Road Racing: The Goliath Pt.1
If you no longer go for a gap that exists,
you are no longer a racing driver.
~Ayrton Senna
The Goliath awaits you.
4:45pm
The sound of various bits and bobs being shuffled around was evident throughout every car, trying it's hardest to drown out the hum of engines and activity that filled the encapsulating Silverstone air. From Zone 15 it was even more obvious to the Horizon Racing Team, who were currently working on making their exit.
Once the three o'clock track session wrapped up about fourty minutes later, the group had little in the way of things to do. Twilight had made sure to see every car on display, which meant that most of her friends did too.
Thankfully, the event offered a few more stands of various products and keepsakes in the same place that Twilight had purchased her little gift for Luke from. Some had keyrings and air fresheners, some had model cars. Others had Ford themed clothing items and a few were selling performance mods.
It wasn't until getting back to her Ford GT, with two large bags in tow, that Twilight realised she had almost nowhere to store the things she bought.
"I think we're set, is there anything left to pack?" Luke asked aloud, pulling the boot of his Focus RS down.
"All good boss!" Maverick called from the Horizon Racing Team van.
Twilight flicked the passenger door of her recently acquired Ford GT shut and looked at the surrounding vehicles, there was a small yet noticeable exodus towards the bridge out of the complex. Fords trickled their way out and onto the surrounding motorways or sideroads, hoping to beat the evening traffic that was soon to clog up junctions by leaving an hour early. She turned back to the inner area, grandstands and banners still waving proudly in the gentle summer breeze. Grass patches were starting to show more green than orange or blue at this point, a sign that it was also her time to go.
"Fine over here! I'm ready now," Twilight replied, having unceremoniously shoved her bags in the passenger footwell. She turned for one last look across the track grounds before sliding the GT's driver door open and climbing in. It took minimal effort of course, being made from the lightest carbon fibre and alcantara. She nestled into the snug bucket seat, hoping it wouldn't be too harsh on the long drive back to the Festival.
Alright, let's do this.
With a push, the car once again fired up a guttural grumble that settled to an idle tone a moment later, Twilight flicked the right paddle to engage first gear. She looked to her fellow racers in their cars for a mental headcount. Luke was there, Maverick too, Haley, the girls...
"Wait, where's Lewis?" she asked into the radio.
The radio crackled with Luke's response. "He's flying out to Mexico tonight, had to dip a little bit earlier. He told me to say thank you for such a fun day and wishes you guys well!"
Well, can't argue with that, Twilight concluded.
One by one, the group set off. Luke naturally took the lead, with Haley tailing close behind in the green Fiesta. The girls zippered themselves into the middle while Twilight took up the rear with Maverick. Down the ramp they went, leaving their perch atop Zone 15 for the lower asphalt and pulling left towards the main roundabout, passing the remaining scatter of track cars and showbuilds.
Twilight swung through the roundabout to the third exit, following behind Fluttershy in her Spec 5 Mustang. The central straight lead them past the special displays, now just a slightly compacted grass area.
It was a day incredibly well spent, and one that wouldn't be forgotten by any of the group for a long time. Twilight vowed to seek out events like this when she got back home, even if they weren't Ford exclusive. Something about the thrill of blasting around a track was just so captivating!
They eventually all made it to the main gate, passing through the car park and finally onto actual roads, a two way junction laid bare before them. The convoy snaked right, blasting by a few eager photographers that had set up curbside.
The shorth stretch of road came to an overpass over a busy motorway below, which was exactly where they were going. Luke signalled another right, slipping his Focus over to the A43 on-ramp that made it's way down. It didn't take long for the rest of the team to follow suit, their destination being almost halfway back up the country.
Twilight flipped her indicator and signalled out, finally on motorway proper. She snuggled back in the drivers seat, squeezing as much comfort out of it as humanly possible. The occasional chassis rattle would send jolts up her spine, signifying a bumpier ride than expected.
Hmm, Comfort Mode should solve that little problem.
Two and a half miles later, the A43 merged into the A5. A quick look at the centre screen showed that it was pretty much straight for the next five miles, and looking ahead showed it was devoid of cars. There was just one problem however, the roads were awfully thin. Twilight decided to hold back on being a speed demon for the time being.
She thought back to the first time she had asked Luke for a race, only to get absolutely demolished by his blasted Focus. They only came with three-hundred horsepower normally, right?
It clicked. Back at the Festival! Twilight swore she remembered hearing something about eleven-hundred horsepower, but wasn't paying attention.
She whipped the radio from the dashboard and spoke into it. "Luke, I forgot to ask. How much power is that Focus putting down again?"
"Oh, about a thousand and ninety-five, why?" Luke nonchalantly responded.
Twilight locked her grip on the steering wheel, caught between focusing on the road and trying to wrack her brain around that ludicrous figure.
"S.. So back at the Festival, that was..." she asked, incredulous.
"Yeah, eleven-hundred was the target, but five off isn't that bad in my book."
Taking a deep breath, Twilight refocused on the road ahead. The A5 was starting to widen up, and she could see a roundabout with a junction labelled 'M1' not too far off in the distance. She recalled the sheer length of that particular motorway, almost two hundred miles.
It was gonna be a long trip back to the festival.
7:00pm
Twilight let out a relieved sigh as she left the junction that signified the end of the M1 motorway, one hundred and twenty three miles from where she and the group first pulled onto it. She desperately wanted to look down at the satnav on the console screen, displaying how long it would take before they reached the Festival again.
I shouldn't, but maybe a peek won't hurt...No, Twilight, you don't want this to feel any longer than it needs to, don't look for the love of—
Three hours. Three. Hours. Left.
She cursed her eyes for betraying her. It wasn't that Twilight didn't like driving for long stretches, it was that motorway driving was just so boring and kept her from letting loose on the throttle. Going sixty on semi-busy roads was nothing compared to thrashing up the racetrack in a mix of adrenaline and excitement.
The radio started to spit static, something that had only happened a few times within the last two hours, Sunset came through the other end. "There's a service station up ahead, you guys up for a quick stop off?"
"Yes," Twilight groaned into her receiver. "I need to stretch my legs for a bit, got a severe case of numb butt syndrome over here."
Sunset signalled over to the left lane, followed shortly by Applejack and Haley, then Twilight. The rest of the group continued up the motorway in the right lane, though Twilight didn't expect them to get that far.
The now-quartet of cars rolled into the service station forecourt, which was surprisingly deserted for a Sunday evening. Twilight expected it to be busy with activity, being on a busy motorway and all, but was met with the odd car or two dotting the forecourt as she stopped beside one of the gas pumps.
She pushed the drivers door up, a small smile across her face at how the GT was becoming slightly easier to get in and out of, now that she had more experience. Twilight made her way around to the other side of the car, popping open the gas cap and reaching for the pump labelled 'Petrol'.
Twilight held the nozzle in place, occasionally checking to make sure she didn't overfill the tank as she jumped back into another session of just thinking. She couldn't help but look up from the car, noticing that beyond the wooden fence that surrounded the service station was a sight of plush, green countryside hills. Twilight didn't know exactly what it was, but she could feel a sense of warmth spark within her at such a view, a sense of belonging, staying here, in Britain.
Belonging. That was a word that hadn't come up in all of her introspective self-debates on what to do once the time to leave came... If it came at all.
