Burnout Equestrian Paradise

by Akula966

Meet-Up

Wind Farm
North Mountain Drive

"Twilight, we need to talk,"

It had been moments since Akula had saved Twilight and Spike from dying a horrible death at the hooves of an enslaved Rarity, and were now about to chat with her about what was going on. While the two talked, Akula kept looking over the hood of the damaged Mesquite, M1911 in his grasp, ready to fire on any enslaved pony that approached them.

"Ok, Twi. You care to explain what's going on here?! One minute, I'm heading to the Stock Car Track with my friends, about to have a good time. The next, they're trying to kill me, as if I'd just killed their lovers and kids!" Akula snapped, extremely confused.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure either, but I have a feeling on who did this," Twilight stated, before fainting. Spike attempted to catch her, but Akula beat him to it, catching Twilight in his red magical aura.

"It was a nice thought, kiddo. But with your broken arm, you wouldn't be able to hold her," Akula explained, making his magic glow brighter.

"What are you doing?" Spike asked.

"I'm casting a healing spell on her," Akula explained, "It won't heal her right away, but it will fix her horn, clean up and seal those cuts and replace any blood she's lost," Then, his magic dissipated and Twilight dropped to the floor. "Now, hold still Spike. I need to do the same to you,"

Spike didn't voice of offer any resistance as Akula lit up his horn again and surrounded Spike with his magic. Then, the aura got brighter and brighter, as Akula cast his healing spell on the dragon. And then, as quick as it had appeared, Akula disengaged his magic, having cast his spell on Spike.

"Thank you," Spike told the demon changeling.

"Twilight would do the same thing for me, so that makes us even," Akula said.

Akula looked at Twilight, who then twitched and started to get up, struggling to get on her hooves. "What... happened to me?" She asked weakly.

Akula trotted over to her and helped her up. "You fainted from the blood-loss so I cast a healing spell on you and Spike. You were just about to tell me who you felt was behind this," The changeling explained to Twilight, staring into her purple eyes. Twilight found herself doing the same thing.

But as Twilight and Akula stared into each other's eyes...

...there came the roar of a fast-approaching car.

Akula broke his stare, and looked over the hood of the Mesquite. And judging by the direction of the noise, it was coming up from Uphill Drive. Shit! Akula thought, pulling away from Twilight, readied his M1911 and aimed at the exit to Uphill Drive...

...precisely when a bright car-shaped blur of red appeared exiting from the road. Twilight sat up to get a look, and her mouth went agape!

Approaching them, was a very expensive, absolutely gorgeous bright-red Rossolini Tempesta supercar. And it was approaching fast! Twilight's jaw dropped at how beautiful this car was. That has got to be the most beautiful car I have ever seen! I'm so jealous! Twilight thought.

But suddenly, the rear-wheels locked up and the Tempesta was sent into a 180^o drift. Akula made to open fire, but was too surprised about the approaching speed of the Tempesta, so he couldn't get off a shot. The changeling/drake/Alicorn trio watched in utter shock and disbelief as the Tempesta slid expertly into the gap between the their two cars!

Akula kept his gun up and moved in-between the Tempesta and Twilight, ready to protect her if bullets started flying. Then, the driver's scissor door rose open, and out stepped a crimson pegasus stallion with a brown mane and a blend of dark grey and red on his tail and a Cutie Mark of a white lightning bolt crossed with a guitar to make an 'X'. He was also wearing sunglasses, hiding his eyes and removing any possibility of identifying if he was under control or free.

Akula had a simple solution.

He raised his gun and aimed it right at the stallion's head, waiting for him to turn around and face him. After a while of staring at where he had come from, the stallion turned around, and saw Akula, Twilight and Spike staring back at him, Akula with his M1911 pointed right at his head. The stallion just stared at the three, mouth agape.

"Hooves up! Take you glasses off!" The changeling ordered.

The stallion complied, and raised his hooves up. But he didn't hear Akula's order to take his sunglasses off, and just stared at him, confused.

"Take the glasses off! NOW!!!!!" He snapped, clearly annoyed with the stallion's failure to follow his simple instruction.

This time, the stallion heard him and took off his glasses, resting them on his forehead and revealing his dark brown eyes. It was clear that he wasn't under control.

Akula's expression softened, but he kept his gun aimed at the stallion's head. He jerked his head towards the damaged Mesquite, signalling him to come over. The stallion understood the command and came over, kneeling behind the Mesquite, Akula still holding him at gunpoint.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Akula asked the stallion.

The stallion just looked at the demon changeling in the eye, and smiled. "Could you put the gun down first, bud? You're making me nervous," He said, looking at the M1911 being aimed at him. Akula slowly lowered his gun, but kept it in his grasp. "Thank you! Now, I'm sure introductions are not necessary, as I'm sure you've heard of me," He bragged, and gestured to himself.

