place anyway?"

Fast Track's eyes widened from the shock of what he'd heard. "Wait a minute, you set up those traps on the forest path? You knocked me out cold? You dragged me out here to this place?!" Fast looked around to view his surroundings, seeing nothing else but trees and leaves for miles. "Where am I by the way?"

"Why you're in my very own personal hunting reserve, my good boy." Dustykatt said with a joyous expression. "Acres upon acres of the Everfree forest I've reshaped and crafted with my own hooves into my very own dangerous paradise! Filled to brim with wild creatures, deadly traps, and even my very own thunder-dome! What do ya think?"

"I think you're nuts!" Fast said with mad enthusiasm. "How do you even shape the Everfree forest into a hunting reserve? I mean, I know your 'The manliest brony in the world', but even I find this hard to take in."

Dustykatt chuckled at Fast Track's question. "I was hoping you would ask me that, and the answer is with this." Dusty holds his hoof out to Fast Track as he reveals a piece of the Amulet of Harmony & Discord, it shined bright in Dustykatt's grasp. "This tiny purple gem piece that I found lying about the forest amplified my already excessive, testosterone filled power to unimaginable levels. Enough to allow me to create 'The manliest hunting reserve in the world!'

Fast Track saw the amulet fragment, the same size and shape that he saw coming through the forest path. Princess Celestia's voice is soon heard in Fast Track's head, "Fast Track, that's the amulet you've been looking for! It's unstable magic has corrupted his mind, you must get it out of his possession!"

"Hey!" Fast tried to grab it out of Dustykatt's front hooves as fast as he could, but Dusty simply pulled it back before Fast could touch it. "That doesn't belong to you, give me that!" Fast demanded as he looked at Dustykatt with a stern look in his eyes.

Dustykatt grinned maniacally, "So sorry, but finders, keepers," he said sarcastically as he waved the jewel just out of Fast Track's reach. "If you want this precious little gem, you'll have to take it from me." Dustykatt then leaped several feet in the air onto a tree branch. "If you believe you're man enough, head westward to reach my thunder-dome to face me and to claim your prize. But you'll first have to through miles of forest and jungle, with danger lurking around every corner." Dustykatt turned around made his way through the forest atop the tree branches. "Good luck, kid. You'll need it!"

As Dustykatt vanishes through the trees, Fast yells at him, "Hey, I'm not finished you! I want that fragment!" Fast speeds off in the direction that Dustykatt was heading. Unaware of his newfound surrounding or where he was going, within seconds Fast Track finds himself out of the neck of the forest and at the edge of a cliff near a waterfall. "Woah, Nelly!" He immediately stops himself from running off and over, the force of his momentum breakage caused a trail of dirt mounded skid tracks to be formed behind him. He finally stopped himself, just inches away from the edge. "That was too close."

After the sudden stop, Celestia's voice is soon heard, "Fast Track, you must be extra cautious. The Everfree forest is already a strange and dangerous environment, but with Dustykatt's influence on the area, it's a near death trap!"

"How am I suppose to find Dustykatt and the fragment again when this entire forest is covered in booby traps?" Fast says worryingly as he scopes the surroundings of where he is.

"You still have the ability to sense the fragments' magic with your, uh... 'Track Sense'," Celestia says with a sarcastic tone remembering how childish that phrase sounded, "Dustykatt is sure to still have the amulet fragment in hoof, so you can follow his trail, find where he's hiding and take back the fragment."

"Right," Fast Track said reassuringly, "I remember him saying he was going west to his thunder-dome, so I'm heading..." Fast pauses, then continues, "Uh, your highness, which way is west again?"

"Straight ahead of you, Fast Track."

Fast looks ahead of himself, only seeing the huge waterfall next to the cliff he had almost ran off of. "Well, I don't think I can jump that." Fast says concerned. Then there was a sudden sound of brushing leaves and cracking twigs coming from behind Fast Track within the forest. Fast Track looks back as he hears a growl coming from bushes. A pair of glowing green eyes were seen inside the darkness of the forest, and the sound of clacking wood followed by the growls that was heard earlier. From out the shrubbery was a pack of timber wolves surrounding Fast near the cliff, hounding towards him. "Oh no, timber wolves!" He backs up to the edge of the cliff, as his back hoof misses the cliff's edge, he looks back down to see the river the waterfall was pouring into. He looks back at the timber wolves slowly cornering him. "Well, it's either a leap of faith, or pony buffet?" As the the timber wolves begin to get the jump on him, Fast Track turns and dives off the cliff, falling several stories towards the river below, screaming the entire ways down. "AHH! This idea was also stupid!"