The nozzle in Twilight's hand gave a short buzz, prompting her to focus her eyes back to the forecourt. As she reflexively pulled back, she noticed Haley looking at her from where she was filling Luke's Fiesta up.
"Are you okay, Twilight?" Haley asked, concern webbed into her tone.
Twilight nodded as she placed the pump back into it's location, flicking the GT's gas cap shut. "I'm fine, just spaced out a little. It's... A nervous habit."
Haley frowned a bit. "Is it the upcoming race?"
"Sort of," Twilight admitted with a sigh, though that was hardly the main reason. "What comes after is the problem, there's no telling if we'll be able to go home after it."
Haley looked confused for a split second, before realisation crossed her face. "I remember Luke saying something about that, that you all came from someplace else, right?"
They were walking across the forecourt by now, over to the door of the small shop kiosk to pay for their topped-up tanks. Haley held the door for Twilight as they both entered the shop. Sunset and Applejack were still filling up, given their choice of cars it wasn't too surprising.
"Thank you," Twilight politely said, stepping through the door. "Yes, this world was actually a video game I was playing when we all got sucked in, quite literally. It was jarring at first, but I've grown used to it by now."
Haley made no attempt to hide her intrigue, eyebrows raising at such exciting information. "That's so cool!" she replied with a smile. It soon turned to thoughtfulness as she continued. "So you think that winning the Goliath will be enough to take you girls home?"
Twilight stopped for a moment, letting her pass, that pretty much was her current theory, save for a few ones that were less than desirable. She eventually said, "Yes, I do. But without proper evidence, I can only theorise. That's the scientific way, of course."
Haley had a slightly knowing grin, glancing back at Twilight at she walked up to the counter and paid for both Pump 1 and 2. It took a second for Twilight to realise Haley paid for them both, rather than just her own petrol. She felt a heat rise to her cheeks before starting with, "Oh! Do you want me to pay you back or—"
Haley quickly waved a hand as she started for the door again. "Don't worry about it! The Festival has a whole budget for gas costs. Now, tell me more about this place you came from..."
The pair made their way back out to the station forecourt, Twilight happily explaining just where her and the girls came from and how they'd ended up at Horizon Britain, what Canterlot City was like, though she failed to mention most of the magical stuff.
"So I take it you're a science girl?" Haley asked after Twilight caught herself just about to delve into a lecture on some theoretical science.
"Yeah, I—"
A shrill whistle came from the third gas pump, where Applejack was already back in her trusty Ford Escort, though it was Sunset that spoke from the fourth pump at the far end.
"Yo, we're ready to roll, you guys coming or what?" she hollered.
Twilight and Haley shared a glance, they'd really gotten carried away with what was meant to be a quick stop for gas. They both walked over to their cars, though Twilight stopped short of opening the GT's door and continued with what she was going to say.
"I am, in fact, a science girl. What made you ask?" she implored with a playful smirk.
Haley turned to look at Twilight from inside the green Fiesta, hand on the key. "Degrees in engineering and physics, though any sort of science is interesting to me. If you're sticking around the Festival, I might have a few projects that could use your help!"
Getting back into her GT, Twilight pondered over such a thought. Engineering and physics must mean something physical, something big, something that just screams 'Horizon Festival' in every possible sense.
There was a small part of her that wanted to stick around for that, maybe.
7:25pm
"How far behind are you guys?" Maverick's voice rang through the radio. Despite everyone hearing it, it was directed at four specific people.
"Ten miles still," Sunset called a second later.
Ten miles? How fast was she going, one-twenty, one-thirty? Twilight honestly wasn't sure anymore.
"We woulda' been nearer your tail if a certain couple of girls didn't spend ten minutes chattin' at the gas station," Applejack statically quipped.
Haley came through next, "We've already said sorry!"
"Relax, guys, we've all kinda split up here anyway. Luke is blasting up the motorway with Fluttershy to avoid the rain, I don't even know where Dash is though." Maverick responded.
"You're telling me there's rain?!" Dash almost instantly called back, Twilight could only imagine what rain would do to her early-70s bucket-on-wheels.
For the last fifteen minutes, Twilight, Haley, Applejack and Sunset had been absolutely flooring it up the motorway. In the interests of group safety, and mainly Applejack's Escort having a lower top speed, Twilight had limited herself to about a hundred miles an hour for the majority of it, weaving by the occasional car that was on their way home from a nice weekend getaway.
Still, with a gap of ten miles between the four of them and the rest of the group, Twilight desperately wanted to go faster.
8:30pm
Rain, rain, go away, lock yourself in the pits of hell and never, ever bother me again. Twilight thought to herself, although it wasn't as bad as she was making it out to be.
A fresh wave of droplets blanketed her GT's sloped windscreen, blurring her ability to see through. Okay, maybe it was as bad as she was making it out to be. Most of them thankfully slid straight off due to this lovely thing known as aerodynamics. Despite that, the sheer amount of downpour was starting to worry Twilight, some of the cars really weren't built for torrential rain!
All the members of the convoy had pulled into another service stop around eight o'clock, grabbing some snacks for the last leg of the journey before they made their way back out onto the seemingly endless stretch of motorways.
It only took until quarter past for the rain to start absolutely pissing it down, in Luke's own words. Twilight couldn't help but chuckle at that, his and Fluttershy's frantic bid to escape it not working in their favor at all.
9:00pm
Twilight could just make out the sign that read, 'Edinburgh - 40 miles' through the ever-decreasing sunlight and ever-increasing wetness. She estimated it would take just under fifty minutes to actually reach the Festival at their speed, since the rain had no intention of letting up.
It also had every intention of making sure the group radios stopped working, too.
With no group banter to drown it out, Twilight quickly found the sounds of water pounding down on her car quite irritating. She flicked through a few of the infotainment offerings the centre screen had, one of them being a music app. Much to her surprise, a few of the songs from the Forza Horizon 3 soundtrack were queued up from the Pulse Playlist. Twilight happily tapped the play button on Tied To You and settled in for the last leg of the journey, letting the nostalgia of her first Forza game push back the sound of wind and wet weather.
9:45pm
The last song in the Block Party Playlist came to an end as the Horizon Racing Team found themselves back on familiar roads, slowly making their way through the village of Broadway, though it currently felt more abandoned than anything else. Thankfully, the Festival's copious amount of strobe lights were like an unobstructed beacon for the group to follow, just off in the distance.
Twilight didn't need to see that 'the windmill' was sat atop the hill to her left as she passed along the bend below it at a crawl, not that she could with how dark it was, all she could do was focus on the car ahead of her, Sunset's GT500. The sun had set more than half an hour ago, leaving the landscape shrouded in a fairly thick vale of darkness, only made worse by the rain that still wasn't letting up.
Haley and Maverick had shuffled to the rear of the pack just before the convoy reached the end of the motorway, the long, seemingly unending motorway that everyone was happy to finally be off of.
As the group passed by a sign that pointed to the Horizon Festival's south entrance, Haley's Fiesta and Maverick's team van banked a right onto the road leading to it, they'd drop off the vehicles and then head home for a well deserved rest. They both sounded off beeps of thanks, which the now eight-strong convoy happily returned.
It was a seemingly familiar yet eerie drive up towards Tarn Hows, consisting of only a few turns, allowing most everyone to take relief in the fact that they were only a few minutes away from Luke's mansion. They crossed through Ambleside as quietly as possible, the narrow village streets also desolate, though a couple of lights were on in houses that were passed.