"No, I don't think I have," Akula replied, looking at the stallion with uncertainty.

The stallion's look of pride changed to one of surprise, as he looked back at changeling. "You... haven't heard of me?" He asked, genuinely surprised. Akula just shook his head. "But I'm DangerDean!"

"Haven't heard of that name," Akula said, shaking his head.

DangerDean just stared at him with his mouth agape in disbelief. Eventually, he shook his head free of his thoughts and said, "Ok, ok. Maybe you've heard of one of my nicknames! Have you heard about... The British Speedfreak?"

"No,"

"The stallion with the red Tempesta?"

Akula just shook his head.

"So you're saying that you have't hear of me, at all?!" Dean cried out, shocked.

"No, I haven't," Akula finally said.

Dean just lowered his head in disappointment, and mumbled something to himself, before looking back up at Akula, keeping his proud smile. "Well then, I'm sure you'll get to know me!"

"Ok. Now that that's out of the way... What are you doing here?!" Akula demanded.

"Oh! Well, I was just in a race, which I won by the way, when the other competitors swarmed me and started to attack me! But, using all of my driving expertise, I manged to escape without a single scratch!" He explained, motioning towards his car. One look of his Tempesta said it all. There wasn't a single scratch on it. "Then, I just decided to head in the direction I was travelling and it brought me here,"

The trio's eyes all went wide when Danger finished up his explanation of his events. "Wait a second. You said that you were attacked by the other competitors in your race. Right?" Akula asked. Danger just slowly nodded.

"But... that's the exact same thing that to all of us!" Twilight exclaimed.

Danger just met their look with a happy grin, and said, "Wow! So were the same? Cool!"

He almost got killed, and he's acting like this?! Akula thought, Since when do ponies have so much positivity?!

But before Akula, Twilight or Spike could ask anymore questions, there came the sound of another car. This time, approaching from North Face Drive, in the direction Twilight had come from. Akula immediately turned to the direction of the noise, and quickly raised his gun. Twilight decided to join the changeling, and looked over the hood of the Mesquite with him.

Then, from over the jump near them, smashing through the billboard before coming to a stop next to the Mesquite, was Applejack's Carson Fastback. Upon seeing her, Twilight immediately wanted to jump for joy, but Akula shot down her excitement. "Calm down, Twilight. We don't know if she's under control or not,"

However, Akula had his statement answered as the driver's-side door of the Fastback opened, and out stepped Applejack, her emerald green eyes clearly visible. And upon seeing that she wasn't under control, Twilight, despite her blood loss, rushed up to her and gave her a massive hug. Applejack just stood there confused, being embraced by Twilight, before she returned the embrace.

"Applejack! It's so good to see you! Are you okay?" Twilight asked, concerned about her friend.

"Ah'm fine Twilight. But ah 'ave a bit of ah problem," Applejack explained, "Ah was just cruising with the others, mindin' mah own business, when all of ah sudden, they attacked me! I barely made it outta' there alive!"

It was at this moment that Danger decided to say something. "That would explain the damage. Oh wait, the Fastback always looks like that! Heh!" He joked. His statement was returned by Applejack glaring at him. All Dean did was give her a sheepish look and apologize for his comment.

"You were attacked by the others?" Twilight questioned, to which Applejack nodded, "So were we!"

Applejack just looked at Twilight with a look of shock written all over her face. "Listen, Twilight. Something's goin' on and ah' don't like it!"

"I know, Applejack. But I have an idea on who is behind this..." But before Twilight could finish, the sound of another car approaching filled the air, coming from the exact same direction as DangerDean had earlier. Oh, come on!!!

This time, instead of another Tempesta, a familiar red-and-blue Carson GT Concept that Twilight remembered to have seen just moments after she had managed to get her Mesquite when it was still a wreck raced up towards them. The GT Concept then slid to a sideways stop, parked right next to Akula's Ikusa GT. Instinctively, Akula and the others walked around Danger's Tempesta to get a better look, Akula with his M1911 ready.

Then, the driver-side door opened and out stepped a red pegasus mare with an orange-and-blue mane, orange eyes and a Cutie Mark of a stage microphone. But none of those features concerned Akula or the others. What did concern them was the modified MP7 sub-machine gun she was holding in her hoof.

Instinctively, Akula raised his gun and aimed it at the mare. He then barked sharp orders at the mare to drop the gun and stand down, but unfortunately, the mare took the warnings as a threat, and aimed her MP7 at the changeling.

The two were now held in a stand-off.

"Drop the gun now!!!" Akula barked at the mare.

"You first!!!" She snapped back, not backing down. Akula took a step back in shock the moment he heard the mare's voice.

"I recognize your voice! Have I held you at gunpoint before?" Akula asked, after he recovered from his small moment of shock.