*****

Time passed as Fast Track made his way along down the river from the waterfall he fell off of to escape the pack of timber wolves. He was soaked through his fur coat and still shaken from the fall that he miraculously survived. Despite the setback, it didn't slow him down from his goal. He kept following the river leading westward deeper into the jungle, hoping to catch up to Dustykatt and retrieve the amulet fragment from him. As he followed the flow of the river, a familiar feeling to him was felt in his body. "Hey, I'm getting that feeling again. I think it might be the amulet fragment!" Fast leaves the river, cuts through a few trees and bushes, and comes across another dirt road. Fast looked along the road he'd found and saw that the path was leading toward a giant dome shaped building with a metal cage on it's top. "Hmm, I'm gonna take a wild guess, and say that's the thunder-dome?"

As Fast Track trots over to the building, his front hoof trips a thin wire that loosens another rope, the sound of gears start grinding. "Uh-no! Not again!" Right in front of Fast was a hefty sized rock hanging from a jungle vine, swinging swiftly towards Fast Track's face. "Whoa!" Fast ducks down to get out of the way, as the rock swings above and past Fast Track's head. Once it passed, Fast got back up and was surprised that he was untouched. "Ha! You missed me! Guess 'the manliest brony in the world' couldn't make anymore decent traps." Meanwhile, the same rock attached to the swinging vine made it's way up to a flash-bee hive and knocked it out of the branches. It landed on the path behind Fast Track and broke open in half. "What was that sound?" Fast stopped from his walk towards the thunder-dome to see what that noise was. As he looked behind him, a giant swarm of flash-bees started pouring out of the broken hive and pointed their attention at Fast. Fast Track did a nervous gulp, and said, "Well, this definitely stings (No pun intended)."

Fast starts running toward the dome, trying to get ahead of the angry swarm of flash-bees flying after him. As he makes his way through the jungle, a few of the bees begin to sting Fast Track in the face, in the back, and in the flank. "Ow! Get off of me!" he yells in burning pain. Fast Track sees a large door entering the inside of the caged dome, he runs inside and slams the doors behind him making sure that the bees don't follow. Fast takes a deep breath of relief as he tries to catch his breath, "Oh, I can't believe it, I'm still alive!" Fast Track's fur coat was covered in dirt, loose leaves, and bee stings that burned his skin, but he was still up and running. The moment of relief soon ends when Fast sees the inside of Dustykatt's thunder-dome. As he entered the center of the dome, he was surrounded by giant steel walls with torches lighting up the arena, while above his head was a giant iron cage, aged with rust and jungle vines. As Fast entered the arena, he yelled out, "Hey Dustykatt, I'm here now, so show yourself!"

"Well, well, well..." An echoing voice said in a snarky tone, that was heard just above Fast Track's. Fast had suddenly got a strange sensation going through his body, as he felt the presence of the amulet's magic, only even stronger than it ever was before. "Look who decided to show up." He looked above and saw the stallion he had seen before hanging by his own mustache at the top of the caged dome. Dustykatt looked down at Fast as he looked back at him and said, "Please, don't mind me, I was just practicing my chin-ups." Dustykatt unhinged himself from the top of the iron barred cage and leaped toward the ground below. He landed on the floor with enough force to cause the ground to crater & rumble under his hooves. He looked up to face Fast Track in front of him. His eyes began to emit a purple, misty aura. The sclera in his eyes changed to black. There was definitely something wrong with Dustykatt. "So, seems you were man enough to survive the dangers of my hunting reserve. But are you ready to face 'the manliest brony in the world'?!" Dustykatt took the opportunity to flex his muscles and admire himself in different poses.

Fast dusts himself off trying to get the excess dirt and leaves off his body, then says, "Oh yeah, I'm ready! Show me what you got!"

Dustykatt chuckles maniacally and says, "With pleasure." Dusty begins to charge at Fast Track, stampeding like an elephant. He collides with Fast and pushes him to the walls of the arena. He takes a few hits at Fast Track's face and Fast takes some shots at Dustykatt, but he either avoided the hits or barley budged. Dustykatt then knee jabs him in the stomach. As Fast goes down, Dustykatt's mustache turns into the shape of a fist and uppercuts Fast right in the jaw. Dustykatt takes a step back and tells Fast, "Come on boy, I was expecting you to put up more of fight."