It didn't take long before the girls could spot the dirt road that branched to Luke's mansion, happily trading tarmac for mud, sleep was just around the corner!
The cars filed into the driveway, one by one lining up until all eight were sat under the house spotlights, engines beginning to wind down and the rain becoming once again evident. Luke climbed out first and ran for the front door, key prepped in hand. Luckily managing not to slip in his mad dash, he shoved it open. Light from the foyer spilled out as he beckoned with a hand, signalling for the girls to run as well.
Sunset leapt out first, as did Rainbow Dash, pushing their car doors firmly shut before making their way inside. Rarity and Applejack went next, soon followed by Fluttershy, who almost slipped up before Pinkie Pie caught her from behind.
Twilight's attempt was made just that little bit harder by the butterfly door she had to contend with. She wrenched it open, sparing a quick glance to all of the merch she'd shoved into the passenger footwell. I'll grab it in the morning, she decided.
She ran for dear life, pushing an arm up in a feeble attempt to try and block out the rain. It only lasted a couple of seconds before she burst through the open door, landing square on the welcome mat. Luke quickly slammed the door shut, though Twilight wondered how he, anyone, still had energy after the day they'd had.
They shared a brief moment of silence, weary from such a journey. Sunset was the first to break it as she said, "So, that was pretty fun, right guys?"
"Sure was, sugarcube," Applejack tiredly replied, stretching her arms. "I gotta say, all that drivin' will have me sleeping til' midday tomorrow."
"I don't blame you," Rainbow Dash quipped, pushing a hand to her mouth to stifle a yawn.
Luke did the same before saying, "I definitely don't, I think we all deserve a day to just chill." He pushed his hands out in a mock 'chillax, bro' motion, "Any ideas for tomorrow?"
Oddly enough, Twilight didn't feel all that fatigued. Sure, her wrists felt practically hollow and her ankles felt like they could fall off at any second, but she felt quite happy in saying that her idea of chilling was driving. She furrowed her brow, contemplating what they could do after a cross-country venture that took them to one of the best racetracks in the world, not much could beat that.
Her mind turned to Edinburgh, she'd yet to fully explore the city. After being rudely interrupted by a certain someone, not once but twice, she felt like finishing it off her bucket list wasn't such a bad idea.
While Twilight was still pondering the question, Luke seemed to have gotten no answers from the others, "Okay, we'll figure out something tomorrow." He yawned again, already making his way for the master bedroom, "I'm definitely off to bed, night guys."
The girls all chimed back with goodnights of their own before turning to the stairs, leading to their temporary bedroom. Not even Pinkie wanted to stay awake for any longer, hopping into her bed and almost instantaneously starting to snore. Twilight guessed it took no more than three seconds.
Monday
9:00am
The sound of birds chirping could be heard ever so softly through an open window, the occasional rustle of a tree mixed within, which was pretty standard fare for a usual morning soundtrack.
No, the odd part was being unable to hear the distinct splattering of rain droplets from the night before.
Twilight almost forced her eyelids open, staring up at the ceiling as light streamed in from said window. She turned a groggy head towards it, still laid down on the bed, seeing that the weather outside was most definitely clearer than it was.
That gave her some energy to spring out of bed, and she briefly wondered if she was a plant that was currently photosynthesising...
Okay, maybe not.
Knocking the goofy thought aside for a moment, Twilight trudged over to the window and glanced down to the gathering of Fords that were parked haphazardly on the front driveway, making a mental note to go and grab the stuff she'd bought at Silverstone soon.
She swiveled back to the room, noticing that everyone was still asleep, as she glanced to the clock hanging above the door which read exactly nine in the morning, slowly ticking over into the first minute. Twilight contemplated waking the girls up, but graciously let them have a few extra hours in bed as she tiptoed towards the door, slipping through it and into the hallway without a sound.
The first thing she heard was the familiar buzz of a television in the living room below as she made her way downstairs, finding Luke intently typing away on a laptop while the morning news played in the background.
Twilight walked over a particularly creaky floorboard as she stepped into the room, alerting Luke to her presence. His eyes flicked up to her for a moment before dropping back down to the laptop, resuming the clacking of keys.
"Morning," he said aloud.
"Good morning!" Twilight cheerfully replied, pulling herself over to a large beanbag that was plopped opposite the coffee table, Luke definitely knew how to chill.
He paused his typing for a moment, looking over at Twilight, "Got anything planned for today?"
Twilight leaned into the beanbag, propping herself up to look back, "Well, I was thinking of taking a drive up to Edinburgh, check out some other things, that kinda stuff."
Luke nodded, then gently closed the laptop lid. "You sure you'll be fine on your own?" he asked, not even needing to broach the topic of a certain someone lurking those city streets.
Twilight stiffened a little, catching on to what Luke meant by that question, but eventually relaxed. She waved a casual hand in dismissal. "I'll be fine, plus I can always call you or the girls if I need to. That's enough, right?"
Luke quietly contemplated it, staring down at the laptop, eyes unfocused from anything specific. After a moment, he said, "I guess so, I'm not going to stop you—" his eyes shifted to Twilight's, "—but please, if you get into a situation, call me, I don't want you to get hurt."
Twilight could feel her heart warm at that, she hopped up from the beanbag and said, "You have my word that I'll call you if I need to."
Satisfied, Luke pulled the laptop lid back up and resumed his clacking, "Sounds good then, I recommend checking out Arthur's Seat if you're over that way, really good views."
"Sure, I'll check it out," Twilight replied, making her way to the door. She glanced back to Luke for a moment, eyeing the laptop. "What are you actually typing? I'm curious now."
Luke groaned, swivelling the laptop towards her, showcasing a giant spreadsheet full of various numbers and charts.
"Ugh, Festival finances." he sighed.
Swiveling the steering wheel to the left, Twilight left the gates of Derwent Mansion, commencing her solo retreat up to Edinburgh for a few hours. She pulled out onto one of the dirt trails that traced along the south side of Derwent Water, meandering through farmland and fenced off fields.
With great reluctance, she kept her Apollo Intensa Emozione under thirty miles an hour, thanks to some particularly muddy patches from the night before. No use in wrecking the whole underbody from offroading, right?
Twilight banked another left, finally spotting the A591 at the end of the dirt path, increasingly becoming uncomfortable through the stiff suspension of a car which was clearly not made to offroad. A quick clutch kick and a flick of the steering wheel sent the Apollo sideways towards the road, coming off of the loose dirt and onto solid asphalt. Twilight righted the wheel and jammed her right foot down on the throttle, upshifting straight into second gear. She blasted the car forwards, topping out at one hundred and twenty miles an hour. (193 km/h)
Her foot pulled back, bringing the Apollo down to slightly safer speeds as she weaved into a light S-curve along the river, fresh light rays bouncing off of the surface.
Another S-bend awaited Twilight, and so she leaned into it with fervor. The sharpness with which the acceleration threw her body backwards threatened to send the car sideways if she wasn't careful, but Twilight kept her balance, coming out the other side unscathed.
There was no music this time, the unmistakable V12 just behind her head bringing it's own flavour of sound as the car satisfyingly downshifted, a crackling flame or two managing to escape from the exhaust. Twilight kept her eyes focused on the road, though a fork laid up ahead. She could continue on the A591 and come out at the northernmost roundabout, or she could swoop right and approach Edinburgh from the south end.