The mare just squinted her eyes at Akula's question and said, "You sound familiar too. Do you know anypony by the name of Zephyr?"

Akula's eyes widened upon the mare's menitoning of the name 'Zephyr'. After a few minutes of silence, Akula looked back up at the pegasus and said, "Promise me you won't freak out when you see this,"

The mare just nodded at him. Akula then closed his eyes, and suddenly, bright red flames engulfed his body. Then, the fire dissipated, and standing where Akula was, was a pure black unicorn stallion with a dark red mane, matching red eyes and a Cutie Mark of the Atlas Corporation emblem. The stallion just looked at the mare with a blank expression, as if he was assessing her very carefully.

The moment the mare saw that Akula had transformed into a pony, her mouth dropped open and she dropped her gun. "Z-Zephyr?" Was all that she could sputter out.

"Hi there, V," The pony, apparently named Zephyr, replied, a smile on his face.

V just ran up to Zephyr and gave him a big hug. Zephyr immediately returned the hug.

The moment of silence was interrupted by Spike, who knew that Zephyr was actually Akula. "You two... know each other?"

V and Akula broke the hug, and the disguised changeling turns towards the group. "Yeah, I know her. Everypony, this is Viral Velocity. You can call her V, if you wish. She's a good friend of mine, and she hails from Wing City, not too far from here. Although she isn't from here, she knows her way around this place like the back of her hoof, because..." Akula explained.

"...I recently just earned my Criterion Elite Licence, meaning that I have mastered Paradise City," Viral finished for him, proudly, "I know where everything is. Every Billboard, Super Jump, Parking Lot, Auto-Repair, Paint Shop, the whole lot! If you ever need to know where something is, just ask me,"

"So do I, sweet!" Danger called out, smiling.

Viral just shot Dean a hostile look, and asked with a somewhat annoyed tone, "What did you just call me?"

Danger took a step back, surprised, before stepping forward and smiling. "Wow! You are feisty! I like that!" He complimented to the mare.

Viral was visibly surprised at how Dean was staying so positive. Whenever somepony called her 'sweet', and she asked them the question she had just asked, they would apologize immediately. But this stallion didn't seem to care about what she thought of him and what tone she used. And that annoyed her. "What is that supposed to mean?!" She asked, the venom growing in her voice.

Normally, at this point, most ponies would back down and stop testing Viral's patience. But Danger wasn't your average pony. Instead...

"Hey, has anypony told you that you look beautiful? Because you are the most beautiful mare I have ever seen,"

Dean's comment caused Viral to step back and her blush to deepen. Nopony had ever tried to flirt with her, due to her tough nature. But Dean was pushing her patience, and (to Viral) seemed to enjoy it.

But before Danger could piss her off further, Akula (who had just transformed back) stepped in between the stallion and the mare before some sort of violence broke out. "Ok, that's enough, you two. Viral, this is DangerDean. Dean, meet Viral Velocity," But as he finished introducing the two to each other, he was interrupted by the sound of another car. But this time, he recognized the engine sound.

It was another Mesquite. But it was coming from the exact same direction that Applejack was coming from.

Everypony in the gathered group turned to the direction of the noise, and all of a sudden, from around the hairpin corner instead of over the jump, was a black-and-grey Mesquite. The second Mesquite pulled to a stop next to Applejack's Fastback, and Viral raised her MP7, aiming right at the driver...

...when Akula put a hoof on the gun, forcing her to lower it.

"Wait, V. I bet you that the driver isn't under control," He told her, causing the pegasus mare to back down.

Eventually, the driver-side door opened, and out stepped Thunderlane.

Twilight gasped, "Thunderlane? What are you doing here?" She asked.

Thunderlane also took a step back upon seeing Twilight, but decided to answer her question anyway. "Umm... When Rainbow Dash entered here, me and the rest of the Wonderbolts were among the crowd that entered the portal after the Elements did,"

"Okay. Then where's the others?"

"Well, I was just cruising with them, when they attacked me. Not one of them tried to defend me. I barely made it out of there. I only did when they started pulling back, and they let me escape," He explained, earning surprised looks from the others.

"The exact same thing happened to us. And both me and Twilight have an idea on why," Akula then said, "We can get acquainted later, Thunderlane. But I think Twilight has been busting to say what she thinks happened to our friends. Twilight?" He turned to Twilight the moment he said this.

Twilight, now thankful that she wasn't going to be interrupted, began to voice her suspicions. "Thank you, Akula. But first, before I do so, I need to know something," She then turned towards the others and asked, "Did the others, who were chasing you down, have glowing green eyes?"

The others just stared at her with wide eyes, and nodded vigorously.