Fast Track get's back up, trying to gain his breath, and tries to get out of the cornered spot. He then hears Celestia's voice in his head, "He is too strong and too quick for you, Fast Track. You cannot beat him with brute force alone."

"How else can I beat him?" Fast says while trying to dodge Dusty's swings, "He is using his own mustache as a weapon, his manliness is off the charts!"

"You have to be clever, use his strength against him."

"Use his strength against him?" Fast Track takes a quick look at his surroundings, trying to find something that could help him in this fight. As he does, Dustykatt takes another charge at Fast Track, sending him to the other side of the arena wall. As his body is on the wall, Fast Track notices the hanging torch mounted on the wall right next to him. He suddenly gets an idea, "That's it!" He turns head to Dustykatt as he pinned Fast to the wall. "Hey Dustykatt, your mustache is pretty impressive, though not as much as your mother's!"

Dustykatt scowls at Fast Track's remark, "Oh, now you've crossed the line, my little pony!" Dustykatt took a step back as his mustache starts to tense up, getting ready to strike. "I'm gonna make you regret messing with the manliest brony in the world!" Within that instance that he was free, Fast Track grabs the lit torch hanging from the wall. As Dustykatt's mustache comes in for the punch, Fast uses the torch to set it ablaze. "Noooo!!! My mustache, my beautiful mustache!!!" As Dustykatt's mustache burns away in front of him, a familiar jewel drops from the bushel of burning hair.

Fast Track looks down to see the amulet fragment out of Dusty's grasp. "Now that looks like it doesn't belong to you!" In a quick reaction, Fast makes a dive for the fragment on the ground.

Before Fast could touch the amulet shard, Dusty stops Fast Track's hoof with his hoof. "Oh no you don't!" Dustykatt turns around and throws Fast over his shoulder and tosses him to the far end of the arena where the entrance door was. The force was enough to send Fast Track's body through the door and out of the thunder-dome. Dustykatt picks up the fragment with his free left hoof and follows Fast Track out the door. He peers around the open entrance, looking for a trace of where Fast Track ran off to. "Alright you little mustache-burning varmint, you better show yourself now or else I promise you won't make it out of this jungle alive!"

There is a voice in the distance of the thick jungle, "Come and get me, tough guy. I'm over here!" The voice immediately got the attention of Dustykatt, as he followed the trail.

Dustykatt soon finds himself on the main path through the Everfree forest looking for where that sound originated. "I'm gonna hunt you down and then skin ya like a rabbit!" Dusty shouted out, searching for Fast Track.

"No need," Fast Track's voice said. Dustykatt looks upwards and sees Fast sitting on a tree branch with vine-tied rock between his hooves. "You've already fallen into MY trap!" Fast Track throws the rock and let's it rapidly swing towards Dustykatt's head.

"Whoa, hey!" Dusty ducks down as the rock swings above and past his head. Once it passed, Dusty got back up and looked back at Fast up on the tree branch. "Ha! You missed me! Did you actually think I would fall for one of my own traps?"

"Wait for it..." Fast Track says with a suspenseful tone.

Meanwhile, the same rock attached to the swinging vine made it's way up to the half-broken flash-bee hive from before and knocked it out of the branches where Fast had placed it. The hive tipped over as it fell atop of Dusty's head, cover him in a sticky coat of flash-bee honey. "What is this?!" Dusty takes a lick at his cheek where some of it landed and takes a taste. "Is this... honey?" Confused, Dusty looked back up at Fast Track, "What was this suppose to accomplish?"

"Wait for it..."

Suddenly, in the distance, the sound of an angry swarm of flash-bees could be heard making their way towards Fast & Dusty. Dustykatt turns around to see the group of flash-bees darting at his honey covered body with their stingers out. "Oh boy, this is gonna sting (No pun intended)." While still high up in the branches, Fast Track could only watch as the flash-bee sting away on Dustykatt, occasionally shielding his eyes from what he saw, but still could hear Dusty's screams, "Ahh!... Ouch!...No!...Mercy!..." Dusty races through the Everfree forest trying to outrun the bees, leaving the amulet fragment behind on the ground.

"Well, well, well..." Fast Track boasts as he drops down from the trees, "Looks like the hunter has become the hunted." Fast Track chuckles as he picks up the shard that Dusty dropped. "Your highness, I do believe that this is yours." The amulet fragment is then teleported out of Fast Track's hooves and back to Princess Celestia.

"Well done, Fast Track. I must say, that was some clever quick wit on your part." Celestia's voice says with a cheerful tone. "But the hunt for the jewel fragments is not yet over!"

"Hey, I was going to say that!"