After a split second of thinking, she had her answer. Twilight applied force to the brake pedal, swinging right onto the A697 through a thick canopy of trees. The Apollo banked all the way through the apex, on the wrong side of the road, flying out of the exit point with little to no effort.
Twilight was grateful that not many people seemed to be out that morning, she'd only passed one other car since leaving Luke's place. It gave her the chance to really let the Apollo fly!
And so she did, pushing into fifth gear along Whitewater Falls, only dropping back down into fourth to clear another chicane.
The road cleared out into a longer straight, letting Twilight climb all the way up to Moorhead Wind Farm, past the siding that she'd stopped off at once before for some coffee. This time, it was more of a blur as her car reached one hundred and fifty miles an hour. She looked to the left, seeing the clusters of buildings that comprised Edinburgh City just off in the distance.
The A697 lead into a Speed Zone that paved it's way back down the hillside, the Apollo triggering it with a click! and violent thrust of acceleration as Twilight took the first corner. It was the same as a rollercoaster, especially as the brief sense of weightlessness washed over her. The Apollo lived up to it's namesake, all four wheels momentarily losing grip on the declining tarmac as the hypercar gained airtime, flying forwards at breakneck speeds.
While it was thankfully shortlived, the car came down with an almighty crash, thoroughly rattling Twilight to her core. She wrestled with the wheel for a split second, pulling back on the throttle just a little bit. She confirmed the car was stable again and soldiered on, leaning it into a wide right turn and out the other side of the Speed Zone.
Twilight chanced a glance into her side mirror to see the Zone already disappearing as the car rocketed through an overpass above the M68 Motorway, Edinburgh drawing closer and closer. She continued up the A697 until it merged into the A171, only slowing down once the 'Welcome to Edinburgh' sign came into view.
The box junction that laid ahead was thankfully empty, Twilight flicked down a gear and turned right onto the road leading to Arthur's Seat. She didn't get a chance to accelerate like a wild bull this time, coming out of the short straight into a double roundabout.
Twilight's Apollo arced left into the first roundabout, the excessive aero around the car making it a breeze, to say the least. She held that left, merging through the second roundabout with ease and swinging through to the exit on the opposite end, foot regulating the throttle.
A final pull to the left signalled the beginning of Arthur's Seat, a monumental hill overlooking the south-east of Edinburgh City. Asphalt was traded back for dirt roads, prompting Twilight to reign in her speedlust... For now.
Two bundles of wooden benches and tables were situated at the top of the hill, lined by a fence with a particularly steep drop just on the other side. As Twilight pulled her car up the incline at a crawl, she noticed a few families that were sat down, doing typical family activities. Dogs ran and played off to the left side, with a few children in awe at the views over Edinburgh, but that wasn't the interesting thing.
No, the interesting thing was a Danger Sign placed right in the middle, perfectly lined up for a shot down to the road below.
I'm not even going to question the logic...
Twilight pulled right, sidling the car up parallel to the outside decor. The engine cut out a moment later as she flicked it into Park, removing the key from the ignition. She pushed the door open and stepped out into the cool, morning air, lapping at her face through a gentle breeze that was hardly noticeable at first.
But once it was... Twilight couldn't help but feel awfully chilly. What time was it again, around nine forty-five? Goosebumps were starting to prickle up and down her exposed arms, but she steeled herself, this wouldn't take long.
Twilight moved closer to the edge, folding her arms onto the fence for support. With the morning sun at her back, Edinburgh was bathed in light like it was nobodies business, cars and ant-sized people going about their Monday mornings. The city was just coming to life, it seemed. It wasn't clear how long she lingered for, caught in the snare of such a beautiful view. Occasionally she'd turn around, noting the sunlight that was bouncing off of the other hills all around her.
As she glanced back to the city itself, Twilight bit her lip. She could admire it forever from afar, but why do that when exploring it was even better?
With that thought in mind, she snapped a couple of pictures, just because, and walked back to her Apollo, reversing it down the path before setting off for Edinburgh proper.
Trying to find parking was impossible, Twilight concluded. She'd went down easily ten or fifteen roads, and not one had a single space available. Her thoughts turned to her knowledge of a few locations that might've had free spots, only downside being that they were over the other side of the city. Hardly ideal.
Moving at a snails pace thanks to reduced speed limits, she was glancing left and right for any sort of place to leave the car for a minute. As she drove under an overpass, Twilight spotted a small siding off to the left, opposite Edinburgh Train Station. The lack of no-parking signs made any sort of reservations vanish about claiming it as hers for the moment, so she maneuvered the Apollo sideways into it, backing as close to the pavement as possible.
With a park job well done, Twilight exited the car and embraced the city itself, practically at the heart of it all. She looked around, people were filing in and out of the station just across the road, delivery vehicles came and went as they pleased, all of it coming together in a symphony of ambient background noise that only a bustling city could produce.
Twilight forced herself take a deep breath, marshalling her thoughts. Where to check out first... The castle sounded like a nice idea, hopefully it wouldn't be too crammed with visitors at ten in the morning, right?
Pressing the lock button on the Apollo's key fob, Twilight made to take in the immediate surroundings. To the rear of the car, the overpass towered a good twenty feet above, casting the area she stood in with a sizeable shadow. The densely packed buildings that lined the rest of the space didn't help much, either, the whole space was pretty dark. She wasn't too worried, however, the area was busy enough that she doubted anything bad would happen to the car.
With little else to worry about, Twilight set off for the short walk up to Edinburgh Castle, unaware of the pair of eyes that lurked out of sight, transfixed to her retreating form.
12:00pm
Two hours had went by in a flash, Twilight couldn't help but admit, a satisfied smirk evident in her expression. She had done a fair amount of stuff in that time, checked out Edinburgh Castle, ran down to the Princes Street Gardens for a walk, grabbed a bite to eat at a relatively inexpensive cafe, even taken a ride on the trams that sliced through the middle of the city. All in all, it was a decent way to spend the morning.
A small gift bag swung at Twilight's side, the straps dangling from her fingers. She made quick work of storing it safely in the passenger footwell of her chosen hypercar, before rounding back to the drivers side door, ready to cruise back over to the Festival.
Fumbling with the key in her pocket, Twilight began to pull the door open when she heard the distinct low rev of a V8 engine coming to a halt. And it was close, too close, actually.
She turned around, staring at the trio of cars that had seemingly blocked her into the space, lined up in neat formation with little wiggle room for any car to get in or out. Two of them were fairly nondescript, black BMWs from the early 2000s, Twilight wouldn't have spared them a second glance. The other, however...
The blue paintwork wasn't particularly eye-catching, being a respectable ocean colour. The thing that made Twilight's blood run cold when she glanced over to it was the series of light scratches that adorned the front bumper. The events of that night flashed through Twilight's mind, she remembered the stomach churning fear that she felt at the start, followed by a burning drive to wipe the floor with her opponent, which soon gave way to a blaze of righteous anger, her veins searing at the memory.
Truly, Twilight wasn't one to get angry, but if someone was able to figure out which buttons to push, there was a whole different side of her that they'd come to regret revealing.
That bastard in the M3 GTR just had to show up now, didn't he? she thought. Now seriously wasn't the time!
