Ponez: Pony Girls in the City

by Chrome Masquerade

Batten Down the Hatches

As it turns out, the other girls were doing their own jobs to... relative success.

The first thing was when Sunset spotted just the man she was looking for.
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"Ah! You must be... Luthor, right?"

The man smugly said, "My reputation precedes me, I see. Only good, I hope?"

"Far better than your father."

"That's fair. I'm honestly not fond of his plot either. Speaking of, I've heard a fair bit about you girls as well. Looking to save the city, as I understand. Care to make some cash on the side?"

"What do you have in mind?" Sunset asked, though she already was told the answer.

"You see the museum building over there?" Luthor pointed to one building. "I have a far better idea than what my father intends there."

"Oh?"

"Yes. If you spend a little cash to buy up some interesting exhibits, people will start taking a look. You'll earn some coin and father won't be abe to make it into a parking lot."

"You're right; that would be better than his idea."

"Didn't I say so? It's peanuts, really, but it's something for you to consider."

'I was told he'd say that.' Sunset thought.

As Luthor walked off, Sunset turned to the building. "Alright. Time to make some plans..." she said, rubbing her hands together.
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At the same time, Rainbow Dash was talking to Ewan -just as Applejack was talking to Dusty- about fixing up the Bumper Boat attraction, to keep it out of Daddy Bigbucks' mitts.

Ewan agreed, if they could get some Nerdies in on the whole bit -surprisingly, they enjoyed tht kind of thinh themselves, from time to time, so he said-. Dusty also agreed... under one condition.

"One of you has to beat me in a race." he said, grinning. "If you can do that, I'll be your repairs guy." he added.

Rainboow Dash nodded and said, "You're on!"

Going over to the parked motorcycles, Rainbow Dash noticed that Dusty immediately went for the biggest among them. She could immediately tell that it was tricked out as much as humanly possible and, while very heavy, would also be very fast.

'Good thing I have a trick or two up my sleeves.' she thought. Picking out the bike she'd used the day before, which -without her magic to hold the enchantment- had reverted to its normal form. She charged the key with her magic and inserted it. Immediately the colours on it brightened once more, the shape of it changing. Before long, she was looking at her partner, rumbling beneath her.

"Nice having you back, bud." Rainbow Dash said, slipping her helmet on.

The magicked motorcycle's lights flashed twice, but it gave no other ostensible response.

Minigame Start: Motocross Madness Level 3 - Speed Demon

As the countdown ended, Dash and Dusty rushed forward, going over the first hill. Both got a fair amount of air from that jump, allowing Dusty to do a flip and Dash to do a Superman before both came to land safely on the ground on the other side of the second hill.

As they were speeding toward the fourth hill, Dusty activated his nitrous booster to zip into the lead. Dash grunted, but smirked and said to herself, 'He has no IDEA who he's dealing with.'

She activated her own version; channeling her magic into the vehicle's engine, increasing its overall speed, allowing her to catch up to Dusty. Neck and neck once again with the pony-girl, to his surprise, Dusty grinned. Nobody had been able to keep up with him for this long, not for several years.

It was exhilarating!

Around and around they went, never getting ahead of each other for long. Just before the finish was one last obstacle. Soaring over that, Dash opened her wings, allowing her to coast into first place. Dusty's bike was just too heavy to do anything similar, and though he landed safely, it was much sooner than Dash's landing, and further away from the finish line, at that.

Coming to a stop on the other side, Dash slowed to a halt, breathing heavily with the adrenaline still rushing through her.

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You have earned: 2000 $imokeons
Access to Motocross Madness Level 4: Duke of Dirt

Going back into the entry, to a chorus of applause, Rainbow Dash gave Dusty a fistbump.

"Not bad at all!" He said. "Though, you know, I could have beat you easy if I was going all out." he boasted. "Next time I'm not making that mistake."

"All out? Pssh! I was just having fun." she returned. "If I were going all out, you wouidn't have gotten past the third lap, driving that anvil on wheels."

Dusty laughed heartily at that. "You. Are my kind of gal!" he said. "Consider your boats repaired."

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Having arrived at the University, Twilight saw Polly seemingly waiting for something.

"Hello, Polly!" Twilight greeted. "Are things copacetic?"

Polly smiled. "Naturally. I'm simply observing the elapsing of this facility's temporal tracker. That is to say, I'm watching the clock, waiting for the next class to start." she simplified.

"Well," Twilight said, "I've heard that the bumper boats are going up again."

"I was under the impression that they were condemned to rusting because the attraction's popularity was sub-optimal?" Polly queried.

"No. They closed because at the time it was -as one of my friends would say,- 'lamer than a three-legged mule'."

Polly chuckled at that, her eyebrows also rising slightly. "I see. And what adjustments make this attraction more... well, attractive in this case?"

"As far as I've heard, they're faster and louder. Just bring some friends with you, if you're coming."

"I might just, indeed, gather a... 'posse', you might say." Polly said, just as the clock rang. "Until then!"

Twilight exited the building to report the good news.

Later, a crowd was indeed gathered at the site of the 'Yar, Hey! Bombard!' game. Lily Gates was there as well.

Rainbow Dash said to her, "Hold up, miss Gates; the boats will be bumping again shortly!"

"Huh?" Lily said, incredulous, "I thought that all these people were here to watch me open this case of money or something." she added.

"Nope. We shot; we scored." Applejack said with a grin.

Lily grimmaced at that. "Rats. I'll have to tell the boss the bad news. You win this time. But you won't always be so lucky."

"Keep a-tellin' yerself that, miss Gates." Applejack added smugly.

As the woman walked away, Dusty came out of the entrance. "Alright! The boats are souped up and ready to bump! Who's up first?"

Quest completed.