"Well then, I know who has put them under this spell," The others just stood there, mouths agape as Twilight revealed her answer. "King Sombra did this,"

After a few moments of letting Twilight's answer soak in, Akula breaks the silence. "It looks that way. And it appears to have affected everypony who was driving a car that is unlocked by either a Shut Down or a Burning Route. But our cars, are all cars unlocked by upgrading our licences. There's a pattern. And it looks like Sombra has made a mistake,"

"Or his spell was as powerful as he thought it was," Twilight added.

"So we have a plan of action. Win events, shut down the cars and free the others,"

Everypony remianed silent, until Danger said something. "Yeah. Ummm... I think I see a problem with that plan. There is only one, two, three, four, five... SIX of us, against an entire army!"

"Then we'll have to work together," Twilight stated, causing the others to turn to her, "Look. We have the some of the best racers in Paradise. And if we work together, we can do anything! Sombra and the other villains won't stand a chance if we work together!"

"Jus' like when we did it!" Applejack added. And Twilight's little speech lit a spark of hope in the others.

"Well said, Twilight. Well said," Akula complimented.

"Ok, we've got our game plan! But what's our first move?" Viral asked.

"First, we need to find somewhere to access cars and to stay, while we free our friends," Akula replied.

All of a sudden, DangerDean was overcome with an idea he was busting to get out, when he suddenly said, "We can use the Junkyard over by Lone Stallion Ranch! I've been there multiple times, and there is a nice building next to it, where we can sleep!"

"Good idea, Dean! Let's get there before the enslaved do!" Akula said, causing the others to rush to their cars and start the journey.

Twilight rushed to her Mesquite, after Applejack, Thunderlane and DangerDean pulled away to allow Twilight to get out, and jumped in. She found that Spike had already got in, and that Akula's magic had done its job, as Spike was now fully healed.

"So, I take it that we have a plan, Twi?" Spike asked.

Twilight just turned to him, smiled and said, "Yes, we have a plan," She then turned the car on, stomped on the throttle and raced alongside the other Free Ponies.

---

Moments earlier...

However, unknown to the group of free ponies, another pony was watching them. It was a pale green unicorn stallion with a grey mane, a Cutie Mark of a buzzsaw symbol and a 'X' done in black over his face. He was wearing a casual suit with no tie, and sat in the driver's seat of his black Carson GT Nighthawk, watching as the group rushed to their cars, about to head off to the Junkyard near Lone Stallion Ranch.

But as the group was about to head off, the stallion's wrist-mike started beeping. The unicorn answered it.

"Agent Locus, this is headquarters. Report position and status," A voice said through the wrist mike.

Locus just tapped his mike and reported, "This is Agent Locus. I have eyes on the suspects. They're about to move out,"

"Locus, you have your orders. Tail them,"

"Acknowledged. Moving to tail suspects. Out," Locus said, turning off his mike, as the group got into their vehicles and raced off down South, towards Lone Stallion Ranch. Locus hit the Nighthawk's ignition and raced after them...

Author's Note:

There we go! The Free Ponies have a game plan! This story is going better than I thought! Be sure to spread the word about this story, if you enjoyed it!

Also, I want to give a big thanks to DangerDean, RDgamer321 and Mkchief34 for supporting this story! Their OC's DangerDean, Viral Velocity and Locus Fall all belong to their respective owners, and they are real good friends of mine on this site! Be sure to head on over to them and follow them!

An extra thanks goes out to DangerDean and RDgamer321, who have been waiting very patiently for this Chapter. Thanks very much for being so patient!

Paint Schemes:
DangerDean's Tempesta: Finish 1, metallic red
Viral's GT Concept: Finish 3, gloss red
Thunderlane's Mesquite: Finish 1, metallic grey

Stay tuned for the next chapter!

As things get worse for our heroes!

Comments

[RDgamer321]

*Saosin-Collapse starts playing*

Let's get it on baby! Welcome back to Paradise Viral.

[Mkchief34]

Yay, Locus! Great seeing him! He's just what I pictured him to be!

[DangerDean]

Twilight had the best reaction ever.

[RDgamer321]

10041682
Well, it does say in the Tempesta description.

"The Rossolini Tempesta looks good and you want one."

[DangerDean]

The changeling/drake/Alicorn trio watched in utter shock and disbelief as the Tempesta slid expertly into the gap between the their two cars!

I couldn't have parked that better if I tried!

[DangerDean]

He almost got killed, and he's acting like this?! Akula thought, Since when do ponies have so much positivity?!

That, is what a Burnout Paradise seasoned veteran has!

[DangerDean]

I looking forward to Chapter 10 as much as I was on Chapter 9!

[RDgamer321]

10042863
Your not the only seasoned veteran here, but I'm looking forward to what's coming up as well. I know a really nice jump where you all can watch my underside as we drive down South Mountain Dr.