She darkly muttered a curse, though it didn't really register, Twilight could hardly hear herself as the window began to roll down, the obviously-illegal tint obscuring the driver's face from view.
In that moment, Twilight had a choice. She could either see what the deal was, and potentially find herself in an unwanted confrontation, or scramble into her Apollo and run like hell, damages be damned. She eyed the two blacked out BMWs, unable to see through the tint on them as well, typical. They were probably filled with people she didn't want to mess with.
Twilight gripped the door handle, ready to throw it open at the slightest sign of trouble. Her mind went through the motions, lean forward, yank it up, throw herself back into the seat, pull the door back down. Forward, up, back, down.
She glanced back up, and sure enough, it was none other than Danny G, a particularly snide grin radiating it's way to Twilight, a grin that said, 'I run these streets.'
Twilight was about to find out if that was true or not.
"Well, if it isn't just the one I'm looking for, where's your boyfriend at?" he hollered from his car.
The insinuation that Luke was Twilight's boyfriend caused a clear blush to spread across her face, the heat making her cheeks burn. She shuffled in place, eyes darting everywhere like she was caught in the middle of an embarrassing moment back in middle school. She took a deep breath, all but willing herself to look Danny in the eyes again.
"That's...That's not...Never mind, what do you want?" Twilight asked, trying to keep her trademark snark from entering her voice, the type that was only brought out when someone challenged her knowledge on things like quantum mechanics.
Evidently, it didn't work. Danny appraised her again from the seat of his car, wondering if she was really in any position to be the one asking that question. Twilight figured it out at the same time, her face slightly blanching. She was literally the one backed into a corner here.
"The car," Danny abruptly said, nodding to Twilight's Apollo. "Hand it over."
Twilight stood still, like hell that was going to happen. There was nothing for it, she'd have to make a speedy getaway and worry about the damages later, unless...
She took another deep breath, letting the words she was going to say form themselves into a coherent sentence. With one hand gripping the door handle, Twilight spoke.
"Could I win it back?" she asked, cringing as she waited for an answer. Ball's in his court now.
"Huh..." Danny mused, confusion wracking his face for a split second. "Sounds fair, I've an idea..."
Twilight looked up, torn between shock and anticipation. No way did that just work...
"Follow me, we've got a thing up at the strip, few laps and fastest one gets the car. Sound good?"
With little in the way of choice, Twilight responded with, "Sure, lead the way."
Danny snorted, turning back to start up his car again. It rumbled to life, as did the other two BMWs. As Twilight did the same, the rear car slid backwards, allowing her to sandwich the Apollo between it and Danny's M3.
I'm locked into it now, may as well see where this goes... Twilight thought as the group pulled away, with her stuck in the middle.
The strip, or Greendale Airstrip as Twilight knew it, was one she was admittedly unfamiliar with. The short drive over from the city centre—which was really short, only sixty seconds or so—gave her time to figure out a plan of attack. As far as she knew, the actual runway had somewhat of a service road running along the perimeter of it, which now sat abandoned and disused. It came as no surprise to Twilight that the likes of Danny and his ilk would end up taking it over.
You know...there's still every opportunity to cut and run, you won't be here to deal with them again once the race is finished, said a nagging voice in the back of Twilight's mind. It was the sensible option, and arguably the safer option, but she wasn't willing to run the risk of encountering these goons again...and have them treat her, or the others, even worse.
No, if she could sort this out, she'd do it now, and Twilight left it at that.
Pulling through a left turn, Twilight laid eyes upon the airstrip proper. The service road filtered onto the main road through a lay-by where she could see a few cars lined up on the inside, their owners milling about and chatting. The ATC tower was in need of a desperate clean, with vines and shrubbery clouding any view of it's base. The strip itself wasn't bare, covered in various cones and formations of barriers to create an impromptu drift park. Twilight had to admit, she'd love to give it a go one day.
It didn't take long for the people present to start looking up, heads turning and eyes locking onto the four-strong convoy, one of them clearly an outsider. Twilight swung into the lay-by, with no warning before she felt a sense of dread start to spill into the pit of her stomach. She could feel the crushing blow of having all eyes on her as the air in the cabin became more constricted, a feeling she hadn't felt since the Friendship Games.
Shoving those memories aside through sheer force of will Twilight jerked a hand to open the door, letting it hastily swing up and out of the way, fresh air hitting her in the face. It was good timing too, when she peeked out to look around she could see Danny making his way over.
He stopped short, eyeing the fancy door mechanism for a brief moment before speaking. "Three laps, 'round the circuit, best two win, sound good?" he asked, in an almost professional tone, far from the aggressiveness that edged its way into his voice from all the times Twilight last spoke to him, which caught her off guard. He produced a small piece of paper, which Twilight hesitantly took. Glancing down at it, she could see it was a standard satellite image of the airstrip. The service road, or circuit in this case, was outlined in red.
"Sure, sounds good," Twilight replied, handing the map back. He nodded, turning on his heel and stalking back to the M3 that was parked behind her.
The pair maneuvered their cars to the centre of the road, Twilight's Apollo on the right, while Danny's BMW lay on the left. By now, even more people had gathered around to watch the impromptu street race, a fact that Twilight easily ignored. She had gotten glimpses of this place when driving by before, but the layout was unknown.
Steeling her nerves once again, Twilight watched as one of the people off to the side made their way into the middle of the road, another early-twenties boy with scruffy brown hair. He didn't wait for any fancy theatrics to take their course, simply pointing at each car and yelling a, "Ready?!" at them.
Twilight's head almost involuntarily bobbed a nod as he pointed at her, watching intensely as the guy pushed his arms out, into an upside down V shape, three.
His arms swung up next, jabbing directly outwards into a T shape, two. Twilight could feel her fingers itching on the plush alcantara of the steering wheel, her foot flexing with a barely restrained urge to decimate Danny, his BMW, and to finally see this through.
She took a deep breath, eyes ripping back to the boy who stood ahead. His arms travelled upwards, exposed hands pointing straight to the sky as Twilight watched a one leave his lips. Her brain wracked itself over and over, her body moulded itself to the bucket seat as she looked dead ahead.
It all happened so fast. Twilight sensed his arms moving down from her peripheral vision, a blurry GO! managing to flit through the air, clear enough for her to hear. Her foot rammed the throttle down, both hands keeping the wheel stock-still as the full might of the Apollo's beating heart unleashed itself, flinging the car forwards as the race began.
Never. gets. old! Twilight thought, her middle and ring fingers snaking out to upshift the car into second. She felt the weight on her eyes, pushing them back at the G-force of such a rapid launch. A lightning fast glance to her left told her that Danny went through the same, his car neck-and-neck with hers.
Swinging out onto the road proper, Twilight kept her gaze locked to her rival, the BMW keeping pace with her Apollo no problem. Her emotions ran wild, trepidation sinking in at the fact that this wouldn't be such a cut and dry race, and if it came to it... Would she really give up such a car? Go back on her end of the supposed deal?
With no time to ponder the thought, Twilight's ears picked up the shift in engine note from the rear of the car, her fingers instinctively flicking out to push it into third gear. Facing forward again, she made sure to follow the inside line of the road, vaguely remembering that the service road would be on her right.
Another paddle flick put the car in fourth gear, the surroundings becoming an exceptional blur that threatened to take her mind off of the current task. Twilight edged out further from the inside line, gleaming a hint at the fork that laid ahead. She banked right onto the service road again, Danny hot on her heels, the BMW evident in her passenger side-view mirror.
The road curved into a hard right. Twilight rapidly downshifted to meet it in time, still eyeing the blue BMW as her car swung into the turn, blocking his ideal path. It was a small edge in her favour, though defensive racing was hardly her preferred style.
Blasting out of the apex and into a short straight, the Apollo rocketed through to third gear once again, keeping to the right. Twilight was preparing to move over when she noticed an increase in blue from the left window, twisting her neck to find Danny's M3 side-by-side with her and gaining an alarming lead. With a left turn up ahead, she knew she had just lost the ideal racing line.
Crap! Twilight chided herself mentally. She was still unsure of how much of a power advantage he had on her, if any at all, but she needed to win that lead back by the end of the lap, and keep it for the other two.
Acting on pure instinct, she filed in behind Danny for the next turn, cutting into his slipstream. It was a lighter turn this time, allowing Twilight to keep the throttle relatively pinned, moving into fourth gear as they moved into a longer straight section.
Glancing around the BMW's rear, she could see a little bit of the circuit up ahead. Someone had conveniently left tires on one side of this straight, relegating the cars to the left side. Beyond those, a stray fence split onto the road, and just beyond that...
Train tracks.
By the time Twilight remembered her past antics—letting the unstoppable Flying Scotsman mercilessly shunt her virtual car down the tracks as she laughed from her gaming chair—she was already cresting them at near on a hundred and fifty miles an hour, the Apollo's underside grazing the metal rails in a brilliant shower of sparks.
It lasted for a little under a second, much to Twilight's delight. She wrestled the wheel back into it's normal position as the car made contact again, still following Danny's slipstream.
A grunt escaped her lips as his car jerked out into the middle of the circuit, cutting off any attempts at an overtake. Twilight's knuckles turned white as she gripped the wheel with ferocity, steering the IE into a sweeping right turn. She desperately searched for an edge she could grasp onto when it clicked...up ahead should be a few construction barriers, placed in a way that narrowed the circuit width significantly.
It was a glimmer of hope, and Twilight eagerly took it. She wrenched the steering wheel left as the pair went through a short straight section, pushing the car to the outer perimeter. Danny kept his distance, swinging through the inside line.
As they both leaned into the next turn, another right, Twilight observed how the Intensa Emozione was gaining distance, growing closer to being neck-and-neck with the M3. Danny's car may have had the same—or more—power than hers did, but it struggled to place it efficiently enough in the corners.
Twilight couldn't help but crack a grin, straightening the wheel out as the two cars started onto the next straight, bright orange construction barriers on either sides just up ahead. A look to the left told her that her body was in line with the back of the BMW's bonnet, a two foot lead at the most.
Okay, here goes nothing...
She all but kamikaze'd the steering wheel rightwards, yanking the paddle up into fifth as her hypercar flew by the barriers, knocking their positions. From her peripheral vision, she could see the mass of blue BMW slowly back off, having no choice but to slam on the brakes and give the lead back to Twilight.
Won't let that happen again...defense it is, she thought.
Clearing the train tracks for a second time with careful consideration, Twilight threw the Apollo's weight around, dipping and flowing to follow the ideal racing path into the next two turns, a shallow left and hard right.
As the Apollo left the final right, Twilight came upon the gathering of spectators at the start line, blazing through and kicking off Lap Two with a decent lead, their gazes fixed at her car's arrowlike form. She glanced a look back in her mirror as the main-road section of the route took it's course, taking satisfaction in seeing Danny a few seconds behind. She looked back up just in time to see—
"Oh fuck!!"
—the big box truck coming right at her. The might of a thousand gods surged through Twilight's arms to force the steering wheel left in a flash, her foot almost crushing the brake pedal as she avoided an absolutely fatal crash by no more than an inch.
Danny's eyebrows shot up from inside the cabin of his recently tuned track weapon as he witnessed the sleek, who-knows-how-expensive hypercar somehow miss a full frontal collision with a lorry. He was already over in the left lane by the time it passed him, horn blaring in shock at the pair's reckless antics. Two thick rubber skids were now evident on the asphalt, a smattering of tire smoke clearing away as he pushed harder to whittle away at the lead Twilight had gained so far.
He couldn't help but respect such a quick reaction, the whole race would've been pointless if the car ended up half-crumpled.
Twilight ripped a hand away from the steering wheel, clenching it down hard on her chest in an attempt to stop her heart from bursting. She took in a deep breath, foot loosening on the throttle ever so slightly. A few seconds, or an eternity later, she let it back out, willing her nerves to be calm again. With a resolute thought of, I'll process it later, Twilight flexed her foot down to put the throttle back at full power.
The first corner came into sight for a second time, Twilight flipped over to the brakes as she felt the asphalt become rougher, the vibrations rattling in and around the cabin. She eased the Apollo straight through the middle of the turn, keeping up a defensive streak that was unwilling to be broken. A reflexive upshift into second allowed a moment's pause, for Twilight to gauge the upcoming straight section, something to give her more of an edge over Danny.
If I trick him into thinking he has a chance at overtaking...
Acting upon the strategy like lightning, Twilight kept the wheel firmly centered, craning her neck to see the reflections bouncing from the passenger side mirror. A haze of blue became apparent after a second, preparing to execute an overtake. As the Apollo moved into the second turn again Twilight jerked the wheel left, abruptly cutting off the opening she had deceptively left for Danny.
Twilight's eyes locked onto the driver's side mirror, watching as her competitor slammed on the brakes and wracked with the steering wheel to keep it steady. She turned her focus to the road once more, ramping the throttle up and bracing for the inevitable jump and bump that came with the railway tracks just up ahead.
Outside of the speeding carbon fibre bullet, sopping blades of grass and slippery spare tires found themselves stripped of the leftover moisture from last night's excessive rainfall. The sheer force of wind power that exuded from the two fighting vehicles was enough to shudder even the surrounding wood fencing.
The tracks came and went without issue, thankfully. Twilight lined up her next laser-focused move, flicking through to the outer edge of the track with every intention to pull off another wild divebomb through to the second half of lap two. She switched her feet, steadily applying more pressure to the brake pedal in preparation for the corner's apex.
As if an untimely ghost had crept up on her while her back was turned, the oceanic blue nemesis revealed itself on Twilight's right side, the bodywork mere inches from her skin and separated from her by only carbon and atmosphere.
It prickled at the fear deep within her. At this stage Twilight knew the implications of such a maneuver, bracing herself to swing the wheel whichever way was necessary. Her breath hitched, eyes darting to and from the car as her foot struggled to hold the throttle, the urge to fall back threatening to consume it.
Don't...you...dare... Twilight silently warned. Her eyes flickered to the window, a glimpse of a hand reaching for the wheel and—
Danny's BMW swerved. Twilight had little choice but to commit, yanking her steering wheel left and pulling back on the throttle in an attempt to salvage the situation. She swung wide, the feeling of trepidation spiking as the transfer of a wheel onto loose dirt rattled the chassis, and her entire body in turn, with a terrifying bump. The Apollo jerked and bobbed, suspension flailing as the rapid loss of grip set itself up to spin the car out. Twilight wrung her hands around the wheel as tight as she could, her left hand accidentally brushing up against the shifter paddle with enough force to initiate a downshift.
Her adrenaline increased tenfold as the engine's tone jumped higher, the Apollo twitching in an effort to stay on track. It held strong, with one final jerk to the right the car flung itself back across the asphalt, smoothly settling in the middle. As Twilight calmed her mind and the shaking that rocked her hands quickly dissipated, she was increasingly becoming more fed up of Danny's dirty antics. Was fair racing really that hard these days? She glanced back up, and sure enough, Danny was leading the way, a clear two seconds in front.
It was a stark contrast to the first lap. Twilight knew she would need to make up that lost distance, and fast.
"Fine... I'll play by your game," she grumbled. Let's do this.
Snarling in frustration, Twilight slammed the right paddle down, the V12 growling with a deeper baritone as the RPMs dropped. The Apollo rocketed out of the next corner, a sparkling of rainwater in it's wake.
Her rival paved the way into the next straight, with the orange construction barriers serving to constrict the rapid flow of their racing antics. Due to the helpful nature that—most—of the laws of physics still applied in Horizon, Twilight lined her car up with Danny's slipstream, effortlessly gliding through the barriers. Not a second later, an unexpected crash made itself known above all of the other noises flooding Twilight's eardrums. She looked up and witnessed the telltale shatter of wooden fencing, an explosion of broken wood chips coming from the front left corner of the BMW.
Danny was thankful for the fact that his car just shrugged it off, though the paint would definitely need a touch up. Twilight was also thankful that it was his car taking that impact and not hers.
"That was a good idea," she sarcastically snarked. "I can do one better."
With an abrupt twist of the wheel, she veered the car right just as it passed over the slick rail tracks in a speeding blur. Twilight pulled the wheel straight again, thundering up the outside edge of the shallow left corner while Danny took the inside line, hoping to regain lost time with a daring kamikaze move through to the last corner, the tightest turn on the entire circuit.
As if the car was on rails itself, Twilight engaged the brakes, fully swinging the wheel right into the corner and hugging the interior as much she could without slipping a wheel into the dirt again. She saw the mass of blue enter her peripheral vision as the Apollo pulled into second gear through the exit, daring to snap the wheel left just a little bit and—
Crrrunch!
Twilight's body went rigid. That wasn't meant to happen. Her eyes followed the BMW as it slowly edged forward, unaware that she was yet to shift up into third gear, the frantic yell of the redline completely silent to her ears.
At once, Twilight felt her senses flood; the shock of the impact wearing off. She flicked the paddle with enough force that she swore she could feel the distal bone in her finger brush up against the exposed carbon. Her heart sank as she clearly watched the BMW cross the start line at speed, it's rear end all but a few feet ahead of the Apollo's nose.
Twilight crossed it not half a second later, outright scowling at the thought of cocking up such a surefire victory in the second lap. She refused to dwell on it, slamming the car into fourth at 130mph and blazing out onto the main road for the final lap.
Weaving back into the slipstream of Danny's car, Twilight was rapidly forming another strategy. By the time the road section was over not five seconds later, she had it:
Do absolutely nothing.
Danny checked his rearview mirror once, then twice, then three times. His car blasted out of the first corner once more as he pushed the gearstick up into third. The tuned V8 just ahead of his feet growled in response, providing a little bit more power as the body panels around him rattled like a spray can.
I really need to get that sorted... he thought, checking the door mirror this time to see the sleek hypercar's position behind him still hadn't changed.
An almost indignant scowl crossed his face. "Really?!" he wondered aloud. Was this girl going to hassle him for two laps and then just give up on the final one, practically hand the car over through inaction? No, she couldn't be that stupid.
If that bloody scrape back there is anything to go by... Maybe she is.
Though that raised another question. Danny shifted up into fourth, clearing the slight left turn and pulling onto the next straight as he pondered it... How would he replace the left fender of a hypercar he didn't even know the name of?
That'd come later, he rapidly concluded. The train tracks coming up again demanded his immediate attention, holding the wheel firm as he passed over them with another bump. As the car came to land, he once again glanced in his mirror to see Twilight's car mirroring his car's movements perfectly.
It unironically began to unnerve Danny, though he wasn't sure as to why. An easy win was an easy win, even better with such a big prize involved. But the gnawing pit in his stomach continued to grow, the razor sharp headlights of the Apollo throwing beams into the mirrors that signified a thinly veiled warning of attack.
It wasn't a matter of how, it was a matter of when.
Danny took a deep breath, steeling his nerves as the next corner sprang foward; the hard left he had used to slip through on the previous lap.
Alright... Do your worst... he thought, pushing the brakes and easing into the turn.
Twilight watched as the Beamer ahead of her entered the corner a little too warily; it was clear Danny wasn't going for sheer speed anymore and cutting the ideal racing line. No, he was trying to play a game of preemptive defense, leaving an opening on the inside apex of the turn that was too small, followed up by a swift flick to the left, blocking off any outer edge Twilight may have used.
He was getting worried. Good.
From this position Twilight knew she had to act fast, as Danny would only become more wise to her tricks with each turn, eventually snuffing out any chances of an overtake before the lap's end.
Twilight flew through the left turn with ease, still hot on his tail at around 70mph. The minor straight ahead provided enough width to jerk her Apollo to the left, coming up on the very outer edge of the next turn, a slippery right.
She watched Danny lean his car into the inner edge, with the perimeter exposed and enough track width to fit the Apollo, Twilight went for it.
Her foot crunched the throttle down, feeling the Apollo push her back as it's furthermost wheels ran along the edge of the asphalt. Danny had obviously took note of her daring move, the thrum of the M3's V8 beginning to take on a heavier baritone; no doubt he was pinned to the throttle as well.
The two cars acted as if they were magnetised together, thundering out of the corner at the exact same time. Twilight forced her gaze forward, willing herself to ignore the bright blue that spilled in from her peripheral. She could not screw this last bit up...
A horn began blaring from somewhere and, after a split second, Twilight realised exactly where it was coming from, the train tracks.
...
Twilight didn't even think about what she did next. The mere instant she felt the Apollo's tone change she up shifted into fifth gear, foot locking itself to the gas pedal. The orange construction barriers sweeped in on the left side of the car, prompting her to jerk the wheel ever so slightly to the right to avoid them.
All of it; the Apollo and BMW's engines screaming in each of her ears, the horn blaring from just beyond the trees to her left, her own heart burning as it threatened to outright explode—
Silence. Numbness. Twilight couldn't even feel her fingers gripping the wheel for dear life. She watched, helplessly, as the broken remnants of the fencing gave way to the racecars passing over the tracks. Twisting her head left to see, out of the teardrop shaped passenger window, almost a thousand tons of black steel barreling directly at her, maybe twenty feet away from the door of the car, Twilight expected the worst.
She blinked...and it was gone.
Twilight snapped her head forward again, her senses spilling over in a wonderful eruption. She fumbled for the wheel as if her fingers were new and unused, getting enough of a grip on it to wrench it left and pull the Apollo through the second to last turn.
She wasted no time switching her foot to the brakes a second later, throwing the car across the entire width of the track and into the final turn's apex. If Twilight had bothered to care, she would've noticed her opponent's car jerk at the movement, slamming his brakes on and whipping to the left.
A gathered crowd of spectators flanked the finish line, something Twilight honestly didn't even notice until she had the chance to focus on something other than having to call Luke up to explain how she was now Apollo-less and needed a lift.
Thankfully, that wasn't going to be the case. Twilight all but sealed the deal, keeping her foot firmly planted as the Apollo carried them both across the finish line, the engine singing of their victory; bouncing again and again into the redline.
It was nothing short of absolute power, thrumming at Twilight's fingertips—fifteen hundred horsepower on tap, and she couldn't be more thankful.
With the comforting thought that she'd be keeping the Apollo for a little while longer, Twilight gently wound down the speed, slowing to a crawl in the middle of the main road. As she swerved back round to where the crowd had begun to converge on the track, she had another thought;
I need to get the hell out of this car.
Twilight elbowed the door open as the Apollo finally came to a hissing stop, throwing her seatbelt to the side. She immediately fell to her knees on the wet asphalt, willing herself to not immediately scream in realisation that that was the closest she had ever come to actual death.
Turning into a she-demon by magic and peer pressure? Fine. Saving a woodland camp from a corrupted Gloriosa Daisy while battling her own inner-demons? Easy!
But this... It was just too much.
Okay...okay...let's finish this off for good. Twilight whispered in her own mind, the thought mostly drowned out by the thrashing noise of pure adrenaline. Shakily standing up, she couldn't bare to look at anything other than her own feet.
Her knees still threatened to give out, and her eyes were glazed with unshed tears, but the shallow sound of a closing door made Twilight look up. Danny slipped out of his car, his lips pressed into a thin line as he shuffled over.
He stood a few paces away, letting the silence drag on for a moment before saying, "I gotta admit, haven't seen anyone race that good in ages..."
He paused for a moment, and Twilight swore she could see him shrink in on himself. It was almost amusing seeing the man who all but lived by dirty tricks acting so meek—almost.
"You're certainly something," he continued, trailing off and leaving the 'something' rather open-ended, though Twilight decided to take it as a compliment.
"...Thank you?" she replied, frankly unsure of how to take praise from someone who had caused her no end of trouble, from a cut up arm to tens of thousands of dollars in hypercar damage.
Looking out at the open area around the airstrip, Twilight was loathe to admit but she had actually kind of enjoyed that race. A small smile began to form as she turned back to Danny.
"I take it the car's still mine?" she sarcastically asked, placing a hand on the door as her smile spilled over into a full blown grin.
In a surprising move, Danny insisted, "Why of course, you've rightfully won your prize!" He finished with an exaggerated bow and a put-on posh accent, pulling back up with a small grin of his own.
That got a small laugh out of Twilight. Feeling the suffocating tension once woven between them slowly fading away she said, "Heh, I'm glad we could end this on relatively good terms, you know?"
Danny's smile slipped a little, and he sheepishly scratched at the back of his head. "Yeah, it's been...memorable."
"Memorable, that's a good way to put it," Twilight snorted, though it did little to suppress the slight chuckle that followed. She pushed herself from the Apollo's door and held a hand out, which Danny hesitantly shook.
"It's been a pleasure, Twilight," he said after pulling back. "I was gonna say sorry for, ya know, all the previous stuff. I was hanging around some of the wrong people in the club and—"
"It's fine."
"Really?" Danny asked, surprised at the instant response.
"Yeah," Twilight replied, her voice perfectly stoic. "I get it."
And she did, in a sense. The events of the Friendship Games were largely down to peer pressure, mostly Principal pressure. Not that she was in a rush to let anyone know that information, however...
Danny still looked abashed, but he was already pulling his car key out. "Well, take care of yourself, maybe I'll see you around Edinburgh?"
"Heh, we'll see," Twilight responded, flipping the Apollo's key between her fingers.
After a couple of lopsided smiles the two finally parted ways, walking back to their respective vehicles. Twilight climbed back inside the Apollo and put it into gear, pulling out onto the road without a care in the world.
As she made the short drive back towards the motorway, one thing did spring to mind;
What the hell am I going to tell the others?
The drive to the Festival did little to quell the thundering cascade of emotions that were brewing within Twilight as she gripped the steering wheel harder and harder. With nothing in the way to distract from what had just happened, she was left wracking her brain as the old village houses of Broadway began to spill in on either side of the road.
I almost freaking died! Twilight repeated in her mind. Could she honestly say that she trusted Forza-Logic™ to pull through each and every time? Would a full impact collision from the train have ended in severe whiplash, outright death, or just an odd sensation as her car was effortlessly carried down the tracks with no damage at all?
Twilight knew that an overenergetic drive to investigate scientific hypotheses wasn't exactly the most healthy of coping mechanisms when dealing with the things that went wrong in her life, but she also didn't care. She ground her whirring brain, choosing to focus on the simple act of driving as the Festival's east gate laid itself out before her.
She swung around to the entrance of the central building, pulling up in one of the bays and quickly vacating her trusty car. Feeling the summer breeze was a welcome sensation from the stuffy cabin air her car had to offer.
"Maybe I really do need a break from racing, just for a while..." Twilight muttered as she pulled open one of the glass doors. Stepping through, she was greeted by an uncharacteristically empty lobby. The polished marble flooring left little in the way of dirt marks, and the reception desk was bereft of any staff.
She looked to the right, noting that the condiments table had many empty coffee cups strewn about, and there was only one person she knew here that drank coffee.
Twilight also knew that the opposite wall had recently been covered in a massive live feed display that a certain someone was excited about because he could pretty much see it from his office.
She whirled around, finding Maverick, Haley, and all of her friends staring wide eyed, shock emanating from each of them like radiation would from a nuclear reactor core. Just above their heads, Twilight could spot a red flashing dot hovering where the Festival was, with a trailing pink line showing the entire route she had driven that day—
Twilight scanned the screen, finding exactly where she was hoping wouldn't have come up.
—including the numerous laps around a greyed out Greendale Airstrip, text plastered over it saying, "KNOWN CRIMINAL ACTIVITY, NO RACING!"
Another thing caught her eye, in the corner of the screen was a dashcam clip, documenting the exact moment that two speeding cars threw themselves across two lanes of traffic, the leading purple car narrowly missing a collision with the vehicle filming it.
Twilight's face went ice cold, watching the backs of her friends, waiting for any sort of movement. She wracked her brain trying to figure out a solution; ideally to deal with the race first before trying to explain it to anyone. Excessive emotions were never good, and Twilight was still a solitary woman when trying to deal with them, especially if it was anything personal. This was personal, between her and Danny, right?
Her foot moved closer to the main door, hoping that she could slip back out while their attention was focused on the screen wall. She was just about to twist her body and bolt for it, when she heard an unusually stringent voice call out from behind her, "Don't even think about it, Twilight."
She whipped back around, Luke was perched in the doorframe of his office, one arm resting on it in a relaxed fashion...
His expression was anything but—steely, almost accusing. It really didn't suit him, Twilight thought, but neither did the idea of her getting into trouble over this.
"I think you have some explaining to do," Luke continued, gesturing over to a corner of the lobby filled with...beanbags.
Twilight slumped her shoulders, knowing she had well and truly been caught. "Well... Where do I start?"
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This car pack for Forza Horizon 5 was released recently and inspired from the movie ‘Fast X’.
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Aha I've seen! Really loving the Charger, but shame about the flip car being basically useless lolol
Awesome
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Appreciate it 🤟
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You're welcome
I bet if they see a Red Ferrari SF90 Stradale with the License plate ‘SF20 DNG’ someday